Learn more about Samuel Marzioli
We’re thrilled to have caught up with Samuel Marzioli on his writing career to date.
From Samuel: I have two Filipino folklore inspired stories in my short story collection, Hollow Skulls and Other stories, titled “Multo” and “Pagpag.” The legendary Levar Burton read an early version of “Multo” on his now defunct podcast, Levar Burton Reads, which is still available to listen to online. Flame Tree’s Spirits & Ghouls features my best classic aswang story, “Only Monsters,” and their Asian Ghost Short Stories features my take on the Devil Cigar Man urban legend in “Devil on the Night Train.”
My first novellette, which follows a gifted Filipino family who can speak the language of the dead, appears in Bleeding Edge’s Strange Echoes.
DILIM: What are your earliest memories of writing or creating?
SM: When I was six, I tried to write a novel about a time traveling boy. I can’t remember a thing about it, except I wrote a few pages on my parents’ Apple IIe, and the boy was named Peter. I didn’t give writing fiction any serious thought until about twenty years later, when I had the idea of writing children’s stories for adults, something like the works of Edward Gorey mixed with Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes. However, it wasn’t until 2011 that I wrote and submitted my first short story.
DILIM: Do you have a favorite place to feel productive?
SM: I like to write outside. That’s not always ideal since I live in Oregon (and it rains a lot), but I try to make it work.
DILIM: Which advice would you give to yourself from ten years ago?
SM: Invest in silver! Seriously though, my then and current weakness is not being able to work on multiple projects at once, or to write scenes out of chronological order. If 10-Years-Ago Samuel could practice that so that I could take advantage of it, I’d be happy.
DILIM: What would you want the reader to remember, long after they’ve left the page?
SM: Maybe “That dude can write!” though anything positive would be fine.
DILIM: What’s next for you in your creative process?
SM: I’ve put short stories on hold to focus on a novella. Or maybe it’s a novel. It all depends on how long this story wants to be when I’m finished with it.
You can find Samuel at his “rarely-ever-updated blog” marzioli.blogspot.com.