Category Archives: Musings

I’m (apparently) a cover designer!

06 Wednesday Aug 2025

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So, back in April this year, I had a stall (along with a bunch of other indie authors) in the Dealers room at Eastercon in Belfast. Our table was positioned right next door to Guardbridge books, a small press publisher. The publisher spent some time looking at my postcards and prints for sale and took a fancy to one of them (which he bought) because it had a particular look he liked. We discussed cover designs and he asked if I would be able to do a cover for an upcoming book.

I said yes… and started making plans. This included, on the way back home through the airport, taking a photo of something that I would later use…

There was a slight delay while he sorted things out with the author but we finally got round to discussing plans. I would recruit some models to portray characters from the book (descriptions helpfully sent) and we would do a photoshoot at Frameworks Studio in Ancoats, Manchester. I would then do a composite image.

The studio set up with the two models in place. In the background you can see the set that was being made for an Alice in Wonderland themed shoot in August.

The two models I picked were Gregg (AKA Demonsloth modelling) and Saskia Collinson. Both were briefed on what the characters looked like and we discussed things like make up, props and clothing. Some of these we had between us, other things we had to buy. But we had a budget to work with. I set this up with three lights – a large studio light as main light, a speedlight to light up the background to allow good separation in post processing and a second speedlight with a red filter. This was added because, in the planned layout, there would be a red sun outside the spacestation window.

We did a number of different poses, both together and apart to see what worked best. We also shot some images for the models to use for their own purposes. A few of these are shown below.

Finally, I had the process of putting together the final image.

For this, I used the models from the shoot and a number of other elements. I started with a standard book template after discussing with the publisher what the dimensions of the final book would be. This allowed a back and front cover as well as an idea of the size of the spine of the book. The first thing I added to this was a photograph of a walkway. This was to be our spacestation. I replaced the scene from the windows with a starscape and added some features like LED lights that I had photographed in one of my regular weekly camera club nights. I also added some other features outside the space station. These were all blended in to look like part of the scene. In the initial draft, I used an image of both models…

However, this didn’t work for a number of reasons. The first was that the male character is the poV character and this is written in the style of a classic detective noir story which means you never really know what the main character looks like. The publisher and author were keen we don’t see his face. However, the attempts to anonymise him didn’t really work well. The second was that the publisher felt the female character looked too passive in this – very bored and disinterested. So, we discussed options and decided that our main character detective would be moved to the back cover and be more or less entirely blacked out – full ‘man of mystery’ mode. Like the image below.

At the same time, I selected a more dynamic single pose of Saskia from the selection and that would become the sole subject on the front cover.

Once the draft for that was approved, I went ahead and finalised the image. We had some discussion about saturation levels and a strange green tint on skin but we finally had a completed image which was sent off to the printers with the rest of the book…

Cassius Station: Heist by Gustavo Bondoni will be released at the Seattle Worldcon later this month with Gustavo doing signed copies for sale at the Guardbridge stall. it will then be on wider release by the 1st of September…

And I guess I am a cover designer now. Might have to explore doing this more in the future.

Release day! Coch a Gwyn

31 Tuesday Oct 2023

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Today is the 31st of October!

Yes, OK, there’s a whole Halloween thing going on out there and the online Pumpkin Spice wars are ongoing (not even Frank Herbert predicted that…) but I don’t want to talk about that right now.

I want to talk about Coch a Gwyn.

What’s that? Well, good thing you asked, dear reader, as it gives me the chance to tell you.

Coch a Gwyn is Welsh for ‘Red and White’ and it is the title of my newly published short story that came out today in Gwyllion magazine.391602499_10168095236700402_4126641988121523998_n

The story came about because I was thinking about how swans mate for life. We have a family of swans living on the lake near our house and so I have had plenty of opportunities to observe them when dog walking. From that initial thought I went from swans to other fantasy creatures…

Which is how I came to the conclusion that dragons also mate for life and from there it was only a few simple steps to the story that has just been published.

This is very much a departure from my usual stuff. Up until now, if you have read me at all, you will have seen either fantasy swashbuckling adventures or modern day paranormal romance. This might stray a little into paranormal romance but not the usual sort of thing you expect in that genre. What if a pair of dragons who are mated for life but actually hate each other? That’s the question I started with when I began this story. Mix in a bit of Arthurian myth, some real world history and a female protagonist who is red in tooth and claw (and wing) and that is the story in a nutshell.

