Rocky Wood

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Rocky Wood
Born 19 October 1959
Wellington, New Zealand
Occupation Writer
Nationality New Zealander / Australian
Genres Non-fiction
Subjects Stephen King
UFOs
Environmental Politics
Influences
Official website

Rocky Wood is an award-nominated[1] Australian non-fiction writer known for his books about horror author Stephen King and as an authority on UFO-related phenomena. Wood is based in Melbourne, Australia[2] and has been a freelance writer for 30 years. His writing career began at university, where he wrote a national newspaper column in New Zealand on UFO-related phenomena and published other articles about the phenomenon worldwide[3] [4] [5] [6] ; and had articles on the security industry published in the US, Canada, the UK, New Zealand and South Africa. From 1976-1979 he edited the Earth Colonisation Report, the joint journal of the Earth Colonisation Research Association and the New Zealand UFO Studies Centre[7] . More recently he has begun to write on the politics of the environment[8].

Contents

[edit] Stephen King works

In the Stephen King and horror communities, Rocky Wood is regarded as a leading expert on Stephen King’s work[9]. He is the co-author of The Complete Guide to the Works of Stephen King (Kanrock Partners, 2003, 2004)[10]; Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished (Cemetery Dance Publications, 2006)[11]; The Stephen King Collector's Guide (Kanrock Partners, 2007 [12]); and Stephen King: The Non-Fiction (Cemetery Dance Publications, 2008)[13]. Wood has also written many articles on King that have appeared in such magazines as Cemetery Dance, Dark Discoveries[14], and Lighthouse[15].

Wood was keynote speaker at the 2003 Stephen King (SKEMER) Conference held in Estes Park, Colorado at the site of the hotel that featured in The Shining (2003); Continuum 3 (2005) and Continuum 4 (2006) in Melbourne, Australia; Conflux in Canberra, Australia (2006); and at the Stephen King film festival held in King’s hometown of Bangor, Maine in October 2005.

In 2002, he traveled to Orono, Maine and spent three weeks researching the Stephen King Archives at the Special Collections Unit of the Raymond H Fogler Library at the University of Maine.

His first King book was The Complete Guide to the Works of Stephen King, a 6000+ page encyclopedia on CD-ROM, which summarizes every story, every character, every place, and the entire timeline of King's work. In-depth information on all 270+ fiction works by Stephen King, 26,000 King characters, and 5,000 King places are included, along with adaptations of King’s work to the big and small screens. The Guide is even used by Stephen King's office for research [16] [17] [18].

In his research, Wood rediscovered previously unknown King stories[19] [20], including two written in his high school years, of which even the author did not have a copy [21]. King agreed to allow the inclusion of another two previously unpublished pieces, Sword in the Darkness and Dino[22] in Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished. That book covered nearly 100 King stories that had never been published or appeared only in obscure venues.

In 2005, Wood returned to Maine for a lengthy investigative trip into King’s non-fiction, discovering over 40 previously unknown pieces, again including lost material from King’s formative years, which he later provided to the author. King agreed to the inclusion of an obscure article, My Little Serrated Security Blanket in Wood's Stephen King: The Non-Fiction, which covers more than 600 individual items[23]. Wood returned to Maine in 2007 to continue his research.

[edit] Affiliations and awards

Rocky Wood is an Active member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA)[24] and was nominated for the HWA’s Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction for Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished (2006). He is also a member of the Australian Horror Writers Association[25].

[edit] Media appearances

Throughout his career, Wood has made many media appearances on TV, radio, and in the press, and has spoken at conferences in the US[26], UK, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Australia, and New Zealand [27] .

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ World Horror Convention Stoker Award nominees announcement
  2. ^ Author bio from publisher http://www.kanrockpublishing.com/authors.html
  3. ^ "Did UFO Abduct Aircraft?", Fate magazine 32,3 (March 1979): 61-65
  4. ^ New Zealand UFO Studies Centre: Kaikoura ufo controversy / edited by Rocky Wood. - Wellington (New Zealand) : New Zealand UFO Studies Centre, 1980. - 22 s. - (4th special issue)
  5. ^ Ufo Abduction
  6. ^ "The UFO Phenomenon in New Zealand - A Brief Review" in Erich von Daniken and UFOs in New Zealand - Paraparaumu, New Zealand: ECRA Promotions, 1978
  7. ^ The UFO Encyclopedia by Margaret Sachs. New York, New York: Perigree Books, 1980. p.88
  8. ^ See the 'Guest Writers' tab at www.carbon-sense.com
  9. ^ http://ozhorrorscope.blogspot.com/2005/12/interview-rocky-wood.html Australian horror website
  10. ^ Melbourne, Australia: 2004, Kanrock Partners http://www.horrorking.com
  11. ^ http://www.kanrockpublishing.com/book.html Melbourne, Australia: Kanrock Partners, 2006 and Abingdon, Maryland: Cemetery Dance Publications, 2006
  12. ^ Melbourne, Australia: 2007, Kanrock Partners http://www.horrorking.com/collector
  13. ^ Abingdon, Maryland, 2007: Cemetery Dance Publications http://www.cemeterydance.com/page/CDP/PROD/wood02
  14. ^ 'The Joy of Stephen King' Vol 1, No 1 Spring 2004 p.31-36 www.darkdiscoveries.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=2&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1 Dark Discoveries website
  15. ^ 'King's Neverending Story' in Lighthouse IV p.15-26; 'Stephen King: Why the Huge Fanbase?' in Lighthouse V p.20-28 ; www.locusmag.com/index/yr2005/t26.htm Table of Contents from Locus magazine
  16. ^ http://www.stephenking.com/credits.php Stephen King official website -credits
  17. ^ http://www.horrorking.com/graphics/BDN1.pdf 'Bangor Daily News' (Bangor, Maine) article
  18. ^ For Immediate Release
  19. ^ Article in Stonnigton Leader (Melbourne, Australia) http://www.horrorking.com/mediaresources/stonnington.jpg
  20. ^ Article in Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/28/1085641712073.html
  21. ^ 'Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished' p.173 ff.
  22. ^ Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished: Cemetery Dance Publications
  23. ^ http://www.cemeterydance.com/page/CDP/PROD/wood02 Announcement ref. My Little Serrated Security Blanket
  24. ^ HWA Members Web page http://www.horror.org/mempages.htm
  25. ^ http://www.australianhorror.com/member_pages.php?page=16 Australian Horror Writers Association member page
  26. ^ 'Earth Colonisation by Spacemen' at the Fifth World Conference of the Ancient Astronaut Society, Chicago, Illinois on 28 July 1978. From the Conference program, p.47
  27. ^ 'Earth Colonisation Theory and Developments' at the Seventh World Conference of the Ancient Astronaut Society, Auckland, New Zealand on 12 July 1980. From the Conference program, p.17

[edit] External links