Here's the latest issue of Cryptid Culture magazine. My submission for this issue took a slightly different turn. Instead of a factual article, I wrote a short bit of fiction about my paranormal investigator character, James Lee.
I originally created Lee for a series of "found letter" packages- in the vein of the Mysterious Package Company and the RPG De Profundis- which I gave my dad as birthday and Christmas presents. Lee started off as a minor character, just something to flesh out the setting. But I gradually grew more intrigued by him and thought it'd be interesting to see more of his adventures. Lee is mainly a cryptozoologist, but also a ghost-hunter and an overall researcher into the unknown. Because of his many experiences, he is actually very skeptical of the supernatural. He knows that most reports of ghosts, aliens, mysterious animals and other things are usually either misidentifications of natural phenomena or outright hoaxes. I drew inspiration for Lee from a variety of sources, including real-life cryptozoologists like Bernard Heuvelmans and Linda Godfrey and fictional investigators like the Ghostbusters, Thomas Karnacki, and even Hellboy.
In this issue's story "Blockhead", Lee comes into contact with an unusual cryptid from Connecticut folklore and discovers it's strange connection to the Mothman and other bizarre otherworldly flying creatures.
I'm currently working on another James Lee adventure featuring the Mongolian Death Worm which should appear in the next issue
The cover of this issue features a painting done by artist Gail Potocki of Pango, a creature from an upcoming practical effects sci-fi movie called Aurora about, as the Kickstarter pages says: "Nazis vs cowboys and a cryptid in the Wild West".
In addition to my story, this issue also features articles about the Tata Duende of Belize, a "making-of" on the indie cryptid horror film "Sightings" (not to be confused with the 1990s TV show), the Pascagoula aliens and more.
You can get a copy of Cryptid Culture here.
