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CONTENT WARNING: This episode covers some sensitive topics such as Sexual Abuse and Domestic Violence.
Delilah S. Dawson is the New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award winning author of The Violence, Guillotine, Bloom, and the new sapphic botanical horror novella Monstera.
Delilah opens up about using horror to process domestic violence, sexual trauma, and being roofied on a date night, and how that shaped The Violence and It Will Only Hurt for a Moment. She breaks down how writing comics differs from writing novels, and what it takes to write franchise tie-ins for Star Wars, Dungeons and Dragons Ravenloft, Minecraft, and Disney. We dig into eat-the-rich rage in Guillotine, Bloom as a female Hannibal in cottagecore, and why horror novellas hit like a stab. Plus, how Olympic weightlifting, a Savannah Victorian, and COVID houseplants grew into Monstera.
Timestamps:
00:01 – Cold Open: Why Horror Felt Safe When Home Didn't
00:38 – Welcome to Talking Horror & Meeting Delilah S. Dawson
03:25 – Growing Up With Domestic Violence and Finding Comfort in Horror
04:53 – Blockbuster Box Art and Basement Sleepover Scares
06:14 – Writing Her Own Trauma Into The Violence
10:09 – Sleepless New Mom Hallucinations and "Just Write a Book"
14:49 – A Zeus Ferry Romance Written Out of Spite (and 57 Rejections)
16:03 – Book Four Sells at Auction: Wicked as They Come
23:29 – Readers Who Found Healing in The Violence
25:57 – Novels vs. IP Books vs. Comics: How the Planning Changes
26:53 – ADHD, a Chapter a Day and Seven Comic Pages
30:09 – How Comic Scripts and Artists Actually Work Together
37:20 – Seventeen People in the Phasma Comments
37:51 – Keeping D&D Spells Legal on the Page
44:09 – Bloom's Cover Started as Delilah's Own Artwork
45:21 – Bloom: What If Hannibal Were a Cottagecore Woman
48:17 – Why Horror Novellas Hit Like a Stab
53:32 – Going Undercover at a Wellness Retreat for It Will Only Hurt for a Moment
1:01:28 – Olympic Weightlifting, Savannah and COVID Plants
1:04:17 – From People Pleaser to Unhinged Heroines
1:08:45 – What's Next: Shannara, a Slasher Novella and It's Only Forever
1:09:44 – A Bram Stoker Win for Ride or Die
Grab your copy of Monstera: https://bookshop.org/p/books/monstera/ea30b8a7de5d1aff
Connect with Delilah S. Dawson:
Website: https://www.delilahsdawson.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/delilahsdawson/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/delilahsdawson.bsky.social
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@delilahsdawson
Follow Talking Horror Podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelreddreads/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rachelredd
If you enjoyed this episode, please Like, Subscribe, and hit the notification bell to help us grow the horror community!
Neil McRobert is the host of the Talking Scared podcast, a PhD in Gothic literature, and the author of the Stephen King blurbed novella Good Boy, with the chapbook House of Butterflies coming in December.
Neil shares how a Vulture reading list for True Detective: Night Country led to Good Boy, a Northern Weird folk horror novella about a man, his dog, and a child-eating monster in a small English town. He explains why Good Boy is his answer to Stephen King's It, and what it really says about bigotry and getting stuck in your hometown. He gets honest about imposter syndrome at StokerCon, perfectionism, and why every podcast host should read the damn book. Plus, first details on House of Butterflies, set in a 1964 leaded gasoline refinery, and Bad Home, a violent home invasion novel about economic inequality.
