Malcolm McClinton is an amazing artist whose work has graced several of Elder Signs Press’ book covers. Making his home in Utah, he is a lively individual who describes himself on his Facebook page as “Just a guy making a living from his art and imagination.” Be sure to check out his work at hangedmanstudio.blogspot.com
ESP) You’ve done artwork for several ESP titles. How did you approach the work? What was the process? Could you describe a little about how you might have reacted differently to two or three covers. The Ravening? Pallid Light? The Anthology of Dark Wisdom? (I loved your art on that one, by the way)
McClinton) In the work I have done for ESP, I am usually given a description of what the publisher would like to see and then he just lets me loose to come up with the cover, giving me a great deal of freedom, which is always lots of fun.
My approach to any illustration is the same….I tend to like to just dive in to a piece with out doing much in the way of sketch work. Instead I like working in a more free form organic way. I may have a general idea of the direction of the image, but no firm idea of what I want the final image to look like…. I usually start by creating the central character or object as anchor, and build out from there. I’m sometimes surprised by the direction and shape that my images take as they grow and expand across my canvas.
For instance in the case of The Ravening I started with the female zombie figure in the foreground, and then started to adding in the rest of the pack of undead, it was only then that I even thought about what the background would look like.
I took a slightly different approach to The Anthology of Dark Wisdom cover. I started with the main character as usual, but the city was such an important part of the image that I tackled that next and then populated it with lurking characters. It was almost like blocking a stage play.
ESP) What’s the greatest challenge in doing cover illustration?
McClinton)I try to draw a person in to pick up the book and read the back cover, that’s really my job. I guess the greatest challenge is trying to capture the author’s intent, to translate his vision into a single image. I am often working off art descriptions and do not get a chance to read the manuscript so this can make it particularly challenging.
ESP) What exciting things are happening for you right now? Where will fans see your work? I understand you have a collection coming out? Attending any conventions?
McClinton)A collection of my work? this is the first I have heard of it, ha, no afraid not. I am really loving where I am at these days. I’ve carved a pretty nice niche for myself. Book covers and rpg covers are my primary concentration, but I’m doing concept work and posters for small independent films, and video games. Also comic book pin ups and covers, and even illustrations for a high end clothing company. I’m hoping to build on this in the coming year. But what would be dream come true, would be able to work on my own projects and bring them to fruition, but right now I pretty much have to work non stop on paying projects to make a living at this illustration thing.
ESP) When you look at your work, what genre (horror, fantasy, etc) do you prefer and why?
McClinton)If you had asked me that a few years ago the answer would have been fantasy, but I think that has shifted toward horror. It’s funny, up until a few years ago I don’t know if I had ever done a zombie piece. I was never too keen on zombies– too dim witted I guess. But over this last few years I have been commissioned to do quite a few zombie images and have come to appreciate them. I’ve had the opportunity to do all kinds of horror, including things from the Cthulhu mythos –man I love doing love doing tentacles.
REVIEW: ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction (2009) (available on DVD as part of the After Dark HorrorFest series)
After 9/11, people from the Mideast often found themselves being given a suspicious eye . That prejudice is still with us, and if anything, heightened, almost ten years later.Zombies of Mass Destruction (ZMD) takes this paranoia and stirs it in with numerous political stereotypes to produce an unusual and uneven zombie flick.
Since Romero pioneered the trend, zombies have long been a great source for social commentary. Zombies of Mass Destruction‘s producers have embraced the opportunity for commentary, but have done so with a lovingly delivered B movie sentimentality. The result is the film is often over-the-top, and wobbles between horror, social documentary, and comedy.
This is director Kevin Hamedani’s directorial debut. Genre has been a great way to kick-start the careers of directors, writers, and actors. Look at Peter Jackson’s low budget gore-fest Dead Alive. Whether Zombies of Mass Destruction will open the door for this young talent is questionable, but at least it doesn’t slam it shut.
The main characters are mix of quirky individuals. Most are unaware of a zombie plague erupting around them, although the walking dead are stumbling about in plain view (something handled much better in Shaun of the Dead). There’s a gay couple trying to tell one of their parents the truth of their sexual orientation, an Iranian-American woman who is being persecuted as an Iraqi, a corrupt mayor who steadfastly stands as a political stereotype, and a religious zealot who not only believes that he can ‘cure being gay’ but that the zombie outbreak is God’s punishment for the America’s sins.
Yes there is a LOT going on in this little town. Animated, it could have been South Park. The only thing missing is the presence of Stan, Kyle, Eric, and Kenny.
