The Dark Word

Season Two of The Dark Word takes the ferry cross the Mersey to conclude in style.

Ramsey Campbell was born in Liverpool in 1946 and still lives Merseyside. The Oxford Companion to English Literature describes him as “Britain’s most respected living horror writer”. He has been given more awards than any other writer in the field, including the Grand Master Award of the World Horror Convention, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers Association, the Living Legend Award of the International Horror Guild and the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2015 he was made an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University for outstanding services to literature.

He is the author of more than 30 novels and hundreds of short stories. Among his novels are The Face That Must Die, Midnight Sun, The Darkest Part of the Woods, The Grin of the Dark, and more recent titles include Think Yourself Lucky and Thirteen Days by Sunset Beach and The Wise Friend. His latest is Fellstones.

His novels The Nameless and Pact of the Fathers have been filmed in Spain, where a film of The Influence is in production. He is the President of the Society of Fantastic Films.

Josh Ruben is an award-winning actor, writer, and director whose feature film SCARE ME—which he wrote, directed and starred in alongside Aya Cash and Chris Redd—debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. For television, Josh directed sketches for "The Late Late Show" with James Corden and episodes of TruTV's "Adam Ruins Everything." As one of the founding members of CollegeHumor's "Originals" department, Ruben has directed and/or starred in thousands of comedic shorts, amassing views well into the billions.

He directed and cameos in all 10 episodes of Funny or Die & Spotify's narrative podcast, THE LAST DEGREE OF KEVIN BACON opposite Rob Reiner, Lamorne Morris, Kyra Sedgwick, and Bacon himself. His second feature, WEREWOLVES WITHIN, premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and is distributed by IFC Films and won a Hollywood Critics Association Midseason award for "Best Indie." Ruben recently produced BLOOD RELATIVES, a genre road trip dramedy, and currently stars in Travis Stevens' feature film A WOUNDED FAWN, which premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival. Both films are streaming exclusively on Shudder.

We've interviewed him before and this lively conversation goes into even greater depth about his career in comedy and horror.

Catriona Ward was born in Washington, DC and grew up in the United States, Kenya, Madagascar, Yemen, and Morocco. Her fourth novel, the gothic thriller Sundial was Observer Thriller of the Month and a USA Today, CNN and Apple Books selection for best new fiction. Stephen King called it ‘Authentically terrifying.’

Ward’s third breakout novel The Last House on Needless Street won the August Derleth Prize, and Esquire magazine listed it as one of the 25 best horror novels of all time.

Ward’s second novel Little Eve won the 2019 Shirley Jackson Award and the August Derleth Prize. It was a Barnes and Noble best Horror Book of 2022 and a Guardian best book of 2018. Ward’s debut The Girl from Rawblood took her “eight years to write,” she reveals on this podcast, likening the experience to a seance. And it also won the 2016 August Derleth, making her the only woman to have won the prize three times.

She also talks about the curse of the second novel (hers was Little Eve) and cautions, “Don’t miss your deadline, kids.” Hashtag Helpful Advice. The book bombed but the descriptions of why are fascinating and helped set the stage for Needless Street to explode.

Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies and have been shortlisted for various prizes. She lives in London and Devon.

What's changed? Everything. Brian Keene says the thing that’s changed the most in the years since he sold his first story in 1997 is the rise of the indie press. “The Big Five weren’t publishing horror novels in the mid 90s so you saw the indie press grow and blossom.”

And now, maintains the wildly successful author of over fifty books, the gap between the Big Five and indie presses hasn't just narrowed, it's disappeared.

Keene writes novels, comic books, short stories, and nonfiction, mostly in the horror, crime, and fantasy genres. They have been translated into over a dozen different languages and have won numerous awards. He's mentor to four promising young authors, including Stephen Kozeniewski, the author of the excellent and terrifying Skinwrapper.

He has also written for such media properties as Doctor Who, Thor, Aliens, Harley Quinn, The X-Files, Doom Patrol, Justice League, Hellboy, Superman, and Masters of the Universe.

