Toad-Golly is Your Best Friend (Cullen Bunn's E-Newsletter, Issue 86)

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This is the 86th issue of Vicious Shivers,
a (mostly) weekly newsletter for fans of my work.

I spent Friday driving. As you know if you read last week’s edition, my family is going on a little vacation. This is the first time we’ve been anywhere together in a year and a half. And while traveling feels a little strange, suffice it to say, we needed it in a big way.

During the drive, my son asked if we could listen to some of his favorite Creepypastas, so we listened to over three hours of “Pen Pal.” It was interesting to me to see the elements of horror stories that really resonate with him, and I’m going to encourage him to try his hand at writing some of his own. Whether or not he submits the stories to Creepypasta or anywhere else doesn’t matter. Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. I’d just like to read those tales myself.

When Cindy and my son were sleeping on the drive (it was over 12 hours), I listened to a couple of audiobooks. I’ve read both before… plenty of times… but I’ve never listened to them.

The first is my favorite book on writing, Ray Bradbury’s ZEN AND THE ART OF WRITING. The first two essays in that book are some of the most entertaining and inspiring pieces you can ever hope to read. Bradbury’s discussion of “gusto” and “zest” when it comes to telling tales struck me deep down in my molten core, a core that I sometimes worry has grown cold and dark. Now, though, I feel it starting to flicker back to life. And his suggestions on developing ideas and “running fast” and “standing still” when writing are keys to my own philosophies of creating new stories.

The next book I listened to was Brian Lumley’s THE COMPLEAT CROW, a collection of short stories featuring the occult investigator Titus Crow. I have a great old trade paperback of these tales. I’ve read the thing several times. But not in a long while. I wanted to delve back into the world of Titus Crow, starting with the stories and then diving into the audiobooks of THE BURROWERS BENEATH and then THE TRANSITION OF TITUS CROW. The stories are just as much fun as I remember, even though I only got through “Inception” and part of “The Lord of Worms” on the drive. I’ll finish “Worms” on the drive home… and maybe my son will listen to one of the other tales or one of the many, many collections of horror stories I downloaded this week (I had built up a lot of Audible credits, and a blew through almost all of them).

I also spent a lot of time thinking about what’s next, what I need to change, what I need to start doing, what I need to stop doing, and much, much more. A lot of it is about writing, yes. A lot of it is about work and promotion and selling books. A lot of it is about health. A lot of it is about family. A lot of it is about having a little more fun in life. I’ve already prepared Cindy that on the way back, I’m going to be rattling off plans, and I need her to be a sounding board and help me write all these ideas down.

Also on the drive, I passed a ton of trucks hauling carnival attractions. Rides. Funhouses. Haunted houses. Mirror mazes. One of them was going the same way that we were—a rock-and-roll themed funhouse. All of the others I saw were heading in the other direction. But I saw them all over. Every highway we traveled. Maybe they were all heading to the same place. Some elephant graveyard of old carnival attractions.

Okay… I’m adding that one to my idea book.

Of course, it does not elude me that Bradbury would have approved of all those carnival transports.

My friend Brendan Allen asked if I would like to hep him review the Batman-themed GOTHAM CITY COCKTAILS book (by André Darlington w/ photos by Ted Thomas). We made five of the recipes in the book, and recorded our sampling and our thoughts for all to see! It was a really fun time, and we’ve already started kicking around the idea of doing something similar on a quasi-regular basis.

Mad Cave Studios has announced their fairy tale inspired anthology GRIMM TALES FROM THE CAVE. Most of the stories in the book are pulled from the results of their talent search, but it also includes a 20-page comic from Andrea Mutti and myself. The story is a horror interpretation of “The Devil and His Grandmother,” which is a haunting story to begin with. We just… took it a little further. I believe pre-orders for the collection go live in July. You can read all about it here — https://madcavestudios.com/new-horror-anthology-grimm-tales-from-the-cave/ !

Walking into a video store in the 80s was always an experience. In those days, it was quite possible for me to find a major release movie for which I had never even seen a trailer. Such was the case with PRINCE OF DARKNESS. The girl who worked the counter, a girl I went to school with, knew I was a horror fan, and she said I had to check that one out. I did, and it became a longtime favorite, one I take something new from every time I watch it. A few weeks back, I had the chance to talk about the film on the WATCH IF YOU DARE podcast. Hope you dig it!

https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/watch-if-you-dare-755577/episodes/episode-64-prince-of-darkness-93306095

I also took a bit of time this week to sit down with John Siuntres of Word Balloon to talk about THE LAST BOOK YOU’LL EVER READ… and many of the other books I’ve got coming out in the next few months. It seemed to surprise John how many projects I have on deck, and we took some terrific questions from the live audience.

NEW COMICS THIS WEEK!

PARASOMNIA #1

From Cullen Bunn (Harrow County) and Andrea Mutti (Prometheus, Starship Down), comes a new dark fantasy tale of two worlds split between dreams and reality.

After his son disappears, a broken-down man braves a nightmarish dreamscape in order to find him-and battle the ruthless cult that seeks to rule the land of dreams as the barrier between realities starts to collapse.

