Who the Fuck is Dean Cade?

Who the fuck am I? I guess that is my existential question. I feel like I know myself pretty well, although time has definitely changed me. Born into Generation X, there have always been ups and downs. Raised by a single parent, I was a latchkey kid who could have been a poster boy for one of the afterschool specials about delinquent kids that were popular back then. I was fascinated by fire and destruction. I went to rehab at 14, then ran away from home, living on and off the streets by choice with my best friend. Ultimately, I had quite a few underworld encounters as a teenager. Some of these experiences have challenged me and offered opportunities for change.

One example was a car wreck that happened when I was nineteen on July 6th, 1990. I was on the verge of enlisting in the Navy. All I needed to do was go back to the recruiter and sign, and my life would change. It was Friday night, and I was hanging out with friends and racing cars in the neighborhood. At an intersection, a random vehicle t-boned us, and my borrowed car spun in a circle and slammed into a telephone pole. I broke the steering column with my right arm, shattering the bone inside. The driver of the other vehicle got out and ran, leaving me in the aftermath. Through ungodly pain, I opened the door to stumble out. I trudged past one friend walking in circles and another lying in glass and blood on the street, and I felt lost. I lay in the grass, and the pain washed away my future.

My other friends were ultimately okay, and all of these years later, I still have a titanium plate and screws in my right arm. Back then, I went to the park to swing and straighten out my messed-up arm, and I thought about how fast the world can change. The Navy was no longer an option, and I decided to come out as gay. I’m just a guy who likes guys, and it took awhile to come to terms with that.

I always escaped into film and dark fiction, and the feelings it brought up fed my creativity. I wanted to work in film first as an FX artist or underground director, but it never quite happened. The car wreck also ended a DIY horror film I was making with other friends. It was heartbreaking to abandon that project and strike the sets in a family-owned abandoned house.

Afterwards, I discovered that the best way to give life to the stories in my head was through the craft of writing. I’ve had to self-learn without a formal education since I dropped out of high school and got a GED. My influences are drive-in movies of all cool genres: horror, action, prison, martial arts, revenge, sci-fi, and twisted drama.

I struggled with my craft for two decades, until I reached a point where I decided that the best way forward was to burn it all down. I have refocused my efforts in a fresh and exciting way, without past attempts anchoring me. This is who I am, and this is who the fuck Dean Cade is.

Currently, I'm working on a new draft of a project that has been close to me for a long time: a fictionalized true crime novel with a gay protagonist.

I’m going to publish the articles every fortnight, and sometime at the end of next year I will unleash a book one way or another.

Dean Cade

Update: I originally posted the above article on X on July 6th, 2024, on the anniversary of my car wreck. The project I was writing a new draft of has been picked up by Slashic Horror Press and will be released as SUMMER 1973 in March 2026. I am so stoked to unleash the book!

May 1st, 2025

Dean Cade

Aftermath of My Car Wreck, July 1990