Blake Ryan

Blake Ryan was brought up on a literary diet of Stephen King, John Wyndham, Roald Dahl, and E.C. Horror comics. Sixties and seventies horror and exploitation cinema procured from a local Mom and Pop video store were also an influence. His love of obscure exploitation cinema inspired a website, and then an exploitation film reference guide entitled Trash Cinephile. Pestilence - A Grim Prairie Tale is his first work of fiction. It is an apocalyptic tale of horror set in New Mexico circa 1880. The influences are many; the gritty spaghetti western aesthetic of Leone, the brutal panache of Peckinpah and Fuller, the walking dead lore of George A. Romero, and just a hint of Stephen King's epic novel The Stand. This unusual author continues to burn the midnight oils Herbert West-like in pursuit of giving life to his next literary monster.