Horror Street: The Visible Woman

Posted on by

Welcome back to Horror Street, my ongoing journey in search of awesome yet spooky graffiti art on the streets and little-traveled corners of New York City!

Photo © 2021 Steven A. Roman

We return to the back streets of Brooklyn’s East Williamsburg neighborhood for The Visible Woman, a building-wide mural that graced the side of a commercial building on the corner of Gardner Avenue and Randolph Street, which I came across in September 2021 during my pandemic-inspired wanderings through the less-populated industrial areas of New York City. Delivery trucks zipping up and down the streets made it impossible for me to get a wider shot of the mural, so here’s a pic courtesy of Google Street Views. And yes, the bottom half had been just as tagged by others when I took my photo; a shame, really.

Photo © Google Street Views

The mural is the work of a graffiti artist named Nychos, who’s a member of the Brooklyn artist community called the Bushwick Collective. And to see the unblemished version of the original painting, check out this YouTube drone camera footage taken after the mural’s completion. Very nice work, indeed. And appropriately horrific for us!

Be sure to check out my previous Horror Street entries. And stay tuned for further installments of Horror Street—there’s plenty of macabre graffiti art to be found on the streets of New York, if you look in the right creepy places! 

It’s Free Comic Book Week…Kind Of!

Posted on by

Free Comic Book Day, held at brick-and-mortar and online comic shops around the world, may have come and gone this Saturday, May 7, but there’s no reason we can’t celebrate it late—like, maybe all week? Well, sure, when we’re talking comics you can download anytime! 

Held the first Saturday in May every year, this one was timed to coincide with the release of Marvel Studios’ latest blockbuster, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, from director Sam Raimi, the mastermind behind The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness, Ash vs. the Evil Dead, Darkman, Spider-Man, and Spider-Man 2. I certainly enjoyed it both as a fan of superhero movies (keep your eyes peeled for all the Easter eggs) and as a horror fan—from the visuals involved to the frenzied craziness of the story, there’s no denying it’s a Sam Raimi movie! 

So in keeping with FCBD’s fine tradition of gifting comics to fans everywhere, here’s a couple of offerings from Pan’s publisher, StarWarp Concepts, that you can download—for free!

Heroines & Heroes: A collection of comic stories and pinups all drawn by me, dating back to my days in the early 1990s small-press movement—that age of dinosaurs in which creators like me used to make our comics by printing them out on photocopiers and then stapling them by hand. In H&H you’ll find mainstream heroes and small-press heroines, and even a couple of anthropomorphic bikers. Leading off is “V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N (in the Summertime),” a three-page Wonder Woman vs. Harley Quinn story that I wrote and drew in the late ’90s as a sample for a DC Comics editor who thought I’d be a good fit for their Batman: The Animated Series comic (it didn’t work out). It’s followed by an adventure of small-presser Jeff Wood’s rabbit-eared superspy, Snowbuni; three pages from the long-canceled indie comic Motorbike Puppies; and an adventure of the indie superheroine The Blonde Avenger, fighting a vampire at a comic book convention—but is it really a vampire…? 

The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0: A full-color introduction to the young adult novel series of the same name, hosted by Pan herself. Pan is a 16-year-old New York City Goth who’s not only a horror fangirl but someone with the rare ability to see the for-real monsters that regular humans can’t (she calls it her “monstervision”), and with the help of a 400-year-old, shape-shifting monster hunter named Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin, she’s learning how to protect her family, her friends, and the world from the supernatural dangers out there—and maybe even have some fun while doing it. This 16-page comic features a seven-page story written by me, with art and color by Eliseu Gouveia (The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, Carmilla, A Princess of Mars), and includes two sample chapters from Blood Feud, the first Pan novel.

All these comics are available for download right now, so visit their respective product pages at StarWarp Concepts for more information.

So get to downloading, and have a happy Free Comic Book Week! And check out Doctor Strange 2 if you haven’t already!

Celebrating World Book Days and Nights in 2022

Posted on by
Photo by blende12, courtesy of Pixabay

Happy World Book Day in the United States! Run by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), World Book Day (aka World Book and Copyright Day, and the International Day of the Book) is, to quote their website:

“World Book Day is a celebration! It’s a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.”

To explain this event further, let’s turn to Wikipedia for its origin story: 

“The original idea was of the Valencian writer Vicente Clavel Andrés as a way to honour the author Miguel de Cervantes [author of Don Quixote], first on October 7, his birth date, then on April 23, his death date. In 1995 UNESCO decided that the World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on 23 April, as the date is also the anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare and [16th-century Spanish author] Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, as well as that of the birth or death of several other prominent authors.”

So then it’s really World Book Death Day? Hey, as long as it gets people to read…

Around the world (except for Ireland and the United Kingdom), World Book Day is held every April 23—so for more information, visit the World Book and Copyright Day site for all the latest news and events listings.

