Category Archives: Milwaukee Record
Zombie Squad: Milwaukee
While working on my book, one group I encountered and became intrigued by is Zombie Squad. It’s a national organization that meets up to discuss surviving a zombie apocalypse, with zombies being a useful metaphor for disaster preparation in general. The local chapter had a table at my Milwaukee Paranormal Conference (in 2015) and I went to a meeting they had last month. I’m going to try to make all their meetings and check out the annual ZombieCon in June, which takes place in Missouri.
To tie in with their meeting this Friday, I wrote a short bit on the group for Milwaukee Record, which you can read here: http://milwaukeerecord.com/city-life/we-make-dead-things-deader-gearing-up-with-zombie-squad-milwaukee/
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The Apocalypse Blog explores the topics of Tea Krulos’s third non-fiction book, which is about doomsday predictions, prepping, and pop culture. It’ll be published in 2018 (if the world survives that long). His first two books, Heroes in the Night (2013) and Monster Hunters (2015) are available from Chicago Review Press here: http://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/krulos–tea-contributor-296670.php
Daleks Invade Milwaukee!
I had my first published piece for 2016 this week, which was one of those great stories you just stumble across. My friend Shane was giving me a tour of Makerspace Milwaukee, which is an amazing place in Bay View. Woodworking shops, metal work, electronics, fabrics, 3-D printing, a huge, well organized space. If you can imagine it, it probably can be built there.
Well, as a long-time fan of the BBC sci fi show Doctor Who, you can imagine my delight when we turned a corner and saw a full size, totally impressive Dalek. Exterminate!
Of course, I had to ask Shane all about it and he told me about Dalek Asylum Milwaukee, a Dalek building collective working together to build Daleks to break a world record for Most Daleks Assembled in One Place at One Time. Wow! I pretty much look at everything I look at and determine if there is potential for an article and this one was an immediate YES. I think even if you are not a Whovian, a collective build to beat a world record is interesting. I thought Milwaukee Record might be into the story, and they were.
Here’s the story: “Dalek Asylum Milwaukee Assembles Record-Exterminating Army of ‘Doctor Who’ Villains.”
I went down to Makerspace to talk to Dalek Asylum Milwaukee and was really impressed with their craftsmanship and attention to detail. They let me climb into one of their Daleks to take it for a test spin. I was skeptical I would fit since I’m hella tall, but I did. It moves on an electric wheelchair base and was a pretty smooth ride.
I’m really excited to see the day when the record is beat and an army of Daleks descends on Maker Faire. What a sight that will be!
May
Really great mix for me this month. “#Save Uptowner” was a collection of quotes from people associated with the tavern, explaining why the bar (over 130 years old) is an important institution to many, which appeared in Riverwest Currents. I also wrote a nice, breezy profile on Jessi Mechanic for M, which I think turned out well. I did a fun historical look at Robert Bloch (author of Psycho) who lived in Milwaukee as a young author, my second piece for Milwaukee Record. On the blog angle, I wrote my “Monster of the Month” column on one of my favorite experiences for my book Monster Hunters and I wrote a piece about frightening things that have happened to me out on in the field for this blog.
Next month, the word count will take a huge jump as June 1 is the official release date of Monster Hunters (available now: HERE).
I did quite a few promo interviews for the book on both local and paranormal themed podcasts, websites, print, and radio shows. I won’t list them all, but here’s a Q and A w/ Shepherd Express and a podcast interview with Milwaukee Record’s “On the Record” show.
12. “#Save Uptowner,” Riverwest Currents, May 2015. (page 2)
13. “Making Music in Brooklyn,” M Magazine, May 2015.(page 96)
14. “Bloch-buster: Milwaukee’s Connection to Psycho, H.P. Lovecraft, and Robert Bloch,” Milwaukee Record, May 6, 2015.
15. “Monster of the Month: Squishes (aka Michigan Bigfoot),” Forces of Geek, May 16.
16. “The Four Most Frightening Things That Have Happened to me While Working on Books,” teakrulos.com, May 26, 2015.
Total 2015 word count: 16, 080
teakrulos.com 