Holy smokes, we lose Greg Kihn and Jack Russell of Great White in the same day? Jack was my first pro interview for assignment. I’d drawn Jack based on word of mouth from a personal project where I cold contacted and interviewed about 20 hard rock and metal bands from the 80s before they resurged.
My network of publicists from those early interviews who helped me break into the music industry took a shot on me by pitching me to Pitriff. They assigned me Jack Russell only a couple weeks after Great White’s Rhode Island tragedy. I was told not to “go there” with him, but I didn’t need the warning. I was sold by my network as someone new who already had the savvy to avoid yellow journalism.
Jack was still shaken, upset and angry by the Rhode Island deaths and the public backlash he and the band faced. I stayed off topic, got him to loosen up taking about the old days, MTV and Headbangers Ball giving Great White a boost and then getting into the new album they were promoting.
I won’t ever forget it, my debut in the big boy leagues, Jack saying, “Ray, I appreciate your class by not addressing the elephant in the room, but I want to comment on it anyway.” He said his peace and his publicist thanked me when I sent the transcript to ensure Jack stood on his words. I will always give you an out as an interview guest if I feel it’s potentially damaging. Jack sent me a message of thanks and to go for it.
From that interview, I was avalanched by requests from other bands who’d gotten word about my handling of this moment.
Yeah, this is a self-serving post, but I thank Jack Russell and his publicist (who became a lifelong friend after this) for giving me a chance at proving myself. It was a debut to remember that went on for 16 more years.
Rest in power, Jack. Hope you find a lady red light to put a smile upon your face on the other side.
Rest in power, Greg, may you wreak jeopardy across the great, lost arcades that time forgot.
I am currently writing a punk based horror story in answer to a call for submissions. Got me pulling out this time capsule gem from the photo albums. McDaniel College when it was known as Western Maryland College, Westminster, MD. Washington, D.C. hardcore legends, Government Issue headlining a four pack of punk bands.
Carroll County hadn’t seen the likes of it before, nor after, but what an incredible night with Bob, Joel, Mark, Jeff, John and Mike, the days of crossover when metalheads and punkers bridged.
I marked a few of us off in this photo from the Carroll County Times, myself holding on to the floor amp belting out “Jaded Eyes” with the late John Stabb. This clip fueled my story I just finished the first draft for. These were our salad days.
Picture a brutal horror element at play here, if you will…
Hi, my name is Ray Van Horn, Jr. Author of Coming of Rage and Revolution Calling and later in 2024, my new horror compilation, Behind the Shadows. I’ve worn many hats as a music and film journalist and concert photographer for 16 years, a press release writer, a former NHL game analyst, local beat reporter, scribe of serialized superhero adventures and haunter of the open mike.
I’m a deep cut kind of guy, though there’s always a place for timeless hits in my heart. I’m currently grinding out the psychedelic bombast of Heavy Temple with the hip hop stylings of Kid Cudi’s Entergalactic soundtrack on deck. My son turned me on to Kid Cudi and I’m proud of that, because I’m sometimes a tough one to sell in music. I have way broad horizons in my music tastes, but the bottom line is I demand integrity, not filler, from you as a musician.
I beat my 54-year-old body senseless through fitness endeavors because I only know when to quit when the stakes call for it. I have maybe one more Spartan event in me come November at Fenway Park, but knowing my stubborn self, I’ll be scrolling the event calls once again next year.
I’ve hashed 27 years scratching coin in the mortgage title industry and currently hold a title examiner position. That’s a long daggone time in one industry as I’ve seen friends come and friends come again in a business we refer to as incestuous since everyone knows everyone. Now I’m seeing next to no one I remember. Read into that as you will.
This is my favorite picture anyone’s ever taken of me, by the love of my life, TJ, my best friend, catching me in a wee sloshy, mostly infatuated man who knows he’s struck gold in his life. I used this picture as an author photo for my first two books and other publications, but nothing makes me smile harder other than looking at pics of our wedding every single day.
I am thinking about the first time I ever attended Shore Leave in 1992, it being my first day on the job with Alternate Worlds comic shop and told to report to what was then a Star Trek exclusive event. I told this story last night in the company of some of the elite writers of Trek and sci-fi-fantasy in one of the more incredible weekends of my life. Both TJ and my lives.
In ’92, I was thrust into a world I knew only from my childhood perspective watching the original show and the 1970s Filmation series of Star Trek. I had the toys, I had a felt poster of the U.S.S. Enterprise on my wall. Star Wars changed everything and I lost touch with my inner Trekker until Shore Leave ’92. I had veritably no clue what most of the conventioneers were talking about that night and was embarrassed beyond words. Great first day of the job, cough cough, but they kept me anyway. The high point of that clumsy, out of my league evening was calling out to DeForrest Kelley when I spotted him by himself. He gave me a friendly grin and a wave on his way to the elevator. Faboo!
