The Dark Mind Podcast

Brad Ricks returns to The Dark Mind Podcast to discuss Dead Mountain, his new creature horror novel set in Dyatlov Pass.

In 1959, nine experienced hikers cut their way out of their tent and fled barefoot into a blizzard in the Russian Urals.

Sixty years later, a documentary crew goes silent in the same frozen pass, and Caleb Forrester joins a desperate expedition to bring his twin sister home.

Brad explains why he chose not to solve the mystery, using the known facts as guardrails and writing into the blank space between them.

He talks about building a hero who refuses to believe his sister is dead, and how that refusal filters every warning he hears.

We dig into the empty white landscape as a monster in its own right, where the cold, the dark, and getting lost can all kill you.

Brad shares how he handled the real hikers with respect, why he chose not to write a found footage novel, and what a standalone lets him do that a series cannot.

He also discusses the slower, patient dread of Dead Mountain compared to the action of The Night Crew series, his early morning writing ritual, and his drywall approach to first drafts.

Brad closes the conversation with a reading from the book.

Official Website
https://www.bradricks.com

Dead Mountain
https://www.bradricks.com/dead-mountainbradricks

Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H46H5RBP

Amazon Author Page
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0CRPYPF1Q

Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Brad%20Ricks

Audible
https://www.audible.com/author/Brad-Ricks/B0CRPYPF1Q

Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/35228162.Brad_Ricks

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/BradRicksAuthor

Brad Ricks's Book Crypt
https://www.facebook.com/groups/bradricksbookcrypt

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/bradricksauthor

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@bradricksauthor

X
https://x.com/BradleyRicks

Threads
https://www.threads.com/@bradricks

The Night Crew Podcast
https://thenightcrewpodcast.podbean.com

Support The Dark Mind Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast

Taylor Grothe joins The Dark Mind Podcast to talk about Lethal Kiss, their sapphic dark academia horror romance from Tor Nightfire.

We get into why a university is the perfect hunting ground for a monster trying to stay hidden and a mortal just trying to survive.

Taylor shares what the rat race of tenure at Duke taught them, and how a real professor inspired one of the book's most unsettling men.

We talk about why horror and romance sit on the same continuum, the mortifying ordeal of being known, and the long tradition reaching back to Marcella.

Taylor opens up about writing Lacie as an autistic character, why higher academia demands constant masking, and how a beautiful campus can hide death beneath its floors.

We also cover Nordic saga, building suspense from detailed synopses, the Round Table Mentor program, cello, tarot, and life as a full-time author.

Taylor closes the episode by reading a passage from Lethal Kiss.

Lethal Kiss is available October 20, 2026.

Taylor Grothe

Official Website: https://www.taylorgrothe.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taylorlgrothe

X: https://twitter.com/taylorlgrothe

Substack, Hallowed Words: https://hallowedwords.substack.comhallowedwords.substack

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22593046.Taylor_Grothegoodreads

Lethal Kiss

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250433878

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lethal-kiss-taylor-grothe/1148909598?ean=9781250433879barnesandnoble

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/book/9781250433879bookshop

Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/Lethal-Kiss-Audiobook/B0GGC2HBV1audible

Hollow

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1682637778

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781682637777barnesandnoble

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/book/9781682637777bookshop

Support The Dark Mind Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast

Horror author Mathilda Zeller joins The Dark Mind Podcast to talk about her novel It Looks Like You in the Dark, out October 13, 2026, from Tor Nightfire.
The book expands "Kushtuka," the story that opened the anthology Never Whistle at Night, into a full novel set in the Inupiat village of Chukchi in Alaska's Kobuk River Valley.
Mathilda shares the frightening stories her grandfather told her while she lived with him during some of the hardest years of her life.
She explains how a 1970s account by an outsider who pressured locals into telling him their stories pushed her to reclaim the kushtuka legend.
We talk about why a monster that looks like someone you love is more horrifying than any stranger.
She describes working on a cultural preservation project in Kotzebue and how the Cold War cut her people off from their relatives in Siberia.
Mathilda explains why she left the Inupiaq language untranslated and how her mother and uncles helped her find Tapeesa's voice.
She also talks about choosing her editor after meeting with seven during the auction, the fairy belief behind the Bridget Cleary murder case, and the terrifying Arctic mermaid folklore behind her next novel.
Finally, she tells the story of the two resilient great-grandmothers who inspired her pen name.

Official Website
https://mathildazeller.wordpress.com/

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/mathildazellerauthor/

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@mathildazellerauthor

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/MathildaZeller

X
https://x.com/MathildaZeller

Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22669904.Mathilda_Zeller

It Looks Like You in the Dark at Tor Publishing Group
https://torpublishinggroup.com/it-looks-like-you-in-the-dark/?isbn=9781250402035&format=hardback

Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250402034

Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781250402035

Bookshop.org
https://bookshop.org/a/0/9781250402035

Audible Audiobook
https://www.audible.com/pd/It-Looks-Like-You-in-the-Dark-Audiobook/B0GGC4S8L6

Kobo eBook
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/it-looks-like-you-in-the-dark

Support The Dark Mind Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast

What happens to a haunting when the most famous haunted house in America is finally torn down?

Two-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author Robert P. Ottone joins The Dark Mind Podcast to talk about his new novel, Amityville Awakens, out October 6 from CLASH Books.

Robert shares how his father, an overnight radio DJ on Long Island, was on the air the night the DeFeo murders came across the teletype.

We talk about what it is like to stand outside the real house today, why he invented a family who fled it in 1995, and why the dread in his book has nothing left to hold it back once the walls come down.

Robert explains the divide between North Amityville and the Village, the Long Island habit of looking away from its darkest chapters, and the line he draws between the Amityville legend and the real murders.

He also opens up about his writing life as a full-time teacher, the office where he writes surrounded by Jaws memorabilia and Godzilla toys, walking away from a book under contract, and what drew him to CLASH Books.

We close with family history, including a great-grandfather who survived World War I and became one of New York's first motorcycle cops.

Official Website
https://www.spookyhousepress.com/[spookyhousepress]

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/robertottone/

Letterboxd
https://letterboxd.com/RobertOttone/[letterboxd]

Amityville Awakens on CLASH Books (signed edition)
https://www.clashbooks.com/new-products-2/amityville-awakens-robert-p-ottone-signed[clashbooks]

Amityville Awakens on Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781968043292[barnesandnoble]

Amityville Awakens on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=9781968043292

Amityville Awakens on Bookshop.org
https://bookshop.org/book/9781968043292[bookshop]

Amityville Awakens on Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/247390607-amityville-awakens[goodreads]

Read Chapter One Free on Daily Dead
https://dailydead.com/exclusive-excerpt-the-terror-of-amityville-comes-back-to-life-in-robert-p-ottones-amityville-awakens/[dailydead]

Support The Dark Mind Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast

On this episode of The Dark Mind Podcast, horror author and investigative reporter Marc E. Fitch joins me to discuss his new short story collection, There Was No One There.

We talk about the capacity for evil hidden inside ordinary people and why Marc believes a scare lasts a moment, while horror comes home with you.

Marc shares the real-life experiences behind his stories, from a frightening moment in the ocean with his daughter to the Christian hymn that inspired The Starry Crown.

He explains how the collection's order follows the rise and fall of a piece of classical music, and why he rewrote the ending of Monster Parade twenty-five times.

We also discuss how investigative journalism and horror fiction feed each other, and why he believes much more of life rests on belief than we like to admit.

Marc reflects on thirteen years bartending beside a bus station, twelve years in inpatient psychiatric hospitals, and the harder view of the world those years left him with.

Finally, he talks about raising four teenagers and why parenthood is the most frightening thing he has ever done.

Official Website
https://www.marcefitch.com

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/marce.fitch/

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/MarcE.Fitch/[facebook]

X
https://x.com/fitch_marc[x]

Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6506478.Marc_E_Fitch

Inside Investigator
https://insideinvestigator.org/marc-e-fitch/

There Was No One There on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HDVVQ9PQ

There Was No One There on Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1FL1ZTD

There Was No One There on Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781958842744[barnesandnoble]

There Was No One There on Audible
https://www.audible.com/author/Marc-E-Fitch/B00DW6GDV4[audible]

Support The Dark Mind Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast

Chris Panatier returns to The Dark Mind Podcast to discuss his new novel Worry Box, out September 22 from Angry Robot.

The book follows the Martin family as they move into a new home while preparing to adopt their foster daughter, Lailah.

Troubled by increasingly violent intrusive thoughts, Lailah writes them down and hides them inside a homemade worry box, hoping to quiet her mind.

When disturbing events begin unfolding around the house, the family is forced to question whether the danger comes from Lailah, their new home, or something none of them fully understand.

