Dark bleatings, my dear tribe! The Perfectly Fine Neighborhood has been out for a couple of weeks now, and we’re still rolling out author spotlights for those involved! Today, we’re interrogating Gavin Dillinger.
Kayleigh: Hi Gavin, welcome! Don’t worry about the restraints, I’ll loosen them once you’ve answered my questions. Can you start by telling us a bit about your story in the anthology?….. Oh, sorry. Let me just remove that gag.
Gavin: Lay, Lie, Lie began as an attempt to examine what elder abuse would look like in the world of TPFH. As I began picking at the idea, I found myself stumbling into a relationship where a father acquiesces to the wishes of his son in hopes of salvaging a relationship that the father was responsible for destroying. It’s funny to type that out. This was a horror anthology and here I come with my sad old man story that somehow made the cut.
Kayleigh: Well, we all verily enjoyed your sad old man story, and the way you told it. How long have you been performing such acts of wordsmithery?
Gavin: I’ve always tinkered with the idea of writing, even when I was a kid. When I went to college, I enrolled as an English major, but for a number of reasons, I switched my major to Social Work. I think the moral of the story is I hate well paying professions. Around ten years or so ago, I had been jotting down ideas and outlining stories until eventually my girlfriend at the time said, “Why don’t you just write? It’s clearly what you want to do.”
She was right. I credit her with my decision to approach writing intentionally and with goals. I still enjoy working in nonprofits. If I have to work a day job, I’d rather it be one that betters the community than lines the pockets of the wealthy. But I know there’s also a weird fulfilment I find in writing that I don’t find elsewhere.
Kayleigh: I relate to that so much! I find that writing, and horror, feeds my soul in a way that nothing else does. Can you remember what got you into horror?
Gavin: I owe my entry into horror to a Christian art punk band called Showbread. This probably needs some context.
When I was young, I dismissed horror films as excuses to show gratuitous nudity. In some cases, this argument holds up (looking at you Hellraiser: Deader), but in most, that is not true. However when you never watch horror films because you think you know what they are, you never learn you’re wrong. So for pretty much my entire childhood, I avoided horror.
I grew up in a conservative household and my music taste at that time was mostly Christian music. Like 99%. Still, the Christian radio bands bored me, and I dug into the “Christiancore” world of hardcore, punk, and emo bands on labels like Tooth and Nail. One of those bands was Showbread, who on their debut album released a song called “Dead by Dawn” about Sam Raimi’s masterpiece Evil Dead II. There was no allegorical component of the song tying it back to Jesus. They just really liked Evil Dead II. In fact, they were horror obsessed. The same album featured a track titled “Welcome to Plainfield, Tobe Hooper” and their following album featured a zombie love song, “George Romero Will be at Our Wedding.” I didn’t understand how a Christian band could love horror, given my aforementioned views on gratuitous sex and nudity. So I watched Evil Dead II and was blown away. From there I spiralled… and now we’re here.
Kayleigh: I think that’s the most interesting and unexpected answer to that question so far! Also, I don’t know if you’re aware of Family Force 5 (particularly their song, ‘Zombie’) but you might like them! Do you have a favourite author or book right now?
Gavin: John Dies at the End by Jason Pargin (formerly David Wong) is an incredible encapsulation of existential horror and unhinged comedy. It made me realize that people would actually be willing to read the weird stuff I wanted to write and encouraged me to push forward. If I had to choose a second it would be Witches by Roald Dahl. One of the only books that have ever actually scared me.
Kayleigh: I JUST recently saw the film adaptation of The Witches for the first time and it is so scary! If I’d seen that as a kid I think it would have scarred me for life. Can you name a book you wish more people knew about?
Gavin: You Must Remember This by Joyce Carol Oates. This is my favorite work of Oates, tied with the time she tweeted out a picture of her infected toe. The opening paragraph does so much work that I suspect most readers don’t catch onto. I have found myself transcribing that paragraph on numerous occasions, hoping to understand the way in which she paints the story as a fairy tale that could happen to your very neighbor, all while maintaining the cadence of whispered gossip. The novel itself is also a powerful commentary on the dynamics of age in romantic relationships and the unsustainable nature of a relationship built in only the taboo.
Kayleigh: I’m going to have to pick that one up! What about your own work – do you have a favourite piece?
Gavin: There is a novella which I am hoping to push out by the end of 2024 or early 2025. I really don’t want to say too much about the story though, because it hinges on a reveal and I’m not sure how to talk about it in any interesting fashion without giving away the reveal.
Kayleigh: Consider my eyes peeled! Are you writing something new right now?
Gavin: Always. There are two novels I’m working on right now. One is a slow, sad horror which looks at the fragility of financial stability and health in the modern US healthcare system. The other isn’t horror at all. It’s a goofy novel that really just makes fun of myself for a few hundred pages.
I have also heavily cleaned up Good Boy, a novel I began releasing online in 2017, and will be releasing that in a printed format at the beginning of 2024. It has a much longer title now so as not to be confused with the Judy Greer film that came out in 2020. So now be on the lookout for An Exploration of Existential Indifference in a Void of Confidence (or Good Boy: a Novel).
Kayleigh: It sounds like we have a lot to look forward to from you next year! Now for a crucial question – zombies, are you prepared for when they turn up? How will you handle the apocalypse?
Gavin: Probably take a nap. A zombie apocalypse sounds exhausting.
Kayleigh: Gavin, it’s that kind of sloth-like thinking that gets people munched to death. Let’s just swiftly move on to the last question! Tell us something that people don’t know about you!
Gavin: My lawyer has advised against this.
Kayleigh: Your lawy….. goddamnit, I better untie you then!
As Gavin sprints away, I’d like to mention that the links for his social media accounts are below, so go follow him! If you’d like to get your own copy of The Perfectly Fine Neighborhood you can also find the link for the book below:
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