Let The Cat In

The Cat grapples with life's big questions in a super extended go-go mix episode with special guest the sensational Sean Williams, bestselling author of many books and stories, composer and musician (as theadelaidean), all-round Renaissance man, and entertaining meal companion. While Aaron thwacks mandarines at passing trains, Kaaron takes a trip back to the Bishop's widow's snowglobe, and Joseph spies on his neighbours to see what they covet. Sean stresses (a bit too earnestly) that he is not a peeping Tom. Divers issues of character are discussed, as is empathy, hoarding, and 'outside thinking'. Also synchronicity; writing to understand yourself and the world; the hope of life and the acceptance of death. Sean proposes dioramas and a one-second theatre troupe, and gives Joseph a reason not to burn his journals. Aaron puts the theme song to The Neverending Story in everyone's heads – and now it's in yours too! Some of the so-called 'random shit' from this week's episode includes:

• Sean's story Among The Beautiful Living Dead, available in his collection Magic Dirt
• Sean's story Team Sharon, available in the same collection.
• David Cronenberg's The Brood.
• Yevgeny Yevtushenko's poem 'People'.

Check out the episode page for pics and bits.

The Cat gets technical as unparalleled horror editor Ellen Datlow joins the show from NYC, bringing behind-the-scenes insights into the conceptualising, compiling, editing and introduction of her (then) latest anthology, Screams From The Dark. While Joseph gets lost in a Borgesian labyrinth of shoes, Kaaron discovers the smells of the past, and Aaron takes a drubbing for his failure to correctly identify an alpaca. Ellen endorses cannibalism (of one's own stories) and shares anecdotes from her time in Tehachapi Prison. The heart of a story is discussed, as are stories that never quite translate to the page. Also sparks, themes, and those horrible fuck ups, the Greek gods. While the viability of various shoes (and their stories) is considered, Jack the Jerk lurks on the couch.

Some of the oddments discussed in this week's show include:

• Kaaron's story The Smell of Waiting, from Screams From The Dark.
• The artist of V for Vendetta is of course David Lloyd. The Alan Moore essay at the end of is called Behind the painted smile, dodgy copies of which do float around the Internet (but won't be linked to here).
• The novella Joseph is vaguely alluding to is called The Measure of Sorrow, and will be published in 2023 by Meerkat Press in the collection of the same name.
• Aaron's forthcoming collection is called Cut To Care and the novella is Dirty Heads.
• When Kaaron and Ellen say they've "done tools," they're referring to their collaborative project, Tool Tales.
• Steve Martin's Cruel Shoes.

Check out the episode page for pics and bits.

The Cat gets shonky in this bumper episode with a right-royal guest: the monstrously majestic Garth Nix, New York Times bestselling author of the Old Kingdom and Keys to the Kingdom series, and The Left-Handed Booksellers of London. While Aaron risks drowning to save his favourite books, Joseph fixates on random blinking lights, and Kaaron collects children's teeth in a jar – other people's children. Garth coins the 'flop' of a book and finds a tooth in his caramel. The joys of walking are discussed – with or without others – and the enjoyment of books as things of beauty (with or without 'that' smell). Also, the shift in reality as day turns to night, the change in a landscape as seasons revolve, and the shift in meaning as objects change hands over generations. More about teeth. Aaron makes a(nother) confession and Joseph breaks a promise to his 7yo. Garth lets the dog in.

Some oddments from the basement of this episode include:

• Stephen King's Secret Window, Secret Garden
• Ellen Datlow's Fearful Symmetries (which features Garth's story Shay Corsham Worsted)
• A book about a benevolent Chinese sorcerer (which Garth may one day remember the title of)
• X-Files episode The Căluşari and its subsequent novelisation
• Rosemary Sutcliff's Eagle of the Ninth

[And a quick note for all you scrupulous listeners... the other guest with the sliced-head figurine was, of course, Brian Evenson.]

Check out the episode page for pics and bits.

