Search the Bava Book

During the past year, we've fielded some inquiries about when my mammoth tome MARIO BAVA ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK might be available through Amazon.com. Well, it's available there now -- just in time for the holidays -- and here's the link to the sales page.

It may interest you to know that the Amazon listing offers a nifty "Look Inside!" feature that allows you to search for specific words or names inside and also to peruse a limited amount of interior pages. I'm sure there are some interested people out there who haven't bought the book because they've never seen a copy in person and haven't had the opportunity to page through it to prove to themselves that it's worth the investment. This "Search the Book" feature will help those people to spend a little time with this 12-pound monster and find out why it became the most celebrated film book of 2007-2008, winning the International Horror Guild Award, the Independent Publishers Award, the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Film Award and the Saturn Award for Special Achievement.

In case you're wondering if it will do us, the publisher, more good if you buy the book directly from us, or through the Amazon seller... the answer is Yes, we'll see more profit from the sale if you buy the book from us directly, and we pride ourselves on the efficiency of our mail order department -- but we're fine with whichever way makes you feel most comfortable. By all means, though, make use of the "Look Inside" feature and take a gander at Mario Bava's life... and a big chunk of mine and Donna's, too.

Bava Book Wins International Horror Guild Award!

The International Horror Guild Awards for works from 2007 were announced Friday, October 31. PETER STRAUB, named earlier as the year's LIVING LEGEND, was honored in an essay by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz (http://horroraward.org/peter_straub.html or download as a document: http://horroraward.org/peter_straub.doc.)

The INTERNATIONAL HORROR GUILD AWARDS for WORKS from 2007

NOVEL
The Terror. Dan Simmons (Little, Brown & Company)

FICTION COLLECTION
Dagger Key and Other Stories. Lucius Shepard (PS Publishing)

LONG FICTION
Softspoken. Lucius Shepard (Night Shade Books)

MID-LENGTH FICTION
"Closet Dreams". Lisa Tuttle (Postscripts 10: PS Publishing)

SHORT FICTION
"Honey in the Wound". Nancy Etchemendy (The Restless Dead: Candlewick Press)

ANTHOLOGY
Inferno. Ellen Datlow, editor (Tor)

NON-FICTION
Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark. Tim Lucas (Video Watchdog)

PERIODICAL
Postscripts. Peter Crowther & Nick Gevers, editors (PS Publishing)

ILLUSTRATED NARRATIVE
The Nightmare Factory. Thomas Ligotti (creator/writer), Joe Harris & Stuart Moore (writers), Ben Templesmith, Michael Gaydos, Colleen Doran & Ted McKeever

ART
Elizabeth McGrath for "The Incurable Disorder", Billy Shire Fine Arts, December 2007

About The IHG Awards
The International Horror Guild Awards recognized outstanding achievements in the field of Horror and Dark Fantasy. Nominations are derived from recommendations made by the public and the judges knowledge of the field.

The IHG Living Legend Award is determined solely by the judges. Living Legends are individuals who have made meritorious and notable contributions and/or have substantially influenced the field of horror/ dark fantasy. Previous recipients are Ramsey Campbell, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Gahan Wilson, Stephen King, Richard Bleiler, Charles L. Grant, William F. Nolan, Alice Cooper, Ray Bradbury, Clive Barker, Hugh B. Cave, Edward W. Bryant, Richard Matheson, and Harlan Ellison.

Edward Bryant, Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, Ann Kennedy Vandermeer, and Hank Wagner adjudicated for the final award year of 2007. William Sheehan and Fiona Webster have also served as judges. Paula Guran administered the award beginning in 1996. The awards were overseen by a non-profit corporation, The Mirabundus Project, Inc.

For additional information on the International Horror Guild, please contact info@horroraward.org.
_______________


Donna and I are honored and delighted by this wonderful news! We extend our heartfelt thanks to the IHG judges and membership, and our congratulations to all the other recipients and nominees!

La ragazza nella impermeabile giallo

"The Girl in the Yellow Mackintosh" would make an arresting title for a new giallo movie, and -- as you can see -- actress Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni is already dressing the part. It was a tremendous treat for Donna and I to meet this icon of contemporary Italian horror (Dario Argento's OPERA, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and THE MOTHER OF TEARS, Lamberto Bava's DEMONS 2: THE NIGHTMARE CONTINUES and GHOST SON), at Cinema Wasteland in Strongsville, Ohio this past weekend.

