Horror comes to Gardendale

Published 3:18 pm Wednesday, October 31, 2018

This time of year, ghosts, goblins and other horror scenes lurk around every corner. For Matt Weber, those nightmares stalk every bookshelf in his Gardendale home. He is an author and publisher of horror books through his Pint Bottle Press.

Weber wrote his first novel, a fiction book about small town politics called “The Bull.” But when he started looking at publishing options, he realized the traditional publishing options presented a hard road for a first time author. So he decided to start his own publishing company.

Weber has always loved Halloween and scary movies, tracking his love back to his childhood when his parents refused to let him watch the end of a horror movies because it was too graphic for him.

“That was the impetus for me,” Weber explained. “I wanted to see all the horror movies, because I wasn’t supposed to. I’ve never liked anybody telling me what to do.”

He quickly began collecting horror movie memorabilia, such as movie promo standups and other items that fascinated his young imagination.

Growing up in Mt. Olive and Gardendale, Weber never heard the stories that often float around other areas like the “Jersey Devil” or bigfoot, so many of his stories revolve around those types of legends imagined in areas that are reminiscent of his hometown area.

In addition to full-length horror books, the press also publishes anthologies or groups of short stories by various authors.

Each horror book is sold with a tongue in cheek “barf bag,” to emphasize the fun side of the books.

“If you like scary movies and Halloween and silliness, that’s my kind of thing,” Weber said.

The press publishes Weber’s books and the anthologies, as well as books by noted author Vic Kerry.

In addition to operating the only horror fiction press in the state and one of the few in the country, Weber and his wife have three children, the oldest of which was the inspiration for his children’s book “I want to be a monster when I grow up.”

Also, according to his website, “Weber has served as editor-in-chief of Extreme How-To magazine since 2003 and is author of the non-fiction book, The Quick & Easy Home DIY Manual (Weldon Owen Publishing).”

It has been six years since his first book was published under the Pint Bottle Press label and Weber and his small crew show no signs of slowing down. A new Vic Kerry book was just released and another anthology is in the works.

Books from Pint Bottle Press are available from Amazon or locally at Little Professor and Sanctum Tattoo and Comic. To find the books on Amazon, search by title, author name or Pint Bottle Press.

For more information, visit pintbottlepress.com.