Please introduce yourself and tell us about your background as a writer.
Hello! I am Matthew Pungitore. I am a writer from Hingham, Massachusetts, and I do volunteer work for the Hingham Historical Society. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in English from Fitchburg State University. I have written numerous essays, reviews, and various articles for the DMR Books blog. I am the author of the short story “Wychyrst Tower” (Cirsova Winter 2021). I also am the author of self-published works (BookBaby): The Report of Mr. Charles Aalmers and other stories, Fiendilkfjeld Castle, and Midnight's Eternal Prisoner: Waiting For The Summer. DMR Books' anthology Samhain Sorceries includes my story “The Tale of Marius the Avenging Imp.” Cirsova (2023 Fall) will include my story "To a Dead Soul in Morbid Love."

What are the most prominent influences on your writing? How do you incorporate those influences without being derivative?
Aestheticism. Decadence. La Belle Époque. Fin de siècle. Graeco-Roman and Egyptian paganism, polytheism, and philosophies. Occultism. Gothic fiction and weird fiction, mostly because I love the eerie architecture and eldritch creatures inhabiting those genres. I love Greek, Roman, and Egyptian culture, history, and architecture. I use those influences by trying to write in a way that proclaims their majesty and communicates with their spirits. In my writings, I try to create sacred connections through aesthetic spaces, wherein macabre, grotesque, and morbid symbols are united like sorcerous jewelry to conjure beautiful expressions for the sake of their own beauty.

Many authors say marketing is one of their biggest challenges. What tactics have you found to be most effective for getting your name out there?
I have written pieces that have appeared in various blogs (e.g., Castalia House, DMR Books, IronAge Media), and right now, those are the things, in my mind, in that regard, that seem more impactful than anything else I do or have done, like getting my advertisements to be put out wherever, leaving flyers wherever I can, and such. For me, I personally have found social media to be great for connecting with other artists and creators, which is very useful, but it's not really all that helpful for producing sales or monetary profits. In fact, I have recently been attempting to move away from social media, acting on it less and less often, to focus on my fitness, my family, my art, my emotions and mind (gnosis), and my greater spiritual needs. Right now, that is the path on which I am being carried. I have to keep writing and talking about my artistic vision and getting my work out there. I have so much I want to share with people. I want to produce great art and make it come to life. Even if I don't really know what works or not, try I shall.

How much do your audience’s expectations factor in to what you write? Does this ever cause you to hold back from experimenting?
The reader, the audience, the viewer, they will interpret the artwork in any way they want or can. I make art for the art and for myself. My art is not merely to please me or the masses, it is to contribute something of beauty, to honor beauty, to honor art, but also to blaspheme beautifully, to transgress, to decay. It is a sacred, human experience I fulfill. I might hope people do have fun, but my work is more than the fun it creates. In some way, I want to create stories for people who have always wanted exaltation for the macabre and the gruesome; and yet, my art goes even beyond that dark need. Sure, my art can be like a look into transgression, degradation, loss, absurdity, the human mind, and the human existence; I explore or express their marvelous connections. My works are not only about those desires either. There are aspects of my art I won't ever explain. My works do not attempt to teach anything or impose anything but my esoteric, aesthetic will. My works do not attempt to be moral, good, bad, evil, or whatever. Real art can be offensive, transgressive, and sometimes, maybe more often, they should be. I always experiment, and I am always changing as an artist, because I cannot stay in one sphere; so, if I must grow, and if I must transform, I will, and I will attain metamorphosis with a new artistic voice.

Have you had any new stories published recently? Are you currently working on any?
DMR Books published my story “The Tale of Marius the Avenging Imp” in their anthology Samhain Sorceries. Yes, I am working on new stories, but I cannot speak about them yet.

Name one newer and one older book you have read and enjoyed recently. (“Newer” meaning from the past year or so, and “older” meaning written before 1980.)
Necromancy in Nilztiria by D.M. Ritzlin. The Annals of Imperial Rome, by Tacitus, translated by Michael Grant.

Any final words?
If you read my books, have read them, or are reading any of my works now, please leave an honest review! It would greatly be appreciated and would help me continue writing! Although, I don't suppose I could ever stop writing. Writing is one thing that I must do. Regardless, it is important to leave reviews for anything, even if you liked reading something or didn't even finish reading something. It isn't just about having a big number of reviews for clout. Reviews are ways of communication so that readers are able to express, analyze, critique, and view art in numerous, various ways, artistic ways. Reviews help artists grow and they help readers grow, and they help create artistic environments. Talk about the things you love. Support and promote the artists creating the things you love. Talk about things you liked or disliked. Spread the word, but do so in a way that is passionate and intelligent, in ways that can enrich, innovate, and enhance the appreciation of and connection to beauty and to art.

If you're interested in buying some of my self-published works, please check out my BookBaby author page. Happy Halloween! Merry Samhain! May the dead have peace. May the living have champagne!