From 2015 to 2020, he hosted the immensely popular The Horror Show with Brian Keene podcast. He also hosted (along with Christopher Golden) the long-running Defenders Dialogue podcast.

Several of Keene’s novels and stories have been adapted for film, including Ghoul, The Naughty List, The Ties That Bind, and Fast Zombies Suck. Several more are in-development. Keene also served as Executive Producer for the feature length film I’m Dreaming of a White Doomsday.

Keene’s work has been praised by The New York Times, The History Channel, The Howard Stern Show, CNN, The Huffington Post, Bleeding Cool, Publisher’s Weekly, Fangoria, Bloody Disgusting, and Rue Morgue.

Keene also serves on the Board of Directors for the Scares That Care 501c charity organization.

He's starting his own IP studio. And if you're looking for one of the greatest Jack Ketchum stories you'll ever hear, it's at about the :31 min mark.

Chuck Wendig is the New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers, The Book of Accidents, Star Wars: Aftermath (plus tons of other Star Wars stuff), and more than two dozen other books for adults and young adults. A finalist for the Astounding Award and an alum of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, he has also written comics and games, and for film and television. He’s known for his popular blog about writing, terribleminds, and books about writing such as Damn Fine Story.

Here he talks the nuts and bolts of writing, including whether it’s smart -- or advantageous -- to write “out of order,” as well as the "shape" of the prose on the page and why "all books are audiobooks." Above all, he lives by the commandment “Don’t be boring.” Good advice!

Wendig lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with his family.

As the operator of her own small press, Dark Hart Books, Sadie Hartmann has developed deep expertise in the marketing of this genre. Here she chats with Philip Fracassi about building a "bookstagram" presence (her Mother Horror persona boasts over 21,000 followers), where Stephen King is an active follower, and also talks our agorophobic host through the phenomenon of BookTok.

Hartmann also operates the Nightworms book club, which curates packages of horror related books and merch. She reviews horror for SCREAM magazine and Cemetery Dance Online and is a voting member of the Horror Writers Association. And yeah ... "whatever happened to old-school professionalism?" An insightful, practical guide to earning attention for your craft.

It's different with friends. Listen in as Jeremy Robert Johnson reveals to his host Philip Fracassi—his good friend—how it's done for anyone who aspires to write horror stories that thrill and chill.

Book and Film Globe counted Johnson's novel The Loop as one of The Most Anticipated Horror Novels of 2020, describing it as "Alien meets World War Z" for its plot in which a "group of teenagers tries to survive the night after a biotech experiment goes haywire." Johnson's breakthrough novel was Skullcrack City'; other books include Entropy in Bloom. Johnson lives in Portland, Oregon. Reach him on Twitter @JRL_Is_Probable.

In the grandest tradition of "very special episodes," this week's edition of The Dark Word features an in-person interview before a live audience at The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles. Philip Fracassi speaks to Dutch phenom Thomas Olde Heuvelt, an international bestselling author who broke through with the novel HEX. Since then, Heuvelt's work has been sold in more than 25 countries. The critically acclaimed Echo was recently published in the US and rights for Orakel have also been sold worldwide. In 2015, he was the first Dutch author to win a Hugo Award.

And not for nothing ... Philip Fracassi's new novel A CHILD ALONE WITH STRANGERS drops today, Oct. 25, 2022. Buy it here, or learn more about this book and all of Philip's books at his website.

Eric LaRocca (he/they) is the author of several works of horror and dark fiction, including the viral sensation Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and the intriguingly titled You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood. He is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and currently resides in Boston with his partner. For more information, please follow @hystericteeth on Twitter/Instagram or visit ericlarocca.com.

Rachel Harrison is the author of SUCH SHARP TEETH, described as a “darkly comedic love story is a brilliantly layered portrait of trauma, rage, and vulnerability,” CACKLE and THE RETURN, which was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. Her short fiction has appeared in Guernica, Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, as an Audible Original, and in her debut story collection BAD DOLLS. She lives in Western New York with her husband and their cat/overlord.

