Adam at the Races: the NASCAR Air Guard 400
Adam Ganderson09.26.10
Adam Ganderson takes us on an outsider’s trip to the last race of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series, which is kind of like the end of the regular season before the playoffs start. It’s also the weekend of September 11th when Adam arrives like Hunter Thompson at the Kentucky Derby, his partner-in-crime at the ready. It’s a weekend full of American Pride, BBQ grills, cheap beer, and leathered sun-burnt skin. Oh yes, and the scream of 48 race car V8 engines revving at high power for 400 laps. It’s NASCAR and it’s as big as country music and bigger than the NFL. Photographs by Adam Ganderson.
Interview with Justin Bartlett
Adam Ganderson11.22.09
Justin Bartlett draws pictures that are both complicated and primitive at the same time. The imagery is detailed but taps into unsettling, basic primeval fears that are embedded in the human psyche. Which is probably why he’s becoming increasingly in demand for metal related album cover art and merchandise. It’s sort of reminiscent of wandering alone in the woods at night and then through the branches witnessing some ancient unspeakable act that can only be communicated visually. Either that or a twisted horror version of Maurice Sendak. After this interview, I sent him an email asking if Sendak was an influence and his response was: "No, not really, I never owned Where the Wild Things Are, but I was really into this page from Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham." —Adam Ganderson
The Last Warlock: A Brief History of Clark Ashton Smith and The Golden Age of Weird Fiction
Adam Ganderson04.05.09
Clark Ashton Smith, born and lived in Auburn, California, an old mining town founded at the height of the gold rush era. It is known as the "Endurance Capital of the World" and touts itself as a place where old traditions live on, where the good parts of living in a small town endure and time moves just a bit slower. A strange setting for one of the giants of Weird Fiction. Adam Ganderson offers a retrospective look at Clark Ashton Smith—his life in a small town, and his influences on science fiction, fantasy, and popular culture.
Swedish Death Metal by Daniel Ekeroth: a review
Adam Ganderson10.29.08
Fanzine basically took the month off, so we get this review just in time for the remaining days of October – a month of nippy nights that creep up early and announce the Halloween season; behold here Adam Ganderson’s review of Daniel Ekeroth’s Swedish Death Metal. You may have read the Norwegian side of things in Lords of Chaos, or got a taste of other non-Norwegian death metal bands in the excerpt "A Blaze in the North American Sky" from Brandon Stosuy’s forthcoming book that ran recently in The Believer. Here we get the Swedish death metal story, an instant classic, and required reading for music lovers and fanzine fans of varied yet discriminating tastes.
Tom Fischer is Dead (but still giving interviews)
Adam Ganderson04.07.08
Though he may blog now at a site called fischerisdead, Hellhammer founding member Tom (Warrior) Fischer, one of the originators of the black metal sound, is still very alive and talking. Adam Ganderson catches up with Fischer on the cusp of the launch of a book about Fischer’s short lived, legendary band.
