Recorded in March at the start of self-isolation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, author Teri Clarke - AKA Zin E. Rocklyn - joins us to discuss being in quarantine, toilet paper shortages, and the Bloodshot comic books. We also discuss the George A. Romero and Daniel Krauss epic, The Living Dead , Nino Cipri's Homesick , Cullen Bunn's Manor Black , and HBO's The Outsider . Then we dig deep into Nathan Ballingrud's novella, The Visible Filth , for our spoiler-filled discussion of the week. Y...
Jul 09, 2020•1 hr 29 min
Todd Keisling joins us in the abyss to discuss H.F. Arnold's classic strange fiction story, "The Night Wire." We also discuss Glenn Danzig's movie, Verotika , Jon Bassoff's latest novel, The Lantern Man , Laird Barron's Black Mountain , and Todd's latest releases, Scanlines and Devil's Creek . You can read and listen to "The Night Wire" on PseudoPod: https://pseudopod.org/2013/10/18/pseudopod-356-the-night-wire/ The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here un...
Jun 25, 2020•1 hr
Author Red Lagoe joins us this week to discuss Sara Tantlinger's Stoker-nominated novella, To Be Devoured , while Scott rants about Amazon's original series, Hunters . We also talk about the new The Invisible Man film, the exile and return of director Richard Stanley, Velocipastor , and Todd Keisling's cosmic horror novel, Devil's Creek . The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 . Music: https:...
Jun 18, 2020•1 hr 19 min
Author Chad Lutzke joins us this week to discuss Jack Ketchum's short story, "The Visitor," and uncover the mysteries of Scott's crackling microphone, and why Matt is a bad horror fiction fan! Plus, we discuss the Elijah Wood flick, Come to Daddy , Scott Sigler's ALIENS tie-in novel, Phalanx , the horror comedy book Cannibal Nuns from Outer Space by Duncan P. Bradshaw, Todd Keisling's Scanlines , and more! You can read "The Visitor" in Jack Ketchum's short story collection, Peaceable Kingdom . T...
Jun 11, 2020•1 hr 40 min
Special Guest Cullen Bunn joins us to discuss his work on Valiant Comics' forthcoming relaunch of Shadowman , which two classic horror movies have most shaped his approach to the horror genre, and Karl Edward Wagner's classic short story, "Hell Creek," for our spoiler-filled discussion of the week. We also sound off on the Director's Cut of Dr. Sleep , the first three releases in Unnerving's Rewind or Die series of novellas, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark , Hill House Comics, and Gwendolyn Ki...
May 28, 2020•1 hr 2 min
This week: Scott talks about watching Color Out of Space at a micro-theater cafe and visiting the Lovecraft Arts & Sciences, and the gang offers up their thoughts on Alan Baxter's killer kangaroo novella, The Roo , Adam Cesare's Young Adult horror novel, Clown in a Cornfield , and the film Gretel and Hansel . Then, it's on to our spoiler-filled deep-dive into Adam Nevill's latest folk horror novel, The Reddening ! The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used h...
May 21, 2020•1 hr 40 min
Scott Kemper, Michael Patrick Hicks, and Matt Brandenburg discuss some recent horror releases, like Gary Bastianelli's Snowball , The Lantern Man by Jon Bassoff, and To Rouse Leviathan by Matt Cardin. Then they dig deep into Livia Llewellyn's short story, "It Feels Better Biting Down," for this week's spoiler-filled discussion, where they ponder biting off fingers and whether or not your toes can spontaneously fall off. You can read "It Feels Better Biting Down" in Llewellyn's short story collec...
May 14, 2020•1 hr 9 min
In this episode, host Scott Kemper, Michael Patrick Hicks, and Matt Brandenburg discuss HBO's The Outsider , the novella Riot Baby , by Tochi Onyebuchi, and the films Parasite and Tammy and the T-Rex . Then, they launch into a spoiler-filled study of Karl Edward Wagner's seminal short story, "Sticks." The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 . Music: https://www.purple-planet.com Follow Staring...
Apr 30, 2020•1 hr 28 min
The boys discuss the films Ready or Not and Train to Busan , Samantha Kolesnik's True Crime , Matt Cardin's To Rouse Leviathan , S.L. Edwards's debut fiction collection, Whiskey and Other Unusual Ghosts , and Image Comics's Ice Cream Man . Then, they take a deep dive into Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Possibility of Evil," and discuss its relationship to Stephen King's novel, Needful Things . The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms ...
Apr 16, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Hosts Scott Kemper, Matt Brandenburg, and author Michael Patrick Hicks discuss Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker , Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola's comic book series, Joe Golem: Occult Detective , and Scott R. Jones's latest release, Stonefish . They are joined this week by special guests Saturday Morning Scenarios publisher Matt Corley and Bram Stoker Award-winning author Sara Tantlinger ( The Devil's Dreamland: Poetry Inspired by H.H. Holmes ) to talk about their forthcoming table-top RPG,...
Apr 10, 2020•1 hr 36 min
This week, hosts Scott Kemper, Michael Patrick Hicks, and Matt Brandenburg review the 2020 edition of The Grudge , Mark Matthews's latest anthology of addiction horror, Lullabies for Suffering , Laird Barron's Black Mountain , the 2011 film Kill List , and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker . Then, they have a spoiler-filled, heart touching discussion about John Langan's novella, Sefira , the betrayal of marital infidelity, and confronting a succubus. The theme music, "Insidious," was created by P...
Apr 02, 2020•1 hr 18 min
Bloodshot Books publisher and author Pete Kahle joins us to discuss the short story, "The Quiet Boy," by Nick Antosca, just in time for the release of its adaptation as the Guillermo del Toro-produced, Scott Cooper-directed horror film, Antlers , starring Keri Russell. We also discuss Antosca's other popular creation, the horror anthology television series, Channel Zero . Other topics include the Shudder-exclusive film, The Head Hunter , Netflix's V Wars , the comic book Something Is Killing The...
Mar 19, 2020•1 hr 12 min
Authors Matthew M. Bartlett and Jon Padgett join us in the abyss to discuss their collaboration on The Latham-Fielding Liaison , as well Jon's audiobook narration of Matthew's Gateways to Abomination , and their mutual appreciation of one another's works. We also discuss what we've been reading and watching, including the BBC's horror anthology series Inside Number 9 , the film Ready or Not , HBO's Watchmen , the works of Thomas Ligotti and much, much more. The theme music, "Insidious," was crea...
Mar 05, 2020•1 hr 27 min
Author, publisher, and podcaster Max Booth III joins us in the the abyss for a spoiler-filled discussion of his favorite Halloween novella, Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge. We also chat about the film Knives Out , DC Comics's zombie-superhero mashup, DCeased , Laird Barron's Black Mountain , Patrick Lacey's A Voice So Soft , and Max's upcoming book from Cemetery Dance, Touch the Night . The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms of a Creati...
Feb 20, 2020•1 hr 44 min
Scott, Matt, and Michael discuss the final book in John F.D. Taff's serial novel, The Fearing ! Other topics of discussion include alien birth defects, funky Goldeneye controls, Michael Wehunt's charitable chapbook from Nightscape Press, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Bad Can Ever Happen Here , Joe Hill's comic book, A Basketful of Heads , and much much more. The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution L...
Feb 06, 2020•1 hr 55 min
The walls of sanity begin to collapse as our hosts, Scott Kemper, Matt Brandenburg, and author Michael Patrick Hicks discuss the film adaptation of Dr. Sleep , Weird Westerns, Dean Koontz's Nameless series, the media tie-in novel, Alien: Prototype , by Tim Waggoner, Baby Yoda, and the apocalyptic delivery boy simulator, Death Stranding , where you can poop your way across America! Then our hosts launch into a spoiler-filled discussion of Jeff Strand's comedy-horror novel, Clowns vs Spiders ! The...
Jan 23, 2020•1 hr 44 min
Special guest Nadia Bulkin steps into the Abyss to discuss Kelly Link's short story, "The Specialist's Hat," and the debt horror writers owe to urban legends and superstition. Nadia also makes a special pledge to our readers and listeners! Before we dive into our spoiler-filled discussion, though, Scott Kemper, Matt Brandenburg, and Michael Patrick Hicks discuss the Boom! Studios comic book Something Is Killing The Children , the season finale of Creepshow Season One, Robert Eggers's The Lightho...
