It’s time to celebrate the Spooky Season—with e-books and digital comics! E-book distributors DriveThru Comics and DriveThru Fiction—along with sister site DriveThru RPG—have kicked off their annual Halloween sale, during which you can purchase thousands of horror-themed digital books and comics and roleplaying games at special prices! It runs until November 1—and yes, you’ll need to set up an account (it’s free) to take advantage of this promotion.
Included among the many participating publishers is StarWarp Concepts (of course), which means you can get select titles at lower prices. (To be honest, I’m never sure which titles are involved until the sale happens, as DTC never sends out notifications and they’re kind of loosey-goosey with their choices.)
Again, the Halloween sale runs through November 1 (the Day of the Dead!), so head over to the StarWarp Concepts publisher page at DriveThru Comics and start shopping!
Another day, another holiday, and this one is solely for writers!
The National Day on Writing was started in 2010 by the National Council of Teachers of English, “built on the premise that writing is critical to literacy but needs greater attention and celebration.”
Well, at ’Warp Central we definitely believe in celebrating writing (we are a book and comic publishing company, after all), so if you’re interested in honing your skills as a writer, have we got a book for you!
Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination is our popular how-to book for writers and gamers in which bestselling fantasy author Richard C. White (For a Few Gold Pieces More,Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special, Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings) takes you through the step-by-step process of constructing a world for your characters, from societies and governments to currency and religion. Included is an interview with New York Times bestselling author Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance) that discusses his methods of world building, as well as his creative experiences during his time as a designer for gaming company TSR, the original home of Dungeons & Dragons.
What you’ll find in its pages is information that’s vital for just about any writer, especially when it comes to world building, and Rich shows you how to do it:
Avoiding the pitfalls of naming characters, regions, and countries
Applying the technique of “outside in” to develop and then refine ideas for your world
Creating a world your readers can relate to, regardless of its technological levels
Identify how to create backstories and conflict by observing how your world comes together
Adding details to make your story richer without overwhelming your readers
Identifying useful resources for research
“I think Terra Incognito is a solid introduction to the subject of world building. The book succeeds in helping the aspiring writer in creating a skeletal framework for which to hang the moving parts required of a believable fictional setting.”—The Gaming Gang
Halloween creeps ever closer as we enter Frightful Weekend #3 of October, and if you’re a horror fan who couldn’t make it to New York Comic Con this week, here’s a sampling of what you can watch to help keep you occupied while you’re perhaps conventioneering at home (all times listed are on the East Coast):
AMC FearFeast kicks things into gear with a 3-day weekend of movie programming: Friday is a House of Horrors Marathon, starting at 9:00 a.m. with Virginia Madsen (Candyman) starring in 2009’s The Haunting in Connecticut, followed by a pair of Stephen King adaptations: director Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 cult classic The Shining (starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duval), and director Rob Reiner’s 1990 bone-shattering thriller Misery (starring James Caan and Kathy Bates, whose performance won her an Academy Award for Best Actress). The evening closes out with a trio of visits to the 2009 remake of The Last House on the Left, 2005’s remake of House of Wax, and the 2001 remake of Thirteen Ghosts. Be sure to bring a housewarming gift!
Saturday is a Final Destination Marathon, with FD2 starting at 4:00 p.m., followed by FD5, the original Final Destination, and wrapping up with FD3. Why show them out of order? I have no idea.
(Fun fact: Back in 2005, I wrote an original FD novel, for publisher Games Workshop’s Black Library imprint. Final Destination: Dead Man’s Hand had Death going on a rampage along the Las Vegas Strip after a group of unfortunates narrowly escape the doom of an elevator disaster. The book’s long out of print, but you can always track down a copy in the wild—or, if you’ve got some free time, you could listen to the Slash Trax Network’s unofficial unabridged audiobook readingof it!)