But what is inside that box held ever so tightly in her evil clutch?

Well, Donna and I were so moved by Coralina's deeply emotional response to her first look at MARIO BAVA ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK -- and we were so charmed by her personally -- that we decided to present her with her own personally inscribed copy. Those of you who have received the book will recognize our tailor-made, custom-fitting book container.

Coralina was lucky enough to receive her copy at Cinema Wasteland, where Donna's and my signatures could be joined by those of fellow Cinema Wasteland guests of honor Brett Halsey (FOUR TIMES THAT NIGHT, ROY COLT & WINCHESTER JACK), John Saxon (THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, EVIL EYE) and none other than...

... Maestro Lamberto Bava, whom Donna and I finally met this past weekend after 28 years of contact by telephone and personal correspondence! That's right, as incredible as it seems, I have finally made contact with the Bava family in the flesh! It was an emotional couple of days, as you can imagine, and there will be more pictures and details coming soon to Video WatchBlog!

Italy's greatest giallo directors like to kill Coralina, but we much prefer hugging her and talking with her over a table piled high with good wine and good food. She returns home today with a 12-pound book cradled in her arms, but we came home yesterday much richer, feeling that we had found many new friends -- and a new sister.

Bava Book Receives Rondo Award for Best Book

"Nurse Moan-eek" (Linda Wylie) and David Colton present Tim Lucas with the Rondo Award at Wonderfest 2008. Photo by Eileen Colton.

Can it already be one week ago that the 6th annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Film Awards were held at Wonderfest in Louisville, Kentucky?

I am grateful to have won two Rondos this year, one for Best Book (MARIO BAVA ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK) and another for Best Writer. In my acceptance speech for the Bava book, I naturally thanked Donna for her selfless contribution to the project, and also everyone who pre-ordered the book and helped to make it a reality. I sincerely believe that, despite all the warning signs, we are not witnessing the end of printed matter -- just the elimination of extraneous printed matter, of which the desktop publishing movement of the late '80s and early '90s brought us in quantity too great to collect over so long a period of time. The success of MARIO BAVA ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK proves that there is still an audience out there that is interested in reading about interesting pop cultural and historical topics in depth, not merely glancing at factoids as they scroll past. And that audience is prepared to not only support but enable publication, if they have to.

One thing I meant to say while accepting the Best Book award is that my feelings about it differ from the way I feel about all the other Rondos we've been fortunate enough to acquire over the past six years. The others represent work done in a single year, but this one represents to Donna and me the work of a lifetime shared together. My thanks to David Colton for making this award, and its attendant recognitions, possible -- and my congratulations to the publishers and editorial staff of RUE MORGUE, who won the Best Magazine award this year, breaking VIDEO WATCHDOG's five-year winning streak.

Bava Book Nominated for IHG Award

Since returning home from the Saturn Awards, Donna and I thought we had seen the last of the award nominations for MARIO BAVA ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK -- so imagine our surprise when we learned today that the Bava book has been nominated in the Non-fiction category for the 2007 International Horror Guild Awards!

This is wonderful news, very exciting -- and we get to share our elation with cherished VW contributor Ramsey Campbell, who has been nominated in two important categories!

Here is the complete list of nominations (with VW-related nominees bolded) as found on the IHG website.

INTERNATIONAL HORROR GUILD AWARD NOMINATIONS for WORKS from 2007

LIVING LEGEND AWARD
Peter Straub

NOVEL
Grin of the Dark. Ramsey Campbell (PS Publishing)
Generation Loss. Elizabeth Hand (Small Beer Press)
The Missing. Sarah Langan (HarperCollins)
Season of the Witch. Natasha Mostert (Dutton)
The Terror. Dan Simmons (Little, Brown & Company)

FICTION COLLECTION
The Imago Sequence and Other Stories. Laird Barron (Night Shade Books)
Plots and Misadventures. Stephen Gallagher (Subterranean Press)
Shadows Kith and Kin. Joe R. Lansdale (Subterranean Press)
Masques of Satan. Reggie Oliver (Ash Tree Press)
Dagger Key and Other Stories. Lucius Shepard (PS Publishing)

LONG FICTION
Procession of the Black Sloth. Laird Barron (The Imago Sequence: Night Shade Books)
The Man in the Picture: A Ghost Story. Susan Hill (Profile)
Softspoken. Lucius Shepard (Night Shade Books)
The Scalding Rooms. Conrad Williams (PS Publishing)

