By Zack Quaintance — In today’s Kickstarter Interview, we talk with writer Craig Hurd-McKenney and artists Keni Thomas and Kam White. Hurd-McKenney currently has a fantastic Kickstarter campaign live now, for a project called Some Strange Disturbances: A Cold Winter’s Eve. The book pushes forward McKenney’s ongoing Some Strange Disturbances story with an anthology approach, bringing in artists like Thomas, White, and others to collaborate. It’s a great book (I’m a backer), and after reading our conversation below, you can and should head over to the campaign page to back this book.

Enjoy!

Some Strange Disturbances: A Cold Winter’s Eve

ZACK QUAINTANCE: One of the interesting things I’ve found about your new project is that it cites a long Victorian tradition of Christmas ghost stories. What kind of research did you have to do into this as a creator?

CRAIG HERD-MCKENNEY: I studied Victorian lit as an undergrad, and then that spilled over into my Masters research on literary masculinities. So I didn’t have to do too much extra research. Most people are familiar with Dickens and A Christmas Carol, and that is probably the most widely known example. But there are some other really fantastic ones, a lot of which you can see in books like the Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories series, or in the little chapbook series that Seth is illustrating, published by Biblioasis.

ZACK: Craig, do you have a personal favorite Christmas ghost story, and if so, can you tell us about it?

CRAIG: Algernon Blackwood’s THE EMPTY HOUSE is chilling. I made the mistake of reading it alone, late at night, and I regretted it. He creates such anticipation and fear and outright dread in such a short span of pages. I also like it because there is a generational cast in the story. It is truly one of the best examples, in that it lacks some of the camp of Dickens (no shade to camp ghost stories, which I also love). There are also plenty by women authors, too, and I’d recommend Elizabeth Gaskell or Daphne DuMaurier as a starting point for those.

ZACK: Kam and Keni, how does approaching something like a Victorian-era Christmas horror story differ (if at all) from approaching other types of horror stories?

KAM WHITE: Before joining this project, I definitely was not aware that Christmas horror stories existed (other than well Krampus). It's such a different approach to me, because usually when I think of horror, I think of Halloween. It's fun to think that such a pristine and family-friendly holiday known as Christmas, also has some horror stories with it. 

KENI THOMAS: Well, a Victorian-era Christmas horror story’s art has to serve two purposes. The purposes being to transmit the warmth of the holiday (in a traditional sense), while communicating an air of mortal danger. The contradictory tones should create a wonderfully surreal environment.

ZACK: Craig, what drew you to using an anthology format for this book?

CRAIG: I have so many brilliant artists with whom I want to work, and maybe not the volume of scripts I need to do so. Plus, in the midst of a global pandemic, I thought artists might need a little financial boost. So it allows me to work with an incredible cast of creators, and hopefully help make their lives a little easier without conventions to sell their art at. The format also seemed perfect for the round robin ghost story sessions of old. You’ll get a little more insight into the main SSD cast, and you’ll also get 6 amazing ghost stories separate from that.

ZACK: Kam and Keni, what drew you to working on this project?

KENI: I was drawn to the project in a want for new experience, considering I’ve never worked on a project of this type. I love the opportunity to expand as an artist.

KAM: I love horror and I especially love good ghost stories! I also love the Victorian era for its dramatic feel and aesthetic. So all of this wrapped up was the perfect project to work on. 

ZACK: With a number of big names launching projects, Kickstarter of late has seemed to be getting quite a bit of attention. As a veteran of a few campaigns now, have you found the platform changing at all this year?

CRAIG: To be honest, I was worried no one would be backing anything. I’m glad to discover that is wrong. People are hungry for new content, and the diversity of products available via Kickstarter, or Patreon, or indiegogo, is amazing. Sometimes it can seem overwhelming to search through them all, so thank you for opportunities like this to highlight some of those projects. 

Beyond that concern, it seems established companies are now utilizing the platform for their projects, too. I don’t want to weigh in on anyone else’s business practices (I love you, Keanu!), as it doesn’t (on surface) take anything away from the other creators running campaigns. But I want to encourage people running campaigns to explain what the money goes to. That used to be a standard thing on Kickstarter, that you’d get rejected if your pitch didn’t include that. For example, with SOME STRANGE DISTURBANCES: A Cold Winter’s Eve, all of the preorders we receive puts money directly in the hands of the artists. I pay for book design, marketing/ PR and printing myself. Some of these new campaigns are nebulous regarding funds, and that change makes me nervous. I don’t want to see transparency for backers disappear.

ZACK: Finally, I spotted a mention to Volume 3 on the Kickstarter for this project...what can you tell us about that?

CRAIG: At the end of Volume 2, “The Lunchroom Under the Arch,” one character is possessed. One character makes a startling discovery. And another character is about to make a big mistake. Volume 3 will bring adventure, an explanation and heartache, as only a book called “The Demon Bride” could. I hope you’ll all watch for it!

Some Strange Disturbances: A Cold Winter’s Eve

Some Strange Disturbances: A Cold Winter’s Eve
Writer: Craig Hurd-McKenney
Artists: Peter Gross, Vince Locke, Michael Conrad, Lauren Franklin, G. Romero-Johnson, Melisa Jones, Keni Thomas, Kam White, and Tyler Smith Owings
A tradition now lost, telling Christmas ghost stories was a long-standing Victorian tradition. In SOME STRANGE DISTURBANCES: A Cold Winter's Eve, we take a break in the action and revisit that tradition, with the SSD characters sitting around a hearth and telling each other ghost stories on a cold, cold Christmas Eve. Where are those ghost stories coming from? From the wonderful contributors to this anthology book!
Back It Now: Some Strange Disturbances: A Cold Winter’s Eve Campaign Page

Check out our past small press previews!