You can buy an e version for any type of reader or plump for the hard copy (bonus, if you find me at Eastercon or Worldcon next year I can sign this!). More details about Gwyllion can be found on:

“Twitter”: https://twitter.com/GwyllionMag
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GwyllionMag
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/gwyllion.bsky.social
Mastodon: https://toot.wales/@gwyllion

Cyberpunk look

12 Friday Aug 2022

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I

Silhouette.

I’ve been spending the last few years (alongside working and writing) developing my photography and photoshop skills. During lockdown, I had a lot of free time that I put towards doing online courses and practising with the aim to start selling images. This culminated in Eastercon 2022 where I did display several images in the art show and even sold a couple.

Working to get images with a SF or fantasy theme is difficult and takes a lot of work. You can’t just dress a model up in costume, give her some props and snap the image and call it a day. To make a truly good image takes time and effort in post production and sometimes even a lot of luck.

I recently went along to a workshop run by The Creatives Workshop team who are based in AWOL studios in Manchester for their Cyberpunk workshop. This event was run in the studio, using all the equipment and props they have there, and was featuring the amazing theDemonfoxx as the model.

We went through a number of sets and costume changes, all with the theme ‘Cyberpunk’ and everyone involved got some excellent images.

I’m going to talk about three of mine and how they were edited.

The first is the silhouette seen at the top of this post. I mentioned a lot of luck near the start of this post and this is a perfect example. This was not ‘played for and got’, this was one I actually considered a failure because the exposure was not right. Not enough light on the subject… so we did play with the lights and did get a version of this that worked with the details of the face and everything in place. However, when editing, I looked at this image again and reassessed it. A bit of a minor tweak (increase the blacks, add a bit more contrast) and it comes out really nice. Especially the way the glasses are visible because they light up.

Like one of those Apple adverts from the mid 2000s…

Which is definitely a mood that could be considered ‘cyberpunk’ depending on how cynical you are about the Apple corporate empire and its role in creating dystopian futures. So, in the end, that image stayed.

The second one I want to talk about was this portrait.

This one had a bit more of an edit.

The original was taken using a 50mm prime lens, very close to the subject who was lit with LEDs – a blue one and a green one, though the green seems to have overwhelmed it mostly. The basic edits were the sort usually done for portraits. I cleared the skin a little, enhanced the colour of the eyes (though they were already strong in the original) and some basic adjustments for exposure. After that I started adding things…

The glasses with the red LED were real in the original but a lot of the other visible tech and lights were added. In this, I was trying to think about the cyberpunk genre and how it may have changed over time. The original ideas come from the 80s and technology is different now than the writers of the genre might have predicted. We are now two years beyond the date given in the RPG for the Cyberpunk dystopia (2020) and technology is sleeker and more discrete than expected. In fact, the more recent releases of the concept change it to 2077 (the computer game) and Cyberpunk Red (the tabletop RPG).

So, when thinking about this image I decided to try to make the cyberware more discrete than is usually seen. No huge blocks of chrome, no wires connecting things. I added three things to this image as implanted cyberware:
  • One of the eyes is a cybereye. I achieved this by using an image of the lights on one of my charging blocks pasted over the eyes and using Screen blending mode to make it look like it is under the cornea. I did the same with the underside of one of my own glucose monitoring sensors after I had removed it to replace. There were visible circuitry on there and because the device is a circle it is easy to paste it and blend it into the circular part of the eye. Unfortunately, you have to zoom in quite close to see the detail of the circuits but the lights are visible. But then, the technology is supposed to be subtle…
  • There is a set of ports on her head. This is a bit more old school Cyberpunk as, the way things are headed now, such things as what Cyberpunk authors called ‘netrunning’ would very likely be wireless now. But, I wanted some ports in so maybe she’s an ‘old skool’ netrunner who prefers to jack in direct than suffer the slow wireless speeds. These are basically just USB ports. I used a bit of blending but also some embossing to make the skin around them pucker as if something is implanted under it.
  • On one of the breasts there is… something… what this is can be up to your imagination. Another port? A control panel? A Tony Stark style implanted power source? This was a photo of the applicator for the glucose monitor sensor. Again, it was blended and worked to make it look like it was under the skin. This time, an Overlay blend was used.

Overall, I am quite pleased with this image. There are some flaws I might do better next time to eliminate and I am still not 100% sure about the ports as they don’t look quite right but on the whole I am happy with it.

The final image is one that I titled ‘Transhuman Nightmare’ when I posted it to my Purpleport portfolio.

