An Interview with Author Jack Finn

Jack's debut horror novel, The Seven Deaths of Prince Vlad, was released by Anuci Press (2024). He has three books being released in 2025. His werewolf duology Prey Upon the Lambs (April 2025) and The Desolation of Hunters (September 2025) will be released by Anuci Press. Velox Books is releasing an anthology of Jack's short stories in 2025, tentatively titled They Come When You Are Asleep.  

His short stories have been included in Terrorcore Publishing's Doors of Darkness, January Ember Press’ Horrorscope 4, Dark Village Publications’ Twelve Months of Horror, Voices From the Mausoleum’s Howlin' for You, and Edge Weaver Books upcoming Tales from the Cursed Edge.

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How long have you been writing? 
I started writing for publication in 2021. Then it was mostly on Stubstack and Medium, but the positive reception I received from readers totally blew me away. I started writing longer works, and after getting a few short stories published in anthologies, I signed my first novel deal with Anuci Press in 2023.

What has been your biggest inspiration as a writer? 
First and foremost, it’s my wife, I would never have had the courage to put pen to paper if it was not for her. Beyond that, and I know this is going to sound cliché, but it’s the readers. More than an author or a writer I consider myself a storyteller, and to find an audience that these stories resonate with has been a tremendous inspiration.

Who are your favorite authors? 
My holy trinity of horror writers are Adam Nevill, Gerald Brom, and James Brogden. I read everything those guys write. I think James Brogden’s Bone Harvest is one of the best folk horror novels I ever read, it’s a gold standard for me—just brilliant. Everything Adam Nevill writes leaves me in awe, the guy is an absolute generational talent, which technically I guess is bad for me since we’re about the same age and generation. There should be a class on Brom’s work–Krampus, The Child Thief, and Slewfoot-–are books I will read repeatedly for the rest of my days. I have said this in other forums, Richard’s monologues in Brom’s latest work, Evil in Me, is the best serial killer writing since Hannibal Lector—hands down, fact. 

I thought Nicholas Pullen’s The Black Hunger was the best written, most original, horror I read in 2024. He is an author to watch. 

Paul Tremblay’s Horror Movie and Mason Coile’s (the late Andrew Pyper) William were both next level in terms of storytelling and twists.

Last year for the first time I read HP Lovecraft’s works since they are so influential on so many authors and I was curious what cosmic horror was all about. There are definitely some great works that build off of his concepts, The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle and Hailey Pipers’ The Worm and His Kings immediately come to mind. Though I have to say, nobody captures the atmosphere and vibe of Lovecraft like Christopher Michael in his Danforth: Eldritch Tales of WWII: Tomb of the Black Pharaoh.

What is the best experience you've had in your writing career so far?
Overall, meeting, connecting with, and befriending so many talented writers. The horror writing community was very warm, welcoming, and inclusive. I feel very at home and that is a great place to write from.

Have you experienced writer's block? If so, how did you get through it? 
Oh hell yeah, everyone gets writer's block. The best way to get through it for me is to talk through the story with someone, whether it’s my wife or another writer and just toss ideas and thoughts around until the logjam in my head clears.

What's your writing process like?
I try and write, or at least research, every day. My writing process is very chaotic. I don’t outline on paper, but I constantly run through the story in my head. I use music a lot and will play certain songs as I write if the beat gives me the feel for the scene. It's controlled chaos but it works.

What's the longest time it's taken you to write a book and what's the shortest? 
That’s hard to say. My first novel took about two years, but I was active duty military so the amount of time I was able to dedicate to writing really ebbed and flowed. If I am able to apply myself time-wise, I think I can typically get a first draft done in 3-4 months.

What is your favorite genre to write and why? 
I typically write horror, occasionally I’ll dip into dark fantasy, but I think the genre I like most is horror. Specifically, folk horror. I like to take a contrarian approach. So much of our folklore and classic horror tales are about people encountering some monster or malign force. I tend to take the view that we are the malign presence and those creatures are more than justified in the terror and carnage they sow. I take a very dark view of religion and religious institutions in specific and I think that comes out very evidently in my writing. There are no priests casting out demons in my books…at least not successfully…but there are plenty acting badly. In my debut novel, The Seven Deaths of Prince Vlad, I approached it from the angle that history is written by the victors and Dracula was the tale Van Helsing wanted told. But what if what occurred was vastly different. I think horror is a fertile ground for that kind of experimentation.

Are you self-published or traditionally published? Do you prefer one over the other?
I do have a self-published anthology (Legend of the Deer Woman) and several works either out or in the process of being released by indie presses. I love the control and flexibility of self-publishing, but the business side of this industry is really tough and you want a savvy publisher who can navigate that with you. Ideally, a writer can follow in the footsteps of authors like Adam Nevill, who built a name publishing traditionally and then took control of the business side and now publishes his work under his own imprint.

