–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

My classmates will remember this relic, though it had sleeves back in the day. Those came off the first couple years of my time in the music industry where other metal fans stood in awe of my “armor” when I covered live shows wearing it.

I am the real-life Jason Hamlin and Rob Martino from Revolution Calling, coming your way in early December from Raw Earth Ink.

Also from Raw Earth Ink, Coming of Rage, by Ray Van Horn, Jr. Available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Lulu, Kindle and Nook.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

In the esoteric world, scrying is a form of both meditation and divination. Also referred to as “peeping” or the simpler, yet broader view term “seeing,” to scry is to open your third eye to endless possibilities of the metaphysical. Some who scry use crystal balls or mirrors or even water. Some open a self-induced trance. With no real set structure or written order to scrying, it’s an open-ended form of looking into the beyond and reflecting on what you see.

Frequently scrying comes via fire, as TJ and I did on our honeymoon, honoring and raising energy to the divine as a way of thanks for blessing our union. It took a little extra effort and an extra nudge from the fire elementals presided by King Djinn, but we stoked our blaze and took the time to scry and whisper to each other what we believe manifested before our eyes. Fire dancers, salamanders, angelic facades and animal profiles are the most common beings to be found in a bonfire, and we certainly found those, live in within the random shots I snapped.

What do you scry from these pictures, if anything?

–Photos by Ray Van Horn, Jr.

As a longtime comic book hound, I’ve had my in-and-out dalliances with Superman. One of the all-time greats of the genre. At one point, the indisputable king of superheroes. Love him or hate him as a comics fan or you just enjoyed watching George Reeves in the 1950s play the Man of Steel on the tube or the immortal Christopher Reeve (THE Superman, for my tastes) in his four movies. You can’t erase the fact Kal-El and his symbolic “S” totem has united an entire world for 85 years now.

85. Let that number soak in a bit. Nearly nine decades since Action Comics # 1 changed pop culture and turned kids and grownups alike into closet heroes tying bedsheets around their necks in pretend of crime-busting glory. More refined and with higher fashion stakes, they call it cosplay these days.

I love Superman and always will, but DC Comics hasn’t maintained my interest in the character since their New 52 and Rebirth initiatives. For those not initiated or all that deep into comics, I’m talking about relaunches and rebrands of the house books with brand new # 1 issue resets designed to garnish hype and interest for new generations coming to comics. DC and Marvel Comics are both guilty as sin, however, of taking it one step further, halting ongoing series under a set creative writing and art team to begin all over again with a new team in place. It’s getting tiresome and difficult to maintain brand loyalty, especially with recent cover price hikes.

You can beat yourself senseless trying to make sense of this off-kilter numerical continuity once you look at a tiny imprint “legacy” issue number like Marvel does, keeping a faint count of the actual number of issues a title has run of its full course. All in design of smoke screening hooked readers toward oversized, price-spiked “anniversary” gala issues of the title’s real-time sequencing. I’ll pause for you to hit the ibuprofen.

Thus, this week’s Superman # 7 from DC is actually issue number 850 had the publisher stuck to an actual count of releasing without all of the back-to-one chronological reordering. Need I further stymie the situation by mentioning DC reloaded the Superman title back to # 1 in the 1980’s?

Getting to the point of my rant-in-disguise-of-celebration, I won’t lie that Superman # 7 (circa 2023 and the new label initiative “Dawn of DC”) really didn’t cut it for me. Not even Daily Planet editor Perry White opening the issue with some tender introspection before announcing his running for mayor of Metropolis. Not even with Lex Luthor’s seeming rehabilitation and enlightenment in retrospection of his time being thwarted by Clark Kent and Superman, all these designed to hoist the “anniversary” flag of the comic as happens in every 50 or 100 issue storylines. Hell, this trope of Lex turning good has happened before and conveniently played the same time Norman Osborn has been absolved of his Green Goblin sins over in the competitor’s Amazing Spider-Man.

I didn’t even care about the scraggly, chained bad guy, Sammy Stryker, carrying a vendetta against Lex Luthor and, of course, Metropolis itself. Nor the Dr. Frankenfurter in a wheelchair and his mop-headed, trench-wearing cohort, Dr. Pharm and Mr. Graft. I’m not trying to be a dick, because I love comics with all my heart and I’m a writer too, but even with an entire team of “Supers” joining Kal-El’s endless crusade for justice, it’s all just whatever.

With the bold exception of Lee Bermejo’s poignant and beautiful variant cover, the real reason I allowed myself to be suckered into buying this issue. This, my friends, boiling down to a kid pantomiming Superman in his bedroom while the real Super McCoy swoops by… This is why Superman still matters.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

TJ and I did it, deluge be foiled! We want to thank everyone who came out to support our union, even with wet elements to pull off a spectacular wedding. Many traveled from great distance, and you humble us accordingly. We are husband and wife now and can’t overstate our gratitude to all, including the Robins at Tymeless Valley in Manchester, Maryland. for a gorgeous venue.

