Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Kroll.
Hi Robert, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve loved storytelling since I was a kid. I liked hearing and telling stories around campfires, whether it was at Boy Scout camp or the French and Indian or Revolutionary War reenactments with my family. There’s always the staple campfire stories and jokes to tell, but I grew over time to create my own tales. Though I liked my English classes in high school, I was more intent on doing something with electronics as my career. That faded away by the time I graduated high school. But I quickly grew to love my English classes in college. I became enamored of the research and writing process. I found I had equal enjoyment of writing research papers and fiction. I eventually became Editor-in-Chief of the college newspaper before transferring elsewhere to finish my degree. I became an English teacher within a month of getting my Master’s degree. I still teach to this day, but I’ve had to take a few steps back for my health.
My research and fiction writing are often rooted in the same things. I love old pulp fiction, films, and comics. That lead to me working on my book Orson Welles’ Commercial Break for 12 years. I have contributed to YEET Presents, an anthology comic based in Michigan that has allowed good amateur writers to mix it up with comic book veterans. I have also written many articles about pulp figures like The Spider and, my favorite, The Shadow. All of this has lead me to my next book, which will be about George Trendle.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been smooth by any means. Having my Welles book held up for six months by a publisher took a toll after a while. I couldn’t shop it around elsewhere and there was seemingly no progress on what was happening with it. That it was turned down after six months certainly hurt, but I was able to forge ahead quickly. I gained approval from BearManor Media within days of pitching the book to them and they’ve been nothing but the best collaborators since then.
But I’ve also had a lot of tragedy that has put a dead stop to things at times. I was diagnosed with cancer back in 2020, with surgery in 2021. That took some time to heal from and I still feel the effects to this day. The following year, 2022, was worse, as I lost both my sister and my dad in a six month span. I didn’t really feel much desire to do anything at that point. But eventually I found my way back to writing. It helped me keep my mind off of negative thoughts while also giving me something constructive to do.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Back in June my book Orson Welles’ Commercial Break was released. It started back in 2014 with notes I was prepping for Indiana University’s centennial celebration/symposium about Orson Welles and ended in June 2026 when the book was finally published. I am most proud of this work because there isn’t another Welles book out there like it. Nobody else has covered his television or radio advertising to any degree or depth. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that think we don’t need to cover that, but it is an aspect of his life that is too overlooked. There are still many people alive who worked with Orson Welles and have never been interviewed about this nor had their stories told. These people aren’t exactly young, either. So if they died, then their stories would die with them. I couldn’t let that happen. So I believe my book is a responsibility to those people whose stories would otherwise have remain untold.
I have also been able to indulge in writing for comic books and pulp fiction scholarship. Comic book writing is the hardest type of writing I know of other than print journalism. It is a skill I’m still trying to learn but I’ve become much better at it. One of my stories caught the attention of Dave Sim of Cerebus fame, but that praise also goes most to the artist Ken Bastard. But I still take some pride that Dave Sim is at least indirectly familiar with me.
I’m also happy that I’ve carved out a little niche for scholarship about the pulp character The Shadow. I’ve written a few articles for The Shadowed Circle now, with one about to be published and another in the works. My father was a big fan of The Shadow, so I consider this an ongoing tribute to him.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Be relentless, whether it is writing or getting something of mine out there. I’ll only stop when there’s no other options. I believe enough in my work that I can fight for it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertkrollwrites/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertkrollwrites
