W. D. Gagliani
Evil is everywhere, both in and around us. We all have a dark side. W. D. Gagliani attempts to explore and expose the dark side of human nature with his short stories. His book reviews, articles, and interviews help illuminate the Horror and Dark Fantasy fields. Come, seek the heart of darkness, deeply buried, beating in us all… Raised in Genova, Italy, as well as Kenosha, Wisconsin, W. D. Gagliani now lives and writes in Milwaukee.
Gagliani holds a Master’s Degree in English from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, where he also taught Creative Writing and Composition. His literary influences span from the works of Jules Verne to the mind-blowing fantasy tales of Tim Powers, with stops in between for Edgar Allan Poe, Harlan Ellison, James P. Blaylock, Karl Edward Wagner, Charles de Lint, Robert Bloch, Charles Grant, Philip K. Dick, Stephen King, Richard Laymon, Joe R. Lansdale, F. Paul Wilson, Matthew J. Costello, Doug Clegg, Tamara Thorne, Brian Hodge, Lawrence Block, Alistair MacLean, Duncan Kyle, Desmond Bagley, Charles Spain Verral, George Wyatt, Robert Arthur, and too many more to name. Even good old “elusive” Franklin W. Dixon made an impact! And Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, Richard Matheson, and so many more.
In the cinema, influences range from Alfred (“Psycho”) Hitchcock to Brian (“Body Double”) dePalma, George (“Dawn of the Dead”) Romero to David (“Blue Velvet” and “Twin Peaks”) Lynch, Ken (“Gothic” and “Lisztomania”) Russell to Sam (“Straw Dogs”) Peckinpah, the Coen (“Fargo” and the masterpiece “Blood Simple”) Brothers (of course!), Don (“Phantasm” & “Bubba Ho-Tep”) Coscarelli, Dario (“Inferno”) Argento to Tim (“Sleepy Hollow”) Burton, Quentin (“Pulp Fiction”) Tarantino, and many others.
Music has helped shape his work, as well, and most of W. D.’s influences span the progressive rock genre — starting with ELP, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, through Rick Wakeman’s solo works, King Crimson, Kansas, and Tangerine Dream, and all the way to the neo-Progressive music of Fish & Marillion, Spock’s Beard, Porcupine Tree, Jordan Rudess, Liquid Tension Experiment, and Transatlantic, with a special place in his heart for the concept works of Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson. The romanticism of the Progressive movement in rock — with its blending of various styles such as classical, jazz, and R&B — lends itself well to the Fantastic in its many literary forms. Also, it’s adventurous and challenging music which tends to resist “backgroundization.” W. D. confesses a love for keyboards, especially the synthesizer in all its variations, the Hammond B-3 organ, and the Mellotron.
Besides music, W. D. Gagliani counts exotic weapons and history as special interests, as well as writing about the writing process itself — years ago he wrote “The Writing Life” column for The Iguana Informer.
You can find all Gothic.net articles and fiction relating to W. D. Gagliani at tag W. D. Gagliani.
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Posted by Gothic.net
on Tuesday, May 10th, 2011. Filed under Who's Who.
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