Don’t think though that the film has the biting wit of Stone and Parker. Sometimes the social commentary is limp and drags down both the comedic and horrific elements. The over-the-top stereotypes are flat, the political sub-themes awkwardly handled.
Still, it’s worth a midnight viewing. Although it takes a bit of time to build up steam, once it’s there, the director follows the usual tropes and pacing of a modern zombie film. While the budget is low, the zombie effects are fairly well-handled. Plus, there’s more than enough gore to satisfy people looking for a blood and guts fix.
Collaborators Christine Purcell and Stewart Sternberg sat down to share impressions of William Jones’ Pallid Light.
Strange things are happening in Temperance, Illinois. Randall Clay, an ex-convict relocated from Chicago, is alone in his apartment when the power shuts down. Outside the sky glows an odd bluish-green as heavy rain and lightning saturate the sky. His friend Cada stops by, frightened by the torrential downpour. When Rand investigates the sound of breaking glass, he discovers two teenage punks breaking and entering. But something is not right. They look haunted. And they are devouring his roommate.
Stewart: I think we’re heading into a new phase in survival fiction. If a book wants to shock now or surprise, or give the reader more, it has to add something new to the presence of the zombie menace. Stephen King did it in Cell, and William Jones does it in Pallid Light. Whatever is happening to the citizens of Temperance in Jones’ novel is a mystery, and it draws the reader in as engaging clues are rolled out. It’s not a typical zombie story, and that’s good because the twists keep readers guessing and engaged. It’s smart writing. And while the ending is satisfying from a dramatic perspective, it also serves as setting the plate for what might come next.
Christine: I agree. The mystery element in Jones’ novel adds another layer of depth to this survival fiction story. I think today’s readers want writers to think outside the traditional box.
Stewart: Interesting point. You know we should also talk about the characters. Let’s look at Rand. The main protagonist isn’t a sweetheart. This is a bad-ass who has done some rather horrible things in his life. Do you think Jones has been able to make such a bastard a likable character?
Christine: I definitely think Rand is likeable, if not in the ways many readers have come to expect. For me, his refusal to accept his “noble” actions as a way of seeking redemption and categorizing any good deed he performs as an inevitable part of his criminal persona is a both a charming and tragic character trait. Also, his street wisdom and use of jailhouse philosophy help make his character relatable. For example, I really found the following metaphor clever: “everything is going down the drain in time. Right now, we’re all just swirling around the edge…All we can do is enjoy the ride.”
Stewart: I want to address some elements of survival horror — one trope in this type of fiction is that the survivors are on the road, coping with horror after horror. Another trope follows survivors hunkering down and fighting off a siege, whether it be raiders in the guise of motorcycle mutants, or hordes of hungry zombies. What is interesting about Pallid Light is that is combines both tropes, and maybe offers up a third, the idea that in the face of such horror one finds the true depth of an individual’s humanity.
Christine: That’s a great observation. I think, as a whole, well-written genre incorporates not only a gripping plot, but also delves deeply into character. It seems that the test of one’s ability to hold on to humanity is becoming a popular theme not only in survival fiction but also in books such as The Road and graphic novels like The Walking Dead. I’ll borrow a quote from that title, I think it’s a thematic summary of many current survival horror stories: “In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally start living.”
It seems that with the way survival fiction has endured over the decades, it’s more relevant now than ever. The love affair fans have with books like Pallid Light won’t end any time soon.
According to the Mayan calendar, the world is scheduled to come to an end on Dec. 21 2012 (an element disputed by Silvia-Moreno Garcia’s previous post). This is not the first (or chances are, the last) end of the world scare. People have been watching and waiting for the end of the world for as long as there have been people on Earth. Throughout history, prophesies and signs of impending doom have kept hope for a catastrophic end alive. Below are some of the best heavy hitters knocking at doom’s door. 2800 Assyrian Tablet
According to Isaac Asimov’s Book of Facts, archaeologists found what is perhaps the first warning that the end was near on a clay tablet from Assyria. The tablet from 2800 B.C. bears the inscription, “Our Earth is degenerate in these later days; there are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end; bribery and corruption are common; children no longer obey their parents; every man wants to write a book and the end of the world is evidently approaching.” Turns out that these things were just part of life.
Y1K Turn of the Century
While we’re more familiar with the Y2K hysteria a decade ago, at the turn of the century, folk were greeteing Y1K or “mutation de l’an mil.” with similar trepidation. The only problem was that no one really agreed on the date. Rural life was measured mainly by cycles of nature, rather than by calendar. The date of Christmas, Easter, and the New Year were frequently disputed.
