History
The story of Class-B began very simply and without much activity; within the small town of Midland Park, NJ, a group of close friends each sharing a strong common interest in the horror genre and all of its close cousins, whether it came to books or movies or videogames. They were Scott Douglass, Connor Gill, Dylan Gonzalez, Ben Goodheart, Andrew Wyrich, and Alex Zawacki. In an effort to make some kind of formal, organized after-school club, Alex was able to get the school to accept a "Speculative Fiction" book club. The club's supervisor was English teacher Thomas Gaffney.
With the group, the club was a hit. The atmosphere was relaxed and open, constantly keeping an atmosphere of fun fueled by genuine interest in the topic at hand. Quickly, Gaffney was accepted into the group with comfort and ease, a strong friendship developing between him and students, who regarded him as one of them, just older and cooler.
From this club emerged the desire to form some kind of website to gain reccognition and spread the word of horror. The group named the developing fetus of their website Class-B, after the class of students in Koushun Takami's Battle Royale and its film adaptation. And, with funding from a very poorly executed and nearly disasterous bake-sale, Class-B was born for the first time.
The site developed very well, with a good number of updates and reviews being administered. Soon, Class-B was reaching out to authors for interviews and gaining more notoriety. In a move the members were ecstatic about, Bram Stoker award-winning author Brian Keene visited Midland Park High School. Later that year, author Kim Paffenroth also visited. Things were really great.
But at the end of the year, something devastating happened; Gaffney would no longer be working in Midland Park. The group kept the site running over the summer and kept close touch with him, but efforts to restart the club the following school year were in vain; no teachers had the enthusiasm for the material or the friendship they shared with Gaffney. This, coupled with the censorship of the new school administration, led Class-B to cut all relations with the school and operate alone.
And it's still going strong. The gang are still rooting in the grounds of great horror, and Gaffney is right there with them!
Scott Douglass
Position: Head Writer, Designer
Favorite Movies: Alien, John Carpenter's The Thing, Aliens, Videodrome, Jacob's Ladder, Battle Royale, Day of the Dead, Tetsuo: The Iron Man
Favorite Books: The Killing Joke, Saga of the Swamp Thing, Battle Royale, I Am Legend, The Hellbound Heart, The Damnation Game
Biography: Scott is one of Class-B's writers, handling News and Reviews for offerings in all media. He is marked by his cynicism, his bizarre gender issues, and his strong devotion to genre films, especially in the case creature features, body horror, surrealist horror, and zombie films.
Thomas Gaffney
Position:
Favorite Movies:
Favorite Books:
Biography:
Connor Gill
Position: Front page writer
Favorite Movies: Battle Royale, Boondock Saints, Dawn of the Dead (original), Donnie Darko, The Host, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Pan's Labyrinth, Shaun of the Dead, Sin City
Favorite Books: The Rutting Season by Brian Keene, Still Life With Crows by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Lamb by Christopher Moore, The Darkness comic book series
Biography: Connor does front page updates anytime he finds news on horror videogames. That's his only habit; videogames, in addition to sleeping...and lots of music. Maybe too much music. He plays bass (he's not that good) and also works at the local Gamestop.
Dylan Gonzalez
Position: Writer
Favorite Movies: Pulp Fiction, Gojira, Black Hawk Down, Escape From New York, John Carpenter's The Thing, Pink Floyd's The Wall, Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Favorite Books: Dune, Jurassic Park, Into The Wild, Anything by James Rollins, Hellboy, The Punisher
Biography:Laid back and often found eating, Dylan acts as a writer for Class-B. He writes up reviews whenever he feels the need to get off his lazy ass. Dylan has aspirations to become film maker when he grows up and is attempting to watch as many movies as humanly possible (swhich is a tough thing to do mind you).
Ben Goodheart
Position: Coder,Editor
Favorite Movies: Battle Royale, Suicide Club, A Scanner Darkly
Favorite Books: John Dies At The End,Terminal
Biography: Ben is a tired young man who codes Class-B and occasionaly contributes. He enjoys reading and sleeping. He also suffers from acute paranoia. But not really.
Andrew Wyrich
Position: Front Page Writer, Class-B Radio MC
Favorite Movies: Serenity, Children of Men, Requiem For A Dream, Pan's Labyrinth, In The Mouth of Madness, Snakes on a Plane and Battle Royale
Favorite Books: Carrie by Stephen King, Terminal by Brian Keene, Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, The Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger
Biography: Andrew is a main contributor and writer for Class-B who aspires to be a writer and has worked on several small, private projects. Along with Dylan, he works on the Class-B radio.
Alex Zawacki
Position: Site Administrator, Head Writer
Favorite Movies: Ghostbusters, The Boondock Saints, Pan’s Labyrinth, Day of the Dead, Event Horizon
Favorite Books: The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Monster Island by David Wellington, The Rising by Brian Keene, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson
Biography: Alex is a devout reader, and the author of a zombie novel which will never see the light of day. He doesn’t write nearly as often as he should. He is a staunch environmentalist, and he is extremely proud of how far Class B has come.
