CONTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT: Alex Wolfgang
ALEX WOLFGANG is a horror writer from Oklahoma. His debut short story collection, Splinter and Other Stories, is available now. You can also find his work in Cosmic Horror Monthly, Nocturnal Transmissions Podcast, and the anthology Howls From Hell. When not reading and writing horror, you can find him hiking and camping, playing tennis, and watching movies. You can follow him on twitter @alexwolfgang92 or visit his website: www.alexwolfgang.com.
The Fiends in the Furrows III: Final Harvest
“Malleability”
What do you like most about Folk Horror?
There’s been a recent surge of horror stories that explore our dystopian future, and I think folk horror acts as a perfect counterbalance. While these sci-fi tales ask what happens when our lives transform beyond recognition, folk horror asks, to me, an even more compelling question: what if this transformation has already taken place? It’s easy to look around and not understand the complexities of the digital age. It’s even more arresting to look around at nature and wonder about what primal wisdom has been lost or forgotten. I have a deep love for stories that ask questions about our place in nature, what forces are responsible for our lives, and whether we should embrace our roots or turn our backs on them. Folk horror feels like the perfect subgenre to explore these themes.
What inspired you to write your FIENDS III story?
I started working on Malleability during a difficult period in my writing life. I was coming out of a honeymoon phase, where art for art’s sake was my driving motivation, and I’d become kind of disillusioned with the craft. It felt absurd to be sinking so many hours into doing something challenging with no apparent or practical purpose, especially when it was causing me so much frustration. I started wondering why I was writing and what I wanted to get out of being an artist. But even though we can’t eat, drink, or build a shelter with art, creating it has been an essential part of human tradition for our entire existence. This put an image into my head of a place where creating art was the only purpose in life, where all other needs were cared for by something external. I wanted to know what kind of relationship that would create between people and their art, and what would happen if that external force seemed to lose interest in it. I also wanted to know how a person with no interest in being an artist would deal with that sort of world. Malleability is the result of these ideas.
What upcoming projects are you working on?
I have a few other stories coming out this year, including a story in an art-themed horror anthology by Future Dead Collective called Collage Macabre in April, another folk horror tale in Grendel Press’ More Than A Monster anthology this fall, and a dark comedy cosmic horror piece in Cosmic Horror Monthly sometime in late spring or early summer. I’m also currently working on a second draft for my debut novel, a cosmic horror tale tentatively called Perfect Black. I have no release plans for this, but I’m extremely excited about it.
THE FIENDS IN THE FURROWS III
THE FIENDS IN THE FURROWS III: FINAL HARVEST is a collection of nineteen stories embodying the menacing essence of Folk Horror.
Folk Horror fans will uncover in these short stories tales of rampant rural monstrosity and agrarian horror within rustic settings, where dread sinks its roots deep into the earth to bring forth a bountiful crop of unforgettable terrors.
Nosetouch Press is proud to present THE FIENDS IN THE FURROWS III: FINAL HARVEST to horror readers everywhere.