Ending the weekend is Slasher Sunday: At 6:45 a.m., it begins with Jordana Brewster (The Fast and the Furious) and R. Lee Ermey (The Frighteners) in the 2006 gorefest The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, followed by Tony Todd as the hook-handed, lovelorn Candyman (1992); 1989’s Friday the 13th, Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, in which the hockey-masked killer rampaging through New York City (well, mostly Vancouver, British Columbia); the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (also starring R. Lee Ermey); the 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street; the original Halloween (1978), by writer/director John Carpenter; the original Friday the 13th; and finally Robert Englund’s iconic turn as Freddy Krueger in writer/director Wes Craven’s original A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
Max (formerly HBO Max) continues “No Sleep October” with the broadcast debut of writer/director Ti West’s hard-core thriller MaXXXine and its prequel X (both starring Mia Goth). And don’t forget ’Salem’s Lot (adapting the famous Stephen King vampire novel) and the thriller Caddo Lake, which both premiered earlier this month.
On Friday, Netflix presents Woman of the Hour, starring and directed by Anna Kendrick. In 1978, real-life serial killer Rodney Alcala was Bachelor #3 on the popular TV game show The Dating Game, and the “winner” picked by contestant Cheryl Bradshaw. She soon discovered just how bad a choice she made… It’s “based on a true story,” which means a number of liberties were taken with the true events of that encounter—specifically, in real life, Bradshaw canceled the date after meeting Alcala because he creeped her out, and that was the end of that. So, the movie is really a fictionalized what-if-they’d-gone-on-that-date scenario, but it should be suspenseful, anyway!
Also on Friday, the Hallmark Channel begins its annual Reign of Holiday Terror with its Countdown to Christmas (“Good Lord! Choke!” gasped horror fans everywhere): around-the-clock programming that starts bright and early at 6:00 a.m. But even horror fans have been found to enjoy the…er, cookie-cutter template of Hallmark’s Christmas movies—especially when they have horror connections!
Take, for example, Friday’s Let It Snow (2013), starring Candace Cameron Bure. It’s directed by the appropriately named Harvey Frost, whose credits include episodes of the 1980s’ Friday the 13th: The Series, the 1990s’ The New Addams Family, and Grimm. Or Saturday’s On the 12th Date of Christmas (2020), a comforting romance from Gary Yates, the director of Eye of the Beast (2007; starring James Van Der Beek and a monster octopus) and Maneater (2007; Gary Busey vs. a hungry tiger). A lot of Hallmark directors and writers have a literal skeleton lurking in their closets…if you look closely enough…
And it’s not just horror directors who offset their terror tales with family-friendly films. There are two Hallmark movies—One December Night and My Southern Family Christmas—starring none other than living legend Bruce Campbell, star of the Evil Dead franchise. And Michael Ironside—of V, Starship Troopers, and the recent Late Night with the Devil fame—plays a friendly old gent in Hallmark’s Pumpkin Everything.
In addition, I just discovered there’s a yuletide romance currently in preproduction called Christmas in Transylvania, set in Dracula’s Castle and no doubt planned for the 2025 bingeathon. So, yes, the horror connections are strong, even when it comes to Santa Claus.
Keep in mind, there’s also Letters to Satan Claus, which you can catch on streaming services like Hulu and SyFy. This 2020 horror movie, starring Karen Knox, parodies the Hallmark format with the tale of a TV anchorwoman returning to her hometown, only to learn that a typo-ridden letter she wrote as a young girl to “Satan Claus”—instead of Santa—might lead to a monstrous killing spree by the bad man himself.
Finally, The Movies! Channel’s expanded Friday Night Frights schedule goes toe-to-toe with the Hallmark Channel, unleashing 1958’s Earth vs. the Spider (no, it’s not a court case—although it could be!) at 6:00 a.m., followed by 1943’s The Leopard Man. And then it becomes all-vampire programming for the rest of the day!
