Zombie detective Dead Jack: Interview with horror author James Aquilone
Why the books combine crime fiction, horror, and comedy—and how the author (even with his busy schedule) can keep writing it.
“I love detective stories. I also love zombies. So, I mashed them together and the idea grew and grew until there was this huge, crazy world called Pandemonium.”
In this article:
Winner of a Bram Stoker Award and two Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards, James Aquilone is a busy horror fictioneer. As an author, his own fiction includes the Dead Jack book series, which features irreverent horror + fantasy mysteries starring a zombie detective and his homunculus sidekick. As an editor, Aquilone serves at the legendary Weird Tales and also the new Monstrous Magazine—plus he has assembled such gripping anthologies as Dead Detectives Society, Shakespeare Unleashed, Kolchak Meets The Classic Monsters, and the upcoming Darkest Depths (among others). As a publisher, Aquilone has launched Monstrous Books, an independent publisher specializing in horror, science fiction, and fantasy.
In this exclusive interview, Aquilone tells Monster Complex about Dead Jack’s mashup of different genres, the history of the book series’ bizarre buddy angle, how Aquilone’s busy work as a horror author AND editor AND publisher affects him continuing to write the series, and more…
“Dead Jack is wicked fun! Undead noir with a devious sense of humor. Highly recommended!”
—Jonathan Maberry (author of the Rot & Ruin series)
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InterviewJamesAquilone
Interview: Horror author James Aquilone on his Dead Jack zombie detective books
Q: The Dead Jack series has such a unique angle to it—a mashup of these different genres. What (if any) inspirations led you to write these in this way? Or, when you’re writing these stories, are you just flying out there without a net?
When it comes to detective or crime fiction, my main inspirations are Raymond Chandler and Elmore Leonard, though for Dead Jack, Chandler is much more at the forefront. I love detective stories, and many years ago, I wanted to write a webcomic featuring a P.I. but with a twist.
I also love zombies, so I mashed them together and the idea grew and grew until there was this huge, crazy world called Pandemonium. I ended up writing the first Dead Jack story as prose and the webcomic idea fell by the wayside.
Q: The buddy angle is interesting—since Jack’s buddy is this weird puppet thing. (Even reading the stories, I’m still not sure what it is.) What led you to create this particular setup? And how much does this buddy setup drive what stories you’re going to tell?
At first Jack’s sidekick was a worm called Olly that lived inside his body. I thought worms and corpses were a natural fit. In the first story I had Olly going on the same crazy adventures as Oswald but it was a bit difficult to have a worm act like James Bond so I ditched poor Olly.
Oswald, who I call a homunculus, came from a couple of other stories I wrote but never published. They were about a guy who unknowingly had this strange gelatinous creature living inside his skull. He’s tormented by these horrible thoughts coming from the creature so he cracks open his skull and this thing pops. That was partially inspired by one of my favorite B-horror movies, Basket Case.
As far as the buddy angle, I was always intrigued by the dynamic between those old-time comedy teams like Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello, where they seemingly hate each other and abuse one another but, for some reason, still stick together.
Q: You’ve got quite a presence with horror fiction—as an author AND editor AND publisher. As we’re currently discussing Dead Jack, how much do all these projects help you with his series—and how much are all these projects just other things you do?
All these other projects certainly have made it a little difficult to write Dead Jack, though in the past few years I’ve somehow managed to write a good number of Dead Jack short stories. And Jack and Oswald have found themselves in several of my “other” projects.
The first Dead Jack comic appears in the first issue of my magazine Monstrous. There’s a Dead Jack story in Dead Detectives Society #1, which was created to bring him and other undead P.I.’s together. And I’ve had a few stories in Weird Tales.
Q: For readers just getting introduced to Dead Jack, which of his adventures do YOU consider the best way for readers to meet him?
