Jeff Strand

{{Infobox writer

| name = Jeff Strand

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1970|12|14}}

| birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.

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| occupation = Writer

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| genre = Horror comedy, horror, black comedy, young adult fiction, thriller

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| awards = Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction (2022)

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Jeff Strand (born December 14, 1970) is an American writer, known for his works of comedy horror.

He has written novels, short stories, screenplays and comedy sketches.{{Cite web|url=http://thebramstokerawards.org/|title=The Bram Stoker Awards}} In addition to his adult-oriented horror works, Strand also writes young adult fiction.{{Cite web|url=https://www.teenreads.com/authors/jeff-strand|title=Jeff Strand {{!}} Teenreads|website=www.teenreads.com|language=en|access-date=2019-05-05|archive-date=2019-05-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505171445/https://www.teenreads.com/authors/jeff-strand|url-status=dead}} He has been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award five times, winning the award for the first time in the Best Long Fiction category for his novella Twentieth Anniversary Screening (2022).{{Cite web |date=2022-03-28 |title=Imaginarium 2022 Proudly Welcomes Five-time Bram Stoker Award Nominee Jeff Strand as a Spotlighted Guest! |url=https://www.entertheimaginarium.com/2022/03/28/imaginarium-2022-proudly-welcomes-five-time-bram-stoker-award-nominee-jeff-strand-as-a-spotlighted-guest/ |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=Imaginarium Convention |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=sfadb: Bram Stoker Awards 2022 |url=https://www.sfadb.com/Bram_Stoker_Awards_2022 |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=www.sfadb.com}}

Biography

Strand was born in Baltimore, Maryland but moved to Fairbanks, Alaska at a young age.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/jeff-strand/|title=Jeff Strand|website=www.fantasticfiction.com|access-date=2019-05-05}} Prior to his freshman year of high school, he moved to Kent, Ohio, and attended Theodore Roosevelt High School, graduating in 1989. He then went on to Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, where he majored in creative writing. After graduating college, he briefly returned to Alaska before moving back to Ohio and eventually moving to Tucson, Arizona.{{Cite web|url=https://jeffstrand.wordpress.com/bio/|title=BIO|date=2018-01-16|website=Gleefully Macabre|language=en|access-date=2019-05-05}} He had his first short story sale in 1996, selling a story titled "The Private Diary of Leonard Parr" to Twisted Magazine, where it was featured in its first and only issue.{{Cite web|url=https://darkregions.com/blogs/news/jeff-strand-interview-by-brian-m-sammons|title=Jeff Strand Interview by Brian M. Sammons|last=Press|first=Dark Regions|website=Dark Regions Press|language=en|access-date=2019-06-02}}

After a string of books in other styles, in 2000, Strand published Graverobbers Wanted (No Experience Necessary), the first novel in the horror-comedy style for which he would later become known, through the publisher Hard Shell Word Factory.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/nonfiction/interview-jeff-strand/|title=Interview: Jeff Strand|date=2014-03-26|website=Nightmare Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-05}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8057796-graverobbers-wanted|title=Graverobbers Wanted (No Experience Necessary) (Andrew Mayhem #1)|website=www.goodreads.com|access-date=2019-05-05}} He received his first nomination for the Bram Stoker Award in 2006 in the Best Novel category for his novel Pressure.{{Cite web|url=http://horror.org/past-award-nominees-winners/|title=Past Award Nominees and Winners|last=admin|date=2000-06-15|website=Horror Writers Association Blog|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-07}} In 2018, his novelette "The Tipping Point" from his short story collection Everything Has Teeth won a Splatterpunk Award in the Best Short Story category.{{Cite web|url=https://locusmag.com/2018/08/2018-splatterpunk-awards-winners/|title=2018 Splatterpunk Awards Winners|last=locusmag|date=2018-08-28|website=Locus Online|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-07}} In 2022, "Next Best Baker," included in Baker's Dozen from Uncomfortably Dark, won a Splatterpunk Award in the Best Short Story Category. https://locusmag.com/2022/08/2022-splatterpunk-awards-winners//ref>

Style

Jeff Strand is primarily known for his works of horror-comedy, which have earned him the nickname "The Clown Prince of Horror". However, he also writes thrillers and young adult fiction.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/nonfiction/interview-jeff-strand/|title=Interview: Jeff Strand|date=2014-03-26|website=Nightmare Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-02}} His writing is often defined by its dark humor and sparse prose style.{{Cite web|url=http://www.darkscribemagazine.com/reviews/disposal-jeff-strand.html|title=Dark Scribe Magazine - Reviews - Disposal / Jeff Strand|website=www.darkscribemagazine.com|language=en|access-date=2019-06-02}}{{Cite web|url=http://gradezhorror.blogspot.com/2011/04/laymon-month-guest-post-by-jeff-strand.html|title=Grade Z Horror: Laymon Month: Guest Post by Jeff Strand|last=Mog|date=2011-04-04|website=Grade Z Horror|access-date=2019-06-02}} Strand has named such authors as Douglas Adams, Richard Laymon, Dave Barry and Jack Ketchum as influences on his writing.{{Cite web|url=http://www.jeanbooknerd.com/2014/03/jeff-strand-author-interview.html|title=Jeff Strand Author Interview|access-date=2019-06-02}}{{Cite web|url=https://more2read.com/review/interview-with-jeff-strand/|title=Interview with Jeff Strand on his ferociously funny tales, writing and inspirations. {{!}} More2Read|website=more2read.com|access-date=2019-06-02}}