MID-LENGTH FICTION
"The Janus Tree". Glen Hirshberg (Inferno: Tor)
"Lie Still, Sleep Becalmed". Steven Duffy (At Ease with the Dead: Ash Tree Press)
"The Bone Man". Fredric S. Durbin (Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 2007)
"Closet Dreams". Lisa Tuttle (Postscripts 10: PS Publishing)

SHORT FICTION
"Digging Deep". Ramsey Campbell (Phobic: Comma Press)
"Honey in the Wound". Nancy Etchemendy (The Restless Dead: Candlewick Press)
"The Tank". Paul Finch (At Ease with the Dead: Ash Tree Press)
"Splitfoot". Paul Walther (New Genre 5, Spring 2007)
"The Great White Bed". Don Webb (Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 2007)

ANTHOLOGY
Inferno. Ellen Datlow, editor (Tor)
Summer Chills. Stephen Jones, editor (Carroll & Graf)
American Supernatural Tales. S.T. Joshi, editor (Penguin)
Strange Tales Volume II. Rosalie Parker, editor (Tartarus Press)
At Ease with the Dead. Barbara and Christopher Roden, editors (Ash Tree Press)

NON-FICTION
Frankenstein: A Cultural History. Susan Tyler Hitchcock (W.W. Norton & Company)
Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark. Tim Lucas (Video Watchdog)
Warnings to the Curious: A Sheaf of Criticism on M.R. James. Rosemary Pardoe & S.T. Joshi, eds. (Hippocampus Press)
Sides. Peter Straub (Borderlands Press)
The Science of Stephen King. Bob Weinberg & Lois M. Gresh (John Wiley)

PERIODICAL
Black Static
Dead Reckonings
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Postscripts
Weird Tales

ILLUSTRATED NARRATIVE
Scalped: Indian Country. Jason Aaron (writer) R.M. Gu�ra (artist) (Vertigo/DC Comics)
The Nightmare Factory. Thomas Ligotti (creator/writer), Joe Harris & Stuart Moore (writers), Ben Templesmith, Michael Gaydos, Colleen Doran & Ted McKeever (illustrators) (Fox Atomic/Harper Paperbacks)
The Blot. Tom Neely (I Will Destroy You)
The Arrival. Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine Books)
Wormwood Gentleman Corpse: Birds, Bees, Blood & Beer. Ben Templesmith (IDW)

ART
Didier Cottier for Exhibit at Utopiales, Nantes, France, November 2007
David Ho for his body of work
Elizabeth McGrath for "The Incurable Disorder", Billy Shire Fine Arts, December 2007
Chris Mars for "New Salem", Jonathan Levine Gallery, October 2007
Mike Mignola for cover & illustrations: Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire (Bantam Spectra)

My congratulations to Mr. Straub and ALL the 2007 IWGA nominees!

Tim & Donna at the Saturn Awards

It's taken us awhile to figure out how to present it, but here is some original camcorder footage of the Bava book segment of the 34th Annual Saturn Awards, beginning with host Jeffrey Ross' introduction of John Saxon, Mr. Saxon's generous introduction of Donna and me, and our joint acceptance speech.

The footage runs 12 minutes or so and was shot off one of the onstage videoscreens at an angle. I hope you will enjoy it.

Our thanks, once again, to Robert Holguin and the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films for making possible one of the most memorable evenings of our life together.

Bava Book at the Saturn Awards

Last Tuesday, June 24, Donna and I were in Los Angeles to attend the 34th Annual Saturn Awards and to accept the Saturn Award for Special Achievement for our work on MARIO BAVA ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK. The award was presented to us by John Saxon, the star of Bava's seminal giallo LA RAGAZZA CHE SAPEVA TROPPO, aka THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1963), aka EVIL EYE. John's speech was exceptional and both it and our acceptance speech was recorded. We'll be posting it, or a link to it, here in the days ahead.

It was a mind-blowing evening: after making our acceptance speech, we were whisked backstage to be photographed and interviewed and, as we made our way toward the press area, we passed Ray Wise who was waiting to present one of the other awards. I only had time to shake his hand, stammer "You are one of my favorites," and move on. The star of one of the greatest horror films of the last twenty years -- TWIN PEAKS FIRE WALK WITH ME -- and I had to keep moving.

But it got still more surreal. When Guillermo del Toro (winner of this year's George Pal Memorial Award) showed up at the after-party, he gave me a big hug the moment he saw my face and kept numerous interviewers and other people waiting for a moment of his time as he talked to Donna, Charlie Largent and me about how important he believes the Bava book to be.

I didn't have a tape recorder running, but he said something very like: "To my mind, the two greatest film books of all are HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT and yours, ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK. These books are incredible not only for the way they discuss movies, but for the way they convey the sheer love of movies. When I read your book -- and I have two copies, one to read and one to keep -- it makes me want to get off my ass and get out there and shoot a fucking movie!" And now there's an online audio interview with Guillermo by Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere, in which he says something similar at 27:28-47. Thanks to correspondent William D'Annucci for letting me know about it.

Guillermo and I are a mutual admiration society. In an age when all films are relentlessly stylized and visual, his films stand almost alone in earning the right to tell stories in those terms. He has a command of visual magic of the sort that drew me to Bava's work, moreso than any other filmmaker working today; if Bava has any true disciple among contemporary filmmakers, it's Guillermo del Toro. Donna and I saw a trailer for HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY at the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles and were dazzled by its ingeniously designed monsters and miraculous images. We can't wait to see it.

I'm also happy to note that Anchor Bay Entertainment's THE MARIO BAVA COLLECTION, VOLUMES 1 and 2 won in the Best DVD Collection category. Producer Alfredo Leone accepted the award, and it was a pleasure to hug him after the ceremony in acknowledgement of our mutual success at making Mario Bava one of the most prominent figures in the past year of fantastic cinema -- almost 30 years after his untimely death.

Bava Book Featured on New Bava DVD

Isn't this a great picture of Luigi Cozzi and Lamberto Bava posing with MARIO BAVA ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK at the world-famous Profondo Rosso store? Ah, but it isn't a picture! It's actually a frame grab from a 9m interview featurette included on a new Italian "Special Edition" DVD of I TRE VOLTI DELLA PAURA (aka BLACK SABBATH), the first-ever release from a new company called Sinister Film. The book sits in front of them for the whole 9m, and sometimes gets opened to share glimpses of the chapter devoted to this classic horror anthology, starring Boris Karloff.

The disc is Italian-language only, but the extras are certain to tempt hardcore Bava fans. There is an impeccable anamorphic transfer of the Italian version; a lively feature-length audio commentary by Lamberto and Luigi (unlike his earlier laconic commentaries, here an enthusiastic Lamberto almost never stops talking!); a 38m documentary utilizing Bava TV interviews to "comment" on scenes from various films; 15m of "deleted" scenes taken from the American BLACK SABBATH version; photo and poster galleries; a 16-page illustrated booklet containing testimonials from the likes of Jacques Tourneur, Riccardo Freda, Roger Corman, Joe Dante, Pupi Avati and many others; and some additional featurettes ported over from VCI's BLOOD AND BLACK LACE disc, including interviews with actors Cameron Mitchell and Mary Dawne Arden and composer Carlo Rustichelli.

Where can you find it? I got mine at Bloodbuster, a reliable Italian DVD website that takes PayPal. It took a couple of weeks to reach me, but it was worth the wait.

And that's not all the happy news about this Bava classic I have to share. David Sehring, the head of Dish Network's Monsters HD channel, has written to tell me that BLACK SABBATH -- the film's much-coveted, never-on-DVD, English-language version -- will be making its high-definition debut on Monsters HD sometime this summer!

Bava Book Named Rondo's Best Book

MARIO BAVA ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK has been announced as winner of the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Book of 2007. You can find the other results here, including my very happy win as Best Writer.

This was an amazing year for film books: Stephen Thrower's NIGHTMARE U.S.A., Gary Don Rhodes and Richard Sheffield's BELA LUGOSI: DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES, the revised Second Edition of Tom Weaver and the Brunas brothers' UNIVERSAL HORRORS, August Ragone's EIJU TSUBARAYA: MASTER OF MONSTERS, to name only a few of the top contenders. People are sending me their congratulations tonight, but I want to send out my congratulations to all the other nominees in this category, as this was a year when, truly, everybody deserved to win.

