Staring Into the Abyss: A Podcast

It's our sex and politics episode as author Kev Harrison (The Balance) joins us to discuss Nadia Bulkin's short story contribution to the Dim Shores Looming Low anthology with "Live Through This."

Before we discuss Nadia's story, though, we talk about the Waco miniseries, Stephen King's latest release, If It Bleeds, Richard Matheson's Hell House, John Everson's Cage of Bones & Other Deadly Obsessions, Sole Survivor by Zachary Ashford, Ross Jeffery's Juniper, the film Butt Boy, and Andre Duza's Don't F[Bleep]k with the Coloureds.

After that, it's on to our spoiler-filled discussion of "Live Through This," small-town culture, collective guilt, and the intersection of art and politics.

The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring

Follow Kev Harrison on Twitter: @LisboetaIngles

This week, hosts Scott Kemper, author Michael Patrick Hicks, and Matt Brandenburg are joined by Kyle Rader, author of My BFF Satan, to discuss the work of Junji Ito, Ito's short story "Smashed," and how it relates to '80s PSAs and Gallagher. We also review the Kristen Stewart horror flick Underwater, Wile E. Young's splatterpunk western Magpie Coffin, Victor LaValle's The Devil in Silver, and the films Sea Fever and The Blind Dead.

The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring

In this special episode of Staring Into The Abyss, publisher Jason Sizemore and managing editor Lesley Conner join us to discuss the return of Apex Magazine and the Kickstarter campaign to fund it. We also talk about the acclaimed indie horror film The Endless, Todd Keisling's Scanlines, the TV series Hannibal, Lucio Fulci, and Tim Waggoner's Blood Island! For our spoiler-filled Story of the Week discussion, we're talking all about Russell Nichols's short stories, "Curse Like a Savior" and "Blood on Beacon Hill," both of which are free to read or listen to on the Apex Magazine website.

You can help support the relaunch of Apex Magazine on Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/apexpublications/apex-magazine-2021?ref=discovery&term=apex%20magazine.

The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring

This week, we're diving deep into Brian Keene's Labyrinth mythos with Earthworm Gods! We also discuss haunted Hebrew schools, the Korean horror film The Wailing, Jonathan Janz's forthcoming release The Raven, and Matt's alligator sanctuary.

The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring

Gwendolyn Kiste, author of the Bram Stoker Award-winning novel The Rust Maidens, joins us to discuss, in-depth, the Shirley Jackson short story, "Louisa, Please Come." We also talk about the documentary Scream Queen: My Nightmare on Elm Street, Doom Eternal, The Devil's City, PTSD Radio, and Spooky Michigan.

Gwendolyn's latest release is The Invention of Ghosts, a charitable chapbook benefiting the National Aviary. You can order the ebook directly from Nightscape Press or purchase on Amazon.

The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring

Recorded in March at the start of self-isolation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, author Teri Clarke - AKA Zin E. Rocklyn - joins us to discuss being in quarantine, toilet paper shortages, and the Bloodshot comic books. We also discuss the George A. Romero and Daniel Krauss epic, The Living Dead, Nino Cipri's Homesick, Cullen Bunn's Manor Black, and HBO's The Outsider. Then we dig deep into Nathan Ballingrud's novella, The Visible Filth, for our spoiler-filled discussion of the week.

You can read The Visible Filth as part of Ballingrud's collection, Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell.

The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring

Todd Keisling joins us in the abyss to discuss H.F. Arnold's classic strange fiction story, "The Night Wire." We also discuss Glenn Danzig's movie, Verotika, Jon Bassoff's latest novel, The Lantern Man, Laird Barron's Black Mountain, and Todd's latest releases, Scanlines and Devil's Creek.

You can read and listen to "The Night Wire" on PseudoPod: https://pseudopod.org/2013/10/18/pseudopod-356-the-night-wire/

The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring

Author Red Lagoe joins us this week to discuss Sara Tantlinger's Stoker-nominated novella, To Be Devoured, while Scott rants about Amazon's original series, Hunters. We also talk about the new The Invisible Man film, the exile and return of director Richard Stanley, Velocipastor, and Todd Keisling's cosmic horror novel, Devil's Creek.

The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring

Author Chad Lutzke joins us this week to discuss Jack Ketchum's short story, "The Visitor," and uncover the mysteries of Scott's crackling microphone, and why Matt is a bad horror fiction fan! Plus, we discuss the Elijah Wood flick, Come to Daddy, Scott Sigler's ALIENS tie-in novel, Phalanx, the horror comedy book Cannibal Nuns from Outer Space by Duncan P. Bradshaw, Todd Keisling's Scanlines, and more!

You can read "The Visitor" in Jack Ketchum's short story collection, Peaceable Kingdom.

The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring

Special Guest Cullen Bunn joins us to discuss his work on Valiant Comics' forthcoming relaunch of Shadowman, which two classic horror movies have most shaped his approach to the horror genre, and Karl Edward Wagner's classic short story, "Hell Creek," for our spoiler-filled discussion of the week. We also sound off on the Director's Cut of Dr. Sleep, the first three releases in Unnerving's Rewind or Die series of novellas, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Hill House Comics, and Gwendolyn Kiste's latest charitable chapbook from Nightscape Press, The Invention of Ghosts.

The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring