Presenting Tales of Darkness
by Donna Goodison
Boston Globe, January 16th 2005

Creating a world of his own—Jeffrey Thomas is a third-shift production operator at AstraZeneca's pharmaceutical manufacturing site in Westborough—a job, he says that doesn't tax his brain. Thomas sees himself first and foremost as a writer, and he prefers his thoughts remain clear to shape the fictional worlds into which his readers can escape.

The Westborough author's novels and short stories blend horror, science fiction, and fantasy, sometimes with a little social commentary or satire thrown in.

"I think the only real magic in the world is human imagination," said Thomas, 47. "I have loved going to other worlds that people created, and i think somewhere along the line I decided I want to create my own world where people could go, too."

Punktown is Thomas's fictional world of choice, the setting for several of his novels and short stories, including Everybody Scream! his latest book, which was published in September by Raw Dog Screaming Press. The paperback edition of the novel was released this week.

"Punktown is an immense metropolis on another planet, Thomas explained. "It's primarily colonized by human beings, but there's also a wide variety of alien beings that live there as well. They all kind of come into conflict with each other, learn from each other, or fall inlove with each other."

The book takes place in the span of one day in Punktown, on the grounds of an annual fair. "Everybody Scream! would most readily be called science fiction, because it takes place in the future," Thomas said. "But it's also very dark, and it definitely has characteristics of a horror novel throughout its many subplots."

Darkness is a common theme in Thomas's work, which includes titles such as Letters from Hades, Aaaiiieee, and Monstrocity, nominated as a best first novel for the Horror Writers Association's 2003 Bram Stoker Awards. Thomas admits much of his writing has its origins in anger.

"My darkness gets pretty dark sometimes," he said. "The darkest thing I can convey is a feeling of desolation—when your spirit is so filled with blackness you can't get around it. Sometimes the violence you do to your own self psychologically is more destructive—something you can't protect yourself from or run away from."

Thomas has wrestled with his own psychological demons in his battles with depression.

"I'm a typical artist with a typical artist's temperament," said Thomas, who's also a published illustrator.

"I'm very sensitive. i feel emotions very strongly. Some people tend to waltz through life more easily than others, and I have never been good at that dance. Depression has been something I battled with a long time, and I think I channel it very well in my fiction. I'd rather make my characters be depressing than me be depressed.

Thomas started writing as a child. His first comic book, written at age 6, featured stick figures battling each other with the heading, "War." He was a shy and reclusive teenager who liked to escape into fiction and movies and eventually dropped out of high school.

He finds inspiration from authors such as horror writer H.P. Lovecraft; Yukio Mishima, a Japanese writer who committed public hari-kari in 1970; and Thomas Hardy, whose Tess of the D'Urbervilles is his favorite book. "I learned about establishing environment from reading people like him," Thomas said.

Thomas's books have been published in German, and Russian and Greek translations are in the works. Thomas, though, is not counting on making a full-time career of writing. He says he'll instead measure success by the number of readers he reaches.

"How many best-selling horror writers are there that one can name? he asked. "I'd rather be a David Lyn than a Steven Spielberg....I want to be know for creating fresh, innovative work. When I see myself spoken of in that way—in reviews and on message boards—I feel successful."

Thomas will sign copies of "Everybody Scream!" at Tatnuck Bookseller & Sons in Westborough at 2 p.m. Jan. 29.