DoT EP100: J. Edwin Buja On His Debut Novel, King of the Wood, Plus New Music from TC&I (formerly of XTC)

This is episode 100 of the podcast, and I thought about doing some sort of compilation of previous interviews, as I’ve done a couple of times in the past, to commemorate that. I decided against that for a couple of reasons. First, I haven’t accomplished everything I want to with this podcast yet, so it’s not time to celebrate. Hopefully, that comes later. Second, I have so many great interviews waiting to be released, I couldn’t see delaying any of them by a week. And third, this week’s interview is representative of one of my goals with the Department of Tangents, which is helping to amplify the good works of independent artists, whether they are musicians, comedians, authors, filmmakers, or work in a visual medium. And J. Edwin Buja fits that goal perfectly.

I recorded this at the 2019 NECON conference, the same place I recorded last year’s David Wellington interview. NECON is part horror conference, part summer camp. People get to know each other there, whether they are horror writers, cover artists, publishers, or just fans. J. Edwin Buja has been a regular at NECON for years, but this year, things were a little different. Buja has written about technology for a living and released a couple of children’s books, but he has always attended NECON as a fan and friend, not a writer. This July, he released his debut novel, book one of his new series, King of the Wood, and he has a short story in the Wicked Weird collection slated for release in August. King of the Wood created a buzz at NECON, and Buja had a seat at the author’s reception, signing his own newly-printed work.

It’s an ambitious horror novel, taking place in a small town that’s about to be best by a religious cult and a malevolent nature spirit. That’s in addition to the troubles planned by a corrupt town official who is trying to create his own little fiefdom. And it all starts when the protagonist, Tom, finds someone tied to a tree outside of his picturesque home on a hill. Not a big deal, usually, since people have been doing that as a prank for years. This time, the victim is dead, and the scene is more gruesome than whimsical. You’ll hear in the conversation everything that went into writing and revising book one, and the plans for book two, as well as Buja’s experience as a first-time novelist at NECON. The new book is King of the Wood, published by Haverhill House Publishing, which you can find at haverhillhouse.com on the Web. Watch this space for future episodes taped at NECON with authors Scott Goudsward and Matt Moore.

TC&I is a reunion of singer/bassist Colin Moulding and drummer Terry Chambers, who released an EP called Great Aspirations in 2017. Their new album, out August 9, is Naked Flames: Live at Swindon Arts Centre. There are plenty of great XTC songs on the album, but this week’s featured track is one of the new songs from the EP, “Scatter Me.” The song is beautiful, lyrically and musically, a sort of metaphysical consideration of what happens to us after we die and those we leave behind. The CD is called Naked Flames and can be purchased exclusively through the Burning Shed Web site at burningshed.com once it’s available on August 9. Unfortunately, it looks like there are no further plans for the band to record or tour at this time, but based on the quality of this tune, I hope that changes, the sooner the better.