Stephen (ed.) - The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 18

Austrian-Hungarian-born literary agent and film producer Ingo Preminger,the brother of director Otto, died in Los Angeles on June 7th, aged 95. Preminger represented a number of writers who were blacklisted during the McCarthy era, including Dalton Trumbo and Ring Lardner, Jr, along with such actors as Paul Henreid and Ralph Meeker. His film credits include M*A*S*H and The Salzburg Connection .

83-year-old Hungarian avant-garde composer Gyorgy Ligetidied after a long illness in Vienna, Austria, on June 12th. The creator of a pioneering sound technique called “micropolyphony”, he is best known for his work on the soundtrack for Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey .

Controversial American book publisher Lyle Stuart(Lionel Simon) died on June 24th following a heart attack. He was 83. After working as business manager for Mad magazine, he founded the investigative newspapers Exposé and The Independent . He launched his own publishing imprint, Lyle Stuart Inc., in 1956 with money won in a libel case. When he sold the publishing house in 1990, he founded Barricade Books.

62-year-old Jim Baen(James Patrick Baen), American editor and publisher and founder of the Baen Books imprint, died on June 28th after suffering a massive stroke two weeks earlier. He never regained consciousness. Baen began his career at Ace Books in 1972, and went on to edit the SF magazines Galaxy and If , and the paperback anthology Destinies , before forming Baen Books in 1983. He is credited as an innovator in using free e-texts and book extracts to publicise Baen’s print titles.

American radio and TV broadcaster Roderick MacLeish,who wrote the 1982 fantasy novel Prince Ombra , died on July 1st, aged 80.

Bookseller and author Martin[Arthur] Lastdied on July 6th, aged 76. With his long-time partner Baird Searles (who died in 1993) he co-founded The Science Fiction Shop in New York City’s West Village from 1973–86. Last also wrote fiction, poetry and reviews, and co-authored the 1979 study A Reader’s Guide to Science Fiction with Searles, Beth Meacham and Michael Franklin. From 1975–76 he edited The Science Fiction Review Monthly .

Tough-guy crime writer Mickey Spillane(Frank Morrison Spil-lane), who created PI Mike Hammer in his first novel, I, the Jury (1947), died of cancer on July 17th after a long illness. He was 88. The author began his career writing for the pulp magazines and the comics, including Batman, Captain America, Sub-mariner and The Human Torch , and he returned to the medium in the 1990s with the SF detective series Mickey Spillane’s Mike Danger . Many of his books and stories have been turned into films or TV series – including Robert Aldrich’s classic Kiss Me Deadly (1955) – and Spillane himself portrayed Hammer in the low budget 1963 movie The Girl Hunters . He received a Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1995.

Best-selling British fantasy writer David[Andrew] Gemmelldied at his computer on July 28th. Just over a week earlier, the 57-year-old author had undergone a quadruple heart bypass and appeared to be recovering well. Best known for his heroic fantasy “Drenai” series, which he began in 1984 with Legend (aka Against the Horde ) and continued through ten further volumes, his other books include Sword in the Storm, Wolf in Shadow (aka The Jerusalem Man), Ironhand’s Daughter, Knights of Dark Renown, Lion of Mace don and The Lord of the Silver Bow . Random House UK’s SF and fantasy list was renamed “Legend” in the late 1980s in honour of Gemmell’s debut novel, which has never been out of print.

Susan E. Michaud(Susan E. Roberts), who helped run small press imprint Necronomicon Press with her husband, Marc Michaud, died on August 3rd, aged 41.

Nebula-nominated American author Bob(Robert J.) Lemandied of congestive heart failure on August 8th, aged 84. During the 1950s and ’60s he produced the fanzine The Vinegar Worm (aka Nematode ) and between 1967 and 2002 he published fifteen stories, all but one in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction . These later appeared in the 2002 collection Feesters in the Lake & Other Stories , which was included in Horror: Another 100 Best Books . His Nebula nominated story “Window” was adapted as an episode of the 2001 TV series Night Visions .

British SF author Philip E.(Empson) Highdied of respiratory failure on August 9th, aged 92. He had been admitted to hospital a week earlier following a heart attack. A contributor to such magazines as Authentic Science Fiction, Nebula Science Fiction and Vision of Tomorrow , he wrote fourteen novels between 1964 and 1979, including The Prodigal Son, No Truce with Terra, The Mad Metropolis, Come Hunt an Earthman, Speaking of Dinosaurs and Blindfold the Stars . His short fiction appeared in two collections, The Best of Philip E. High and A Step to the Stars .

79-year-old ghost hunter and author Ed Warren who, with his wife Lorraine, investigated more than 10,000 suspected hauntings, died on August 23rd of complications from a stroke. Having investigated the Amityville house in New York, the couple worked as consultants on Amityville II: The Possession . The TV movies The Demon Murder Case and The Haunted were based on books written by the Warrens.

American scriptwriter/producer Joseph[William] Stefano,who co-created and produced the TV show The Outer Limits (1963–65) with Leslie Stevens, died of a heart attack on August 24th, aged 84. Best remembered as the writer of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and the 1998 remake, his other credits include Eye of the Cat, The Kindred , the TV movies Psycho IV the Beginning, Revenge, Home for the Holidays and Snowbeast , the 1990 series Swamp Thing and an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation . In 1964, Stefano directed the “lost” TV pilot The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre (aka The Haunted ).

Pioneering TV animation designer Ed Benedict,who created such iconic cartoon characters as The Flintstones, Quick Draw McGraw, Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear and The Jetsons, died on August 28th, aged 94. After working at the Walt Disney studio, with Oswald Lantz at Universal and with Tex Avery at MGM, he became the main character designer for Hanna-Barbera from the late 1950s until his retirement in the mid-1970s.

American songwriter Paul Vance(Paul Van Valkenburgh), whose cult hit “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” went to #1 for 16-year-old Brian Hyland in August 1960, died of lung cancer on September 6th, aged 68. With Lee Pockriss he also co-wrote “Catch a Falling Star”, which was a #1 hit for Perry Como in 1958. Vance sold the rights to all his songs when he was younger.

Animator Berny Wolfdied on September 7th, aged 95. After working on the Betty Boop cartoons at the Fleischer Studios, he moved to the Ub Iwerks Studio and then on to Disney Studios, where he contributed to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Dumbo and many other titles. With Ward Kimball he worked on the design of Pinocchio’s Jiminy Cricket, and came up with the design for the costumes of the characters who still walk around Disney theme parks. Later, he worked in Tex Avery’s unit at MGM, for Film Roman Studios, and at Hanna-Barbera, where he was involved with Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf, Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School and such TV series as The Jetsons, Jonny Quest and The Flintstones .