But the celebration doesn’t end at sundown, because April 23 is also World Book Night in the United Kingdom! Run by The Reading Agency, this annual gathering of book lovers is, to quote their website:

“World Book Night is a national celebration of reading and books which takes place on 23 April every year. Books are given out across the UK with a focus on reaching those who don’t regularly read, and are gifted through organisations including prisons, libraries, colleges, hospitals, care homes and homeless shelters, as well as by passionate individuals who give out their own books within their communities.”

For more information, visit the World Book Night site.

A whole day and night dedicated to reading? Well, that should actually be every day, shouldn’t it? Of course! Anyway, start celebrating and get to reading!

It’s National Encourage a Young Writer Day 2022!

Posted on by

Here’s the sort of holiday I can get behind a hundred percent: National Library Week 2022 might have wrapped up just yesterday, but now today is National Encourage a Young Writer Day! Although no one seems to know the origin of this “holiday,” according to the National Day Calendar:

“Observed each year on April 10th is National Encourage a Young Writer Day. Do you know a young person who has a vivid imagination, maybe someone who likes to tell stories and reads a lot of books? These may be the signs of a great young writer. National Encourage a Young Writer Day would be a good time to talk to them about their ideas and dreams. Encourage them to pursue their goals and develop their writing skills.”

As I always say, everybody’s gotta start somewhere, and that’s true for writing as much as any other career. Want an example? Then check out “Again, He Who Stalks”—a science-fiction story I wrote for my high school’s literary magazine when I was 16. Take a look at that, young writers, and then get to work—you could only do better! 

It’s National Library Week 2022!

Posted on by

Hey, book lovers! National Library Week is once again upon us, and you know us: any reason to read is a good cause for celebration! 

According to the American Library Association (ALA), the organization that runs the event:

“First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries—school, public, academic and special—participate.”

This year’s theme is “Connect With Your Library” and promotes “the idea that libraries are places to get connected to technology by using broadband, computers, and other resources. Libraries also offer opportunities to connect with media, programs, ideas, and classes—in addition to books. But most importantly, libraries also connect communities to each other.”

National Library Week runs April 3–9, so check your local library for any special events they might have planned for the celebration.

Horror Street: Nosferatu

Posted on by

Welcome back to Horror Street, my ongoing journey in search of awesome yet spooky graffiti art on the streets and little-traveled corners of New York City!

This time around, we have an appearance by the nefarious vampire lord Count Graf Orlock, star of the classic 1922 German silent movie Nosferatu. I came across this mural in September 2021 along the border that connects the neighborhoods of Brooklyn’s East Williamsburg and Queens’s Ridgewood. No idea who the artist is, unfortunately.

Still, there’s no better time for the count to make his Horror Street debut than now, because 2022 is Nosferatu’s 100th anniversary!

Directed by F.W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as the rat-faced, corpselike Count Graf Orlock, Nosferatu was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, with character names changed and plot points slightly adjusted, in an attempt to avoid a copyright lawsuit—a ploy that ultimately failed when the Stoker Estate and its attorneys came calling; worse yet, they insisted as part of the settlement that every copy of the film be destroyed! 

Some prints survived, of course, and a very good thing that was, because Nosferatu is one of the greatest horror movies ever made, made memorable by the combination of iconic imagery from Murnau and cinematographer Fritz Arno Wagner, and Schreck’s fearsome portrayal of the monster. If you’ve never seen it, or haven’t watched it in some time, do yourself a favor and give Nosferatu a look.

So, happy 100th Anniversary to F.W. Murnau and Max Schreck and all the cast and crew of Nosferatu—you made an exceptional horror film that’s still thrilling fans to this day. Congratulations!

Be sure to check out my previous Horror Street entries. And stay tuned for further installments of Horror Street—there’s plenty of macabre graffiti art to be found on the streets of New York, if you look in the right creepy places! 

SMOL Fair 2022 Is Coming!

Posted on by

Convention season is upon us, and starting Saturday, March 19, book lovers around the world will be virtually gathering for the second annual SMOL Fair, an online book festival that promotes indie publishing houses of all varieties. Pan’s publisher, StarWarp Concepts, is among the exhibitors setting up shop in the virtual dealers’ room, so what better reason do you need to check it out?  

(Smol, by the way, is Internet slang for something that’s small and cute—or so the site Know Your Meme tells me. Yes, I had to look it up, since I thought SMOL—as it’s listed all in caps on their website—was an acronym for something related to indie publishers. So, here it means this is a small book fair. Add it to your vocabulary!)

