Looking for the perfect Halloween season read this October? (Or September if you start spooky season a little early!) Then it’s time to head over to your local library (or Amazon) and check out award-winning Brad A. Braddock’s “sometimes serious… sometimes quirky… but always fun” books.
Brad Braddock is a local author, historian, and film buff with a love for classic horror. He currently is the agent/owner of a Goosehead Insurance branch in Carmichaels, but he’s had a myriad of other jobs: he spent twenty years as a deep tissue massage therapist (and still maintains that license), and he raises elk with his father in the West Greene area. He’s also a log cabin enthusiast and has restored a couple buildings. He’s even been a writer for GreeneScene Magazine in the past, sharing folklore and area history.
Brad’s passion for movies, especially classic horror films of the 1930s to 1960s, has a heavy influence on his writing. He writes primarily horror, although he’s written some historical fiction and nonfiction. He also enjoys reading nonfiction, especially biographies.
“I love movies, especially old movies. I would have loved to have been an actor or a director or something similar,” Brad says. “I like to be able to create, and it would have been fun to craft a film. The writing is a way to create without being in film, with a pen and a pad.”
“I’ve written a story based on the movie The Vampire Bat that has that shadowy feel to it. The pre-code period really influenced my writing,” he adds. “I’ve written a lot about Bela Lugosi. I’ve probably written the most fiction about Bela Lugosi of anyone in this country,” he says with a laugh. “He has inspired me. I really like his films and his work.”
Brad has written three novels, one novella, and assembled two anthologies. His first full length book, The Village of Eben Hollow, was written with friend Jason Pacy. The pair came up with the idea and began writing the story together in 2005, and the book was picked up for publication in 2015. It had a two-year run with that publisher, but Brad didn’t keep the work with that publisher when the contract expired. Like many of us when looking at our early creations, Brad wasn’t pleased with the final product and has recently began reworking the story into serial form. His latest novel, House of Ygor, was published this year.
“I think the latest one has been some of my best work. It’s based on old classic horror characters from the 1930s and is called House of Ygor. I feel like it turned out really good. I’ve had the best response on that book so far, it’s been very positive.”
His anthologies Chiller: Tales Inspired by Classic Horror Films and Bela Lugosi: The Monogramthology merged top-notch authors with legendary historians to create one-of-a-kind stories based off classic horror.
Brad found that the most difficult part of being an author, especially at the beginning, is trying to find the right publisher and get the right agent, without help navigating those new waters.
“There are a lot of sharks in the industry,” Brad says. “I got tied with a few bad people in the beginning, but it was a good learning experience. You want to get published with someone to feel like you’re legit. If you have someone that you can trust in that world, get guidance from them.”
Brad now self publishes his work, and collaborates with a team of other authors, freelance editors, and artists to complete each book. He takes advantage of the Amazon platform to get his books to their audience, as well as attending conventions like Monster Bash Conference in the Pittsburgh area.
“Amazon has a beautiful platform for publication. They offer eBooks, paperback and hardback options and it’s free to publish. It’s pretty easy to manipulate the program, and they have a nice product. ”
He also sees the benefits in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program. Although the paid subscription plan doesn’t pay the authors a lot per read, the platform provides an author’s books to a broader audience, introducing the work to new readers. “As a writer you want people to read your stuff, whether you’re making a lot or not. We don’t do it for the money, we do it because we love it.”
“It makes you feel really good [to finish a novel]. That type of length, to get it out there and be happy with it… You feel accomplished when you complete that,” Brad says.
The most rewarding thing for Brad has been being accepted by those that enjoy classic horror, “Feeling like you’re adding to a genre you love is so rewarding,” Brad says. “To see people, like the Lugosi scholars, that really enjoy my books has been super rewarding to me. Being accepted into that niche has been better for me than anything.”
The most surprising thing? “That I can write,” he says with another laugh. “You don’t know when you first start that you can complete something from start to finish and it be good. I surprised myself. I wasn’t really anything in school, with English classes. It just kind of came, the passion that said ‘I want to do this.'”
Brad currently has another anthology in the works with stories based on Ed Wood’s works. The anthology will showcase stories with fiction take offs, prequels, and sequels of Wood’s films. The book will premiere at the June 23, 2023 Monster Bash. “There will be some historians involved with that one, and some great writers.” He’s also working on an historical fiction book based on Minnesota Fats, a professional billiards player. Brad’s books are available on Amazon as well as creepyclassics.com.
