Photograph by R. Samuel Klatchko.

Dean Estes is a longtime resident of San Francisco. He contributed a few stories, sidebars, and one illustration to Morbid Curiosity magazine. His topics have included the phenomenon of sleep paralysis and "night terrors" and an experience of small-town prejudice on the Fourth of July. His interests include contemporary political intrigue, scientific approaches to cooking, and vinyl Japanese monster toys. “Gilding the Afterlife: My Pubescence in the Bathtub of the Dead” was his first story for the magazine and was its most-requested reprint. He read it last night at Books, Inc.

Q: What does morbid curiosity mean to you?

A: I used to think of it as rubbernecking. I've come to think of it as perfectly natural human curiosity. I sometimes use the phrase to justify unusual interests, because of the wonderfully colorful connotation of mortality. 

Q: How did you discover Morbid Curiosity magazine?

A: Loren has been a friend for longer than she's been producing the magazine, so it was only natural that I knew of it once the project was under way. The real discovery was in just how great the material sent to Loren by potential contributors turned out to be.

Q: How did the piece you have in the book come to be written?

A: I had been thinking about my Mormon childhood and my adulthood distance from it, and considered that the novel experience of having been inside one of the church's temples might make for an interesting descriptive piece. Morbid Curiosity offered an opportunity to give the idea some form, which I hope was both funnier and more poignant than mere description.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to add to that story now?

A: If I were to write a corollary or afterword, it would probably be a story unto itself. When my stepfather died, the bishop who'd pulled the psych stunt in the story presided over the service. It was the first time since that incident that we had seen one another. For over twenty years, I had thought that this was the one person in my life whom it would be appropriate for me to read the riot act to and tell off, but of course one doesn't behave that way at a funeral, if ever at all. The decorum of the circumstance prevented the conflicted thoughts in my head from being expressed and I had to reconcile with the conflict once again. Perhaps there's some material to expand on in that. 

Q: Did you have more than one piece in the magazine?

A: Three of my stories saw print. My favorite began life as an email, titled "Fourth of July" and delivered on that date to friends who knew the protagonists. Since the recipients knew my "voice," there was no need to edit, as I wasn't considering the possibility of a broader readership. I didn't hold back stylistically or in sentiment. I'd like to think the spontaneous sincerity is the piece's strength. (Editor’s note: "Fourth of July" was published in Morbid Curiosity #5.)

Q: What was your favorite story in the zine that wasn’t your own?

A: I loved many but, off the top of my head, one by my friend Jeff Dauber about a home raccoon infestation (“Nocturnal Visitors,” MC#6) that was both fascinating and hilarious, and another by an author whose name I regretfully don't recall about his experience of working as a research assistant for Fox's old television show "The X-Files," which ended on such a perfect note that the tale remained in memory. (Editor’s note: That’s “Proof of My Xistence” by Lee Smith, published in Morbid Curiosity #3.)

Q: Do you have a tale to tell about your involvement with the magazine or the book?

A: Because of fond acquaintances with several of the writers and the editor, the magazine and its associated events have been a part of the web of friendships that define extended family in my life. It's clearly been a journey for many of the writers whom I only know via the magazine as well. Aside from that, my experience is the same of the readers. When people really open up about unusual experiences, it makes for engaging writing, shared experience, and opportunity for new perspectives. I'm a fan.

Q: Have you ever been involved in one of the live events?

A: I've read at several of the live events over the years. The audiences are generously attentive and the reception always positive. Material of such a personal nature that's already fascinating in print becomes much more real, revealing, and emotional when read aloud by the author. My favorite reading was a Halloween event at which a young man from the audience introduced himself and said that my story on sleep paralysis had helped him accept and come to terms with his own experiences with that condition. That was humbling and gratifying -- and made me feel a little less odd for having had the experience as well.

Q: Have you had another morbid experience that would make a good story?

A: Of course, but I'm not telling!

Q: What are you up to these days?

A: I'm still enjoying life in San Francisco, still insatiably curious. I don't have a diary blog, but did create one as a repository for a morbid interest in what I think of as "personal" photos that people share openly on P2P networks. It's at: http://photosphound.blogspot.com/