Tell us a bit more about you and where you’re from.
Joshua: I’m a Gen Xer, born and raised in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. I went to University of Michigan and studied English, then I bounced around a bit. A year in Seattle, a half dozen in Chicago, back to Philly, briefly, then back to Chicago for a bunch more years. I got married there and my wife and I moved to Tampa, Florida, nine years ago. I think my nomadic days are behind me now and I’ve found a long-term home, gators, hurricanes and all.
What inspired your winning story? Why did that particular theme resonate with you?
Joshua: Music has always been an important part of my creative universe, though I’m not great at making it. Lots of 80’s and 90’s alternative, industrial, and punk. More recently I’ve become a die-hard Lord Huron fan. I don’t listen to it while I write anymore though, as I get older it’s too distracting for me, but I still have my playlists for when I’m not writing, and those end up inspiring a lot of my stories, including “Wrathchild,” which will be in the upcoming Iron Maiden anthology, The Writing on the Wall, and “A Room Where the Light Won’t Find You,” which found a home in the third issue of SPOOKY Magazine.
For this particular story, I somehow got onto the idea of a snuff film… what would be the auditory version of that? Who would make such a horrific thing… and who would want to listen to it? From there, the dual meaning of the phrase Deep Cuts brought the story together (while doing the opposite for one hapless character).
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