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By Franklin E. Wales

While on a stop in Wheeling West Virginia, I knew we had to check in with the good doctor, Dr. Pus. No that is not his real name, but that title does appear before his real name. It’s understandable, when you stop to think how you’d feel if you learned that guy with all the diplomas on the wall, that you are trusting a portion of your health to, spends most of his out of office hours knee deep in festering undead creatures who consume human flesh. Doc, as he’s lovingly known  to his hundreds of fans, is the creator and owner of the Library Of The Living Dead Press, a website and small publishing house devoted to the undead.

After a quick phone call, Jacki and I went to meet the good doctor and his lovely wife of nearly 25 years, Tam. He chose a favorite haunt of his,  an amazing little bar in Chester WV named “The Turf” I’d highly recommend you stop by if you are in the area.

FEW: Let’s not mince words here; Doc, when did you get this unhealthy love for the living dead?

DP: (Laughing) Well, it actually started with a “vampire” movie. I was in 6th grade and staying at a friend’s house overnight. Just so happened that Chiller Theater, with “Chilly Billy” Cardille was playing “Last Man On Earth”. It scared the hell out of me. Yes, yes, I know they were vampires but if George Romero got his idea for “Night of the Living Dead” from “Last Man on Earth”, I’m sure the zombie purists will excuse me.

I had nightmares for months about this movie and even tried to board up my bedroom windows. When my Dad saw me carrying boards, nails and a hammer to my room. He freaked! So I used duct tape and cardboard to cover my windows, figuring that would at least give me a heads up when the “zombies” came knocking.

FEW: Well, it must have worked, you’re here today! That was a great flick, have you ever read Matheson’s book?

DP: ( A BIG smile came across his face here)  After viewing “Last Man On Earth” I checked out “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson from the library. I read it straight through and fell in love with it. I read it at least 5 more times before taking it back to the library. Today I have every edition of “I Am Legend” ever put out. I have the first edition as well as the library edition, signed by Mr. Matheson. I also have a Russian edition of the book, even though I can’t read Russian!

FEW: Which would you say was the best  filmed version of the book, Last Man on Earth, Omega Man, or I Am Legend?

DP: Last Man On Earth is by far the best movie version by far! It is the closest adaptation to the book and it has my favorite actor of all time, Vincent Price, in it. I despise Omega Man for taking liberties with the book. Heston did a good job as Neville, but the movie blew. As for the Will Smith I Am Legend, I HATED it!

Why, oh why, does Hollywood have to ruin the originals? I could rant on this for hours, but I won’t since there’s more questions to be answered. But I do look at myself as the world’s biggest fan of Last Man On Earth. I have every piece of memorabilia available for it. All of it is hanging in my podcast studio. My wife calls the room my “Last Man On Earth Altar”

(Since we were talking movies I had to test the Doc’s movie knowledge on the subject of the living dead)

FEW: Quick! Your opinion, what was the best zombie movie ever?

DP: I’ll use the standard answer and say my favorite is George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead since it is the movie that introduced me to “real” zombies.  I’ve watched this movie so many times I know every piece of dialogue. I can quote the characters as they speak their lines. But I also love independent zombie films. In fact there are a few of those that appear in my top five zombie movies.

FEW: You have a list?

DP: Naturally! 1, the original Night of the Living Dead. 2, the original Dawn of the Dead, 3,  Video Dead—that  one’s a hoot! 4, Shatter Dead (Turns out Doc is a fan on Scooter McCrae’s take on  the zombie genre) And 5,  Stacy—a  Japanese movie that will blow your mind!

(At this point Doc and I went off on a tangent on the value of this gutmunching movie vs. that  one, that lasted for nearly 10 minutes. Either Jacki or Tam made some comment about “boys and their undead toys” but I can’t be sure which one over the background noise.)

FEW: Let’s get back to you. You have one of the most popular interactive horror websites going.  How exactly did The Library Of The Living Dead website start?