I vowed from that day to never be caught with my pants down in such fashion again, thus I ground out all the Next Gen, DS9 and Voyager episodes as I fell in love again with the widely spreading canon. I read as many Star Trek novels and comics as I could until I was stronger versed to be effective at my job. One of those authors I became an immediate fan of upon first contact (pun intended) and whom I talked at length to about baseball lesser than Trek and sci fi this weekend.
My wife celebrated another lap around the trail of life selling her books and speaking on panels at the 44th Shore Leave Star Trek and sci-fi-fantasy convention this past weekend, relocated from its long-standing host venue in Hunt Valley, Maryland to beautiful Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
For her birthday, all TJ wanted from me was her very own tribble, so I took care of that wish. It took no time to have a run-in with a con-prowling Klingon who growled and hissed and called it a parasite. All good fun at a Trek con! We joked, “Let’s hope it doesn’t multiply!”
TJ did what she always does and that’s command any room she’s in, be it in the dealer room as one of the best salespeople I know or on the panel. I am so frigging proud of her. It was a magical weekend on many levels and fun talking to our customers and fellow vendors. Speaking of Klingons, it was extra cool having the legendary J.G. Hertzler next to us signing autographs and singing Klingon battle chants. Epic.
Christopher Abbott, Dayton Ward, Aaron Rosenberg, Michael Jan Friedman, David Mack, Greg Cox, Derek Tyler Attico, Russ Colchamiro, Hildy Silverman, Joshua Palmatier, Mary Fan, Keith DeCandido, Wrenn Simms and anyone who’s name I missed. There were so many people I chatted with, and I suck if I forgot you. Rigel Ailur, I think I saw you in passing, lady, hey hey! Whether it was a little or a lot we spoke, I value the time we spent in conversation, comradeship and laughter.
Many of you shared craft and writing marketing tips with me as the NY Times bestselling pros you are. No matter your level, all of you are successes in my book and kind beyond words. You are a tight knit bunch, from the Crazy 8s to their famous colleagues-in-arms. The love shared amongst you radiates. Thank you for sharing that with TJ and I. It’s relationships that count the most in life.
Only downer, our prayers to the motorcycle couple who were caught in a terrible accident next to where we all gathered for dinner. TJ and I attended the husband, Hildy, Mary and others his wife. As I held the husband’s head still in his cracked helmet, I thanked the divine they were both wearing them. I looked this severely busted up man in the eyes and kept him still as I could with TJ helping until the ambulance arrived. I was so deeply moved when he had the cognizance to call out for his wife and she did the same. May the divine protect and heal them both.
My favorite score at Shore Leave 44 aside from a couple of rad Godzilla books and a dude peddling some delicious smelling gamer-themed coffee beans, Todd Alcott’s incredible Horror Tarot deck. I don’t know what’s cooler, the beat-up paperback look to the packaging or the cards themselves, representing the arcana spanning the 1920s through the Eighties homaging classic horror movie posters, book, magazine and comic covers. If you know me, it’s no surprise the divine drew me two Stephen King cards, but the draw three was the exact answer I hoped for.
A mass blanket thank you to all whom I’ve mentioned, for so many reasons. I come out of this surreal weekend far more enlightened and aspirant from the chats and attending panels.
The cosplay was just insane and I am still giggling getting mugged by Borg at 1:30 a.m. on Friday. Shore Leave has become far more than it began with, promoting a spirit of needed inclusivity and I’m not just talking about Trek vs. Star Wars. It’s a celebratory safe haven for all who love this wonderfully geeky stuff.
With my new horror anthology, Behind the Shadows on the way, I’m not laying on my duff. I am already on the fifth chapter of my next horror novel which I am already proud of, since TJ and I began fleshing it out on our honeymoon.
Back to Behind the Shadows, however, I would have to say it came from a combination of Bram Stoker, Twilight Zone, our weekly Saturday night “Ghost Host” theater on Baltimore UHF Channel 45, EC horror comics from the 1950s and a near lifetime burrowed into Stephen King’s works.
Creepshow, especially, which you can see my passion for here, including the film, John Harrison’s jangly synth score, a first print edition of King’s graphic novel collaborated with comics master, Berni Wrightson and Japanese t-shirt. That film poster you see in many of my office photos is an authentic original, scored decades ago through an old Gore Zone ad.
I was 12 when the movie came out and those in my area who remember Golden Ring Mall will attest to the wild positioning of the movie theater, spread over two levels and on opposite ends of the mall. This poster hung not only in the multiple movie lobbies, but inside a pizza shop across from Kay-Bee Toys. I will never forget gnawing on pizza slices staring intently upon the Creepshow poster while my family jawed over their own concerns. Mine was getting to see this film at all costs. That entire moment and the eventual viewing of the movie two years later was invaluable fuel to telling my stories in Behind the Shadows.
