Book Name and Description: 13 Deadly Endings – Not all stories have a “happy ending”. Sometimes the forces of evil are just too strong to allow the characters, whether protagonist or antagonist, to survive unscathed. Sometimes it is because of revenge or sinister forces or simply bad Karma. Welcome to “Thirteen Deadly Endings”, a collection of short horror stories by Thomas M Malafarina. In this disturbing world of terror and foreboding, virtually every story has the potential to end badly for someone. There will be no “happily ever afters” in this collection! This is definitely not a “feel good” compilation. Thirteen Deadly Endings guarantees that someone, whether deserving or not, will get it in the end. Thomas has put together an incredibly upsetting anthology of some of his most gory, horrifying, disturbing and bizarre tales for your reading pleasure.

(more book descriptions after the interview)

Interview Questions:

What got you into writing in this genre?

I have had a life-long love of the horror genre going back to my
childhood. I was an avid fan of the Universal Studios monsters and loved, yet was terrified by my favorite horror movies and TV shows of the 1960’s. I was one of those kids with a wild imagination who could find something scary just about any situation. I spent a large percentage of my nights hiding under the covers in a room filled with plastic monster models and horror posters. I firmly believe you can’t hope to scare anyone with your horror stories unless you know how to be scared yourself. My motto is “Embrace The Fear”. It’s my way of taking our fears as children and adults and turning them into stories. I love making impossible and horrible things happen to innocent, unsuspecting characters in my stories.

 

How long have you been writing?

I have been writing in one capacity or another all my life with the hopes of someday writing and publishing my own horror fiction stories. I had never really given it any serious thought, nor had I actually turned any of my ideas into stories. In 2010 I was fortunate enough to connect with an up and coming small publisher called Sunbury Press. Since then I have been writing and publishing my books through Sunbury; most recently under their new imprint Hellbender Books.

What is the writing process like for you? What is your writing day like? What have been the biggest influences on your writing?

I write anywhere, anytime I can. I write on paper, on a Kindle as well as on a computer. It depends upon where I am and what media is available. I write part-time so it is essential I write whenever time permits. For example while waiting for an oil change or doctor appointment I am writing. I write at lunch and before bed and while relaxing on my patio. Anywhere; any time.

How do you think you’ve evolved creatively?
I’ve always been extremely creative and I think any evolution in my writing has been more technical than creative. I’ve had a wild and sometimes uncontrollable imagination my whole life but my command of the English language, spelling and sentence structure had a lot to be desired. Thanks to paying attention to good editors, that is where I’ve seen the most improvement.

What tools do you feel are must-haves for writers?
If you are referring to tools which assist the writing process; a word processing program with spell and grammar checker; internet access, email and access to web sites whereby an author can promote his or her work.

What is the best piece of advice you ever received from another author?
Write constantly, write everywhere.

Have a day job to support yourself and make writing something you love doing – not a chore.

Listen to your editors – they know what they’re doing and make us look good.

Never throw any of your writing away. It may not work as you originally planned but it will work somewhere in the future.

Listen to your muses, they are telling you what you need to know.

How do you market your work? What avenues have you found to work best for your genre?
Book and trade shows, internet, social media. Anywhere that I think will help.

What piece of your own work are you most proud of?
I have no favorites. There is something about all of my books and short stories I love or else I wouldn’t have written them. I can point out that my novel Burner was written completely with no thought or planning. One day I sat down and wrote the first paragraph. After that I just let it write itself.

For those who haven’t read any of your stories, what story/book of yours do you think best represents your work and why?
That’s hard to say. I would recommend if you want to get a good cross section of my short stories, then either 13 Deadly Endings or any of my other short story collections gives a good idea of what I’m about.

What are you doing next?

Hellbender books will be publishing several more of my books in either late 2018 or early 2019.

Malaformed Realities Volume 4 –A continuation of this series with a bunch more scary short stories.

Horror Classics –Another special collection based on a concept from my publisher to be announced later.

Death Bringer Jones, Zombie Slayer Book 1 –The first in a new series based on a character introduced in Dead Kill Book 2.

Tons of more short stories on the way as well.

bio:

Thomas M. Malafarina (www.ThomasMMalafarina.com) is an author of horror fiction from Berks County, Pennsylvania. To date he has published six horror novels  “What Waits Beneath”, “Burner”, “From The Dark” , “Fallen Stones”,  “Dead Kill Book 1: The Ridge of Death”,“Dead Kill Book 2: The Ridge Of Change” and “Dead Kill Book 3: The Ridge Of War”. He has also published six collections of horror short stories; “Thirteen Deadly Endings”, “Ghost Shadows”, “Undead Living” and most recently “Malaformed Realities Vol. 1, Vol. 2 and Vol. 3”. He has also published a book of often-strange single panel cartoons called “Yes I Smelled It Too; Cartoons For The Slightly Off Center”. All of his books are published through Hellbender Books, an imprint of Sunbury Press.(www.Sunburypress.com).

In addition, many of the more than one hundred short stories Thomas has written have appeared in dozens of short story anthologies and e-magazines. Some have been produced and presented for internet podcasts and radio plays as well. Thomas is best known for the twists and surprises in his stories as well as his descriptive, often gory passages. Thomas is also an artist, musician, singer and songwriter. He lives in Western Berks County, Pennsylvania along with his wife JoAnne.

 Links:

Amazon author Page:https://www.amazon.com/Thomas-M-Malafarina/e/B003VUT1H4

Sunbury Press Author Page: https://www.sunburypressstore.com/Thomas-M-Malafarina_c52.htm?page=all

Facebook Author Page:  https://www.facebook.com/Thomas.M.Malafarina.AuthorOfHorror

Web site: www.ThomasMMalafarina.com

 

(More books by the author)

Burner –Charles Wilson has left home in rural Pennsylvania for the most important sales call of his career when he realizes on the way to the airport that he has forgotten his cell phone; his lifeline to the business world with over a thousand contacts stored in its memory banks, Wilson’s cell phone has radically transformed him as a businessman and has changed the way that he conducts business since before such a device had entered his rather simple life and now he can’t live without it. In fact, “nowadays if he was without his cell phone for even as little as an hour, Wilson felt completely cut off from the rest of the world, a world that provided him with a substantial income.” Charles decides that since he has most of his contacts stored upon his laptop the best thing to do would be to have his wife overnight the phone to his hotel and in the interim, he would look to purchase a “burn phone” – street vernacular for a pre-paid cellular phone. Unfortunately, luck does not seem to be on Wilson’s side as all of the kiosks are closed at the airport and when he arrives at his hotel it is too late to make such a purchase. Charles is frustrated and berates himself for his foolishness when he is directed down a dark street (an alley, really) that runs along the side of the hotel by a strange man sitting in the lobby – perhaps the fates will favor him after all and he will find what he is looking for? And so begins Charles Wilson’s hellish journey, and thus begins “Burner”, a novel of Lovecraftian horror and cosmic menace by Thomas M. Malafarina.

Dead Kill Book 1: The Ridge Of Death –Horror master Thomas Malafarina is back with the first book of his Dead Kill series entitled The Ridge of Death.  Enter a post-apocalyptic world where zombies still roam, but are the quarry of bounty hunters who are rewarded by the government for helping with the “clean-up.”

Dead Kill Book 2: The Ridge Of Change –It’s 2054. Ten years since the Zombie virus of 2043 struck. Although all are infected, humanity has learned to deal with the dead and reduced their numbers to being no more than a nuisance. But like mankind, viruses need to do what they must to survive. Change and mutation is the survival mechanism of viruses. Author Thomas M Malafarina continues his Dead Kill series with Dead Kill Book 2: The Ridge Of Change.

Dead Kill Book 3: The Ridge Of War– The year is 2055, 12 years since the Z43 Virus (Zombie Virus of 2043) almost destroyed humanity. Civilization is doing its best to return to normalcy with fortified cities protecting its inhabitants from the undead and savages living in the wild outlands between cities. But the Z43 virus has mutated in the outlands among the living and created a race of mutated former humans lead by a telepathic maniac bent on destroying humanity. In this third installment of the Dead Kill Series, Dead Kill Book 3: The Ridge of War, Horror Master Thomas M. Malafarina, throws his reluctant hero, investigative reporter Jackson Ridge into yet another horrifying situation as humanity struggles to survive in a world gone mad.

From The Dark –There is a thin line between reality and illusion, between sanity and insanity, between life and death. Through no fault of his own, David Matson is thrust into a world of darkness, of illusion, of hallucinations and never-ending nightmares; a world from which he longs to awaken but cannot. Join him in his interminable struggle to return to reality and see what horrors fate has in store him. Horror Master, Thomas M. Malafarina brings you From The Darkwith plenty of suspense, terror, gore and surprises to keep the reader glued to his seat wanting the horror to end yet still dying for more.

Malaformed Realities Vol 1 –This is a collection of short stories from Horror Master Thomas M. Malafarina. It’s not just as a clever play on his last name, but because distorting and twisting reality into something it was never intended to be is what he does best. And if in the process, if he manage to disturb and frighten you along the way then all the better.

Malaformed Realities Vol 2 –From the mind of horror master Thomas M. Malafarina comes the second short story collection in his Malaformed Realities series, appropriately entitled Malaformed Realities Volume 2. With twenty-two tales of terror such as “Ring-Ring,” “Beyond The Minds’ Eye,” “I waited For You,” “Street Fair,” and many more, Thomas takes you into the deepest and darkest recesses of his twisted imagination.

Malaformed Realities Vol 3 –From the twisted mind of horror master Thomas M. Malafarina comes the third short story collection in his Malaformed Realities series, appropriately entitled Malaformed Realities Volume 3. With twenty-three terrifying tales of horror such as Cypress Knees, Dead And Rotten But Not Forgotten, The Coal Miner’s Ghost, Chuckle Land and many more, Thomas takes you into the deepest and darkest recesses of his bizarre imagination.

What Waits Beneath– A young boy is savagely disemboweled in the presence of his friends at an abandoned coal mine by an unidentified creature. During the investigation, which follows, a Philadelphia television reporter learns from an eccentric old codger a terrible legend about the disastrous history of the mine – a tale about a mine disaster many years ago in which three coal miners were trapped a mile below the surface. Out of desperation, one of the miners sold his soul to Satan in order to get revenge for the disaster. In return, Satan transformed this man into an immortal soul-feeding demon that must remain trapped in the mine until he gathers ninety-nine souls. How do you kill what can’t be killed? How do you stop the unstoppable? Welcome to a place where terror reigns, where unspeakable horror and demonic savagery is the norm; where lost souls writhe and struggle for a freedom that may never come. Welcome to Coogan’s mine; the home of Devil Dan.