First up is the teenaged vampire-girl of 1957’s Blood of Dracula, followed by Christopher Lee as the lord of vampires in 1958’s Horror of Dracula and 1969’s Dracula Has Risen from the Grave; Darren McGavin as reporter Carl Kolchak in 1972’s The Night Stalker; the 1974 adaptation of Dracula, starring Jack Palance, written by Richard Matheson, and directed by Night Stalker producer Dan Curtis; and Sylvia Krystal stalking 1980s Hollywood as Dracula’s Widow (1988; the directorial debut of Christopher Coppola—brother of Nicolas Cage, and nephew of legendary director Francis Ford Coppola). Then comes 1970’s House of Dark Shadows, a spin-off from Dark Shadows, the classic gothic TV soap opera created by Dan Curtis. 1971’s Lust for a Vampire, 1979’s Nosferatu the Vampyre—starring Klaus Kinski as the rat-faced Count Orloff—and the original Nosferatu (1922) round out the programming. (Perfect timing for those last two entries, because this Christmas brings the cinematic terror of writer/director Robert Eggers’s Nosferatu remake!)
As pop culture and comic fans know, today is the opening day for New York Comic Con 2024—which, if it runs true to form, will be an absolute madhouse this weekend!
Unfortunately, StarWarp Concepts won’t be part of the festivities (I mean, small-press booth prices are around $1,200—that’s crazy!). But that doesn’t mean you can’t experience a sort of scaled-down SWC version of the big show right here!
You want vendors? Our webstore is open 24/7, so at any time you can order our amazing titles that range from comics and graphic novels to fantasy and dark fantasy novels, and from Illustrated Classics to nonfiction books about gaming and comics history. And while our webstore is currently offline (sorry about that; we’re working on the problem), our product pages have links to traditional book retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble for print editions, and e-book distributors Smashwords and DriveThru for e-books and digital comics.
Speaking of e-books, we’ve got a special sale going on this week at DriveThru Comics: the digital edition of our critically acclaimed nonfiction comic-book history From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, by Steven A. Roman (that’s me!), at a special 50% discount now through October 20th! It’s an in-depth examination of Vampirella’s days at her original house, Warren Publishing, from her debut in 1969 to Warren’s closure in 1983; reviews of the 6 novelizations of her comic adventures published in the 1970s; detailed looks at every one of her Warren comic adventures; and the little-known behind-the-scenes story of the ill-fated Hammer Films movie adaptation meant to star Barbara Leigh and horror icon Peter Cushing.
Convention giveaways? Our Downloads page has free stuff like Pandora Zwieback wallpapers for your smartphone and computer, and book samples.
And how about some free digital comics?
Lorelei #1: The 30th Anniversary Special Edition is a reprint of the comic that helped launch StarWarp Concepts in 1993. Wriiten and created by Steven A. Roman, and drawn by David C. Matthews (Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa), it introduced readers to celebrated professional photographer Laurel Ashley O’Hara, on the day that would change her life forever—a day when a major exhibition of her work was opening at a prestigious New York museum…and the day she unfortunately met the charming but dangerous Arioch—a lord of hell!
Heroines & Heroes is a collection of comic stories and pinups all drawn by Steven A. Roman, 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 (long story short, it didn’t work out). The WW/Harley matchup is 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.
The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0is 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, Lorelei: Sects and the City), and includes two sample chapters from Blood Feud, the first Pan novel.
And then there’sHeartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa #1–3. Before she became Pan’s monster-hunting mentor, Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin made her debut in this short-lived, 1990s Mature Readers series from Millennium Publications. A nefarious heavy metal band has arrived in New York City, and its lead singer is more than just a sex magnet for his female fans—he’s a soul-stealing incubus! Will Annie put an end to his plans for worldwide chaos, or fall prey to his supernatural charms? Written by me (of course), issue 1 is drawn by Pan and Annie co-creator Uriel Caton (JSA Annual) and inker Alan Larsen (Femforce), and colored by Dan Peters; issue 2 is penciled by Uriel, Holly Golightly (School Bites, Archie Comics), and David C. Matthews (Lorelei), inked by Larsen, and colored by Zeea Adams; and issue 3 is penciled by Holly, with four pages of inks by “Chainsaw” Chuck Majewski (Harvey Kurtzman’s New Two-Fisted Tales).
