Joseph M. Monks

Joseph M. Monks, who David J. Schow (The Crow, John Carpenter’s HELL) has called “one of the godfathers of splatterpunk,” began writing at the age of nine and hasn’t looked back—particularly in recent years. Undaunted by the loss of his sight in 2002, he’s continued to write original short fiction for multiple publishers, including his new venture: Fright Unseen Productions. He’s also branched out into screenwriting and filmmaking, becoming the world’s first—and only—blind feature film director with The Bunker, his debut release. Surprising many, Joe’s returned to the place where his career began: comic books. SICK ‘N TWISTED #1 was released in September, 2022, joining a slew of indie horror titles he’s been the driving force behind, including Cry For Dawn, The Night Terrors, Gory Lori, Zacherley’s Midnight Terrors (featuring the world-famous horror host) and more. In addition to The Cool Ghoul, Joe’s been in the creative trenches with such legendary talents as Basil Gogos, Stephen King collaborator Bernie Wrightson, William Stout, fantasy artist Ken Kelly, Will Pleydon, Jason Moser and others.

Monks turned his attention to the mystery genre with his critically-acclaimed debut novel, Torn to Pieces, which he followed with the zombie anthology: Dead Meat. This year, he, award-winning author Candace Nola and Franklin E. Wales released the grisly extreme horror chapbook, Exactly the Wrong Things, gifted an opening line by best-selling author Edward Lee (The Bighead), and a challenge line each author had to work into their tale by none other than Christine Morgan. The book is so hardcore that multiple artists declined to take on the job, and several printers refused to print it. For Joe, full circle, seeing as Cry for Dawn #1 was also rejected by printers who worried printing the title would get them shut down. Luckily for you, it’s now available through Kindle.

Joe lives in SW Florida with his wife, Pamela, their dogs, Mouse and Paws, and a resilient black cat named Midnight, who tolerates being outnumbered. To a certain extent, anyway.