Really exciting 3Q’s Special today with a newish to me author! If you know Tony Jones, reader and reviewer, you’ll know he has a voracious intake of literature second-to-none. He is frequently recommending books to me. In this case, I reached out and asked him for some 3Q’s suggestions and Alexander was at the top of his list. Alexander and I connected not to long ago on social media, and it’s always great to discover new Canuck authors. In this case, I’ve just started reading one of his short story collections and I have to say – from what I’ve read so far, he should be on every dark fiction reader’s “must-read” lists!

Please, do welcome Alexander!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?
AZ: I used to write very late at night and into the early hours of the morning, but in recent years have changed things up, and write a little in the morning, afternoon, and night, every day. I try to sleep more, though I’m rarely successful. And no, I don’t pay too much attention to word counts—I just try to do good work, and if that means a smaller word count on any given day then that’s okay with me.

Steve: You end up at an estate sale and discover an unpublished manuscript from an author you love. Do you keep it just for yourself or do you share it with the world?
AZ: I would definitely share it with the world, because it would inevitably mean a great deal to a lot of people who likewise love the work of the author in question. But…I would hold onto it a while first, and read it, and savour it, and maybe share it with any friends who are also huge fans of the writer. Maybe we’d form a cult based around the manuscript. But after that, I’d spread the literary wealth with the world at large.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!
AZ: My new book is entitled These Long Teeth of the Night. It’s a retrospective compendium of my short fiction spanning the 20-year period of 1999-2019, published by the amazing Fourth Horseman Press. Fans of dark/Weird/cross-genre/ speculative fiction should check it out because it offers a good cross-section of my work, including material that’s been published in a wide variety of places, such as in my previous full-length collections and chapbooks, as well as in magazines and anthologies, so it has the benefit of getting the thumbs-up from multiple editors and readers. The book also has some new fiction, and introductions to each of the stories by yours truly, in which I talk a little about the stories, their inspirations, background, and assorted other details. The hardcover edition is currently available, with the trade paperback and digital editions coming very soon. Reviews have been positive, and people tell me the stories are difficult to classify in terms of genre, which suggests it’s an interesting and unique read that stands out from some of the other stuff out there.
I also have a book out entitled The Long Dirty Night Trilogy, published by Somniatis Press. It’s my version of a grindhouse novel, told in three interrelated parts/novellas. It’s a combination of very extreme horror and sleaze and dark humour, but with a very serious underlying message about personal freedom and the right to make important life choices in a difficult world. It’s also a lot of over-the-top fun. It was published as an extremely limited-edition omnibus, with all three novellas in one volume, and features three colour interior artworks by Greg Maxwell, and an introduction by Nick Cato, author of Suburban Grindhouse: From Staten Island to Times Square and all the Sleaze Between. The first edition is sold out, but there should be a second edition of the individual volumes available in the near future. Fans of transgressive way-out-there fiction should get a big kick out of it.

Steve: Bonus Question! You wake up in a comic book. What is your comic book character and what is your superpower?
AZ: Great question. If we’re talking about pre-existing comic books, I’d have to go with my childhood obsession and go with one of the barbarian/sword & sorcery comic books I loved: Conan or Arak or The Warlord. Who am I kidding: I’m Conan and my superpower is my barbarian ingenuity and the strength of my sword-arm, by Crom!
If we’re talking about an entirely new comic book character, I would be the Reader, and my superpower would be the ability to speed-read as fast as the Flash is able to move and to retain all that I read. So that way I’d be able to read every book ever written before I die. I’m not sure what greater use I’d put my power to, but I’d figure something out, and I’d be pretty happy with it.

Ha! Fantastic!

Thank you so much, Alexander!

To find more of his work, check the links!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AZelenyj

Website: https://www.alexanderzelenyj.com/