As a special bonus, issue 3 includes a brief look at the never-published Heartstopper/Trollords, a crossover special that would have had Annie meet Harry, Larry, and Jerry, the Three Stooges–inspired trolls created by Scott Beaderstadt and Paul Fricke for their popular comic series of the 1980s. H/T was to be written by me with pencils by Holly and Scott and inks by Bill Lavin (Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings), but unfortunately it just never got past the starting gate.
(Warning: Heartstopper is designated a “Mature Readers” comic for violent scenes and some sexual innuendo, so younger Panatics should avoid it.)
Artists Alley? Our Gallery area—think of it as an online artists’ alley—features two sections, The 13 Days of Pan-demonium and Visions of Lorelei, both containing original renderings of our two best-known characters by a host of artists from indie and mainstream comics, including such notables as Mike Mignola (Hellboy, Cosmic Odyssey), Elizabeth Watasin (Charm School), Teri S. Wood (Wandering Star), Gene Colan (Daredevil, Tomb of Dracula), Neil Vokes (Tom Holland’s Fright Night), Frank Thorne (Red Sonja), Louis Small Jr. (Vampirella), Dave Simon (Ghost Rider), Bill Ward (Torchy), and Joseph Michael Linsner (Dawn/Vampirella)!
So the StarWarp Concepts crew might not be hanging out at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center over in Manhattan, but at least you can have a con-like experience from the comfort of your home!
Happy 55th Anniversary, Vampirella (who made her comics debut in 1969)! And a happy discount for her fans!
Just in time for the Spooky Season, and the 2024 celebration of New York Comic Con (which kicks off on Thursday), today through Sunday, October 20, at e-book distributor DriveThru Comics (and its sister site DriveThru Fiction) we’re offering the digital edition of our nonfiction comic-book history From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, by Steven A. Roman (that’s me!), at a 50% discount!
From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures is an extensive look at Vampi’s early days, from the debut of her series in 1969 to the death of Warren Publishing in 1983, in seven heavily researched chapters:
The Vampire Who Fell to Earth: It’s the story of the life of Vampirella at Warren Publishing: her 1969 development by cocreators James Warren and Forrest J Ackerman, with the assistance of artists Frank Frazetta and Trina Robbins; the adventures she went on via the writing and artistic talents of such visionaries as Archie Goodwin, Bill DuBay, Jose Gonzalez, Enrich, Gonzalo Mayo, and many others; and the cancellation of her series in 1982 when the company collapsed. It also features probably the most you’ll ever see reported about four Vampi writers who were just as talented but not as well known: Mike Butterworth, who wrote under the pseudonym Flaxman Loew; T. Casey Brennan; Rich Margopoulos; and Gerry Boudreau.
The Vampirella Episode Guide: The largest section of the book, it examines every story starring Vampirella during the Warren Era: over 100 entries, some with little known behind-the-scenes details. Plus stories behind some of Vampi’s unpublished adventures!
Vampi Goes to Hollywood: In 1975, Hammer Films announced the development of a Vampirella movie starring model/actress Barbara Leigh and the legendary Peter Cushing (later known the world over as Grand Moff Tarkin of Star Wars). The project crashed in spectacular fashion, but the details have always been murky. I try to clear up the confusion surrounding it, detailing the production from its launch to its unfortunate ending. And then I take a critical look at the awful Vampirella movie that was made in 1996, starring Talisa Soto and rock god Roger Daltrey of the Who—and probably shouldn’t have been!
The Literary Vampiress: From 1975 to 1976, Warner Books published a series of Vampirella novelizations by sci-fi author Ron Goulart. I take a look at each novel, and explain why they’re worth tracking down…if you can find copies!
The Vampirella Warren Era Checklist: A list of every Warren Vampi story! Every reprint volume from Harris Comics and Dynamite Entertainment! Plus little known trivia!
