Infernal Tramps #author Alex Grass

Alex Grass's Infernal Tramps: Tales of Weird Terror ....

A boy discovers his father's oracular grotesque in a secret dungeon below their family funeral home.

An antique spiked collar transforms Philadelphia into a city that worships a dead dog.

A video game dominates the market for years and then disappears, except for one man's memories of its horrors.

A mother with a trunkful of hungry, inhuman babies tracks down the family that abandoned them.

The warden of a penal colony offers to pardon a murderer, but only if the inmate can find the antidote to the poison wine the warden gave him.

A wealthy young woman receives a surgical implant that delivers more than just a shapely body.

Step into a world of fleshly titillation and fresh terror, a dimension of blood and consequence. But buyer beware! Crack the spine and these dark tales are not so easily forgotten.

Turn back now, if you can, or else become one of the... Infernal Tramps!

Alex Grass is an American horror and dark‑fantasy author from known for works such as Black River Lantern, Dreck, A Boy’s Hammer, and the 2026 collection Infernal Tramps.

To connect with Alex ....
https://www.infernaltramps.com/
https://www.instagram.com/infernaltramps/ 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

It's good morning, Alexander Grass. Welcome to Yellow Shelf.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Thank you very much for having me. I'm psyched to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Well, it's let me correct myself. It is good morning for me, but it's good afternoon for you.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

You know what? If you're keeping a positive attitude, it's good morning everywhere at all times.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

I love that. Alex, congratulations. You're an author, and obviously that's why you're here. Your book is out. It's available now. Uh, very exciting. Infernal Tramps. Tell us all about it.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

So it's a collection of uh horror and weird fiction, and it ranges from little vignettes, so like flash fiction under a thousand words to something like novelette length around you know eight or nine thousand words. And it's just it's really um the I mean the best way to describe it is to give you a handful of the stories. So there's a story about uh a pest deterrence system that regenerates um the servicing technician's missing limbs. There's a story about a plastic surgical implant that siphons off the uh biological matter of the implantee and then uh creates three different doppelgangers, one from each generator. I know, as I say it out loud, like the it there and they're so much crazier than just the one-sentence blurbs. There's another one about um a security guard who's helping an archivist at the Philadelphia Art Museum, and he accidentally uh sets into motion the resurrection of an actual hellhound from the the Greek hell of Tartarus. And um, you know, and then there's uh a couple other ones that I think, you know, like if I could be so bold, uh defy categorization and um, you know, uh uh I I guess slaughter a couple of the sacred cows, like breaking the fourth wall and so on. But um it's really like for people who it's a little niche, you know, it's for people I think who yeah, but it's for people who like Clive Barker and then you know, like someone like Thomas Logati, too. Um that being said, yeah, I've had like responses from all kinds of people. And as a as a writer, I I never stop being shocked at who's reading my books, you know? Yeah, it's kind of amazing.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Yeah. And would you describe this as literary fiction, dark fantasy horror? Is there some sort of like do you box your work in? Like, or I I guess I like to paint the picture for the audience. So do you want to describe how you would describe this work?