Again that luck thing came into play a little. We were using a ring light to create a halo effect around the model’s head and one of the poses she did was this one, wrapping her arms through the ring. I liked this pose but also, when I came to edit the images, saw that the bottom of her body was almost completely missing – just shrouded in the black. This meant there was opportunity to do things with that area without needing to do much to remove those parts of the body. Hence, the monstrosity you see above.

Here we have wires, LEDs and a metal shower hose pressed into service as cybernetic tentacles with some other light effects used to add drama. Transhumanism is the philosophy of merging humanity with machines in different ways and underlies some of the ideas of the Cyberpunk genre.

I hope you enjoyed the images here as much as I have enjoyed making them…

Eastercon Artshow

31 Wednesday Mar 2021

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Easter is on its way and that means it is time for Eastercon!

It’s back… and this time it’s virtual!

So, because of the international emergency situation vis a vis COVID19, there wasn’t a British Science Fiction convention over Easter last year. The event was planned to have been in Birmingham but was cancelled. Then it was planned to be in Birmingham again this year but has since had to revert to a completely virtual event.

I’ll do a longer post at some point soon about the difficulties of achieving a fully virtual convention… but this post is all about the Artshow.

A preview

So, at Easter 2020 I had managed to book a place on the Eastercon artshow. This runs every year at the con and artists display their work and it is offered for auction or sale. You get to see what well known fantasy and SF artists have been working on and maybe even get the chance to own some of your very own. I had a plan to bring along 15 photographs – 5 large (10 X 8″) and 10 small (6 X 4″) and had bought a set of mounting boards and packing bags for them ready to go. I was in the process of selecting the final 15 when the event was canceled.

Which meant I was actually fairly ready for this year’s artshow with very little extra work.

Well, apart from the fact I had spent most of lockdown learning more about how Photoshop works, getting better at editing, and making new images to sell… so my final collection is different to the one I might have taken to Eastercon 2020 and I spent a bit of time re-editing some of them to be even better.

And there will be other differences.

For example, because this is a virtual auction, I don’t need to print off a set of images ready for display. In a normal artshow, you’d bid for or buy a physical item that is hanging on the wall and, at the end of the weekend, you take it home with you. This time, however, the images will be displayed in a virtual environment created in Kunstmatrix like the one shown here. Which means, in my case at least, I will be able to effectively do prints on demand. At the event, everything will be displayed with a price for the 10 X 8″ version. However, you are welcome to contact me and ask for a quote for any reasonable size and I should be able to supply it.

The caveat on this is that I only have five 8 X 10″ mounting boards and ten 6 X 4″. Once I run out of those, or if you order a different size, there may be a slight delay in delivery times while I order some more in. I’ll let you know when you order if this is going to be the case.

So, if you are at Eastercon this weekend, I hope you take the time to wander around the artshow and, while pondering whether to get the Fangorn original cover art for your favourite book, you also consider some of my images…

Blending the Con

19 Tuesday Jan 2021

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In case you hadn’t noticed, there is something of a global pandemic going on at the moment. You may have picked up hints of it amongst the news of insurrection in the US… This pandemic has led to a series of different measures to try to manage the impact ranging from total lockdown to the uniquely confusing Tier system in the UK.

RomanceSFF panel

Photo of me on the SFF Romance Panel at Worldcon 2019 taken by Carien Ubink‎

This has, understandably, led to some issues with the normal running of events. Anything that requires a large number of people to get together in one place for an extended period of time is a high risk for spreading a virus so any number of LARP events, conferences, conventions and the like have been cancelled since March last year and in some cases we have got to the point where the rescheduled events are at risk of being cancelled as well. Some events, such as the New Zealand Worldcon in August, went fully virtual. Others are still waiting for when they can plan new dates for fully in person meets.

With this in mind, Eastercon (which was due to be in Birmingham last year but got cancelled) has been planning for a number of possible outcomes when it returns on the 1st to the 4th of April, 2021. This is probably wise as there seems to currently be no reliable way to predict the extent of the virus or the progress of the government’s response to it by then and therefore no real way to know what restrictions will or will not be in place.

So, Eastercon’s plans are to assume that at least some of the con will be virtual. Even if hotels are allowed to have guests and host events, even if a significant portion of the UK population have been vaccinated, there is still a high risk that international members of the con will not be allowed to travel into the UK so they need to work on accomodating them. So, working with available technology to figure out how to have both in person and virtual attendees both on panels and in the audience.

Which led me to thinking… assuming we eventually do rid ourselves of the pandemic with its Tiers and Lockdowns and endless Zoom meetings, how should this change conventions in the future?

