Dissecting Drew Davinack
Welcome back to the Black Hare Press Dissecting Author interviews, where we dissect an author to find out who they are, what they write, and what keeps their creative juices flowing.
Today, we slice open horror writer, Drew Davinack, to spill his writing secrets and learn more about his new release, The Harvest.
Welcome Drew!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Drew Davinack writes folk horror, with a pinch of cosmic horror sprinkled in as an ode to H.P. Lovecraft, one of his literary idols.
By morning, Drew strangles—and tries to avoid being strangled—by other grown men at his Brazilian jiu-jitsu gym. By day, he is a biology professor who teaches and conducts research on creepy-crawly parasites that live inside and amongst marine animals—and sometimes….us.
When he’s not extracting worms from oyster shells or liquefying them in a blender for their DNA, you’ll find him in his apartment in Providence, Rhode Island, hanging out with his psychologist wife and his two cats, Severus and Firebolt.
The Harvest is Drew’s first published story.
Connect
BlueSky: @vermiformes.bsky.social
Instagram: @drewjitsu1988
Tell us about yourself. When did your passion for reading and writing start?
I am a Trinidad-born New Yorker and a marine biology professor who dabbles in a variety of interests from martial arts to travel to music. I was also interested in reading since I was a child - books were always my favourite gifts and I had a library card for as long as I can remember. The same can be said about writing - I loved writing fictional essays throughout school and in my spare time.
What drew you to your preferred writing genres?
When I was a kid, our local library was purging their old inventory and were selling books for 25 cents apiece. My uncle bought a bunch of books and brought it back. In the crates, were several Stephen King books - Salem’s Lot being the first one I ever read. Ever since then I became hooked. I wouldn’t say SK is my favourite author, but his pacing, character development and the undeniable subtle dread that pervades much of his early work inspired me to write stories.
How much of your writing is ‘write what you know’ or ‘researched to death’?
Most of my writing is ‘write what you know’.
What elements from your real life creep into your stories?
I have travelled to a lot of places and have met some very interesting characters along the way. Those sceneries and the personalities have definitely shaped how my stories are written. I also love cities, big cities where one can lose themselves and live in relative anonymity. I also love the idea of people leaving cities for more "natural landscapes” and feeling almost claustrophobic by the silence and familiarity of small towns where everyone knows who you are. I’ve experienced that and it’s an odd sensation. I try to relay that feeling in my stories.
Have you ever based a character on someone you know?
No.
Have you ever considered writing under a pseudonym, and why or why not?
Yes. I have and I may do that in the future! My regular job is as a scientist where I publish a lot of peer-reviewed articles and non-fiction books. Even though my love of horror is partly why I got into my field of research (studying parasites!), separating those two parts of my life might be something I should probably consider doing.
What do the words “writer’s block” mean to you?
Procrastination.
What’s your favourite or least favourite part of the writing process?
Proof-reading.
How do you come up with character names for your stories?
I don’t really think about it. Many of the names literally come to me as I’m thinking about the character and their traits.
What’s brewing? What are your next big writing goals?
From a professional point of view - I recently completed my first major non-fiction book on parasites geared towards the public! Coming out this fall by a major university press. My next work of fiction is going to switch gears to more cosmic horror to be set in my favourite city in the world - Prague. Stay tuned!
ABOUT THE BOOK
The Harvest by Drew Davinack
Launch Date: 13th June 2026
A detour onto a road that shouldn’t exist leads a young couple into a ritual older than history—and far hungrier.
Derrick and his pregnant wife, Riandi, set out for a quiet anniversary retreat in the Adirondack Mountains—one last escape before their lives change forever. But when a state trooper diverts them onto a road that doesn’t appear on any map, their journey takes a turn into something far darker.
Stranded in an isolated town where the locals smile too wide and ask the wrong questions, Derrick begins to sense that something is deeply wrong. A mysterious woman warns him to leave—immediately—but by then, it may already be too late.
As reality fractures and the forest closes in, Derrick uncovers a buried history of vanished children, forgotten settlements, and an ancient presence that feeds on life at its most fragile. And when Riandi disappears into the woods, the truth becomes impossible to ignore.
Some roads are lost for a reason.
Some places were never meant to be found.
And in the Adirondacks, something old is always waiting—patient, watching… and ready to harvest.
BLACK HARE PRESS LINK
BUY LINK
What sparked the idea for this story?
I spent seven years living in the Adirondack region of New York. When people think of New York State, they almost always think of the mother city, not realizing that you can drive north all the way to Canada and still be within the State. The Adirondacks is a mountainous region in New York very close to Canada, sparsely populated. The people who live there are very different from those you would encounter in NYC - different values, different priorities. But there is a dark undertone that pervades the small towns that dot that region. A combination of independence, ignorance and indifference, but also something else, something that you can’t quite put a finger on. When I lived there, I always thought it would be the perfect setting for a classical horror story and was surprised there was almost nothing out there. So I decided it had to be me.
What came first? The plot or the characters?
Most definitely the plot.
How much research did you need to do for this story?
Not much. I did have to research the black towns that were once part of the Adirondacks. That part of the story is real. In fact, for anyone who is interested - I strongly recommend reading The Black Woods: Pursuing Racial Justice on the Adirondack Frontier by Amy Godine.
How long did it take you to write this story?
Probably around three or four months although I did have an outline for more than a year that I sat on.
What part of the story was the most fun or the hardest to write?
Probably the second-to-last scene where the visceral nature of the inhabitants of the Adirondacks becomes apparent.
Is there a particular message that you hope readers will take from the story?
Be careful when traveling through small towns. Smiles can be deceiving.
THE STITCH UP
If you could invite any three authors for dinner, whom would you invite?
Haruki Murakami, Stephen King, and Albert Camus
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve used as a bookmark?
A phone charging cable.
What’s the oldest book on your bookshelf?
In terms of publication date? That would be the English translation of Albert Camus’ A Happy Death - 1972.
In terms of the oldest book that I’ve personally owned? That would be the British edition of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - first edition (2000) which my parents got me for Christmas of that year.
Thanks for chatting with us. This interview is all stitched up.
Learn more about Drew via the links provided, and remember to add The Harvest to your TBR list.
Want more? Catch up on all the Dissecting Author Interviews on the Black Hare Press website here: