Inspiration for Writers’ webmaster and media guy Eric Fritzius is a freelance all around creative dude. His most recent publication is a theatrical monologue for In the Midst: A COVID-19 Anthology. His nonfiction writing also includes a chapter in Writerly Advice, a collection of essays on writing from West Virginia Writers, Inc., as well as articles in The Charleston Gazette, West Virginia Daily News, the in-house magazine for The Greenbrier Resort, and nearly a dozen in Greenbrier Valley Quarterly magazine. His award-winning fiction has appeared in the 2008 WV Writers’ anthology Mountain Voices, the 2010 Woodland Press Anthology Dark Tales of Terror, the Autumn 2011 issue of Greenbrier Valley Quarterly Magazine, and the anthology Diner Stories: Off the Menu from Mountain State Press. His short story “Moments in Turmeric” won first place in the Appalachian Writing category of the 2011 West Virginia Writers’ Annual Writing Contest. His short story “Native Arts” (later renamed “The Ones that Aren’t Crows”) won second place in the Animals category of the same contest. That story, with its new title, went on to become a finalist in the 2015 Prime Number Magazine awards.
In 2015 Eric published a collection of his short stories called A Consternation of Monsters. The audio book for this collection is also available through Amazon, iTunes, Audible and other online audio retailers.
His short plays have been performed in such regional states as West Virginia, Ohio, Virginia and now north of the Mason-Dixon at the 2017 10 x 10 Play Festival at the Barrington Theatre in Pittsfield, MA. Mr. Fritzius has also directed plays for GVT, as well as at the Pocahontas County Opera House where he directed an annual summer theatrical production from 2016-2018.
An audiobook narrator by day, Eric’s voice has been featured on multiple books by S.D. Smith, such as Smith’s Tales of Old Natalia series including The Black Star of Kingston, The Wreck and Rise of Whitson Mariner , and Prince Lander and the Dragon War. He also narrated three books in Smith’s Green Ember Archer series, including The Last Archer, The First Fowler, and The Archer’s Cup. He has also narrated Valerie Nieman’s WV-set ecological horror novel To the Bones, the Christian romantic thriller Mississippi Nights by D.M. Webb, the short story collection How to Carry Bigfoot Home by Chris Tarry, and his own audio book A Consternation of Monsters. You can hear samples from all of these at Eric’s website, MisterHerman.com.
Eric’s graphic designs have graced the covers of such books as Buckle Up, Buttercup and Jackson Vs. Witchy Wanda: Making Kid Soup by Belinda Anderson; WV Writers Seeking the Swan anthology; Blind Fear by Rebecca Conrad; Frontier Surgeon by James Banks; The Trial of Rush Givens by Robert Elkins, Hero Birds by Emmitt Maxwell Furner, Fond Memories of Fonda by Joanne L.F. Bly, the Gold series by Don Kesterson, including The President’s Gold, Gold of the Spirits and Tarnished Gold, as well as his Pawns series including Pawns: Magic Bullet, Pawns: Kings in Check, and Pawns: Stalemate, as well as Kesterson’s latest espionage thriller, Chopstix. He has designed three novels by David C. Brown, Concrete Girl, Gap Hollow, and Sandlick Hollow. He also designed the cover for his own collection of short stories, A Consternation of Monsters. Listen to the podcast adaptation promoting the book at MisterHerman.com.
Below are examples of his cover designs. Click on the images for larger versions.
