Hasslein Blog: A Heavy Dose of Thanks to Those Who Put the Great in "Great Scott"

REFERENCE GUIDES BY GEEKS, FOR GEEKS

Hasslein Blog

Saturday, December 1, 2012

A Heavy Dose of Thanks to Those Who Put the Great in "Great Scott"

by Rich Handley

No writer works in a vacuum. (WITH a vacuum, sureeven writers have to clean house from time to time. But not IN a vacuum; that's my point.)

Wait, what was I saying again?

Oh, right. Now that A Matter of Time: The Back to the Future Lexicon is finally finished and available for sale (at Amazon.com, BTTF.com, CreateSpace.com and BarnesandNoble.com... buy your copy now... ahem), I thought it'd be a good time to recognize some individuals and Web sites that contributed or are contributing, in ways large and small, to the book's success.


Greg Mitchell (www.thecomingevil.blogspot.com), a novelist and all-around great guy who first suggested I tackle Back to the Future after reading my previous books about the Planet of the Apes saga. Greg is writing a companion book to the BTTF encyclopedia, titled Back in Time: The Back to the Future Chronology, and turned in his first draft yesterday, which I can't wait to begin reading this week.

Paul Giachetti (www.facebook.com/paul.giachetti), my co-founder at Hasslein Books and a long-time friend, who not only serves as our art director but is also writing a book of his own, Total Immersion: The Comprehensive Red Dwarf Encyclopedia. Paul has been an amazing business partner, and I simply wouldn't be able to do this without him.

Pat Carbajal (patart-pat.blogspot.com), the cover and interior illustrator for Hasslein's reference books, who consistently reaches into our heads and pulls out exactly what we want for every commission. For this volume, he produced not only another phenomenal cover, but also 27 astounding full-page illustrations.

Stephen Clark (BTTF.com), a leading authority on the Back to the Future series, who maintains the official BTTF Web site and Facebook group. Stephen contributed to the trilogy's Blu-ray boxset, among other projects, and selflessly helped me track down some elusive early-draft film scripts—without letting me reimburse him for his troubles, mind you. And, of course, he also wrote the excellent foreword to this book.

Robert Ring (scifiblock.com), who read through the manuscript with a fine-toothed comb and helped me clean up and tighten the text (which it needed). He was invaluable in making this a better book, and I very much appreciate his assistance and friendship.

Joseph F. Berenato (drinkatjoes.blogspot.com), a writer, graphic artist and self-proclaimed coffee junkie (and a co-author of Hasslein's upcoming book, It's Alive: The Unauthorized Universal Monsters Chronology, with Jim and Becky Beard) who graciously offered his expert proofreading and fact-checking skills. Without Joe's help, I would never have known that Black Taboo (now THERE's something I never thought I'd link to on this site) was an actual porn film! (I'm not sure what that says about him.)

Steve Cafarelli (monkeygripmusic.com), a long-time friend who offered his services as Web designer when Paul and I decided to subject our Web site to a complete face-lift (an offer that he has likely since regretted, given our frequent requests for site tweaks). To say that Steve's redesign left us speechless is not entirely accurate, since we couldn't stop gushing about it, but he took an amateurish-looking site in need of a mercy killing and turned it into a polished, professional portal, on which I'm proud to have my name.

Steven Greenwood, the founder of an amazing Wikia page known as Futurepedia (backtothefuture.wikia.com), who has probably forgotten more about Back to the Future than most people will ever know about the subject. Steve has been very supportive of my efforts with this lexicon, and his Wikia page has been an invaluable tool.

AJ LoCascio (www.facebook.com/FollowAJ), the actor who brilliantly brought Marty McFly to life in Telltale Games' BTTF video game, with a Michael J. Fox impersonation so dead-on you'll swear it's Fox himself. AJ has been very supportive of the book, and we greatly appreciate his help and his talent.

Thanks also to my supportive wife, Jill Handley, without whom I would be lost in time. She's the enchantment under my sea. She's my density—I mean, my destiny.


In addition to BTTF.com and Futurepedia, I'd also like to recommend the following sites, which are great resources for Back to the Future fans:

Telltale Games' Official Back to the FutureThe Game Site:

Kristen Sheley's Back to the Future Fan Site:

Fatih Tüylüoğlu's Official Back to the Future Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/bttfseries

The Studio Tour's Back to the Future—The Ride Page:

Hill Valley: A Nice Place to Live:

The Big Waste of Space: The Back to the Future Tour:


Hill Valley 2015 (Fusion Industries):

Back to the Future A Trilogy Chronology:


(For a list of other great sites that are not necessarily about Back to the Future but are worth visiting nonetheless, visit our links page. We'll be adding some new sites to this list shortly, so don't be offended if you've helped us out but are not there. To quote Yoda completely and utterly out of proper context, "You will be... you WILL be.")

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