In this conversation, Chris explains why he set out to write a horror novel in which every character is genuinely doing their best and things still fall apart.

He talks openly about drawing Lailah's intrusive thoughts from his own experience, which intensified after his daughter was born.

He describes the research he did into adoption and foster care, and his decision to avoid the story readers might expect.

We get into Alison and Nathan, two parents with very different histories, and the point where they stop being a team and start butting heads.

Chris also discusses Dru, the sister who holds on the longest, and why she became one of his all time favorite characters.

He breaks down his approach to the house itself, which he treated as a member of the family with a history and a point of view of its own.

He shares his theory that a house is essentially a sponge that absorbs the residue of everyone who has lived in it.

We talk about the kinship between Worry Box and A Head Full of Ghosts, and where the two books diverge.

Chris explains how humor functions as a pressure release valve inside an otherwise intense story.

He reflects on twenty five years of trial work, and how prying a story out of unwilling hands taught him that a story never simply arrives intact.

He talks about rewriting this book several times, and how instinct in art is acquired through repetition rather than something you are born with.

Chris also looks ahead to Daytide arriving from Saga Press, a collaborative comedy slasher with Sam Rebelein called Final Girl Greg, and a forthcoming Angry Robot novel titled So You Want to Summon a Demon.

He closes with a candid look at burnout, envy, and why he now celebrates every other writer's success.

Official Website
https://chrispanatier.com/[chrispanatier]

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/chrispanatier/

Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18894703.Chris_Panatier[goodreads]

Publisher Page for Worry Box
https://angryrobotbooks.com/books/worry-box/[angryrobotbooks]

Penguin Random House
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/827562/worry-box-by-chris-panatier/[penguinrandomhouse]

Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1836730322

Barnes and Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/worry-box-chris-panatier/1149014636

Support The Dark Mind Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast

Megan Mostyn-Brown joins The Dark Mind Podcast to discuss her debut horror novel, The Need.

The novel follows a family living with a rare genetic disorder that requires those who inherit it to consume human flesh or die.

Megan explores how this gruesome compulsion becomes a source of shame and survival for one family but a symbol of privilege and power for another.

Our conversation examines cannibalism, class inequality, food insecurity, body image, inherited trauma, family secrecy, and the moral boundaries people create to justify survival.

Megan also discusses balancing body horror with dark comedy, writing six distinct first-person narrators, and transforming a television concept considered too grisly for the screen into a psychologically intimate novel.

We trace her creative journey from child actor and playwright to television writer and producer on series including Gotham, NOS4A2, Bodkin, and Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches.

Official Author Page:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2348127/megan-mostyn-brown/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/meganmostynbrown/

The Need from Penguin Random House:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/803620/the-need-by-megan-mostyn-brown/

Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=The+Need+Megan+Mostyn-Brown

Barnes & Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-need-megan-mostyn-brown/1148963720

Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/search?term=The%20Need%20Megan%20Mostyn-Brown

Libro.fm Audiobook:
https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9798217407941-the-need

Support The Dark Mind Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast

Extreme horror author, audiobook narrator, and Sadistic Force musician James Oliver joins The Dark Mind Podcast to discuss Debilitator: A Collection of Wretchedness.

His first short story collection combines eight stories and a poem, connecting new material with characters and events from his earlier books.

James discusses using graphic violence, bodily disgust, sexual transgression, and dark comedy to confront social frustration and test the boundaries readers bring to extreme horror.

The conversation explores the collection’s interconnected world, its most difficult material, and the challenges of adapting the stories for an audiobook and limited cassette edition.

James also discusses independent publishing through Pure Abandon Press, editing the extreme metal horror anthology Rotten Requiems, writing children’s fiction as J. W. Oliver, and the relationship between his fiction and music.

James Oliver Links

Official Website: https://www.jamesoliverhorror.com/

Official Store: https://www.jamesoliverhorror.com/products

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejamesoliver/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW2SE8R-RqaAYhSPBvFCuIg

Substack: https://jamesoliverhorror.substack.com/

All Social Links: https://linktr.ee/jamesoliverhorror

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/54899971.James_Oliver

Sadistic Force Official Website: https://sadisticforce.com/

Sadistic Force Bandcamp: https://sadisticforce.bandcamp.com/

Buy or Stream James Oliver’s Work

Debilitator Book on Tape: https://www.jamesoliverhorror.com/product/debilitator-book-on-tape

