Preston Fassel

Preston Fassel (born September 11, 1985) is an American author, journalist, film critic, and producer primarily known for his work in the horror, science fiction, and crime genres. His work has appeared in Fangoria, Rue Morgue, Screem magazine, Dread Central, The Daily Grindhouse, and Cinedump.com. He is the author of Remembering Vanessa, the first biography of actress Vanessa Howard, published in the Spring 2014 issue of Screem. From 2017 to 2020, he was a staff writer for Fangoria; in 2018, the magazine published his debut novel, Our Lady of the Inferno, as the first entry in their "FANGORIA Presents" imprint. The book received an overwhelmingly positive critical response, and was named one of the ten best horror books of 2018 by Bloody Disgusting. Since the book's publication he has been described as a cult author.

Early life

Fassel was born in Houston, Texas, but spent his childhood between St. Louis, Missouri and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. His father worked for the phone company, and he grew up around telecommunications equipment, later comparing part of his childhood experience to the aesthetics of Videodrome. He attended community college at Lone Star College in Conroe, Texas, where he began writing short stories set in 1970s Times Square that were published in the campus's literary journal. He late transferred to Sam Houston State University, from which he graduated in 2011 with a degree in psychology.

Fassel spent his teenage years renting horror and exploitation films from local video rental stores in Oklahoma, initially out of a desire to desensitize himself to disturbing imagery and as an act of defiance against what he perceived of as the oppressively conservative culture of rural Oklahoma; he would later credit his love of horror cinema as contributing to his desire to become a horror writer. and Bill Landis and Michelle Clifford's Sleazoid Express with interesting him in 42nd street culture. Concurrently to his time with Rue Morgue, Fassel also contributed to the pop culture websites Cinedump.com and HeardTell.com, being nominated for a further two Rondo awards for an interview with Kelli Maroney and in the best category article, respectively. He spent 2013 researching the life of actress Vanessa Howard, culminating in the first published biography of her, "Remembering Vanessa," printed in the Spring 2014 issue of Screem magazine.

Beginning in 2007, Fassel began working on a book he would later call "the theater story" that acted as an expansion of the short stories he had written in college; he worked on it for a period of about six years before shelving the project because "it was really terrible" and, despite being 250,000 words, "nothing had happened in it yet." He would later recycle ideas from "the theater story" into his debut novel, Our Lady of the Inferno.

Fangoria republished Our Lady of the Inferno in September 2018 to generally positive reviews. It was named one of Bloody Disgusting's ten best horror books of 2018, and won gold in the horror category at the 2019 Independent Publisher Book Awards

In 2018, it was announced that a film adaptation of the book was in development at Fangoria, with Fassel collaborating on the screenplay and serving as an executive producer alongside Sonnier and Phil Nobile Jr.

In 2019, it was announced that Fangoria would publish Fassel's second novel, Beasts of 42nd Street, in 2020. In 2020, he served as the editor for Mick Garris' debut anthology, These Evil Things We Do. Following the 2020 sale of Fangoria to Tara Ansley and Abhi Goel, Fassel said that the publishing rights to Beasts had reverted to him, and that the option on the film rights to Our Lady of the Inferno would expire in 2022. In 2021, he published his first novella, a science fiction horror-comedy, The Despicable Fantasies of Quentin Sergenov, with 35% of proceeds going to The Trevor Project.

In 2021 Fassel published his first nonfiction work, Landis: The Story of a Real Man on 42nd Street, the first ever biography of Sleazoid Express founder Bill Landis, which also includes a history of the magazine. It was later adapted into an audiodrama starring Kelli Maroney, produced by Fassel and Mark Alan Miller.

In 2022, pre-production began on the feature film The Eyes of Jefferson, a fictionalized retelling of the life of Dallas serial killer Charles Albright, which Fassel co-wrote with director Jonathan Brownlee.

In 2023, Beasts of 42nd Street was released through Cemetery Dance Publications. The book received mostly positive reviews and received an honorable mention at the 2024 Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards.

From 2024-2025, Fassel was a staff writer for Hammer's Law, a webseries created and hosted by Darryl Isaacs. Fassel wrote eight episodes of the series.

Fassel co-wrote the script for the 2026 thriller Marrow with director Mitch McLeod and star Jessica Dawn Willis, based on a story by McLeod. Inspired by a stalking incident from McLeod's own life, Fassel incorporated many autobiographical elements into the screenplay. Starring Michael Ironside and Danielle Harris, the film premiered to generally positive reviews at the USA Film Festival.

In 2026, it was announced that a script by Fassel, Bridgette Wrona and the Whisper Creek Murders, based on a concept by Cameron Hazelwood, had been adapted into a film by Mary Beth McAndrews and starring Kelli Maroney. Fassel revealed to Daily Dead that he had written the role, described as "[the] resident Blanche DuBois, a resale shop proprietress with a shadowy connection to the town’s past," especially for Maroney.

Personal life

Fassel is Jewish, and has said his cultural heritage has had a "tremendous impact" on him.

Awards and nominations