In Memory of Award-winning Author and Creator of Logan's Run William F. Nolan
William F. Nolan was a multi-award-winning author of science fiction, fantasy and horror novels—most notably the creator of Logan’s Run, which went on to become a cult classic film, based on the novel of the same name, with a remake due out from Warner Bros. Among his many accolades, Nolan was nominated for Best Paperback Original by the Mystery Writers of America. He was voted a Living Legend in Dark Fantasy by the International Horror Guild in 2002, and in 2006 was bestowed the honorary title of Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. In 2010, he received the Lifetime Achievement Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association (HWA). In 2013, he was a recipient of the World Fantasy Convention Award in Brighton, England by the World Fantasy Convention. In May 2014, Nolan was presented with another Bram Stoker Award, for Superior Achievement in Nonfiction; this was for his collection about his late friend Ray Bradbury, called Nolan on Bradbury: Sixty Years of Writing about the Master of Science Fiction. In 2015, Nolan was named a World Horror Society Grand Master; the award was presented at the World Horror Convention in Atlanta, Georgia in May of that year. Nolan lived in Vancouver, Washington, with an apartment full of books, pulp magazines, and stuffed animals. Jason V Brock was his caretaker and heir to his literary estate. (Nolan and Brock conducted this interview with me, shortly before Nolan’s death on July 15th, 2021).
How did you both get your start as authors within major trade book publishing?
William F. Nolan: When I started my career there were a lot more publishing houses. Even before I had an agent, I was able to pitch ideas to friends, such as the late Charles Beaumont, and then we would work up proposals for anthologies or other books. There were also a lot more places for publishing stories or articles in magazines, such as Rogue, Playboy, Mademoiselle, Colliers, and the like.
Jason V Brock: By the time I was publishing regularly in the mid-2000s, the landscape had changed quite a bit with respect to outlets. Magazines were waning in influence, and small press anthologies filled that niche. Novels are still popular, of course, but mostly the small press has taken the spaces once occupied by magazines, and online appearances are increasingly the norm.
“My philosophy is to read as widely as possible.”
Are there particular authors or books that have influenced each of your areas of writing?
Nolan: My philosophy is to read as widely as possible. Read poetry, the classics, short stories, novels, and in all genres. That’s where I get ideas sometimes. I read something and have an idea sparked by how I could do it. So, I might read a Joyce Carol Oates piece about boxing and write a boxing story. Hemingway was a big influence for a time, but he was such a terrible person, so I stopped reading him. Ray Bradbury, Charles Beaumont, Jason Brock, Richard Matheson, while all friends, also give me inspiration. Fitzgerald is still a major influence.
Brock: My personal influences stem almost as much from film as from writing. I love all the people Bill mentioned, and I appreciate his mention of me! Bill is an influence, of course. Filmmakers Dan O’Bannon, John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, George A. Romero, Martin Scorsese, and numerous others are big influences. I’m a very visual writer, cinematic, so it figures movies would play a big role in my output.
What is it like working together in a collaboration as two authors?
A Marvel Comics adaptation of Logan’s Run.
Nolan: Well, I have collaborated quite a bit in my career. I worked on the screenplay to Burnt Offerings with producer/director Dan Curtis, for example. I did most of the adaptation of Marasco’s novel, but Dan and I worked on other elements together. Of course, I co-wrote Logan’s Run with my dear friend George Clayton Johnson. That started as an idea of mine, but as the book took shape George added some fine elements. We literally typed the whole thing from notes in three weeks! We spelled one another on the typewriter in a hotel. I did the final polish later. Jason and I have worked on a lot of pieces together, also, but I’ll let him talk about that.
Brock: I come from a background in music, and having a band is quite collaborative. Also, I am a filmmaker, having completed two documentaries and working on others, and film in general is extremely collaborative. So, writing is a pretty easy way to work together as there are fewer people involved, at least in the active writing phase, as opposed to editing and preparing for publication. As long as the coauthors share roughly the same vision for the outcome, getting there can be a lot of fun, actually. It’s surprising the places a piece can go when you write something, then have the other person take your concepts and spin them, then you do that to theirs, etc. It’s a rush.
