The next book to feature my writing will be Running Home to Shadows: Memories of TV’s First Supernatural Soap from Today’s Grown-Up Kids, an essay anthology about Dark Shadows from editors Jim Beard and Charles R Rutledge. I am an avid fan of this 1960s supernatural soap opera. How avid? Well, I created this index to keep track of everything, and that was completely insane… so that should tell you all you need to know about my personal mania. The book is now added to my gallery of publications and is expected to be released in a couple months.
The focus of the book, which will feature a foreword from one of the show’s main stars, Katheryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans), will be on how kids in the 1960s would rush home to watch Dark Shadows every single day after school. Now, the show ended when I was only three years old, but my mother (Joni Kessler Handley) was a fan and my stepmom (Carol Miskovsky-Colwell) attended acting academy with another of the stars, Alexandra Moltke (Victoria Winters). My afterword is thus about how the first-generation fans led to second-gen enthusiasts like me. It’s an honor to be involved in this project (in fact, I turned in my work only about two hours after Jim invited me!), and this cover is simply gorgeous. Here’s Jim’s official announcement for the book:
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Announcing Becky Books’ newest publication, arriving late April-early May!
RUNNING HOME TO SHADOWS: MEMORIES OF TV’S FIRST SUPERNATURAL SOAP FROM TODAY’S GROWN-UP KIDS
School’s out, Barnabas is IN!
They were a generation all their own, the army of children who ran home from school to watch Dark Shadows, TV’s very first supernatural soap. A breed apart, they set aside the worship of mundane pop stars to follow vampires, witches, and werewolves. From 1966 to 1971, they were daytime Monster Kids…and today they have stories to tell.
Writer-editor Jim Beard has gathered these grown-up kids together in this tome to tell those tales. Their experiences are sometimes tragic and terrifying, yet also uplifting and inspirational, but above all, Dark Shadows touched them so deeply as to leave an indelible impression on their lives that lasts to this day.
Return to Collinwood to brave the stormy nights and rainswept days of yore to listen to this coven of writers spin yarns of childhood encounters with Barnabas, Angelique, Quentin, Vicky, Maggie, and their compatriots. Cross the threshold of the Old House, take a seat by the crackling fire, and make yourself comfortable to the strains of maudlin music issuing forth from the gramophone—the ghosts of the past are about to arise in RUNNING HOME TO SHADOWS. Won’t you join us?
Edited by Jim Beard with Charles R. Rutledge
Cover Illustration by Mark Maddox with Logo Design and Formatting by Maggie Ryel
Foreword by Kathryn Leigh Scott
Featuring Essays by Greg Cox, Kathleen O’Shea David, Mark Dawidziak, Dave Dykema, Bob Freeman, Ed Gross, Nancy Holder, Tina Hunt, Katherine Kerestman, Mark Maddox (with Ed Catto), Elizabeth Massie, Kimberly Oswald, Martin Powell, Dana Pride, Mark Rainey, Michael Rogers, Charles R. Rutledge, Chris Ryan, Frank Schildiner, Duane Spurlock, and Jeff Thompson.
Afterword by Rich Handley
Hi- How can I purchase this book?
I’ll be sure to post ordering info once I have it. I’m still waiting for word from the editors. 🙂