Brian Evenson is the author more than a dozen books of fiction, most recently the story collection The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell. His collection Song for the Unraveling of the World (2019) won the Shirley Jackson Award and the World Fantasy Award and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times’ Ray Bradbury Prize. His novel Last Days won the American Library Association’s RUSA award for Best Horror Novel of 2009. His novel The Open Curtain was a finalist for an Edgar Award and an International Horror Guild Award. His 2003 collection The Wavering Knife won the International Horror Guild Award for best story collection.

Evenson is the recipient of three O. Henry Prizes, an NEA fellowship, and a Guggenheim Award. His work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. He lives in Los Angeles and teaches in the Critical Studies Program at CalArts.

Josh Malerman is a New York Times bestselling author and one of two singer-songwriters for the rock band The High Strung. His debut novel, Bird Box, is the inspiration for the hit Netflix film of the same name. His other novels include Unbury Carol, Inspection, A House at the Bottom of a Lake, and Malorie, the sequel to Bird Box.Malerman’s new book, Daphne, comes out today, Sept. 20, 2022, and you can buy that book (and all books!) at the Book House, which is Book and Film Globe’s bookstore. Shop online or confound the authorities by actually visiting our actual physical store in Millburn, NJ, where you can buy books from all authors featured on The Dark Word and the Book and Film Globe podcasts.

Malerman lives in Michigan with his fiancée, the artist-musician Allison Laakko. We’ve covered him before so check out this interview and more. And don’t miss an episode of The Dark Word, the world’s premiere podcast about horror writing and the creative forces behind them.

Josh also gives a plug to a romance podcast on which he recently appears and reveals a genre convention invisible to others — the number of flames depicted on the cover signals the precise level of raunchiness. Who knew!

For the final episode of Season One of THE DARK WORD, Victor LaValle joins Philip Fracassi to discuss early story sales (and rejections), writing in bursts, tips on a great agent query letter, and much more. A season one finale you won’t want to miss.

Victor is the author of the short story collection Slapboxing with Jesus, four novels, The Ecstatic, Big Machine, The Devil in Silver, and The Changeling and two novellas, Lucretia and the Kroons and The Ballad of Black Tom. He is also the creator and writer of two comic books Victor LaValle's DESTROYER and EVE.

He has been the recipient of numerous awards including the World Fantasy Award, British Fantasy Award, Bram Stoker Award, Whiting Writers' Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, Shirley Jackson Award, American Book Award, and the key to Southeast Queens.

He was raised in Queens, New York. He now lives in Washington Heights with his wife and kids. He teaches at Columbia University.

The Dark Word thanks our loyal listeners for turning this podcast into a must-listen for the horror writing community. We'll be back in the fall for Season Two with new writers, editors, insights and in-depth conversations about writing.

Legendary writer and winner of ten Bram Stoker Awards discusses his 50-year career.

The legendary Joe R. Lansdale joined THE DARK WORD to talk about his 50-year career as a writer, sharing advice on writing, including working with the time you have, his editing process, and how he’s had success writing for himself.

Joe has written novels and stories in many genres, including Western, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense. He has also written for comics as well as “Batman: The Animated Series.” As of 2020, he has written 50 novels and published more than 30 short-story collections. His stories have won ten Bram Stoker Awards. a British Fantasy Award, an Edgar Award, a World Horror Convention Grand Master Award, a Sugarprize, a Grinzane Cavour Prize for Literature, a Spur Award, and a Raymond Chandler Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been inducted into The Texas Literary Hall of Fame, and several of his novels have been adapted to film.

Bestselling author Ronald Malfi joins Philip to discuss two decades in publishing.

We hit double digits! For our 10th episode, bestselling author Ronald Malfi joins The Dark Word to discuss his twenty years of publishing experience, working with agents, and offer a behind-the-scenes look at how books are adapted for film and television.

