This week in the Abyss, we're unburying a zombie apocalypse splatterpunk classic for our in-depth, spoiler-filled discussion of Philip Nutman's Wet Work ! Before we bite into the meat of this week's book, we talk a bit about Beau Johnson's Brand New Dark , David James Keaton's She Was Found In A Guitar Case , the latest issue of Vasterian , Unfortunate Elements of my Anatomy by Hailey Piper, M. Night Shyamalan's newest film, Old , Netflix's Katla and He-Man , and the video game, Lost in Vivio . ...
Sep 09, 2021•1 hr 34 min
Author Jeff Strand joins us in the Abyss to discuss the classic Stephen King story of autocannibalism, "Survivor Type." Before we get to that, though, we talk a bit about Brennan LeFaro's debut novel, Slattery Falls , Beau Johnson's Brand New Dark , Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography by Laurie Woolever, Matt Wildasin's Melancholia , and Nick Cutter's Little Heaven . ( Recorded July 25, 2021) Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring Follow Jeff Strand on Twitter: @JeffStrand...
Sep 02, 2021•1 hr 7 min
The Abyss crew gather around the campfire for a spoiler-filled discussion of Lisa Quigley's Camp Neverland , an Unnerving Rewind or Die novella! We also talk about Nicholas Cage's Pig , our initial impressions of Kindle Vella, Beyond the Book of Eibon from Death Wound Publishing, and Netflix's Fear Street Part Two: 1978 and Part Three: 1666 ! ( Recorded July 18, 2021 ) Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring...
Aug 26, 2021•1 hr 43 min
This week in the Abyss, we welcome a new co-host as author Villimey Mist ( The Banquet , Nocturnal Blood ) joins the show! We are also joined by a guest, author Joshua "Squishy Sensations" Marsella ( Severed , Scratches ), to discuss Steven R. Boyett's classic, and sadly out of print, short story "Emerald City Blues," as featured in Midnight Grafitti . We also talk about the first two installments in Netflix's Fear Street trilogy, Joe R. Lansdale's Moon Lake , Lauren C. Teffeau's Implanted , Jos...
Aug 19, 2021•1 hr 37 min
This week in the Abyss, we're discussing the recent volumes of Shūzō Oshimi's manga, Blood on the Tracks , Nick Kolakowski's latest release, Absolute Unit , from Crystal Lake Publishing, Django Wexler's rock 'em, sock 'em giant fighting robots of Hard Reboot , Disney+'s Loki , the return of Milestone Comics, and comic book controversies. Then, we pull hard to port and find ourselves stranded on a deserted tropical island for our spoiler-filled discussion of Richard Laymon's Island . ( Recorded J...
Aug 12, 2021•1 hr 45 min
Author Nicole Cushing ( A Sick Gray Laugh , The Sadist's Bible ) joins us for an in-depth, spoiler-filled discussion Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story, "The Tell-Tale Heart." Before that, though, we talk a bit about Jeff Strand's Pressure , Christine Morgan's Trench Mouth , transgressive literature, the Christopher Walken-led film, Communion , Twin Peaks and David Lynch. ( Recorded June 23, 2021 ) Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring Follow Nicole Cushing on Twitter: @nicol...
Aug 05, 2021•1 hr 30 min
Author Tyler Jones ( Criterium , The Dark Side of the Room ) joins us for a spoiler-filled discussion of Joe Hill's short story, "Last Breath," from 20th Century Ghosts . Our Week In Horror looks back on James Newman's latest novella, Ride or Die , Richard Laymon's Island , additional thoughts on the Cooties Shot Required anthology from Broken Eye Books, Philip Fracassi's Beneath the Pale Sky , and the Shudder Original film, Caveat . ( Recorded June 13, 2021 ) Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Tw...
