The Folklore Podcast

Folklore Podcast creator and host, Mark Norman, explores the rumours that the author of 'Dracula', Bram Stoker, found inspiration for his famous count in the rural backwaters of the county of Devon, in the South-West of the United Kingdom. Could there by any truth to the ideas that Count Dracula emerged as much from the Devon countryside as he did from the Carpathian mountains?

This episode of The Folklore Podcast is written and presented by Mark Norman. To support the podcast, and help to facilitate the creation of more episodes featuring new research, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

Folklore Podcast creator and host Mark Norman meets with Ronnie Turner. author of the gothic and folk horror novel 'Small Fires' in this episode of the podcast, recorded on location during Ronnie's recent book signing tour.

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We chat with Bram Stoker and International Latino Award Winning horror author Cynthia Pelayo as her latest book, 'Vanishing Children' is released.

Cynthia's writing intersects with the world of fairy tales, with Charles Perrault's story of Sleeping Beauty providing inspiration for 'Vanishing Children'.

Please note that this interview deals with themes of parental loss, and touches on suicide.

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Folklore Podcast creator and host Mark Norman chats with Kat the Lore Mistress about using folklore and folk horror themes in tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). In particular, we look at a new Zine based folk horror game called GAST for which Kat is part of the development team.

To find out more about GAST and the creators Hatched Games, visit their website at https://www.hatchedgames.co.uk/

Visit Kat's website at https://www.theloremistress.co.uk/

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We welcome back onto The Folklore Podcast musician and composer Einar Selvik, founder of the band Wardruna and expert in Old Norse music and culture. Einar discusses his beliefs and connections with nature, the way he goes about composing his music through the use of old Norse runes, and his latest work Birna, named for the old Norse she-bear.

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We meet British fantasy author Alexandra Beaumont, who specializes in utilizing folklore and the gothic in her writing. She discusses themes of Cornish folklore and her novel 'Dissonance of Bird Song' which was voted the Independent Press Award Distinguished Favourite for 2025.

Visit Alexandra online at https://www.alexandrabeaumontauthor.com/

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RETURN TO 10th KINGDOM:

We chat with actor Scott Cohen, who played Wolf in the mini-series 'The 10th Kingdom' about possible plans for a sequel, his thoughts on the show and its characters and genre fiction more broadly, as well as discussing his career as an actor and theatre producer.

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In this bonus episode of The Folklore Podcast we shine a light on another fantastic folklore audio project as we meet Charlie Dobres, the writer and creator of audio drama The Maiden and the Dragon. This 6-part production takes a well-known folk tale that we have covered on this show before, The Lambton Worm, and retreats it with a female protagonist in the lead role.

You can access more content from The Folklore Podcast, as well as supporting the show and helping it to continue, by visiting the Patreon page at www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

Visit Charlie's website at https://goodintentmedia.com/

We return to the subject of vampires on The Folklore Podcast, a subject which we last covered in detail way back in Season 2 with a two-part investigation into the folkloric vampire.

This time, we focus on the vampire as it is found in the Slavic regions, with our guest Sam Grant. Sam, who travelled to the area to research the subject, is also the author of a currently unpublished novel, 'Bunika' which fuses actual Slavic vampire lore with fictional elements. In discussion with Mark Norman, the creator and host of The Folklore Podcast, Sam explains the fundamentals of Slavic lore as it relates to the image of the vampire.

You can visit Sam's website at www.bunikanovel.com

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In this new strand of The Folklore Podcast, we delve into the archives and pull out old interviews from previous seasons that never made it to air.

Today, pagan author Chris Allaun discusses his writing and in particular two of his books, 'The Black Book of Johnathan Knotbristle' and 'Whispers from the Coven', both of which are an interesting mix of a fiction novel with useable spells incorporated into the text.

Support The Folklore Podcast on Patreon and access extra bonus content at www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast