The Official Richard Laymon Fan Club

[Tasmaniac]

Looking through some old paperwork I came across my seven issues of The Official Richard Laymon Fan Club - there may have been more but we moved house and well, I kinda forgot all about it!

With the full cooperation of Richard, these 5 pages of stapled A4 kicked off the club - which was based in Scotland.

Laymon_1.jpg

Worthy of a mention is A Question For Laymon in which he was asked, How would you like to be remembered?

A: I'll let 'remembered' take care of itself, but it intrigues me that I am continuously invading the lives of strangers with my books. Right now, someone, somewhere is probably reading one. My thoughts, my creations, are entering that person. In a sense part of me is becoming part of that person, causing him or her to have certain physical and emotional experiences. It's strange and nice when you think about it. And mind-boggling, if you think about it too much.

[peteOcha]

Wow, great find! Didn't even know something like this existed.

[JDar.]

Me neither - Thanks for sharing Steve

Love that answer. Reminds me of Robert A Heinlein's STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND . . . except this provides food for thought . . .

Jan

[bookworm 1]

Makes me sad that he is gone.Thanks for sharing that.

[Tasmaniac]

No problem in sharing these!

Makes me sad too, bookworm 1. I remember feeling totally stunned when I heard the news of his passing. I never met the man, never spoke through e-mail, just loved his books.

What I'll do is post the covers of each issue I have, along with questions put to Richard - if only to read a little more of what this great author had once said.

Laymon_1 001.jpg

Q: Do you ever give yourself the jitters when you're writing?

A: Sometimes, I give myself the jitters when writing. It's fairly uncommon, though. For one thing, I do all my writing during daylight hours. (It might be fun to write a book at night, sometime, and see what happens. I easily get the creeps late at night, if I'm awake when my wife and daughter are asleep.)
Though I get deeply into whatever I'm writing about - strongly feeling what the characters feel - there is also a separation. While part of my mind is in the situation, another part is observing, watching from a distance, judging, making decisions about which words to use, what to have happen next, etc. The observer in me doesn't get the jitters. More often than not, when something really BAD is happening, he's giggling with delight and thinking "Oh, wow! This'll get 'em!"
So, while I am living my stories, I am also partly standing back and pulling the strings - the Master of Games.

[Tasmaniac]

Q: Who are your favourite 'Horror' authors?

A: I've been impressed and influenced by such early authors (aside from Chaucer, Shakespeare, etc) as Poe, Hawthorne, Bram Stoker, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, M.R. James, Algernon Blackwood, and H.P. Lovecraft. A special favourite of mine is William Hope Hodgson, who wrote astonishingly creepy tales - mostly about the sea.
Other guys who wrote neat, creepy stuff were Seabury Quinn (a WEIRD TALES contributor), and Davis Grubb (famous for his novel NIGHT OF THE HUNTER).
As a teenager, I read everything I could find by Robert Bloch and Richard Matheson. I was also a fan of Ray Russell and Roald Dahl.
Ira Levin has written several excellent horror novels and thrillers. He can always be counted on for a story that's unusual, creepy, well written and memorable.
Stephen King? I thought SALEM'S LOT was just about the best, creepiest book I have ever read. And it was partly the inspiration for THE CELLAR. I'd been working on violent suspense thrillers before reading SALEM'S LOT. After being so impressed by King's vampire book, however, I decided to write something spooky. And I've been doing that, pretty much, ever since.
Of course, I am a big fan of Dean Koontz. He is also a very close friend. Since meeting him in about 1980, I have read everything he has written, and I always look forward to a new book of his coming out. (He has written the introduction for my story collection, FIENDS, which Headline will be publishing in January, 1997). Though I like all his books, a few of my real favourites are STRANGERS, ODDKINS, and TWILIGHT EYES.
Some of my other favourite current American writers are Jack Ketchum, F. Paul Wilson, Bentley Little, Ed Gorman, and Michael Cadnum.
A big favourite of mine is the Canadian author, Michael Slade. He is actually a couple of guys, apparently. Slade's books are violent, original, very well written, wonderful. I always grab the new one the moment I see it.
Of current British horror writers, I am a great fan of James Herbert. His book, SURVIVOR, is one of the creepiest books I've ever read. THE FOG is ever spookier. I actually had to stop reading THE FOG one night because it was creeping me out too much. (Of course, I resumed reading it the next day) I don't think anybody does it better than James Herbert.
Other British favourites of mine are Simon Ian Childer and Harry Adam Knight. I understand that they are the same person, or writing team. Their stuff reminds me of monster movies from the 1950's...but better. I'm also a fan of Shawn Hutson, Stephen Gallacher, and a fairly new writer named Simon Clark, whose stuff is very creepy.
I am, of course, leaving out a lot of writers whose work I really enjoy, but it'd take too much space to name them all. Those mentioned above are a fairly good sampling, though, of my favourites.
Generally speaking, I read 50-60 books per year. They Include bestsellers, mysteries, classics and horror. And a few non-fiction books, usually about crime or politics.

[srboone]

REally diggin' these posts, Steve. Thanks for shring.

[Tasmaniac]

REally diggin' these posts, Steve. Thanks for shring.

Cheers, Squire!

I was hoping others here may have joined up as I wanted to know how many issues they indeed put out.

[srboone]

Hell, I never read Laymon (or many of these authors other than King, and Matheson) until 2010!

[Martin]

Discovered Laymon in 1999 but did not know of the existence of the fan club. Thanks for sharing these.

[srboone]

The funny thing is that the first Laymon book I read was CD's The Woods Are Dark; then I found an 80's paperback of The Cellar tucked away on my bookshelves. So I'd heard of Laymon when I was in high school cause I'd obviously thought about reading him, but never did....

[Tasmaniac]

The funny thing is that the first Laymon book I read was CD's The Woods Are Dark; then I found an 80's paperback of The Cellar tucked away on my bookshelves. So I'd heard of Laymon when I was in high school cause I'd obviously thought about reading him, but never did....

80's p/b of THE CELLAR? Was this the one?

Laymon_1 003.jpg

I picked this up years ago because of the cool inscription.

Laymon_1 004.jpg

[srboone]

Yep. It wasn't signed, tho.

[Grant Wootton]

Very nice Tas - you certainly pulled that particular rabbit out of your hat !!! Well done !!!!

[srboone]

Mine was in a box of books I bought at a garage sale in 1984. So I honestly can't even say i intended to read it, I guess.