During the first lockdown in March 2020, there was a lot of talk about ‘the new normal’ and how our newfound powers of being able to ‘work from home’ (that we’ve really sort of had since the 90s but nevermind) would change the workplace. Some assumed that once the pandemic was gone ther would be a return to the ‘old normal’. Others suggested that, having realised that it is possible, some might ask for more chances to work from home. How will conventions go in this? Will they return to as it was before or will they adapt by adopting some of the tricks they learned during lockdown? I’m going to consider some possible benefits of the latter…

Authors incliding Jacey Bedford and Ruth Long doing a panel at Mancunicon Eastercon

Mancunicon – me on a panel about Romance with Jacey Bedford and some others. There was standing room only… Taken by Russell Smith

One huge advantage will be space. Eastercon and Worldcon are both getting much bigger. To the extent that some venues can no longer house them adequetly. In 2016, Mancunicon in Manchester had significant  problems with space, with some panels being in rooms that were too small for the audiences who wanted to see them. Hell, this was so bad that even a panel I was on had standing room only and people waiting outside because they were not allowed in. At Worldcon 2019 in Dublin, a guest of honour almost did not make it to a panel I was moderating because the room was full so they were stopping people getting in. Luckily they knew who she was and let her in. This can lead to disappointed attendees because they cannot get into something they wanted to see and be an issue for the organisers who might have to deal with complaints and also set up systems for queuing for panels so there is no huge crush at the door. While the obvious solution might be ‘hire bigger venues’ that comes with the problem that, actually, in the UK at least we seem to be running out of ones that are big enough.

So, running the convention virtually will minimise this to an extent. First of all, attendees present in person might be disappointed that they could not get into the room. However, if the panelists are all on camera and the panel is being streamed, they can access it on a laptop or tablet or even a smart phone in the bar or even their hotel room.

Secondly, more people can be members of the convention full stop. A set number of ‘physical tickets’ can be sold to those who want to attend in person but there can also be ‘virtual tickets’ on sale at a lower price. This increases the overall income of the convention, which should hopefully cover additional cost of the tech to achieve it. This may be an option for some international attendees. I know that I could never afford the travel to the US or New Zealand for a Worldcon but I could afford a ticket to watch elements of it online.

Another issue, linked to the above, is volunteers appearing on panels, workshops, talks etc. As pointed out above, not everyone can travel to a con. Some simply due to distance but others maybe because of disability or childcare issues or similar commitments. There have been a few people who I would love to see on a panel or doing a talk at a UK convention like Eastercon but they have been based in the US or Canada and while some Eastercon attendees are from the States, it is still a significant investment in time and money to make the trip. If the tech can be in place to project a panelist on a screen so they don’t have to be present in the room but they can still interact with the panelists who are present and the audience if needed this would be an improvement.

OK, my experience of conrunning is limited – I volunteer at some cons but have not had to organise the logistics of one to any extent – and my experience of AV is based purely on using it to teach and the same experience as pretty much everyone else since March 2020 so I may be missing huge issues with this. However, I do see that this is an opportunity to think about this longer term than just the current crisis. Like workplaces in general, maybe it is time to start working out what the ‘new normal’ is actually going to be.

Photo-editing

03 Tuesday Nov 2020

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Triggered by a recent Facebook group post, I’m going to talk about something that seems to be a really controversial thing in photography – editing.

There is such a lot to unpack with this and everyone seems to have an opinion. There are those, for example, who claim you ‘should just get it right in camera’ or say they ‘never edit’. Others edit liberally to the extent you can sometimes not see the original image under the processing. And, just as in the aforementioned Facebook group post, it seems to polarise the community.

I guess there is good reason why it does. After all, there are often celebrity controversies about it. Claims that they present an unrealistic body image are justified. In a recent (September 2020) government survey (https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5801/cmselect/cmwomeq/805/80502.html) the following question was asked:

This indicates that social media images (mostly edited with filters and similar) and celebrity images (both on TV and in social media) are huge influences on how many feel about their appearance. The use of photoshop style editing is part of that.

However, my opinion is that this is a more nuanced issue.

First of all, those who claim they never edit or ‘they didn’t edit back in the days of film’ are a little misled. Back in the day of film a hell of a lot of editing did occur. The very act of processing film required making decisions about exposure and timing the developing process to suit and many of the features of Photoshop (layers, dodging, burning) are based on activities that used to occur all the time in dark rooms. For example, photographers would use acetate sheets with different elements layered over an image in the same way a modern editor will copy and paste layers of image to make a composite.

