New year, another new author! Say hello to R.G. Pagano, whose debut fiction will be an early 2027 release. Here’s the official bio for the latest addition to the Type Eighteen Books family:

R.G. lives in Newton, Massachusetts. He resided in Italy for a time and often travels there with his wife, drawing on those experiences for his poems, short fiction, and creative nonfiction. Vivid images within a story that gradually unfurls while filling our senses in the moment and building a quiet sense of tension around mystery drive his passion for writing.

His literary work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Account: A Journal of Poetry, Prose, and Thought; Harrow House Journal; Lunch Ticket; SQUID Online Journal; Thirteen Bridges Review; and Italian anthologies Ho Girato il Mondo per Incontrarti and Nei Miei Occhi, Tu (each associated with the Premio San Valentino – Atripalda, Italy). His debut collection of poems, Burnt Fields Under Snow, is forthcoming from Kelsay Books in 2026.

Per usual, we asked our talented writer some questions about his life and inspirations. Read on!

Who are some of your favorite authors, and why?

When I think about some of my favorite authors, the following comes to mind: imagination, mystery, and storytelling.

For imagination, Haruki Murakami and David Mitchell are favorites. Murakami for how he blurs reality into something else. The City and Its Uncertain Walls is on my reading list, not only because of its imaginative aspects but because it is based on a short story he had written years before. Mitchell for his ability to create multiple storylines that ultimately connect together, sometimes across centuries. Cloud Atlas is an example of that.

For mystery, John Grisham and Donna Tartt are favorites. Grisham for his fast pacing. I particularly liked his Camino Island book. Tartt for her ability to create characters that resonate. Here, I’m thinking about her first novel The Secret History.

For storytelling, Ernest Hemingway and Jhumpa Lahiri are favorites. Hemingway for his ability to create a seemingly simple story but with a lot of punch. I loved The Old Man and The Sea. Lahiri for her ability to convey a story with a kind of inflection point that brings it all together. I enjoyed reading her Interpreter of Maladies.

Turning the question around, asking about favorite books, makes me think of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. For me, it represents storytelling at its best. Once I heard an audio version of the book, and I loved how it sounded out loud.

When did you know you were a writer?

I was about 10 years old and a new member of the Book Tree Club at the Harrison Public Library in New York.

Maybe being a member triggered this idea of writing. Maybe it was listening to family share their stories, among them tall tales of paranormal events; maybe the endless stream of movies my dad and I watched together; maybe all of that or some other mix of storytelling. The NYC theatre production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown comes to mind too. Or, maybe it’s just in my DNA.

Whatever it was, I knew then that that writing would be my true passion.

Where were you born? Do you think the places of our lives inform our writing?

I was born and raised in Westchester County, New York. Later, I lived in Wisconsin during my undergraduate years, Connecticut for a brief time, California on two occasions, and finally in Massachusetts, my current home. Throughout those years, I also found opportunities to reside in Saudi Arabia and Italy.

Italy informs my writing the most.

Through previous residences and annual visits, Italy feels more like a second home where experiences are often reflected in my literary work. I wrote first drafts of what would become my forthcoming debut collection of poems, Burnt Fields Under Snow, while living in Bassano del Grappa (Veneto region). The collection combines aspects of a journal, memoir, and reminiscence primarily within the context of an Italian experience.

Where would you vacation—city, country, beach, or mountains?

My wife Nancy and I regularly vacation in Italy. In the 30 years we have been married, in addition to residing in Bassano del Grappa, we have returned nearly every year, sometimes twice in one year. Bassano is among our favorite places, along with Venice, Ischia Island (in the Gulf of Naples), Maddalena archipelago (in Sardinia), and Favignana, which is part of the Aegadian Islands (in Sicily).

Our preference leans towards an island, not only to swim and hike but also to create our art. Nancy works in watercolors; I write. Some years ago, we spent an entire month in Venice where Nancy completed an extensive set of watercolors while I wrote an initial draft of the short story, “In a Kind of Purgatory,” forthcoming from SQUID Online Journal.

We plan to spend more time in Italy, a month or more, during future visits.

What do you think is the most important part of storytelling?

For me, the essential part of storytelling is creating a believable protagonist that connects with the reader in a way that elicits some level of empathy, some identification.

The reader journeys along and feels the obstacles the way the protagonist does, even if they arise from an inner conflict and better yet if they are related to some universal theme. This identification puts the reader in the story, which is sustained through the rising engagement created by the tension, the reader’s need to know more, and how the story might end. This connection reaches its peak during and after the resolution, which could even strengthen reader’s identification with the protagonist.

My aim for any story is simply to leave a beautiful aftertaste in the mind of the reader.

Follow: R.G. Pagano on Instagram.