David Dunwoody is the author of the zombie novel Empire, as well as the collections Dark Entities and Unbound & Other Tales. An ardent fan of Lovecraft, Matheson and Barker, he writes horror with a bent toward the weird and the subversive. Dave currently resides in Utah.Published works include the zombie novel EMPIRE (Permuted Press) and the collections DARK ENTITIES (Dark Regions Press) and UNBOUND & OTHER TALES (Library of Horror Press).
1. Please welcome David Dunwoody to The Lounge. Woah, wait!! David, you of all people should know not to get too close to my zombie girls. That one in particular will have your arm off quicker than you can say "Eat Shit Zombie." Now back away slowly and sit, please. How are you this evening?
I'm well! And right at home, even if the zombie girls aren't crazy about me. I just hope you don't have a clown lurking around here somewhere. Though I suspect you do. Story of my life.
2. Now you are quite a prolific writer, how many projects do you have in the works at the minute?
I have a few things in various stages of development - I'm learning as I go how to set my hours, and not to load my plate with too much at once. Right now I'm writing a novella for Library of Science Fiction and Fantasy, while outlining a few stories and a novel that I will start on in the coming months.
3. You wrote and published the zombie novel Empire, put out by permuted press. Can you tell the zombie fans what this book is about?
EMPIRE is set 105 years after a global zombie outbreak. Death himself leaves his post to restore order by slaying the zombies wandering the American badlands. He ends up crossing paths with a lot off oddball characters and some very unusual zombies.
4. You have been in more than ten horror anthologies, have you not? If you had to choose, which of them is your favorite and why?
I'd say THE UNDEAD: HEADSHOT QUARTET, which is actually a collection of zombie novellas by four authors. The other tales are great and my contribution, "Lost Souls," is one of my favorite works, and is actually an update of one of the first stories I wrote as a little kid.
5. Where will David Dunwoody be regarding success in ten years time? What are your goals as a writer?
I can't say I have a ten-year plan. I'd love to be making a living just off of my writing, but to be where I'm at now - writing and selling at a fairly steady clip, and having a blast doing it - is pretty cool in itself.
6. Who are your influences when writing, dead or alive?
H.P. Lovecraft, for the way he tapped into our most primal terrors, and built a mythos around them. The filmmaker David Cronenberg's exploration of what threatens from within continues to have a growing influence on my stories. Clive Barker creates beautiful and original monsters that make for fascinating characters.
7. Tell the fans something about David Dunwoody, they don't know.
In 2005, I co-wrote a short film with my buddy Gene Mazza II that appears on a DVD called DETOUR INTO MADNESS VOL. 1. The short is a fun little bit of T&A (torture and abuse) called "Snuff," of which a full-length version was written just this past winter. I love the lead characters and hope it'll be produced.
8. If you had to choose one greatest moment in your writing career so far, what would it be and why?
The easy answer is the acquisition of EMPIRE by Simon and Schuster last year, which has been an incredible and unexpected blessing. But I have to say that seeing the first edition in print for the first time was just as awesome. Having the two editions side-by-side now...that's just surreal.
9. Do you have any words of wisdom to any young aspiring horror writers who may be reading this?
Read. Read often, and mix in different genres. I think that's the best advice I can give. There's no surefire key to breaking out, but always exploring what's out there - including the works of other aspiring newcomers - is essential to one's own growth.
10. Finally, before I open the trap door and send you straight into the Dungeon, do you have any last words?
Trap door?? I sense a dungeon clown in my future. Dungeons and clowns - story of my life. Well, thanks for having me, and supporting small-press horror!
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