From the Stars also features: A foreword by Sean Fernald, the Official Vampirella Historian! A peek at Peter Cushing’s personal copy of the 1976 Vampirella screenplay! A frontispiece by legendary artist Bob Larkin, who painted covers for Warren’s Vampirella, The Rook, Eerie, and Famous Monsters of Filmland! Photos of Barbara Leigh in costume as Vampirella at the 1975 Famous Monsters Convention, held in New York! Photos of Talisa Soto in costume on the set of the 1996 Vampirella movie! Rare photos from the collection of Forrest J Ackerman!
“This is without a doubt the essential, authoritative reference book for anything related to the Warren-era Vampirella… There are lots of books out there with good information—Empire of Monsters, The Art of Vampirella: The Warren Years, The Art of Jose Gonzalez, etc.—but none offers such a broad, all-encompassing look at the history of this character.”—Vampirella of Drakulon (blog)
“Everything you always wanted to know about Vampirella and then some! I was particularly enthralled reading about Hammer Films’ never-made film version of Vampirella and the big ballyhoo that happened at the 1975 Famous Monsters Convention—with Peter Cushing presenting Barbara Leigh—because I was there as Ingrid Pitt’s aide-de-camp! It brought back such a torrent of jaw-dropping memories! Bravo to author Steven A. Roman and Foreword legend Sean Fernald!”—Sam Irvin, director of Elvira’s Haunted Hills and co–executive producer of the Academy Award–winning Gods and Monsters
“A great book for any Warren Vampirella fan.”—Seth Biederman, writer of Vampirella Manga 2999 and Vampirella Manga 3000, former Harris Comics Vampirella editor
“Not only a fantastic reference guide, but it is also a love letter to the fanged horror heroine. New fans and old will be interested in the bibliography especially. Libraries that specialize in comics should consider including this volume in their collection as well. Highly recommended.”—Monster Librarian
It’s Frightful Weekend #2 of October, and if you’re a fan of horror movies in search of something to watch, here’s a sampling of what will be stalking your cable-TV screens:
AMC FearFeast has nothing scheduled for Friday, but dedicates Saturday to a Stephen King Marathon, starting at 6:45 a.m. (on the East Coast) with the rabid-dog thriller Cujo, followed by Graveyard Shift; the original Children of the Corn; the classic Sissy Spacek/Brian DePalma collaboration Carrie; the Kathy Bates/James Caan chiller Misery; the weight-loss terror of Thinner; the 2013 remake of Carrie; the Gary Busey–starring Silver Bullet, based on the illustrated novella Cycle of the Werewolf by King and master artist Bernie Wrightson; and John Carpenter’s haunted-car classic, Christine.
Sunday is a Fear the’80s Marathon: At 7:45 a.m., it begins with another Carpenter classic, The Thing (starring Kurt Russell), followed by the original Child’s Play; Friday the 13th, Part II; the Tobe Hooper–helmed Poltergeist; A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge; and the original Nightmare on Elm Street, all leading up to the broadcast of the latest episode of their zombie series The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon—The Book of Carol.
Max (formerly HBO Max) continues its “No Sleep October” Halloween celebration with the premiere of the thriller Carro Lake, produced by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf, The Maze Runner).
The Movies! Channel’s expanded Friday Night Frights schedule starts with Boris Karloff starring in 1958’s The Haunted Strangler, followed by 1940’s The Devil Bat (starring Bela Lugosi), Marla English as the monstrous She-Creature (1956), and Beverly Garland battling The Alligator People (1959). Then comes a four-piece full moon marathon: the lycanthropic-bikers weirdness of 1971’s Werewolves on Wheels; Peter Cushing playing “which of you is a real werewolf?” at a party in 1974’s The Beast Must Die; the 1996 thriller Bad Moon, and Angela Lansbury and David Warner starring in Neil Jordan’s critically acclaimed The Company of Wolves (1984). 1958’s The Fly (the original, starring David Heddison and Vincent Price), its 1959 sequel The Return of the Fly, and 1978’s rampaging monster Slithis round out the schedule
And Turner Classic Movies continues their Friday midnight-to-morning overnight schedule, with director Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist at 11:59 p.m., followed by The Haunting, director Robert Wise’s 1963 adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House; 1968’s Spirits of the Dead, and ending the night with 1962’s Carnival of Souls. Unfortunately, there are no horror movies on Saturday and only a couple minor-leaguers early Sunday morning Sunday.