As for ‘I don’t edit my digital images’, it has to be understood here that every digital camera – whether it is your camera phone, a compact ‘point and click’, a DSLR or a mirrorless – edits the image before it shows it to you. All digital cameras will record the data of the image taken as a RAW file – usually a huge file that takes up a lot of storage space – and will convert that into a more compressed jpeg or similar so you can view it on the screen. In making this compressed file, the computer in the camera uses algorithms to make decisions about the exposure etc. based on what it thinks you want to see in that image. Some cameras (e.g. DSLRs or mirrorless set to ‘manual mode’) store the RAW file so you can do your edits. Others (such as most camera phones) delete the RAW file after it has made the conversion.

Now, in my opinion, the issue should not be so polarised. We can accept that editing can be used in a way that causes harm to others. We can also accept that all images need some editing, even if that is achieved by an algorithm. What we actually need to be considering is not ‘whether editing should be done at all’ but rather ‘editing should be done as appropriate for the image’. Journalistic or sports photography is always going to need less editing than high art. The trick is deciding where you feel your image fits and how much editing it needs as a result and whether that editing is ethical. This can be a very personal decision.

I do a lot of fantasy and SF themed photography. While you can do a lot with make up and special effects on the set, there will inevitably need to be some form of edit in photoshop to give the images oomph. This might be changing the background to a fantasy scene instead of the studio backdrop or plain brick wall of the original. It might be replacing a bland sky with something with storm clouds. It could be adding lightning flashes or other things to make a character look like they are doing magic. All of these are changes that an editing critic might say were deviating from the original image too much. However, in these specific examples, I would argue they are essential to create the image. The two images below are an example from a trip out with a vampire a few years ago…

Before
After

Interview: Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki

27 Tuesday Oct 2020

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In the final (for now) Vampire month style interview in celebration of the release of Slay: Stories of the Vampire Noire, we have Nigerian author Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki talking to us about Anne Rice and other aspects of writing about vampires.

Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is an African speculative fiction writer, slush reader and editor. He was awarded an honourable mention, twice in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest. His short story won the Nommo award for best short story by an African. He has been published in African Writer, Omenana magazine, Selene Quarterly, Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores, Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Tor.  

He co-edited the Invictus Quarterly, Selene Quarterly, and the Dominion Anthology

He also happens to be a member of the African Speculative Fiction Society, Codex, BFA, BSFA, HWA and the SFWA.

You can find him on the following social media links:

Twitter www.twitter.com/penprince_

Facebook www.facebook.com/penprince

Instagram www.instagram.com/penprince

What is the earliest memory you have of writing? What did you write about?

I would say I was writing since I could write. I always used to make up my own version of the stories I read as early as I could read. About the same time I could write. Then I started to actually write it down a bit later, before I was a teenager. Mostly fight scenes with made up characters but having the abilities of the ones in stories I read. I did try my hand at original stories too as a teenager. I even have this novella/novel about ancient Egypt. Which no, you won’t be seeing. Lol.

When did you decide to become a professional writer? Why did you take this step?

Well, professional. I’ll say that was much later when I discovered literary mags and selling of stories. That was much later on in life. My mid 20s. By then I had given up on writing for like half a decade. Sold my first spec fic story to a pro market in 2018. Published in a couple places before then in like 2015.

What would you consider to be your greatest strength as a writer? What about your greatest weakness? How do you overcome this weakness?

Greatest strength, I would say is my experience as a reader. I think it influences my writing and gives it the quality or feel that it has. Weakness, I’ll say is my stamina. I’m not very prolific. I wrote in short bursts and not as often as I would like. There’s no magic cure. I just have to motivate myself daily to work at it. Food helps as a motivating factor. *smile*

Tell us about the place where you live. Have you ever derived any inspiration from your home or from anywhere you have visited?

I currently live in Lagos, Nigeria. And move around a bit. I can’t say that my place or abode has influenced me so much. I tend to live in my head, and Carry my home with me. Although the times I’ve been in a location that’s been really bad, it’s affected my writing, negatively. But other than that, a few creature comforts, and I and my writing are good.

Which book, if any, would you consider to be your greatest influence and inspiration?

There’s so many books, it would be hard to say. But it would be a tie between the DragonLance Chronicles and Legends by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, and the Dark Elf Trilogy/Icewindale Trilogy by RA Silvatore. You can toss in the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, and the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. We can also add the Sword of Truth series. Bless Terry Goodkind.

What drove you to write about Vampires?

