Interview with Dean Schreck
Eric S Brown
EB: Mr. Schreck, please tell us some about yourself.
Schreck: Well, I just turned 71 and have been living in South Carolina for 2 ½ years now. I am a former Long Island Transit Worker who (like so many others) chose to escape the high cost of living in New York, especially on retirement income. I am married for 48 years (next month) with two kids and four grandchildren.
I have been writing Poetry and occasional Fiction since the age of fourteen. At 17, my first attempt at marketing my work involved submitting to 11 different small press publications and getting accepted by 3: I thought that was a rather nice result for a first effort.
I got my start in Comics at Comico Comics, where my Brother Bob was an Editor. Bob encouraged me to submit to Comico an original vampire short story I had written. They liked it, and sometime later my original Comic Book, entitled Bloodscent (with Art by Gene Colan) was published. The book received a number of positive reviews, and did reasonably well for a Non-Super Hero or Established Character book. For all of which, I must give many thanks and cudos to my Brother Bob; and of course, the late, great Gene Colan, renowned for his work in Marvel’s Dracula series.
EB: What the biggest thrill in working for Marvel?
Schreck: Regarding my later work in Marvel’s Hellraiser and Fanfare, it was more than a bit thrilling to be producing stories under iconic banners like Marvel and Clive Barker’s (Hellraiser).
EB: How did working for Marvel differ from other publishers?
Schreck: As for how working for Marvel compared to work done for small, Independents like Comico (and later Now Comics; Twilight Zone #7), I do think most writers prefer the more-or-less Mom and Pop advantages of the small publishers: Keeping in mind that everything in life comes with disadvantages, and that there are exceptions to every rule. Having said this, I must add that Marvel treated me quite well, and working for them was also a great and rewarding experience.
EB: What are you currently working on?
Schreck: Unfortunately, my current projects do not include any more Comic Book work largely due-to the-fact that I am a writer who does not draw, and to some extent because of present comic market economics.
However, projects I am currently working on include, a couple of re-entries into the short and flash fiction arena; an all but finished traditional vampire piece—an unsubtle and unsavory mix of Dramatic Narrative and Verse of about 1600 words; and an in-the-works, but far from finished Horror poem infusing a modern natural landscape with Ancient Horror.
