By:Anthony Rifilato
It's hard to imagine that those images are created by author and Baldwin resident Darren Franz, who is happily married, has a son, wears a suit and tie and takes the LIRR to his job in the city each morning. But the seemingly ordinary yet prolific writer is at it again, this time with his disturbing new novel, "Ghost Train."
"When people tell me, 'I'm reading your book and it's freaking me out,' I love it," said Franz, 37. "In the case of horror, they're looking to be shocked."
It wasn't too long ago -- 2000 -- that Franz's first novel, "Jack Frost," horrified readers. The story of a well-to-do but despicable man who secretly takes his mistress on a trip to Alaska, where he breaks his leg skiing and slowly freezes to death as he is haunted by his past, garnered Franz a cult following.
"I've been into monsters since I was 2," said Franz, who watched "Chiller Theater" as a child. "I would root for the monster. There was a sadness to them; they were tormented."
Perhaps Franz embodies some of that torment. A self-described insomniac who often wakes at 4 a.m. to write before he has to leave for his job at an insurance company at 6, he regularly pens his novels, short stories and poems on the train.
"The best way to face your fears is to write about them," said Franz, who was inspired to write "Jack Frost" after he was stationed in Alaska during a stint in the Army, and based it in part on his estranged relationship with his father.
While the book was more of a psychological thriller, it developed a cult following among horror fans, which surprised Franz, since the book had no supernatural themes. "It was my first book, but I knew I could do better," he said.
Now Franz has released his second and what he considers to be a proper novel, "Ghost Train," a traditional horror tale that he hopes will make people sleep with the lights on and lock their bedroom doors. "I knew ["Ghost Train"] had an audience," said Franz. "It's pure, supernatural horror."
The novel, which he wrote 10 years ago, takes place in a small Midwestern railroad town, desolate and cursed. A haunted train often passes through, and people turn up missing or dead. Among the skeptics is one believer, Eddie Drake, whose family was killed by the train, which prompts him to uncover the town's dark past.
The novel is available through PublishAmerica, which publishes the book using print-on-demand technology, and through most online booksellers like Barnes and Noble.
Besides his two novels, more than 30 of Franz's short stories have been published in a variety of horror magazines and anthologies, some of which can be found on his Web site, www.darrenfranz.com.
While Franz's stories are sometimes inspired by real-life observations, "Ghost Train" was the result of his creative imagination running at full throttle, and takes place during the 1960s and the Vietnam War. "I always had an active imagination," he said. "I get the exploration and wonderment of the book through my characters."
But just how does Franz dream up such wicked and gruesome tales, like that of a severed hand that stalks a hapless farmer, or of a monstrous tentacle that menaces and kills patrons in a video store? "Some of it's really gross," he admits. "I don't like to rein in my imagination."
That imagination has even made his own family wonder occasionally. "I freaked them out a couple of times," said Franz.
But it was his wife who encouraged Franz to pursue his artistic ambitions. The couple, who met in an acting class, have a 10-year-old son, Robert. "She's very supportive," said Franz. "She understands the creative process. My son's all into this too."
Inside Franz's quaint suburban home, his office is testament to his influences, which range from Edgar Allen Poe to Steve McQueen. On the walls are autographed posters from films such as "Dawn of the Dead," "Dracula," "Planet of the Apes" and "The Blob." His mantle teems with models of Frankenstein and Dracula as well as innumerable books, including what looks like the entire catalog of Stephen King novels.
It is in his home office that Franz slaves away at his stories, and recently created what he considers to be his masterpiece, a yet-to-be-published trilogy entitled "Shaman's Rings," a dark fantasy about a soldier whose fiancee slips into a medieval dimension.
While Franz has developed a following as a horror writer, his work does not focus exclusively on gore. He has also published science fiction, poetry and traditional thrillers.
But it is the horror genre that has put Franz on the map, and with "Ghost Train," he is hoping to attract more fans. "The reason why the horror genre will never die," he says, "is because people love being scared."
