I’m not only excited to interview author Alvar Theo, I’m thrilled to heat up a cup of my favourite chocolate elixir drink from the Kakawa Chocolate House for my “Spooky Six” guest!

Alvar Theo (they/he) is the author of Benothinged, a horror comedy from Haunt Publishing. They started writing at five years old, making Red Dwarf fanfiction in the form of picture books. This was quite possibly before they could even write as they only ever got as far as drawing the pictures. They continued to write off and on but only began to take it seriously as a career path in the last decade or so. They’ve written sketches for podcasts and have a folder full of feature screenplays unlikely to ever see the light of day. Benothinged is their first novel.

They write with a focus on outsiders, generally isolated queer people. Their fiction tends to explore: gender; mental illness; social isolation and poverty, all with a blackly comic undertone.

They hale from the Black Country – Tolkien’s inspiration for Mordor – where they live with a cat and two dogs who take up most of their time.

When they’re not writing or taking care of their pets, they enjoy reading and watching Asian dramas. They’re allegedly learning to speak Thai. Their most expensive hobby is attending conventions where they cosplay and collect pins, art and independent comics. Formerly, their most expensive hobby was collecting tattoos, but a mixture of ill health and running out of space meant they had to give that up. They are immensely proud of the time they got to show writer Al Ewing the Loki: Agent of Asgard tattoos on their calf. It remains one of their all time favourite memories.

They have a degree in Psychology and Creative Writing. They have previously worked as a bookseller, library attendant across various libraries and administrator for trade unions. At the time of writing, they are horrendously unemployed. This is due to a mixture of ill health and shit luck.
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I was very tempted to turn this interview into a recipe-swap event, but the only horrifying thing about that is my tendency to scorch the bottoms of all my pots and pans, and that’s not very interesting, is it?  Read on to learn more about this eminently more interesting author and his new release, which promises to be a perfect read for Halloween night!

Matt Wagner has enjoyed a career in comics for over thirty years.  Born and educated in Pennsylvania, his first published work was a short story that would introduce one of comicdom’s most respected creator-owned characters–the mastermind assassin, GRENDEL. This epic, Eisner Award-winning creation has seen Matt collaborate with a host of the industry’s most significant talents and was recently compiled in a six-volume Omnibus edition that totaled more than 3000 pages.  He’s also renowned for his more personal allegory, MAGE—a contemporary fantasy trilogy that spanned thirty-five years in the making.

Matt has also worked on a variety of established characters.  These include his ground-breaking portrayal of the Batman villain, Two-Face, in the graphic novel FACES, a five-year stint authoring the fan-favorite Vertigo title, SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE, as well as the re-booted DR. MID-NITE mini-series for DC Comics and serving as the regular cover artist on both the Kevin Smith-penned relaunch of GREEN ARROW and a subsequent stint for the monthly BATMAN title.

Known for his character-driven stories and his obvious love of world history and mythologies, Matt has also enjoyed the distinction of being one of the only writer/artists allowed to team his own creation with one of DC’s flagship characters in two successive BATMAN/GRENDEL crossover series.

Matt has also written and drawn several high profile projects for DC including a highly successful, three-issue, prestige series starring Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, titled TRINITY and a year-long project comprised of two mini-series that chronicled some of the earliest aspects of Batman’s career in BATMAN & THE MONSTER MEN and BATMAN & THE MAD MONK.

2020 saw the 40^th anniversary of GRENDEL and a special project to commemorate this significant milestone, an expanded and newly redrawn version of the original story arc, GRENDEL: DEVIL BY THE DEED—MASTER’S EDITION.

Some of his other efforts, variously writing or drawing, have included MADAME XANADU for Vertigo, ZORRO, GREEN HORNET: YEAR ONE, THE SHADOW: YEAR ONE, THE SHADOW: THE DEATH OF MARGO LANE and THE SPIRIT RETURNS for Dynamite Entertainment.

Matt also teamed with renowned film-maker Quentin Tarantino to co-write a DJANGO/ZORRO crossover series that was co-published by Dynamite and DC/Vertigo.

He continues to add new stories to the GRENDEL universe with the current DEVIL’S CRUCIBLE—DEFIANCE.  His latest work is collaborating with maestro horror artist Kelley Jones on an ambitious and well-received series of graphic novels unveiling the secret histories of DRACULA.

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A Chat with John Langan about Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies

As author of Bram Stoker Award winner The Fisherman, as well as the recently released (Oct. 17th through Canelo Horror) Corpsemouth And Other Autobiographies, John Langan has cemented his position among the finest working authors today. That is to say, I was frankly terrified to sit down and talk to him. Yet, as a newer author myself, I couldn’t down the opportunity to pick the brain of someone I greatly admire. Among the overload of anxiety, I managed to conjure up some questions and a boatload of courage to sit down with him and have a fantastic conversation about cosmic horror, creating your own mythos, love, and monsters. He also gives some great book recommendations and tips for people starting out their journey writing, so, yes, I’m biased, but this is well worth the listen for readers and writers alike. Check it out after the jump!

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Today We’re Visiting The Wild West With Michael Knost

I recently got into a western horror kick. Something about the Old West drew me. The history in and of itself is fascinating and easy to get lost in. But what’s really cool is all the what-ifs you can play with. For as much as is known about that time there is an equal (sometimes more) amount that isn’t known. That’s where authors like Michael Knost come in.

Michael Knost is known as an author, editor and columnist covering many genres including such works as Return of the Mothman, Spectres In Coal Dust and others. His latest novella, The Deadwood Deal, is appearing in Dark Tide book #18, Blood and Bullets, was released on October 25, 2024.

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I’ve had to brew up both coffee, and tea, for this interview, and not just for my guest interviewee! Mainly to keep me going, as Stephen Barnard is a morning person, and I’ve somehow shifted back into being a night owl, courtesy of my un-day job. Nonetheless, it’s a great interview! Read on to see what terrifying creature is the stuff of Stephen Barnard’s nightmares!

Stephen Barnard (he/him) is a suspense / horror writer from the north west of England. He’s been indie publishing titles for a number of years, and has a wide range of novels and short story collections in the genre. His most recent novels include creepy small town horror ‘Grievers’ Wood’, and modern vampire story ‘No One is Leaving.’

Growing up with King and Koontz novels, he always loved writing horror stories and sent manuscripts to traditional publishers a number of times across the nineties and noughties, but without any success. Career and family then led to a brief hiatus in writing. However, with the advent of eBooks and self and indie publishing, he got the bug again. After a couple of experiments, his first success came with the eBook release of ‘Corner House’ in 2018. He followed that with a short story collection, ‘A Very Bad Year’, after which he didn’t look back.

Many titles later, his newest release, ‘They Didn’t Know’, is out on September 28^th – a suspense novella about a party guest who just doesn’t want to leave. Primarily an eBook release, it will also be available in paperback as part of a double bill with another novella, under the combined title of ‘They’. He’s currently working on another short story collection (this will be his seventh) to be released in the spring.

Stephen has also published YA books, sports non-fiction and a science fantasy trilogy. He’s taught high school English for nearly 30 years and has two sons currently at university. He loves listening to rock music and has never fully grown out of his 90s grunge phase. When he’s not writing, he’s binge-watching horror movies or lamenting about the misfortunes of his favourite football team, Bolton Wanderers. Occasionally he thinks about tidying up. His wife, Sophie, is very understanding.

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Horror Tree Q&A: Angela Slatter and Australian gothic 

Angela Slatter has won a World Fantasy Award, a British Fantasy Award, a Ditmar, a Shirley Jackson Award, three Australian Shadows Awards and eight Aurealis Awards. She is the author of All The Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns,The Briar Book of the Dead and the forthcoming The Crimson Road – all of them gothic fantasies set in the world of the Sourdough, Bitterwood and Tallow-Wife collections. The hardcover collected edition of her Hellboy Universe collaboration with Mike Mignola, Castle Full of Blackbirds, from Dark Horse Comics was published in July 2023.

Angela is also the author of the supernatural crime novels Vigil (2016), Corpselight (2017) and Restoration (2018), as well as ten other short story collections, including The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales, Sourdough and Other Stories, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, A Feast of Sorrows: Stories, and The Heart is a Mirror for Sinners and Other Stories.

Angela has an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing, is a graduate of Clarion South 2009 and the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop 2006. In 2016 Angela was the Established Writer-in-Residence at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre in Perth. She has been awarded career development funding by Arts Queensland, the Copyright Agency and the Australia Council for the Arts.

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Hush, It’s Interview Time With Leigh Kenny!

By Melody E. McIntyre

Leigh Kenny is a horror writer who lives in Ireland with her family. She is the author of two books, Cursed and Hush, My Darling, as well as several short stories. Cursed is a possession story described as The Grudge meets Drag Me to Hell. Hush, My Darling is an Irish horror thriller perfect for fans of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I have read Hush, My Darling and enjoyed it even as it frightened me. Kenny’s writing is gripping and her villains are repugnant, but engaging. She is also a finalist for two awards in Instagram, Author of the Year and her novel, Cursed, is up for Horror of the Year. I was recently given the opportunity to interview her and get to know her a little better.

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