Saturday, September 16, 2006

R.I.P Charles L. Grant

I just learned that Charles. L. Grant has passed away after an extended illness.

I never met the man, but I was always inspired by his writing and his editing.

He was a proponent of quiet horror, though he could get down and nasty and funny in his writing. Just read either of his X-Files novels.

The first book of his I read was The Hour of the Oxrun Dead, a volume I checked out of the Flatwoods Public Library when I still had all my hair.

But it was his wonderful anthologies that blew me away. The Shadows series introduced me to many writers who have become masters of the horror genre. I also have a fondness for those great single word anthos like Fears, Terrors , Horrors and Nightmares.

It's a terrible loss for the genre and the world of books. My condolences go out to his family.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I devoured his books in the 80s. His and Ramsey Campbell's. That's sad news.

Ron Fortier said...

I was unaware of this sad fact. Although I never met the man, I of course knew of him. His base of operations was here in New Hampshire and only a short while ago, at a comic con, I met a woman who worked for him and said that was quite a wonderful experience. You may also be interested in knowing that quite by serrendipity, many years ago, when creating a comedy super-hero named Mr.Jigsaw, I called him Charlie Grant.

Mark Justice said...

Chad: I what you mean. I had a chance to interview Grant last year, but I was swamped with work and when I finally had a chance to do it, the market closed.

Ron: I am a big fan of MR. JIGSAW. You did that with Gary Kato, right?

By the way, did I hear somewhere that you're doing a Captain Hazzard comic? Is this scheduled yet? That *has* to go on my pull list.

Ron Fortier said...

Hi Mark,
And yes to both. I did do Mr.Jigsaw with my pal, Gary Kato. Do you have a memory or what? And yes, there is a Captain Hazzard -Python Men of the Lost City comic in the works. But be patient with us...it's taking a lot of time. I doubt we'll have issue #1 done before next year.
Comic artist just take time. Ha.