Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Quake and bake
You think trans fat is scary? Get an eyeful of these creepy cookies
You think trans fat is scary? Get an eyeful of these creepy cookies
One is a writer of dark fiction, the other a baker of custom confections.
Unlikely collaborators, perhaps, but James Cheetham and Eric Maciejkow went into business together anyway.
Now, thanks to Cheetham's macabre manipulation and his viral marketing voodoo, Maciejkow's bakery in Headingley is in a state of decay -- along with most of its new clientele.
The Winnipeg natives are the braaaiiins behind a new kind of zombie invasion where the best weapon against a bloodthirsty pack of glassy-eyed, gore-oozing ghouls is a cold glass of milk.
The name of the game is eat AND be eaten, and if you're willing to put your worst face forward, you could be their next cookie monster.
Think Mr. Christie meets Mr. Hyde.
But before you can rise from the dough and become an undead work of edible art, you'll need a makeover -- which is where Cheetham comes in.
Using his newfound talent for decomposition -- and the latest digital technology -- the novelist will turn an ordinary photograph into grist for Maciejkow's grisly, cookie-making mill.
"The first few were terrible; they looked like Smurfs," says Cheetham, 38, of his early attempts to zombify family and friends. "But the interest from people never ceased to amaze me, so I continued on."
Five hundred zombies later, he has the makeovers down to a mad science.
"It has attracted a very strange cult following," Cheetham says. "Young mothers send me photos of their children, and I often get asked if I can do full family portraits -- you know, the ones you get at Sears. On a weekly basis, I get calls and emails from up-and-coming metal bands.
"It has become one of my dirty pleasures."
Writing, however, remains his primary passion.
The only reason he started dabbling in photographic dark arts was to give the customers who'd pre-ordered his zombie-themed novel (set in post-apocalyptic Manitoba) something to tide them over while he worked out issues with his American publisher. To date, Prairie Frost, Vol. 1 in the Seasons of the Brittle Harvest series, remains unpublished.
"I've been so busy with the zombie makeovers, I haven't had time to worry about the book. The irony is killing me," says Cheetham, whose debut novel, the psychological thriller Fade to Pale (Wild Child Publishing), came out in 2007.
So popular are the putrid portraits that he and Winnipeg photographer Doug Ritter are taking their show on the road this fall. Their first stop will be the horror convention Minneapolis Crypticon in early November.
Meanwhile, zombie cookies are selling like hotcakes, with orders rolling in from across North America, says Maciejkow, owner of myphotocookie.com. The company, which bakes everything on site, from scratch, typically caters to corporate clients, VIP parties, sports teams and clients celebrating weddings, birthdays and the like.
"With Halloween, this month half our business will be zombies," Maciejkow says. "But there's such a demand, we think we can do it all year round."
Cheetham did most of the marketing through social networking sites like My Space and Facebook, and on his website (jamescheetham.ca) and blog (www.cheethamzombies.blogspot.com).
His recent Halloween 2009 international zombie cookie model search drew more than 300 contestants from around the world. The four winners (one is a Winnipegger) have been turned into templates for customers who would prefer to sink their teeth into a stranger.
Zombie cookies are available in six-centimetre squares and tombstone shapes and come in original flavour (like an imperial cookie) chocolate, vegan and vegan chocolate. Prices range from $2.25 to $3.40 per cookie.
For more information, go to www.myphotocookie.com.
carolin.vesely@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 24, 2009 F1
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