In this instalment of the queer horror column, ‘The Velvet Knife’, Stacked Deck Press announces its latest anthology: Four Seasons of Fear. The collection brings queer perspectives to seasonal terror, featuring work from LGBTQ+ creators including Josh Trujillo, Jadzia Axelrod, BJ Colangelo, and Wilfred Santiago.

Editing the anthology are filmmaker/podcaster Michael Varrati, known for Dragula, the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, horror film There’s a Zombie Outside and co-hosting cult podcast Midnight Mass with Peaches Christ, and cartoonist Tara Madison Avery, activist and publisher of Stacked Deck Press. They promise uniquely terrifying takes on holiday horror to rival Tales from the Crypt and The Outer Limits – Halloween, Easter, Christmas, and more.

They joined ‘The Velvet Knife‘ and GCN to discuss collaborative processes, horror subgenres, funding, and more.

When did you decide to work together? Can you talk to me about the process?

Michael: The book is actually the culmination of many years together at conventions, most specifically San Diego Comic-Con. I’ve been hosting the ‘Queer Horror’ panel at SDCC for many years now… and the panel is always sponsored by Prism Comics, in which Tara is involved.

A few years back, we were sitting at the Prism table in the exhibition hall in San Diego… and we started talking about teaming up for a queer horror anthology. But we knew we wanted it to be unique, as there had been queer horror books before.

When we landed on the idea for a calendar year of queer horror… it felt right. We both were excited by the idea and decided to go on this crazy journey together.

Tara: Michael and I have been very busy on multiple projects over the past few years, and the stars finally aligned to make room for this book in our schedules.

Prism Comics has been a hub for queer creators in all corners of popular culture, and Michael’s ‘Queer Horror’ panel has been one of the standout hits at San Diego Comic-Con for some time now. Several of the comics creators I’ve worked with are horror fans who have been featured on Michael’s panel. It just seemed like a natural next step.

Why a seasonal-themed queer horror anthology?

Michael: While there’s definitely a grand tradition of seasonal and holiday-themed horror, I have to confess the idea somewhat occurred to be mostly due to the fact that outside of the genre, I have had a long career writing holiday movies for television.

I have always loved seeing how people embrace seasonal stories, as they love something that puts them in the moment. We see this play out in the horror space constantly: Folks who watch John Carpenter’s Halloween in October or Bob Clark’s Black Christmas during the winter months. We thought it would be fun to tap into that, albeit in a queer way.

Tara: The focus on things like holidays, seasonal activities, and even changes in the weather also gives us a tidy organizing principle for the book. 12 months, four seasons. It mirrors our personal journey every year.

We have stories that focus on going back to school in the fall and the first snowfall of the year, and these annual events have their own resonance with queer folks for obvious reasons.

Often, holidays are terrifying for very queer-specific reasons…

Michael: Though they’re shared calendar experiences, how holidays are celebrated can often be very specific to the household or individual, especially if there are religious overtones. It stands to reason that queer folk would have specific reactions both to and against some of those trappings.

The holidays can often be complicated times for people… and that’s fertile ground for horror storytelling.

Tales from the Crypt, The Outer Limits, Black Mirror, The Twilight Zone, Creepshow – will the queer horror anthology take narrative cues from any of the above?

Michael: I think you’ll see echoes of all of the above, while also getting something fresh. We wanted the creators to feel free to take their stories to different places, with the only caveat being that it had to reflect a time of year. Sometimes that’s a holiday, sometimes that’s a moment like the first snow or the start of school.

The connective tissue between these stories is that they essentially function as a calendar. You could read a story a month… or binge the whole thing in one sitting. But you’re getting a whole year of fright in the process.

Tara: To be honest, while I hold some horror movies, comics, and novels near and dear, I am not a true aficionado of the form as Michael is. That’s why I’m so grateful he’s sharing editing duties with me.

For my own stories in this book, my relative lack of genre knowledge has challenged me to take my other interests and writing experiences in new directions. Say, exploiting humanity’s bloody history or finding the funny in the scary… or would that be the scary in the funny?

What can you tell us about the instalments without giving away spoilers?

Michael: Honestly, the stories truly run the thematic and tonal gamut. We have stories that are comedic, tragic, terrifying… but all very much horror. We also have a diverse range of voices speaking to a breadth of experiences.