Anne Rice. And the fact that they are sleek, sexy, powerful, immortal, dark creaturse. What’s not to love about them?

What do you think is the attraction for Vampire fiction? Why is it such a popular topic?

I think it’s the dangerous elegance of it. The danger is exciting. The beauty is alluring. Must be why we keep going back to them so many times, no matter how much they have been explored.

In a fight between all the greatest Vampires of fiction, who do you think would come out on top?

Lestat de Lioncourt.

What about in some other contest such as sexiness or dress sense? Who would win that one?

Tie between the count Dracula and Queen Akansha. They are royalty afteral. Come on.

How well do you think one of your characters would fare against the winner(s) of the above?

Pretty well. Considering my characters are mainly gods, devils and geniuses.

Tell us the basic premise behind your latest novel.

In a post apocalyptic world where a third world war has wiped out nearly all life on the African continent, the survivors gather in Ife-Iyoku, the spiritual capital of the ancient Oyo empire and birth place of all life, where they evolve due to the magic and power of the place and gain powers to survive the radiation and twisted environs they find themselves.

THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964) A tongue-in-cheek analysis by Steve Van Samson



16 Friday Oct 2020

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Amazon.com: The Last Man on Earth [VHS]: Vincent Price, Franca Bettoia, Emma Danieli, Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Umberto Raho, Christi Courtland, Antonio Corevi, Ettore Ribotta, Carolyn De Fonseca, Rolando De Rossi, Giuseppe Mattei,First, a little history…

