HER MAJESTY’S BULLDOG BRIGADE
The Eyes of Mara
Novel complete · Self-publishing soon
The old gods don’t die. They only wait to be reborn.
Explore the Brigade ↓JOSEPH P. CALABRESE · TWO COMPLETED NOVELS
Two finished novels.
Two very different journeys.
One story’s twenty-year journey runs from screenplay to comic book to novel. The other draws on a lifetime of research into the author’s family history in wartime Italy.
HISTORICAL FICTION
The Distance Between Words
Novel complete · Seeking a publisher
A story of family, separation, and the words that survive war.
Explore the Distance novels ↓01 / About the author
Joseph P.
Calabrese
Novelist, screenwriter, graphic novelist, and independent filmmaker.
JPC.
Joseph’s path to storytelling has crossed technology, marketing, education, design, and film.
Education across disciplines
Joseph holds a certification in computer operations and programming, an associate degree in communication from BCCC focused on film and graphic design, and a BA in English and literature from Rutgers University, with a minor in urban education.
A varied working life
Joseph worked in banking and shipping as a computer operator and programmer, then in New York City as a marketing manager and instructor in graphics, web design, and video editing. He began making short horror films with friends in the 1980s, co-wrote the 1992 horror film Winterbeast, and worked in Boston film and commercial production during the 1990s. These experiences now inform his screenplays, graphic novels, and novels. He lives in Montclair, NJ, with his wife and family.
After more than fifteen years away from storytelling, Joseph returned—to the Brigade first, and then to his parents’ story. The books on this page are what he returned with.
SCREENPLAYS & CREATIVE HISTORYFrom the first draft
to new worlds.JOSEPH P. CALABRESE
to new worlds.JOSEPH P. CALABRESE
02 / Screenplays & creative history
A life writing for the screen.
Throughout the early 2000s, Joseph worked as an agent-represented freelance screenwriter, balancing his own original scripts with commissioned assignments. In 2004, he also taught screenwriting workshops in the New York City area.
His own screenplays
Joseph wrote original “spec” screenplays—scripts developed independently—and entered competitions while pursuing options for his work. Several feature scripts were optioned, including work from a portfolio spanning Second Coming, The Eyes of Mara, and World Wide Webster.
His competition recognition includes:
- Second Coming: Third place, 2003 Slamdance Slam-Fi competition, followed by an invitation to speak on festival panels in Park City, Utah.
- The Eyes of Mara: First place, Script Community Awards.
- The Eyes of Mara: Finalist, 2004 Script Pipeline competition.
- The Eyes of Mara: Semifinalist, 2004 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards.
- The Eyes of Mara: Second Rounder, 2004 Austin Film Festival—top 10% of more than 4,000 entries.
- Additional recognition in multiple competitions.
Development and rewrites
Alongside his own work, Joseph worked with producers and fellow screenwriters to develop their projects through story analysis, development, as well as several commissioned rewrites and adaptations from other forms. He also moderated the AbsoluteWrite screenwriters’ forum for several years, staying active in the writing community while continuing to develop his own scripts.
03 / Her Majesty’s Bulldog Brigade
Adventure has a new
old-fashioned spirit.
old-fashioned spirit.
Born on the screenplay page, brought to life in comics, and imagined anew as a planned trilogy of novels.
Graphic novel
Her Majesty’s Bulldog Brigade
Volume 1: The Eyes of Mara
More than two decades ago, The Eyes of Mara began as a screenplay. The story continued as the three-issue graphic novel Her Majesty’s Bulldog Brigade, first published by Chimaera Comics in 2008. After a long pause in writing, Joseph returned to the Brigade in prose; the planned trilogy carries the story from its screenplay beginnings through comics and into novels.
Written by Joseph Calabrese, with artwork and lettering by Harsho Mohan Chattoraj and colors by Brendan Keough, the graphic novel introduced the Brigade in illustrated form.
Inside the graphic novel
The opening pages
Follow Jonathan from his arrival in Bombay through his first meeting with Paddy and their entry into the bazaar.
GUD Magazine Issue 5 · Winter 2009
Magazine spinoff
Gunga Din
A short Bulldog Brigade comic by Joseph Calabrese and Harsho Mohan Chattoraj, visualizing Kipling’s poem, published in Greatest Uncommon Denominator (GUD), Issue 5, Winter 2009.
Visit the GUD story page ↗Purchase GUD Issue 5 ↗The Brigade returns
They’re Back!
After the graphic novel, the Brigade’s journey continues in a planned trilogy of novels.
BOOK ONE / INDIA
The Eyes of Mara
The old gods don’t die. They only wait to be reborn.
Coming soon
The Eyes of the Obeah
BOOK TWO / THE CARIBBEAN
The Eyes of the Obeah
Some islands only look empty.
Planned · release date to be announced
The Eyes of the Lost Pharaoh Queen
BOOK THREE / EGYPT
The Eyes of the Lost Pharaoh Queen
Erased is not the same as gone.
Planned · release date to be announced
Concept covers only · artwork may change.
04 / The Distance novels
Family history, carried across distance.
Stories rooted in family history
A first-generation American born to Italian parents, Joseph grew up with Italian as his first language and spent childhood summers in Orsogna, the town in Abruzzo where his family’s story began. Those ties to Italy and his parents’ wartime experiences inspired The Distance Between Words and its in-progress companion novel, The Distance Between Us.
Concept cover only · artwork may change
Completed · Seeking a publisher
The Distance Between Words
Inspired by his parents’ lives: an Italian naval radiotelegraphist spends five years as a prisoner of war in Kenya, while a young woman survives the upheaval of wartime Italy. Letters, both censored and unsent, carry what distance cannot erase.
Visit the book’s website ↗Concept cover only · artwork may change
The Distance Between Us
Companion novel · In the works
The Distance Between Us
Return to Orsogna, where the lives of a local Italian family and a Jewish family from Vienna intersect. As the war closes in, ordinary acts of friendship become choices with extraordinary consequences.
A companion story of refuge, belonging, and the people who refuse to look away.
History behind the story.
For more information on The Distance Between Words, its history, and its journey to print, visit the book’s website.
Visit The Distance Between Words website ↗Beyond the page
Rock concert photography.
A different kind of storytelling, through the energy and fleeting moments of live music.
Concert photo · click to download the portfolio PDFBeyond the page / Rock concert photography
Joseph also photographs live music, capturing the atmosphere and fleeting moments of a performance.
Visit Calabrese Photography ↗Download the portfolio (PDF) ↗
Get in touch
Let’s keep in contact.
Ask Joseph a question or request an email when The Eyes of Mara or The Distance Between Words is released.