We have been blessed all week as newlyweds, but we are sooooo deeply touched by this gift from my Metalheads comic creative partner in Kiel, Germany, Dom Valecillo, for his rendition of a favorite shot of our wedding from a longtime friend, Jo. Wir sind sehr berührt, mein freund.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

The next time I see you all here at Roads Lesser Traveled, I will be a married man. My second marriage and TJ’s third, we both feel destiny put us on our separate paths as long-ago friends running into each other now and then, finally brought together in union two decades later.

We always clicked. We always got each other. We always laughed in each other’s company. Constantly. We always rallied one another, through tough times and in our pursuits as respective writers. She is the pillar of strength who restarted my deadened heart and gave me back my writing mojo. Whatever I’ve brought to the table in this relationship, it’s jived with her, and we are simply meant to be.

We have received early wedding gifts from distant friends who sent us treasures we will honor for our remaining years. The first being a set of hand drawn foxes, our mutual spirit animal, from an ultra-talented artist based in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, Debbie. The second is the heart-shaped printed lyrics to our forthcoming first dance song as man and wife, The Bangles’ “Eternal Flame.” Complete with our wedding date upon it from our likewise thoughtful friend from Georgia, Angel.

TJ will call me corny for this post later, but there’s a reason we chose the song, going back to our first few weeks of dating. TJ had called the two of us “instant twin flames.” After running into each other at a Panera while I was getting my son lunch, the “it” factor was right there. He was wowed by TJ upon first contact since she could speak his language, many generations removed.

Our romance was instantaneous from the first date the very next day in an Irish pub, nearly closing the place down on a Sunday night. We laughed like lunatics and pledged to keep the train rolling, sealed with a kiss the following evening. We knew what a gift we’d been given, and we weren’t going to let this get away from us.

I especially look forward to recreating this photo from our first getaway together in the western Maryland mountains…

I believe it’s meant to be, darling, I watch you when you are sleeping, you belong to me…

This ain’t no dream.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

One of my many mementos from writing in the music scene is this glossy photo sent to me by Ron Keel following an interview we did a handful of years after the heavy metal band bearing his name had folded a second time between three stints.

Keel was a second-tier metal band from the 1980s who enjoyed a run of success with albums like Lay Down the Law, The Right to Rock, The Final Frontier and their self-titled Keel record from 1987, the latter gaining them routine play on MTV’s Headbangers Ball of their hit single, “Somebody’s Waiting.” Keel was also known for their covers of Patti Smith’s “Because the Night” and Rose Tattoo’s “Rock ‘n Roll Outlaw” from the underground ’80s trash classic, Dudes.

You probably figure with my novel, Revolution Calling, coming out soon, I’m feeling a lot of ’80s nostalgia and you’d be right. I remember playing Lay Down the Law and The Right to Rock in my bedroom, and even though The Final Frontier and Keel softened their sound, those two also got solid play from me back in the day. My dad went to great lengths to score me The Final Frontier for Christmas, much as he’d done with Kiss’ Creatures of the Night years prior.

The controversial album cover of Lay Down the Law had my mother gnawing on her tongue, but otherwise Keel was a straightforward metal-hard rock hybrid who disbanded for part of the 1990s while Ron Keel and guitarist Marc Ferrari kept glued to a dying metal scene from different avenues, Ferrari fielding a gear clinic column for Metal Forces magazine.

Keel took a shot at two reunions, releasing Keel VI: Back in Action in 1998, then Streets of Rock ‘n Roll in 2010. By the time I interviewed Ron Keel before Streets of Rock ‘n Roll was a here-and-gone thing, he’d cropped and teased his headbanger locks and grew a facial pattern as a would-be country singer. A super nice guy when we’d interviewed, he’d obliged me all the talk about the metal days that I wanted, and I know he appreciated my asking how the band got selected for the Dudes soundtrack. I’d done my homework on his country material and gave him solid feedback, since the guy always had nice, clean chops capable of shredding the octaves.

This signed photo from Ron came to me about a week after our interview. Unsolicited, he’d asked his press agent for my forwarding address and personalized the photo. In return, I gave my thanks through our respective channel, but it’s the message Ron left me on that picture that resonated then and even more so today.

Generations come, generations fade. Fads turn innovations by necessity before turning commodities once again. Yet words and music do live forever.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

1989. One of two times I took on drumming on the first of two five-piece Gretsch kits I ever owned, both with Zildjian cymbals. This time, as part of a would-be punk band with my buddies, Bob and Mark that never got off the ground.

I took it as seriously as I could after the nice try at a band through my college years, but soon sold the kit to square away some debt. Cropped hair, curled tongue, backwards army cap, Frehley’s Comet tee, those were the days, lol. Later in life, another Gretsch kit came my way. Same efforts, same results, along with my congas and bodhrán. I often wonder what might’ve been.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

Advance praise has started coming in for my new novel, Revolution Calling, including this gem from Decibel magazine writer, Justin Norton: “Ray Van Horn grew up during the 80s metal upheaval and associated culture wars and was clearly paying attention. Revolution Calling captures what it was like to be a metal fan when the music was still dangerous. The book has a vibe that will remind readers of Joe Lansdale and Robert R. McCammon. If you ever wanted a novel that mapped Stranger Things favorite Eddie Munson’s inner life, this is it. Die, posers!”

Revolution Calling, by Ray Van Horn, Jr. Coming soon from Raw Earth Ink.