How do you handle rejection?
Oh, man, I’d love to have a great answer for this one, but the truth is that rejection is soul crushing. You pour a lot of yourself into your work, get to a point where you feel really good about it, and then send it out into the world to largely get obliterated. Ultimately, if you persevere you’ll find someone, an agent or publisher, who believes in your work too and then it’s off to the races. Until then it’s just brutal. 

I feel like when I get a rejection from a publisher or an author, I morph into that scene in The Two Towers when Gollum is arguing with himself, Gollum: "You don't have any friends. Nobody likes you", Smeagol: (with his hands over his ears) "Not listening. I'm not listening."

The truth is there are so many writers out there today and publishers and agents are just absolutely overwhelmed by the number of submissions. I feel for those folks, I truly do. I curse them up and down with every rejection in my Gollum voice "Curse them! We hates them!" but in my calmer Smeagol moments I feel for them. 

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Tell us about your most recent book. What did you enjoy most about writing it? What challenges did you face? 
I have a werewolf duology coming out this year from Anuci Press, (Prey Upon the Lambs & The Desolation of Hunters).  I would say the story follows in the tradition of Brotherhood of the Wolf, and takes place in the final days of Czarist Russia. As winter looms, a wolf of unusual size and intelligence descends upon the rural nineteenth-century Russian village of Obrechen. Forgoing local livestock, the beast preys upon human victims, confounding the local constabulary and hunters, whose efforts to kill the beast meet with disaster. The village priest blames the wolf’s deprivations on the presence of Galina Sekova, mistress of the Countess of Kalinin, secreted away in a cottage outside of Obrechen. Aided by a young village girl in her employ and an outcast boy orphaned by the pogroms of Kalinin, Galina seeks to unravel the wolf’s secret before they become its next victims.

It’s a story I have thought about for a while and really thrilled to get it out in the world. The story started out as a short story, then grew to a novella, and eventually a duology. I wanted to put a different spin on the traditional werewolf tale with a new kind of mythology to it. The biggest challenge was making sure that I kept within the boundaries of what was realistic for rural 19th century Russia in terms of culture, technology, and everyday village life.

What's the most inspiring feedback you've received from a reader?
Ok, this may sound odd. But I talked to a reader that really loved some of my short stories, and when we started to chat with him I realized that he loved the story I told but pictured aspects of the story so much differently than I did when I wrote it. At first I was like, “oh, damn, I feel this guy liked a completely different story than I wrote.” But then I realized, but loving my story but picturing things differently he made the story his own. I think one of the pitfalls writers get into is feeling they need to describe everything for the reader so that they picture it just the way they do. You have to let the reader picture some things their way to make the story their own too. Growing up The Hobbit was, and is, my favorite book of all time. As a kid, way before the movies came out I had very vivid pictures in my head of what the elves and dwarves looked like, but Tolkien is very sparse in his description of either race. I filled in those details and the story became very dear to me.

What's next for you? 
This year my Wolves of Kalinin duology, Prey Upon the Lambs and The Desolation of Hunters, is being released by Anuci Press; I have an anthology tentatively titled They Come When You Are Asleep coming out from Velox Books, and I have a short story in Edge Weaver Books' Tales from the Cursed Edge. I recently completed work on a supernatural serial killer novella called Wilson that blends the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Carnivale and I am currently looking for a home for it.

I am finishing up a dark fantasy novel and I have several novellas in the works, including two Western horror novellas, a Cold War era horror tale, and a military horror that draws upon my deployment experiences. I am also in the preliminary stages of a unique horror tale that I am going to keep under wraps a little longer but I am really excited about.

So on the writing side of the house things are moving really well. On the business side of the house I am hoping to get agented if I find the right fit or the right fit finds me.

What is the best advice you could give to a fellow writer?
There’s really two pieces of advice that I wish I could go back in time and give myself.

The first is to just find your voice and tell your story. When I started writing I got really wrapped around the axle because I felt like my writing did not read like any of the authors I liked. In time I realized that was a good thing, I want to sound like me, not someone else that was successful writing in their voice.  Once you get over that hurdle, just tell your story but leave some things to the imagination of the reader. 

The second, and this was a tough lesson for me to learn, writing is an art but publishing is a business. The business side of this industry for new authors is tough and time consuming. Until you land a big publishing deal, you are going to spend almost as much time promoting you work as you are writing. Be prepared for that.

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You can find Jack's books on his Amazon page and be sure to follow up on Instagram. 

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