Welcome, Suzanna and Marc!

Suzanna Lundale is a lifelong writer and observer of the world who grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and has made her home in many places since. She is passionate about language, history, travel, dogs, and the loved ones – real and imagined – who form her galaxy. Suzanna’s Latinx/Scandinavian-American heritage, and her identity as a witch, contribute to the complexity of her worldview and her interest in questions of identity and liminal spaces. Suzanna’s poetry & stories have appeared in The Crow’s Quill, Goat Shed Press, Haunted Words Press, and others. She is the co-creator and -editor of The Hyperion: Tales from Hell (2023).

Marc Tizura is a Chicago-based, part-time Actor/Voice actor, author of short stories in the horror, speculative, fantasy, sci-fi and comedy genres, scriptwriter, YouTuber, paranormal enthusiast, and former ghost hunter with a deep love of history and mythology, and an odd interest in hypnosis. He is also the Creator and operator of #tfteotw and End of the World Productions Ltd. Marc currently staff writes for two digital Rewritten Realms publications: In The Pantheon, where he writes for Thanatos, the God of Death, and In the Crescent, where he writes for the Crossroads Demon, Dr. John Lafayette. Marc has been featured in the Crow’s Quill Magazine through Quill & Crow Publishing.

About Zehlreg Augustus Grindstone’s Spectacular Western Oddity Emporium

Gather ‘round with us at the crossroads of Wild West and Fantasy to celebrate the arrival of the emporium, a general store like no other that travels the West bringing tales filled with dragons, gold, cowboys, and demons, along with so much more! This anthology features over 40 original pieces imagining a Wild West where horrors and wonders from other storytelling traditions dance, play, and fight on the plains, in the mines, and at the saloons alongside the usual suspects. Come on in. We can’t wait to show you!

Interview with Marc and Suzanna

Tell us about yourself – what is something readers would be surprised to find out? 

Suzanna: A lot of people don’t know that I don’t just love history, but I’m actually a trained professional historian. I left academe because I no longer recognized the academic world I so happily grew up in. Now I work in labor & compliance reporting by day, and write, edit, and publish the rest of the time.

Marc: I grew up in an Irish Catholic household. I had three great uncles who were priests in the Dominican order (after St. Dominic). Everyone in the family had me pegged for the next to join the priesthood. I considered it up until high school, but I realized I wanted to be a father, just not that type of father. If I had gone through with it, I probably would’ve been a Jesuit.

What is it about the Weird West genre that draws you to it? What are your favorite aspects or examples of this often-underappreciated genre?

Suzanna: On one level, I love it because I love bringing different genres together and seeing how they can be greater than the sum of their parts. Show me a story about a mining town and all its tropes, and that’s fun. Add dwarven miners and an elven saloonkeeper, show me the monster they find in that mine, and suddenly I’m sitting up and urging you to go on, PLEASE. I also love that bringing fantasy in gives some really interesting space to tackle some of the uglier truths about the Wild West in a way that is both challenging for the writer and not heavy-handed.

Marc: My dad was a huge fan of Clint Eastwood. I grew up watching his Western movies and all his films. Unforgiven is my favorite. but at same time, my dad would have us listen to books like The Talisman and The Sword of Shannara Trilogy, so the idea that both can exist in the same world wasn’t too hard for me to imagine. I like the idea of an elf out there on the plains like Clint in High Plains Drifter. The idea tickles my imagination.

What inspired you to edit this anthology? 

We actually had another one in mind for this year, but a dream about wizard sheriffs led to an excited conversation about mixing fantasy into Wild West and all the cool things Weird West was doing, and we decided to pivot. In addition, Marc has been a huge fan of the Dark Tower series for years, and Suzanna finally read and enjoyed them last year.

If you were living in the Weird West, what kind of character would you be?

Suzanna: Oh, probably some half-elf, half-halfling foul-mouthed Robin Hood type who loves to use big words and give people lectures on unexpected subjects. That’s… pretty much me. .

Marc: I’d love to be a gunslinger. 

Are there any other wriTing or Editing projects you’re working on?

Suzanna: I am working with several authors, including Marc, as editor on their novels. I am also working on a collection of short stories featuring my character Ambergris Jones, who appears in this anthology, a collection of Weird West stories I had ideas for this time and didn’t choose, and a folk magic/cosmic horror cli-fi Appalachian novel.

Marc: I’m working with Suzanna to polish a trilogy of novels I’ve been sitting on for a while. More recently, I got fresh inspiration to write a sequel to my novella, Wilmont Avenue, which will be entitled The Cult at the End of the Lane. I’m really excited about that.

Both: And we’ll be announcing our 3^rd anthology in the early months of next year!

What are you reading right now?

Suzanna: I believe in reading multiple books at once. I’ve been binge-reading Halloween- and witch-themed cozy mysteries this week, mostly. Currently reading A Very Woody Murder and Homicide at the Haunted House in that vein, Twilight in Hazard for my Appalachian research, Riders of the Purple Sage for my continued Western vibes, and McBride’s Magical Munchies for my indie reads. 

Marc: I’m reading Anthony Horowitz’s Moonflower Murders, after reading Magpie Murders recently and loving the TV adaptation.

Favorite weird west movie/book/comic/etc. and why?

Suzanna: I really enjoyed the Dark Tower series, but I think I’m too new to the genre to really be able to declare a true favorite. 

Marc: The Dark Tower series is my Lord of the Rings. I return to Midworld yearly and follow Roland (who is one of the greatest characters ever) and his Ka-tet’s journey. From the very first line from The Gunslinger, which we quoted in Grindstone and which King says is his favorite opening line, to the bitter end of The Dark Tower, I have never had a series captivate me in such a way as that series does.

Anything else you’d like to add about writing or the Weird West (tips, etc.)?

Suzanna: I read several online dictionaries of Wild West slang during my preparation for this project, and I can’t recommend them enough, both for pure entertainment and to enrich work written in the genre. Those are fantastic resources. 

Marc: Watch Westerns and read fantasy, for research purposes and for fun.

If you enjoyed this profile, sign up for Arcane Saloon, the Weird West Fiction newsletter, to receive future author spotlights and other related news!

Check out this #WeirdWest author profile at @WeirdWestFic!

Tweet