When I created my first Tarot deck in 2013, I was working backwards. I had written a novel first (See Them Dance), then illustrated it in the style of a Tarot deck. Some very kind people liked what I did—and in response to that I expanded those illustrations into a full working deck: Mme. Loviise’s Tarot of the Zirkus Mägi. Since then, I’ve created dozens of decks across a wide range of genres, usually building them from the ground up. But in 2025, I found myself working backwards again. Tarot and storytelling are deeply connected. Wanting a change, I began a small project—something that started as a Halloween campaign and quickly grew into something much larger. Not just a single...
I’ve written three full-length books about Tarot, specifically connected to three of my decks. I won’t say that “I’ll never write about Tarot again,” but for the most part I do not feel any pressing urge to “explain” my decks anymore. Many of my decks do not come with little white booklets or printed matter of any kind. In part, this is because Tarot is a specific language, and there are already many, MANY books out there that will advise you on how to interpret that language. For me, Mary Greer’s TAROT FOR YOUR SELF was the one text that I needed the most when I began studying Tarot in earnest. It will give you all the tools you need....
If you’ve been waiting for something truly twisted, beautifully illustrated, and priced like the pulp magazines of old, I have good news: the first two issues of Gruesome Stories are now available. Issue No. 1 has been out for a couple of weeks, priced at just 95¢, and features the unnerving Dr. Hazard tale, Do Not Let the Bedbugs Bite. Fully illustrated, it channels the spirit of those fragile newsstand digests that once promised “Tales of Horror and the Unknown” for pocket change. And now, hot off the (digital) press, Issue No. 2 is ready for you. This one comes in at 49¢—a real throwback price—and contains two short stories along with a text piece that digs deeper into the lurid...
From the shadowed township of Dreary, Maine… At last, the first collectible artifact has is about to cross the veil into the waking world. The Dreary Lenormand — thirty-six cards steeped in omen, mystery, and the terrible history of the Thorns —arrives in early November. Hold it in your hands. Cast it upon your table. Read the fortunes that the townsfolk dare not whisper aloud. And it's not all! Much more is being assembled, bit by bit, in the shadowed underground labs beneath our terrible township -- decks, books, free downloads: the story of Dreary is wide and deep, and it's only just beginning to reach out its withered fingers to grasp your imagination! Step carefully, dear reader… once you enter Dreary,...
Anyone can make a “gothic” deck by sticking a few skulls and bats into the designs. When I made CROOKED WAY GOTHIC TAROT, I didn’t hold back. I made a gothic deck where: Children lovingly feed on lambs Wives steal half their husband’s brain Skulls levitate hearts in ritual flames Ghosts flirt with revenants—and get rejected Family dinners involve drained peasants and crystal goblets of blood And Edgar Allan Poe cuts out his own heart, because of course he does. This isn’t “dark aesthetic.”This is Gothic with teeth. And brains.And hearts.And a Hand of Glory. If you’re just playing at Being Gothic—painting your lips black and calling it a day—this might not be your Cup of Spleen. But if you live Gothically,...
