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Contact: Greg@gregorymank.com
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Thanks for visiting!




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Those of you familiar with the Stephen Sondheim musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, might remember Pseudolus’s line “I should be whipped – gently!” It’s been almost 10 months since I updated my website and for being thus remiss, I admit, “I should be whipped – gently!”

In my defense, I kept thinking about updating the site but putting it off until I could truthfully say that “my third ‘Porter Down Hollywood Mystery’ is done.’” Well, I can now say it! It has not been sent to the publisher, but my primary proofreader/editor (my wife Barbara) is a few pages from the end of my manuscript, and then I will send it to my other, long-suffering and patient Beta readers. Once I have all feedback, I will once again go through the manuscript and – finally – send it to BearManor Media for publication (perhaps for Yuletide giving and getting)!

Now on to my long-delayed updates:


METRO-GOLDWYN-VAMPIRE 
Porter Down Hollywood Mystery #3

In 1934/35, Porter Down is up to his eyeballs in a case he reluctantly accepts on behalf of MGM. Neither he nor the studio brass is happy about this arrangement since his last case for this studio ended with him solving Paul Bern’s death – a death that the studio wanted to remain officially unsolved. Even though the studio was successful in burying the truth of Bern’s death, the fact that Porter is the only 
person, outside of the studio, who knows what really happened, makes him a dangerous man to have on the payroll (for an account of this 1932 case see Platinum Widow: Who Killed Jean Harlow’s Husband? book 2 in my Porter Down Hollywood Mystery series).

However, now there is an apparent vampire killer amok during the filming of the Bela Lugosi/Lionel Barrymore/Elizabeth Allan/Lionel Atwill/
Carroll Borland classic film Vampires of Prague (which 
was renamed Mark of the Vampire prior to theatrical 
release). The body count keeps mounting while events 
in Porter’s past threaten to derail his attempts to track 
down the serial killer (or killers). Is there truly a vampire 
loose in Hollywood, targeting this production, or is 
there another sinister reason for the murders? The 
MGM studio knows that Porter Down is the man to 
save the production and catch the perpetrator(s) so he 
is once again engaged to handle the case.

This novel is targeted for late 2025 publication by BearManor Media.


MONSTER BASH CONVENTION 
COMING UP SOON
Please note that I will only be in attendance on Friday the 20th!

Monster Bash 2025 will be held once again at the Marriott Pittsburgh North, Cranberry Township-Mars, PA June 20 through 22. I will be there ONLY ON FRIDAY JUNE 20 (grandson Mark is getting married on the 21st - how can I possibly miss this landmark?!)

                                       On Friday the 20th at 2 P.M. I will be making a power-                                                  point presentation on Murders in the Rue Morgue. 
                                       If you were at 2024’s “Bash” you hopefully caught the                                                   “tag-team sandwich” presentations of fellow film                                                           historian Frank Dello Stritto and me when we turned                                                     the spotlight on very different aspects of House of                                                       Frankenstein. Frank and I will be using the same                                                         format this year with Murders in the Rue Morgue, with the                                         movie being shown at 3 P.M. following my 2 P.M.                                                         presentation and prior to Frank’s presentation scheduled for                                         4:30 P.M. 

I will be bringing copies of the first two entries in my “Porter Down Hollywood Mystery” series (Frankenstein's Witch: Saint Lizzie Pray for Us and Platinum Widow: Who Killed Jean Harlow’s Husband?), as well as Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration, Of Mice and Men: Mental Enfeeblement, Racism, and Mercy-Killing in 1939 Hollywood, and Angels and Ministers of Grace Defend Us! (the latter of which has an extensive chapter on Murders in the Rue Morgue). I will also have several volumes of the MagicImage Filmbook series published in 1989 through 1995 containing my Production Histories (such films as Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, etc.)

By the way, since I’ll only be there on Friday, if you will not be at the “Bash” on that day - and there is a particular book of mine that you want to purchase for me to inscribe to you personally - please contact me at greg@gregorymank.com and we will try to make arrangements for this to happen.


​ALSO RELEASED IN LATE 2024 and EARLY 2025

In between writing Porter Down out of his latest mess, I had magazine articles published in late 2024 and early 2025: 

There was an article published on Sir Cedric Hardwicke in Films of the Golden Age in its Winter 2024/5 issue #119. I also continue to have articles published in the British magazine The Age of Thrills 1930s/1940s: my piece on 1935’s Mark of the Vampire in its Summer 2024 issue #8, on 1941’s The Wolf Man in its Fall 2024 issue #9, and on 1945’s The Body Snatcher in its Spring 2025 issue #10. 

Warner Bro.’s 1936 film The Walking Dead received new life (pun intended) late in 2024 with the movie’s BluRay release. This BluRay includes the audio commentary which I had recorded for the 2009 DVD. Although my commentary was not new, some of the other extras on the BluRay are, and the BluRay print is outstanding!


NEXT UP

Many projects are percolating to keep me more than busy for the next several years! I had promised myself I would slow down - but ideas keep popping into my head!

Porter Down will be back for a 4th Hollywood Mystery set in 1943, where he divides his expertise between the John Carradine film Hitler’s Madman and the Lon Chaney Jr./Bela Lugosi film Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.

Since I received so much positive feedback from the publication of 2014’s The Very Witching Time of Night and 2022’s Angels and Ministers of Grace Defend Us - each of which included 13 chapters on various horror film history topics - I have decided to publish a 3rd volume with the same format. The working title is O Horror, Horror, Horror! keeping with the Shakespeare-inspired titles of the previous two. I thank everyone at last year’s Monster Bash who gave me ideas for films/other topics to include!

Finally, I am investigating the life of Mark of the Vampire heroine Elizabeth Allan for a biography of this underrated actress (underrated in America, at least). 

As you can tell, I try to keep busy!

Hope you come back here soon!

Greg