I write Heroic Fantasy, (Mad Shadows I: The Weird Tales of Dorgo the Dowser, and Mad Shadows II: Dorgo the Dowser and the Order of the Serpent); Sword & Sorcery (Waters of Darkness); Space Opera (Three Against The Stars); Sword & Planet (the forthcoming The MechMen of Canis-9); and Horror (for Janet Morris’ Heroes in Hell series.) I’ve also placed a number of stories in various anthologies. Most recently I published my first novel for middle-grade children, a fantasy titled Three Ghosts in a Black Pumpkin, written in collaboration with artist and author, Erika M Szabo. This was my way of giving something back to the childhood memories I cherish, and giving something to kids that would not only entertain, but educate them and spark their own imaginations.
As far back as I can remember I’ve been interested in horror, monsters, sci-fi, ghosts, mythology, and fantasy. Thanks to my Dad, I was first introduced to the famous monster movies of the 1930s’ when I was in kindergarten, which was way back in 1957. Classic films such as Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, Dracula, King Kong, and many others touched something in me, set fire to my imagination, and made me sympathize with these creatures, these misfits with whom I could identify. And that was how it all started. At the same time, I fell in love with the sci-fi/horror films of the 1950s: Them, The Thing, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, to name a few. Soon other films like Hercules, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, and Jason and The Argonauts sparked my love affair with mythology.
Then along came comic books: DC, Dell, Gold Key, Marvel . . . and my favorite, Classics Illustrated series, which was based on classic novels. These eventually led me to reading paperbacks of almost every genre: fantasy, sci-fi, horror, westerns, war, and even some Old West and World War II history. In those days there was at least five times the number of magazines than you see nowadays, and I started devouring as many as I could: Famous Monsters of Filmland, Amazing Stories, Galaxy, and The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy. There were also anthology shows on television, such as the original The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, plus Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
In fifth grade I wrote my first “story,” which was about 7 pages of my friends and me battling aliens from the planet Ebon. This was my “sequel” to an episode from the original The Outer Limits, called “Nightmare.” In sixth grade I wrote a play called “The Return of the Greatest Monsters Ever,” which was a sequel to Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.
Author Joe Bonadonna
We asked Joe, "What prompted you to write?"