On March 31, 2012, Rick Hautala received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Horror Writers Association (HWA). The HWA posted video of the Bram Stoker Awards ceremony that night. You can see Rick receive his award at the YouTube video below.
Rick Hautala
From the Archives: Rick Hautala interview with “Francy & Friends,” January 2013
On January 20, 2013, Rick Hautala was a guest on the BlogTalkRadio show “Francy & Friends,” hosted by Francy Weatherman. It was recorded just two months before Rick’s untimely death in March 2013.
Sometime in the intervening years, the episode went AWOL from the BlogTalkRadio site. The page is still there, but the audio is not.
Fortunately, I saved the file, and it’s now hosted here for your enjoyment.
Here’s the description of the episode:
Known for the past two decades as “that other horror writer from Maine,” Rick Hautala has more than thirty published books to his credit, including the million copy, international best-seller Nightstone, as well as Twilight Time, Little Brothers, Cold Whisper, Impulse, and The Wildman. He has also published four novels using the pseudonym A. J. Matthews. His more than sixty short stories have appeared in national and international anthologies and magazines. His short story collection Bedbugs was selected as one of the best horror books of the year in 2003, and in 2012 he accepted a Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award from the Horror Writers Association. An inspiration to a multitude of writers and legions of fans, we are proud to have this literary horror icon as our guest! Co-hosted by Bay Area horror host Joe Flynn and featuring all your favorite Francy friends including our own Nicholas Grabowsky and actor John Link!
Rick’s segment begins at 00:23:54.
Photos from the 2018 Rick Hautala Celebration
Tony Tremblay posted some photos from Saturday’s get-together at the Portland Public Library to celebrate the life of Rick Hautala. You can see his photos on Facebook.
A Celebration of Rick Hautala on February 3, 2018!
From Christopher Golden:
PLEASE SHARE
Dear friends, I’m very much looking forward to seeing you at THE PORTLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY in Portland, Maine, for A Celebration of Rick Hautala. The library portion of the event begins at 1pm. I’m encouraging you all to bring anyone you’d like. We want to keep Rick’s work and memory alive, and that means teaching new people to appreciate him.
Those interested will head over to Rosie’s in the Old Port afterward (provided they can accommodate our numbers). PLEASE go to the event page to tell me if you’d like to take part in that portion, so I can call the pub and see if they’re okay with our numbers.
FEB3
Sat 1 PM ESTPortland Public Library
Details can be found on Facebook:
Sat 1 PM ESTPortland Public Library
GoFundMe project for The Rick Hautala Papers
December 8, 2017, Update from Holly:
It’s official- Rick’s papers are funded and will be housed at the Maine State Library. A big thanks to Mark “Marky-Mark” Steensland for his generous contribution. Rick is smiling and pshawing somewhere.
From Anastasia Varnalis-Weigle
Hello friends. You will see that I have a created a GoFundMe for the Rick Hautala Papers. Rick was an accomplished Maine Horror/Suspense author—winning the Bram Stoker award with Joe R. Landsdale. Rick was a good friend of Steve and I. I was his personal archivist and have been processing and organizing his personal papers since 2007 The papers will be transferred to the Maine State Library Archives December 31, 2017. Although I have been processing Rick’s papers pro-bono since 2007 around my many other projects, the cost of rehousing materials are expensive. Share with anyone you feel may be interested in supporting. Thanks so much!
GOFUNDME.COM
Stephen King’s letter introducing Rick Hautala
Thanks to Gerald Winters of Gerald Winters and Son Rare Books in Bangor, ME, here’s an amazing find: a letter that Stephen King wrote to publisher Coward, McCann, and Geoghegan recommending a new in-progress book by a new writer named Rick Hautala! The book, The Dark Brother, was retitled Moondeath when it was finally published by Zebra Books in 1980.
I’m writing in hopes that you will read a manuscript in progress. It is a novel called THE DARK BROTHER by a young man named Rick Hautala. Rick works in the South Portland Walden bookstore, and a few months ago he asked me if I’d look at this script.
Gerald wrote, “After Putnam Publishers acquired CM&G, this letter was kept on their files until it was eventually acquired by the previous owner.
“Now it is back in Bangor where it will stay for anyone wishing to view.”
Click on the image to view a large version of the letter that you can read.
Rick’s papers to be housed at Maine State Library!
Holly posted some fantastic news on Facebook!
I am thrilled to announce that Rick Hautala’s papers will be housed at the Maine State Library. Anastasia Varnalis-Weigle, Rick’s archivist and good friend, has catalogued 30 years of manuscripts, correspondence, promotional pieces and miscellaneous stuff into a history not only of a bestselling writer’s rise, fall, and rebirth, but a timeline of the changes in publishing. They will have a great home in a library devoted to Maine writers and Maine books. Rick loved Maine, and there is no better place for his papers.
Realms of Night remembers Rick
There’s a nice writeup/remembrance of Rick over on Christopher Fulbright’s Realms of Night site.
Haunted ME anthology to be dedicated to Rick Hautala
The upcoming Macabre Maine short story anthology Haunted ME will be dedicated to Rick Hautala. You can read more about the anthology on the Macabre Maine website.
The Rick Hautala Memorial T-Shirt
From Holly:
The Rick Hautala Memorial T-Shirt is now for sale at Etsy! Modeled here by the lovely and talented Christopher Golden, it was originally printed for Rick years ago and reads, “What Are You, A Writer or a Punk?” I still have the original shirt, but you can have your very own! Click here or on the image for details!