Timestamps:
00:01 – Welcome to Talking Horror & Meeting Neil McRobert
02:44 – Harryhausen, Norse Serpents and a Lifelong Love of Monsters
04:31 – Dad Telling Him the Plot of Carrie on Holiday in Greece
05:19 – Point Horror and Getting His Mum Called Into School
07:00 – A Working Class Kid Who Wanted to Be a Film Director
08:47 – A PhD in Gothic Studies (and Horror Metafiction)
10:06 – Manny in Switzerland, Llama Farmer, Michelin Star Kitchen
13:10 – Why Writing Is Torture: Perfectionism and Type 2 Fun
15:32 – Imposter Syndrome and Not Feeling "In the Club"
17:52 – Quitting His Job in Lockdown and Emailing Paul Tremblay
21:30 – Fearless on Stage, Terrified of Rabies
24:25 – The Thrill of the Chase: How He Landed Stephen King
27:35 – A Rocky Mountain Horror Camp and Finding Your People
30:57 – Social Media Dopamine and Performative Rage Online
33:59 – The StokerCon Moment That Finally Made Him Write
37:43 – A Vulture Article, Bear Season and the Northern Weird Series
40:58 – 1,500 Words a Day: Writing Good Boy in Three Weeks
41:46 – Ted the Jack Russell and the Tree That Started It All
45:16 – Stephen King's It in a Small English Town
47:24 – Small British Towns, Bigotry and the Real Jim Howarth
50:35 – Doing Good Without Posting About It
52:18 – Growing Up on the Knee of Stephen King
57:33 – Why You Need to Read Dolores Claiborne
58:39 – Spinning Plates: Podcast Scripts and Reading Until 2 a.m.
1:02:53 – "Read the Damn Book": Why Hosts Have to Do the Homework
1:04:31 – The Day Stephen King Sent Him the New Talisman Manuscript
1:07:56 – House of Butterflies: Leaded Gasoline Horror in 1964 New Jersey
1:08:54 – Bad Home: Writing a Cruel Book With Heart
1:14:18 – Neil's Underrated Pick: The Hill in the Dark Grove
Grab your copy of Good Boy: https://www.wildhuntbooks.co.uk/books/p/goodboy/9781068563102
Connect with Neil McRobert:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkscaredpod/
X: https://x.com/TalkScaredPod
Talking Scared Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-scared/id1530064310
Follow Talking Horror Podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelreddreads/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rachelredd
If you enjoyed this episode, please Like, Subscribe, and hit the notification bell to help us grow the horror community!
Isabel Cañas is the USA Today bestselling, Bram Stoker Award nominated author of The Hacienda, Vampires of El Norte, and her YA gothic debut, The House of Gardenias.
Isabel shares how an "air quotes too Mexican" rejection on her honeymoon in Mexico City led to The Hacienda, and how she defended her PhD in medieval Islamic history the day before it came out. She reveals the 1850s quote from Rio Grande bandit Juan Cortina about "flocks of vampires" that turned Vampires of El Norte into a story about settler colonialism. She connects The Possession of Alba Díaz to pregnancy, bodily autonomy, and the fall of Roe v. Wade. And she opens up about the real family story, her grandfather's abusive stepmother counting tortillas, that opens The House of Gardenias.
Timestamps:
00:01 – Welcome to Talking Horror & Meeting Isabel Cañas
06:25 – A Self-Proclaimed Scaredy Cat Reading Dracula Under the Desk
09:12 – The YA Fantasy Books by Women of Color That Cracked Her Brain Open
10:14 – "Too Mexican": Two Novels That Died on Submission
11:34 – A Honeymoon Rejection in Mexico City and the Birth of The Hacienda
14:59 – Writing for Your Id: The Secret Lecture Passed Between Writers
19:44 – Kitchen Table Storytelling and the Grandfather Who Inspired The House of Gardenias
24:33 – The Turkish Grammar Tense Made Just for Gossip
25:48 – Becoming a Published Author and a Doctor in 24 Hours
28:25 – A Medievalist's Research Obsession (and Why the Embroidery Has to Go)
32:56 – Would She Ever Write a Modern Gothic?
36:33 – "Lol, It's Actually Colonialism": Why Humans Are the Real Monsters
43:17 – Vampires of El Norte and the One-Sentence Pitch That Sold It
48:12 – The 1850s Post Office List Where She Found Néstor
53:46 – The Real "Flocks of Vampires" Quote Behind the Book
57:52 – The Possession of Alba Díaz: Pregnancy, Control, and Who Owns a Woman's Body
1:06:56 – The House of Gardenias: A Nightmare, a Grudge, and Her YA Comeback
1:12:51 – Grief, Loss, and the "Flesh and Blood" Editing Passes
1:20:19 – 200,000 Words and What's Coming Next
Grab your copy of The House of Gardenias: https://amzn.to/4qvK89l
Connect with Isabel Cañas:
Website: https://isabelcanas.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isabelcanas_/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@isabelcanasauthor
Follow Talking Horror Podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelreddreads/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rachelredd
If you enjoyed this episode, please Like, Subscribe, and hit the notification bell to help us grow the horror community!
