News & Blog

(Photo by Jill Bauman)

I just received the following email from Matt Bechtel with devastating, if not entirely unexpected, news:

Dear Necon Family,

Papa is at peace, and free.

Bob Booth — writer, editor, publisher, founder of Necon and Necon E-Books, avid fan of horror and the written word, father, grandfather, mentor and friend — passed away last night shortly after 2AM. As you all know, Bob had been battling cancer for the last eight months (and had far exceeded any and all expectations at the time of his diagnosis, including his miraculous four days spent at Necon this summer). His passing was peaceful and dignified, completely without pain or fear.

Plans for a memorial mass are currently being made, and details regarding the services will be made public as soon as they are finalized.

Bob is survived by his beloved wife, Mary; his children, Dan and Sara; his granddaughter, Jillian; and by literally everyone who is reading this email / blog / post. The term “Necon Family” is not an empty platitude; Bob loved you all, and you touched his life as much as he touched yours. Your love, prayers, thoughts and well-wishes meant more to him, and did more for him, than I have the words to express.

Condolences can be sent to: Mary Booth, 67 Birchland Ave., Pawtucket, RI 02860. They can also be sent via email to Dan (daniel.booth77@gmail.com), Sara (saracalia08@gmail.com), or myself (bechtel.matt@gmail.com), or via this blog or Facebook post; you have our word they will be received and passed along.

On behalf of all of us — thank you, Papa. Safe passage. We love you.

I don’t have much to add to this. I don’t have the words right now. All I can say is that Bob Booth was a lovely man, and it was an honor to know and befriend him. I’m deeply saddened by the news of his passing. I’m so glad Jack Haringa and I got to spend a little time alone with him at the tail end of this past Necon.

There have been too many losses in the community recently. I would like a break now, please.

And the horror micropress shits all over itself again, once again proving how little they actually care about the genre or its writers. Read this account of unbelievably shoddy treatment of an author by Undead Press. I’d already suspected Undead Press wasn’t worth working with just from looking at their website and their output, but now, thanks to one brave author speaking out, we all know they’re to be avoided at all goddamn costs.

Some time ago, the website Gothic.net sent me and several other authors a long list of questions about the horror genre, the results of which have been slowly doled out over time on their site under the ostensibly unironic heading “Panel of Experts.” (Ha!) Recently, two more topics with answers from yours truly were posted:

What is my favorite monster? Were they to ask me this question now instead of years ago, my answer would probably be different. I might reply that my favorite monster is the unknowable, the unseeable, the incomprehensible. But I still like the monster I wrote about, too, because when it comes to monsters I’m still a nine-year-old kid inside.

The second topic was about, um, BDSM themes in horror. Namely, is a storyline more or less frightening when BDSM themes are included, like in Hellraiser or Ichi the Killer? (Hey, I didn’t come up with the questions!) I think just about everyone else’s answer was better than mine, since mine essentially boils down to “neither.”

But anyway, that’s me, the expert on monsters and BDSM! Time to call the History Channel and pitch this as their next Halloween special!