1. What draws you to science fiction/horror and comics?
That’s hard to pinpoint, as I grew up soaking in it. Not only was pop culture in the 1960s-1970s rife with TV shows like the Addams Family, Star Trek, and The Avengers (the British spy series) and movies like Planet of the Apes series, the AIP Edgar Allan Poe movies, 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Hammer Dracula series, and Jason and the Argonauts, but my mother and maternal grandfather were also fans of science fiction and horror literature and other forms of entertainment. In that sense, it is the bedrock genre in which I express myself and a lens through which I see the world.
2. What do these genres and media allow you to do in storytelling?
It permits me a certain amount of lee-way in regards to developing characters or situations as metaphors for more mundane workaday problems that we find ourselves confronted by, whether it’s bullies, social inequity, or the fear of losing our homes, loved ones, and lives. Vampires, for example, can either be viewed as misunderstood outsiders, cautionary tales of the dangers of toxic relationships, or symbols of exploitative late-stage capitalism. It just depends on the story.
3. You have written wonderful stand-alone and shared universe content — any work you particularly have fond memories of?
Sonja Blue (Sunglasses After Dark, In The Blood, Paint It Black, A Dozen Black Roses, Darkest heart, and Dead Roses For A Blue Lady) is my baby—and the character I’m best know for. I’m proud of the fact I accidentally created the Urban Fantasy genre with that series. (Back then I was just writing vampire/horror novels). I will always have a soft spot for Swamp Thing, as that was the first comic book character I ever wrote—It was like learning to walk in public. But I will have to say I had the most fun writing a novella called LYNCH: A GOTHIK WESTERN, about a Frankenstein gunslinger and his carnivorous undead horse.
4. Please tell us about the Golgotham series (and any other recent/upcoming work you’d like to share about).
The Golgotham series (Right Hand Magic, Left Hand Magic, and Magic and Loss) is very personal to me, as its effectively a love letter to every neighborhood I’ve been gentrified out of, starting with the French Quarter and up to and including the East Village in NYC and Little Five Points in Atlanta. In fact, the neighborhood/city-state of Golgotham occupies what used to be the old Fulton Fish Market and its environs, which—centuries ago—used to be the farm of one of my ancestors. The series is about the importance of finding your family and where you belong, even if you’re not related to them and not from there originally.
Currently I’m working on a graphic miniseries for Titan Comics called BLADE RUNNER: BLACK LOTUS—based on the anime series that recently aired on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim/Toonami and Crunchy Roll. The first issue is scheduled to ship August 10th with artwork by Enid Balam and colors by Marco Lesk.
5. Where can we find out more about your work?
You can find my work on Amazon in print, digital, and audio format, as well as through Barnes and Noble, Comixology, and the Apple Store. And you can find out more information about Blade Runner: Black Lotus at https://titan-comics.com/c/1785-blade-runner-black-lotus/
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