About The Creators

Contributing writer Kevin Brown has had Fiction, Non-fiction, and Poetry published in over 100 Literary Journals, Magazines, Anthologies, and Best Of… Anthologies, as well as having multiple stories turned into Audio Performance Productions.  His two collections of short fiction, Ink On Wood and Death Roll, were published in the Fall of 2010 by Virgogray Press and Lame Goat Press, respectively.  He has won numerous writing contests and competitions, such as the Midnight Sun Fiction Competition, the Touchstone Fiction Contest, and the Baucom-Fulkerson Memorial Award.  He is also the recipient of several fellowships, including the Walton Fellowship for Fiction, the Lily Peter Fellowship for Fiction, and the Arkansas Arts Council Individual Artist Award.  He was nominated twice for the Best American Short Stories, a Journey Award, and three Pushcart Prizes--the most prestigious prize given for short fiction.  He co-wrote the screenplay Living Dark: The Story of Ted the Caver, that was made into a film in 2006, and worked with Linda Bloodworth (creator of Designing Women) on a television pilot, which he helped pitch to FOX, HBO, ABC, NBC, and CBS.  He recently completed a short novel, Invisible Bodies, and a new collection of short fiction entitled, Pulling Wisdom From My Teeth.

Artist/Writer/Creator Sean Fitzgibbon has exhibited work along the east coast and throughout the Midwest.  His work has been displayed in galleries and universities such as the Ellis-Nicholson Gallery in Charleston, South Carolina, The University of Arkansas Anne Kittrell Gallery, Fine Art Center Gallery, and Mullins Library, NWA Community College Shewmaker Center, Collumbia College in Columbia, MO, The ACO Smith-Kelly Gallery among others.  Upcoming exhibits include solo exhibitions at the Pittsburg State University Gallery, Jasper Community Art Center in Jasper IN, Old Firehouse Art Center in Longmont, CO.  


Recent graphic novels he's illustrated include Small Wonders, a comic series with a diverse cast of characters and subtle multicultural themes. http://smallwonderscomics.com/ and DomestiCATed: Paths Once Crossed.    DomestiCATed is made up of three dark short stories that follow a black cat as it ventures into the nefarious underbelly of human existence.  http://pathsoncecrossed.blogspot.com/.  Fitzgibbon has illustrated journals, books, magazines, and newspapers.  His recently did work for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.    

ON THE AIR WITH RICHARD S DRAKE: Crescent: The Baker Years

Communing With The Dead

Most of my time lately has been spent working on commission projects and research for this documentary graphic novel.  Working on historical projects involves a process that is much like communing with the dead.  It seems that I've spent more time in the last few years with people that are no longer living than with those that are.  When my head isn't buried in my sketchbook, it's buried in old newspaper obituaries, articles, criminal records, microfiche, and cemeteries locating graves of people that are found in this particular book.  

Convention Scene

Be sure to join us for the River City Comic Expo November 5, 2011.  I'll be discussing my up and coming documentary graphic novel as well as signing copies of my book DomestiCATed: Paths Once Crossed.  The Expo will be at 1111 West Maryland Ave. Sherwood, AR (near Little Rock).   For more info please visit the Convention Scene at http://www.conventionscene.com/tag/sean-fitzgibbon/.   

The Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow

Recently I was awarded a residency at The Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, AR to conduct further research for my documentary graphic novel currently in development. This was a fantastic opportunity to conduct interviews and compile more research. Thanks to Mary Jo Rose and all the Dairy Hollow staff, Carol Cooper, Lynn Jacobs, Keith Scales, Rebecca J. Becker, June Westphal, John Cross, the Eureka Springs History Museum staff, Crescent Hotel staff, Eureka Springs Public Library, and everyone in Eureka that has contributed information for this project.

"The Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow is a unique residency program for writers, artists, composers, architects, and chefs in the historic arts village of Eureka Springs, AR."

http://www.writerscolony.org/

Research for Upcoming Graphic Novel

This upcoming documentary graphic novel entitled What Follows is True: Crescent - The Baker Years chronicles the years from 1937 to 1940 of the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, AR. A man, Norman Baker, claiming to have the cure to cancer converted the hotel into a cancer clinic.

What took place during these years is unbelievable.

I've been researching this book for the last five years. My wife and I recently traveled to Baker's hometown of Muscatine, IA, to conduct more research. I've conducted interviews with local historians and librarians and scoured numerous special collections and databases. The information found has shed light on this highly controversial figure and taken this true story to dark places I never even anticipated.

These images are of drawings and page layouts for this book as well as research conducted at the Musser Library and Muscatine Arts Center in Muscatine, IA. I've conducted an exhaustive amount of research and we'd like to thanks to Sheila Chaudoin, Fred Kopp, Virginia Cooper and all the fine folks at the Musser Library, the Muscatine Art Center, and Greenwood Cemetery for their help

Crescent: The Baker Years (In Production)

Much of my time lately has been spent on the production of this documentary graphic novel. I thought I'd take the next few weeks to explain a bit of the process that has gone into this project. I first became interested in this story a while back while staying at the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, AR after going on an evening ghost tour. Among the stories of hauntings were accounts of ghostly nurses pushing patients in wheelchairs through the halls late at night. My first thought was why would many of the alleged ghosts be of medical staff and patients wandering a hotel's hallways?  My question was quickly answered when the tour guide began telling the story of Norman Baker, a fraudulent "doctor" who turned the hotel into a cancer clinic in the late 1930's. I found the story to be too unbelievable to be true. Skeptical, I ventured to the local library the next morning and learned that Baker and the cancer hospital were accurate points in Eureka's history. However, I was surprised to find that there were not any definitive books documenting these years of the Crescent's sorted history.

I decided to take on the project, and after exhausting the library of its resources, I began visiting the town's historical museum. I made copy after copy of old photos, microfiche, books, newspapers, magazines, letters, and any other related documents I could get my hands on. I scoured historical databases and interviewed people both face to face and by phone that have ties to the hotel and even Norman Baker himself. I spent much time at the hotel, doing sketches, shooting pictures and interviewing employees. I've recently been awarded a residency at Dairy Hollow Writers' Colony to conduct research and work on this project for and extended time in Eureka Springs. I'll explain more about the process from research to final work in upcoming posts.