Bummer – one of my favorite horror authors passed away two weeks ago: Ira Levin, author of ROSEMARY’S BABY, THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL, and THE STEPFORD WIVES, among other things, died Nov 12 at the age of 78 from a heart attack according to the New York Times.

Something I didn’t realize is that he only published 7 books over the course of a 40+ year career, with most of what I think of as his best work being written in the 1970′s. I guess when you produce such quality work, you don’t need to create a lot of it to make your mark! (I always prefer to reread books over and over again that I thoroughly enjoyed rather than to take a chance on something unknown when I want to be entertained – maybe that’s why I’d thought he’d written more than just 7. LOL)

I think my favorite of his books is BOYS – even if the technology that was used as part of the twist has become almost mainstream nowadays, when that book first came out it was cutting edge, touched on subjects I was fascinated with and a definite page-turner. Even today, the book’s quality shines through in its suspense and intelligence and handling of palpably horrific plot points. I never really liked ROSEMARY’S BABY as much or its sequel (probably seeing the movie first was part of the problem), but STEPFORD WIVES was also quite an original I thoroughly enjoyed that has been much parodied ever since it entered the vernacular so it’s lost quite a bit of its original edginess for anyone wanting to read it for the first time at this late date.

Something else I had forgotten about him was he was not only a novelist and playwright, but also a lyricist for a musical (DRAT! THE CAT! – 1965) I don’t know about you, but if it was anything like his books, I fear it would definitely make for quite an interesting, but probably quite twisted, evening. I’ll have to go surf the net to see if I can find more info on it.

Goodbye to yet another author who gave me quite a few hours of edge-of-the-seat, don’t-set-it-down-til-the-end reading…