Something Rather Than Nothing

Blair Bathory has been creating works of horror for many years. She began her career as maestro of the macabre when she was just 19-years-old. Beginning with a 3-minute short film entitled ‘First Date: A Modern Love Story’, Blair wrote, directed, and produced the short film. Instantly gaining a large following after premiering the film online, she decided to follow her success with another film.

Immediately following, Blair wrote another short horror film, but this time at longer length and more ambitious. Planning to create a full foam-latex creature suit she set out to raise the money for production through crowdfunding. After successfully garnering three-times what she asked for; Kitty, Kitty was shot and completed in 2014. It was invited to many film festivals around the world and eventually released online in 2016.

In the process of creating her own horror stories, Blair quickly realized the lack of platforms that short form filmmakers had to showcase their work. Furthermore, she felt the need for a centralized location for the massive amounts of short horror films in existence. With her love for anthology shows like ‘The Twilight Zone’, ‘Tales from the Crypt’, and ‘Goosebumps’ she saw an opportunity to combine the two mediums. From her years of working within the genre and meeting so many talented filmmakers, Blair had an arsenal of films to choose from.

In May of 2015, Blair Bathory rose from the grave and lit the candles inside FEAR HAUS. Once a week The Lady of the Haus introduces her Victims to one new short horror film. Showcasing independent directors from all over the world, an audience quickly grew. Since its conception, Blair has been invited to host a night of horror films at The Rome International Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, Frightfest and many others around the world. Also, in 2017 Blair took the position of Festival Director at The Spooky Empire Film Festival - running that for the next three years.

Spooky Empire, one of the nations largest genre conventions, was a massive success and gave Blair yet another opportunity to see the best of the best in independent horror cinema first. FEAR HAUS helmed by Blair has done brand activations now at DreamHack, the world’s largest streaming convention, and a tour with across the East Coast sponsored by several liquor companies.

Currently, she is the new host for the widely successful podcast Something Scary, which boasts over 3 million fans.

Blair’s personal social media platforms are highly popular and she reaches over 250,000 fans.

YouTube 

TikTok 

Instagram

Craig Randall is a poet, author, and teacher who lives in beautiful Corvallis, OR with his wife, children, two cats and dog. A passionate advocate for mental-health, his body of work is a byproduct of his own battles with anxiety and depression and has served as a vehicle for empathy, healing, and connection. His works include two novels, The Doom that Came to Astoria, and The Dreams in the Pearl House (the first two books in The Northwest Trilogy) and two collections of poetry, To Chase the Sun, and Among the Wildflowers. A third novel and two more collections of poetry are coming soon.

Craig Randall Website

SRTN Website

Alex Fine is an illustrator living and working in the Baltimore area. He spends his time creating art for various magazines, book publishers, and advertising firms…and most importantly, dressing his cat Roger in fancy neck ties.

Alex Fine SIte

Chloe Niclas was a guest on SRTN 189.

Episode 189

Leanna Renee Hieber is an actress, playwright, ghost tour guide and the award-winning, bestselling author of over fourteen Gothic, Gaslamp Fantasy, Supernatural Suspense and Non-Fiction books for adults and teens with publishers such as Tor, Sourcebooks and Kensington Books. A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts, co-authored with Andrea Janes, is a 2022 Bram Stoker Award finalist for "Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction". The book explores the intersection of women's history and ghost stories.

Her Strangely Beautiful saga, beginning with The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, hit Barnes & Noble and Borders Bestseller lists and garnered numerous regional genre awards. Tor Books notes Strangely Beautiful as a "foundational text of Gaslamp Fantasy" and new, revised editions are now available via Tor. Darker Still hit American Bookseller's Association's "Indie Next List", was a Scholastic Book Club "Highly Recommended" title and a Daphne du Maurier award finalist.

The Spectral City was a # 1 bestseller across several genres and digital platforms. A 4-time Prism Award winner for excellence in the genre of Fantasy Romance, Leanna's short stories have been featured in notable anthologies and her books have been selected for national book club editions as well as translated into many languages. She lectures on Gothic fiction and ghostly themes for prominent institutions such as New York University, Miami University and at conventions, libraries and conferences around the country.

A proud member of Actors Equity and SAG-AFTRA, Mystery Writers of America, SFWA, Historical Novel Society, International Thriller Writers and The Dramatists Guild, she lives in New York where she is a licensed NYC tour guide working with Boroughs of the Dead and has been featured on television in Mysteries at the Museum and Beyond the Unknown, discussing Victorian Spiritualism. She tours a one-woman show as 19th century designer Clara Driscoll and is represented by Sara Megibow and Chelsea Hensley of the KT Literary Agency. She tweets often @leannarenee

Em Grebner-Gaddis is a self-professed plant nerd with a love of history and story-telling. She started Rooted to share her passion for plants, and as many cursed history facts as she can. 

Rooted is a weekly podcast diving into the tall tales & true stories of plants. If you like folklore, history, plant facts, and terrible puns, you're going to dig this show..

ROOTED

Suzanne (Suziey) Block was born in Fenton, Michigan. She graduated from Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan where she studied film/video production and theater. Suziey made her film debut in a small scene in Michael Bay's The Island before moving to Los Angeles, California. 

This Scream Queen steals the show in Horror in the High Desert, Horror in the High Desert 2: Minerva, Entrance, Wonder Valley and more . . . 

Suziey Insta

Ryan Brosmer is a cartoonist and illustrator who lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with his wife, two dogs, and four cats. He aims to create stories that meet at the intersection of classic Saturday morning cartoons and newspaper comics. Ryan has been creating comics all his life except for a brief period between ages 10 and 32. He probably has something new out now or coming soon found here:

https://www.instagram.com/awfulquiet/

Alise Versella is a twice Pushcart nominated contributing writer for Rebelle Society and the author of the full length poetry collection When Wolves Become Birds (Golden Dragonfly Press 2021).  Her chapbook Maenads of the 21st Century is due out with dancing girl press and her collection A Psalm for the Weary is out this April 2023 with Alien Buddha Press. She has been widely published in various magazine and journals as well as long listed for Palette Poetry's 2021 Sappho Prize and a nomination for Best of the Net. 

You can find her at www.aliseversella.com

Victoria Astuto is an actress, musician, and educator based in New York.  She is most known for her roles in Some Time Soon and Trusted Hands.  In addition to acting, she also plays Clarinet with the Brooklyn Wind Symphony and is a Band Director in the Hudson Valley.

Matthew Kyle Levine is a filmmaker based in New York City. His short films have won awards and played at numerous film festivals throughout North America, including the Williamsburg Independent Film Festival and the Canada Shorts Film Festival.

Watch 'Some Time Soon' and Levine's other films here: 

MKL VIMEO

Lauren Bright Pacheco is 3-time Emmy Award-winning Producer, Podcast Host, Media Writer and Storyteller.

You should know her spellbinding work on:

Happy Face Presents

Murder in Oregon

The Murders at White House Farm 

Murder in Illinois

And as the producer of:

Speed of Sound with Steve Greenberg 

Wholly Human with LeAnn Rimes.