Logan’s Run was made into a 1976 cult classic film of the same name, as well as a TV series later on. Any exciting updates on the Logan’s Run film/TV front? We’ve also heard rumblings of a new Logan’s Run graphic novel series.
Nolan: There is, but I’m not at liberty to get into too much detail. I’ve turned most dealings regarding Logan over to Jason. I want him to take it over and keep it going. I hope something can happen with it soon, because it’s been stuck in development hell for twenty years!
Brock: Yes, I have fielded a few offers. A game is scheduled, and we’ll see how that progresses. A couple of graphic novel things are possibilities. COVID-19 has had a huge impact on Hollywood, as you know. It’s just now getting back to some semblance of beginning production, but it’s not going to be swift or easy to get back to “normal” as we used to know it. Maybe never. Likely, as my wife Sunni says, we’ll establish a sort of “new normal.”
“…there are some interesting ideas and expressions happening in SF, but…lately the whole scene has become so overly-politicized...”
Having written many books in the area of science fiction and fantasy, where do you see the future of storytelling within SFF headed? Are there any particular sub-genres within SFF on the rise or on the decline?
Nolan: I don’t read too much SF anymore. It lost its charms for me sometime in the 1990s. I do like Greg Bear’s work. He’s a very good writer. And so is John Shirley. But not too much holds my interest in that genre now. It seemed to turn into more fantasy-driven stuff at some point and I just wasn’t that interested in it once that happened.
Brock: I think there are some interesting ideas and expressions happening in SF, but I tend to agree with Bill. And lately the whole scene has become so overly-politicized as to overshadow the work itself, which is too bad. I think that aspect will be looked back on as unfortunate in the future. But we are where we are at present, so we’ll have to see.
Bill, how great did it feel when you won the World Fantasy Convention Award and the title of World Horror Society Grand Master? Did it feel like the culmination of a lifetime of hard work within SFF, or that there was still more work to be done?
Nolan: Those were real highlights. Awards are fine to win, but they don’t mean a whole lot in the long-run. I’m grateful, of course, but writing is my religion. I take writing very seriously, and the work is what I find pleasure in. There’s always more to do.
Jason, you’ve similarly won many awards in the horror fiction area. I’d pose the same question to you: did it feel like the culmination of a lifetime of hard work within horror, or that there was still more work to be done?
Brock: I agree with Bill. There is always more to do, more to say. Writers and other creators should have something to say, I feel. I do, Bill does. We want to reach out to others and help them tap into that part of themselves, even if they aren’t creative types. To find like minds.
Having written several books about Fahrenheit 451 author Ray Bradbury, did you ever get the chance to meet him, Bill? Same with Dashiell Hammett?
Nolan: Oh, yes. Ray was my dear friend for over sixty years. We were very close. Never met Hammett, but I greatly admire his work, and have written about him. In fact, I have a manuscript I’m finishing about him that I’ve been working on for some time.
“No one is going to become Stephen King over the weekend…”
William F. Nolan with Ray Bradbury.
Do you either of you have any advice for hard-working writers looking to become published authors in the science fiction area?
Nolan: Read widely, not just a single genre. Write something every day. Keep a notebook of ideas. Edit your work mercilessly. Learn the craft and don’t chase markets. No one is going to become Stephen King over the weekend, so if that’s your motivation, find another job, like digging a ditch or something. Leave writing to us professionals.
Brock: Hmm. Bill makes a compelling case! Hard to top his advice, frankly. I keep a dream journal, also. When it’s safe, visit a few cons to network and meet other writers, but don’t get involved with the topical issues of the day or the politics. Just take the work seriously and have something to say.
Can you both give us a sense of where you see the Logan's Run story headed?
Brock: I have a lot of ideas that I’ve discussed with Bill. In my novel, Logan Falls, I expand on many of ideas that I came up with for the last comic book series, much of which wasn’t used or was only touched on. It’s coming along, but the pandemic has delayed things, unsurprisingly. Bill liked what he saw and what we went over. It began as a collaboration, but I took the book over at Bill’s request.
Nolan: Jason has a lot of great new ideas for Logan. I trust his vision totally and look forward to the finished novel. Long may Logan run!
William F. Nolan, Jason V Brock and Richard Matheson, author of I am Legend and writer for The Twilight Zone.