Please introduce yourself and tell us about your background as a writer.
Hello, my name is K.T. Elfering. I have lived in Toledo, OH my whole life, and I love it here in the Glass City. Writing is something I have dabbled in on and off for about 5 years, but in December 2022, I formed a writing group with some close friends. I have written a short story nearly every month since, in varying degrees of completion. Reading my friends' stories every month and getting feedback from them on my own work has been crucial to my development as well as my excitement for writing. Submitting to DMR has been my first experience getting my work out there, and I look forward to preparing more stories for submission in the future.

What are the most prominent influences on your writing? How do you incorporate those influences without being derivative?
I am finding influence in new places all the time. Sometimes it's as simple as a phrase I find particularly interesting, but there are many specific influences I pull from. As far as literature goes, I would say that J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy, and Bram Stoker's Dracula all had a major influence on me when I first became curious about writing my own works. The vivid worlds those authors created have left a lasting impact on me, each in different ways. Philip K. Dick is also a favorite author of mine, and I admire the way he created complex and believable characters in utterly bizarre scenarios. I make an effort to read widely, and am compelled by so much of what I read in a variety of genres.

Video games, particularly the "Soulsborne" games made by FromSoftware, the works of Fumito Ueda, and The Elder Scrolls series, are a touchstone when I am trying to conjure an atmosphere that is dark, gripping, and occasionally forlorn. Visual art is important for me as well, as many stories begin as nothing more than a tableau in my head. The sense of drama and motion in Jacques Louis David's paintings is something I always seek to emulate, and the "impossible architecture" of artists like Gérard Trignac, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, and M.C. Escher is endlessly inspiring to me.

Music is one of my biggest influences, and I listen to music every time I write—typically black metal, noise, or ambient—and often I set out with the goal of writing a story that pairs well with the music that soundtracked its creation. Most of my stories start out with a visual concept, and then I try to create the plot around the tableaus I've imagined. The mental images are often inspired by the aforementioned books, music, games, etc., and then I try to find interesting ways to progress from one image to the next. I like to give the characters I place in these environments unique quirks and characteristics. My characters tend to want things that are bad for themselves or others, and I like to write endings for them that are both tragic and ecstatic. I think the way I write characters is influenced by my theater background—I try to picture them "onstage" in a sense—and I also enjoy observing real people and their bizarre tendencies, something that influences both my writing and my acting. I think having influences coming in from so many disparate and sometimes fringe places results in stories that feel approachable, but also have a strangeness to them that I really make an effort to lean into. I like writing within a particular genre while pulling most of my influences from beyond that genre. I also think I am just bad at copying people, so if I tried to write like Michael Moorcock or Robert E. Howard, it would still come out sounding like myself anyway.

With self-publishing easier than ever, there are tons of books being released every day. What makes your work stand out from the crowd? What can readers get out of your work that they can’t from anyone else?
I am really thrilled to say that this is not just my first time in print, but this has also been my first experience submitting work for publication at all. So, I don't have any experience self-publishing books; however, I do have experience self-publishing music. I think it is crucial to take the time and ensure that the presentation is well done, something I don't think I was very good at initially. So much music and writing is uploaded online every single day, and so much of it exists only digitally. There is nothing wrong with that, but I do believe that anything that is given a physical release, whether DIY or not, instantly gives that work a certain credibility. Even if I do not purchase the physical media, I am more inclined to stream the music or read the ebook knowing that someone cared enough to make it a real object that exists in the world. That is one reason I am so excited that my story for DMR will be appearing in a physical book, because to me, if I believe in the work I have created, I want it to stand out from the endless sea of digital files.

I like to think this first publication (and hopefully more to come in the future) will introduce readers to bizarre environments with complicated characters. I want the reader to be in a setting that is understandable, but recognize that it is a world that plays by its own rules, with characters that will do strange and sometimes terrible things. I think of most of my writing as "fantasy," not because it may contain familiar tropes but because it can be unapologetically fictional.

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?
While I have very little experience on this front, joining Facebook groups for writers, following cool independent publishers on social media, and making sure I am confident in the work I am submitting has so far worked well. I often remind myself that other people who make art are excited to talk about their work or the art they love too, so messaging people and engaging on social media have been great for networking, especially in my experiences with music.

How much do your audience’s expectations factor in to what you write? Does this ever cause you to hold back from experimenting?
I am of the opinion that both the artist and the audience suffer if audience expectations are catered to. I think art should be created without reservation, and art made in that way will almost always result in the more compelling work that will still find its audience regardless. This is much easier said than done, however. For example, I love drone music, but when I have tried to make drone live, it is easy to start feeling anxious that I'm not doing enough to keep people engaged, even though lack of movement is the goal. Turns out it's a lot harder to only play one chord every several minutes than people think.

Have you had any new stories published recently? Are you currently working on any?
"Vothane the Mournful" in Die by the Sword Volume II is my first ever published story! I am very thrilled to share it. I am still working on stories with my writing group every month, and I am hoping to revisit Vothane soon!

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.)
I'm admittedly not very good at keeping up with new releases, but I read Breasts and Eggs by Meiko Kawakami a few months back and loved it. I also finally got around to reading The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester a few weeks ago, and man, is that book considered a classic for a reason!

Any final words?
Thank you all for reading, and please enjoy "Vothane the Mournful" when you get your copy of Die by the Sword Volume II! If you're interested in any of the music I have been alluding to, I make experimental/noise under the moniker Paracusis, with the most recent release being Mirror Dome on the label AAD. Also, in 2021, I recorded guitar, bass, and keys for a black metal EP that was finally released on February 20th under the name Moonlight Butchery. If you'd like to get in touch, I can be reached at kelfering96@gmail.com, or you can follow me on Instagram at @paracusis_.