In addition to visiting the dealers’ room, you can watch panels and author readings, plus there’s a keynote address by Shirley Jackson Award–winning author Brian Evenson (Song for the Unraveling of the World) on March 18 that will kick things off. And it’s all free (although you have to register to “attend” the panels).

There will also be book giveaways—SWC, for instance, has supplied three copies each of our two most popular titles: the young adult, dark-urban-fantasy novel Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1, by Steven A. Roman (that’s me); and Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination, Richard C. White’s how-to book for writers and RPG gamemasters that shows in detail how to create fully realized fantasy and science-fiction environments for your projects. 

SMOL Fair runs March 19–26. For more information on the show, its participating publishers, and its lineup of events, visit the SMOL Fair website.

Tomorrow Is Take Your Child to the Library Day 2022!

Posted on by

Like the header says, tomorrow is Take Your Child to the Library Day, celebrating its 11th anniversary. Founded in 2011 by librarians Nadine Lipman and Caitlin Augusta, the event is held the first Saturday in February and encourages librarians to reach out to their communities and show folks just how wonderful reading can be.

Before the Internet, libraries were the source for information and reading, and can always use our support. So now that the world is in some form of pandemic-related normalcy (not counting the actions of ignorant US school boards that are currently caught up in banning books to “protect” children), head out tomorrow, introduce your child to that big building with all the free books to borrow, update the library card that’s been stuck in the back of your wallet for all these years, and renew your acquaintance with a vital partner in the ongoing literacy campaign—vital even more so these days.

For more information, including the list of participating libraries, visit the TYCLD website.

(Header image from Ghostbusters © Sony Pictures)

What Are SWC Horror Bites?

Posted on by

“Short tales to appease your monstrous hunger for suspense” is how Pan’s publisher, StarWarp Concepts, describes SWC Horror Bites, their digital-chapbook series that reprints classic tales of horror that you may or may not have encountered before. Here’s what they have available so far:

White Fell: The Werewolf: Originally published in 1896 as The Were-wolf, it was written by renowned author, artist, and suffragette Clemence Annie Housman, and is regarded by scholars as perhaps the first feminist werewolf story. In it, a beautiful woman named White Fell wanders into a snowbound village—and into the hearts of twin brothers, one of whom immediately becomes smitten by her. The other brother, however, soon grows suspicious of the enigmatic White Fell. Where did she come from? Why does she always carry an ax? And is her sudden appearance somehow related to the recent sightings of a bloodthirsty wolf in the area? He may come to regret being so inquisitive…

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Washington Irving’s legendary tale of the Headless Horseman has captivated readers ever since its first publication in 1820, in Irving’s collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., and in the 200 years since it’s become the quintessential Halloween story, as well as the basis for countless movies, TV shows, comic books, and other pop-culture adaptations. When schoolteacher Ichabod Crane arrived in Sleepy Hollow, New York, he had dreams of marrying beautiful socialite Katrina of the wealthy Van Tassel family, only to lose his head (both figuratively and literally!) when he encountered the horrific Headless Horseman one fateful night!

White Fell: The Werewolf and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow are digital exclusives available for download right now, so visit their respective product pages at StarWarp Concepts for ordering information.

It’s Women in Horror Month 2022!

Posted on by

Women in Horror Month is here again, that annual celebration held every February to shine the spotlight on the contributions of all the female creators—writers, artists, movie directors, producers, special makeup artists, special effects experts, etc.—who’ve brought thrills and chills to generations of fans around the world.

Well, if you enjoy tales of horror and empowered women, may I recommend a classic fiction title from Pan’s publisher, StarWarp Concepts?

White Fell: The Werewolf, by Clemence Annie Housman, was originally published in 1896 as The Were-wolf, and it’s regarded by scholars as perhaps the first feminist werewolf story. In it, a beautiful woman named White Fell wanders into a snowbound village—and into the hearts of twin brothers, one of whom immediately becomes smitten by her. 

The other brother, however, soon grows suspicious of the enigmatic White Fell. After all, where did she come from? Why does she always carry an ax? And is her sudden appearance somehow related to the recent sightings of a bloodthirsty wolf in the area? He may come to regret being so inquisitive…

Critics have certainly enjoyed this horror classic:

“White Fell is a powerful, independent woman, a fur-slinging, axe-wielding huntress descended straight from Hyperborea, [and] Housman shuns all of the werewolf traditions so dully repeated in many tales written before and after. White Fell is either a revenant from Valhalla or maybe just a good girl gone lupine.”—The Scream Factory

“For Housman, the female werewolf is a vehicle for her to present a strong feminist-inspired female character…. It is possible that Housman was telling the world that women had a hidden strength and that men should beware of their own hidden nature.”—The Nuke Mars Journal of Speculative Fiction

White Fell: The Werewolf is a digital exclusive available for download from the SWC webstore, so visit its product page for ordering information.