21 Facts About Preston Fassel

Preston Fassel was born on September 11,1985 and is an American author, journalist, film critic, and producer primarily known for his work in the horror, science fiction, and crime genres.

Preston Fassel's work has appeared in Fangoria, Rue Morgue, Screem magazine, Dread Central, The Daily Grindhouse, and Cinedump.

Preston Fassel is the author of Remembering Vanessa, the first biography of actress Vanessa Howard, published in the Spring 2014 issue of Screem.

Preston Fassel was raised with both Catholic and Jewish religious and cultural traditions; his mother's family came from a line of Poles and ethnic Jews.

Preston Fassel's 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.

When he was seventeen, Preston Fassel dropped out of high school and obtained his GED after budget cuts resulted in the elimination of most of his school's elective courses.

Preston Fassel 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.

Preston Fassel late transferred to Sam Houston State University, from which he graduated in 2011 with a degree in psychology.

Preston Fassel further credited his mother's purchasing him a copy of Stephen King's The Shining with inspiring him to become a horror writer, and Bill Landis and Michelle Clifford's Sleazoid Express with interesting him in 42nd street culture.

Preston Fassel initially began writing for an optometric trade publication while working as an optician, receiving a job offer after writing a letter to the editor.

Preston Fassel later transitioned into writing for Rue Morgue after pitching a story to their editor-in-chief at a horror convention, beginning by writing reviews and later transitioning into writing feature stories.

Concurrently to his time with Rue Morgue, Preston Fassel contributed to the pop culture websites Cinedump.

Preston Fassel 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.

Preston Fassel initially sold the book to an independent press called Fear Front based out of Georgia, shortly before the company went out of business.

Around the time of the book's publication, Preston Fassel worked as an extra on the set of Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich, where he met producer Dallas Sonnier, who expressed interest in acquiring the film rights; Preston Fassel later convinced Sonnier to purchase the republication rights as well.

Preston Fassel additionally asked for a job with Sonnier's production company, Cinestate, as part of the deal, unaware that Sonnier had recently purchased Fangoria magazine; Sonnier subsequently hired Preston Fassel to work for the publication.

Preston Fassel joined the staff as a writer in 2017; from 2018 until the magazine's 2020 sale, he wrote a column called Corrupt Signals, focusing on obscure and foreign horror cinema.

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

In 2021 Preston 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 includes a history of the magazine.

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 Preston Fassel co-wrote with director Jonathan Brownlee.

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