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Ron Smith being fired by fax? That seems wildly unlikely. Why? Because Ron worked through an agency, Temple Rogers. When I was at the Meg and then 2000AD [July 25, 1990 - June 30, 2000], all communications with Ron were via his agent Pat at Temple Rogers. Pat brought Ron's art in, dropped off invoices, collected scripts for Ron to draw. Fired by fax? I don't think so.

From Variety Online: And despite a strong critical response for the weekend's fourth new entry, Lionsgate's "Dredd" trailed with $2.2 million, ahead of the Weinstein Co.'s wide expansion of "The Master," at $1.4 million. Both should land in the mid- single digits.

Source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118059683

Sad to say, I think cult classic is where DREDD is headed judging by early returns from the US box office. That's disappointing but, on the plus side, we've still got a cracking Dredd movie to enjoy now and in the future...

US box office projections for the first weekend seem to be ranging $9-13m [Variety, EW, boxofficeguru, boxofficeprophets, et al.]...

Lee Bates wrote: I've only read one Dredd novel before, I can't remember the title but it was by Dave Bishop and was about a monster on the loose in MC1. It wasn't very good at all and put me off reading any more.

That sounds like Silencer, my 3rd Virgin novel. Yes, it was a bit shit.

Not quite sure why Rebellion have chosen to reprint Kingdom of the Blind in the movie tie-in omnibus, as that's also not great. If asked, I would have suggested Bad Moon Rising, it's a much better novel IMHO.

davidbishop

Alongside the Dredd and Anderson novels, Black Flame also published three Nikolai Dante novels, three Fiends of the Eastern Front novels [plus a related novel set in the Pacific theatre of war called Fiends of the Rising Sun], and other novels based on 2000AD character universes - ABC Warriors and Durham Red, amongst others.

Verging on Nexus in parts, to be honest - an erotica range that the writers' guidelines described without shame as 'books to be read one-handed'.

Life before the Kindle!

[perviest]

Kingdom of the Blind - urgh. Not my best work, even among the five Dredd novels I wrote.
It is the perviest Dredd novel, as I put in lots of gratuitous sex scenes to keep myself interested.
The copy editor at Black Flame freaked out and removed anything involving anal penetration, IIRC.
[Good thing she never got her hands on any of my Nikolai Dante novels - now they are pervy...]

From what little I know about the forthcoming film, my first Dredd novel for Black Flame - Bad Moon Rising - actually shares some plot elements with it [entirely by coincidence, I hasten to add].

davidbishop

Delurking momentarily...

On the question of publishing sub-standard material commissioned before my time as editor, I had no choice. Egmont Fleetway would not write off the tens of thousands of pounds that was lurking in the plans chest. I did get about £1700 of stunningly bad Future Shocks written off, but the rest of the stockpile we had to publish and be damned. [On publishing sub-standard material that I commissioned - mea culpa.]


I haven't listened to the interview with Pat, so I can't comment on the views he expressed there. I don't recall Pat and I having many - if any - cross words my time editing 2000AD [December 18, 1995 to June 30, 2000]. My memory is far from perfect, so I may simply have forgotten any such incidents.

I do find it curious that Pat has reportedly describing my spell editing 2000AD as the Dark Days, because he never said so to me at the time.

Indeed, when I resigned to become a freelance writer, Pat made a special trip into London and took me out to lunch at an Italian restaurant on Southampton Row as a way of saying thanks for my efforts.

We talked for more than an hour about Slaine, how the success of Horned God cast such a long shadow over the series, where next for Termight following the final book of Nemesis and the Deadlock spin-off. My memory is of a convivial lunch where we parted on good terms...

Was he being nice to my face at the time while cursing me behind my back? That would be hypocrisy, and Pat doesn't believe in hypocrisy...

Has he since *revised* his views about my editorship and is now seeking to rewrite history? Doubtful, as revisionism and rewriting history are also something Pat doesn't believe in...

So I don't have an answer to the question of why Pat bought me lunch when I left.

Perhaps the Dark Days didn't seem quite so dark at the time?

davidbishop