Noelle Ihli is the international bestselling, Bram Stoker Award longlisted author of Ask for Andrea, Grey After Dark, and her latest thriller, The Last to Drown.
Noelle breaks down how the real case of serial killer Israel Keyes shaped the stalker terrorizing a women's rafting retreat in The Last to Drown, and the true story of an Olympic athlete's abduction behind Grey After Dark. She talks about ghostwriting fiction before her own career, self-publishing her debut The Thicket after fifty rejection letters, and the cover redesign that turned Ask for Andrea into a BookTok phenomenon. Noelle also opens up about the Ted Bundy documentary that inspired the ghosts in Ask for Andrea, and how she protects her creative process from online criticism.
Timestamps:
00:00 – Cold Open: "A Little More Empathy for Victims and Survivors"
00:57 – Welcome to Talking Horror & Meeting Noelle Ihli
02:59 – A Childhood Drawn to "the Scary, the Spooky" and Watching Censored Horror at "Clean Flicks"
07:28 – Inside the Secret World of Ghostwriting Fiction
16:18 – Why True Crime and the Chowchilla Kidnapping Shape Her Fiction
22:15 – Fifty Rejection Letters Before Self-Publishing The Thicket
25:40 – The Cover Redesign That Turned Ask for Andrea Into a BookTok Avalanche
31:35 – Setting Boundaries With Reviews (and the Shirt With Her Best and Worst Ones)
38:49 – The Ted Bundy Documentary Behind Ask for Andrea's Ghosts
48:08 – The Real Late-Night Car Chase Behind Run on Red
52:01 – The Olympic Athlete Abduction That Inspired Grey After Dark
56:49 – Israel Keyes, the Serial Killer Behind The Last to Drown
1:05:16 – First Look at Her Darkest Book Yet, Coming in 2027
Grab your copy of The Last to Drown: https://amzn.to/45weT4w
Connect with Noelle Ihli:
Website: https://noellewihli.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noelleihliauthor/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@noelleihliauthor
Follow Talking Horror Podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelreddreads/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rachelredd
If you enjoyed this episode, please Like, Subscribe, and hit the notification bell to help us grow the horror community!
Leopoldo Gout is the acclaimed visual artist and author behind the horror novel Pinata, the Ghost Radio series, and out today, his stunning new novel, Rooted.
Leopoldo breaks down the true, horrifying history behind Pinata, how Spanish conquistadors forced Aztec children to break piñatas containing their own gods. He talks about the real artifact repatriation lawsuits reclaiming stolen Mexican heritage from Europe that inspired Rooted's archaeologist lead, and his mission to reverse engineer the trope of the evil witch into a protector. Leopoldo also opens up about writing as a dyslexic author, his unusual "photographic scent memory," and the real history behind the word abracadabra.
Timestamps:
00:01 – Welcome to Talking Horror & Meeting Leopoldo Gout
02:52 – "I Don't See Horror as Spooky, I See It as Beauty"
04:13 – Day of the Dead vs. the James Bond Carnival Version
08:03 – Discovering Horror as Social Commentary Through Night of the Living Dead
14:42 – Losing His Home and Studio to a Fire He Believes Was Arson
20:56 – His "Photographic Scent Memory" and How It Shapes His Prose
37:10 – The True, Horrific History Behind Pinata's Piñatas
41:00 – The Real Lawyer Fighting to Reclaim Mexico's Stolen Artifacts
44:19 – Reverse Engineering the Witch: Rooted's Central Idea
1:05:15 – First Look at His New Anthology Story, Luz e Fer
1:17:22 – "I Don't Believe There's a Genre Called Horror"
Grab your copy of Rooted: https://amzn.to/4bUk95u
Connect with Leopoldo Gout:
Website: https://www.leopoldogout.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leopoldoleopoldo/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@leopoldogout
Follow Talking Horror Podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelreddreads/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rachelredd
If you enjoyed this episode, please Like, Subscribe, and hit the notification bell to help us grow the horror community!