The cat gets sartorial in our latest episode, starring this week's special guest, the unputdownable Kathe Koja, author of The Cipher and the Shirley Jackson Award-winning Velocities. While Kaaron pines for clothes she's given away, Joseph has a clothing crisis, and Aaron makes a startling confession. Kathe brings the FUN – literally – and outlines the basis of her religion. We learn about clothes as a shortcut to character, clothes as armour, and ghosts in the clothes we don't wear but can't give away. Masks are considered—as expression and erasure—as is the malleability of reality. Kathe shares insights into her new immersive project Dark Factory. Kaaron acts out as the British High Commissioner's wife. Joseph relives fancy dress party dread. Aaron finds fifty bucks. FUN (per Kathe's definition) is had by all. Note: The infamous Sheffield cross-dressing party night that Joseph struggles to remember was 'Pyjama Jump'. Some of the odds and bodkins discussed in this episode include:

• Cornell Woolrich in I'm Dangerous Tonight (directed by Tobe Hooper)
• Peter Strickland's movie In Fabric
• Lee Alexander McQueen's Inferno (pictured)
• Immersive theatre company Punchdrunk
• Barry Unsworth's Morality Play (pictured)

Check out the episode page for pics and bits.

Photo credit: Rick Lieder

The cat is back! Ring in the new year with an episode of numinous dimensions, starring this week's special guest, the illimitable Lynda E. Rucker, author of The Moon Will Look Strange and You'll Know When You Get There. Kaaron gets inspired on a long car trip, while Aaron populates the butchers paper of childhood with nightmares. Joseph curses everybody by misnaming the Buddha. Lynda reveals the secrets of the weatherman, and unveils her creative fugue state. Divers topics are discussed: disorientation, dissonance, disbelief; the many oblique angles of weird fiction. The Daphne du Maurier Fan Club is established. Joseph rants trippily about 'the moment' while Aaron wears his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume. Kaaron puts her foot down.

Listener beware! For reasons of variable internet connection, we occasionally lose Lynda to Cylons on the wire.

A few of the oddments discussed in this episode include:

• Kaaron's story, Death's Door Café (which you can read for free in Nightmare Magazine)
• Iain Banks's The Company
• Heatmiser (and the Heatmiser offshoot band that Joseph was struggling to remember, Quasi)
• Carlos Casteneda's The Teachings of Don Juan, A Separate Reality, Journey To Ixtlan and Tales of Power, among others...

Check out the episode page for pics and bits.

In which the cats go deep and get Pavlovian with the singular and extraordinary Brian Evenson, author of The Glassy, Burning Floor Of Hell and Song For The Unravelling Of The World. Kaaron is transported by a box of treasures, Aaron gets lost in Seattle, and Joseph invents the bogus concept of 'Projectionism.' Brian escorts visitors to the grave of H.P. Lovecraft and shows off his Edgar Allen Poe bobblehead. We learn about the power of getting lost, mull on the joys of misperception, and share real experiences with things that definitely are not there. We explore the transformative potential of the 'strange moment,' the lifting of dudgeons with a dollar bill, and the invocation of doing 'the thing' – whatever it may be. The joy and theatre of cinema is considered. Also the toxically bleak philosophies of Thomas Ligotti. Through the distorted lens of a Skype call, everyone wonders whether Brian is, in fact, a psychopath.

DISCLAIMER: Let The Cat In does not endorse going out and getting deathly sick for the purposes of inspiration. So don't do it: wear a fkn mask ppl!

Some of the bitsies riffed on in this show include:

• Brian's flash fiction masterpiece, No Matter Which Way We Turned, which you can read for free at peopleholding.com.
• The brilliant travelogue of Zodiac Mindwarp's Mark Manning and the KLF's Bill Drummond taking a cardboard cutout of Elvis to the North Pole is called Bad Wisdom – and is recommended reading for every triplord who wanted to change the world by doing something pointless and fantastic.
• Ligotti's book of soul-crushing philosophy (among other things) is The Conspiracy Against The Human Race. Strictly not to be read in a state of delusional influenza.
• The creator of the Brian Evenson figure and busts is age designer and illustrator Yves Tourigny.
• Asylum, is the Robert Bloch anthology horror movie.
• Come To Daddy sounds freakin' awesome – immediately add to your TBW pile!