Still, not a bad way to spend a horror weekend, right?
If you live in a big city, you know how dangerous trick-or-treating can sometimes be, with dodging speeding cars and trucks while you’re trying to make the rounds of your favorite candy-giving haunts—even in the daytime!
In 2022, New York City took steps to try and make trick-or-treating a much safer event, by instituting “Trick or Streets,” an expansion of its “Open Streets” initiative that closes certain streets to vehicular traffic so that NYC residents can walk and bike on them without fear of injury. (It’s a popular program that started in May 2021 as a result of the pandemic lockdown, so that people could finally get out of their homes and apartments to enjoy fresh air.) And now it returns for Year Three—starting tomorrow!
During October, a number of streets will be closed off in Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn, allowing you and yours to hit the pavement and fill those goody bags. (Keep an eye on local weather forecasts, so you and yours can dress accordingly.)
For more information on the city’s Halloween plans and a list of family-friendly events being held, head over to the Trick or Streets website.
The first weekend of October is about to arrive, but on cable TV the countdown to Halloween has already begun! And if you’re a fan of horror movies, here’s a sampling of what will be available for your viewing terror!
Cable station AMC FearFeast is underway, and Friday’s festivities begin at 1:20 a.m. (on the East Coast) with the Michael Meyers-less (but still entertaining!) Halloween III: Season of the Witch, followed by 1957’s Voodoo Woman, 1958’s Corridors of Blood (starring Boris Karloff), and 1962’s The Creation of the Humanoids before hosting a trio of marathons. Friday is dedicated to “A Nightmare of Freddy,” starring the legendary Robert Englund as razor-clawed dream-monster (and pop culture icon!) Freddy Krueger, and it kicks off at 9:30 a.m. (on the East Coast) with Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, then continues through the day in ascending order with A Nightmare on Elm Street 5–2 before reaching the original NoES, followed by the 2010 remake starring Jackie Earle Haley.
Then on Saturday, it’s the hockey-masked, machete-wielding Jason Voorhees’s turn to rule AMC in an all-day Friday the 13th marathon, starting at 8:00 a.m. (EST) with Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, followed by A New Beginning, Part VI: Jason Lives, Part VII: The New Blood, Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, and Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, before looping around to Friday the 13th I–III. And for Sunday, after showings of Jason X, Freddy vs. Jason, and I Know What You Did Last Summer, it’s a marathon of Final Destination 1, 2, 3, and 5, leading up to the broadcast of the latest episode of their popular zombie series The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon.
On Max (formerly HBO Max), it’s the start of “No Sleep October,” a monthlong Halloween celebration that launches with the premiere of writer/director Gary Dauberman’s ’Salem’s Lot, the latest movie adaptation of the awesome Stephen King novel about a vampiric outbreak in the small Maine town of Jerusalem’s Lot.
Over at MeTV, movie host Svengoolie kicks off his annual Halloween BOO-Nanza on Saturday with a double feature. Up first is Son of Frankenstein, the 1939 monster classic starring Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Basil Rathbone. Following it is 1957’s The Monster That Challenged the World, a creature feature about a giant, murderous mollusk(!) on a rampage.
The Movies! Channel leans heavily on old-school horror (mostly black-and-white flicks). They welcome Spooky Season by expanding their Friday Night Frights schedule, beginning early with 1960’s The Lost World—starring Michael Rennie (The Day the Earth Stood Still) and Jill St. John—at 6:15 a.m., followed by 1943’s The Leopard Man, 1957’s Curse of the Demon, the George Romero classics Night of the Living Dead and Day of the Dead, David Cronenberg’s Rabid, Neil Marshall’s soldiers-versus-werewolves action horror Dog Soldiers, the Peter Cushing–starring anthologies From Beyond the Grave, Asylum (written by Robert Bloch), and The House That Dripped Blood (costarring Christopher Lee).