That being said, the close of 999 ignited fear for the end of the world. Similar fears were also expressed in 997, 998, and 1001.
According to Bernard McGinn, from the Univ. of Chicago “Medieval folk lived in a more or less constant state of apocalyptic expectation.” The world was, after all, a thousand years old. How long could it last?
14th Century The Black Plague
In the Fourteenth Century The black plague spread across Europe and killed one third of the population. Many believed this was a prelude to the end of the world. Medieval medicine was no match for such a disease. In panic, people turned to religion for a cure. Of the many often strange and cruel remedies, perhaps the most unfortunate was the proclamation that all witches and their cat familiars be exterminated. Without cats, the rat population grew and along with it the number fleas that spread the plague.
May 19, 1910 Halley’s Comet
Every 74-79 years the tail of Halley’s comet passes through Earth’s atmosphere. During the lead up to the 1910 appearance of the comet, fears about the imminent end of the World grew to a monumental pitch. Many believed the comet’s tail was made of cyanide gas and would poison Earth’s atmosphere. Crooks made a killing selling comet pills which offered immunity to the poisonous comet.
World War III
Fear of global nuclear destruction reached it’s peak in the 2nd half of the 20th Century. An arms race between the U.S and the Soviet Union led many to fear that the Earth wouldn’t be around much longer. Albert Einstein responded when asked what weapons would be used to fight World War III that, “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” Especially during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, bomb shelters stocked with survival supplies became popular with people who feared the end was near.
Every time I hear someone talk about how the Mayans predicted the end of the world in 2012, I feel like hitting them on the back of the head with a textbook on Prehispanic cultures. If you know anything about the Mayan calendaric system you’d instantly realize that the doomsday date is a whole lot of baloney wrapped in dollar-store mysticism (nevermind that many ‘mystic’ website mistakenly display pictures of the Aztec calendar stone, because two entirely different cultures can be rolled into one, like a bloated mess of a burrito). Or as, Sandra Noble, executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies put it in an interview with USA Today, “it is a complete fabrication and a chance for a lot of people to cash in.”
People have been predicting the end of the world since, well … pretty much forever. You may remember the Y2K predictions, when Skynet was going to take over the world and your toaster would try to murder you, or the planetary alignment of 1982, when the gravitational force of this alignment was supposed to blow up Earth. Oh, and Haley’s comet was going to rain brimstone and fire upon us.
However, my favorite prediction of the apocalypse happened in the 19th century, when William Miller scheduled the Second Advent of Jesus Christ. It wasn’t just your kooky grandma babbling about the apocalypse, lots of people were digging this (some estimates put Millerites at 500,000).
In the 1840s, “the Miller excitement” was pinpointed as a cause for insanity. Samuel B. Woodward, superintendent of the Worcester State Lunatic Hospital, noted in 1843 that nearly 7 percent of all admissions during the previous year could be attributed to Millerism.
Millerism turns even more interesting when you see what happened after the Great Disappointment, when the dreaded (or longed for) end of the world failed to materialize. Reactions ranged from people being and quitting the movement, to true-believers refusing to accept that they were wrong. The Millerites divided and came to form new religious groups.
Although Miller’s influence is still present in a few of today’s religious groups, the image of the apocalypse intoning preacher is not used as often as you’d expect in fantastic fiction.
There’s one novel that borrows the period-setting, Fitcher’s Bride by Gregory Frost, which is set in 1843 and retells “Bluebeard” with a preacher in the title role, but I’m hard pressed to name other novels which used the Millerites, or a Millerite-like experience, as an important element in the narrative.
Short-story wise, “Ghost Technology From The Sun” (originally published in PostScripts) by Paul Jessup, gives us the kind of eerie, apocalyptic preacher story I’d like to see more of. Why? Because it is fascinating when you consider how apocalypse fads rise and fall, and rise again. And people still get suckered in. Even when popular culture makes such blatant mistakes as substituting an Aztec sun stone for a Mayan calendar.
It’s powerful stuff, certainly powerful enough to drive more than one dark and chilling tale.
In America zombies have the right to protest. Yeah! According to ABC News, Minneapolis is paying $150,000 t0 settle a law suit against a group of zombies. Apparently a group of protesters dressed as the walking dead were arrested. The authorities believed they had weapons of mass destruction. Read the full story here. And here.
Kicking off Survival Fiction Month, how about a fun and addicting zombie game? Looking to fill those extra fifteen minutes at lunch? We’ve got you covered.
