This is one of the proudest moments of my writing life. I have my copy of Martin Popoff’s monstrous Iron Maiden compendium, Hallowed Be Their Name: The Unofficial Iron Maiden Bible and feeling so grateful to see 13 of my Maiden live photos in the 20th chapter, “A Matter of Life and Death and Flight 666.” Also sections of an interview I did with Nicko McBrain at the same album cycle on pages 132, 421 and 480.

A little background context to my contributions to Martin’s tome. I had interviewed Nicko for Caustic Truths magazine and we got on particularly well. He liked my questions, said I was creative, and the bloke was a total riot. Very funny man. At the end of our chat, Nicko told me I was considered on their guest list for the Camden, NJ show with photo pass.

A hiccup from the PR got me the photo pass but not the full show ticket, so that was a shock, but Maiden had played mostly songs from A Matter of Life and Death that night, which contains marathon numbers. Usually, a pit photographer is granted the first three songs of a set in front of the crowd barrier before they are escorted out. With the selections Maiden chose that night, I was in the photo pit for nearly half an hour. As my all-time favorite metal band, it was euphoric being right under the band all that time and I got my two absolute favorite shots of my entire portfolio of Steve Harris and Janick Gers, both appearing in this book.

Because of my early departure, I headed back to the parking garage and if you know Camden, NJ, it can be a bit rough in spots. I was stalked by a gang to the garage and I saw them fanning out as I had to be extra crafty working my way through the levels, ducking behind cars once I heard three of them describe me in detail so they knew who their target was. I nearly pissed myself, but as they got even more separated, I got dodgier sneaking to my truck and when I was finally safe, I pulled my cap down over my face and got the hell out of there.

What a night I am grateful for on many levels.

Final note, the publisher of this book is the same as my wife’s Healthy Witch book and oracle deck and Four Little Witches. There’s some kind of kismet in that, I think.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.