Todd Grimson (1952-2025)

Author Todd Grimson, 72, died January 30, 2025. He was best known for surreal horror novel Brand New Cherry Flavor (1996), adapted as a streaming TV series in 2021.

Grimson was a pen name for Todd Spillum, who was born February 2, 1952 in Seattle WA and grew up in Portland OR. Spillum worked for the Veterans Administration Hospital and in a Portland emergency room, experiences that inspired debut novel Within Normal Limits (1987), winner of the Oregon Book Award. Brand New Cherry Flavor and noir vampire novel Stainless (1996) followed; McNally Editions is publishing a reprint of the latter next year.

Grimson was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the 1980s, with his condition growing more serious in the early ’90s. Though his mobility was severely limited, he continued to write, including short fiction under the name I. Fontana. Some of his stories were collected in Stabs at Happiness (2013).

For more, see his obituary in the Portland Tribune.