Jul 29, 2021•1 hr 30 min
While Richard is away, Michael and Matt take control of the Abyss for a spoiler-filled discussion of their co-hosts debut short story, "Beyond the Triangle," as published in the anthology, Dark Words: Stories of Urban Legends and Folk Lore , edited by Jamie and Matt Wildasin. Before that, though, we talk about summer horror reads, the Broken Eye Books anthologies Cootie Shot Required and Whether Change , Lisa Quigley's Hell's Bells , the philosophies of Thomas Ligotti and Eugene Thacker, Tim Mey...
Jul 22, 2021•1 hr 52 min
Elle Turpitt, editor and co-runner of Divination Hollow Reviews, joins us this week for a spoiler-filled discussion about S.H. Cooper's short story, "A Key For Any Lock," from the charity horror anthology, We Are Wolves . Before we get to that, though, we take a look back at our Week In Horror and talk about Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead, Michael's slow progress through Stephen Graham Jones's latest, the slasher story My Heart is a Chainsaw, Matt gives us a special report on this year's virtual...
Jul 15, 2021•1 hr 24 min
The Navajo Nightmare authors, David Sodergren and Steve Stred, join us to discuss their collaborative horror western, their writing process as a team, and the importance of picking whose name goes first on the cover. Before all that, though, we take a look back at our Week in Horror with thoughts on Spiral: From the Book of Saw , S.A. Cosby's Razorblade Tears , Evil Dead (2013), Beetlejuice and other kids-friendly '80s fare, Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead , and the forthcoming The Wizard of Oz/J...
Jul 08, 2021•1 hr 22 min
Icelandic horror author Villimey Mist returns to the Abyss to bust Viking myths and joins us for a spoiler-filled discussion of Tyler Jones' The Dark Side of the Room ! Before that, though, we take a look back at our Week in Horror with reviews of Resident Evil Village , Brian Keene's vampire novella, With Teeth , Shudder's documentary series, In Search of Darkness , Eric LaRocca's Thing Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke , Cullen Bunn's one-shot comic Eden , and the manga Zom 100 . ( Recorde...
Jul 01, 2021•1 hr 49 min
The Abyss crew journey to Outworld to discuss the recently released Mortal Kombat movie and examine the myriad complexities, subtleties, and deep meanings found in this action flick's themes and messages. Before this spoiler-filled discussion, though, we take some quick looks at Jacob's Wife , Mary SanGiovanni's Thrall , Michael McBride's Extant , and the pearls of wisdom found in Amazon's customer reviews. ( Recorded May 2, 2021 ) Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring...
Jun 24, 2021•1 hr 21 min
Buckle up, kids, because the Abyss is hitting the road to examine Stephen Graham Jones' "Interstate Love Affair," from his novella collection, Three Miles Past ! Before we reach I-90 and the killer roadside attractions is offers, Rich offers up some thoughts on Caroline Kepnes' You Love Me , Michael dives into Chuck Wendig's The Book of Accidents , and Matt's checks the weather to tell us it Feels like Rain in John Bergin's collection of short stories. We also talk about the Resident Evil: Villa...
Jun 17, 2021•1 hr 33 min
Splatterpunk Award-winning author Wesley Southard joins us in the Abyss to discuss Edward Lee's notorious novella, The Pig ! Before we get into that spoiler-filled discussion, Rich talks about Shin Godzilla , Matt gives us the rundown on Michael Cisco's Antisocieties and Jurassichrist , and Wesley shares some thoughts on Bentley Little and his novel, The Handyman . We also take a look at The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and the immediate future of the MCU. ( Recorded April 18, 2021) Follow Star...
Jun 10, 2021•1 hr 28 min
On this very special episode, hosts Richard Gerlach, Matt Brandenburg, and Michael Patrick Hicks face-off over the latest Monsterverse blockbuster, Adam Wingard's Godzilla vs Kong ! Before that, though, we're discussing Marvel's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier , Tiffany McDaniel's literary novel Betty , Anoka by Shane Hawk, Michael Cisco's Antisocieties , and Rich reads to us from the book of Jurassichrist . ( Recorded April 11, 2021 ) Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring...
