Stanley, John
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1940- ) US author, much of whose work has been devoted to nonfiction studies of Cinema Monsters. Creature Features Movie Guide: an A to Z Encyclopedia of the Cinema of the Fantastic; Or, Is There a Mad Doctor in the House? (1981) and its expansions do a competent job of justifying their titles. Stanley is of sf interest for two novels. In World War III (1976), with World War Three devastating the Chinese mainland, the outcome of the conflict is determined by the success or failure of a squad of chimpanzees (see Apes as Human), each named after famous film Monsters including King Kong and Mighty Joe Young. Bogart '48 (1980) edges into Fantastika through a noirish crime tale, set in a surrealized 1948 Hollywood (see California), in which Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) and Peter Lorre (1904-1964) track down a killer, with help from many friends. A small influence on David Thomson's exceedingly populous Suspects (1985) may be detectable. [JC]
John Stanley
born 1940
works (selected)
- World War III (New York: Avon, 1976) [pb/Bruce Minney]
- Bogart '48 (New York: Dell Publishing, 1980) [pb/]
nonfiction
- Creature Features Movie Guide: an A to Z Encyclopedia of the Cinema of the Fantastic; Or, Is There a Mad Doctor in the House? (Pacifica, California: Creatures at Large Press, 1981) [nonfiction: hb/Kenn Davis]
- The Creature Features Movie Guide: Or an A to Z Encyclopedia of the Cinema of the Fantastic; Or, Is There a Mad Doctor in the House? (New York: Warner Books, 1984) [nonfiction: exp of the above: pb/]
- Revenge of the Creature Features Movie Guide (Pacifica, California: Creatures at Large Press, 1988) [nonfiction: exp vt of the above: pb/]
- Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide (New York: Berkley/Boulevard Books, 1997) [nonfiction: exp vt of the above: pb/]
- Revenge of the Creature Features Movie Guide (Pacifica, California: Creatures at Large Press, 1988) [nonfiction: exp vt of the above: pb/]
- The Creature Features Movie Guide: Or an A to Z Encyclopedia of the Cinema of the Fantastic; Or, Is There a Mad Doctor in the House? (New York: Warner Books, 1984) [nonfiction: exp of the above: pb/]
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