October 7 – the day this update appears – is the publication day of the new Trash ‘n’ Treasure mystery by Barb and me – Antiques Round-up!
Barb did a fantastic job on this one and I added my own touches, too. When she told me about some of the wacky things she was planning to do in this one, I had my doubts she – or anyone – could pull them off…but she did! “Yippee-ki-yay, Mother (and Brandy)!”
Hardcover:
E-Book:
Barb is hard at work on her draft of the next book in the series, Antiques Web. She should be done by year’s end and I’ll saddle up for my draft come first of the year.
In the meantime, the movie that brings Brandy and her mother Vivian alive, Death by Fruitcake, should be available soon…we’ll let you know how, and where, to see it!
I have enjoyed the Conjuring movies, including the latest one (The Conjuring: Last Rites). I did wonder why in this latest installment nobody seemed to know how to switch on the lights when going into a room, but, hey – it’s a haunted house movie, so you need it dark.
The scariest thing about Last Rites is how cavalier Hollywood can be about giving credit where credit is due.
Before I get into this, let me say I am well aware that writers sometimes have to sign a work-for-hire agreement to get a gig. I signed plenty of those back when I was writing novelizations of movies and original novels based on TV shows. I get that.
But now and then something a writer has done as work-for-hire goes places nobody anticipated. For example, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel were screwed out of Superman because they had signed work-for-hire agreements when they were teenagers. It took decades – effing decades – for DC Comics to give anything to their estates and to include a “created by” screen credit for Siegel and Shuster on any new Superman movie.
Which brings me to Ed Gorman.
Ed Gorman (1941-2016) and his wife Carol
Ed was one of my two or three best friends in the writing business. He was probably the best short story writer in the genre. He was one of the best incredibly prolific writers of novels. I never read anything by him that wasn’t smart and engaging; he could be a little dark at times, but that was leavened with wry humor.
We used to talk on the phone, in those pre-social media days, for hour upon hour. He was incredibly affable and funny in those conversations, not only with me but in phone conversations with many others in the field. Nonetheless, he was notoriously a near recluse. I am one of the few people in mystery fiction who Ed spent time with in person. We even did some signings together, and he came to one of my band’s performances, at which he seemed loose and easy and to be having a great time. Later he told me he’d been terrified.
He was a unique person and a fine writer. I once told Barb that if I died before completing a novel to give it to Ed to finish. That’s how high my opinion was and is of him.
One of the ways Ed made a living was writing books for Ed and Lorraine Warren, the famous psychic/demon-hunter couple whose “real” adventures are the “factual” basis of the Conjuring movies.
Has anyone who saw one of those movies – and, again, I am a fan – believed them to really be “based on the true story”? That the outlandish things that happen on screen really did in real life? I don’t hold that against the Warrens or those who’ve turned their tall tales into films. I like a good scary story.
Here’s another.
One of the books Ed ghosted for the Warrens was called The Haunted. It became a TV movie and he may have received some payment for that, though I’m not sure. Ed did not receive a byline on the book, but the first page says this:
to Ed Gorman for his work on this book.
Ed developed The Haunted from 40 pages of notes provided by a reporter working with the Warrens, and spoke with both the Warrens and the Spurl family (who lived in the “haunted” house). I remember Ed telling me he didn’t have much to work from, and didn’t believe any of it anyway. So he just wrote a horror novel, he said, which would be sold as “non-fiction” (his quotes). He was clear about creating much of it out of whole cloth.
Ed was good at horror novels. Very good. He did most of them under the name “Daniel Ransom.” So the Warrens chose wisely.
The Conjuring franchise has made two billion dollars. The Conjuring: Last Rites had grossed over $187 million worldwide by September 7, 2025. The film’s debut included $83 million domestically and a record-breaking $104 million internationally.
The movie is based on The Haunted, which Ed Gorman wrote.
His estate has been paid not one cent.
He receives no screen credit, not even the acknowledgment that the original book carried on its first page.
It’s possible, maybe probable, that Ed signed a work-for-hire contract. It’s also likely he was paid only a few thousand dollars for the work. So maybe Warner Bros/New Line doesn’t owe him anything, legally. But I am of the opinion that, even so, his estate deserves a taste, and Ed deserves screen credit.
But that seems unlikely to happen.
As Count Floyd would say, “Scary, kids, scary!”
M.A.C.
Tags: Antiques Round-up, Antiques Series, Barbara Allan, New Releases, Trash 'n' Treasures
It’s amazing how many writers of our generation considered Ed Gorman one of their two or three best friends in the business. I certainly did, and I remember with great fondness those long phone conversations. I met Ed in person once, at the WWA convention in Jackson, Wyoming, in 1992. As I recall, he came down from his hotel room and sat in the lobby once, for about half an hour, and said almost nothing. But I was very pleased to be in the same room with him, anyway. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t think about him.
And if I might add, I’m not sure I’d still be in the business if not for Ed. Every time I found myself without a contract and really needing money, somehow the phone would ring and Ed would say, “James, I know a guy who really needs a book ghosted. You up for it?” I don’t know how he knew, but he always did.
I was lucky, James, to have better access to Ed than most of his friends in the writing game. We were in fairly nearby towns in Iowa. We visited each other’s homes, went out to eat, etc. He was such a recluse that for some while many thought “Ed Gorman” was a pseudonym of mine. A great compliment, really!
He loved his fellow writers and had great long-distance friendships with many of them. Your name often came up, so I would guess you were on the short list.
When I lost my DICK TRACY gig/paycheck, and had my Bantam Books “Nate Heller” contract cancelled at the very same time, it was Ed and Marty Greenburg that kept me afloat by giving me short story assignments for their anthologies. This both helped me maintain some dignity as a writer, and helped us keep the lights on.