Audible Author Page: https://www.audible.com/author/James-Oliver/B0DX7MJZVX

Storytel: https://www.storytel.com/in/narrators/james-oliver-evelyn-albarran-oliver-carietta-dorsch-jason-rowe-1299447

Amazon, Genital Rot: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0DX7CY2RZ/

Amazon, Sacrificial Slaughter: https://www.amazon.com/Sacrificial-Slaughter-James-Oliver-ebook/dp/B0FHP9MMND

Barnes & Noble, Sacrificial Slaughter: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sacrificial-slaughter-r-e-shambrook/1147651321

Godless, Sacrificial Slaughter: https://godless.com/products/sacrificial-slaughter-by-james-oliver-and-r-e-shambrook-july-23rd?_pos=1&_sid=0efbae9eae&_ss=r

Support The Dark Mind Podcast

[https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast](https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast)

Author Mike Salt joins The Dark Mind Podcast to discuss his psychological horror novel No One Was Ever Really in This Place.

The story follows Felix, a man struggling with anxiety, depression, and invisibility who awakens to find his city completely empty.

Mike discusses building an artificial and unsettling world, blending psychological horror with cosmic dread, and writing about isolation without losing sight of human vulnerability.

The conversation also explores his Linkville stories, the collaborative Price Manor universe, his direct relationship with readers, and his fast, minimally polished writing process.

Mike also reflects on family, supernatural experiences, and the personal fears that find their way into his fiction.

Official Website, Currently Unavailable
https://www.mikesaltauthor.com

Official Store
https://mikesalt.bigcartel.com

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/mike_salt/

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@mike_salt

TikTok Shop
https://shop.tiktok.com/us/store/mike-salt-spooky-author/7494225790817305839

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/mikesaltmoose

X
https://x.com/mikesaltmoose

Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14987021.Mike_Salt

No One Was Ever Really in This Place at Wicked House
https://wickedhouse.com/book/no-one-was-ever-really-in-this-place/

Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GSGXSLSN

Audible
https://www.audible.com/pd/No-One-Was-Ever-Really-in-This-Place-Audiobook/B0HD1FLMKD

Support The Dark Mind Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Author Alex Grass joins The Dark Mind Podcast to discuss Infernal Tramps: Tales of Weird Terror, a collection held together by an intuitive cadence and a recurring uncertainty about what is real.

Grass examines the unexpected connections between vanity, hunger, greed, corporate power, bodily transformation, and monstrous behavior.

The conversation explores The Golden Mile, in which a resurrected dog drives Philadelphia toward collective madness, and Ever Shall They Feed, a story shaped by Grass’s familiarity with funeral homes and mortuary work.

Grass also discusses the polarizing use of untranslated German, the difference between flash fiction and longer stories, and the challenge of controlling surreal imagery during revision.

He explains how the collection’s illustrations were created from modified public-domain images and why he refuses to use artificial intelligence for that work.

The episode also covers independent publishing, creative control, the discomfort of revisiting older work, and the decision to leave law school for writing.

Grass concludes with a reading from A Woman of Distinction, featuring a five-hundred-year-old killer who considers good manners a matter of life and death.

GUEST LINKS

Official Infernal Tramps Website
https://www.infernaltramps.com/

Dickinson Publishing Group
https://www.dickinsonpublishinggroup.com/

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/infernaltramps/

Dickinson Publishing Group on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dickinson-publishing-group-61a894425/

Amazon Author Page
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B08KPKTV9R

Goodreads Author Page
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20768021.Alex_Grass

Goodreads Book Page
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/249709542-infernal-tramps

AllAuthor Profile
https://allauthor.com/author/alexgrass/

Piker Press Author Page
https://www.pikerpress.com/author/774/alex-grass

Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited
https://www.amazon.com/Infernal-Tramps-Tales-Weird-Terror-ebook/dp/B0GSN4BX4Y

Amazon Paperback
https://www.amazon.com/Infernal-Tramps-Tales-Weird-Terror/dp/B0H3QQ2J9Q

Barnes and Noble Paperback
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781735888569

Target Paperback
https://www.target.com/p/infernal-tramps-by-alex-grass-paperback/-/A-1012836556

Stream Odd Egg on Weekly Spooky
https://www.weeklyspooky.com/alex-grass/

Stream Odd Egg on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrsdXjlnpsM

Stream Night of the Living Bedsheet on Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/night-of-the-living-bedsheet-by-alex-grass/id1581361592?i=1000766437331

Support The Dark Mind Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast