The Monster Professor

I talk slasher films with novelist and slasher-genre expert Fred Venturini, author of The Escape of Light and The Heart Does Not Grow Back. Find out more about him at https://fredventurini.com/

Subscribe to The Monster Professor, a show in which we discuss and explore monsters in literature, myth, film, games, folklore, culture, and beyond. Podcast host: Josh Woods, author, editor, professor, and monster expert: joshwoodsauthor.com

https://joshwoodsauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/conversation-with-fred-venturini.mp3

I talk with the prolific novelist Laura Benedict, author of mysteries, thrillers, and gothics (most recently the novel The Stranger Inside) about such topics as ghosts in literature, the supernatural in storytelling, gothic influences, and sewing body parts together. Find out more about her at https://www.laurabenedict.com/

Subscribe to The Monster Professor, a show in which we discuss and explore monsters in literature, myth, film, games, folklore, culture, and beyond. Podcast host: Josh Woods, author, editor, professor, and monster expert: joshwoodsauthor.com

https://joshwoodsauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/conversation-with-laura-benedict.mp3

I talk with Matt Davids, who is the game-master behind Dicegeeks.com as well as an Amazon best-selling author of RPG supplements. We discuss storytelling with monsters, the creative process of narrative, and the strange new paths of self-publishing. Find out more about him at https://www.dicegeeks.com

Subscribe to The Monster Professor, a show in which we discuss and explore monsters in literature, myth, film, games, folklore, culture, and beyond. Podcast host: Josh Woods, author, editor, professor, and monster expert: joshwoodsauthor.com

https://joshwoodsauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/conversation-with-matt-davids.mp3

Dr. Tom Shippey is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading scholars in his field. He has published more than 100 articles, mostly in the fields of Old and Middle English language and literature, and he has a long-standing interest in modern fantasy and science fiction. He is a regular reviewer for The Wall Street Journal on both medieval and modern topics, and he also writes for The Times Literary Supplement and the London Review of Books, among other journals. His publications also include books on Old English, Science Fiction, and especially fantasy literature. He has given invited lectures and keynote speeches at conferences in at least 25 states and more than 10 European countries. He has appeared on shows and in documentaries and other films many times. Read more about him here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Shippey. And explore his scholarship here: https://slu.academia.edu/TomShippey

Subscribe to The Monster Professor, a show in which we discuss and explore monsters in literature, myth, film, games, folklore, culture, and beyond. Podcast host: Josh Woods, author, editor, professor, and monster expert: joshwoodsauthor.com

https://joshwoodsauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/conversation-with-tom-shippey.mp3

I talk with Kermit Moore, who is not only a real-life crime-fighter and doughty opponent of evil–a modern paladin, if you will–but has also been rendered as three different fictional characters in various publications. We discuss the confrontation with true evil and how to deal with it, as well as the nature of intuition, premonition, consciousness, and beyond.

Subscribe to The Monster Professor, a show in which we discuss and explore monsters in literature, myth, film, games, folklore, culture, and beyond. Podcast host: Josh Woods, author, editor, professor, and monster expert: joshwoodsauthor.com

https://joshwoodsauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/conversation-with-kermit-moore.mp3

I talk with the award-winning creators of the tabletop roleplaying games Mouse Guard, Torchbearer, and Burning Wheel (among others) about their unique approach to game design, the art bringing stories to life at the table, the role of monsters in quests and adventures, and the monstrous nature of humanity itself. Luke Crane is also Head of Games at Kickstarter, and Thor Olavsrud is also Senior Writer for CIO.com. Check out their games at www.burningwheel.com and supplements at www.torchbearerrpg.com

Subscribe to The Monster Professor, a show in which we discuss and explore monsters in literature, myth, film, games, folklore, culture, and beyond. Podcast host: Josh Woods, author, editor, professor, and monster expert: joshwoodsauthor.com

https://joshwoodsauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/conversation-with-luke-crane-and-thor-olavsrud.mp3

In this one-year anniversary episode, I speak with Monster Professor VIP and most frequent guest, Pinckney Benedict, this time more broadly about storytelling, podcasting, and his favorite monsters.

Pinckney Benedict hails from West Virginia and earned degrees from Princeton and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He has published a novel, DOGS OF GOD, and three books of short fiction, the most recent of which is MIRACLE BOY AND OTHER STORIES. His work has appeared in The Oxford Book of the American Short Story (in two editions), the Pushcart Prize series (3 times), the O. Henry Award series (twice), the Best New Stories from the South series (four times), The Ecco Anthology of Contemporary American Short Fiction, Esquire, Zoetrope: All-Story, Tin House, Apocalypse Now: Poems and Prose from the End of Days, and many others. He created and edited the Surreal South series with his wife, Laura Benedict, and has published graphic novels. He wrote the screenplay for the feature film FOUR DAYS (1999), as well as the lyrics and libretto for A: THE SCARLET LETTER, a musical adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel (premiered in 2016). He is the recipient of a Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, a fiction grant from the Illinois Arts Council, two Plattner Awards for fiction from Appalachian Heritage magazine, a Literary Fellowship from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts, and the Chicago Tribune’s Nelson Algren Award, among other awards and honors. He has taught on the creative writing faculties of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the Aspen Writers’ Foundation’s Summer Words Writing Retreat & Literary Festival, and the Tinker Mountain Writers’ Workshop at Hollins University. He has taught on the creative writing faculties of Oberlin College, The Ohio State University, West Virginia University, Warren Wilson College, Princeton University, Davidson College, Hollins University, and currently at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Subscribe to The Monster Professor, a show in which we discuss and explore monsters in literature, myth, film, games, folklore, culture, and beyond. Podcast host: Josh Woods, author, editor, professor, and monster expert: joshwoodsauthor.com

https://joshwoodsauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/conversation-with-pinckney-benedict.mp3

John Michael Greer is a widely read author and blogger whose work focuses on the overlaps between ecology, spirituality, and the future of industrial society. He has published 24 books (and counting) on spirituality, the paranormal, and the occult, including MONSTERS: AN INVESTIGATOR’S GUIDE and THE NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE OCCULT, which are not to mention his dozens of other books, anthologies, and articles on a wide array of subjects, from economics to European swordsmanship. He served twelve years as Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America, and currently heads the Druidical Order of the Golden Dawn. He currently lives in East Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife Sara.

Subscribe to The Monster Professor, a show in which we discuss and explore monsters in literature, myth, film, games, folklore, culture, and beyond. Podcast host: Josh Woods, author, editor, professor, and monster expert: joshwoodsauthor.com

https://joshwoodsauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/conversation-with-john-michael-greer.mp3

Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated special effects make-up artist Edward French is known for his work on TV (Westworld, House, etc.), in movies (Star Trek VI, Terminator 2, etc.), in commercials (the Spectrum ad monster campaign, etc.), but he also has a simultaneous audiobook/narration career in which he gives voice to horror, fantasy, and science-fiction literature (by Shirley Jackson, H.G. Wells, etc.) on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/FrenchEdward06

Subscribe to The Monster Professor, a show in which we discuss and explore monsters in literature, myth, film, games, folklore, culture, and beyond. Podcast host: Josh Woods, author, editor, professor, and monster expert: joshwoodsauthor.com

https://joshwoodsauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/conversation-with-edward-french.mp3