William P. Simmons is a professional writer, poet, and critic specializing in horror and fantastic fiction (and, for enjoyment, cinema). He lives with his wife Valarie, their daughter Bonnie, and his crazy-assed dog Paco in Northern New York State (the boonies). He has a fondness for elves, Italian Horror, Gialli, Lucio Fulci, Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Smut, supernatural cinema, fiction, folklore, and Looney Tunes.
His literary criticism, reviews, and essays regularly appear (or have appeared) in both professional and small press magazines and websites, including Publisher's Weekly, All Hallows, Cemetery Dance, Hellnotes, Mystery Scene, Rue Morgue, Infinityplus, Writer Online, Dark Discoveries, The Magazine Of Dark Wisdom, Hellnotes, Gauntlet, and many more. His scholarly articles on supernatural fiction appear in Wormwood Journal.
An award-nominated author, his dark fiction has been collected in the critically acclaimed BY REASON OF DARKNESS (Wildside Press), DARK HARVEST (Undaunted Press), and BECOMING OCTOBER (Flesh & Blood), while seven of his terror tales have received honorable mentions in THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR (St. Martin's Press). Holding a Cum Laude honors degree in English from SUNY College at Oneonta, NY, his stories have appeared in issues 2-9 of the Darkness Rising anthology series, Cemetery Dance, The Edge, etc.
Current work include DARK DIALOGUES: CONVERSATIONS WITH ARCHITECTS OF FEAR AND WONDER (an interview collection) and THE AUTUMN PEOPLE (a fiction collection).
As a journalist, he has interviewed such macabre legends as Graham Masterton, Carol Serling, T. M. Wright, Mick Garris, Poppy Brite, Ramsey Campbell, Mick Garris, etc. He's also had two interview books published with Richard Matheson and F. Paul Wilson. His interview series/columns include: OUR LADIES OF DARKNESS (Cemetery Dance), FEAR FOCUS (Hellnotes) and THE FIFTH DIMENSION: THE TWILIGHT ZONE INTERVIEWS (Rod Serling Website). His review columns have included DIGGING UP BONES, FOLK FEARS, and DARK DEVOTIONS.
William reviews films and DVDs on his spare time out of love for the craft (and free movies, damn it!), and is preparing to send his flying monkey to shit on the homes of the FEW self-satisfied, impolite gentlemen in the DVD industry without the intelligence or good manners to reply to review inquiries.
He currently reviews DVDs for several professional and small press publications, including SEX GORE MUTANTS, PENNY BLOOD, DVD DRIVE-IN, UNRATED, ECCENTRIC CINEMA, FILM FAN ADDICT, THE FILM ASYLUM, HELLNOTES, and DARK DISCOVERIES.
He wishes to THANK such companies as VCI, Subversive Cinema, Mondo Macabro, Heretic, Dark Sky Films, Synapse, Barrell, and all the other fine people who send him copies! For those who don't, watch out for my monkey!!!
To contact William via email click here.
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