Kolchak, Dark Shadows on Rondo Award Ballot

Although not solely for my own work, it’s mighty gratifying that two books to which I contributed are on the ballot for the 21st Annual Rondo Awards (for work published in 2022). First, in the Book of the Year category (#11 on the ballot), is Running Home to Shadows (Becky Books), edited by Jim Beard and Charles R. Rutledge; second, in the Best Graphic Presentation category (#22 on the ballot), is Kolchak: The Night Stalker 50th Anniversary Graphic Novel (Moonstone Books), edited by James Aquilone (this one has also been nominated for a Bram Stoker Award).

The Rondo Awards are cooler than fuck. Yes, they are! You can check out the ballot and vote here: The 21st Annual Rondo Awards

Rising Sun Reruns Is in the House!

Another contributor copy popped into my mailbox this week — this one a lovely volume from Becky Books titled Rising Sun Reruns, edited by Jim Beard. My essay, “Bacon, Eggs, Toast, and Ultraman” — believe it or not — is about growing up with Ultraman, at least during those rare spells when I was able to watch Ultraman as a young’un.

“From the 1960s to the 1990s, children in the West were gifted with a bounty of amazing TV shows to watch and enjoy — but it wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy their voracious appetites for adventure! It took the immigration of imported shows from the East to fill their afternoons with all the fun and fantasy they craved!

“Grab a TV tray and hunker down with a group of grown-up kids as they reminisce about their favorite Japanese TV shows of yore! In these pages, you will find glowing memories of flights of fancy such as Ultraman, Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot, Astro Boy, Battle of the Planets, Space Giants, Speed Racer, Robotech, and many, many more—including a few you may never even heard of!

“Writer-editor Jim Beard adds to his Memories from Today's Grown-Up Kids series of pop culture nostalgia books with Rising Sun Reruns, a tantalizing trip into the past when discovering a strange show from Japan alongside your other favorite series was not a weird thing at all…it was downright wonderful!”

---

Order Rising Sun Reruns from Amazon.com here!

---

NEW! Rising Sun Reruns From Becky Books

TIME FOR TOKUSATSU!
Looky, looky! On the heels of his phenomenal Dark Shadows retrospective, Running Home to Shadows, editor Jim Beard and publisher Becky Books are back with Rising Sun Reruns, a new volume dedicated to those Japanese television imports from the mid-to-late Twentieth Century that glued so many of us to our small screens.

“From the 1960s to the 1990s children in the West were gifted with a bounty of amazing TV shows to watch and enjoy—but it wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy their voracious appetites for adventure! It took an intriguing immigration of imported shows from the East to fill their afternoons with all the fun and fantasy they craved!

“Grab a TV tray and hunker down in the family den with a group of grown-up kids as they reminisce about their favorite exotic Japanese TV shows of yore! In these pages, you will find glowing memories of flights of fancy such as Ultraman, Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot, Astro Boy, Battle of the Planets, Space Giants, Speed Racer, Robotech, and many, many more—including a few you may never even heard of!

“Writer-editor Jim Beard adds to his Memories from Today's Grown-Up Kids series of pop culture nostalgia books with Rising Sun Reruns, a tantalizing trip into the past when discovering a strange show from Japan alongside your other favorite series was not a weird thing at all… it was downright wonderful!”

My essay, “Bacon, Eggs, Toast, & Ultraman,” showcases — you guessed it! — the original Ultraman TV series. Actor David J. Fielding, from the Power Rangers series, provides the foreword. Cover art is by Adam Benet Shaw. Available in paperback and ebook.

---

Order Rising Sun Reruns from
Amazon.com here!

---

Now Playing: Running Home to Shadows!

It’s here: Running Home to the Shadows, from editor Jim Beard and publisher Becky Books. This volume, which features plenty of recollections about Dark Shadows from a host of writing professionals — including yours truly — plus a foreword by Dark Shadows’ own Kathryn L Scott (Maggie Evans, Josette DuPres, Rachel Drummond, and others).

From the editor: 

School is out, and Barnabas is IN!