The Creepshow sequels, revival t.v. show and comics series are all fun, but nothing matches that first encounter with a decapitated head cake, eating machine monsters in crates, an army of roaches, a truly frightening drowning revenge arc and of course, “meteor shit.” Creepshow was an unapologetic love letter to the EC classics and it becomes even more apparent as I’ve been pounding through those old horror and suspense reprints.
Strapping on the Creep once again hoping the same mojo spills into my current story.
This rad advance review of my upcoming horror compilation, Behind the Shadows by Jack Mangan over at The Metal Hall of Fame and Metal Asylum not only has me smiling, it sums up my entire teen life and many of the elements that give my stories their sustenance. Thank you, Jack! Horns up.
“Ray Van Horn Jr.’s Beyond the Shadows is an eclectic mixtape of Gen-X terrors, drawing from 80s horror flicks, EC Comics, late-night TV, Jolt Cola, Columbia House, Fangoria, Stephen King, and Hit Parader magazine until the tape snaps and snarls up your boombox. He creates scenes with such clarity and vivid detail, you’ll be asking yourself, “Is it real, or is it RVH?”
Behind the Shadows, by Ray Van Horn, Jr. coming soon through Raw Earth Ink. Let’s do this.
I already have two advance testimonials in praise of my new horror short story collection, Behind the Shadows, coming out in a few months. I can’t help but share one of them this soon, coming from Quantum Demonology author, Sheila Eggenberger, my longtime “Danish Connection.”
When Sheila’s novel came out in 2013, I reviewed it and she did me the honor of using my blurb in all of her promotional materials, including t-shirts. You can see what I wrote in the picture above. I am beyond privileged what Sheila sent me this morning after she read Behind the Shadows cover-to-cover:
“Pick your shivers. Any shivers. Ghosts? Zombies? Things unmentionable in daylight? Whatever your preferred chills, shivers and icy winds down your spine, Ray Van Horn, Jr. has you dangerously uncovered and quaking in your armchair at a steady 150 mph in his new collection of short stories, Behind the Shadows. They’re guaranteed to leave you both quaking, shaking and emphatically stirred.”
– Sheila Eggenberger, author of Quantum Demonology.
From Baltimore to Copenhagen, much love and madness to you, Sheila.
Behind the Shadows, from Ray Van Horn, Jr. Coming soon from Raw Earth Ink.
I’ve had a terrific time thus far reconnecting with my prior world in horror and music journalism, first with a rad assignment from Rue Morgue magazine, then hired to write a musician press release this past week, which was a new domain for me, even with all the work I did in the industry. Very rewarding in both cases and I’m happy the clients glowed over my work.
All of which led me to this photo with Gloria Cavalera, wife of Sepultura/Soulfly/Nailbomb/Cavalera Conspiracy/Go Ahead and Die icon, Max Cavalera. I interviewed Max three times in my music journalism career and will never forget the first time Gloria met me beforehand and introduced me to the man himself in the back of the tour bus.
I was as impressed with her on the spot as I was in awe of Max, just the humblest dude for all he’s achieved and been through. Later in life, Gloria had me come down for Max and Iggor Cavalera’s gig in 2017 playing Sepultura’s game-changing Roots album in its entirety. Better than that amazing show was the time Gloria granted me, an hour-and-a-half on the bus of convo. Just us, with a quick hello from Max as we chatted.
Let me tell you, this is one of THE finest interviews-turned-hangouts I had with anyone. Gloria’s knowledge of the music industry, her overall business knowledge and as matriarch to família incrível Cavalera forever changed my outlook on things at a time I was losing heart as a music journalist.
The Cavalera tribe knows trials and tribulations better than most, and even though I parted ways with Blabbermouth shortly thereafter so I could take care of my family at the time (and also due to an overall pervading sense of lackluster in my work then), I thought of Gloria’s advice as an unknowing mentor this week. Gloria and Max are the quintessential couple, a true partnership destined by the gods.
I wanted that for myself at the time and later, I was able to get it for myself. I wrote my assignments the past couple weeks with the same passion I started with so many years ago. Gloria, you and Max celebrated your anniversary not too long ago, but in the metal industry, I can think of no one else who inspires me greater with your shared love and your will to beat all odds. Saudação!
Last night I received the incredible news my new collection of horror short stories, Behind the Shadows, has been accepted for publication! This one is my most meaningful achievement to date, as I have loved horror since I was a wee young thing and made it my mission at age 12 in 1982 reading the Stephen King paperbacks my grandfather bought me to become a horror author.
I have taken many paths in my writing career including horror film coverage for magazines and sites and I had a total blast with my first assignment for Rue Morgue mag last week. Yet finally getting the first book of my horror fiction out there is the most gratifying moment of my writing career so far. I celebrated with a befitting toast of Zombie Dust IPA, its ghoulish packaging art provided by comic book legend, Tim Seeley. It just felt right.
I will once again be published by Raw Earth Ink. I will keep y’all informed as Behind the Shadows comes to haunt the masses…
Roads Lesser Traveled 