Jun 03, 2021•1 hr 19 min
We get that Friday night feeling as cosmic horror author and podcaster Mary SanGiovanni joins us in the Abyss to discuss "Crouch End," from Stephen King's short story collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes . Before that, though, we talk a bit about David Peak's newest collection, Eyes in the Dust and Other Stories , Jonathan Maberry's latest Joe Ledger novel, Relentless , Somer Canon and Wesley Southard's Slaves to Gravity , and Tim Waggoner's Writing in the Dark Online Symposium. ( Recorded Ma...
May 27, 2021•1 hr 35 min
Anoka author Shane Hawk joins us to discuss Stephen Graham Jones's Mapping the Interior . Before we get to that spoiler-filled discussion, we also talk about The SnyderCut of Justice League , the horror comedy flick Koko-Di Koko-Da , James Harren's kaiju comic Ultramega , and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier 's debut episode! ( Recorded March 21, 2021 ) Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring Follow Shane Hawk on Twitter: @shanehawkk Visit Shane Hawk's website at https://shanehaw...
May 20, 2021•1 hr 44 min
This week, author Cynthia Pelayo ( Children of Chicago ) joins us as we revisit the Joyce Carol Oates's 1966 short story, "Where Are You Going, Where Have Been," and its connection to the Pied Piper of Tuscon serial killer and Pelayo's collection of true crime poetry, Into the Forest and All the Way Through . Our Week in Horror discussion includes James Tynion IV's comic book series The Department of Truth , Todd Keisling's A Life Transparent , Apple TV's exclusive series Servant , and the films...
May 13, 2021•1 hr 23 min
Author Patrick Barb, whose short story, " I Will Not Read Your Haunted Script ," recently placed second in Divination Hollow Reviews Horror in Hollywood contest, joins us to discuss John Langan's story, "The Communion of Saints," from the recently released collection, Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies . Our Week in Horror segments includes discussions of Gina Ranalli's All Men Are Trash , One Tough Bastard by Adam Howe, Brian Asman's Jailbroke , and the finale of Disney+ Marvel Studios ...
May 06, 2021•1 hr 35 min
Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of suicide as depicted in the film The Dark and the Wicked and B.R. Yeager's Negative Space . This week, we're talking about depression, drug abuse, suicide, and poo sticks as we take a deep dive into our Story of the Week with B.R. Yeager's cosmic horror novel, Negative Space ! First, though, we explore our Week in Horror with the Shudder premiere of The Dark and the Wicked , Alex White's Alien: Into Charybdis , Pimp My Airship by Maurice Broad...
Apr 29, 2021•1 hr 34 min
Comic book writer John Lees ( Sink , Mountainhead , Hotell ) joins us in the Abyss to discuss Emily Carroll's graphic novel of short stories, Through the Woods . Our Week in Horror round-up includes reviews of Stephen King's Later , A24's latest horror flim, Saint Maud , Llamagedon , The Stand remake, Naoki Urasawa's manga series, Pluto , and episode seven of WandaVision ! ( Recorded Feb. 21, 2021 ) Follow Staring Into The Abyss on Twitter: @intostaring Follow John Lees on Twitter: @johnlees927 ...
Apr 22, 2021•1 hr 23 min
This week, we chat about the horror film Fingers , Cassandra Khaw's forthcoming release, Nothing But Blackened Teeth , Marvel's WandaVision , Cynthia Pelayo's Children of Chicago , and find out what Matt blames The Ghost Writers Podcast for. Then, it's on to our spoiler-filled discussion of the week as we explore Zin E. Rocklyn's Tor.com Original story, The Night Sun ! ( Recorded Feb. 14, 2021 ) The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms of ...
Apr 15, 2021•1 hr 12 min
This week, we're talking about Bloody Hell , Gwendolyn Kiste's Boneset & Feathers , the indie RPG video game Oromi , and John Carpenter's latest album, Lost Themes III . Then, we travel to Santa Fe to investigate a case of Killer Flies for our in-depth, spoiler-filled discussion of Mark Kendall's 1983 horror novel, recently reissued by Encyclopocalypse Publications! ( Recorded Feb. 7, 2021 ) The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the terms of ...