For fans of The Sixth Gun, Harrow County, and Locke & Key.

THE DISCORD SERVER

I’ve been talking up the Discord server for a few newsletters now. That’s because I’m super excited about it. Our membership is growing steadily, and I think there is some cool content and discussions being posted. For those of you who haven’t checked it out yet, here is just SOME of what you’re missing!

- An ASK ME ANYTHING section for members to ask questions about writing, comics, gaming, movies, or whatever else they want
- Daily updates on what I’m working on
- Movie, TV, book, and music suggestions
- Regular image posts of collectibles and comics
- An interactive play-by-post role-playing adventure with posts every day
- A Creators’ Corner, for writers and artists to connect and discuss their work
- And dozens of other cool categories and sections!

I want this to be a great place to hang out and communicate, so I hope you’ll consider signing up!

Here’s the link!

THE CULLEN BUNN DISCORD SERVER

THINGS TO COME...

Here is a quick and dirty list of upcoming projects. In most cases, I'm only listing projects that are definitely on the schedule with a published. Oftentimes, I will not be able to share much information, but I can at least tease the future! Everything here is, of course, subject to change.

New listings or newly revealed information will appear in RED.

JUNE 2021 - PARASOMNIA, a dark fantasy/horror story that takes place in both the waking world and the realm of dream. It features swordplay and ghosts in the night and strangers with no name.
JUNE 2021 - BASILISK, A horror maxi-series about a group of mysterious figures with awesome, frightening abilities. It’s a story of revenge where an average person makes a desperate stand against powers she cannot comprehend.
JUNE - BEYOND MORTAL, a story of the world's greatest heroes battling elder gods from beyond our reckoning.
JULY 7 - THE LAST BOOK YOU'LL EVER READ #1, the beginning of a horror maxi-series about the falsehood of civilization. What happens when the illusion is ripped away?
JULY 14, 2021 - BLACK HAMMER VISIONS #6
JULY 21, 2021 - TALES FROM HARROW COUNTY: FAIR FOLK #1 - a return to the world of haints and folk magic!
JULY 21, 2021 - THE GHOUL NEXT DOOR, a middle reader horror graphic novel from HarperCollins. It’s about a kid who befriends a ghoul in the cemetery near his house.
AUGUST, 2021 - GODZILLA: WORLD OF MONSTERS, collecting several Godzilla books, including my own GODZILLA: CATACLYSM.
AUGUST 2021 - LUCKY DEVIL, horror/comedy story about possession and the power struggle between infernal and celestial forces that catches mankind in the crossfire.
A 20-page horror one-shot inspired by one of Grimm’s fairy tales will appear in GRIMM TALES FROM THE CAVE.
A horror maxi-series about a mysterious town and mysterious experiments that have played out there.
A return to a world of magicians and family intrigue.
A new endeavor involving an indie comic that I’ve loved since I was a kid. A new shared universe that I have a stake in.
A new horror/adventure series featuring some of the world’s most famous villains.
An insane story set in one of the most recognizable comic universes around.
A horror OGN where reality and surreality clash in a murderous way.

WORK UPDATE

This year, I wrote--

574 pages of comic book scripts (1468 in 2020)

1 feature length screenplay (0 in 2020)

8 short stories (15 in 2020)

0 novellas (2 in 2020)

3 new comic book series proposals (13 in 2020)

5 podcast proposals (0 in 2020)

0 forewords for upcoming graphic novels (2 in 2020)

0 television series proposals (5 in 2020)

PARTING SHOT

Toad-Golly is my name, yes.

I’m your best friend.

I eat spiders and house-crickets and fingernail clippings.

Sometimes kittens, too, or other mewling things.

And, look—see how my belly is bloated?

You can espy me, yes.

I am born from your flesh.

From blood and fat.

Coaxed, yes.

With old words from old books.

Though not as old as me.

Ancient and sorrowful and cruel.

I ache.

I weep.

I gnash.

I am unseen to all others.

‘Lest they know the crook’d finger sign.

Some might wonder if I’m real at all.

But you know.

You know when I leave the teethmarks in your devil’s teat.

You know when I whisper in your ear.

With bloodied lips, yes.

And bloodied tongue.

You know when you blame me.

For all the awful things you’ve done.

I don’t mind.

I can espy you.

I am born of your flesh.

Toad-Golly is my name, yes.

I’m your best friend.

WHERE TO FIND ME ONLINE

WEBSITE - If you haven’t been there lately, you should check it out. I’ve started posting a lot more content and news on the site.

TWITTER - This is the best place to interact with me online. My handle is @cullenbunn

PATREON - Here, I post a serialized novel, a serialized comic book, short stories, and other cool materials.

THE CULLEN BUNN DISCORD SERVER - A place for fans to hang out and talk about comics, books, movies, games, collecting, and whatever else strikes their fancy.

THE BUNNGALOW - A regular podcast in which my wife Cindy and I talk about comic books, our lives, and just about everything in between.

THIS NEWSLETTER - If you received this e-newsletter via a forward, you can sign up for it yourself at this link. You can also read archived editions here.

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