In Laymon's Terms

And so, my plan was hatched. If there wasn’t a site out there that could tell me all about Richard Laymon, then I’d have to produce one.

And, as they say in the classics, the rest is history.

When I look back on it, I must have had a whole lot of time on my hands. I was just married, with a very understanding wife, but no kids to take up my time. I was working for Australia’s largest daily newspaper, the Herald Sun, as a researcher, and that allowed me time to do a bit of research on my own. It also gave me access to all the phone numbers, fax numbers and addresses I needed.

Let’s face it, if you work the graveyard shift on a week when there’s no big news stories breaking, there’s not a whole lot to do.

So, I started.

And RICHARD LAYMON KILLS! was born.

The site was a simple one to begin with. I took the html code from a friend’s website and adjusted it to what I wanted. At that stage I had very few html code skills, but that was soon to change. In only a week or so, I had scanned the covers of every Laymon work I owned, typed in the back cover blurbs, created a biography of the world’s best horror author, and produced a Latest News page which, quite frankly, had no news in it.

And then, in December 1996, RLK! went live to the world!

Step one was complete.

After the Christmas and New Year festivities, I started 1997 with a promotional campaign. I produced media releases announcing the creation of RLK! and faxed them to various media outlets in Australia. Also included in that contact list was Dick’s publisher, Hodder Headline in Australia and the UK. I also faxed Bob Tanner, Dick’s agent, but I have no idea where I found his address. Damn, I must have been a sharp researcher back then.

I sat back and waited for the response. Almost all sections of the media ignored the release, except, of course, the Herald Sun, which reviewed the website and gave it five stars out of the possible 6. (Proving once again that, in the media, it’s who you know that counts...)

But the faxing wasn’t in vain. Because Hodder Headline quickly contacted me, and Bob Tanner sent a nice note thanking me for taking the time to do the site.

I was over the moon that Hodder Headline both in Australia and the UK welcomed me into the fold with open arms. I couldn’t believe my luck. Suddenly all the news on Richard Laymon was being sent directly to me by his publisher! Release dates, latest news, cover art and blurbs—you name it, I got it. It was a long, long time before I realized what they were getting out of it too: free publicity, and a one-stop email address they could hand out to all those pesky Laymonites just like myself.

RLK! continued to grow quickly. Review pages were added, as were SAME VEIN reviews of other books and authors in the horror field. The RLK! counter began to tick over quicker than ever.

June 1997.

I’ll never forget it.

That was the first time Richard Laymon contacted me. I remember seeing the email from “Larry Dunbar” in my inbox and, for a few seconds at least, it didn’t click as to who Larry Dunbar really was.

I just wish I had that email to reproduce here for you now. Unfortunately, due to a faulty hard drive, that email has long since been wiped. I kick myself each day for not printing it out when I first received it.

Still, I’ll recreate it here for you. It went along the lines of, “Hey Steve, this is Dick Laymon. Just dropping by to say I love the site and thanks for all your work on it. Oh, and by the way, in case you don’t think it’s the real Richard Laymon, I got a copy of your flier from Bob Tanner, my agent. Best, Dick.”

Well, I was stunned. I remember jumping around the room and yelling for my wife to comeherequicklgotanemailfromLaymon! Naturally, I fired back an email straightaway, confident that it was, in fact, the Richard Laymon as he had the inside scoop about the fliers I had faxed.

I learned later that Dick had been inundated with the fliers, as it seems everyone I sent them to—Hodder Headline UK and Australia, Bob Tanner and even Don Cannon Books—had forwarded them on to Dick. So, he ended up with about half a dozen of the things. He must have known then that I was serious!

And so, our friendship started thanks to the Internet. And, over the years, I was lucky to talk with Dick sometimes twice or three times a week, getting the inside scoop on the Laymon world and updating the site accordingly. Dick was even gracious enough to provide a blurb for the site:

“RLK! is really terrific...Everybody I’ve talked to is very impressed...

I’m really excited about RLK!

It’s where I go whenever I need to find out what I’m doing!

Richard Laymon Kills! IS the ultimate website!”

When he agreed to make the site the Official Laymon Site, I couldn’t have been happier.