Maya sits down with her buddy Matt Hartman, who does not like dark or upsetting things, to discuss The Running Man, one of Stephen King's most dark and upsetting novels. Listen to learn all about the origin of King's alter ego Richard Bachman, the different kinds of horror, and whether audio books or physical books are better for humanity. There was also a lot of president talk in this episode, which thankfully got mostly cut out. Sorry if we accidentally left in anything about presidents. 

Links you might want after listening:

You've probably noticed that there's kind of a lot of Stephen King movies happening right now... but this is the one you should actually watch. Join Maya, her husband, and special guest The Wolfman as they discuss The Flanopticon (that's what we call the cinematic universe of director Mike Flanagan), the many connections Doctor Sleep has to The Shining (both movies AND both books), and all the reasons why if you think this wasn't a good movie you are wrong. 

Some more things for you:

It's unclear whose idea it was to read this particular book, but Maya and her pals Ana (a writer, and also a Stephen King first-timer!) and Duncan (a normally reasonable person who unforgivably quit The Dark Tower halfway through) read it, and now you have the chance to learn a lot about everything from baseball to shit weasels. Plus, as it turns out, this story is much more than a coming-of-age story about a little girl lost in the woods... or is it? 

Sidenote: duh, tragic endings, how could I forget about Running Man!!! Let me know if you can think of any other good ones! You can always email me or send in a voice message at anchor.fm/derry-connection.