Ronald Damien Malfi

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Ronald Damien Malfi
Born April 28, 1977 (1977-04-28) (age 31)
Brooklyn, New York
Occupation novelist
Nationality United States of America
Genres Mainstream fiction, Contemporary fiction, Literary fiction Horror fiction Speculative fiction
Literary movement Speculative literary
Influences
Official website

Ronald Damien Malfi (born in Brooklyn, New York on April 28, 1977) is an American novelist and the author of short fiction, primarily mainstream and literary works with occasional speculative themes. His novels include The Fall of Never and Via Dolorosa.

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[edit] Background

The eldest of four children from an Italian-American family, Malfi was relocated to Maryland at an early age, and spent most of his childhood living near the Chesapeake Bay. He professed an interest in the arts at an early age and is also known to be a competent artist and musician. For a number of years, he fronted the Maryland-based alternative rock band Nellie Blide, writing music, playing guitar, and singing.

Despite this diversity, Malfi is most readily known for his works of literature, for which he has received a number of accolades in the field. In 1997, he was named best new author from the Transylvania Society of Dracula. Since that time, his short fiction has appeared in numerous print and online magazines and anthologies. In 1999, he graduated with a degree in English from Towson University.

[edit] Writing Career

Following his graduation from Towson University in 1999, Malfi was determined to find a publisher for a novel manuscript he'd written, tentatively titled "Yesterday's Sun." According to the author, this was the last in perhaps a half dozen novel-length manuscripts he'd written throughout his high school and college years, and something worthy of publication. It took a year of scouring different publishers, and signing with—and subsequently firing—his first agent before Malfi signed with a small Maryland publisher called EricaHouse (later known as PublishAmerica). The book was released a year later, under the title The Space Between. Despite the excitement of seeing his first book in print, Malfi was disappointed with his publisher and has since touted the book as "an exercise in juvenilia" that probably should have never been published. In recent interviews, Malfi only refers to this book as The First Novel of Which We Do Not Speak.

A couple years later, Malfi signed with a new publisher, the avant-garde Raw Dog Screaming Press, which released his modern gothic novel, The Fall of Never, to critical acclaim. A darker, more mature vision, The Fall of Never was different in scope and tone than his more science fiction-based debut. Critics hailed the book as a "suspenseful and compellingly original tale," which was "written with grace every reader can appreciate." Whilst, The Fall of Never, is a gothic tale in the Ann Radcliffe tradition, it distinguishes itself from most horror by providing strong likeable characters and a great narrative drive.

Malfi also writes horror screenplays and other short fiction under various noms de plume, and his tale "All the Pretty Girls" was featured in BADASS HORROR edited by Christopher J. Hall and Michael Stone. The most poetic story in the anthology, it features a gardener who is seeking the next Virgin Mary in a very twisted way. It's one of the few stories in the anthology that doesn't fit the splatterpunk label.

Malfi decided to change his literary focus yet again, wholly departing from the genre/speculative/horror arena to concentrate more on mainstream literature with his third novel, ironically titled The Nature of Monsters.

Today, Malfi's fiction deals primarily with characters suffering from some inner turmoil and their strained and often peculiar relationships with others. Subsequently, these latter works tend to focus more on characterization than plot, and are difficult to qualify in respect to genre.

In August, 2006, Malfi's novel The Nature of Monsters came out from 5 Story Walkup. It is the first full departure from horror that the author was leaning towards after The Fall of Never. Malfi followed the trend with the publication of his most poignant novel, Via Dolorosa, in early 2007. However, some feel that Via Dolorosa departs too much from Malfi's strengths in providing very little plot in favor of characterization, which ironically suffers from the lack of a narrative drive.

Most recently, Malfi composed and recorded the original motion picture soundtrack to the independent film Doomed to Consume with co-composer Ryan Fowler.

He currently lives in Annapolis, Maryland with his wife, Debra.

[edit] Novels

[edit] External links


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