Viscera Varnish follows a Chicago artist who returns to a grisly private ritual after a humiliating gallery opening confirms his fears that the art world has lost faith in his work. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The story actually began as a short story concept. Toward the end of last year, I saw a publisher looking for submissions in the vein of The Twilight Zone or Tales from the Crypt—stories where a character’s flaws ultimately lead to their downfall or where there’s a dark moral at the end. I outlined six different ideas with that theme in mind, intending to submit one to the anthology.

Ironically, Viscera Varnish was the one I almost threw away. Of the six concepts, it was probably my least favorite. Before scrapping it completely, I decided to revisit it one last time and realized the biggest problem was the main character. My original version of Daniel was far too cartoonish to be compelling.

Once I reimagined him as an artist desperately searching for inspiration, the story finally clicked. That idea came from a very real place. At the time, I was wrestling with my own creative process, trying to come up with ideas for future books and wondering where inspiration actually comes from. Daniel became an exaggerated reflection of that struggle. Thankfully, I don’t resort to the horrifying methods he does, but I took that very human fear of running out of ideas and pushed it to its darkest possible conclusion.

Daniel Virek is both repulsive and strangely compelling. How did you approach writing a protagonist whose inner logic remains believable despite his monstrous actions?

At his core, Daniel’s motivation is actually very relatable. He’s searching for inspiration, and I think anyone who works in a creative field—whether it’s writing, painting, filmmaking, or music—knows that feeling of desperately wanting to create something meaningful and wondering where the next great idea will come from. That part of him is rooted in my own experiences as a writer.

Where Daniel becomes frightening is in how far he’s willing to go. I enjoy exploring what happens when an ordinary human desire collides with someone who’s willing to cross a moral line that most people never would. That contrast is what makes him compelling to me. Readers may understand his frustration without ever condoning his choices.

My hope was that readers would find themselves following his logic for a while, even as they become increasingly uncomfortable with where it’s leading. Eventually there’s a point where you can no longer go along with him, but by then you’re invested enough to see how it all ends. I also wanted his ultimate fate to feel earned—a conclusion that reinforces the consequences of the choices he makes throughout the story.

The novella gradually shifts from psychological horror into something more supernatural and metaphysical. Did you always intend to widen the story in that direction?

Yes, absolutely. I always intended the story to expand in that direction. Most of my creative influences come from film, television, and books that embrace the paranormal, the supernatural, and the cosmic. I’ve often described my work as what might happen if David Lynch and H.P. Lovecraft were somehow merged together, and that’s still probably the simplest way to explain my approach.

What I enjoy most is starting with something ordinary and grounded. I like stories that feel believable, even mundane, before gradually allowing the impossible to seep into them. I think the supernatural is far more effective when it intrudes on everyday life rather than existing in a world that’s already fantastical.

To me, that contrast is what makes the strange feel believable. If the world around the characters feels authentic, then when reality begins to fracture, it invites readers to wonder if the impossible might be lurking just beneath the surface of their own lives. That’s the feeling I always hope to create—the sense that maybe there really are monsters under the bed after all.

What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?

I’m currently working on my next novel, The Day the Sky Died, a work of cosmic horror wrapped in an archaeological mystery. If I had to describe it in one sentence, I’d say it’s what you might get if H.P. Lovecraft wrote and directed an episode of The X-Files.

The story follows an archaeologist who uncovers evidence tied to a decades-old mystery, only to discover that some things buried beneath the earth were never meant to be unearthed. Like much of my work, it starts from a grounded premise before gradually descending into something far stranger and more unsettling.

I’m aiming to release it either late this summer or very early fall in time for Halloween season, though I haven’t announced a firm release date just yet. I’m working with the great Matthew Wildasin for the cover art. He did a great job on Viscera Varnish and I know what he comes up with for this one will be good too. 

After that’s finalized, I’m all in on writing a sequel to my first book Reflections in the Dark. 

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