Bava Book to Receive Special Achievement Saturn Award

Excerpted from a letter received today from Robert Holguin, president of the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films:

Dear Tim:

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films was founded in 1972 to honor, recognize and promote genre entertainment. The organization was an extension of another group, The Count Dracula Society, which was founded by Dr. Donald A. Reed. Dr. Reed’s passion was bringing recognition to the people who were often overlooked because they dealt in the fields of filmmaking which were considered, in certain circles, juvenile entertainment. Through Dr. Reed’s efforts, we have seen the genre film become a major force at the box office. It’s the genre film which keeps the studios alive and well. Dr. Reed felt strongly in honoring and recognizing extraordinary work and the people who create it. I try to follow in his footsteps.

With your recent publication, Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark, you have completely awed us in your efforts to chronicle the life and work of filmmaker Mario Bava. The book is simply astounding. I am completely blown away by your accomplishments in publishing this monster of a book. The devotion you show to your subject matter is inspiring to the point of obsession. And we are humbled that you had this passion to work on a book which took many years of your life to complete. It’s one of the most incredible achievements we have seen in our lifetime.The Academy has chosen you to receive a Saturn Award, The Special Achievement Award, for your hard work in seeing this project come to fruition. If Dr. Reed were with us today, I know he would be the first to congratulate you on this monumental labor of love and wish to honor you for it.

We would like to present this award to you at the upcoming 34th Annual Saturn Awards. The show will take place on Tuesday, June 24, at the Universal Hilton in Universal City, California (right on the hill where Universal Studios sits). If you and Donna are able to attend, I can assure you that you will be surrounded by many admirers and peers who feel the same as I do about your work. I know this would be a memorable occasion for both of you. I hope you will be able to fit this into your schedule. It would be our great honor to see you receive earned accolades at the 34th Annual Saturn Awards.

Thanks so much, Tim, for your years of hard work and devotion. It is greatly appreciated by those who work within the fields of genre entertainment.

Sincerely,

Robert Holguin
President – The Saturn Awards

Naturally, Donna and I are delighted by the news and we hope to attend the Saturn Awards ceremony in June to accept this honor in person.

All the Colors of the Batman

Holy Small World! Acclaimed BATMAN artist Kelley Jones is not only a longtime VIDEO WATCHDOG subscriber, his name also appears on the List of Patrons inside MARIO BAVA ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK!

Kelley's latest Gotham City adventure is a seasonal one. "Batman Bloodlust" is one of thirteen new stories by various artists and writers featured in DC Comics' new omnibus INFINITE HALLOWEEN ($5.99), which streeted (appropriately) yesterday. Believe it or not, it's the story of how Robin became a vampire, and -- in a magnificent splash page whose impact is perfectly traumatic -- we see the young Dick Grayson traumatized as he bears witness to the Batman (a notorious king vampire) eating his parents.

We don't have the comic in hand yet, and neither does Kelley, but he was kind enough to send us this exclusive scan of his original, instant classic, black-and-white artwork for the page in question.

And why, you may ask, is it in question -- especially here, on the Bava book blog? Well... need I draw your attention to the poster so prominently placed on the wall of that alley?

I'm in a BATMAN comic. Incredible. Absolutely incredible.

And how appropriate that the key image on that poster should come from BLACK SUNDAY [La maschera del demonio, 1960], the Bava film which so many people of my generation recall as a traumatizing matinee event?

Now for the pièce de resistance: all the colors of the Batman! Here's the same page in its full color respendence, just as we found it on the IGN.com preview page, where you can also find several other color pages by different artists, as well as Dan Phillips' IGN.com review of DC's INFINITE HALLOWEEN.

DC's INFINITE HALLOWEEN -- DON'T DARE MISS IT!

Cover Story & Twitch

Now on Cincinnati newsstands and racks about town, the new issue of CITY BEAT (our local entertainment paper) profiles Donna and me and our 32 year struggle to produce MARIO BAVA ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK in a cover story called "Book of a Lifetime." Excellent work by Jason Gargano, which non-Cincinnatians can read online here.

And over at Twitch, Dave Canfield presents his own interview with yours truly.

"A Staggering Achievement"

Stuart Galbraith IV recently conducted a lengthy interview with me for the website DVD TALK, which has just been posted; you can find it here. We discussed various aspects of the Bava book (which Stuart calls "the most detailed, probing, and complete examination of any single filmmaker, anywhere in the world, ever") in detail, but we also talked in a more expansive vein about the current state of home video, the future of DVD and video stores, and other interesting topics. Check it out.

