Da Count - Illustrations

Last week I was raving about the beautiful contributor's copy of BOUND FOR EVIL: Curious Tales of Books Gone Bad anthology by Tom English of Dead Letter Press that arrived in the mail, how excited I was about being published in such an exquisite anthology and to appear alongside some truly fantastic authors.

What I failed to make note of, and shame on me for this, is the artist used for the entire anthology.

The artwork, both for the cover and throughout the book, is by the ever-talented Allen Koszowski. I first discovered Allen's marvelous illustrations in a wonderful little horror zine called Crossroads which I'd been published in various times through the 90's.

I've scanned in a few of the covers to the issues that I had stories appear in and which Allen K illustrated. Yes, going back as far as June 1996. I just realized it was twelve years ago. Quite a long time.


I have continued to enjoy Allen K's artwork throughout the past What always amazed me about Allen's artwork is how reminiscent it is to the work of Steve Ditko -- the illustrator who, along with Stan Lee, created Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Like Ditko, Allen K's work has a wonderful surrealistic quality, with an emphasis on mood, particularly creepy mood, which works perfectly in his horror illustrations.

Having been a fan of Koszowski's work for all these years, I am absolutely delighted with the picture below which was with my story "Browsers" in BOUND FOR EVIL. At once it perfectly captures the overall mood of this story of a unnamed narrator becoming trapped within a very unique kind of bookstore.

The feeling of seeing a piece of artwork that so perfectly fits with one of my stories is on par to seeing one of the plays I have written for public school aged children (like "The Show Must Go On") being performed on stage.

Illustration copyright 2007 Allen Koszowski

And along with the thrill of having Allen K illustrate one of my favourite horror stories is the additional thrill of knowing I will have a chance to meet him in person at EerieCon 10 in Niagara Falls New York in April 2008.

So many things to count. So much to be thrilled about.