Alex Benitez is a thirty year old traveling trainer of a trendy Tex-mex restaurant and a father of a beautiful eight year old girl. He was born in Massachusetts and moved with his family to Sanford Florida when he was eighteen. Throughout his life, Alex had been developing stories as a fun pass time and as a small child would physically act them out in the privacy of his bedrooms. It wasn’t until Alex was 25 did he realize his true calling of writing after he finished his scifi/comedy novel, Rose Star Runners. Alex thinks of himself as a story-teller more than a writer as he has a full bank of stories he needs to tell, but has had no formal training in writing whatsoever. In the near future, Alex plans to publish the second installment of the five part Rose Star Runners series, finish writing the third Rose Star Runners installment, and finish a horror thriller titled High Tower Black. He also, has endless projects stacked up behind those.
Rose Star Runners Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Rose-Star-Runners-213137375375559/?fref=ts
From his short story for Hearts Asunder:
My finger moved! It was just a smidgen, but I had just managed to wiggle one of my fingers. This means whatever drugs causing my paralysis are wearing off. Even though my head feels as heavy as cement, I am able to arch my neck so I can look down at my body.
Both my legs have been severed off from above the knee. I already knew the right one was gone, but the left one is new to me. The unclean stumps are turning new shades of red, black, green and purple as the infection sets in. Belts have been fastened tightly around the rim of the stumps to prevent me from bleeding out. I’m not intended to die yet. I can see blood trickling to the ground off the work bench from the viciously open wounds. I realize some of the droplets I hear is my own blood hitting the floor.
The sack flails around for a moment and my skull slams against the bench. The weight of my head was growing far too heavy and I just couldn’t hold it up any longer. I try to calm myself and continue to mentally recount the events that brought me here.
Alex took a few moments out to answer our interview questions:
1.) Do you have a real life horror story of love gone wrong in your life?
I’d say yes. I think everyone has. Every failed relationship has to have some type of horror tied to it or it’d be a successful relationship. As for a homicidal story as extreme as the one I wrote. No, I haven’t been that lucky yet.
2.) What do you find makes the combination of love and horror such a potent combination?
I believe it’s because they’re the complete polar opposites of the emotional spectrum. Love is supposed to be the greatest force of good, and horror just means evil. To do evil because of love is a very twisted and fascinating concept. Whoever is committing horrors over love has a great emotional range to explore.
3.) What was the source of your inspiration for your Valentine’s Day Horror story?
A Japanese horror movie called The Audition. You want to know how, read the story, watch the movie.