David Fulmer is an American author, journalist, and filmmaker.

Biography

Born Thurston David Fulmer, to Thurston (1924–2012) and Flora (née Prizzi) Fulmer (1925-2020) in Northumberland, Pennsylvania (pop 3,714). He is Sicilian on his mother's side and English, German, and Dutch on his father's. He worked as a reporter and photographer at local newspapers during and after high school. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1971 and became a photographer attached to IDHS Section of the USAREUR Intelligence Center in Heidelberg, Germany. On May 24, 1972, his location was bombed by the Baader-Meinhof Gang shortly after he left his building and three of his co-workers were killed. From 1974-1979 he was married to Suzanne Mercier, a native of Sydney, Australia. After his discharge from the Army in 1974, they spent a year in State College, PA and a year in Lewisburg, PA before moving to Atlanta, Georgia. He worked as a bartender at Rose's Cantina (later known as the 688 Club) while attending Georgia State University. In 2013, he married Sansanee Sermprungsuk, a research librarian. They reside in East Atlanta. His daughter Italia was born in 1996 and she and her husband Adam Kostrinsky gave birth to their first child on May 31st, 2023.

Career

As an author, Fulmer has written and published eleven novels and one novella since 2001, along with several short stories. As a journalist, he has written about music and other subjects for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Southline, Atlanta Magazine, City Life, Markee, Georgia Music Magazine, Blues Access, Il Giornale, Goodlife, Advertising Age, The Atlanta Tribune, Creative Loafing, and BackStage. He has also worked as a welder, a display fabricator, and a bartender.

Fulmer wrote and produced the documentary Blind Willie's Blues (1997),^[1] which Video Librarian called "nothing less than the economic, social, and historical evolution of America's indigenous music". He also wrote and produced the Americana audio series for National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate WABE-FM and WMLB-AM, both in Atlanta. He is the co-producer with Michael Reeves of "Piano Red – The Lost Atlanta Tapes", a CD collection by rock-and-roll legend Piano Red, released in August 2010 on Landslide Records. During his freelance career, he worked as a welder, a renovation carpenter, a set-builder, and a bartender. As a communications professional, he worked in the motorsports industry as Media Director for the Panoz Schools and Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia (1988–1999). From 2006 to 2020, he taught his "Fiction Shop" classes and workshops at various locations around the southeast. He is currently represented by literary agent Laura Langlie and dramatic-rights agent Mary Pender of the United Talent Agency.

Works

In 2001, Fulmer's first novel, Chasing the Devil's Tail, was released by Poisoned Pen Press. Harcourt Books purchased the paperback rights in 2003, and then contracted with Fulmer for five more novels. Two of Fulmer's novels won national literary awards: Chasing the Devil's Tail won the Shamus Award (2002)^[2] and Rampart Street won the Benjamin Franklin Award^[3] (2007). His novel The Blue Door was nominated for the 2009 Shamus Award for Best Novel. Fulmer's work has received high praise from such publications as Publishers Weekly,^[4] The New York Times,^[5] The Washington Post,^[6] USA Today,^[7] The Boston Globe,^[8] Atlanta Journal-Constitution,^[9] San Francisco Chronicle,^[10] Booklist,^[11] Library Journal,^[12] and Kirkus Reviews.^[13] Beginning in April, 2017. Crescent City Books began new releases of the entire Valentin St. Cyr series, beginning with "Chasing the Devil's Tail." "Eclipse Alley", his sixth Valentin St. Cyr mystery, was released by Crescent City Books in October, 2017 and "The Day Ends at Dawn," the seventh and final novel in the series in January, 2019. In July 2022, he released "Drowning on Dry Land," a podcast about his 2019 journey in and out of psychosis. His thirteenth novel, with the working title "The Book of Numbers," will be released in 2024.

Awards

Chasing the Devil's Tail

• Winner, AudioFile Earphones Award
• Nominee, 2004 Falcon Award
• Nominee Best Novel - Los Angeles Times Book Prize
• Winner, Shamus Award for Best First Novel
• Nominee, Barry Award for Best Mystery
• "Best New Series", Booklist
• "Hottest Beach Read" - Books Read Lately

Jass

• 2006 Georgia Author of the Year Award for Fiction
• "Best of 2005 List" – Library Journal
• "Best of 2005 List" – The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
• "Best of 2005 List" – Deadly Pleasures Magazine

Rampart Street

• 2007 Benjamin Franklin Award for Adult Fiction Audiobook^[3]
• New York magazine "Best Novel You've Never Read"

The Dying Crapshooter's Blues

• "Ice Pick of the Month" – Booklist, January 2007

The Blue Door

• "2008 Best of the Shelf" – Atlanta magazine
• Nomination for "2009 Shamus Award for Best Novel"

References