In yourZombie Balloon Heads quest, you play a stick figure with an ink-gun trying to save your paper world from zombies. Fill their heads with ink and blow them up. It’s the only way to save yourself and your creator. And watch out for helicopters!
One word of cautionary advice–don’t play it on a laptop. The trackpad is frustrating.
Zombie Balloon Head uses the arrow keys and mouse for controls.
Cthulhu Month is ending and tomorrow begins a month dedicated to survival horror. We’ll have interviews, reviews, and items of interest for the person seeking a path to the end of the world. We’ll look at survival fiction of the past and where it’s currently trending. We’ll take your comfort level and plant a seed of doubt.
Hitting Monday and coming to the end of the month, most people can stand a bit of a diversion. Some do Soduko puzzles, some like a bit of trivia. Below find ten questions dealing with the Cthulhu Mythos. 10 correct, and you’re an Old One, waiting for your sacrifice and more importantly, deserving it. 9-7 correct, and we’ll consider you one of the cult leaders in your neighborhood (not as cool as being an Old One, but you still get to be one of the last to die when the world ends). 6-5 right means you have the right to worship, but don’t expect the key to Ryleh. 4 and below? Well, let’s just say you should turn in the cult robes and report to the nearest representative of the Esoteric Order of Dagon for sacrifice. And no, what follows isn’t “true-or-false” or multiple choice questions—this is a quiz for real fans. And don’t write me that some of the questions deal with creations of other authors aside from Lovecraft. You want to whine? Take it up with Charles Dexter Ward.
1) Pinkish things about five feet long (not students on Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale); with crustaceous bodies bearing vast pairs of dorsal fins or membraneous wings and several sets of articulated limbs is a description of which creatures?
2)Who is He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named (and to the idiot who dares say Voldemort, don’t close your eyes tonight)?
3) Who is Sandy Petersen?
4) Who is the “Lurker at the Threshold?”
5) According to Clark Ashton Smith, who created the Shoggoths?
6) Some believe the yellow sign refers to which deity?
7) Who is the Daemon Sultan?
Who is reputed to be Wilbur Whateley’s father? Note, the idiot who answers “Mr. Whateley” can go stand in the corner next to the dunce who answered Voldemort in question #2
9) The notorious Wil Wheton is one of the stars in this adaptation of a Lovecraft story. An earlier version was made in 1963 starring Boris Karloff and Nick Adams.
10) What is the name of William Jones’ fictional paranormal investigator? Clue, he is a veteran of the Great War and a teacher of Medieval Literature at Columbia University. Last clue…his name is prominently featured on the cover of one of the books available for sale.
1) Mi-Go, 2) Hastur, 3) The author of the original version of Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu handbook, 4) Yog-Sothoth 5) Ubbo-Sathla, 6) Hastur again, 7) Azathoth–or maybe Peter Griffin, Yog-Sothoth, 9)” The Colour Out of Space,” adapted as The Curse 10)Rudolph Pearson, 11)
The last post highlighting unique Cthulhu merchandise was so much fun it just couldn’t stop there. It just couldn’t. Looking to support fans and their (usually) homemade merchandise? Then etsy.com is the place for you. For example, a Cthulhu Button made by an artisan who is obviously a fan of both Lovecraft and LOL cats.
What? The great old one doesn’t like cheeseburgers?
Or if you’re the devout type, how about a Cthulhu Pocket Idol. Although at $50, I would have thought the seller could have found a greener stone, perhaps with a few gold flecks.
What To Do When You Meet Cthulhu: Fall 2010
Blood and Ice: Fall 2010
The Ravening: Fall 2010
The Spawning: Summer 2010
Ancient Shadows: Spring/Summer 2010
The Best of All Flesh
Pallid Light
Dark Wisdom
The Sleep That Rescues
My approach to any illustration is the same….I tend to like to just dive in to a piece with out doing much in the way of sketch work. Instead I like working in a more free form organic way. I may have a general idea of the direction of the image, but no firm idea of what I want the final image to look like…. I usually start by creating the central character or object as anchor, and build out from there. I’m sometimes surprised by the direction and shape that my images take as they grow and expand across my canvas.
For instance in the case of The Ravening I started with the female zombie figure in the foreground, and then started to adding in the rest of the pack of undead, it was only then that I even thought about what the background would look like.
Who is reputed to be Wilbur Whateley’s father? Note, the idiot who answers “Mr. Whateley” can go stand in the corner next to the dunce who answered Voldemort in question #2