These days, the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse can hardly be considered jaw droppingly original. With such beloved properties such as THE WALKING DEAD (2010), NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) and about a million in between, the zombie hoard concept has staggered and moaned its way into our hearts. Funny thing is, boil ‘em down to their component parts and you’ll find there are essentially two types of zombie films: Pre-Apocalypse and Post. But in the early 1950s, the idea of a world where mankind had been put on the endangered species list was unheard of. Lucky for us that in 1954, genre master Richard Matheson penned a novel that changed all of that.
In the world of Science Fiction and Horror, “I Am Legend” is kind of an important book. It inspired not only what is considered by many to be the quintessential zombie film (Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, 1968), but also three direct adaptations (including THE OMEGA MAN, 1971 & I AM LEGEND, 2007) and essentially an entire subgenre of horror. In other words, if the Zombie Apocalypse compels you to write a thank you note, it should probably be addressed to Richard Matheson.
But enough of that…
Tonight’s film is not only the first to adapt the story “I Am Legend”, it also happens to be the most faithful to the source material.
THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964) is constructed of three distinct acts, beginning with a series of aerial shots depicting a sprawling, if barren metropolis. As these progress, the shots become more and more grim, eventually depicting dead bodies strewn over sidewalks, streets and stairs as well as a church’s marquee which boldly proclaims that THE END HAS COME. The sequence comes to its conclusion on a sleepy street, which would surely be charming if not for all the bodies.
It is here that through a broken and boarded window, we catch the first glimpse of our hero. Starring as Dr. Robert Morgan we have the great Vincent Price (HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, 1959, THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES, 1971). Initially asleep, Robert is jarred awake to the shrill sound of an alarm clock. And like many of us are apt to, he greets the morning with all the excitement of getting a root canal, as he shuffles off and into the business of the day.
“Another day to live through. Better get started.”
With this haunting line, so begins the film’s first act.
For quite a while, the movie trudges along as a sort of one man show–depicting a typical day in the life of the titular LAST MAN ON EARTH. Initially, all of the film’s dialog is delivered via an inner monologue–providing vital insight into the mind of our protagonist, as well as establishing the ins and outs of this post-apocalyptic world. Apparently it has been three years since Morgan inherited the Earth, though by his own account if feels quite a bit longer.
After checking his calendar and adding oil to the ole’ generator, Morgan steps outside to greet the morning sun as well as some fresh dead folk on his lawn. These he regards with all the awe one typically reserves for the first glimpse of the morning paper. It is about this time that we begin to learn about the film’s so-called monsters. Though I have thus far likened these infected humans to “zombies”, this is not entirely accurate. While the infecteds are certainly zombie-esque (given their apparent penchant for moaning, shuffling, blank stares, etc.) they also share quite a few similarities with another classic monster–the vampire.
We soon learn that Morgan has fortified his home with such oddities as strands of garlic and mirrors. According to this film’s mythology, mirrors can be used to repel the infecteds who have a serious hate-on for their own hideous reflections. Of course later when we are treated to the limits of the makeup department, this fact becomes quite silly since the monsters (zompires?) look about as monstrous as the average post-bender collegiate.
But I digress…
After a few more steps in the morning routine, Morgan packs his kit with some freshly made stakes, loads up the car with two bodies from the lawn and hits the road. Better get a move on, Morgan–you’ve got a full day of errands ahead of you and daylight, she’s a burnin’.
After a quick fill-up, the good doctor’s first stop is “the pit”. Basically a perpetually burning gorge of insinuated bodies (insinuated since we never actually see any besides the ones Morgan tosses in). Admittedly, out of the many daily functions we have seen Dr. Robert Morgan perform so far, throwing dead zompires into the mouth of hell is probably the most exciting. The sequence ends with Morgan chasing the bodies with a whole can of petrol and a jumbo novelty torch–just to let the we the audience know that they the filmmakers were also wondering what was keeping this pit thing going.BlueisKewl: The Last Man on Earth 1964
Stop number two on Morgan’s crazy Saturday adventure is a visit to the local supermarket. Surprisingly, he passes through aisles stocked with cans and boxes of viable food, ignoring the lot. The item he’s after today is garlic since his home supply has apparently lost its potency. A good thing indeed that the market’s freezer is still working and there is a large supply of the stinky vampire repelling bulb inside. After stocking up on all the garlic he can carry, Morgan moves on to the really fun part of the day… FULL THROTTLE ZOMPIRE KILLING SPREE!!!
The score blares, all brass and swagger as we are treated to a montage of Vincent Price kicking in doors, hammering down stakes and feeding “the pit” with some freshly slain zompire folk. Then wash, rinse, repeat–it’s all very exciting. Eventually though, the sun starts to get low in that western sky. Noticing this, Morgan decides he had better head home, batten down the hatches and hunker in for another long night. And so he does. One safely settled in, the zompires appear almost at once, planks of wood in hand–they assault the doctor’s home, even calling him by name!
“Morgan… Come out Morgan…”
Fortunately for the good doctor, his zompire assailants have the approximate upper body strength of Spongebob Squarepants. After three years of nightly onslaughts, they have yet to set as much as one wormy toe into his fine, upper middle class home.
At its core, the point of act 1 is to show us a typical day in the life of THE LAST MAN ON EARTH. The mundanities feel mundane for a very good reason–Morgan is running on fumes. He exists simply to exist. Filling his time with the self appointed purpose of exterminating as many zompires as possible–making sure not to die in the process so he can do it all over again the next day, and the next… and the next.
The Last Man on Earth 1964: 15 things you didn't know! | Spooky Isles
Act 2 appears pretty much out of nowhere and is basically one big flashback. In it, we are able to glimpse a portion of Morgan’s life prior to the human race’s nigh-extinction. We get to meet his lovely wife and adorable young daughter, as well as his best friend Ben (who we’ve already met as the hero zompire who endlessly calls Morgan by name). These are the early days of the disease and they aren’t pretty–what with all the panic and hazmat suits and dead kids getting hauled away in trucks. The sequence is certainly interesting enough and adds some depth to our main character.
With the flashback over, we smack headlong into act 3. The final portion of the film takes what we think we know about the world and turns it on its head. Without giving too much away, I will say that the conclusion does a good job of providing an alternate look at Morgan’s unique outlook and situation.
THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964) is admittedly something of a sluggish affair. It’s production is low and it features some seriously terrible audio quality as well as glaringly looped voice overs.–however, the film is certainly not without its charm. Price’s character, while incredibly disillusioned and apathetic, is fascinating when juxtaposed against the dystopian world just outside his door. We come to understand that Dr. Robert Morgan is a shell of his former self. A man resigned to continue the business of living–somehow finding balance in day to day survival, but perhaps without knowing why. And somewhere along the way, he became something unrecognizable.
I think Nietzsche probably said it best.

Interview: Steve Van Samson

15 Thursday Oct 2020

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Our second interview for our series celebrating the release of Slay: Stories of the Vampire Noire is with Steve Van Samson. Here he describes himself in his own words:

I’m the author of the “Predator World” novels (The Bone Eater King and Picture of Steve Van SamsonMarrow Dust) as well as numerous short stories which all tend to be on the pulpy, adventure side of horror, with an eye on character diversity. Aside from writing, I have also sung lead vocals on 2 albums with the band Enchanted Exile and co-host a fun nostalgia podcast on The Dorkening Network, called Retro Ridoctopus!

