Gene Wolfe, R.I.P. (1931-2019)

The following news was posted by TOR.COM earlier this morning: 

The science fiction and fantasy community has lost a beloved icon. We are extremely sad to report that author and SFWA Grand Master Gene Wolfe passed away on Sunday, April 14, 2019 after his long battle with heart disease. He was 87.

Gene Wolfe was born in New York on May 7, 1931. He studied at Texas A&M for a few years before dropping out and fighting in the Korean War. After his return to the US he finished his degree at the University of Houston. He was an engineer, and worked as the editor of the professional journal Plant Engineering. He was also instrumental in inventing the machine that cooks Pringles potato chips. He pursued his own writing during his editorial tenure at Plant Engineering, but it took a few years before one of his books gained wider notice in the sci-fi community: the novella that eventually became The Fifth Head of Cerberus. The whole tale was finally released as three linked novellas in 1972, and this is the beautiful opening passage:

When I was a boy my brother and I had to go bed early whether we were sleepy or not. In summer particularly, bedtime often came before sunset; and because our dormitory was in the east wing of the house, with a broad window facing the central courtyard and thus looking west, the hard, pinkish light sometimes streamed in for hours while we lay staring out at my father’s crippled monkey perched on a flaking parapet, or telling stories, one bed to another, with soundless gestures.

Wolfe went on to write over 30 novels, with his best best-known work, The Book of The New Sun, spanning 1980-1983. The series is a tetralogy set in the Vancian Dying Earth subgenre, and follows the journey of Severian, a member of the Guild of Torturers, after he is exiled for the sin of mercy. Over the course of the series the books won British Science Fiction, World Fantasy, British Fantasy, Locus, Nebula, and Campbell Memorial Awards.

To read the entire obituary, click HERE.

BELA LUGOSI AND THE MONOGRAM NINE...

...HAS NOW BEEN UNLEASHED! My latest book, BELA LUGOSI AND THE MONOGRAM NINE (co-authored with Gary D. Rhodes), is available for purchase! You can buy a softcover for $24.95 or a hardcover for $34.95. 

I'd like to offer an extra special tip of the hat to the inimitable Michael Kronenberg for going above and beyond the call of duty in designing the spectacular cover and interior layouts for this strange tome of lost cinematic lore... and to writer/director/actor/surrealist/bon vivant Larry Blamire for his perceptive, on-target introduction!

Between 1941 and 1944, Bela Lugosi starred in a series of low-budget films released by Monogram Pictures. To many viewers at the time and during the decades that followed, the “Monogram Nine” were overacted and underproduced, illogical and incoherent. But their increasing age has recast such condemnations into appropriate praise: in the 21st century, they seem so different not only from modern cinema, but also from Classical Hollywood, enough so as to make the aforementioned deficits into advantages. The entries in the Monogram Nine are bizarre and strange, populated by crazy, larger-than-life characters who exist in wacky, alternative worlds. In nine films, the improbable chases the impossible. This book, in turn, chases them. 

“Gary Rhodes has become my favorite nonfiction author, while the subject of some of his writings, Bela Lugosi, has long been one of my favorite actors. Now Gary has teamed up with co-author Robert Guffey to present, for the first time, a collection of in-depth and insightful essays evaluating those lesser ‘classics’ that comprise the so-called ‘Monogram Nine.’ If you are a Lugosi fan and also a fan of old ‘B’ horror films, you will love this book.”

– Donald F. Glut, filmmaker, Marvel Comics writer, and author of The Empire Strikes Back novelization

“An extraordinary volume. Rhodes and Guffey refract these films through the lens of surrealism, detailed genre study, auteurist-informed close readings, star studies, and vigorous historicism to name a few of the kaleidoscope of methods employed. This book provides a breakthrough model for serious work on films that have to date received very little scholarly attention.”
– Michael Lee, Ph.D. (University of Oklahoma), editor at the journal Horror Studies

Ian Cognito, R.I.P. (1958-2019)

Readers of my 2017 novel UNTIL THE LAST DOG DIES might be interested in the following BBC new article entitled "Ian Cognito: Comedian Dies On Stage In Bicester":

Veteran stand-up comedian Ian Cognito has died on stage during a performance.

The 60-year-old comic sat down on a stool while breathing heavily, before falling silent for five minutes during his show on Thursday.

Compere Andrew Bird said the crowd at the The Atic bar in Bicester had thought it was a joke, and continued to laugh, unaware something was wrong.

South Central Ambulance Service confirmed Cognito was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr Bird, who runs the Lone Wolf Comedy Club event at the venue, said Cognito had not been feeling well before the gig started, but insisted on going on stage.

"He was like his old self, his voice was loud. I was thinking 'he's having such a good gig'," Mr Bird said.

Mr Bird said Cognito had even joked about his health during his set, telling the audience: "Imagine if I died in front of you lot here."

It was Mr Bird who first went on stage to check if his fellow comedian was ok.

"Everyone in the crowd, me included, thought he was joking," he said.

"Even when I walked on stage and touched his arm I was expecting him to say 'boo'."

To read the entire article, click HERE.

