Every other Monday, we introduce you to a writer from the Writers’ Mastermind. Today, we have S.M. Fedor, a dark fiction author to watch!
Meet S.M. Fedor
S.M. Fedor writes fiction that is soaked in neo-noir, the new-weird, cosmic & body horror—with no qualms about mixing genres. S.M. Fedor has previously appeared in Burning Love & Bleeding
Hearts, Festival De La Bête Noire, and the forthcoming Fall 2021 anthology: Mickey Finn volume 2. His work has been described by readers as transgressive, hallucinatory, existential, strange, uncompromising, sinister, and visceral.
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? Where are you now? What has your life been like?
I am originally from Chicago, spent a few years in L.A. & Vancouver for work, and have been living off and on in Montreal for the last 6 years. Based on my twitter & FB feed, my life revolves around cats 90% of the time. 95% cat-life would be more accurate if you knew me in real-life.
What has life been like? It gets complicated, usually from a mixture of my own foolish shenanigans, health issues, and wild dreams 😀
2. What kind of stories do you write?
Neo-Noir/New Weird
3. What sets you apart from other writers in your space?
I think the pathos in my stories are driven inner complications/conflicts that are uniquely my own. The emotional turmoil can produce ideas that can resonate with readers, even if they don’t agree or fully relate to the source concepts.
4. What drives your writing? What do you mean to accomplish with your stories?
I tend to be reserved and am not one to voice my thoughts and concerns. Conversations beyond the generic social getting by are a challenge for me (and even those “how you doing?” coffee break chats at work are avoided if possible!) Writing gives me the outlet to release all those squashed and bottled thoughts in a positive manner.
5. Who are you favorite writers and books? What are your other creative influences?
Too many to list and many are long gone, but I’ll mention a few newer, still active folk: Gabino Iglesias, Peter Watts, Ed Brubaker, Matt Cardin.
6. Do you write in silence? Background noise? Or music? What kind?
I’m a music person, though many would call it noise 🙂 Lots of doom jazz & film scores for general reading and writing purposes, but I mix it up depending on what I’m writing.
This is the massive playlist I’ve put together while working on my novel: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5kEqN060lsKK8LF7DC8Ej0?si=7d7cca4baed141a4
7. What is your favorite thing to do when you are not writing?
The day job is working in visual effects for film & TV. I’m not sure it’s my favorite thing to do, but it’s often what’s happening.
8. Who is your current celebrity crush?
That’s not really my thing. I guess when I was a teen it was Fairuza Balk and Christina Ricci.
9. Why do you think it’s important to write fiction?
As mentioned earlier, it’s one of the few ways I can effectively(?) communicate feelings and thoughts, work through various concepts. Whether they are important is a whole ‘nother question that I don’t think is for me to answer 😀
10. Who would be the best writer, alive or dead, to tell the story of your life?
Hmm…I guess I’d like to see Haruki Murakami’s version of me. Things are often slightly surreal. There’s random chapters on how the cat’s day was and he’d probably enjoy exploring the doom jazz soundtrack.
11. What are you working on right now?
As of this moment, I’m shopping around a couple of shorts, working on about 4 more for various anthologies, and am taking much longer than I hoped to on my debut novel. Hopefully fall/winter 2021 and 2022 will have more opportunities to be read wider.
Connect with S.M. Fedor
https://www.facebook.com/smfedor
Write with S. M. Fedor
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