Also now online, Chris Alexander's review of Anchor Bay's THE MARIO BAVA COLLECTION VOLUME 2 at Fangoria.com.

Greencine Daily Profiles Tim Lucas & The Bava Book

Could I really be "King of the Nerds"?

The Uncle Forry to a new mutant strain of film fanatic?

D.K. Holm thinks so, and he explains why in an extensive, thoughtful and humbling profile of Yours Truly over at Greencine Daily.

Hey, I'm Cinedelic!

Today at the British cult film site Cinedelica, Kimberly Lindbergs makes me the inaugural subject of a new weekly feature called "10 Questions With...". It may sound like a questionnaire, but as you'll see, I gave generously. Plan on spending some time there. I talk about the Bava book, the origins of my own interest in Bava and his films, my favorite Bava movie, and also about future plans -- so check it out!

Invasion of the Ozalids!

What could be inside this box from Hong Kong? It weighs 34 pounds!


Donna decides to find out...


It's the ozalids (low-res proofs) of the Bava book!

These are the components of the entire book -- cover, dust jacket, and the interior signatures -- shipped to us in a full color, low resolution format. We were sent two sets; we're supposed to look them over, make sure that the pages are set to be cropped correctly, that the page numbering is properly sequential, and catch any last mistakes we may want to change. Then we sign off on the pages and they go to press! (We noted with some amusement that the ozalids were dated Friday the 13th!)

What a stack! Did I really write all this?

Donna holds up the negative proof of the book's cover, as it will appear beneath the dust jacket. What you see here will be embossed in gold ink on the hardcover binding. The spectacular likeness of the Maschera del Demonio (you recognized it, didn't you?) is the work of VW's own Charlie Largent.

Photographic evidence that the Bava book will be possible to hold and read, even if you're standing up. We were so enamored of seeing even this low-res version of the dust jacket, we couldn't resist wrapping it around one of the blank books sent to us as a sample by our printer. This picture was taken as a joke, but I was truly feeling a great emotion; it was like seeing and holding this 32 year-old dream for the first time.

Donna previews one of our favorite interior spreads in the book: the opening of the chapter on HERCULES [Le fatiche di Ercole, 1958].

Here's a better look at the book's spine. See how thick it is? This proof isn't laminated or nearly as bright as the actual dust jacket will be, but I can already tell that this book is going to have the most handsome spine in my library.

A proud expectant papa.

A Question About the Title

We have a question in our mailbox today, but before I get to that, I wanted to thank everyone for their letters of congratulations and the groundswell of interest I'm seeing in various film blogs. To the editors at GreenCine Daily, to Steve Bissette at Myrant, to Jeremy Richey at The Moon in the Gutter, to the Portuguese blog that heralded the book's completion under a headline translating as "Difficult Birth" (Donna and I were touched by this), and others -- our thanks and appreciation. And now a question from a fellow blogger...

Q: Congratulations on completing your book. I apologize if my question is explained in your book, but I associate the title "All the Colors of the Dark" with Sergio Martino's film of the same name, which is why I wondered about the use of that as the title for a book on Bava. Cordially - Peter Nellhaus

A: I understand how there might be some confusion about this, Peter, so I'm glad you asked. First of all, the title of the Martino film -- TUTTI I COLORE DEL BUIO, made in 1972 -- was swiped by screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi from a 1963 science fiction novel about teleportation written by Lloyd Biggle. He had read it in Italian in the pages of the sf monthly URANIA, but it was originally published in America by Doubleday as ALL THE COLORS OF DARKNESS. So this should be the correct translation of the Martino film's title. Furthermore, ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK wasn't the title of the Martino film anywhere in English until recently; it was always known as THEY'RE COMING TO GET YOU and DEMONS OF THE DEAD here in the States, and as DAY OF THE MANIAC in the UK.

Anyway, when I saw Mario Bava's films on the big screen for the first time at the first retrospective in San Francisco in 1993, it was this phrase -- "all the colors of the dark" (which someone had applied to a circulating bootleg tape of the Martino film) -- that kept ringing through my thoughts, because they were at once so fantasmagorically colorful yet also permeated with deep, hard blacks. I checked into the history of the English title and found that this exact wording actually had no legitimate place in the world, so I decided to claim the title for Bava, whose work had truly earned it.

