I am the author of twelve published books in 13 years. My first was an autobiography published in March 2009 and titled “Three Buck Naked Commodes: and 18 More Tales from a Small Town.” That was followed a year later by my dark urban novel “Remnants: A Novel about God, Insurance and Quality Floor Coverings.” I followed this with two eNovels – “Trapped Under the Pack Ice” and “Bad Day at the Amusement Park” in 2011. In 2012 I released my horror novel “Standers” via Iron Cauldron Press.
In 2013 I was awarded a contract with History Press/Arcadia Publishing to write my first history book, “Richmond Independent Press: A History of the Underground Zine Scene.” This was written while I was a full-time graduate student pursuing my MFA in creative writing. This book was then nominated for a Library of Virginia (LVA) Literary award in non-fiction. This was followed by “Independent Press in DC and Virginia: An Underground History,” which was also nominated for an LVA Literary award in non-fiction. In 2015 I began researching “Virginia State Penitentiary: A Notorious History,” and that book was released in October 2017.
On March 1, 2019, my ninth book and fifth novel, “Naked Savages” was released nationally. Later in 2019, I released my tenth book in ten years, “Theme Park Babylon.” Both of these books were published by HJH Media, an imprint I created myself through Ingram Content Group.
On Sept. 7, 2020, my history book "Railroaded" was released worldwide. It is the true stories of the first 100 executions in Virginia's electric chair during Jim Crow, between 1908 and 1920.
My book "Closing the Slaughterhouse: The Inside Story of Death Penalty Abolition in Virginia," was released worldwide on May 6, 2022 by Abolition Press, a Richmond-based imprint.
In 2014 I was awarded the “Best Non-Fiction” award by VCU’s English department for my story “Youth Used Dynamite Sticks for Firecrackers.”
Also, on my website https:// www.dalebrumfield.net I write a blog called Theme Park Babylon, which is also based on my years there. It is one of the most popular theme park blogs in America, based on visits.
All this time I was also writing arts features, history columns, and guest editorials and op-eds. Since 2009 I have written over 100 back page editorials, arts feature stories and cover stories for Richmond’s Style Weekly magazine. I have won numerous awards from the Virginia Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies for my work with Style, including a national first place with my 2010 cover story about the once-lost movie “Rock N Roll Hotel,” which I located in a closet in Culver City, California and now own the only circulating copy in the world. I have taken this film to various venues for presentation, including the Cinedelphia Film Festival in Philadelphia, the Cinefamily Film Festival in Los Angeles and the Olympia Film Festival in Washington state.
While a graduate student from 2012-2015 in addition to my full-time course load and the two books on the alternative press I wrote six monthly history columns for the Commonwealth Times and had two non-fiction stories accepted by the Rappahannock Review at Virginia’s Mary Washington University. One of these, “Death Row Report,” was nominated by the Review for a Pushcart Prize, the most prestigious prize in American literature.
Since graduating with my MFA in 2015, I have written 13 feature stories for Richmond Magazine, a major feature story for the Austin Chronicle, over a dozen feature stories for Richmond’s “North of the James” magazine, feature stories on civil rights for the Detroit Free Press and USA Today, six guest op-eds for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, a feature for the Richmond Free Press, and over 175 history stories and guest op-eds for the Staunton (Virginia) News-Leader and Petersburg Progress-Index.
In December 2018 I began contributing to the online magazine Medium.com, and at https://medium.com/@dalebrumfield I have over 100 stories published. I receive about 3,000 readers per week and am a designated top history writer in my own “American Grotesk” genre.
Between these newspapers and magazines, and including Facebook and LinkedIn, I have over 300 stories circulating somewhere online. I estimate I have also about 25 stories in various stages of research and completion.
Follow me on Medium at https://dalebrumfield.medium.com/follow
