T. Fox Dunham resides outside of Philadelphia PA—author and historian. He’s published in nearly 200 international journals and anthologies. His first novel, The Street Martyr was published by Gutter Books and is being made into a feature film by Throughline Films. He’s a cancer survivor. His friends call him 'Fox', being his totem animal, and his motto is: "Wrecking civilization one story at a time."


When did you know you wanted to become a writer?

FOX: I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. As a boy, I wrote simple stories and made my own books with construction paper covers, drawing my own basic illustrations. I kept writing, using my dad’s computer, having the luxury of a word processor. It was more than an art. It was my function.

How did you pick the genre/setting/era you (usually) write in?

FOX: Success. I cast a wide net, writing in all genres, but I focused my energy on the genres where I sold the most stories: horror and crime. I am a member of the HWA now and I continue to receive the most solicitations in both markets.

How did you come up with the idea for your story in History and Horror, Oh My?

FOX: I love combining my addiction to history with my fiction, and I wanted to write a story set in World War II. I also wanted to do a new take on a zombie story. The rest kind of happened on its own. I created a conflict, a desperate man, and the rest wrote itself

Did you encounter any obstacles in researching the setting?

FOX: It’s always a battle to write historic fiction, to bring a dead time back to life. History books give us the major details, the dates and places, but the little things are never mentioned: what a voice sounded like or the smell of a uniform. Fortunately, I’ve had a decade to create an erudition for the setting, so I had many of the details I needed.

Do you have a favorite historical period you enjoy reading or writing about?
 
FOX: Again, I write often about World War II or generally the 20th century. I love modern history and often focus my work there.

Who is your favorite author, and what really strikes you about their work?

FOX: I can’t just pick one. You’re killing me here. I love the literary authors of the last century: J.D. Salinger, Hemingway, Truman Capote. Their passion compels me. Literary really is the hardest genre to write in since you don’t have all the material of space ships or vampires. You have to write purely about the human condition, emotion, and these authors explore it.

What are you working on now?

FOX: I am finishing my book about Andy Kaufman, Destroying the Tangible Illusion or Reality or Searching for Andy Kaufman for Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing. It’s a novel about the lost son of Andy Kaufman who is dying of cancer and goes on a search for his father. It is about my own battle with cancer and how reality becomes an illusion as you are dying. I am also finishing up a number of short stories and doing a horror novella about time. In addition to all this, I am working with the producers at Throughline Films and the scriptwriter for the adaptation of my crime noir novel, The Street Martyr, which will start filming as a major motion picture in 2015.

Okay, so you're an author. What do you enjoy reading?

FOX: Lately, it’s been Doctor Who novels and Stargate Atlantis, but that’s because I need a break. I love history books and good modern literary novels. I love finding new authors, and I’m always on the search. Reading has become relaxation for me.

My novella, Doctor Kevorkian Goes to Heaven, was recently released from PMMP. It’s a mixture of Twain, Vonnegut and Fox, a story of why we need to have death as a species to grow. It’s also my own story of my battle with cancer.

Want to learn more about T. Fox Dunham?

Visit his website at www.tfoxdunham.com and his blog at 
http://tfoxdunham.blogspot.com/ . You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter @TFoxDunham. 

Don't forget to check out his story, "Comfort from Lies about Heaven and Hell",in History and Horror, Oh My! which is now available in ebook formats on Smashwords and in print and Kindle formats on Amazon.

With parents who married on Halloween and read her Bradbury stories long before she started kindergarten, Gwendolyn Kiste considers horror, fantasy, and all things strange to be her birthright. Her genre editorials appear regularly on sites such as Horror-Movies.ca and Micro-Shock, and she is the resident “weird wanderer” for the travel-centric Wanderlust and Lipstick. She has written and directed several feature-length and short horror films, and her plays have been produced as part of the Big Read, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts. Her short stories have also appeared in Strangely Funny II and Whispers from the Past: Fright and Fear.

How did you come up with the idea for your story in History and Horror, Oh My?
I’ve always been a fan of John Steinbeck. The Grapes of Wrath recalibrated my understanding of what fiction could be, so I wanted to pay homage to that major influence on my writing. You don’t find much horror that uses the Dust Bowl as a setting, and with the pervasive gloom from the storms, it seemed like a perfect locale for a vampire. Once I had that outline, I started researching and was able to fill in the rest.  

Did you encounter any obstacles in researching the setting?
Because the Dust Bowl was well-chronicled, I was able to watch documentaries, read books, and view pictorials to get a sense of the time. However, one thing that was a bit more challenging was being sure there were still bars where musicians would have been playing in the Oklahoma panhandle—like my Woody Guthrie-esque vampire does. I wondered if maybe most of the places closed down due to the terrible conditions. But I was able to find evidence that there were at least a few establishments that got through the 1930s, and I felt that was enough to justify the detail.

Do you have a favorite historical period you enjoy reading or writing about?
I love the twentieth century. It’s fascinating how the world came into the 1900s with horses and carriages and went out with space shuttles and the Internet. Technology progressed so rapidly, and I enjoy exploring how that affects people, both human and otherwise.

What are you working on now?
Several of my short stories are slated for publication in the coming months, and I’m in the early planning stages of a dark fantasy novel. So much horror, so little time!

Read Gwendolyn's story for yourself!
History and Horror, Oh My! is now available in ebook formats on Smashwords and in print and Kindle formats on Amazon.

MAHLLC proudly presents: History and Horror, Oh My! Learn the real reasons for the trial of Socrates, the curse of Glamis Castle, and the writing of the Book of the Dead. Discover the horrors of both the American Civil War and the English Civil War. Meet a vampire during the Dust Bowl and a Sasquatch traveling among the fur trappers of Canada.

History and Horror, Oh My! can be purchased in print and ebooks formats at Amazon and Smashwords.