When the Martino film came to DVD through Media Blasters (in 2004, according to Amazon.com), they put it out under the title ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK. By that time, I had already lived with my title for 10 years and I decided that I was damned well going to keep it.

My original title for the Bava book, as some may remember, was THE HAUNTED WORLDS OF MARIO BAVA. I mentioned this title often in the pages of VW -- someone told me recently that it's mentioned in our very first issue, and I know it figured prominently in my editorial for VW #5, which excerpted the book's BLACK SABBATH chapter -- and my work-in-progress lent its title to the first Bava retrospectives here in America, in San Francisco and Los Angeles. But by the time of those retrospectives, the book had outgrown this title by encompassing the two decades he spent working as a leading Italian cinematographer and also in its coverage of many non-horror assignments. So I was subconsciously ready for a title change by the time those retrospectives rolled around. A form of my original title was subsequently adopted by another book, so there would have been no going back to it even if I had wanted to do so. But I'm convinced that ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK is the right title for the book, especially after seeing how magnificently colorful Donna has made it.

Thanks for the kind words, and welcome home to Peter, whose fine film review blog Coffee, Coffee and More Coffee I am happy to recommend. -- TL

Finalmente!

Ladies and gentlemen, the Bava Book is FINISHED.

This little box I'm holding contains 32 years of my life and 65 years of Mario Bava's. Coming your way from Video WatcHDog this summer.

Donna's been averaging three hours' of sleep per night this week in order to get this book done by the weekend. She finished the book's interior last Tuesday or Wednesday, Thursday she put the final touches on the dustjacket, and then she pulled an all-nighter Thursday to ensure that everything could be in the mail to our Hong Kong printer by the end of the day on Friday. Most of Friday was spent by a very tired lady dividing the book into more than 90 high-res files on four DVD-ROM discs. This task occupied her till after 6:00, too late to have the package picked up at our doorstep, but fortunately the Kinko's nearest our home accepts FedEx drop-offs until 7:00pm -- so we hopped in the car and rushed across town. We got there just in time for Donna to press the package into the FedEx driver's hands as he was about to walk out of the store.

So this is the fabled day we've been working toward for the past... oh, let's not dwell on all that. The book is now done and on its way to Hong Kong. Mission finally accomplished!

Now there's a happy lady.

I made the formal announcement of the book's completion last night while guesting on FANGORIA Radio with Dee Snider, Debbie Rochon and Tony Timpone (three terrific people who made me feel very comfortable on the air). I know that some of you heard my segment because we're already getting some "next wave" letters -- the ones asking "So when's it coming out?"

On the book's indicia page, we've listed a likely release date of July 2007. But of course some books make it out before their release date, and it's possible that we'll have books in hand before then. At this point, we have to hear a release date from our printer. The book -- 1128 pages, full color, 12 pounds per copy -- has to be printed and bound and packaged for shipment to us. As I understand it, the books will then be shipped to the west coast and driven cross-country to us. So they could reach us in June, but it could be later, and considering how arduous the shipping process is bound to be from our end, we don't want to promise anything before July.

So how do we feel after all this? Well, as I type these words, Donna is sleeping the sleep of the justified. As for me, I'm still in shock, I suppose; it will probably take a celebration to make this event real, so hopefully we can figure out something to do this weekend to mark the occasion.

Because Monday, we start working on VIDEO WATCHDOG #130.

FANGORIA Radio, Here I Come

I'm going to be one of the featured guests on tomorrow night's installment of FANGORIA Radio, hosted by Dee Snider and Debbie Rochon. Nobody's told me who the other guests are, and their website doesn't have any information about this week's show either, but I at least know that I've been scheduled.

For those of you who haven't heard FANGORIA Radio, it airs every Friday night from 10:00pm to 1:00am on Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 102. If you're not already a Sirius subscriber, I believe you can get a free three-day trial run online. Sign up now and get it just in time to hear Dee and Debbie interview me about Anchor Bay's new Mario Bava box set! I'll probably be asked about the Bava book too, and if so, I just may have an historic announcement to make. (How's that for a teaser?) Anyway, I'm scheduled to be interviewed between 11:00 and 11:20pm, so do pop in and lend an ear.

By the way, it's worth visiting FANGORIA Radio's website, where various excerpts from past interviews are interred. I spent some time last night listening to Dee and Debbie's past talks with Roger Corman, John Waters, and Tom Weaver -- fun stuff.