the Mentally Oddcast

Maddie is a trauma survivor, artist, and person living with neurodivergence. She's also a socialist, a service industry worker, and a damn interesting chick. We talk about using horror to manage anxiety, why shame is probably not the best motivator, and how fear and anger make some people mean.
Also, depression and creativity, how art and math play off each other, a little bit of lib-talk, and a MadLib. 

Find a transcript of this episode here. 

Adam Millard is the author of 29 novels, 13 novellas, and more than 200 short stories. Probably best known for his post-apocalyptic and comedy-horror fiction, Adam also writes fantasy/horror for children and Bizarro fiction for several publishers. His work has been translated for the German, Russian, and Spanish markets. He lives in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, UK, with his wife, Dawn, and her cats, which were not his idea at all.

www.adam-millard.com

X - @adammillard

We talk addiction and recovery, dual diagnoses, the Faces of Death franchise. Adam talks about writing a horror series for his son, and how babysitting set his feet on a path. Later, Wednes says way too much about the subject of her current WIP, and of course, a MadLib. 

A transcript of this episode can be found here. 

The creator of Nightmare Man, Larry Lugosi discusses his influences, getting misdiagnosed, why humor and horror go so well together, and whether there's a connection between isolation and artistry. We name drop ZombieBurger and Drink Lab and a few other Des Moines landmarks. We talk Godzilla, SPAWN, Punisher, Poe, and why retail work is so much more difficult when you have to remember to smile.

Caryl Hallberg is a USA citizen living in Tomar, Portugal. She has been writing fantasy fiction since the 70s under a pseudonym, and has recently released her first fiction novel under her own name. A Brush with Mortality is a psychological suspense mystery.

Caryl and Wednes talk Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, the perils of writing demographics we don't live in, Literary Fiction, and how her experiences as a patient during the onset of the AIDS epidemic fueled her to write her most recent book. Also, hunting dogs, Baby Jane Hudson, allyship, and why everyone can benefit from therapy. 

A transcript of this episode is available here. 

Alex S. Johnson is the author of numerous books of science fiction, fantasy, Bizarro and horror, among which are The Doom Hippies, Doctor Flesh, The Death Jazz and Bad Sunset: A Splatter Western. His work has been praised by the likes of John Shirley, Bram Stoker Award winning author, screenwriter (The Crow with Brandon Lee), and lyricist for bands like Blue Oyster Cult; the late horror grandmaster Ray Garton, and esteemed poet Ellyn Maybe. He is the creator of the anthologies Floppy Shoes Apocalypse (clown horror) and Dreams of Fire and Steel (sword and sorcery) among many others. He was a music journalist for 25 years with publications in Metal Hammer and Experience Hendrix. He has taught college composition. Johnson currently is semi retired and lives in Sacramento, California where he runs Nocturnicorn Press. He’s also doing a poets interview archive project called Songs of Myself. Yet...he'd never done a MadLib before this interview. 

We talk clown horror, hysteria, brain diseases and cognitive tests, circuses, Gregor Samsa, Kaiser Permanente, and a whole bunch of horror movies.

This ep is the last one recorded before we got a new host and a better mic. Pardon my sniffles, but there was nothing to be done. A transcript of this episode can be found here. 

As an all-around great dude and the producer of Way Too Late TV, Sam joins us to discuss his experiences with electro-convulsive therapy, giant robot fighting games, and television production. We talk about language, Velocipastor, and how by and large--most abled folk will eventually go through times of being disabled. We also talk Robert Englund, Voltaire, and coping with memory loss. Plus, a Mad Lib. 

Best known by the public as the author of Vessel, Lisa Nichols lives with anxiety, PTSD, and occasional writer's block. Lisa explains how she parlayed a passion for Sherlock fanfic into an agent and a major publishing deal. We talk 1970's diet fads, what it means to be queer, the language of romance lit, and why Book 3 of the Savior Trilogy still isn't written. Also, a MadLib. 

Despite being beset by technical problems, Matt Fleming discusses his journey through alcoholism and anxiety--and how he came out a musician on the other side. Also, why AI isn't taking over music like art and lit. We talk about rich people in ways that could totally get us sued, and I explain why the third President's Son book is taking a Song-of-Ice-and-Fire amount of time to finish. Plus, a song by Matt! 

Brought to you by Sometimes Hilarious Horror, Nickolas Cook shares stories from his life with brutal honesty. We talk depression and writer's block, genre faves, Late Night with the Devil, the many shades of sobriety, and why horror has a unique appeal to the traumatized. Plus self-publishing, the noveling process, incels and MAGA and entitlement (oh my!) and more.  

Kill by Kill Podcaster and writer, Gena Radcliffe discusses media depictions of mental illness in her upcoming book. Wednes and Gena also talk about old-school electroshock therapy, the Russian takeover of Livejournal, therapy and "Safety Contracts," and why Wednes adores Jeffrey DeMunn. Also 'Salem's Lot, Rob Zombie movies, and why the customer has never been "always right."