“A pioneer in science fiction.” – John Carpenter

If you’re the slightest fan of Hammer, then you’ll probably know who writer Nigel Kneale was, since he was the man responsible for sending Hammer down their path of success with the Quatermass movies, based on his original tele-plays, as well as other Hammer titles like The Abominable Snowman (1957) and The Witches (1966). He also gave us The Stone Tape (1972), a chilling made-for-TV film that needs to be seen, as well as the series Beasts that he wrote. And of course, lets not forget that Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) came from him (though it was highly re-written). John Carpenter was highly influenced by Kneale, even using the pseudonym Martin Quatermass for his film Prince of Darkness. 

Now, thanks to the wonderful people at Headpress, you can read all about this fantastic and imaginative writer in their fully revised biography Into the Unknown, which comes out next month. Written by Andy Murray, the book covers Kneale’s career from his childhood to his work at the BBC and beyond, which left us with countless hours of imaginative and fantastic entertainment.

This is one volume that is a must for my library, and should be for yours as well. You can either order it from Amazon, which is only the paperback version. If you want a hardcover version, you have to order that directly from Headpress themselves.