It’s time for lunch in Baltimore’s Little Italy with David Simmons, author of the horror diptych Ghosts of East Baltimore and Ghosts of West Baltimore. His short fiction can be found in Brave New Weird Volume Two, Kaleidotrope, and This World Belongs to Us: An Anthology of Horror Stories About Bugs. His novel Eradicator will be released later this year.

We discussed how he manages to give such dramatic performances during his public readings, why his answer when asked to describe his genre of writing is “Baltimore,” the way discovering the novels of Donald Goines changed his life, why his wife was responsible for his first short story being written and sold, how he hopes reading him will have you feeling as if you’re in a frenetic car chase, why for him the villains always come first, the extensive research he needed to write Baltimore right, why his rapping career is a thing of the past, the reason a story’s opening line is so important, and much more.

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Here’s what you would have seen us nibbling had you been at the table at Sabatino’s —

Garlic Bread

David’s Mussels

Scott’s Veal Parmigiana

Scott’s Spaghetti

Our Cannolis

David and Scott after the meal

And check out the cover for his upcoming novel Eradicator!

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Coming up two weeks from now — my lunch with poet, playwright, and fiction writer Tim Paggi, author of the novella, How to Kill Friends and Eviscerate People.

Thanks for listening!