The ARC Party

LitReactor, as we know it, is closing down. I’m reposting the episodes I hosted for Unprintable (their podcast) over here on The ARC Party, so that they don’t go away when the site shuts down.

This is the fifth of six episodes - a deep dive into grammar featuring LR’s managing editor, and two LR columnists who both have written and/or taught classes on the topic of grammar.

One more to go after this. I’m rounding out the series with my discussion with Rob Hart and Josh Chaplinsky - where they talk about how the site started, and some of the highlights of the first ten years. So keep an eye out for that, and also for my 2024 Horror Preview episode featuring Becky Spratford and Emily Hughes. It’s not to be missed!

In this episode, I say this is the third of six episodes. It’s the Fourth. Oops!

Check out an awesome conversation between me and Brian Keene and Michael David Wilson, where we talk about the art of interviewing someone. We share some personal stories from our years of experience, share what really matters to us when it comes to respecting guests, cultivating engaging questions, and delivering a great experience for everyone.

I encourage you all to check out This Is Horror, and Brian Keene’s podcasting ventures as well. And if you’re feeling it, you can go back into my past, and check out some of the interviews I’ve had on my former podcast, Booked.

Two more to go! Up next is Grammar, featuring Josh Chaplinsky, John Ginegrich, and Taylor Houston! Then, finally, a LitReactor retrospective with Josh Chaplinsky and Rob Hart.

It’s the third of six LitReactor Archive episodes. In this episode, Sadie Hartmann (Mother Horror), and Becky Spratford (The Horror Maven/RA For All) Joined my on LitReactor’s Unprintable podcast to talk about the art of book reviews.

If you were ever curious about what goes in to a book review, or what some of the dos and don’ts are, this is the episode for you! Hear a social media influencer talk about her take on reviews and how it’s evolved over the years. Hear about a librarian who writes reviews for other librarians. And from me, who just did it on a podcast for a damn decade.

I’ll be posting three more of these! So keep your peepers peeled for episodes about Interviews, Grammar, and LitReactor’s 10th anniversary.

Thanks for supporting me, and I hope everyone has the best possible holiday season.

This is the second of six ARC Party episodes, where I’m reposting my small run of episodes of their Unprintable podcast. As LitReactor is closing down, I wanted to give my episodes a place to live on, because they were great conversations that should not be lost to the ages.

In this episode, Rob Hart joined to cohost an interview with SA Cosby, about his then-latest book RAZORBLADE TEARS. Rob was also on the cusp of the release of PARADOX HOTEL, so there was a good deal of discussion about that as well.

This episode originally posted on Unprintable on 2/15/2022

Coming soon:

There are four more episodes of the LitReactor ARChives to come! Grammar, Interviews, Reviews, and the LR 10th Anniversary episode.

Also, tomorrow I’m recording the ARC Party Look Ahead episode for the first half of 2024, with Becky Spratford and Emily Hughes. Very excited for this!

With the lights at LitReactor going dark for good in the coming weeks, I wanted to find a way to archive the handful of episodes that I recorded from them back in 2021.

This is the first of six episodes, where I “re-air” the talks I hosted on their podcast, Unprintable.

In this episode, Rob Hart joins me as a cohost to speak with Alma Katsu about her then-newly released book RED WIDOW, and also her then-upcoming book THE FERVOR.

It’s a great conversation, and I hope that if you haven’t read Alma’s work before, you’re inspired to now. She writes great historical horror, as well as epsionage books!

Coming soon, I’ll be posting the other five episodes that I recorded with Unprintable, including an interview with SA Cosby, episodes on Grammar, Interviews, Reviews, and a 10th anniversary retrospective with Rob Hart and Josh Chaplinsky.

Also, this week I’m recording an episode with Becky Spratford and Emily Hughes where we look ahead to our most anticipated books of the first half of 2024.

As you can see, lots to come soon from Arc Party! I hope everyone has a great holiday season, enjoys some throwback episodes, and that you’re all as excited as I am for what’s coming in 2024!

Pre order House of Bad Memories directly from Cemetery Gates Media

And grab Michael’s other books, too!

Here’s the second part of my discussion with Michael David Wilson about his upcoming book HOUSE OF BAD MEMORIES. In this episode, we dive deep in to the story, and Michael get’s very personal about some of his experiences that inspired parts of the books.

In addition to chatting about the book, we also talked about interviewing people, the landscape of horror podcasts, and even friendship.

I hope you enjoy our discussion, and I hope you check out HOUSE OF BAD MEMORIES, and I hope you give a listen to This Is Horror as well.