Jan 09, 2020•1 hr 13 min
On this episode of Staring Into The Abyss, a very tired Scott Kemper tells us about his late, late night seeing The Misfits play at Madison Square Garden and hitting the cinema to see the debut of Robert Eggers's latest film, The Lighthouse , starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson. Co-hosts Matt Brandenburg and Michael Patrick Hicks discuss Betty Rocksteady's short story collection In Dreams We Rot , episodes four and five of Shudder's original series, Creepshow , Nicole Cushing's The Half-F...
Dec 26, 2019•1 hr 28 min
Join us by the fire and carve off a slice from the Yule Log - it's Christmas in the Abyss! In this special holiday episode, Scott, Michael, and Matt discuss X-Mas horror, like Valancourt's Victorian Christmas anthologies, Krampus , and Hark, The Herald Angels Scream . Then, they settle in, all cozy and warm, for an in-depth, spoiler-filled conversation about the 2017 holiday flick, Better Watch Out ! Happy holidays! Music: https://www.purple-planet.com...
Dec 19, 2019•1 hr 22 min
This week, our hosts Scott Kemper, Matt Brandenburg, and Michael Patrick Hicks discuss the Merrimack Halloween Book Festival and its panels on foreign cinema and horror versus thriller, as well as Stephen Chbosky's Imaginary Friends , Shudder's Creepshow episodes two and three, One Cut of the Dead and Hulu's Starfish , the director's cut of Midsommar , and John Hornor Jacobs' latest release, A Lush and Seething Hell . Then, it's on to a spoiler-filled discussion of Joyce Carol Oates's 1966 short...
Dec 12, 2019•1 hr 56 min
This week, Scott and Michael pressure Matt into buying Jeff Strand's Clown vs. Spiders , go off on book buying binges of their own, and talk about library sales and vintage movie novelizations. Then they launch into an in-depth, spoiler-filled discussion of The Latham-Fielding Liaison , a just-released limited hardcover collection of four stories co-written by Matthew M. Bartlett and John Padgett, and available exclusively from Nightscape Press. The gang also discusses Todd Keisling's The Smile ...
Nov 28, 2019•1 hr 38 min
Hosts Scott Kemper, Matt Brandenburg, and Michael Patrick Hicks take a deep, spoiler-filled dive into Books One and Two of John F.D. Taff's apocalyptic serial novel, The Fearing , its potential legacy in the years of horror to come, how it stacks up against 2019's other big apocalypse novel, Chuck Wendig's Wanderers , and the insanity of Big 5 publishing. Other topics include Matthew M. Bartlett's If It Bleeds , the movies Us and IT: Chapter Two , click-bait articles, and Michael shares his spec...
Nov 14, 2019•1 hr 37 min
John F.D. Taff, author of the apocalyptic serial novel, The Fearing , joins hosts Scott Kemper, Matt Brandenburg, and Michael Patrick Hicks for an in-depth, spoiler-filled discussion of Clive Barker's short story, "Dread." Find out how "Dread" shaped Taff as an author and inspired his own work in horror. Also discussed: Brent Michael Kelley's Doomsday Furnace , Junji Ito's manga book, Spiral , the cosmic horrors of John Langan, and the box office hit, Spider-Man:Far From Home. Music: https://www...
Oct 31, 2019•1 hr 17 min
Staring Into The Abyss hosts Scott Kemper, Matt Brandenburg, and author Michael Patrick Hicks discuss their favorite horror stories and influences. This week's round-up of the films, books, and TV shows they've been consuming include Amazon's original series, The Boys, the director's cut of Midsommar , and Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing's anthology of pizza horror, Tales From The Crust, and other new releases like Monster, She Wrote and Hunter Shea's slasher book, Slash ! Plus, Scott goes t...
Oct 17, 2019•1 hr 53 min
Episode 1 introduces listeners to the Staring Into The Abyss podcast. Join hosts Scott Kemper, Matt Brandenburg, and author Michael Patrick Hicks as they discuss the many troubles they've had in launching this podcast before launching into spoiler-filled discussions of Shudder's first episode of their new horror TV series, Creepshow, the classic Joe R. Lansdale short story, The Night They Missed The Horror Show , and more! The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is u...
Oct 06, 2019•1 hr 44 min
