Blur Volume 1 -- shipping soon!

Cover design by Jon-Mikel Gates; thanks, Jon-Mikel!

The cover for Blur is "in hand" and the book is en route to the printer. More news soon!

As previously noted on this blog numerous times, the four-volume Blur book series collects all the weekly video/DVD reviews I wrote for various New England venues (primarily The Brattleboro Reformer, VMag and The Chicopee Herald) from 1999-2001.

This first volume opens with the popular 'capsule review' format, my humble contributions to the short-lived Northampton, MA monthly VMag, and the initial "Video Views" columns I scribed weekly for The Brattleboro Reformer. I loathe writing capsule reviews -- it's too glib for anything but useless opinion, sans any context or insights -- and had always struggled with the brevity of the format from the first published reviews I wrote in the late '80s for editor and great pal Chas Balun's Deep Red zine. Thankfully, my first editor at the Reformer -- Willow Dannible -- was open for more article/essay format reviews, and that's where I quickly went with the weekly venue.

If you enjoy the film/DVD posts Myrant occasionally features, or the reviews and articles I've written for almost two decades for zines like Video Watchdog, Deep Red, Ecco, Euro-Trash Cinema, Fangoria, Gorezone, etc. and my own Tyrant Media Guide in the four published issues of Tyrant, the Blur book series is for you. FYI, I'll soon be collecting and archiving my complete genre reviews/articles/essays and interviews (with Ray Harryhausen, Coke Sams, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Phil Tippett, and many others) in subsequent book series for Black Coat Press. I'm also archiving, expanding and collecting my essays, interviews and articles on comics and graphic novels, also forthcoming from Black Coat Press.

I know these will be more commercial, marketable volumes, targeting horror, science-fiction and fantasy film lovers and comics fans and scholars, a dedicated fan and reader base. Nevertheless, Blur will be the maiden voyage and touchstone for this procession of archival projects, preserving and showcasing an often-ignored and vital part of my creative and writing life.

I hope some of you will support this venture with orders, and enjoy the wider range of content, context and reading the four Blur volumes provides.

Visit the Black Coat Press site and place your pre-order; Volume 2-4 coming soon.

Have a great Tuesday...