One Man's Journey From Fangoria Reader To Contributor

It was a warm summer day in June of 1992.  A 13 year old me walked into the Walden Books at the Mall and stumbled across something that would change my life forever.  I'm talking about none other than Fangoria Magazine.  I can still remember that day so vividly.  My first ever issue was #113.  Alien 3 was on the cover that month.  I had just finished reading the novelization of the film by Alan Dean Foster and was quite excited for the film.  I just happened to be browsing the magazine rack (more than likely looking for video game magazines) and my eyes just happened to fall on that glorious Fango cover.  The fact that the cover also promised a look at horror in video games helped to cement my decision to purchase the mag immediately!

Of course that wasn't the only mag that I purchased that day, oh no.   Sitting right next to Fango was a brand new copy of Gorezone #19!  That'd be the one with the She Wolf cover.  I was instantly addicted.  I couldn't wait for each new issue to arrive.  Imagine my heartbreak when Gorezone ceased only seven issues later.  Thankfully Fango never went away and has been my constant monthly companion ever since.

Wait.....that sounded really weird.  Fuck it, you know what I mean.

Here we are, TWENTY TWO years later.  I have never missed an issue of Fango since that warm summer day at the mall.  Today is one of the proudest days of my life thus far.  Today I can officially call myself a contributor to the sacred bloody pages of Fangoria.  Two hundred and nineteen issues later, comes my very first article, a retrospective look at Starlog's Fright Show (aka Cinemagic)  Why yes, I DID rave about it here on Midnight Cinephile before!  I will continue to rave about it until every last one of you has tracked down a VHS tape and watched it!

To be honest, it still feels completely surreal to me.  I used to dream about writing for Fangoria.  I cherished each and every issue and even when Fango hit it's "rough period" in the mid to late 00's, I stood by and supported my old friend, Fangoria.  When Chris Alexander took over, he infused the magazine with a fresh life and brought back that magic "Fango Feeling" as I like to call it.

I got to know Chris a bit after interviewing him for his film Blood for Irina.  I am proud to call him a friend and I am forever grateful to him for giving me a chance to be part of something that is so vitally important to me.  If this is the one and only time that my name would appear in print under the Fangoria banner, I would still be able to die a happy man, but I am happy to report that I do have more stuff coming!

I am truly humbled and honored to be a part of this amazing publication.  It has inspired me to push myself further and see what the future may hold for me.  I can tell you that I've got some pretty amazing projects in mind that I think everyone is going to dig.  For now though, I am just going to bask in the glow of being a part of something incredible.

Oh yeah, and I'm psyched out of my mind that my first article appears in an issue that features Scarlett Johanssen on the cover!  What can I say?  Life is good!