Yes, there are stories about Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc. But we also have tales encompassing Rosh Hashanah, Juneteenth, Lupercalia, May Day, and so much more. It’s an enriching and robust landscape of scary stuff.

Do you have a favourite anthology episode?

Michael: If you’re asking about in the book, I can’t choose… I am in love with every story and creator in these pages!

If you’re asking about the world of horror anthologies in general, it’s probably going to sound cliché because of the topic at hand, but I love the Tales from the Crypt story ‘All Through the House’ with Joan Collins and the killer Santa. A classic!

Tara: It’s like asking me to tell you which of my cats is my favorite. Okay, it’s Sparkles. But I honestly can’t choose just one of these stories as my very favorite!

How did you select the writers/artists involved – was it invitational?

Michael: It was mostly invitational, yes. Luckily, thanks to our various misadventures in comics and comic conventions, Tara and I both know a lot of established creators who not only write but can do art or work as part of a team.

We reached out to people whose work we love and hoped they’d want to join us on this journey. We’re very grateful that so many talented folks said yes… and brought their deranged nightmares with them!

Tara: Mostly by lottery. Seriously, to reiterate Michael’s point, we’ve been fortunate enough to either build professional relationships or just rub elbows with some truly excellent queer comics creators. In my work for Prism Comics, which is a non-profit organization supporting queer comics, comics creators, and fandom throughout the United States, I have been blessed with the opportunity to meet and befriend highly talented cartoonists, writers, and artists.

Whenever a new anthology launches, I also have some personal favorite creators I can count on for innovative and engaging comics in a wide variety of genres. Kinda like my own Marvel Bullpen.

What horror subgenres are tackled?

Michael: Oh, this book runs the gamut: Monsters, folk horror, eldritch creatures, slashers. Horror is well-represented within these pages.

Tara: We have straightforward scare-you-out-of-your-pants stuff, but we also have some more humorous horrific offerings. A couple of the creators have dipped a toe in autobiographical waters to come up with something scary.

Tara, can you tell us about Stacked Deck Press? Is it exclusively queer content published over there?

Tara: To date, Stacked Deck Press has been wholly focused on comics, prose, art books, and, yes, coloring books of LGBTQ+ interest.

We’ve been proud to publish some landmark books such as We’re Still Here, the first all-trans comics anthology, and a retrospective of the career of cartoonist Rupert Kinnard, whose comic strip Cathartic Comics featured the first regularly occurring Black and queer characters in comics history. Rupert’s book Ooops…I  Just Catharted!: Fifty Years of Cathartic Comics and Come Out and Play: The Queer Sports Project have been nominated for Eisner Awards this year. We’ve come a long way in our 10 years in the biz.

Michael, you have your finger in lots of pies – how did you balance editing the queer horror anthology with your other projects?

Michael: Honestly, very carefully! I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve had a very busy year with several plates spinning and projects coming. But I’ve been very passionate about Four Seasons of Fear since its inception, so every time I got to return to it was an absolute joy.

Also, Tara is truly a talent and a sensation. She’s been working so hard to pull this off… and everything she’s doing at Stacked Deck Press is truly admirable and awesome – I mean, they just got nominated for two Eisner Awards!

I’m lucky to have such a remarkable collaborator with whom to go on this journey.

You’re running a Kickstarter campaign – if successful, can we expect more queer fear anthologies with different and darker thematic content?

Michael: You know, never say never… we all know horror loves a sequel!

Tara: I’m open to working on another anthology, but another Stacked Deck Press project in the works is Death Saves, 3rd Edition, a continuation of Marvel and DC writer Josh Trujillo’s series of anthologies about deceased RPG characters. Creators contributing to the book are encouraged to draw material from their own gaming experiences in their work.

Josh is co-editing with me, and for this edition we’ve expanded from our previous focus on tabletop gaming to include computer gaming. As we like to say: More games! More rules! More deaths! Then maybe another dip into the horror pool?

 

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Is funding for queer-themed projects really difficult?

Tara: It depends on the project, but I’ve got a winning crowdfunding record over the years, and the queer comics community has generously supported our mischief for over a decade now. If you make good stuff and hustle that crowdfunding campaign, you’ve got a great shot at finding your readers and going to press.

To find out more about the queer horror anthology Four Seasons of Fear, and support the Kickstarter, click here.