NORWICH – Oxford Academy and Central School graduate, Dustin Warburton, recently published his ninth book with boxer Hector “Machito” Camacho Jr.

Born and raised in McDonough, NY, Dustin Warburton began gathering material for his writing at an early age. “Every place has that house. You know? Every town has its story,” said Warburton, referring to the inspiration he garnered from growing up in a small town.

At the early age of 17, Warburton wrote his very first work – a short horror piece titled “Prologue.” The story was a fictionalization based on life in McDonough. “Prologue” was published for the first time in 1999, while Warburton was a senior in school when he was accepted to the New England Young Writer's Conference.

In 2006, Warburton's first full length book was released. The book is titled “Taste.” The book came into being as Warburton decided to expand “Prologue” into a longer story. Warburton describes the book as a horror novella based on McDonough. “What better way to honor where I grew up – a place that nobody knows – than to fictionalize it,” said Warburton. “It's like paying homage to it.” Warburton is currently working on a sequel to “Taste.”

In 2007, Warburton released his second book called “Strange Things,” a book of short horror stories all done by different authors. When this title was released, Warburton was working in a maximum security prison in Vermont, going to college full time, and competing as a boxer. “I loved horror by the time I was done with college,” said Warburton, “After prison, I saw horror in a different way – I was working for so long in a negative environment with society's worst.”