Episode 007 – Robert Stahl | MAKE // BREAK

Robert E. Stahl is the Dallas-based horror author behind Show Me Where It Hurts (JournalStone, 2025), a debut collection of 30 short stories and poems exploring grief, transformation, and the monstrous within. A former bartender turned writer and filmmaker, Stahl built his voice at the intersection of prose and comics, drawing on influences like Swamp Thing while developing a pragmatic editing and submissions routine. In this episode of MAKE // BREAK with host Lance Marwood, he breaks down the “rejection math” behind landing pro-market placements, the origins of that unforgettable teeth cover, and the mindset that carried him from first readers to a book deal and Texas tour. It’s equal parts craft talk, resilience playbook, and indie-publishing reality check.

👀 What you’ll hear

• Distil the title and teeth cover into a surprising origin story from a poem and a monster

• Share the rejection-to-acceptance ratio and how persistence finally cracked pro markets

• Explain how Swamp Thing and Monkey’s Paw tropes shaped a devastating reunion scene

• Map the indie publishing path through grief, resilience, and landing with JournalStone

• Detail a pragmatic editing system — cooling time, trusted first readers, revision boundaries

• Offer brass-tacks routines for writing, submissions, and surviving the industry’s noes

🕰️ Chapters

00:00 Why Show Me Where It Hurts and the iconic teeth cover

01:52 Rejections, first pro-market sales, contest experiences

04:29 Political horror and placing in Story Unlikely

06:20 Swamp Thing influence and Monkey’s Paw mechanics

10:18 Publishing gauntlet, grief, and finding JournalStone

13:28 Resilience mindset — “the action is the juice”

16:39 Blood onstage story and Halloween gig

17:50 Books that reset creatives — King, Pressfield, Gilbert

18:44 Comics craft — Moore, Hickman, Gaiman shaping horror voice

25:37 Contemporary horror influences — Jones, Ketchum, Barker

39:45 Top films — Hereditary, The Descent, Talk To Me

48:06 Editing, first readers, routine, and rejection-proof habits

🔗 Guest Links

https://www.robertestahl.com/

https://www.instagram.com/robert_e_stahl_author/

https://www.facebook.com/RobertEStahlAuthorhttps://x.com/RobertStahlTX

🔗 MAKE // BREAK & Host Links

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/makebreak

https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish

https://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish

🔗 V13 Media Links

https://v13.net

If this helped, subscribe and tell us in the comments how you handle rejection in the publishing grind

(explicit language)

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