As 2024 comes to a wrap (How did that happen?), I got to catch up with an old friend with a brand new book. Daniel DiFranco is a writer/musician/teacher from Philadelphia. He is the author of two novels, Panic Years (Tailwinds Press, 2018) and the hot-off-the-presses Devil on My Trail (Unsolicited Press, 2024). His short stories can be found in Smokelong Quarterly, Monkeybicycle, Fractured Lit, and others.
But what makes his teeth chatter in the dead middle of the night? Read on to find out…
What is your greatest fear?
Having my leg fall asleep when I need to run, like from a fire or murderer.
What are your phobias?
I’m not in love with heights, particularly when presented with megalophobia [a type of anxiety disorder in which a person experiences intense fear of large objects.] I don’t know if I’d call it “fear” so much as it producing a fight or flight response, which I don’t usually enjoy.
Do you have a recurring nightmare? What was your worst nightmare ever?
YES! The recurring one is my worst nightmare! I’m getting chills even thinking about it. It’s always my grandparent’s house, but it’s not. You know how dreams are weird with that. It becomes cavernous and labyrinthine. There’s a top floor and everyone knows it’s haunted, but they just stay out of it. For some reason, I’m always forced to go up there for something. Maann, I’m getting weirded out writing this. There’s a lady in white that emerges (my heart is literally racing right now) and I don’t think terror is a strong enough word to describe what it invokes in me. I don’t know who she is or what she wants because I always wake up in a panicked dread when she comes near me. If anyone reading this is a dream analyst, please help. Though, the first movie I saw in a theater was Ghostbusters, and I cried and screamed at the opening scene in the library. God, this lifelong nightmare can’t be because of something as stupid as that, could it?
What scares you most about the writing process?
The part where you edit and rewrite and edit and rewrite and then your piece gets published and you’re mortified at how bad your own writing is. I’m always editing—even pieces that have been published. There’s a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing going on. There’s a version of me that is really fucking great and can see through all superfluous and bad choices. I just want to know where that guy is hiding. He’s in there, lurking. Waiting to pounce and humble me.
What is your greatest fear as a writer?
Public mockery when people find out I’m really just three possums in a trench coat trying to understand the human condition through writing.
What’s your favorite horror movie or television series?
Does The X-Files count? I do not enjoy the sensation of being frightened in real time. I can read a book, but movies? Forget it. I’m a wimp—especially when it comes to gross out horror and jump scares. My wife, Ellie, can’t get enough, and I hide behind her when we go to haunted houses.
What is your favorite monster/villain?
I’m a sucker for vampires. Always have been. I think I can trace it back to reading with my aunt as little kid. We read one of those choose your own adventure books called Vampire Express. There was a time in my life where all I read was vampire books, but we won’t talk about that here. In fact, forget I mentioned it.
People often say death is their greatest fear. What are your feelings about death/dying?
I wouldn’t say I’m looking forward to it, but I know it is a thing that must be done. I hope it’s not too painful and that it happens a long time from now. My dream is taking a long, awe-filled trip somewhere with my wife, and when the trip is over and we’re flying home, we drift off to sleep and never wake up. If that doesn’t happen, I’ve long maintained that I want someone to shove a bunch of willow tree seeds down my throat and bury me feet first, standing up. I want a tree to grow out of me. I want kids to say it is haunted. Technologies are catching up to my dream, and I most likely will prepare for a green burial after my organs, what’s left and can be useful, have been harvested.
“I want someone to shove a bunch of willow tree seeds down my throat and bury me feet first, standing up. I want a tree to grow out of me. I want kids to say it is haunted.”
What’s creepier: clowns, dolls, or wax figures?
100% dolls. But also clowns. Wax figures are pretty creepy too. You know what? Keep all that stuff away from me, please.
Which evil, murderous persona most matches your personality and why: slow-walking psychotic serial killer; vampire stalking victims in the wee hours of the night; rich megalomaniac with grand plans to take over the world; centuries-old demon witch looking for revenge; or Hyde-like, fueled with rage and no impulse control?
The vampire. I like to lurk (in a totally benign way). Aren’t all writers really just lurkers and wallflowers to some degree? I spent most of my 20s and 30s working in bars or playing gigs—being around people, but not really hanging with them. Being the last one when the doors are locked. In a weird way I felt more connected because I was interacting with so many different types of people. But I also remember being lonelier too. So yeah, absolute vampire.