Rockin’ the Book World by Robert Burke Warren

June 13, 2019

“What band are you in?” asked the man at the grocery store in Catskill, New York. He was addressing Joe Stefko, whose leonine mane, pegged jeans, and tight black T-shirt personify rock n’ roll.

“I’m not in a band,” Stefko replied. “I’m a book publisher. Really.”

Stefko said folks sometimes don’t believe him, but it’s true. Still, you can’t blame them for asking, as Stefko’s history hangs about him like an aura; before he launched his award-winning one-man publishing imprint, Charnel House, in 1989, he drummed with Meat Loaf and the Turtles. But you won’t find any of that on his company’s website. What you will find are beautiful, provocative, limited edition, signed books by Dean Koontz, Tim Powers, Stephen King (as Richard Bachman), and Harlan Ellison.

How did Stefko’s path twist from sweat-soaked stages to a restored 1790s farmhouse in the Catskill Mountains, where he, his wife, and Charnel House live?

Read the full article @ Fine Books & Collections