1.  When did you start writing?

I wrote my first short story in 2014 and posted it on a website dedicated to horror. I managed to get it published on paper a year later. However, I first appeared outside Poland (where I come from) in 2016 (when I was translated into Czech).

2.  What was your journey towards becoming an author like?

As I mentioned, I wrote my first story in 2014. At that time, I read Edward Lee's story “Mr. Kadłubek.”  That's when I discovered extreme horror and immediately fell in love with it. In the same year, Tomasz Czarny (who recently wrote “Mickey and Mo” with Robert Essig) published an anthology of extreme horror called “Gorefikacje,” which featured works by the best Polish writers.

After reading it, I decided that I would also like to try my hand at writing.

My first story won a competition on the horror.com website. Over the next four years, I wrote and published short stories, until in 2018 Tomasz Czarny suggested that we write something longer together. Together, we created a story about a family of cannibals (available in English under the title “Folklore”).

3.  What can you tell me about your latest book? (Feel free to include an excerpt.) 

My most recent book is a collection of eight short stories entitled Dead Dreams. Seven of these stories have been previously published in Poland. I consider them to be some of my best work. One of the stories has never been published before. It is quite personal; I wrote it during a period when I was going through a breakup with my girlfriend and (although I didn't plan to) I put a lot of my feelings into it. Interestingly, the collection also includes a text written especially for that girl.

I would also like to recommend my debut novel in English. Death Fucking Wish is a brutal novel published by Baynam Books Press and written with Patrick Bogusz. Patrick is absolutely one of the best Polish (and not only Polish) writers of extreme fiction and a good friend of mine. It is probably my best book.

4. What sort of methods do you use for book promotion?  

That's not my strong suit. I'm a quiet, calm person. I don't like posting a lot about myself or recording TikTok videos. I'm not cut out for that. I hope that readers will like my work enough that I won't have to push myself on them.

5. Where do you get your ideas for stories? 

Ideas are everywhere, or at least they can be. It could be a short conversation that gives me an idea, a dream, or a situation in life. I wrote most quickly after breaking up with my last girlfriend, when I poured my feelings onto paper. That's when I wrote the most.

6. What are you working on right now? 

Patrick Bogusz and I recently finished writing another novel together, this time about an extreme horror writer and his psychofan. I hope it will be available for purchase in September. I also want to write another story in the “Lights, Camera...” series, which was very well received on Godless, and publish the entire collection in print. I'm also planning a joint collection of short stories with the Polish queen of extremes, Karolina Kaczkowska (look for her stories and read them as soon as possible!), and a novella about a lover of certain animals that normal people find disgusting.

I would also like to write something with a foreign (non-Polish) author.

7. Any advice for other authors?

Write a lot and read even more. If your first texts are weak and no one wants to publish them, don't give up. Keep writing. Over time, your stories will get better and better. Success comes to those who are most persistent.

ABOUT MARCIN:

Marcin Piotrowski is an extreme horror writer from Poland. Born in 1989, he is a collector of whisky, horror figurines. A fan of good beer, history, and brutal books, his stories have been published in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Spain. He has collaborated with the best Polish extreme writers. He released his first story in 2014.