Nick Roberts is the award winning, indie horror author behind the bestselling Exorcist's House trilogy, Mean Spirited, and his debut novel Anathema, and he's one of the most reliably terrifying voices working in horror today.
He talks about being a hybrid author, splitting his work between Crystal Lake, Wicked House, his own imprint Spooky WV, and now Zando's new horror line Evil Twin. Nick breaks down structuring The Exorcist's House: Genesis like The Godfather Part II, and building suspense the way Stephen King does in 1408. He opens up about writing addiction and recovery into Anathema and Mean Spirited, and the dog named Conehead who ended up hijacking the latter. Plus, a first look at his possession anthology Haunted Minds with a foreword by Stephen Graham Jones, his next novel Can You Help Me With an Exorcism?, and his story in the Shining anthology Views from the Overlook.
Timestamps:
00:48 – Welcome to Talking Horror & Meeting Nick Roberts
02:33 – The "Is Nick Roberts Okay?" Reaction Readers Have to His Books
04:26 – Falling in Love with Horror Through Library Book Covers and Goosebumps
07:01 – Did Horror Ever Scare Him? Renting Pulp Fiction and Discovering the Craft
09:26 – The Writer-Director Dream That Fell Apart Before Film School
11:00 – Teaching English While Sneaking In Horror Film Electives
16:36 – Why Every Nick Roberts Book Starts as a Movie in His Head
17:37 – Being a Hybrid Author: Balancing Crystal Lake, Wicked House, and Self-Publishing
23:18 – From Anathema's COVID Release to Quitting Teaching for Full-Time Writing
30:44 – Why He Pantses Instead of Plots (and the Stephen Graham Jones Line That Inspired Him)
32:10 – The Stephen Graham Jones Outline He Wrote Just to Throw in the Trash
34:16 – Winning the Horror Authors Guild Debut Novel Award for Anathema
37:16 – Writing Recovery and Addiction Into Anathema and Mean Spirited
43:34 – Building Scares Like Stephen King's 1408
48:45 – Structuring The Exorcist's House: Genesis Like The Godfather Part II
54:01 – Falling In Love With a Character Before Something Horrible Happens
56:16 – Writing From the Killer's POV in My Corpse Has a Heartbeat
59:34 – First Look at the Haunted Minds Possession Anthology With Stephen Graham Jones
1:05:15 – A Tease of His Work in Progress, Appalachian Chainsaw
Grab your copy of The Exorcist's House: https://amzn.to/4zoEcmB
Connect with Nick Roberts:
Website: https://www.nickrobertsauthor.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spookywv/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@spookywv
Follow Talking Horror Podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelreddreads/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rachelredd
If you enjoyed this episode, please Like, Subscribe, and hit the notification bell to help us grow the horror community!
Rachel Harrison is the New York Times bestselling author of The Return, Such Sharp Teeth, and Play Nice, back this week with her brand new release, Kiss Slay Replay.
She talks about subverting the classic final girl trope in her new wedding-weekend time loop novel, and why she pushes back on being boxed in as a "feminist horror" author. Rachel opens up about landing her literary agent through a Twitter pitch contest called PitDark, and releasing her debut, The Return, during the first week of COVID lockdown. She also breaks down the shower epiphany about lady werewolf mythology that became Such Sharp Teeth, and the Blink-182 song that sparked Kiss Slay Replay's time loop. Plus, a first look at her next book and her nerves about her first ever European tour.