DP: I first started out by cruising the net looking for likeminded zombie fans. I landed on a now defunct site called Living Dead. When they folded, I found Reel Horror. And as is my luck, they eventually died and did not reanimate. I was a Moderator on each of those boards and thought perhaps I could start my own forum. Most of the members came over from Reel Horror and then we started picking up a lot of new members who also loved zombies. We now have over 800 members. I’m stunned about that number. It’s a very active forum you can find at www.libraryofthelivingdead.lefora.com, The official website, with all kinds of cool stuff on it can be found at www.thelibraryofthelivingdead.com .

FEW: So you went from a chat based website devoted to zombie- holics to a small publishing company. How did you come to this decision?

DP: Our first ever published book was “Dead Tide” by Stephen A. North. It’s still our best seller by numbers. The publishing side of things came about by “talking” to Steve on the forum. He’d already published a sci-fi book called “Beneath the Mask”. It was a wonderful book and I read a large part of it on the podcast. This was the first time I ever presented anything “non-zombie” on the podcast, and it became a favorite of the listeners. Steve and I became friends and he mentioned that he had a zombie novel just about ready to publish and he really didn’t want to self-publish it. I told him immediately that I would love to publish it and I started looking around at the small presses. We signed up with BookSurge, a company owned by Amazon.com. What a hassle it was. We also found an artist the name of Dan Galli who ended up doing the wonderful cover. Wanting to present the book at ZombieFest three years ago, the books arrived one week before.

FEW: But you moved from BookSurge why was that?

DP: I found  CreateSpace that was also owned by Amazon.com but much cheaper and easier to deal with. After Dead Tide did so well, other authors began contacting me about their own zombie books. And as they say, “the rest is history.” We’ve now put out over 50 books in all genres of horror. I plan on retiring from Dentistry in three years and going into publishing full time. I am sooooo looking forward to that day.

FEW: I notice that members of your website are referred to as Librarians. Is there any reason for this above and beyond the site’s name?

DP: The title “Good Librarian” is just a nickname I came up with for the active members of the forum as well as those who listen to the podcast. They are the ones who have made such a success of the podcast as well as the publishing side of the “Library of the Living Dead”.

FEW: One of the first things that struck me when I first visited your site was you seem to constantly have a calling for short stories for a themed anthology. I know you publish novels as well, but why the heavy accent on the anthology?

DP: I have a very strong passion to give the new writer a place to have their stories printed. Anthologies are the way to go for the new author. Now, I do this for the love of the genre as the Anthologies certainly do not sell as well as our novels. One of the coolest things is to receive an e-mail from a newly published author thanking me for taking a chance on their story.

Many of those who are in the Anthologies end up writing novels for the Library. So I guess you can call them a “proving ground”. It certainly works for us.

FEW: With eight hundred members, do you ever have an open call for submissions, or is it all done in house?

DP: All submissions are open to anyone who wants to submit. You don’t need to be a member of the forum. Open submissions brings us a lot of well known authors to our Anthologies. It’s a win/win situation.

FEW: How much enjoyment is it for you when you  find that new writer with a book burning inside them, to help bring it to life?

DP: It’s just cool as hell to see an author’s novel come to fruition. When the book is printed it’s like it’s their baby. I get as excited as the author’s do as the book goes through the process leading to the printed finale.

FEW: Ever try your hand at the zombie novel yourself?

DP: Actually I have written a zombie novel. I started to present it in Episode #1 of the Library of the Living Dead Podcast and ended it in Episode #50. It’s called Beginning of the Dead and takes place in my hometown. It all started with my oldest daughter’s creative writing class in her Senior year of High School. She needed an idea for a “scary” story around Halloween. She wrote it so well that the class demanded more from her and she wrote another chapter. It was so good that I took up the pen, changed things around a bit, and wrote fifty chapters of Beginning of the Dead, which I am now in the process of rewriting it for a printed zombie novel.

FEW: Speaking of the podcast, I download your podcast every week and especially love the song parodies. Who is that doing the vocals?

