Vol. 1 No. 3 January 1990 Inside This Issue ² Robert R. McCammon Interviews Joe R. Lansdale ² Joe R. Lansdale Interviews Robert R. McCammon ² Your Conclusions to \The Night I Killed the King" ² A Report on the 1989 World Fantasy Convention ² News: Mine Advance Reading Copies Shipped Lights Out! Lights Out! Goat Busters The A Message from the Editor Robert R. McCammon Newsletter Ooops! First things ¯rst: somehow I neglected to thank Cindy Ratzla® of Simon & Schuster Audio for all her help on the ¯rst two issues. Please accept Vol. 1 No. 3 January 1990 my apologies, Cindy; I'm still not sure how I missed you. Also, my apologies to Adam Rothberg for renaming him last issue. At the end of October my family and I drove to Seattle, Washington, for the Presented by: 1989 World Fantasy Convention. There isn't much to see between Utah and Hunter Goatley Washington (actually, there isn't much to see between Utah and just about anyplace), but the drive was breathtaking in some places. Descending from Contributors: an altitude of about 4,500 feet to sea-level made for some interesting scenery Robert R. McCammon changes. We were amazed as we drove down the mountains into Seattle; the Joe R. Lansdale city really is situated where the mountains meet the ocean. A report on the convention can be found on page 5, along with several photos. Business Manager: Last issue I recommended Sunglasses After Dark, by Nancy A. Collins. I had a Dana Goatley chance to meet Nancy at the WFC, where she told me about her next novel; it sounds as if it will be just as good and original as Sunglasses. Additional Editing by: This issue features the ¯rst in a series of author interviews conducted by Denise de la Cruz Robert R. McCammon exclusively for Lights Out!. Because the interview is Robert R. McCammon with Joe Lansdale, I thought it would be interesting to run an interview with Heather Stone McCammon that Lansdale did for The Twilight Zone Magazine a few years ago; the interviews begin on page 9. Subscriptions The contest to write the conclusion to McCammon's short story \The Night I Killed the King" was very successful; a total of thirteen endings were submitted. $12 per year (4 quarterly issues). The winning entry and excerpts from the others begin on page 15. As I told Send check or money order to: some of the entrants, I'm glad I didn't have to pick the winner; each of the endings was very entertaining. Lights Out! Just before going to press, I ¯nished the advance reading copy of Mine. All I'll P.O. Box 2111 say is that you won't be disappointed; I think the book's gritty realism makes it Orem, Utah 84059-2111 one of the scariest books Rick has written. Back issues of Lights Out! are available for $3.00 each. We currently have both of the ¯rst two issues available. Also, \The Almost-Complete Robert R. Thanks to the following people for all their McCammon Bibliography" that appeared in the October 1989 issue of Lights help: Stan Wiater, Adam Rothberg, Sally Out! will be maintained as necessary. Interested readers can obtain up-to-date Peters, Deanne Meek, Cindy Ratzla®, Dave listings by sending a self-addressed, stamped business envelope to Lights Out! and Laurie Hinchberger, Craig Goden, Jim Orbaugh, Mark V. Ziesing, Nicholas Certo, (please specify that you want the bibliography). Bob and Phyllis Weinberg, Jane Jewell, Please send all correspondence to: Beth Gwinn, Karl Hayes, Lisa Rubilar, Heather Stone, Denise de la Cruz, and Hunter Goatley Dana Goatley. Very special thanks to Lights Out! Joe & Karen Lansdale and Rick & Sally P.O. Box 2111 McCammon, for obvious reasons. And, of Orem, Utah 84059-2111 course, thanks for your support. Thanks to the following people for helping to make the World Fantasy Convention more enjoyable for me: Rick and Sally McCammon, Joe and This newsletter was typeset on a DEC Karen Lansdale, Al Sarrantonio, Nancy Collins, Stan Wiater, Tim Powers, VAXstation 3100 using the TEX typeset- F. Paul Wilson, James Kisner, Jane Jewell, Beth Gwinn, and Paul Wrigley. ting system developed by Donald Knuth at Stanford University. TEX is a trademark of And special thanks to the Lights Out! subscribers in attendance for their the American Mathematical Society. company (I'm just sorry we didn't have more time): Dave & Barbara Bailey, Dave & Laurie Hinchberger, Jim & Sylviane Hoare, Geordie Howe, Barbara & John Hubbard, Dan B. McMillen, Dean Marquandt, and Jodi Strissel. °C 1990 by Hunter Goatley. All rights Finally, thanks to everyone who sent Christmas cards. I hope you all had a reserved. Permission to reprint required. safe and fun holiday! Page 2 January 1990 The Robert R. McCammon Newsletter Things Unearthed... News items of interest April's