They were a generation all their own, the army of children who ran home from school to watch Dark Shadows, TV’s very first supernatural soap. A breed apart, they set aside the worship of mundane pop stars to follow vampires, witches, and werewolves. From 1966 to 1971, they were daytime Monster Kids… and today they have stories to tell.

Writer-editor Jim Beard has gathered these grown-up kids together in this tome to tell those tales. Their experiences are sometimes tragic and terrifying, yet also uplifting and inspirational, but above all, Dark Shadows touched them so deeply as to leave an indelible impression on their lives that lasts to this day.

Return to Collinwood to brave the stormy nights and rainswept days of yore to listen to this coven of writers spin yarns of childhood encounters with Barnabas, Angelique, Quentin, Vicky, Maggie, and their compatriots. Cross the threshold of the Old House, take a seat by the crackling fire, and make yourself comfortable to the strains of maudlin music issuing forth from the gramophone — the ghosts of the past are about to arise in Running Home to Shadows. Won’t you join us?

Edited by Jim Beard with Charles R. Rutledge

Cover illustration by Mark Maddox with logo design and formatting by Maggie Ryel

Foreword by Kathryn Leigh Scott

Featuring essays by Greg Cox, Kathleen O’Shea David, Mark Dawidziak, Dave Dykema, Bob Freeman, Ed Gross, Nancy Holder, Tina Hunt, Katherine Kerestman, Mark Maddox (with Ed Catto), Elizabeth Massie, Kimberly Oswald, Martin Powell, Dana Pride, Stephen Mark Rainey, Michael Rogers, Charles R. Rutledge, Chris Ryan, Frank Schildiner, Duane Spurlock, and Jeff Thompson

Afterword by Rich Handley

Order Running Home to the Shadows here.

Coming Soon: Running Home to Shadows

On the heels of Bob Issel's Our Shadowed Past — a huge volume of essays from fans and the stars of legendary soap Dark Shadows (in which I had a hand in the production) — comes Running Home to Shadows, from Jim Beard and Becky Books. I also have a new essay in this volume, which features plenty of recollections about Dark Shadows from a host of writing professionals — plus a foreword by Dark Shadows's own Kathryn Leigh Scott.

From the editor: 

School is out, and Barnabas is IN!

They were a generation all their own, the army of children who ran home from school to watch Dark Shadows, TV’s very first supernatural soap. A breed apart, they set aside the worship of mundane pop stars to follow vampires, witches, and werewolves. From 1966 to 1971, they were daytime Monster Kids… and today they have stories to tell.

Writer-editor Jim Beard has gathered these grown-up kids together in this tome to tell those tales. Their experiences are sometimes tragic and terrifying, yet also uplifting and inspirational, but above all, Dark Shadows touched them so deeply as to leave an indelible impression on their lives that lasts to this day.

Return to Collinwood to brave the stormy nights and rainswept days of yore to listen to this coven of writers spin yarns of childhood encounters with Barnabas, Angelique, Quentin, Vicky, Maggie, and their compatriots. Cross the threshold of the Old House, take a seat by the crackling fire, and make yourself comfortable to the strains of maudlin music issuing forth from the gramophone — the ghosts of the past are about to arise in Running Home to Shadows. Won’t you join us?

Edited by Jim Beard with Charles R. Rutledge

Cover illustration by Mark Maddox with logo design and formatting by Maggie Ryel

Foreword by Kathryn Leigh Scott

Featuring essays by Greg Cox, Kathleen O’Shea David, Mark Dawidziak, Dave Dykema, Bob Freeman, Ed Gross, Nancy Holder, Tina Hunt, Katherine Kerestman, Mark Maddox (with Ed Catto), Elizabeth Massie, Kimberly Oswald, Martin Powell, Dana Pride, Stephen Mark Rainey, Michael Rogers, Charles R. Rutledge, Chris Ryan, Frank Schildiner, Duane Spurlock, and Jeff Thompson

Afterword by Rich Handley

Stay tuned for release news and ordering information.