DP: I do most of the song parodies using a karaoke track. Some of the songs were also played by me on a Casio keyboard that I stole from my youngest daughter. Our theme song  Zombie was done by Steve Cain a long, long time ago. He used a karaoke track of “Zombie” by the Cranberries.

Many of the out-songs were played by my band Renfield. We were a three piece (guitar, bass & drums) that covered groups like Alice Cooper and Ozzy. We also did quite a few originals and played the bar circuit around Chester. The recordings were done in my little home studio and that’s where I record the podcast now. Sadly we broke up years ago, but I’m in the process of putting together a punk band to be called Purulent Exudate.

FEW: Purulent Exudate? (Admittedly I had to ask how to spell it)

DP: It’s the medical term for pus!

FEW: You’ve become quite a popular guest at conventions. Got any good con stories?

DP: (Again breaking into that creepy smile of his) The best Con story I have is during the second ZombieFest Convention. I had just picked up Steve North and Dan Galli at the airport and we were hanging out at the Hotel Bar. We decided to go get something to eat and as we were leaving we saw Miss Dee, who is the Head Honcho of the Convention. I asked her if she’d like to go with us and she replied that she was waiting on Ken Foree to come down from his room… I started to sweat then. When this giant of a man showed up Miss Dee introduced Steve and Dan to Ken. He then stuck out his huge hand, grabbed mine in a stong handshake and said, “And it’s wonderful to meet you Dr. Pus.” I about crapped myself that he knew who I was.

FEW:  What would you say your best experience has been so far?

DP: I have been blessed in my life with many great experiences. Having a Mother who still loves me after all of the crap I put her through when I was growing up—I was a real piece of work as a kid. Having a loving Father who had always supported my “creative” side. Meeting my wife on a blind date and 9 months later marrying her. Seeing my two daughters born. (Sarah & Rachel). Watching them grow up. And most of all falling more in love with my wife Tam each and every day.

As for experiences with the Library it has to be the love and concern I receive from the Good Librarians. They worry about me like an old granny. It’s wonderful.

FEW: Doc, you seemed to have found the perfect niche in life. You have a wonderful family, (Earlier Doc  had drug out his wallet and proudly shown off photos of his children) a career that keeps the wheels turning day to day, and most importantly found a way to incorporate your childhood love into your adulthood world. One last question, do you think you’ll ever grow up?

DP:  I WILL NEVER GROW UP!!!

Jacki and I had a wonderful time meeting Doc and Tam. I left my zombie manuscript, Deadheads: Evolution along with Joseph Adams artwork for the book with Doc for his consideration, and we all made promises we’d all get together again next time we were In West Virginia, or they were in Florida. If you are interested in contacting the Good Doctor, you can find him through the website, or e mail him at lotld@yahoo.com.

Franklin E. Wales is a South Florida novelist. On a summer long book signing tour with his wife, Jacki, he took the time to meet up with several independent and important voices in horror today. His series, Beer Summit, runs exclusively here at Horror Vein. You can learn more about his works, and contact him through his website: www.FranklinEWales.com

By Franklin E. Wales

Joseph Adams is possibly the best artist you have never heard of. His work is featured on Tee shirts, coffee cups, baseball caps, there is even a Joseph Adams calendar. He’s an artist, sculptor and a clown (no, a real clown!).

As seemed to be the case on this tour, Jacki and I were running late. By the time we arrived at the Hooter’s in Richmond, KY,  Joseph was already seated along with a couple friends of his. I first met Joseph online a few years back, and had been looking forward to meeting him in person. I admit when it comes to chicken wings I am a wimp, always ordering mild. Joseph on the other hand not only ordered the 911 wings, but also dumped a heavy dose of Tabasco sauce over them, claiming it brought out their flavor. Even Jacki, who likes medium wings, cringed.

FEW: This is a first for me, I admit. You are an official Kentucky Colonel, and I have never interviewed a Colonel before. How exactly did you get that title? Is there some secret five alarm chicken recipe in your family’s history?

