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Meet the director of Vampira: The Movie Kevin Sean Michaels and surprise guests at Viva Las Vegas in Las Vegas at the Orleans Hotel and Casino, Thursday, April 21 through Sunday, April 24, 2011. Kevin will be signing every day at the Hollywood Book and Poster booth in the dealers' room. Check the booth for signing times.

The Orleans is located at 4500 West Tropicana Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89103.

Viva Las Vegas is the biggest rockabilly party in the world! It features a car show, burlesque competition, vintage fashion show, and of course music and dancing -- check out the event list to get details on all the fun. Hope to see you there!

Congratulations to the winners of this year's Rondo Awards

Penny Dreadful wins Favorite Horror Host,
Horror Hound Weekend with Vampira Tribute wins Best Convention

The Rondo awards, named after Rondo Hatton, an obscure B-movie villain of the 1940s, celebrate the best in classic horror research, creativity and film preservation. This year's e-mail vote, conducted by the Classic Horror Film Board, a 16-year old online community, drew more than 2,900 votes as fans chose among 30 categories.

As we wrote last month, many of the nominees should be well familiar to fans of Vampira and Vampira: The Movie. We're thrilled that many reappear this month as winners, runners-up or honorable mentions. So read the full press release and check out the category-by-category breakdown of who won on the official Rondo Awards site. Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to everyone who voted!

That's right, horror fans -- once again it's time to vote in the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards. You may recall that in 2008 Vampira: The Movie won the Rondo Award for Best Independent Production. (We'd previously covered the awards ceremony here.)

The Rondos, now in their ninth year, are fandom's only classic horror award, decided by fans, for fans, and dedicated to preserving the undying spirit of monsters past. So please take a look at the ballot, which has all the details, and let the nominees know how much we appreciate their work by voting. The deadline is March 27.

We were delighted to see many familiar names on the ballot list, including:

• The category "Best Independent Film or Documentary" includes The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels, directed by Vampira: The Movie director Kevin Sean Michaels;
• The category "Best Short Film" includes Dreadful Hallowgreen Special, featuring horror hosts Dr. Gangrene, Penny Dreadful (as seen in Vampira: The Movie) and Count Gore DeVol;
• The category "Best Book" includes Forry: The Life of Forrest J Ackerman, by Debbie Painter and House of Ackerman: A Photographic Tour of the Legendary Ackermansion, by Al Astrella and James Greene (Forrest Ackerman also appeared in Vampira: The Movie);
• Also in "Best Book," Ingrid Pitt: Queen of Horror, the Complete Career, by Robert Michael 'Bobb' Cotter (currently working with Kevin Sean Michaels on a full-length film documentary of Ingrid Pitt);
• "Best Magazine of 2010" includes Fangoria, Rue Morgue, Videoscope, Screem, and Scary Monsters, all of which have covered Vampira: The Movie and/or The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels;
• "Best Interview" includes Vampira: In Loving Memory, A Final Interview with Maila Nurmi, interviewed by Michael Monahan and Sandy Clark (excerpts from two-hour conversation in 2004);
• "Best Website" includes Dread Central, which hosted the Vampira: The Movie music video;
• "Best Blog" includes Zombos' Closet, which had reviewed Vampira: The Movie
• "Best Convention" includes so many we've been to, we're not even going to list them. How could one choose a favorite?
• "Best Fan Event" includes the "Tribute to Vampira: World-record gathering of horror hosts descends on Indianapolis to remember the first horror hostess. Sponsored by Horror Hound and Dark Carnival."
• "Favorite Horror Host" -- again, too many great ones to list, but you'll remember Penny Dreadful and Svengoulie from Vampira: The Movie.
• "Best Horror Audio" includes Cult Radio A-Go-Go, which had given Vampira: The Movie a Craggy award for Best Independendent Artist.
• "Best Toy, Model or Collectible" includes Elvira by Amok Time and Zacherley the Cool Ghoul by Executive Replicas (Elvira and Zacherley both appeared in Vampira: The Movie in their life-sized versions).

Whew! And of course you're free to write in your own choices for many categories, including the Monster Kid Hall of Fame. So be sure to review the ballot and vote by March 27!

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