Timestamps:
00:01 – Welcome to Talking Horror & Meeting Rachel Harrison
01:47 – Horror as a "Will They or Won't They" Rom-Com: Her Path Into the Genre
06:09 – From a Screenwriting Major to a PA Job on The Newlywed Game
09:58 – The Persistence Advice She Swears By
10:42 – The Return, a Bram Stoker Nomination, and Chasing Traditional Publishing
11:42 – The Twitter Pitch Contest, PitDark, That Landed Her Literary Agent
14:02 – Debuting a Novel in the First Week of COVID Lockdown
18:02 – Creep Away Camp, Barbie Girl Karaoke, and a Duet With Nat Cassidy
20:08 – Why Humor Is Baked Into Every Rachel Harrison Book
21:32 – Her Two Kinds of Protagonists: Sad Sacks and Women Who Have Their Shit Together
24:21 – Character Never Comes First: How She Actually Builds a Story
25:48 – The Applebee's Line That Unlocked Black Sheep's Vesper
32:58 – On Bristling at Being Labeled a "Feminist Horror" Author
40:45 – Prioritizing Art Over Content Before It's All AI Slop
44:43 – The Shower Epiphany Behind Such Sharp Teeth's Werewolf Body Horror
51:13 – Growing Up in Enormous Families and Building Play Nice's Three Sisters
57:54 – The Blink-182 Song That Sparked Kiss Slay Replay's Time Loop
1:02:52 – Subverting the Final Girl Trope With a Protagonist Who's Just Fucked
1:04:45 – Why Horror and Joy Aren't Opposites for Her
1:08:05 – First Look at Her Next Book: The "Emo, Sepia-Toned" One
1:10:28 – Gearing Up for Her First-Ever European Tour
Connect with Rachel Harrison:
Website: https://www.rachel-harrison.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelharrisonsghost/
Follow Talking Horror Podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelreddreads/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rachelredd
If you enjoyed this episode, please Like, Subscribe, and hit the notification bell to help us grow the horror community!
Caleb Stephens joins Talking Horror to talk The Girls in the Cabin, If You Lie, and You'll Never Know, and how he went from a decade as a corporate accountant to becoming the internet's self-proclaimed "dad thriller guy." Rachel Redd sits down with the award winning and Colorado Book Award finalist author for a wide-ranging conversation on writing thrillers with horror baked in, surviving traditional publishing rejection, and building a career one breadcrumb at a time.
Timestamps:
00:01 – Welcome to Talking Horror & Meeting Caleb Stephens
01:41 – Rachel's 2 AM Reading Marathon and the Twist She Didn't See Coming
07:04 – From Alan Dean Foster to Stephen King: A Childhood Built on Fantasy and Horror
10:32 – Ten Years as a Corporate Accountant Before Taking the Leap
12:48 – Five Years, One Unpublishable Novel, and a Verdict From the Guy Who Wrote Jumanji
14:41 – Short Stories, Craft Books, and a Writer's Digest Honorable Mention
21:38 – The Fool's Cap Method and Why Gillian Flynn Can Pants a Whole Thriller
29:58 – The Girls in the Cabin's Two Year Agent Rollercoaster
32:27 – Getting Picked Up by the UK's Largest Indie Publisher and Discovering BookTok
34:02 – Why Feeders Flopped and He Became "The Dad Thriller Guy"
38:30 – Making Colorado's Deadly Weather a Character in The Girls in the Cabin
43:48 – Rewriting a Book Seven Times and Turning the Dad Into a Bigger Jerk
46:31 – Missing a Publishing Deadline and Self-Publishing If You Lie Out of Fear
48:26 – Writing Through Sciatica and a Full Manuscript Rewrite
53:39 – Building a Gone Girl Tribute Twist Into You'll Never Know
1:02:34 – First Look at Don't Hesitate: A Dad and Son Hunting Trip Gone Wrong
1:05:02 – Why Grief Keeps Showing Up in Every Book He Writes
1:07:45 – The Paperback Pre-Order Problem No One Talks About
1:10:21 – Book Recommendations: S.A. Cosby, John Boyne, and More
Grab your copy of The Girls in the Cabin: [LINK]
Connect with Caleb Stephens:
Website: https://www.calebstephensauthor.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calebstephensauthor/?hl=en
Follow Talking Horror Podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelreddreads/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rachelredd
If you enjoyed this episode, please Like, Subscribe, and hit the notification bell to help us grow the horror community!
Adam Cesare joins Talking Horror to talk Lights, Camera, Frendo, the fourth book in his Clown in a Cornfield series, and how fifteen years of self-publishing, folded presses, and selling books out of the trunk of his car built the readership that eventually made him a Bram Stoker Award winner. Rachel Redd sits down with the USA Today bestselling author of Video Night, Mercy House, and Influencer for a conversation about franchise iconography, vampire obsession, and why he loves his sequels more than his original books.
