[ t h e _ p r i s o n e r ]

as promised. Happy Walpurgisnacht.

there's a lot to say about this one. a vibrant print of it was my first public art exhibition in meatspace (other than that time i won an ASPCA contest back in 6th grade. i drew a dolphin...). "The Prisoner" hung at my school's Morrissey Art Gallery in March and April as part of a portfolio exchange, and i was incredibly pumped that some of the art students really dug it. the colors, the colors!

we recorded a podcast about the general exhibition; you can hear my talky talky (mins. 4-11, 36) about Weird Fiction, Bloodborne and Gothic Revival architecture, Italian horror cinema, riding in Jim Lee's Porsche, and other fun bullshit. this may be the only instance in which i don't primally, elementally loathe how i come across in an interview, so please consider checking it out.

the blurb below is similar to text intended to accompany my print on the wall, but a little more personal and without unnecessary biographical info. its counterpart in reality was (surprise!) banished to a binder in the corner that no one realized existed, and i think it gives some important context here.

whatever. i've installed it as a permanent click-through to the actual story.

thanks for sticking with me.

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I create small horror stories.

Most of my [sparse] work over the past decade has explored my interest in early Weird Fiction, with themes inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce, Robert W. Chambers, and others. “The Prisoner” is heavily influenced by a more recent entry in the genre, Bloodborne (FromSoftware, Sony Computer Entertainment, 2015), which I consider to be the richest and most successful interpretation of cosmic horror in an interactive medium to date. Its breathtaking Gothic art direction and themes of addiction, fatalism, and the doomed pursuit of the unknowable inspired me to write this story.

As in my other recent tales, “The Prisoner” focuses on the frailty and failings of an individual against a backdrop of Very Big Things happening. I suspect that many of us have, at some point in life, been able to relate to a feeling of powerlessness in the face of addiction or similar cycles of self-destruction. It can be hard, so hard, to find the sense of agency one needs to break free from a struggle with alcohol, a toxic relationship, or in the case of “The Prisoner,” communing with eldritch gods through the vessel of a blood witch.

There is hope.

This story is, as always, dedicated to my amazing wife, partner, and patron Jillian. Thank you for believing in me.

“The Prisoner” was printed at 14x18” and displayed at one of my university’s art galleries from March 8 - April 12, 2019 as a contribution to the Moving Pictures Portfolio Exchange. Certain elements of the design would be lost were I to cut the page into strips to better fit a computer monitor, so please pan around the image as necessary.

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/.n [while, neatly bookending this chapter from Halloween, listening to the Bloodborne soundtrack.]

[ s p o o k y _ b a s e m e n t ] - Freak Show banner

i've been on sabbatical this semester; while it's come with ups and downs, the first couple of months provided a surfeit of free time to engage in fabulous nonsense like this:

kid bro is back on the con circuit to promote Spooky Basement, with revised editions of the first two books out and a third novel [hopefully] on its way this summer. the target here was a vintage "Freak Show" aesthetic, featuring marquee creeps from each edition. Obese Chef Monster, Triclyde Momster [basically three of the Mob Wives rolled into one sentient trash heap], and the no-explanation-necessary Tent City of Perverts. you may recall references to the latter if you were one of three people to watch our livestream reading of SB2 on Christmas.

this was a ton of fun to do and i think turned out reasonably well. it's already made its debut in the wild at Monster Mania in Jersey. hopefully i will find a chance to hit another of these shows up before Clay retires.

you know we're not done for the day.

/.n [while sipping on the final 2018 Warlock and watching The Wicker Man (1973)]