Bio
Daniel Braum’s fiction has been classified as fantasy, science fiction, and horror but he prefers the good old fashioned term of just “fiction”, which when he was growing up simply meant a story where anything could happen. His stories defy category and effectively combine genre elements to produce tales that are wholly unique.
Many of Braum’s stories are set in the modern, recognizable world of today but feature a supernatural or speculative element. In The Ghost Dance, two Federal agents are sent to small southwestern reservation town to arrest a suspect who is believed to be, Native American legend, Crazy Horse reborn. Hurricane Sandrine follows the journey of a bereaved husband, searching for his wife’s wayward brother, who finds himself in the center of the strange mysticism of a tiny Belizean island. Braum’s affection for Central America is evident in Across the Darien Gap where a small-time magician races through Costa Rica to bring his client’s daughter to the safety of the uncharted Darien Gap. A powerful sense of place is ever-present in The Yeti’s Hand, where a woman used to relying on hard fact and technology struggles to make sense of her unexplainable encounters in the snowy Himalayan heights.
Canopy Crawlers and Sumo 21 continue with strong settings and sense of wonder and respect for world cultures, but also effortlessly incorporate and combine recognizable science fiction and fantasy elements. Canopy Crawlers is set in the Guatemalan jungle in the future where an elite military squadron defends the rainforest against an alien invasion. Far from being a typical science fiction story, ghosts and demons appear among all the political conjecture and advanced hardware. Sumo 21 is tale of alternate realities where different versions of Japan battle in a generations old tournament for the soul of their stolen Emperor. Spaceships, samurai, sumo wrestlers, and creatures of mythology all appear side by side. Many more of Braum’s stories are currently on editors’ desks and will hopefully be available to readers soon.
A healthy diet of reading, good films, music, and travel help fuel his imagination. Some of his favorite authors are Lucius Shepard, Tim Powers, and Stephen King. He lives a hop, skip and a jump away from the beach in Long Island, New York where he is working on a novel, a supernatural thriller, set in the beautiful country of Belize.
Bibliography
"Across the Darien Gap."
Published in Issue 55 of Cemetery Dance Magazine.
"Sumo 21"
Published in Issue 16 (Forces of Nature) of the web-zine Abyss and Apex.
"The Ghost Dance"
Published in Issue 8 of the print-zine Electric Velocipede.
"Canopy Crawlers"
Published in Issue 6 of the print-zine Full Unit Hook Up.
"Hurricane Sandrine"
First published in Issue 5 of the print-zine Full Unit Hook Up.
"The Yeti’s Hand"
Published in Issue 20 of the web-zine The Fortean Bureau.
"The Wish Mechanics"
in 2007 to the print-zine Full Unit Hook Up