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Uh it's definitely, I would say it leans towards literary horror. Um, so you know, if you if you like, you know, uh there's it's getting down to a grandiere level, but if you like Thomas Logati or John Paget or um Brian Evanson, you know, uh this is probably for you. But you know, if you're sort of like a in an old school horrorhead and and you liked um, you know, um Joseph Sheridan Lefanu or uh John Buchan or even Mr James, there's like a little bit of an Mr James story um in there. Um only don't don't don't have high Jamesian expectations, you know. There's always a ghost story, but there there are there are never for me, there's never many ghost stories, although I do love them.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Yeah. And Alex, you know, there's this whatever genre we, you know, we we want, you know, you mentioned a lot of authors there. Um, you know, this is a fairly popular area. My husband is obsessed with Clive Barker, he reads them and then he reads them again, and you know, it's just yeah, Clive Barker. I don't, you know, it's I don't read I've read a few of Clive Barker's, but I mean the reality is people love this. So can you tell me what was your inspiration? Where did you dive into being an author? Tell us a bit about you and your backstory.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Sure. I you know, I about eight years ago, I was in law school. And while I was in law Yeah, I know, yeah, I know, I know. Uh and while I was in law school, you know, I was already kind of like I don't mean to go too dark, but just briefly, I was a heavy drinker and it got bad. So I went to rehab, and coming out of rehab, one of the first things I read was Doctor's Sleep by Stephen King. And it's it's a horror novel with a recovery theme. And so I just sort of followed the line, you know, just um, you know, like a dog chasing a car, right? You know, uh, I suppose a literary vehicle. And the end result was that I I I read about like 20 or 30 of Stephen King's books before I I moved on to many, many other horror writers. And I just there was uh I I found um you know a passion for it. Like really, it was you know overwhelming. It took over, if you've ever fixated on something, it it it it took over my brain.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Consumes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Exactly, yeah, exactly. Consumes in the very definitional sense, like it was chewing me up. I had to, you know, exercise this uh this uh impulse. And then I I I wrote my first couple of novels, and I I wrote, I think like three or four in a year, and they were published over the course of two or three years. And eventually I made my my way to short stories, and um, you know, I I think that everybody who's a writer starts off as a reader, it's necessary, you know, you can't put the cart before the horse. Um and I have never lost uh you know my passion for reading. I'm very much, you know, as much a reader as I am a writer. And so uh I'm always looking for something new. So I can very much appreciate the the quest to find, you know, the next thing. Yeah, it's it's it's some of my pursuit still.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Yeah. What a what a fabulous backstory. Like I love the the why and the you know what really what kicked you off, the journey of you know, um self-discovery but beyond addiction and rehab. Like so good, Alex. That's um that's incredibly inspiring.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Yeah, so thank you. I you know, I it's kind of amazing, you know, it's very hard to do. I'll say that. Yep. I'll I'll cop to that. Yeah. Um, and uh it's weird because you know, I had discussion with someone else, you know, like there's uh I met these people and and they have um they they have a theory, it's called that horror heals, right? And and and it makes sense to me because you know it's sort of the genre gives you an outlet to um safely examine sort of like the the common traumas of the human experience, including things that you know we don't talk about, like violence and you know, like my my experience, addiction, but it it also allows you to to frame problems that are you know, like I I guess like the the that red religion normally tackled, and I I'm not having I have no stance here, you know, like I I'm not getting into that conversation, yeah. But um, you know, like a question of theodicy, like why do bad things happen to good people? Why do whatever things happen to anybody? And uh with the element, and then finally, uh ghoul's goblins and ghosts are just fun. Yeah, they are. There's there's a reason why Halloween's so big. It's a good time.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, my husband is a massive fan, so I know that he will read your book first. Um, but you know, it's exciting. The book's available. You're on Instagram, you've got a website, Alex. There are ways to connect with you. I'm gonna put it in the show notes. So anyone listening who's curious, um, and they must be curious after such a great backstory and journey story there. Um, and particularly anyone into horror and that dark, sort of complex, tense characters. Yeah, I think um, yeah, they're gonna dive right into this. Alex, where do you want us to go if we want to learn more? Instagram, website, you point us in the direction.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Well, you can find everything you want to know about the book uh at infernaltramps.com. Yep. Um, you you can find me uh on Instagram at infernaltramps. I'm trying to keep it pretty simple. And uh if you want to get the book, you can um you can either get it at uh uh Amazon or uh if you're a bookseller and there's been a couple, you could go to Ingram Spark and you know order it to put it on the shelves.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Yeah. Well, look, I'll put some links in the show notes to make it easy for anyone listening anywhere in the world. Alex, is the plan to keep writing? I mean, you you obviously have the right to enjoy this one and get it out there and do great interviews. What what's the plan? Do you want to keep writing?

SPEAKER_01 9:28

Always, always, you know. Um I I couldn't imagine not doing it. Yeah, even if sometimes you have to walk away from it, you know, like um, you know, uh uh writing is like you know, like uh your your high school sweetheart. You you always look back and you remember the good things, you don't remember the fine things.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

You don't, yeah. And when you when you're in it, it's not it's not always so great. Um, Alex, I'm gonna say any any future work, I would love to continue to support you. Please stay in contact with us. I'm gonna keep following you on Instagram, but yeah, it's so lovely to meet you and thank you for sharing.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Thank you very much for having me.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Cheers.