Today we’d like to introduce you to Ronald Malfi.
Hi Ronald, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Ronald Malfi is an award-winning author of many novels and novellas in the horror, mystery, and thriller genres. In 2011, his novel, Floating Staircase, was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for best novel by the Horror Writers Association, and also won a gold IPPY award. His most recent novel, Come with Me (2021), about a man who learns a dark secret about his wife after she’s killed, has received stellar reviews, including a starred review from BookPage, and Publishers Weekly has said, “Malfi impresses in this taut, supernaturally tinged mystery… and sticks the landing with a powerful denouement. There’s plenty here to enjoy.” The book is currently in development for a television series.
Among his most popular works is December Park, a coming-of-age thriller set in the ’90s, wherein five teenage boys take up the hunt for a child murderer in their hometown of Harting Farms, Maryland. In interviews, Malfi has expressed that this is his most autobiographical book to date. In 2015, this novel was awarded the Beverly Hills International Book Award for best suspense novel. It has been optioned several times for film.
Bone White (2017), about a man searching for his lost twin brother in a haunted Alaskan mining town, was touted as “an elegant, twisted, gripping slow-burn of a novel that burrows under the skin and nestles deep,” by RT Book Reviews, and has also been optioned for TV by Fox21/Disney and Amazon Studios.
His novels Little Girls (2015) and The Night Parade (2016) explore broken families forced to endure horrific and extraordinary circumstances, which has become the hallmark for Malfi’s brand of intimate, lyrical horror fiction.
His earlier works, such as Via Dolorosa (2007) and Passenger (2008) explored characters with lost or confused identities, wherein Malfi experimented with the ultimate unreliable narrators. He maintained this trend in his award-winning novel, Floating Staircase (2011), which the author has suggested contains “multiple endings for the astute reader.”
His more “monstery” novels, such as Snow (2010) and The Narrows (2012) still resonate with his inimitable brand of literary cadence and focus on character and story over plot. Both books were highly regarded by fans and reviewers in the genre.
A bit of a departure, Malfi published the crime drama, Shamrock Alley, in 2009, based on the true exploits of his own father, a former Secret Service agent. The book was optioned several times for film.
Ronald Malfi was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1977, the eldest of four children, and eventually relocated to Maryland, where he and his wife, Debra, currently reside along the Chesapeake Bay with their two daughters. When he’s not writing, he also performs as the singer/rhythm guitarist for the Maryland-based rock band VEER (www.veerband.net).
Visit with Ronald Malfi on Facebook, Twitter (@RonaldMalfi), or at http://www.ronmalfi.com.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Making a career as a novelist takes a little bit of talent, a little bit of luck, and an enormous amount of determination.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’ve been a novelist for roughly the past 20 years, specializing in dark fiction (horror, thrillers, suspense), and I also sing and play guitar in a Maryland-based rock band, VEER, whose debut album, “Apocalyptic, Baby,” was released in 2018 and cracked the Amazon Top 100 rock records upon release. Also in 2018, VEER won best rock artist at the Maryland Music Awards.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc.?
Lots of coffee.
Contact Info:
- Email: ronmalfi@yahoo.com
- Website: www.ronmalfi.com and www.veerband.net
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ronald.malfi/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/RonaldMalfi
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrghUCsCW3xCBKjOvz_KbKw
