Introducing the Sparkytopia Snail Mail Club

I've been writing one thing or another all of my adult life, including academic essays, classic movie reviews, and introductions for editions of classic novels, but at heart I'm a creative writer still hoping to pitch the right novel manuscript to the right agent at the right time. Luckily for me, my incredibly talented artist kid, Sparky, is launching a new snail mail club and has graciously allowed me to contribute the original short stories that will accompany their characters and art in each issue. I'm truly excited to help them bring the whimsical world of Sparkytopia to life!

Preview of the Puppystein issue

 

If you're not familiar with snail mail clubs, they're a huge trend right now among artists and other creatives looking to reach audiences who hunger for human-made, tangible joy in an increasingly digital and AI-dominated world. Remember when going to the mailbox was exciting? I certainly do. Before social media, I was a prolific letter writer and Christmas card sender, and I miss the pleasure of getting personal mail instead of bills and advertisements. There are hundreds of snail mail clubs catering to different tastes, budgets, and interests, and you can find lists of them on sites like MailClubly. Whether it's art, history, original fiction, recipes, or travel, you'll find your interests represented in someone's club.

 

The Sparkytopia snail mail club will build on Sparky's original characters and the world they inhabit through monthly issues containing stickers, small prints, and special surprises lovingly created by Sparky as well as short stories contributed by me. You'll get to know three overlapping groups of characters: the cute neighborhood kids of Sparkytopia, the friendly monsters of spooky Sparky Hollow, and the fashionable teens of the Petticoat Party. We've been working together to imagine the adventures of these characters and the stories that bring them to life. I'm especially enjoying writing stories for the Sparky Hollow monsters - Count Catcula, Puppystein and his Bride, and Wilbur the Werebear - and it has been a delight to watch Sparky design all of the new characters whose stories are forthcoming. 

Sparkytopia mascot Prince Rory

Sparky's art evokes the joy and whimsy of picture book illustrations with bright colors and bold line work. As an expansion of their work as a full-time freelance illustrator and digital artist, the snail mail club will deliver that nostalgic joy to subscribers' mailboxes every month. Fans of cozy art, cute characters, and sweet, funny stories will find a lot to enjoy in each issue, which is suitable for all ages but intended to appeal to tweens, teens, and adults. Each story will run about 500-600 words.

 

The launch issue introduces Sparky Hollow's adorable Puppysteins, Godwin and Shelley, and their quest for the perfect wedding cake in the short story, "Puppystein Takes the Cake." The issue includes 2 vinyl stickers (one of each character), a handmade interior envelope, a welcome letter, the story, an exclusive B&W mini print that can also be used as a coloring page, and a short recommendation list of Frankenstein-related fun. 

 

If you're interested in the Sparkytopia snail mail club, you can learn more or sign up here:

https://mailclubly.com/@sparkytopia

 

I wrote a previous post about how classic movie monsters inspire some of Sparky's art, which you can read here. Wish us both luck as we work to make this collaboration a success! 

    

Classic Films in Focus: BACK FROM THE DEAD (1957)

There's a really scary story lurking beneath the surprisingly bland presentation of Back from the Dead (1957), and it might have been properly terrifying with the right budget and direction to capitalize on its various elements. It's not the worst low-budget horror movie you'll see by a long shot, but that might be to its detriment because a truly terrible B picture offers its own special kind of fun. It's good enough to watch without snickering but not compelling enough to send any shivers down the spine, and it chief attraction today is probably the presence of Marsha Hunt as the heroine struggling to save her sister from a murderous spirit.

Hunt plays Kate Hazelton, whose pregnant sister, Mandy (Peggie Castle), miscarries when a strange seizure comes over her during a vacation on the California coast. Kate and Mandy's husband, Dick (Arthur Franz), are horrified when Mandy comes out of the attack claiming to be Dick's dead first wife, Felicia, whom Dick has never even mentioned to Mandy. They become convinced that Felicia has possessed Mandy's body but are unsure how to deal with Felicia or restore Mandy. Kate believes that a local devil-worshiping group that Felicia belonged to might hold the answers, and her quest to save her sister puts her in grave danger from Felicia's cult member mother (Helen Wallace) and the cult leader, Renault (Otto Reichow).

There's a lot going on this narrative that could be really frightening - a malevolent spirit, possession, human sacrifice, murder and attempted murder, curses, and a dog who knows the difference between his beloved mistress and the evil that has replaced her. It's presented so flatly that none of it really grips the imagination, even though Marsha Hunt and Peggie Castle are both doing solid work with their roles. The worst casting is Otto Reichow as the cult leader because he's truly underwhelming when we finally see him. It's impossible to imagine that Felicia and surviving cult member Nancy (Marianne Stewart) are at all attracted to him, much less jealously obsessed. Arthur Franz and Don Haggerty, who plays Kate's love interest, never convey sufficient sense of the horror of the events unfolding, and it's hard to feel much sympathy for Dick when he decided to keep so many secrets from Mandy in the first place. The cinematography does nothing to help the atmosphere, either, although the properly eerie theme music tries to set the right mood. It's not hard to imagine how deliciously creepy this story could have been with someone like Jacques Tourneur directing and camera work that builds rather than deflates the weird menace of characters like Felicia and her mother. Low-budget horror can still be compelling and spine-tingling, as cult classics like Night Tide (1961), Carnival of  Souls (1962), and Val Lewton's RKO pictures prove, and it's a shame the original novel by Hollywood screenwriter Catherine Turney didn't get a better adaptation, even though she also penned the screenplay for the film.

The story's potential to be an effective horror tale stems from Turney's work as the original author of the novel, The Other One, and as an experienced film writer who contributed to pictures like My Reputation (1946), A Stolen Life (1946), and The Man I Love (1947). You can learn more about her by reading Rosanne Welch's brief 2026 article for Script. The actual 1952 novel might be hard to find these days, but a Kirkus review from its original release says that it "has a certain glow and a definite gloss and provides an evening's entertainment." See more of Marsha Hunt in Born to the West (1937), the 1940 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, in which she plays Mary Bennet, and The Valley of Decision (1945). Peggie Castle also appears in Payment on Demand (1951), I, the Jury (1953), and 99 River Street (1953). Charles Marquis Warren, who directed Back from the Dead, is remembered mainly for his work with Westerns, which might partly explain the problems with his direction of a supernatural horror picture. For contrast, try the far more successfully scary picture, Night of the Demon (1957), which came out the same year as Back from the Dead, or the truly weird possession story, Supernatural (1933).