And Turner Classic Movies—which has named Bela (Dracula) Lugosi as their Star of the Month for October and has already started celebrating Halloween—gets a jump on everyone’s weekend with their Friday midnight-to-morning overnight schedule, with the Vincent Price 1953 classic House of Wax at 12:15 a.m., followed by 1932’s Frederic March–starring Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 1935’s Mad Love (starring Peter Lorre), and greeting the dawn with 1945’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. No horror movies on Saturday, but the chills return Sunday morning with a pair of Roger Corman classics, The Little Shop of Horrors and Bucket of Blood, along with 1962’s The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, and the creepy Bette Davis and Joan Crawford thriller What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
So, if you’re looking for a spooky feature to watch this weekend, or to just have something playing in the background while you’re putting your Halloween plans together, catch a movie (or ten!) and get into the Horror Mood!
Got a favorite book? Well, odds are good there’s someone out there in the United States who’d liked to see it censored, removed from libraries and bookstores, or pulped—especially these days. According to the American Library Association, “The number of titles targeted for censorship at public libraries increased by 92% over the previous year, accounting for about 46% of all book challenges in 2023.”
That’s where Banned Books Week comes in. Launched in 1982, it’s an annual celebration of literacy in which the spotlight is shone on the problem of censorship in U.S. libraries and bookstores. This year’s theme is “Freed Between the Lines,” which celebrates “the right to read, and find freedom in the pages of a book.” The event’s final day, September 28, has been proclaimed Let Freedom Read Day.
Held the 3rd Saturday in September since 2015, Batman Day is an annual celebration of one of DC Comics’ most iconic superheroes, the Darknight Detective who made his debut in Detective Comics #29 in 1939. Created by Bob Kane with the help of writer Bill Finger, Batman has remained popular with fans throughout the world for over 80 years through comics, novels, TV shows, and movies.
Well, if you’re a fan of the Caped Crusader, then perhaps you’d be interested in checking out a couple of bat-ish projects from your friends at StarWarp Concepts…
In 2012, author Richard C. White interviewed New York Times bestselling author Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance) for Rich’s how-to book for writers and RPG gamemasters, Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination. In addition to the ins and outs of proper world building for fantasy and science fiction projects, they also discussed what was then Hickman’s latest novel: Wayne of Gotham, in which Bruce Wayne traces his family history to discover whether there was more to the murder of his parents when he was a boy—the traumatic event that led to his becoming Batman—than a simple robbery gone wrong.
“When approaching an iconic character like Batman, you walk a really fine line. My first reaction after we proposed this story and they accepted it was, ‘Oh man, I get to write Batman.’ And then the second reaction was, ‘What have I done? I have to write Batman!’ Because everyone has an idea of who Batman is.”
However, since the topic had nothing to do with Terra Incognito’s focus on world building, I cut it from the book during the editing process. But there’s no reason why you can’t read it now, given today’s celebration of all things Batman.
So head on over right now to the Richard C. White blogand celebrate Batman Day by reading all about Tracy Hickman’s Wayne of Gotham!
To read the rest of Rich’s interview with Hickman—which includes a discussion of Hickman’s creative experiences during his time as a designer for gaming company TSR, the original home of Dungeons & Dragons—pick up a copy of Rich’s Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination, which takes you through the step-by-step process of constructing a world for your characters, from societies and governments to currency and religion. In fact, it’s a book that’s become so popular with gamers that it’s currently being used as a textbook in the Interactive Media & Game Development program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worchester, Massachusetts!
And then there’s Heroines and Heroes, a free digital-comic collection of comic stories and pinups written and drawn by Steven A. Roman (that’s 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 story starring Wonder Woman and Batman enemy Harley Quinn 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 (spoiler warning: 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.
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