Blue World Paperback to Include Excerpt from Mine As previously reported, Pocket Books will be publishing the Robert R. McCammon short story collection Blue World in April 1990. Many people have wondered if the American edition of Blue World will di®er from 1989's British edition; Lights Out! has learned that the American paperback will contain an excerpt from the next McCammon novel, Mine. The excerpt will consist of a combination of several chapters from the novel, which is scheduled for release in a hardcover edition in May 1990. In addition, the collection will include previously un- published letters from McCammon introducing both the novella \Blue World" and the excerpt from Mine. The ten- tative cover art for Blue World|reproduced on the cover of this issue|depicts a tomb in a cemetery and is rendered in striking blue. Meanwhile, the advance reading copies for Mine have been printed and shipped to reviewers around the country. McCammon and his wife, Sally, recently attended a Pocket Books sales conference in Miami, where McCammon gave a humorous presentation and signed the advance copies for Pocket sales representatives. McCammon read a chapter from Mine at the World Fantasy Convention in October. The non-supernatural novel is about a woman who was a member of the Storm Front, an out¯t similar to the SLA that Patty Hearst belonged to in the 1970s. The woman goes insane, kidnaps another woman's baby, and goes underground with the Planned Artwork for Mine Hardcover child. The novel chronicles the cross-country search for the kidnapped child. many American mail-order dealers. British Hardcover Edition of Upcoming McCammon Short Joker Story: Usher's Passing \On a Beautiful Summer's Day He Was" One of the problems with being a quarterly publication This past summer, on the heels of the Batman craze, is that the lag-time between issues causes some news to Bantam Books released a paperback anthology of all-new be old news by the time the next issue hits. Such is the Batman stories edited by Martin H. Greenberg. Entitled case with a British hardcover edition of McCammon's 1984 The Further Adventures of Batman, the book featured Usher's Passing. Just after the last issue was printed, I 14 stories by such popular writers as Joe Lansdale, Isaac learned that Severn House would be releasing the book in Asimov, Max Alan Collins, Edward D. Hoch, and Ed December 1989. Gorman. A Batman story by Robert R. McCammon was The dustjacket for the novel features a photograph of a originally to be included in the anthology, but he was unable castle that I assume is supposed to be the Lodge, but it to write his story because he was ¯nishing up Mine. looks like an old English castle to me (gee, I wonder why?). Bantam will follow the successful Batman book with My request for more information has gone unanswered by The Further Adventures of the Joker in February 1990. Severn House, but I know there was a low print run, as is The Joker anthology will feature stories by Robert R. usual for British printings. The book is available through McCammon, Joe Lansdale, F. Paul Wilson, and several Vol. 1 No. 3 Page 3 Lights Out! others. McCammon's entry is entitled \On a Beautiful The Avon book will be preceded by a limited edition Summer's Day He Was" and tells of the Joker as a boy. produced by Underwood-Miller and limited to 350 signed, slipcased copies (a nice number in this age of nearly a thousand \limited" editions). As of this writing, twenty of Miscellaneous the twenty-¯ve writers had signed the signature pages for Updates the book. Dark Dreamers is actually the ¯rst title in a two-book Simon & Schuster Audio's deal with Avon. Dark Visions: Conversations with the Something Passed By Masters of the Horror Film is slated for publication in 1991 and will include interviews with such people as John Something Passed By, the second audio collection of Carpenter and Tobe Hooper. stories from McCammon's Blue World, is still scheduled Also|an interview with Robert R. McCammon by Stan- for release in April 1990. Actor Michael O'Keefe has been ley Wiater will appear in an upcoming issue of Fangoria selected to read the ¯ve tales; he received an Academy magazine. The interview topics are Blue World and Mine. Award nomination for his portrayal of Ben Meechum in The Great Santini and has appeared in such ¯lms as Ironweed, The Slugger's Wife, and Caddyshack. World Horror Convention As we reported last issue, the stories read are \Something Announced for Winter 1991 Passed By," \Makeup," \The Red House," \Pin," and \Chico." The two-cassette package has a running time A new convention, dedicated to all aspects of the of 180 minutes and a list price of $14.95 in the U.S.