Behind Your Face There is a Place

In this episode, we get into the terrifying paranoia, gaslighting, and more in Ira Levin's classic, Rosemary's Baby. Shirley Jackson Award winner R.A. Busby (Words Made of Flesh) joins me for this convo, where we also dive into some of her short fiction as well, and and see how Levin's perils of pregnancy--especially when people around you are trying to make decisions for you about your own body--are still painfully relevent.

Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Ghost Eaters and What Kind of Mother, joins the podcast for an Author's Commentary episode!

The bestselling author of House of Salt & Sorrows, the upcoming The Thirteenth Child and much more joins me for an Author's Commentary episode that is, surprisingly, largely free of spoilers for a change. We talk about alterations she's had to make to her books, as well as other parts of the art and craft of novel writing.

Jamie Mason (The Hidden Things, Monday's Lie, Three Graves Full) jumps on to talk about the scares last act of The Exorcist, and to teach me a turn of phrase or two.

This episode I'm joined by Agatha Andrews, writer and host of the She Wore Black podcast, to discuss Neil Gaiman's excellent short story, "The Price," which can be listened for free, with the author's blessing (and hypnotic narration) at the following YouTube link: https://youtu.be/QzxFjfB8Dfk?si=4y9CBQ7srhcXC-l8 (from SIlverFish Creative).

This week I'm joined by Peter Rosch, author and radio show host, for "Studying the Scares," where we talk about why we think certain stories and moments are so effective at scaring us. We kick this topic off with Poltergeist (1982), a movie laden with so many scares to analyze that we had to talk about practically the whole thing.

Cynthia Pelayo sheds light on the original ideas she had for her latest novel, Forgotten Sisters, and changes she made to the story, some larger than others. She also concludes the podcast with perhaps the most humorously timed description of something horribly gruesome that I've ever heard. If you only listen to one podcast episode all year, that would be weird, but I hope it's this one.About the Show: Conversations with creative guests, broadly, but not strictly about one of three possible subjects:I LOVED THIS! - In which the guest gets to gush about a story they are absolutely in love with.Author's Commentary - In which the guest author talks about deleted scenes, changed characters and other alterations they've mad to one (or more) of their stories.Studying the Scares - In which the guest picks a moment from a work of horror (or, perhaps, the entire work, if they just can't narrow it down) so we can talk about what makes it so effective and memorable, as well as the influence it has had on them.Theme Music: "Mysterious Blues Guitar Logo" by Remstunes - used with Envato LicenseLead-in Music: "Everything You Know is a Myth" by Crypt-of-Insomnia - used with Envato LicenseCut-in Music: "Mystery Clock Suspense" by Crypt-of-Insomnia - used with Envato License