Rather than idolizing superheroes, for writers Paul McComas and Greg Starrett, it was the characters that populated Universal Picture's creature features of the 1930s and '40s that caught their imaginations.From Wolfman to Frankenstein's monster, the pair found a kinship with these antiheroes - and with each other. After a young Greg joined a young Paul's Lon Chaney Jr. fan club, the pen pals turned into lifelong friends.
Decades later, the pair have joined forces to pay tribute to the films that entertained them for so long. They also set out to fix a small logistical flaw in a Frankenstein flick that only the most ardent fans would have noticed: how did Frankenstein get his fancy new suit?
The answer is found in the duo's new novella, Fit for a Frankenstein. It's a tale about a tailor's chance encounter with the monster and his buddy Igor. McComas says he first fell in love with these original genre films for their beautiful cinematography and the conflicted creatures at their cores.
"It’s easy to look back on these movies and say they were cheesy or they were this or that – kind of reduce them," McComas says. "But I think there’s a magic to them that has been there for decades and decades."
Starrett is the founder of a company that produces old-time radio shows, and occasional guest host and voice over man for WJOB-AM 1230 in Hammond, IN. A telecommunications technician, this is his literary debut.
McComas is the award-winning author of two novels and two short-story collections, including Unforgettable: Harrowing Futures, Horrors and Dark Humor, which won a silver prize at the 2012 Midwest Book Awards. His next novel Logan's Journey is co-authored with Logan's Run author William F. Nolan, set to be released in 2014.
This interview first aired in May 2013.