You can find him in these places:

Amazon

Facebook: Steve Van Samson 

Twitter: @SteveVansamson

Publisher for press releases: www.roughhousepublishing.com

 

What is the earliest memory you have of writing? What did you write about?

Though I didn’t think of it as a form of writing then, when 10 year old me would come up with characters and scenarios to pretend and play through with my friends, I think I was actually world building. Later, I also recall writing down (and improving on) certain weird dreams that I had at the time, for use as fodder for assignments in high school. There was one involving being invited over to a teacher’s house and discovering a pocket dimension beneath their swimming pool. That one was my mom’s favorite.

When did you decide to become a professional writer? Why did you take this step?

I’m just a huge fan of creating and meeting/interacting with new people. Writing allows me to do both in spades. I also really like the idea that by putting out books, I’m leaving something behind that my kids can always look back to and (hopefully) be proud of!

What would you consider to be your greatest strength as a writer? What about your greatest weakness? How do you overcome this weakness?

I love it when long-running TV shows reference specific scenes from earlier seasons. Buffy did this masterfully and so does Supernatural. It’s the sort of thing both that can both reward long-time fans while breathing new life to something they’ve already experienced. Possibly spurring new interest into seeking out and re-watching the old episodes that were just brought up. I try to do the same thing with my writing by always leaving little seeds throughout. Even if these details are glossed over initially, they may just bloom in subsequent readings. I also take great pride in my endings, which my readers consistently point out as being fulfilling and exciting.

I became interested in writing long after college and, unfortunately, do not have an English degree. As such, my grammar and punctuation tend to be a bit on the spotty side. It’s a weakness for sure, but I am always learning and improving!

Tell us about the place where you live. Have you ever derived any inspiration from your home or from anywhere you have visited?

I live in the USA. In a quiet, very old town in Massachusetts called Lancaster. As such, history is all around and I drink it in constantly. As far as settings for stories go, I generally like to write about varied places and people. That said, my story “The Root of All Noise” (which appears in More Lore From The Mythos Volume 2) does actually take place in MA and features many actual features of the hiking trails around Mount Greylock.

Which book, if any, would you consider to be your greatest influence and inspiration?

I don’t think there is one specific book, but rather certain authors whom I am consistently in awe over. Somewhere between the no nonsense, everyman prose of Joe R. Lansdale and the fairy-tale magic of Neil Gaiman is generally where I generally hope to land.

What drove you to write about Vampires?

There is a story called “The Hills of the Dead” by Robert E. Howard that I absolutely love. It has the roving Puritan evil fighter, Solomon Kane, travelling to Africa and battling a very unique breed of vampires. Everything about this story was exciting and new to me. Not only was this a very different take on vampires as creatures, but Howard placed them in an atypical setting. These decisions encapsulate pretty much everything I try to accomplish in writing. Give the reader something familiar and a whole lot of “holy crap, I’ve never seen that before”!

What do you think is the attraction for Vampire fiction? Why is it such a popular topic?

Vampires are a very diverse monster. They can be sexy, dangerous or a combination of the two and no matter what the genre (horror, romance, sci-fi, weird westerns) if one of the characters is a vampire, it becomes a vampire story!

In a fight between all the greatest Vampires of fiction, who do you think would come out on top?

As much as I love Carmilla, Dracula and Blade, I really enjoyed the Alpha Vampire from Supernatural. Rick Worthy played him as a quiet, restrained threat. As a character who had mastered his beast, but was keeping it by his side rather than in a cage. I really wish we got to see more of him.

What about in some other contest such as sexiness or dress sense? Who would win that one?

Oh, definitely Selene from Underworld. Who can say no to Kate Beckinsale in all that skin tight leather?

How well do you think one of your characters would fare against the winner(s) of the above?

I would love to see the Bone Eater King take on the Alpha Vampire. And while Supernatural’s Alpha definitely has the age advantage, I think the King’s raw power and size would ensure that he’d keep his crown. Selene would probably take him down though.

Tell us the basic premise behind your latest novel.

I know we’re doing vampire stuff here, but my latest is actually a bit of a departure. Mark of the Witchwyrm presents a father’s journey through a very cold, very grounded fantasy-type landscape.
Rander Belmorn is far from home. He searches tirelessly for the one man who might be able to cure his dying son, but time is running out. The road has led to a frozen waste at the very edge of the world. But what Rander Belmorn never learned on that long, lonely road was the answer to the last question. The only question. How do you kill a witch?
Mark of the Witchwyrm drops January 2021 from Rough House Publishing!