JA: Nah, man. It’s the highest form of honor that you can receive from my native state of Kentucky. First a title holding Colonel has to recommend you to the powers that be, for you to become a Colonel. I was recommended by Colonel and Pastor, John Keith. It can only be given by the active Governor of the Commonwealth. Governor Paul Patton gave me the title in 2001. Colonels are notorious for being Kentucky’s ambassadors of good will and their work for charities. There are several Colonels in my family and I even recommended a few myself. A few of the more famous Colonels include KFC founder Colonel Sanders, Pope John Paul II, Bill Clinton, Muhammed Ali, Winston Churchill, Richard Petty, Elvis Presley, and President Barrack Obama to name a few.

FEW:  Though it was your drawing skills that brought us here, I know you do a fair bit of sculpting, but you don’t sell your work, why?

JA:  I usually do it just for fun, mostly. Most of my sculptures have been auctioned off to help people in need or raising money for charities. So many people are in need and if everybody helped in some way, big or small our world would be a better place.

FEW: When it comes to your craft, I’ve heard you use the term “Lowbrow Art” to describe it. That sounds like a slam, and yet you embrace the term. What exactly does that term mean to you?

JA: (Joseph adopted a sixties beatnik voice before answering.) See Lowbrow is an art form, brother. Lowbrow is strictly outta the norm. Ya dig? See the dudes that are building far out Hot Rods with cool paint jobs like Von Dutch and my main inspiration, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, they totally get it, heck they helped the movement. It’s Surrealism at its finest stuff that should be in the Louvre but more than likely found in an alley. Dig?

(Dropping the beatnik voice, he continued.)

JA: It is alternative and underground and it has inspired everything around us. I’ve done a few underground comic books and like Roth, I’ve designed t-shirts with monsters driving hotrods. However lowbrow is taking something and making it more. It’s like putting your dreams or nightmares onto canvas. Or better yet, sculpting it out of clay, or spraying it on a wall. It’s not only a form of art but a form of life.

FEW: What about those underground comics? Do you feel more at home there?

JA: Though most of my past work has been independent magazines, newspapers, and comic books,  I would love the chance to have a shot at the mainstream businesses and have steady work instead of freelance. But I’ve found with indy folks I do have more freedom to do my own stuff.

FEW: I know you’ve also worked as an artist on several independent movies. How did you apply your craft in that genre?

JA: Mostly it was graphic stuff—nothing real fun. Except with Solomon Mortamur, his film, It came from Trafalgar, was the first I film I ever worked with that was tons of fun. He would throw ideas at me but mainly he’d let me do whatever. Solomon is super cool and very nice.  People should check out the website ; you can find info on the soundtrack there too.

FEW: Soundtrack?  Are you a musician as well?

JA: Nope, but I love music. If I had more ability in my arms and hands, I would love to have been a musician. I  did some artwork on Trafalgar’s official movie soundtrack. I only did the back cover art not the front. I had one of his aliens driving a hot rod, very Ed Roth kinda stuff.

FEW: A lot of artists have a ridged style that defines their work. Your style seems to be more fluid, as if you alter your work to the format it’s used for. Is that a fair assessment?

JA: There are all kinds of books on teaching cartooning and illustrating and they can be resourceful. I think the artist that draws in their own true style are the ones we seem to remember, instead of the style that some big corporate juggernaut wants you to draw. Art is self-expression, brother. I love movies, and if you watch an actor he/she does not play the same character for every role, unless they are typecast.  Who wants to be a typecast artist? I’m just me, you can see a change in the way I draw or illustrate but underneath the layers lie the same essentials I have used all along.

FEW: Most creative people I’ve ever met were overtaken by their own personal obsession early in life. Who or what inspired you as a child?

JA: My older brother was and is my hero. Actually he was the more artistic kid out of us four. He was a big factor on who I was to be including as an artist. He introduced to me horror films, comic books, and drawing. Before that my interest was the opposite sex, killing bugs , and showing off. I still remember countless times falling asleep clutching a Fangoria magazine while most kids my age were cowering under their covers.  On Saturdays,  other kids would be climbing trees, while I would be watching Commander USA on the  USA Network; he looked like Clark Gable, dressed like a Superhero from one of my comic books, and he hosted monster movies! He was truly awesome—and he appreciated a fine cigar, I respect that.

