Occultober 2023

I normally begin Occultober on the Autumnal Equinox, but we’ve postponed things a bit, to the first of October. My little brother passed away on September 21, two days before Fall became official. It was unexpected, to say the least. He was just 54 years old, and though he had been in ill-health, I never really entertained the idea that he would leave us so soon.

We were close growing up. We watched cartoons together every Saturday Morning. I drug him along to haunted graveyards and abandoned barns and farmhouses. We waded through creeks and built elaborate sets to tell wild stories with action figures of all stripes. We worked in the same bars, were roommates in college and the “real” world. We collected comics together and eventually formed our own comic book company, Lion’s Den Studios.

Bret was a great cartoonist and colorist. He had his faults, but I loved him dearly. And I never once doubted he loved me too.

I’ll miss him.

We’re saying farewell and godspeed to him in an informal ceremony on Saturday, the last day of September. Then we’ll try to get back to business, come Sunday, the first of Occultober.

I have interviews, lectures, and signings lined up throughout October. Vampirella: Dead Flowers debuts on October 4th and I’ll be in Kokomo at Comics Cubed to celebrate the launch. Issue 2 drops on November 1st, so be sure to wrangle copies… I expect they’ll be selling fast. It’s not every day a Frazetta co-writes a new Vampirella story.

I have several ghost hunts lined up, including one on Friday, October 13th. I’ll be talking ghost stories with Vayse, and Vampirella with PopXP, and I’ll be a guest at Para-Unity in Peru Indiana on October 21. All in all, an exciting month, and I haven’t even touched on all the festivities planned with family, including Connor’s 20th Birthday, our annual trip to Mississinewa 1812, and tickets to see Martin Barre (former Jethro Tull guitarist).

And this year, on YouTube, I am co-hosting an Occult Detective October event, where we read Occult Detective fiction all month long and talk about it. That’s something you surely won’t want to miss.

Occulttober is always an amazing thrill-ride, tempered this year by loss. I keep reminding myself that death is just a transition from one state of being to another. And I believe every word of it, but it’s still a wound. If you’ve lost people close to you, then you know…

We are spirits who choose to wallow in the mud of the material world for a brief instant. We have to remember to embrace every moment of this time, to live an adventurous and meaningful life while we can, because it is fleeting.

Thanks to all of you for a being a part of this journey.

Now, let’s make some magick.