Wanted! More Readers Like…
It was a caption that always ran on “Fang Mail,” the letters page of Famous Monsters of Filmland—the magazine that inspired generations of actors, writers, directors, producers, and makeup and special effects magicians to follow their dreams—above the photographs of loyal readers and Monster Kids who’d submitted headshots.
And so, what better way to present a note I recently received from Horrorwood, Karloffornia, resident and grown-up Monster Kid Sam Irvin, with regard to our critically acclaimed nonfiction examination From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures:
“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 Gods and Monsters
That’s right: someone who’s worked with Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser, director Bill Condon, and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, and who back in the day got to hang out with Hammer legends Ingrid Pitt and Peter Cushing, enjoyed the horror-comics history I wrote! Which is the sort of top-notch endorsement that indicates perhaps you would as well, if you’re a fan or horror and/or Vampirella!
From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, by Steven A. Roman (that’s me!) is a nonfiction history that takes an extensive look at her early days, from the debut of her series in 1969 to the death of Warren Publishing in 1983. I provide an in-depth guide to all her Warren stories, a checklist of all her Warren appearances (plus the publications from Harris Comics and Dynamite Entertainment that reprinted her Warren adventures), and an overview of the six novelizations by pulp sci-fi author Ron Goulart that were published in the 1970s by Warner Books.
Most important of all, there’s the section of the book that enthralled Sam Irvin so much: what may be the first time anyone has actually told, in chronological order, the story behind the rise and fall of Hammer Films’ proposed Vampi movie of the 1970s that was meant to star Playboy model Barbara Leigh and horror icon Peter Cushing—along with a peek at Peter Cushing’s personal copy of the ’70s Vampirella screenplay. Plus there’s my look at the awful 1996 direct-to-cable-TV movie that was made, produced by b-movie icon Roger Corman and starring Talisa Soto (Mortal Kombat) as Vampirella and rock god Roger Daltrey, legendary lead singer of the Who, as Dracula.
There’s also a foreword by Official Vampirella Historian Sean Fernald, a frontispiece by Warren artist Bob Larkin, and photographs from the personal archives of Vampi’s cocreator (and creator/editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland), Forrest J Ackerman.
From the Stars…a Vampiress is available in print and digital formats. Visit its product page for ordering information.
