The following article comes from the Tate County Democrat, a newspaper based in Senatobia, MS.
When Senatobia native, Calvin Dean, set
out to write his first novel, he did what all authors do – write what you
know. For Dean, growing up in a world of
black and white reruns of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone, that
meant writing horror and mystery set in the place he knew best, the fictional
town of Sycamore Grove, MS – a.k.a. Senatobia.
“The story is set in 2013, but it’s the
Senatobia of the mid-1970’s,” Dean said.
Why the mid-1970’s? Because that’s the Senatobia the author
knows. The son of the late Jesse Dean,
he was born in the house where his mother, Katherine, still lives. Dean graduated from Senatobia High in 1975
before moving on the NWCC and Ole Miss. Though
the street names have changed in the novel, the park, library, courthouse and
cemetery will be familiar to most Tate Countians.
The journey began more than 40 years ago
when his 9th grade English teacher issued a writing assignment, a short story.
“I wrote a story, read it to my mother
and asked her for help with the title.
She immediately said ‘The ‘Epitaph of Jonas Barloff’. I asked her what’s an epitaph?”
For thirty-five years, the story sat
quietly inside Dean’s head. He doesn’t
recall what happened to the original paper.
In 2009, the television Writer/Producer/Editor turned author began
reconstructing the story – a story Dean says he always wanted to read. A fan of horror, mystery and the
supernatural, Dean says many books in the horror genre left him unfulfilled.
“Everyone has their own fear threshold. For some people its zombies, vampires or
werewolves,” Dean said. “Some people
fear masked killers with chainsaws. For
me, it’s haunted houses and cemeteries – things that happen in the shadows.”
Dean’s debut tale of horror and mystery carries
the name of his original 9th grade writing assignment. “The Epitaph of Jonas
Barloff” is about a popular high school senior who is killed in a suspicious automobile
accident. When two classmates begin to
investigate, they pinpoint their fallen friend at a crumbling antebellum home –
the estate of Jonas Barloff. A veteran
of the Civil War, Barloff’s perplexing epitaph becomes central to the story.
Dean said the hardest part about writing
the book wasn’t the plot, but rather character development.
“I needed time to get to know each
character, to let their personalities develop.
After we became more familiar with each other, the story began to write
itself.”
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| CALVIN DEAN |
Before seeing his book in print, Dean
collected a stack of rejection letters from agents and publishers before
landing a contract from a small press in California. Dissatisfied with the terms, Dean countered
their offer, but received no response.
Assuming another rejection, Dean set out to publish independently. Two months later, the small press contacted
him explaining that his email had fallen into a junk mail folder. Indeed, they were willing to accept part of
his offer. Regardless, Dean chose not to
sign. So far, he is pleased with his
decision and the reviews.
“It’s gratifying to finish a project and
know that others are enjoying your work,” he said from his home in Olive Branch,
MS.
What can readers expect from this author
in the future?
“I’m about halfway into a thriller
involving the new hospital being built in Olive Branch, a released prisoner, political
intrigue and supernatural gamesmanship.
Knowing how much my first book changed over time, that’s all I’m willing
to commit to right now,” Dean said. But
he assures us the story is fictional, and adds, “Hopefully, this one won’t take
as long as the first.”