Apr 08, 2021•1 hr 14 min
Hunky boys Richard Gerlach and Matt Brandenburg discuss the recently released horror flick, PG: Psycho Goreman , while Michael Patrick Hicks delivers his review of Rio Youers's crime caper novel, Lola on Fire . They also talk about Encyclopocalypse Publications, Shudder's The Queen of Black Magic , and the fourth episode of WandaVision . Then, they step out of the Abyss to venture into Thomas Ligotti's vermin-ridden "The Bungalow House" for this week's spoiler-filled story of the week and the po...
Apr 01, 2021•1 hr 15 min
Author Mike Thorn ( Shelter for the Damned ) joins us for a spoiler-filled discussion of the 1843 short story, "The Black Cat," by Edgar Allan Poe. Before that, though, we each discuss our Week In Horror with brief reviews of John Lees's latest comic series Hotell , Sci-Fi & Scary's body horror anthology Twisted Anatomy , Alien: The Cold Forge by Alex White, Joanna Koch's The Wingspan of Severed Hands , John Farris's The Axeman Cometh , and Alessandro Manzetti's collection of horror poems in...
Mar 25, 2021•1 hr 21 min
This week, we're drilling deep into Adam Nevill's "Yellow Teeth," as printed in his story collection Some Will Not Sleep: Selected Horrors . Our Week in Horror discussion centers around John Lees's comic book Mountainhead , Andrew J. Stone's All Hail the House Gods , and John Wayne Communale's Mage of the Hellmouth . Then, we discuss the premiere episode of WandaVision ! Along the way we also solve a lot of the world's biggest problems and tackle the thorny issue of ebook pricing and digital bun...
Mar 18, 2021•1 hr 45 min
Recorded in the aftermath of the January terrorist attack on the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., Richard, Matt, and Michael reflect on recent events and the legacy of the Trump presidency, which culminated in an attempted coup and the overthrowing of the November 2020 presidential election results. Then, we move onto our Week in Fictional Horrors and talk about the Chainsaw Man manga, Nico Bell's Shiver: A Chilling Horror Anthology , Max Booth III's bathroom horror novella We Need To Do So...
Mar 11, 2021•1 hr 29 min
Authors Chad Lutzke and Tim Meyer join us for a spoiler-filled discussion about their novel, Wormwood , what their collaboration was like, and the influences behind their dark coming-of-age tale. Before all that, though, we discuss Junji Ito's Remina , J. Blake Fichera's Scored to Death 2 More Conversations with Some of Horror's Greatest Composers , Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana, Ronald Malfi's Mr. Cables , and various works from Stephen King, including the premiere of The Stand...
Mar 04, 2021•1 hr 52 min
Author Jeremy Robert Johnson ( The Loop ) joins us in the Abyss to discuss Jack Ketchum's wicked and potent short story, "The Rifle," as well as the connections between violence and mental illness. Our weekly round-up segment includes reviews of Nemesai by Brian Keene and John Urbancik, Repo Virtual by Corey J. White, Villimey Mist's Nocturnal Farm , HBO's comedy series The Righteous Gemstones , Keith Rosson's Folk Songs for Trauma Surgeons , The Boatman's Daughter by Andy Davidson, and Ronald K...
Feb 25, 2021•1 hr 37 min
Author Eric LaRocca joins us in the Abyss to discuss Clive Barker's short story, "Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament," from The Books of Blood Volume 2 ! We also discuss the Shudder films Anything for Jackson and the Castlefreak remake, the sci-fi novel Space Station Down by Ben Bova and Doug Beason, Nocturnal Blood by Villimey Mist, and Steve Stred's The Future in the Sky . ( Recorded Dec. 6, 2020 ) The theme music, "Insidious," was created by Purple Planet Music and is used here under the ...
Feb 18, 2021•1 hr 39 min
