Dan Jonathan Henk
Dan’s early career included a year and a half stint drawing political cartoons for Madcap Magazine and illustrating underground projects such as Maximum Rock and Roll. In 1997, after struggling through a violent car crash and a knife fight with a crackhead that severed the tendon on his left thumb, he attended art school. Receiving some commercial and local gallery acclaim for his artwork, he moved to New York City in an attempt to kick start an art career. Heavily immersing himself in the local hardcore scene, he produced artwork for the bands Shai Hulud, Indecision, Coalesce, Locked in a Vacancy, Beyond Reason, Zombie Apocalypse , not to mention various local record labels and venues.
In 2000, he started tattooing, initially working on many musician friends. A year later, in September 2001, he was stricken with brain cancer and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Three months after the surgery, he married fellow tattoo artist Monica Castillo.
After a brief trip down south, that included owning a short lived tattoo shop with the infamous Joe Truck , in a venture that ended in disaster, he returned to Manhattan. His work started appearing in both a growing number of tattoo magazines and more fine art influenced outlets such as Aphrodesia, Pint Sized Paintings, and The Tarot Project. Tattoo related books such as No Regrets: The Best, Worst, & Most #$%*ing Ridiculous Tattoos Ever , Tattoo Prodegies 1 , Tattoo Prodegies 2, and Inside the Tattoo Circus: A Journey Through the Modern World of Tattoos also took notice and included features.
Tragedy struck again in 2007, as his wife of 6 years, Monica Henk, was killed in a motorcycle accident by a hit and run driver. Despite extensive coverage in the local media and vigorous campaigns by both the tattoo and motorcycle community, the culprit was never found.
Sick of New York, he moved to Austin, Texas for three years, and started doing a regular comic strip entitled “Rollo & Me” for Tattoo Artist Magazine. Illustrations for Black Static Magazine, and This is Horror followed suit.
His first novel, The Black Seas of Infinity, was published by Anarchy Books in 2011, and he started an illustrated calendar featuring a variety of artists. Deadite Press released the first book with a cover by Dan, a novel entitled “The Sopaths” by Piers Anthony.
A limited edition chapbook “Christmas Is Cancelled” came out courtesy of Splatterpunk in 2013, and in 2014 he started columns for Tattoo Revue and Skin Art magazines that lasted for a 3 year span.
A reissue of his debut novel was released by Permuted Press in April 2015, as well as a collection of his short stories entitled “Down Highways In The Dark…By Demons Driven” in August of the same year.
He continued his work for independent magazines, doing art for Red Door Magazine, The Horror Zine, Litro Magazine, a slew of books by the imprint Out Of Step, and every issue so far of the British horror zine Splatterpunk. The books “Splatterpunks Not Dead“, “Splatterpunk Fighting Back“, “Past Indiscretions-The very best of Splatterpunk Magazine“, Insatiable, Bloodstains, and a joint series by Marc Anthony May entitled “The Red Death” and “The Flood” all featured his work. His third book, “The End of the World” debuted in March of this year, and he’s currently writing short stories, the latest of which, “Watching the World Burn“, and “Fort Bragg” are available on Amazon.
Works
The End of the World
In a not-too-distant future, the US has fallen into near social and economic ruin. As the fringe elements of society and ordinary citizens alike struggle to deal with the terrifying new reality, a maelstrom of governmental deceit and malevolence churns just beneath the surface.Against this chaotic backdrop, strange new beings have risen out of the rubble. A former government worker, who in a fit of obsession and delusion steals and inhabits alien technology during a violent raid… A teenager whose reality contorts, making him privy to the cries of the dead as he stumbles in and out of worlds in a surreal game of musical chairs… Soon things take a dark turn for the newly emerged pariahs.A long-running conspiracy involving a highly proficient military-industrial complex is attempting to resurrect an ancient horror, and the very outsiders laboring to cope with the dangerously altered state of the world might be the only ones who can do anything about it.
Fort Bragg
Watching The World Burn
Down Highways In The Dark...By Demons Driven
Christmass is Cancelled
The Black Seas of Infinity
Press and Media Mentions
- Article on my book The End of the World
- Artist interview in TattMag
- Philly Side Arts Interview
- Paul Semel Interview
- Read Horror Interview
- DL Snell interview by author Wayne Simmons
- Mil Sci-fi Interview
- Author Profile on the site Awesome Gang
- Featured Author on Book Reader Magazine!
- Interview With Author and Illustrator Dan Henk on the youtube blog "Pete's Basement"
- Great interview by the site "This Is Writing"
- Rogue Gallery feature on my latest novel!
- Great feature on Morbidly Beautiful
- Painful Pleasures interviewed me as part of their Artists in Spotlight feature
- This is writing interview about my book The End of the World
- UK based Big Tattoo Planet interview about my career
- Tattmag interview about my career so far
- NF Reads interview about my book The End of the World
- The famous Splatterpunk interviews me about my life and work
- Great interview on the UK site This is Horror
- Red Door Magazine Interview