Author Joshua Ginsberg has been everywhere in the horror literary scene lately. From his paranormal travel catalog to short stories and poetry, the horror writer seems unstoppable in his prowess to bring terror to the delight of readers.
Articles of Horror sat down with the writer on the release of his first anthology, Tales of the Dusty Tiger, and to discover what fans both new and old can expect next.
AH: When did you decide to jump into writing fiction and horror in particular?
Joshua G.: It’s a little hard to say because I’ve been writing fiction off and on for many years but my first non-fiction book was published in 2020 and then, I’d say, I didn’t seriously start writing fiction until 2023.
AH: So pretty recently then.
Joshua G.: Sometimes I can be a little hard on myself when asking why I didn’t start writing fiction earlier but, of course, things had to happen the way they did. If I had tried writing fiction at an earlier time in my life, it would have been a very different type of fiction and I don’t think it would’ve been what it is now. And of course I feel like I really needed the confidence. In a lot of ways, writing fiction is a lot more challenging than writing non-fiction because I didn’t have to convince you that the world I’m writing about is real. You can go out and see it for youserlf. But, [writing fiction], I have to write convincingly about whatever strange, speculative, or horrifying in a way that seems real and legitimate.
AH: Who would you say are your writing influences?
Joshua G.: That’s a great question and it keeps changing. The more I read, the more I get turned on to other authors and each of them impacts my style. Recently, I read something by Stephen Graham Jones and his writing style is more conversational or spoken so after I read a peice of his, it sort of seeped into my writing. A big one was Clive Barker, going back and reading The Books of Blood. Another book was John Dies at the End. Shirley Jackson. Ellen Datlow anthologies. Also Ray Bradbury. No matter what I write, there’s always a trace of his (Bradbury’s) influence in there.
AH: How did you come up with the idea for a collection of stories, Tales From the Dusty Tiger, based on an oddity store?
Joshua G.: It was very organic. I had the stories before I realized they formed a collection. The first one I ever wrote that featured The Dusty Tiger was the story, “Collected,” and I thought, well this is really fun. I love curio shops, I love Needful Things and the Friday the 13th series and cursed or magical items. And so after I wrote “Collected,” I wrote another story, “Vessel,” published in the Phantom Menagerie anthology. I’m fleshing out this whole world centered on this Dusty Tiger place and thought, why don’t I turn that into a collection? That’s really how that idea came about, initially.
AH: For readers who have not yet read the collection, is The Dusty Tiger a real place?
Joshua G.: It is inspired by a real place called Tiger Dust, which is managed by my friends, Jason and his wife Laura. They moved down from North Dakota and opened this shop and I’ve been kind of a regular there. I want to be clear that the book is inspired by that [store], because I don’t think you’ll find any cursed objects or anything that’s going to destroy your life. It’s a good, happy, friendly place with some weird and perhaps unsettling things for sale. It’s a really fascinating place to me.
AH: So then, would you consider yourself a collector of oddities?
Joshua G.: My wife would tell you that I myself have become an oddity. But I have definitely collected some strange things, like unusual artwork, movie prop replicas like the Indian Jones idol, and a lot of handmade stuff. I also have a collection of global good luck charms because – I’m not sure we can sway the universe in our favor – but all things being equal, if you’re gonna collect something, why wouldn’t you collect good luck charms?
AH: Since writing your collection, is there something about oddities shop that you know that the average person might not?
Joshua G.: Having friends that run a curiosity shop, it’s been interesting seeing how things come and go and where they come from, whether it’s estate sales or someone’s grandfather’s military outfit. The flow of items in and out of the shop has been fun to watch and knowing where they come from.
AH: As a writer, why did you choose to use the real names of towns in the Tampa area?
Joshua G.: Whenever I could, I felt that using the real names lent a sense of reality to it. Also, a lot of my non-fiction travel writing informs the fiction and the whole idea of this [Tales From the Dusty Tiger] being inspired by a store means I’m blurring the lines between reality and fiction. There’s a ghost story [in The Dusty Tiger], for example, called “Unsafe,” which references Tampa’s real mafia history. I feel like intergrating fact and reality heightens fiction.
AH: Without giving any spoilers – is there a particular story from the collection that is your personal favorite?
Joshua G.: It’s kind of a toss up between the first and last story. The first one is “Collected.” I’m proud of myself for not taking the obvious path with that one. As you’re reading it, things start to unfold and you think you’re probably getting a sense of where it’s going but I think I avoided going to the obvious place. It went somewhere a little stranger and, in some ways, even more unsetling. With the last story, “Secret Santa,” narration is something I’m always trying to get inovative with and I combined a couple of different ideas with that story – the gothic trope of the divided self and also the idea of telling this story through these objects being given to someone. I felt it was very different from anything I’ve encountered yet.
AH: What kind of reader do you think would enjoy Tales From the Dusty Tiger?
Joshua G.: I tried to make [the collection] broad. It’s short fiction, genre fiction, but there’s also sci-fi, fantasy, and more. I wanted to have as broad sort of a mix as possible. Readers who are interested in and have been influenced by the same writers as I have been will hopefully see this as a gernerational shout-out to some of them. If you like the kind of science fiction and horror and fantasy that influenced me, hopefully you will also enjoy this tales.
AH: What can readers can expect from you next?
Joshua G.: I’m working on my eight book, which will be my fifth for Reedy Press. It’s another non-fiction which will be called, Amazing Florida. I also have some speculative poems set to be released and a story called “Swipe to Unlock” that will be published by The Stygian Lepus soon.
Find out more about Joshua Ginsberg by visiting his website – secrettampabay.com, his patreon – patreon.com/authorjoshuaginsberg, and across social media.