Check out the episode page for pics and bits.

Welcome, welcome! Step right up! Come feast your ears on the most delectable, the most memorious, the most professional podcast we've aired to date. In this show we hang with the wonderful JS Breukelaar, author of The Bridge, Collision, and American Monster, and mull on lost and forgotten things. Kaaron is transported by a smell, Aaron behaves inappropriately with a latex mask, and Masonic bling makes Joseph look like a wanker. Jenny is trolled at Christmas and tells tale of the ring held together by a thousand pot roasts. Divers topics are considered: the writer's relationship with time; converting grief into art; the infinitude of lizards. Aaron brings a bonus mystery.

Kaaron couldn't find a reference to the ancient lizard (in support of Joseph's "Because it's utter bollocks" theory). But she did find this story about another really old lizard – Ol' Rip The Horned Toad. What do you reckon?

Check out the episode page for more pics and bits.

In which a podcast muddles through lockdown with the incontrovertible Paul Tremblay. In this week's show, Kaaron revisits a macabre swimming hole, Joseph gets down with the kids, and Aaron sobs into his keyboard. Paul shares his first art love, his passion for first-person assholes, and the inspiration for his new novel, The Pallbearers' Club. We learn about Meatloaf's broken leg, crowd-surfing possums, and the sartorial habits of fighting fish. Existential revelations about buried mixtapes are unearthed. Bob Mould won't go out for pizza. Paul writes himself into a story. Everyone steals Paul's identity.

Some of the oddments picked out in this week's episode include:

• William Kennedy O'Toole's Confederacy of Dunces
• Sarah Levine's Treasure Island!!!
• Shirley Barrett's The Bus On Thursday
• The Jeffrey Ford story about a roadside museum is called "Word Doll," from his 2016 collection A Natural History of Hell.
• The Scorpions album after Love At First Sting is Savage Amusement.
• And bring on the existential angst with Garfield Minus Garfield.

Check out the episode page for pics and bits.

In which we get the snake vibe with special guest – our first from overseas, and the recent past – the unparallelable John Langan. In this week's show, Aaron compares his writing process to a movie about Sarah Palin, Kaaron focuses on the details, while Joseph imagines everyone naked – with disastrous results for his powers of public speaking. John tries his damnedest not to overuse 'that' and gets cloned from a mosquito in amber. We learn about finding your voice, the value of play, the importance of rewarding your imagination, and a treasury of meaningful remedies for burnout. We learn about con men and the faked life, John's metaphor for consciousness, and the profound morality of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Everyone makes a binding pact to never again eat sausages at Kaaron's.

Some bits and bobs mentioned in this week's show:

• Kate Wilhelm's Storyteller
• Emmanuel Carrère's The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception
• Chuck Wendig on the Talking Scared Podcast
• The idea of the Golden Thread comes from the introduction to William Stafford's The Darkness Around Us Is Deep: Selected Poems, edited by Robert Bly. (But there's also a great video extract of Stafford and Bly discussing the idea.)

Check out the episode page for pics and bits.

In which we welcome the sensational Melinda Smith to our most sensuous, saucy and salacious episode to date! Joseph shares his toilet books and Kaaron shrieks in a bar, while Aaron flogs the pants he's wearing for a mere 50c. Everyone holds sexists to account for their misogyny, and rails against knee-jerk retribution in fiction. Melinda's lei triggers discussion of curses, spurning and Sharon's shit honeymoon to Bali. We learn about the ways in which the pandemic has affected our ideas of intimacy, and of the horrors and enlightenment on Ashley Madison. Everyone has a sneaky peek inside P.R. Ploppit's secret commercial fiction sexy-times novel. Some other odds and ends from this episode include:

• The Ernie Awards
• Black Mirror, S2E1 "Be Right Back"
• Jennifer Egan's A Visit From The Goon Squad
• Run Lola Run
• Daniel Handler's All The Dirty Parts

Check out the episode page for pics and bits.