Ronald is the award-winning author of several horror novels, including the bestselling Come With Me, published by Titan Books in 2021. He earned two Independent Publisher Book Awards, the Beverly Hills Book Award, the Vincent Preis Horror Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, and his novel Floating Staircase was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. He lives with his wife and daughters in Maryland. When he’s not writing, he’s performing with the rock band Veer, whose song Breathe rocks way harderthan we expected.

Author of nearly 30 novels stops by to talk writing with Philip Fracassi

This week, we were delighted to have bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones visit The Dark Word to discuss his early publishing career, the importance of reading, his unique approach to writing fiction, and some real-world advice on writing mechanics.

Stephen is the New York Times bestselling author of nearly thirty novels and collections, and there’s some novellas and comic books in there as well. Most recent are The Only Good Indians and My Heart is a Chainsaw. Up next is Don’t Fear the Reaper. Stephen lives and teaches in Boulder, Colorado.

Read Book and Film Globe’s earlier interview with Stephen Graham Jones. And Dark Word host Philip Fracassi appeared on the Book and Film Globe podcast last week with Neal Pollack. It’s very much worth a listen.

Bram Stoker Award-winning author chats with Philip Fracassi about Road of Bones, Ararat and other works.

You won’t want to miss our Dark Word interview with Christopher Golden, in which we discuss his vast publishing experience, editing anthologies, writing for comics and his take on the most important book every writer must have.

Golden is the New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of such novels as Road of Bones, Ararat, Snowblind, and Red Hands.

With Mike Mignola, he is the co-creator of the Outerverse comic book universe, including such series as Baltimore, Joe Golem: Occult Detective, and Lady Baltimore.

As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies Seize the Night, Dark Cities, and The New Dead, among others.

He has written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, and a network television pilot.

His work has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the Eisner Award, and multiple Shirley Jackson Awards. For the Bram Stoker Awards, Golden has been nominated ten times in eight different categories, and won twice. His original novels have been published in more than fifteen languages in countries around the world.

Read a previous interview with Christopher Golden on Book and Film Globe.

Legendary editor hits Philip Fracassi with tips for aspiring horror writers

We had a great conversation with legendary editor Ellen Datlow in which we discuss anthologies, tips for new writers when submitting a story, the nuts and bolts of creating a killer table of contents, and much more.

Ellen Datlow has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for over thirty-five years as fiction editor of OMNI Magazine and editor of Event Horizon and SCIFICTION. She currently acquires short fiction for Tor.com. In addition, she has edited more than a hundred science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies, including the annual The Best Horror of the Year.

She’s won multiple World Fantasy Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, Stoker Awards, International Horror Guild Awards, Shirley Jackson Awards, and was the recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for “outstanding contribution to the genre.” She was honored with the Life Achievement Award by the Horror Writers Association, as well as the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award at the 2014 World Fantasy Convention.

Datlow lives in New York and co-hosts the monthly Fantastic Fiction Reading Series at KGB Bar. More information can be found at www.datlow.com.

Alaskan horror writer speaks to Philip Fracassi about her The Fervor.

Alma Katsu joined us on The Dark Word today to share her publishing experiences, offer great advice on researching historical fiction, and ways to build suspense in your stories.

Alma is the award-winning author of seven novels. Her latest is The Fervor, a reimagining of the Japanese internment that Booklist called “a stunning triumph” (starred) and Library Journal called “a must read for all, not just genre fans” (starred). Red Widow, her first espionage novel, is a nominee for the Thriller Writers Award for best novel, was a NYT Editors Choice, and is in pre-production for a TV series.

Head Full of Ghosts author raps with Philip Fracassi about his writing career.

It was great to speak with Paul Tremblay about his early writing career, early publishing disappointments, and his experiences working with big 5 publishers.

Paul has won the Bram Stoker, British Fantasy, and Massachusetts Book awards and is the author of Survivor Song, The Cabin at the End of the World, Disappearance at Devil’s Rock, A Head Full of Ghosts, the crime novels The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland, and the short story collection, Growing Things and Other Stories.

His essays and short fiction have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Entertainment Weekly online, and numerous year’s-best anthologies. He has a master’s degree in mathematics and lives outside Boston with his family.