Barry Reese

For the American rapper, see Cassidy (rapper).

File:Rook volume one cover.jpg

Cover to The Rook: Volume One

Barry Reese (born November 11, 1972) is a librarian and American writer. He is best known for his work on The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe for Marvel Comics, D6 Space: Fires of Amatsumara Worldbook for West End Games and the Rook Universe series of novels. He is married to artist Cari Reese and together they have one son, Julian Reese.

Reese was born in Milledgeville, Georgia.

Career

In 2003 Reese began work for Marvel Comics on volume five of their Marvel Encyclopedia series. Reese was responsible for handling the Blade and Ghost Rider (comics) sections of the book. Following this, Reese worked on both the ongoing The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe series and on D6 Space: Fires of Amatsumara Worldbook for West End Games. Amongst the issues of the Handbook that Reese worked on were Marvel Legacy: 1960s, Marvel Legacy: 1970s, Spider-Man 2006, Teams 2006, A-Z volumes 1-7 and Horror 2006. Reese also contributed to the New Avengers: Most Wanted and Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone books.

Reese then contributed to USER'S Most Wanted, a villains supplement for the Godsend Agenda game belonging to Khepera Publishing. USER'S Most Wanted was published in May 2007.

Reese's first novel Conquerors of Shadow: The Adventures of Eobard Grace was published in 2005, featuring a setting and character inspired by the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. This work was followed by Lucifer's Cage and a sequel entitled Kingdom of Blood. These last two novels feature the adventures of a 1930s era masked vigilante dubbed the Rook and were inspired by the pulp magazine heroes of the past. There are elements that relate back to the Conquerors of Shadow novel, forming a shared universe. Covers for the Eobard Grace book as well as Lucifer's Cage and Kingdom of Blood were by artist Cari Reese.

A collection of Rook stories was released in early 2008, reprinting the two previous Rook novels with three new short stories: "The Gasping Death," "The Black Mass," and "Abominations." This collection was published by Wild Cat Books under the title The Rook Volume One. Both Lucifer's Cage and Kingdom of Blood went out of print in late 2008 to avoid confusion in the marketplace.

A second collection entitled The Rook Volume Two was released in October 2008, with cover art by Frank Brunner. The stories contained in volume two are "Kazlov's Fire," "Blitzkrieg," "Bloodwerks," "The Gorgon Conspiracy," "The Shambling Ones," and "Origins."

A standalone e-book novella entitled "The Bleeding Hells" was released in February 2008, pairing the Rook with public domain pulp characters Doctor Satan, Ascott Keane and the Black Bat. "The Bleeding Hells" was reprinted in The Rook Volume Three, released in January 2009. Volume three featured cover and interior artwork by comics artist Anthony Castrillo. Wild Cat Books published volume four in September 2009, featuring cover artwork by Norm Breyfogle. The fifth volume was released in October 2010. In 2011, it was announced that The Rook series was moving to a new publisher and Pro Se Productions released the sixth volume in the series in June.

Reese has also written stories for several anthologies published by Wild Cat Books. Two stories featuring a character named Grimarr were published in Tales of the Norse Gods and a story starring the public domain hero the Black Terror saw print in Legends of the Golden Age. As part of Wild Cat's new line of digest-sized pulp adventures, Reese's Guan-Yin and the Horrors of Skull Island novella, a supernatural pirate story, was published in February 2009. June 2009 saw the release of Savage Tales of Ki-Gor, Lord of the Jungle, another in Wild Cat Books' line of Pulse Pounders, featuring two of Reese's stories -- "The Ivory Goddess" and "The Devil's Domain."

In January 2010, Wild Cat Books released Rabbit Heart, a slasher horror novel with pulp underpinnings. This was the first work in Reese's career to be labeled "For Mature Readers." Rabbit Heart is set entirely in Reese's hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia. In March 2010, Reese's short story, "Sins of the Past," was published in the anthology How the West Was Weird from Pulpwork Press and in November 2010, a short story entitled "The Sacred and the Profane" was published in the anthology Mystery Men (and Women) Volume One from Airship 27.

The Damned Thing (no relation to the Ambrose Bierce story) was published in January 2011 and features a search for a cursed object in 1939 Atlanta.

At the 2011 Pulp Ark Awards, designated as recognizing excellence in pulp publishing, Reese was nominated for Best Book (Rabbit Heart), Best Author, Best Short Story ("The Girl With the Phantom Eyes," the first Lazarus Gray story) and Best Pulp Revival (Ascott Keane in Rabbit Heart.) On March 1, 2011 it was announced that Reese had been voted Best Author.

In September 2011, Reese was included in The Green Hornet Casefiles and The Avenger: Justice Inc. Files books published by Moonstone. The first volume in his Lazarus Gray series was also released by Pro Se Productions.

Bibliography

The Rook series

• The Rook: Volume One (2008)
• The Rook: Volume Two (2008)
• The Rook: Volume Three (2009)
• The Rook: Volume Four (2009)
• The Rook: Volume Five (2010)
• The Rook: Volume Six (2011)

The Lazarus Gray series

• The Adventures of Lazarus Gray (2011)
• The Adventures of Lazarus Gray, Volume 2: Die Glocke (2012)
• The Adventures of Lazarus Gray, Volume 3: Eidolon (2013)
• The Adventures of Lazarus Gray Volume 4: Satan's Circus (2014)
• The Adventures of Lazarus Gray: The Omnibus Edition (2014)

Miscellaneous fiction

• The Conquerors of Shadow (2005)
• Legends of the Golden Age (2008)
• Tales of the Norse Gods (2009)
• Guan-Yin and the Horrors of Skull Island (2009)
• Savage Tales of Ki-Gor, Lord of the Jungle (2009)
• 818 (2009) - Reprints Guan-Yin and the Horrors of Skull Island as part of a larger anthology
• Rabbit Heart (2010)
• How the West Was Weird (2010)
• Mystery Men (And Women) Volume One (2010)
• The Damned Thing (2011)
• How the West Was Weird II (2011)
• The Green Hornet Casefiles (2011)
• The Avenger: Justice Inc. Files (2011)
• Rabbit Heart Pro Se Press Re-release (2013)
• The Damned Thing Pro Se Press Re-release (2014)

Marvel Comics work

• Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 5: The Marvel Knights (2004)
• Marvel Knights 2005 (2005)
• Spider-Man 2005 (2005)
• Ultimate Marvel Universe Fantastic Four and Spider-Man 2005 (2005)
• Horror 2005 (2005)
• Teams 2005 (2005)
• Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone (2005)
• New Avengers: Most Wanted (2005)
• All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (2006) - issues 1-7
• Marvel Legacy: The 1960s (2006)
• Marvel Legacy: The 1970s (2006)
• Marvel Legacy: The 1980s (2006)
• Marvel Monsters Hardcover (2006) - reprints the work from Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulyssess Bloodstone
• Ghost Rider: Finale (2007) - reprints the Dan Ketch entry from Marvel Knights 2006
• Marvel Legacy: The 1960s-1990s Handbook (2007) - reprints the individual 1960s, 1970s and 1980s volumes in a trade paperback format
• All-New Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe A To Z (2008) - reprints the individual entries from the various Official Handbook oneshots and A-Z series

Roleplaying game work

• D6 Space: The Fires of Amatsumara (2006)
• Godsend Agenda: USER's Most Wanted (2007)

Miscellaneous nonfiction

• History of the Baldwin County Public Library (2008)

External links

• Barry Reese official web site