HE WAS BLACK & WHITE AND READ ALL OVER

If you happen to live anywhere near New York, I highly recommend attending Arlen Schumer's upcoming "visualecture" about the work of the late Steve Ditko. If you want to order tickets, simply click HERE.

FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM RADIO!

Last night I returned to FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM RADIO and discussed such disparate subjects as Steven Lightfoot's obscure book entitled Stephen King Shot John Lennon, Leo Taxil's The Mysteries of Freemasonry, the connections between Report on Iron Mountain and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' graphic novel Watchmen, the subversive short stories of Philip K. Dick, illicit LSD experiments performed on U.S. citizens by the CIA, the legendary Flatbush Monster, Filipino vampire attacks, Project Bluebook, the Pentagon's Office of the Occult, the Glimmer Man, the infamous underwater UFO base located between Catalina Island and Long Beach, David Paulides and Missing 411, the assassination of William Cooper, Richard Shaver, subterranean battles with the deros, invisible aliens walking among us, the Church of Scientology, James Cameron's adventures in plagiarism, Frank Zappa's "I'm the Slime," and much, much more!  To listen to this two-hour-plus interview, click HERE! 

MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT

Last night I appeared on MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT hosted by Tim Weisberg. In case you missed the show, you can download the entire three hour interview through Dropbox by clicking right HERE.

Note: The below bio is slightly incorrect. My latest book is UNTIL THE LAST DOG DIES (2017), not CHAMELEO (2015).

Tue Apr 2 – Robert Guffey – A True Story of Invisible Spies, Heroin Addiction, and Homeland Security

POSTED ON APRIL 2, 2019 IN GUESTS | 540 VIEWS | LEAVE A RESPONSE

Tonight Robert Guffey joins is to tell a true account of what happened in a seedy Southern California town when an enthusiastic and unrepentant heroin addict named Dion Fuller sheltered a U.S. Marine who’d stolen night vision goggles and perhaps a few top secret files from a nearby military base.

Dion found himself arrested (under the ostensible auspices of The Patriot Act) for conspiring with international terrorists to smuggle Top Secret military equipment out of Camp Pendleton.

      

www.cryptoscatology.com
TWITTER: @r_guffey

Robert Guffey is a lecturer in the Department of English at California State University – Long Beach. His latest book is Chameleo: A Strange but True Story of Invisible Spies, Heroin Addiction, and Homeland Security, which Flavorwire has called, “By many miles, the weirdest and funniest book of 2015.” A graduate of the famed Clarion Writers Workshop in Seattle, he has also written a collection of novellas and his first book of nonfiction, was Cryptoscatology: Conspiracy Theory as Art Form. He’s written stories and articles for numerous magazines and anthologies, among them Fortean Times, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Mailer Review, Mysteries, New Dawn, The New York Review of Science Fiction, Paranoia, Postscripts, and Video Watchdog Magazine.

Camp Pendleton Suicide Ruling Disputed By Family

What follow are excerpts from Erika I. Ritchie's 3-31-19 Mercury News article entitled "Family of Camp Pendleton Marine Disputes Marine Corps Findings" (a developing story that might very well tie into the ongoing pattern of nefarious goings-on that seem to occur with increasing regularity on this particular San Diego Marine base):

The family of Lance Cpl. Riley Schultz, who died from a gunshot to the head while standing guard at his post during a training exercise at Camp Pendleton on March 15, continues to dispute the Marine Corps’ ruling of suicide.

Schultz’s mother, Misty Schultz-McCoy, said their cause has been taken up by Military Families for Justice and was to be mentioned in an episode of 48 Hours Saturday night, March 30, exploring the death of another Marine, Col. Michael Stahlman in the show entitled “Widow’s War.” Stahlman was serving in Iraq when he was found in his bed, mortally wounded with a gunshot wound to his left temple. Schultz’s case was not mentioned. But Cilla McCain, one of the group’s founders, said during the program that she is investigating multiple other military deaths labeled as suicides.

“Military Families for Justice is now in communication with the Schultz Family in trying to help them in these critical early days following the tragic death of Lance Cpl. Riley Schultz,” a post on the group’s Facebook page says.

“We just want the truth of what happened to Riley,” said April Holm, sister of Schultz’s mother. “We want to know why it happened, how it happened. None of us believes it because he had plans. He had just talked to his mother six hours before he died. He was excited to come home and see everyone here. He was going to be here for 23 days before he was deployed and he wasn’t afraid of being deployed.”

According to his travel itinerary, Schultz planned to arrive in Denver on April 6, the same day now that his funeral will be held.

Marine Corps officials on Wednesday, March 27, released information about his death and confirmed that the medical examiner ruled it a suicide.  On March 15, Schultz was standing watch over his platoon’s vehicles and equipment, on a shift set to last from 3:50 a.m. to 5 a.m. A fellow Marine found his body after arriving to relieve him around 4 a.m.

Schultz served with the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and was going through pre-deployment training.

Since the incident, the Marine Corps has undertaken a standard but separate investigation from the earlier review by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

To read Ritchie's entire article, click HERE.