Tag: cryptids

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Holly Wholahan Answers 3 Irrelevant Questions

Holly Wholahan is an artist and designer who lives in Louisville, KY. She is best known for her cryptid and monster drawings and a frequent convention artist alley haunter. Holly has done work for a few small publishers, including recent illustrations for a monster manual by Bloat Games. She designed the shirt for the inaugural Small Town Monsters Monster Fest and has been known to pop-up in the Cryptid Crate from time to time.

Holly also happens to be a favorite artist of mine. I have four of her prints on display in my office, and I’ve drawn inspiration from them as cryptids have made their way into the Dead Park Universe. Her Flatwoods Monster is definitely my favorite.

But that’s not important right now.

I asked Holly Wholahan three questions I ask every artist friend of mine, questions that are completely irrelevant to her work as an artist. Here’s what she had to say.

What is one of your favorite guilty pleasure movies?

The Beastmaster. I have to watch it every time it’s on. It was like the first ‘He-Man’ movie to me. It’s horrible acting and a weird story, but I loved it as a kid. I’ve always been into magic and swords and stuff. This movie was my first introduction to a Dungeons and Dragons like setting before I knew what that was.

If you could have all access for a day with your favorite animal what animal would you choose, and why?

I’ve always loved Polar Bears. They are cute and fuzzy, but could also bite your head off. I could watch them chill and play all day.

You’re hungry, and you have access to both a fast car and a private jet. Where are you going for your ultimate snack, and what makes that food/place/experience the best?

I do marketing in the food industry as my real job, and I follow a ton of restaurants and food pages on Instagram. My husband is from San Diego, and all he talks about is how good the burritos are there. Based on what I’ve seen on social, I think I would got to So Cal and try ALL THE BURRITOS. Like every burrito I can find. Ramen burritos, Vegan Burritos, Cheeto burritos, as long as they are made in Southern California.

If you like monsters and cryptids and are one of the “cool kids” who believes in supporting independent artists, click the link below for Holly’s website to see her work and follow her on social media. I can’t recommend her enough.

Click here to visit Holly Wholahan Art.

Sasquatch by Holly Wholahan.

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And Now There Are Four!

Great news for Dead Park fans: Dead Park Estates is now in print!

Greater news for Kindle fans: Amazon lets you buy all four books on Kindle for just under twelve bucks.

The link below will take you to a page where you can buy the bundle. For those who prefer paperback, there are links for those editions as well – and a few are even on sale!

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Visit the Shops (or is it Shoppes??) at Dead Park

If you think it’s bad to work here, wait til you go shopping. The first video trailer for the book The Shops at Dead Park is now online. Read the sequel to Dead Park Plaza in all its cryptid, vampire, talking mannequin, killer clown, killer prom queen, killer video game, killer puppet, and killer Amish (yes, I said killer Amish!) glory.

Buy your signed copy now!

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First Time at Scarefest

I took off from my day job last Friday so I could meet up with a wrestler named Gregory Iron in Lexington, Kentucky. Greg and I are working on his autobiography, and he was planning to hit Scarefest that night to meet Robert England. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out as planned, and Greg couldn’t make the drive. We did a Zoom call so we could still get more audio recorded for his book. After we hung up, I drove to Lexington and went to Scarefest because… well, I had already bought a ticket!

Scarefest is definitely one of the most organized events I’ve ever attended. Admittedly, some events have set that bar really low, but they clearly have a good handle on what they’re doing. The “Staph,” as they call them, do an outstanding job.

I got to see some old friends Friday. The lovely couple that runs Karnivorous Creations had a booth, and it was great catching up with them. I saw the cryptid artist Holly Wholahan too, and I picked up some 5 x 7 pieces of the Grafton Monster and the Kentucky Goblins.

I stopped by the Blood Moon Pictures booth and spoke with P.J. Starks, whom I haven’t seen in forever. P.J. and company are doing some cool things in indie horror, and their latest feature is nearly funded on Indie Go-Go.

While waiting to talk to P.J., I got to meet Rob Mello, who was on a panel about indie horror with P.J. Rob played John Tombs in one of my favorite horror series, Happy Death Day. Of course Rob called me a liar for saying it was one of my favorites, but it’s the truth. I’m a horror-comedy guy. I adore those two movies, and I put them right up there with several other horror-comedy favorites: Ready or Not, Cabin in the Woods, and the Babysitter movies from Netflix.

I got to meet a Facebook friend, Christina Cannon, who was working the sound board on the main stage. Christina and I became acquainted when I cast her in the teaser trailer for Dead Park Plaza, and we’ve become buds over the last year. She’s also become one of my beta readers, which means any fiction of mine you read going forward, she’s read it first. And you’ll see her on the cover of the next Dead Park book as her character from the trailer takes center stage in a brand new story from the halls of that evil office building.

I just happened to find the main stage right at the time when Aidan Fisher was taking the stage. Aidan was the hands ‘stand in’ for Eddie Munson in season four of Stranger Things during that awesome “Master of Puppets” scene. He played the song from the show, and then he followed it up with his rendition of “Eruption.”

I said hello to Roni Jonah and gave her a copy of Zombies of Oz. Roni was part of a creative team that attempted to get a movie of that story off the ground years ago. She was going to be Dorothy, so if you’re wondering why Dorothy is a redhead in the book, wonder no more.

I had a backpack full of books that I brought to network and give away, and I handed a few of those out to some podcasters. Hack from Hack’s Horror Show was one, and the guys from We Watched A Movie were another. Super nice folks all around.

There were some cool cars and photos ops at the show, including the Jeepers Creepers truck and one of the original Christine’s from the movie. I was a bit more drawn to the oddities from a creepy museum in Knoxville, especially the two headed lamb that was once part of P.T. Barnum’s traveling show.

Oh yeah, I also saw Mad Man Pondo walking around. No surprise there. The man is the biggest horror fanatic I’ve ever known. He got some face time with Robert England that night, his co-star in the underrated 2001 Maniacs.

I didn’t get to meet Robert in person, though all accounts I’ve read said that he’s one of the nicest folks you’d ever want to meet. I did experience a cool “Freddy” moment, though. I was walking past the curtains blocking off the professional photo ops area while they were doing group pics with the Nightmare on Elm Street 4 cast. I heard a very familiar face shout out, “SMILE FOR THE BIRDIE, BITCH!” That alone was worth the price of admission.

I picked up some other cool things from vendors before I headed home.  Can’t post some of them here since they are family Christmas presents but… I got a really cool Addams Family pillow for ten bucks.

I’m admittedly late to the party in becoming a horror fan, but I certainly enjoyed Scarefest. I may look into attending as a vendor next year, when I will have at least two more Dead Park books on the table. If you’re within driving distance of Lexington and you like the scary movies, this is an event well worth your time!