I try to write the series where you can read any Dead Jack novel or short story as a standalone tale that doesn’t need any prior knowledge of the character or the world, so any story is a good introduction. But if I’m being honest I think the stories have been getting better and better over the years. So I would start with the later short stories, such as “Dead Jack and the Case of the Bloody Fairy,” “The Case of the Ravenous Werewolf,” or “Dead Jack and the Mystery of Room 216.”
One of these days I’ll gather all the short stories and add a few new ones for a Dead Jack collection.
DeadJackList
The Dead Jack list (including a new story coming out soon)
Dead Jack Novels
Book 1 Dead Jack and the Pandemonium Device (2016)
Book 2 Dead Jack and the Soul Catcher (2018, 2019 [Book 2 was first published by another publisher but they imploded and I got my rights back and then went to publishing it under my own imprint])
Book 3 Dead Jack and the Old Gods (2021)
Dead Jack Short Stories
“Dead Jack and the Case of the Amorous Ogre” (“first published in Weird Tales magazine’s Undead issue, 2014; reprinted as bonus in Book 1”)
“Dead Jack and the Case of the Creepy Cryptid” (Kindle eBook, 2020)
“Dead Jack and Oswald Meet Frankenstein” (short story as bonus in Book 3, 2021; adapted into a comic in Monstrous #1, 2023)
“Dead Jack and The Case of the Bloody Fairy” (Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird, 2023)
“The Case of the Ravenous Werewolf” (Dead Detectives Society #1, 2024)
“Dead Jack and the Mystery of Room 216” (Weird Tales #368, 2024)
Upcoming “Dead Jack Meets the Jersey Devil” (Weird Tales #372, 2025)
DeadJackBooks
More about each book in the Dead Jack series
Book 1 Dead Jack and the Pandemonium Device by James Aquilone
JACK WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR DUST—MAYBE EVEN SAVE THE WORLD!
Dead Jack and the Pandemonium Device kicks off a wild and irreverent fantasy / horror series following the exploits of a zombie detective and his homunculus frenemy. In the fast-paced novel, the drug-addicted zombie detective and his shapeshifting sidekick battle and outsmart supernatural creatures, from tough-guy leprechauns to sex-obsessed shark women and insane bat gods, in a hellish, alternate New York City of the 1940s.
Available from:
Book 2 Dead Jack and the Soul Catcher by James Aquilone
A SOUL IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE!
The zombie detective hits rock bottom, bingeing on fairy dust and formaldehyde 24/7. Reluctantly, he sets out with a fellow zombie, the narcissistic Garry, to find his long-lost soul. But a new threat emerges: a neo-Nazi group that hunts down the depressed corpse, believing his sidekick Oswald has the power to capture all the souls in Pandemonium. Again, the wicked world needs saving, but this time can Jack also save himself
Available from:
Book 3 Dead Jack and the Old Gods by James Aquilone
COSMIC HORROR! LOVECRAFTIAN MADNESS! FAIRY DUST! \
In the third book in the Dead Jack series, eldritch terrors threaten to invade Pandemonium. Meanwhile, Jack and Oswald’s relationship is at the breaking point over the homunculus’s newfound powers. Can Jack and Oswald stop the Old Gods before they kill each other?
The paperback also includes illustrations and two bonus short stories: “Dead Jack and the Case of the Creepy Cryptid” and “Dead Jack and Oswald Meet Frankenstein.”
Available from:
AquiloneOnline
More James Aquilone online
James Aquilone @ Monster Complex
Interview with James Aquilone (DEAD JACK) (SFF World)
James Aquilone On His ‘Dead Jack’ Tabletop RPG (Nerd Daily)
James Aquilone on ‘Dead Detectives Society’ with Monstrous Books (Fanbase)
Bookshop.org (sells books and eBooks for your local independent bookstore)
Libro.fm (sells audiobooks for your local independent bookstore)
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D.M. Guay: Horror Author Q&A—“My goal is to hope like hell it will make readers laugh.”
In this exclusive interview, the award-winning horror author, editor, and publisher tells us about his zombie P.I. fiction series. “I love detective stories. I also love zombies. So, I mashed them together.”