FEW: Movie fan, huh?

JA : My family got a video camera when I was a kid for videoing family stuff..BORING. I was fascinated at a very early age at making movies, monster movies, like Frankenstein. As a kid, I wanted it so much that it ate at me. I was always creating something… usually a mess. I loved to draw but it took awhile for the talent to catch up.

FEW: So you spent your Saturdays inside more often than not, I take it.

JA: Well due to my limitations, as a kid I couldn’t ride bikes or play sports, and don’t you dare think that I didn’t try, I did. Growing up with Muscular Dystrophy, was not easy. I found that reading comic books and watching horror movies was more enjoyable than planting my face on the old Volaire’s bumper while trying to stand on a skateboard; or getting the air knocked outta me by a flying soccer ball, any day!

FEW: Do you mind talking about your MD, or is it a bad subject?

JA: Not at all. My mother and father’s genetic makeup combined is a genetic freak show waiting to happen. My brother and I are the original X-men. I have an unknown form of Muscular Dystrophy. There is a mutation within me and my body cannot produce a specific muscle protein to generate strong muscles. Eventually my muscles will atrophy and deteriorate, until it effects my heart resulting into heart failure.  It also causes respiratory failure do the muscles that help you breathe. I have been on a ventilator for about 16 years. (Joseph’s brother has sadly, already passed on.)

FEW: How does that affect your art?

JA: The big thing that baffles all of my cartoonist friends is the way I draw. Due to my MD I have little to no ability to move my hands and arms it’s basically my fingers. They tell me there’s no way they could draw with my limitations. I reply there are others that use their mouths and feet!

FEW: My hat is off to you, my friend, that is a hellava attitude.

JA: People always settle for what they get and not what they want. That’s why I believe most are sad and depressed. I’m a daydreamer or as the Monkee’s put it, a daydream believer. I am ambitious and if I want it, I’ll go after it. Lots of times, most of the time, I fail, but at least there’s reward and comfort in trying, I believe.

FEW: Changing subjects, I was kinda hoping that Steamboat Joe would be here tonight.

(At this point Joseph’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. I had hit a good point.)

JA:  Ah my alter ego. Being a showoff is what I do best. I am a Christian and every Christian should try to spread the gospel. I am creative so I approach everything that way, I am a clown for Christ. Clowns get a bad rap, man. The majority are good people that love to make others smile. I clown for Christ, not profit. Every time someone smiles that is payment enough. I love visiting kids and adults that are too sick to get out of bed and need to be in a hospital. I love seeing them smile at me and I tell them that, I love them and God does too.

FEW: You’ve been given a rough row to hoe, and yet you move forward undaunted to the outside eye. What is your secret?

JA: No secret really. I think my faith in God and his love for me keeps me strong, and having my friends and family always giving me their 100.1% support and love, that’s my secret. I think my willingness or extreme ambition for example: running for mayor, has folk already questioning my sanity. I’m ambitious, a dreamer, perhaps somewhat of a polymath. I’ve dreamed and fought for my dreams, and I dare sometimes the impossible. I may have many challenges in life but with the love and grace of God, and with the love and support of my friends and family, I face adversity and come out on the other side.

What could you say after that? The interview was over and Jacki and I wanted to spend some time just hanging with Joseph. We had to get up early, and it was time to see the stunning artwork Joseph had brought for my book, Deadheads: Evolution. If you will pardon a shameless plug, Joseph and I have plans not only to illustrate the book but turn the story into a comic series as well. We are even tinkering with an animated feature version of the original screenplay. I can’t urge you strongly enough to drop by his website and get to know this man.

Franklin E. Wales is a South Florida novelist. On a summer long book signing tour with his wife, Jacki, he took the time to meet up with several independent and important voices in horror today. His series, Beer Summit, runs exclusively here at Horror Vein. You can learn more about his works, and contact him through his website: www.FranklinEWales.com

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