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At Dark, I Have Hope

It may seem like a contradiction that someone who can write such brutal things is such a lovely and sweet human being, but I think that in this episode, we tapped into a possible reason that it’s not a contradiction at all that Eric Larocca will destroy you with the most stark and frightful words, and smother you with happy thoughts when you talk to him.

The truth is, we all have these dark, extreme thoughts in our minds. We have all been driving down the road and envisioning that moment where we intentionally swerve into oncoming traffic to disastrous results. It lives in all of us, these intrusive thoughts. It’s what we do with those thoughts that speaks to our character.

And I’d argue that it’s terrifically healthy to take these thoughts that we all have, and to have a discussion about them, or to cause ourselves or others to think about them, and to understand them, and to process them.

So, while a story like this book tells isn’t necessarily for everyone all the time, it’s a crucial story to be told, and nobody is doing it better than Eric does.

And while we originally planned to talk about a book with a plot about a character that performs live burial rituals to give hopeless people a chance at rebirth, what we ended up talking about was far more human, and far more healing, and it was still about this book, because I think at the heart of this story is someone who hurts so much and cannot conceive of anything other than the weight of his own misery.

High Praise for Subtle Giants

Eric dedicated this novel to Daniel Kraus, and we started the episode talking about that. I love how Daniel has had such a positive impact on Eric’s career and Eric as a person. I share my observation about Daniel, which is that he casts a far bigger shadow than his humble shape suggests. So if you don’t know much about Mr. Kraus, I suggest you start researching. I particularly enjoyed Whalefall (read it, then listen to my interview with Daniel HERE), but he’s written dozens of books including two posthumously finished coauthorings with George freakin Romero.

Coming Soon

I had a small panic attack today as I was corresponding with folks, and just kept replying to emails. And kept replying. And kept replying. Suddenly, I feel quite busy as a podcaster.

You can count on a discussion soon with Craig Clevenger about his reissue of THE CONTORTIONIST’S HANDBOOK.

Other authors in the next few months include: Chris Panatier, Sam Rebelein, Chuck Wendig, the folks from PUNKS GOES HORROR anthology.

I’m also having conversations about featuring Jon Bassoff, Cynthia Pelayo, and also having Jesse and Greg back on for more Stephen Graham Jones talk!

So, lots in the works that hopefully will be reaching you soon.

For you YouTube folks:

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