Chthonica #14: Nathan Ballingrud on CATHEDRAL OF THE DROWNED and Michael Wehunt on THE OCTOBER FILM HAUNT!
Greg Greene and Edward Meehan host horror authors Nathan Ballingrud and Michael Wehunt on their new books! Ballingrud's CATHEDRAL OF THE DROWNED drops October 21, 2025 from Tor Nightmare, and Wehunt's THE OCTOBER FILM HAUNT was released by St Martin's Press on September 30, 2025. Both are magnificent! Join us for a fun (and sometimes sobering) conversation on defying literary categorization, social media, the paranormal, and horror as a genre of transcendence!
Video version on Youtube.
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Chthonica #13: Philip Fracassi on THE AUTUMN SPRINGS RETIREMENT HOME MASSACRE!
Greg Greene interviews horror author Philip Fracassi on his new horror novel THE AUTUMN SPRINGS RETIREMENT HOME MASSACRE, dropping September 30, 2025 from Tor Nightfire! We enjoy a spoiler-free discussion of AUTUMN SPRINGS, including building a novel-length mystery, depicting the fullness of life as a senior, what it's like to be mentored by Laird Barron. He even shares a pair of his own personal paranormal experiences!
Also available on Youtube.
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Chthonica #12: Alma Katsu's FIEND!
Greg Greene interviews horror & espionage author (and 35-year intelligence community veteran) Alma Katsu on her new horror novel FIEND, dropping September 23, 2025 from Putnam!
Alma's one of the most fascinating writers working today. We discuss FIEND along with the current political environment, AI, being a woman leader in a historically male-dominated work environment, and the paranormal.
00:00 - Welcome horror & espionage author Alma Katsu!
01:00 - Alma gives us the pitch for her new book FIEND
02:14 - Is writing fiction different from writing historical fiction? (Spoiler: YES)Â
03:42 - The fictitious Berisha family and the real Katsu family
05:54 - Family Dynamics of the Rich & Famous (Of the richest man in the world, Alma says, "He's a special case 'cause he's so darn weird, right? He sort of *breeds* children.")
11:21 - The Berisha dynasty: family, business, and clan. And why make them Albanian?
15:42 - Maris, the middle daughter: gender, favor, and patriarchy
19:30 - Living with a lineage of secrets
22:22 - "We're in an age now, kind of like the 90s, the old Gordon Gecko thing, where greed is good, right? That all people care about is wealth."
26:16 - Monsters and the nature of evil Â
28:29 - Maris BerishaÂ
32:02 - Maris faces the frequent challenge of women in leadership roles: "Be in control, but not controlling." Â
35:49 - American oligarchyÂ
39:00 - Truthiness: "What we're going through is historic to the Untied States. We're seeing information being used as propaganda really, at levels that we used to see in Russia."
42:03 - Alma on AI-based propaganda: "It's hard not to be super-pessimistic."
45:25 - What the supernatural does for this story.
49:47 - The paranormal burden of proof
54:34 - Film and TV options!
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CHTHONICA #11: Lost in the Dark with John Langan
Greg Greene interviews legendary horror author John Langan in this spoiler-free conversation about his collection LOST IN THE DARK, available August 5, 2025 from Word Horde!
Chthonica is also available on Youtube.
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CHTHONICA #10: Stephen Graham Jones on monsters, ghosts & turning twelve
Greg Greene interviews horror great Stephen Graham Jones about his slate of spring & summer '25 releases, including reissues of The Ones Who Got Away and The Least of My Scars (March 4), his new novel The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (March 18), a reissue of his novella Mapping the Interior (April 29), and a double novel debut of The Babysitter Lives and Killer on the Road (July 15)!
We talk monsters, ghosts, turning twelve years old, and so much more!
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