Hollywood costume designer Theadora Van Runkle (Dorothy Schweppe) died of lung cancer on 4 November, aged eighty-two. Best known for her designs for Bonnie and Clyde, Bullitt and The Godfather Part II, she also worked on Myra Breckinridge, Johnny Got His Gun, Peggy Sue Got Married and White Dwarf, along with the TV series Wizards and Warriors.
British TV producer and director Mark [William] Hall died after a short illness on 17 November, aged seventy-five. With his college friend Brian Cosgrove, Hall formed their own animation company, Cosgrove Hall Productions, in 1976, and together they created such children’s shows as Jamie and the Magic Torch, Creepy Crawlies, The Wind in the Willows, Count Duckula, Oh! Mr Toad, Danger Mouse, Noddy’s Toyland Adventures, Fantomcat and Truckers, Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters (all based on novels by Terry Pratchett). Hall also co-produced TV movies of Cinderella (1979), The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1981), The Wind in the Willows (1983), The Reluctant Dragon (1987) and Roald Dahl’s The BFG (1989).
British film production designer Syd Cain died on 21 November, aged ninety-three. His credits include Fahrenheit 451 (based on the novel by Ray Bradbury), Billion Dollar Brain, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy and TV’s The New Avengers. As an art director, Cain also contributed to The Road to Hong Kong, Dr No and Live and Let Die, and he worked in various capacities on Uncle Silas (1947), The Gamma People, Supergirl, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Neverending Story III: The Return to Fantasia, GoldenEye and Tarzan and the Lost City.
Eighty-four-year-old maverick British director Ken Russell (Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell) died on 27 November, following a series of strokes. After making a string of acclaimed TV documentaries and short films for the BBC in the late 1950s — early ’60s, he transferred his talents to the cinema, where he directed a number of flamboyant and often controversial movies, including Billion Dollar Brain, The Devils, Tommy, Lisztomania, Altered States, Gothic, The Lair of the White Worm, the homemade comedy-musical The Fall of the Louse of Usher: A Gothic Tale for the 21st Century, the “Girl with Golden Breasts” episode of the anthology horror movie Trapped Ashes, and the short Revenge of the Elephant Man. Russell made cameo appearances in a number of his own films, and had a role in the 2011 zombie comedy Invasion of the Not Quite Dead.
The 35mm Motion Picture Camera officially died in 2011. In an article written by Debra Kaufman for the Creative Cow website, it was revealed that ARRI, Panavision and Aaton had all ceased making them, concentrating instead on professional digital cameras.
Maverick American film producer and political activist Bert Schneider (Berton Jerome Schneider), who co-produced the Emmy Award-winning TV series The Monkees (1966– 68) and the music group’s psychedelic spin-off movie Head (1968), died on 12 December, aged seventy-eight. Schneider’s other credits include Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Last Picture Show and Days of Heaven.
Australian-born scriptwriter and director Don Sharp (Donald Herman Sharp), who made six films with Christopher Lee, died in Cornwall, England, on 14 December, aged eighty-nine. A former actor, he moved to the UK after World War II and started directing in the mid-1950s. Although not prolific, Sharp was always a stylish director and his credits include Hammer’s The Kiss of the Vampire, The Devil-Ship Pirates and Rasputin the Mad Monk, along with Witchcraft (with Lon Chaney, Jr.), Curse of the Fly, The Face of Fu Manchu and The Brides of Fu Manchu, Rocket to the Moon (aka Those Fantastic Flying Fools), Dark Places, Psychomania (aka The Death Wheelers) and What Waits Below (aka Secrets of the Phantom Caverns). Sharp also directed three episodes of The Avengers, plus an episode each of The Champions and Hammer House of Horror (“Guardian of the Abyss”). As an actor, he also had a leading role in the 1953 BBC Radio serial Journey Into Space.
THE FOLLOWING LISTING OF organizations, publications, dealers and individuals is designed to present readers and authors with further avenues to explore. Although I can personally recommend many of those listed on the following pages, neither the publisher nor myself can take any responsibility for the services they offer. Please also note that the information below is only a guide and is subject to change without notice.
— The Editor ORGANIZATIONS The Australian Horror Writers Association (www.australian- horror.com) is a non-profit organization that was formed in 2005 as a way of providing a unified voice and a sense of community for Australian (and New Zealand) writers of horror/dark fiction. AHWA aims to become the first point of reference for writers and fans of the dark side of literature in Australia, to spread the acceptance and improve the understanding of what horror is in literature to a wider audience, and in doing so gain a greater readership for established and new writers alike. Email: [email protected].
The British Fantasy Society (www.britishfantasysociety. org) was founded in 1971 and publishes the newsletter Prism and the magazines Dark Horizons and New Horizons featuring articles, interviews and fiction, along with occasional special booklets. The BFS also enjoys a lively online community — there is an email news-feed, a discussion board with numerous links, and a CyberStore selling various publications. FantasyCon is one of the UK’s friendliest conventions and there are social gatherings and meet-the-author events organised around Britain. For yearly membership details, email: [email protected]. You can also join online through the Cyberstore.
The Friends of Arthur Machen (www.machensoc.demon. co.uk) is a literary society whose objectives include encouraging a wider recognition of Machen’s work and providing a focus for critical debate. Members get a hardcover journal, Faunus, twice a year, and also the informative newsletter Machenalia. For membership details, contact Deputy Treasurer Jon Preece: [email protected].
The Friends of the Merril Collection (www.friendsofmerril. org/) is a volunteer organization that provides support and assistance to the largest public collection of science fiction, fantasy and horror books in North America. Details about annual membership and donations are available from the website or by contacting The Friends of the Merril Collection, c/o Lillian H. Smith Branch, Toronto Public Library, 239 College Street, 3rd Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5T 1R5, Canada. Email: ltoolis@tpl. toronto.on.ca.
The Horror Writers Association (www.horror.org) is a world- wide organization of writers and publishing professionals dedicated to promoting the interests of writers of Horror and Dark Fantasy. It was formed in the early 1980s. Interested individuals may apply for Active, Affiliate or Associate membership. Active membership is limited to professional writers. HWA publishes a monthly online Newsletter, and sponsors the annual Bram Stoker Awards. Apply online or write to HWA Membership, PO Box 50577, Palo Alto, CA 94303, USA.
World Fantasy Convention (www.worldfantasy.org) is an
