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The Twisted Biography of the author

ANTON VON STEFAN.

Part three  - the formative years

The sophomore, junior and senior years ANTON VON STEFAN spent at the college sowed the first seeds which were to create the Gothic writer.  As a sophomore, the professor in charge of the institution’s Year Book handed the 16 year old youth a Rolleicord camera and pressed him into becoming a hands-on, ground-level reporter.  Recording the various events of the school year, he was able to transform acts he had witnessed into words, though not fictional, that an editor would approve for publishing.  Thus, the written script accompanying a photo had to be descriptive, concise and of interest, traits which serve every writer well.  He was also presented with the opportunity to develop the films he had exposed, a skill which elevated him to Darkroom Editor in his junior year.  The author became the college’s Seniors’ Editor in his final term at the institution.  Photography and writing would land Anton Von Stefan his first paying job as a writer.

It was several years after graduation that the publisher of the oldest newspaper in the city noted the dark red filter on the author’s lens.  Upon inquiring if ‘Gothic’ black and white film was being used, and upon a positive response, an agreement, to submit the photos of the event the two gentlemen were attending, was made.  Shortly, ANTON VON STEFAN was writing for the paper, receiving 25 cents for each word printed and $20.00 for each picture published.  The two only parted ways years after.  The owner of the newspaper wanted to use only staff reporters, but the author wished to retain the greater liberty of a freelance writer.  Thus, as the direction of the paper changed, ANTON VON STEFAN followed his own course.

Great fiction writers and their ability to captivate an audience are, in my humble belief, an inbred quality.  Edgar Allan Poe was but 40 years of age when he passed into the realm of the dead.  That human dream, to live on forever, was unequivocally achieved by that Gothic icon in the great works he left behind.  Anton Von Stefan had been writing a bi-monthly column for a local paper when he was presented with an illustrated, hard-cover edition of “The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe”.  Having read Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, Sir Author Conon Doyle, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelly, Robert Louis Stevensonand Edgar Rice Burrows, before this monumental event took place, the works of Poe where of a most unique influence upon the author.  The comprehensive vocabulary of the English word within that book transformed our author’s direction more than any other tome.  ANTON VON STEFAN read those horrific works of Edgar Allan Poe with a dictionary at his side, marvelling at the use of individual words rarely seen in fiction, yet so utterly descriptive. 

No conscious effort on the part of ANTON VON STEFAN led to that dark and most stormy night in the desolate wilderness, at the edge of his civilized world which produced his first Gothic tale, “The Passing of Mr. Needles”.  The work of Edgar Allan Poe having been read in full, the author continued to write his column for several more years.  This idle life was about to change. Anton Von Stefan would never again be the same!

Go to: Part 4 - The Gothic Writer Emerges

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