I read The End In All Beginnings by John F.D. Taff back in 2014 and became a fan of his for life. In fact, that collection, which would go on to become a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award, made such an impression on me I felt compelled to write an essay on it. And, no, I don’t normally make a habit of writing unpaid essays for fun. That’s how much that collection moved me.

Words typically come easy, but not when expressing the strange twists of fate that have led to a time when an author who...