Adam opens up about the small video rental section that scared him as a kid, and how a legendary horror editor's small press, his own self-publishing hustle, and a Big Five pickup fifteen years later all led to Mercy House getting "orphaned" pre-launch and later rewritten from scratch. He also confesses he genuinely likes the Clown in a Cornfield sequels better than the original, Bram Stoker win included. Plus his near-academic obsession with Frendo's mask and a first look at Bloodsick, his 14 POV vampire epic coming in January.
00:01 Welcome to Talking Horror & Meeting Adam Cesare
03:41 The Origin Story: A Supermarket Video Rental Aisle on Long Island
05:55 Running Out of Two Different Wes Craven Movies as a Kid
07:56 Stephen King on Cassette Tape and an Early Obsession With Spawn
13:53 Writing Video Night in College Before He Could Legally Drink
17:05 Chasing Down an Editor and Landing at a Small Horror Press
19:58 From Self-Published Oddity to a Big Five Book
22:56 The Used Car Salesman Theory of Surviving Publishing
28:37 If You Can't Love It, Quit: His Advice for Writers
34:15 Video Night: A Melancholic Alien Invasion Love Letter
40:22 Mercy House and Getting Orphaned by Random House Hydra
44:06 Rewriting Mercy House From Scratch Eleven Years Later
51:08 Confessing He Loves the Sequels More Than the Original
54:43 Lights, Camera, Frendo: Book Four Is Finally Out
59:04 The Auteurist Theory Behind a Long-Running Slasher Franchise
1:03:01 Why He Obsesses Over Every Detail of Frendo's Mask
1:08:37 A First Look at Bloodsick, His 14 POV Vampire Epic
1:15:45 Why Horror Is Living Through a Genuine Golden Era
Grab your copy of Lights, Camera, Frendo: https://amzn.to/4wKDUUW
Connect with Adam Cesare:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamcesare/?hl=en
Follow Talking Horror Podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelreddreads/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rachelredd
If you enjoyed this episode, please Like, Subscribe, and hit the notification bell to help us grow the horror community!
TJ Payne joins Talking Horror to talk Intercepts, the self-published thriller that just landed him a two-book deal with Crown at Penguin Random House, and the strange road that took him from Hollywood romantic comedy screenwriter to acclaimed horror novelist. Rachel Redd sits down with the author of In My Father's Basement, Intercepts, and The Venue, and a TV writer on Netflix's The Burrows and Little House on the Prairie, for a conversation about self-publishing, Hollywood bureaucracy, and why the nicest people always seem to write the darkest books.
Grab your copy of Intercepts: https://amzn.to/4vA1IKb
Timestamps:
00:01 – Welcome to Talking Horror & Meeting TJ Payne
02:13 – From Romantic Comedy Screenwriter to Reluctant Horror Writer
04:42 – Jaws, Aliens, and How American Pie Sparked a Screenwriting Dream
08:32 – Stanford, a Film Program That Wasn't, and a Korean War Screenplay
09:52 – Driving Down the I-5 to Hollywood and Seven Years Fetching Coffee
17:11 – Ghostwriting Other People's Dreams and Hitting a Breaking Point
19:37 – The Self-Publishing Itch That Became In My Father's Basement
39:26 – Waking Up to a Stranger Who Read His Debut Overnight
41:11 – Writing Intercepts and the Slow-Burn Word of Mouth That Followed
43:14 – The Cold Email From a Literary Agent That Led to Crown
47:25 – Turning Hollywood Bureaucracy Into a Terrifying Government Facility
48:49 – The Absent Father Story Hiding Inside a Sci-Fi Thriller
55:31 – Table 19, Weddings, and the Slasher Comedy Born From The Venue
1:01:30 – A New Two-Book Deal and His First Novel in Six Years
1:04:06 – Deep-Diving 1980s Satanic Panic Books for Research
Connect with TJ Payne:
Website: https://tjpayneauthor.wixsite.com/tjpayne
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tj.payne.author
Follow Talking Horror Podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelreddreads/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rachelredd
If you enjoyed this episode, please Like, Subscribe, and hit the notification bell to help us grow the horror community!
From the publisher's feed
Welcome to Talking Horror Podcast, where we dive into the stories that haunt us.
Hosted by Rachel Redd, this show features conversations with horror and thriller authors about…
Each week Rachel talks with today’s most exciting horror and thriller authors about the stories that linger long after the lights go out.