Some horror podcast recommendations mentioned in the episode:

This Is Horror with Michael David Wilson and Bob Pastorella

Talking Scared with Neal McRobert

She Wore Black with Agatha Andrews

And here’s the YouTube version:

Buy BECOMING THE BOOGEYMAN and the other books we mentioned on my Bookshop page!

The problem with ending your podcast, and getting sick, then kinda starting a new podcast, and then stopping it, and then eventually starting a new one… is that you miss the opportunity to keep talking to awesome people.

Case in point: Richard Chizmar joined me on Booked. back when he released the second book in the Gwendy series. Since that time, he and Stephen King wrapped up the Gwendy series with a third book, and both the Boogeyman books are now out! He’s been a busy buddy.

But thankfully we got to talking, and it was a wonderful conversation. We touched on the phenomenon that is true crime books, we talked about the importance of friendship, we talked about book promotion. It was a great chat, and I think you’ll love it! I know it’s a tight 56ish minutes, but we accomplished a lot in that time!

BECOMING THE BOOGEYMAN is out now, and it’s a banger of a book. Chizmar took me from thinking that CHASING THE BOOGEYMAN was a one and done thing, to wanting an ongoing series! You should check it, and all of his books out today!

For the YouTube die-hards:

Pre-order NESTLINGS today! While you’re at it, grab MARY as well!

This book has it all! A creepy luxury building with secrets. An opportunity too good to be true. Something not feeling right. Some kind of monsters?

While this book does tackle some serious topics, such as living with a disability after having just had a baby, dealing with loss and grief, and having shitty landlords, it is entertaining and well paced! It’s a great read and really shines on many levels.

This is my first time talking to Nat, though you’d never know it, from how we got along. It was almost instantly that I was opening up to Nat about things, and he was sharing his own difficult struggles that helped him to create this story. It was utterly delightful, inspirational, and I think it helped me want to confront some of my trauma of going through having cancer.

I consider this book, as well as the conversation, as a way for us to all take a look at the shit circumstances we’ve found ourselves in lately, and say “what the fuck” and try to move past it.

It’s not all serious. We had plenty of jokes and fun, and a nice chunk of it is spent talking about Stephen King, who was celebrating his birthday the night we recorded. Maybe his birthday ears were ringing.

Please, just immediately go buy Nat’s books. He’s a talent, and I think he’s gonna be my best friend one of these days.

For those who want to visual experience:

Pre-order THE DEAD TAKE THE A TRAIN on bookshop.org and grab more books from Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey!

I’ve been stoked about The Dead Take The A Train for what feels like EVER. Before I read THE SALT GROWS HEAVY, before I had Cassandra on earlier in the year. The moment I saw this frickin cover, and read the frickin synopsis, I knew I’d be getting an ARC, reading the shit out of it, and cajoling these lovely and talented authors onto the podcast to answer my clunky-yet-enthusiastic questions.

And I did all of that. And it was great.

I have read something like 23 books in 2023, and I’d say that this is high in the running for most enjoyable. It’s fun, it’s gross, it’s shocking, and it’s endearingly sweet. It is only made better by the knowledge that a lot of the book is drawn from the authors’ own personal, sometimes very bad, life experiences.

The characters are easy to grow attached to, the story is as compelling as it is vast, and maybe best of all, it’s only the first of a two book set! So once you’re done falling in love with the book and its’ characters, you can immediately look forward to spending more time in the future in this bananas world.

But that’s not all! The legendary Richard Kadrey has another book dropping a mere week later, and it sounds like a total banger. THE PALE HOUSE DEVIL gets some time in this episode, so make sure you give Richard’s summary of it a good listen, then head immediately out to pre-order it.

What can I say? The book was great, the authors were SO great, and you, my listeners/viewers are great. It’s all great. So give it a listen, and treat yourself to some books by these incredibly talented authors.

For the folks that like the YOUs and the TUBEs:

Pre order House of Bad Memories directly from Cemetery Gates Media

And grab Michael’s other books, too!

Michael David Wilson’s newest book is such a big deal, we had to break this discussion into two parts! In the tradition of Michael’s podcast This is Horror, we started by talking in depth about some of Michael’s early life lessons, about writing, and his other books and stories.

In our follow up, we’re diving into HOUSE OF BAD MEMORIES in detail, and we’ll get into some of the personal connections he has with the story.

Separately, we also have about 30 minutes of analysis of the book that was recorded separately, that will end up somewhere as bonus content. I’m just not sure yet where it’s going to be posted. We’ll have it all sorted by the time the second episode posts.

Michael is a long-time friend, an awesome podcaster, and a great writer. I encourage everyone to support him by subscribing to his podcast, his Patreon, and by using the links above to buy his books. I’m excited to share our conversations, and I hope you enjoy!

For the folks who want to see our handsome mugs, as well: