In this interview, we chat with Fawn Parker about showing the reader around the room, finding the right tense, protecting your writing time, and so much more.
Fawn Parker is the author of five books including novels What We Both Know (M&S), nominated for the Giller Prize and Hi, It’s Me (M&S), nominated for the Writer’s Trust Atwood Gibson Prize, and the poetry collection Soft Inheritance, which was awarded the JM Abraham Atlantic Book Award and the Fiddlehead Poetry Book Prize. Her work has been published in The Walrus, Hazlitt, Literary Review of Canada, and elsewhere. Fawn is a PhD candidate at the University of New Brunswick and the Poet Laureate of Fredericton.
Books and stories mentioned in this episode:
The Edible Woman – Margaret Atwood
The Mountain and the Valley – Ernest Buckler
Libra – Don DeLillo
The Guest – Emma Cline
Attack of the Copula Spiders and Other Essays on Writing – Douglas Glover
In this interview, we chat with Rod Moody-Corbett about tonal dissonance, sponging up influences, writing from memory, and so much more.
Rod Moody-Corbett is an award-winning writer from Newfoundland. His writing has appeared in Socrates on the Beach, The Drift, The Paris Review Daily, and Fiddlehead, among other publications. He is the recipient of the 2022 Howard O’Hagan Award for Short Story, a Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letters Award for Short Fiction, the University of Calgary’s Kaleidoscope Prize, and the CBC Canada Writes Short Story Prize (People’s Choice Award). He serves as a contributing editor for Canadian Notes and Queries.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Experience – Martin Amis
Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World; The Hundred Brothers; The Verificationist – Donald Antrim
Last Evenings on Earth – Roberto Bolaño
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel – Jessica Brody
My Education – Susan Choi
Underworld – Don DeLillo
Notes from Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Last Samurai – Helen DeWitt
Erasure – Percival Everett
Bad Behavior; Because They Wanted To; Don’t Cry – Mary Gaitskill
A Hand Reached Down to Guide Me; Jernigan – David Gates
Airships – Barry Hannah
The Road Through the Wall – Shirley Jackson
Get Shorty; Rum Punch – Elmore Leonard
Last Resort – Andrew Lipstein
The Sentence is a Lonely Place – Garielle Lutz
Moby Dick – Herman Melville
The Ice Storm – Rick Moody
Lectures on Literature – Vladimir Nabokov
A House for Mr. Biswas – V. S. Naipaul
Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas; Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family – Nicholas Pileggi
Monkey Beach – Eden Robinson
The Life of the Mind – Christine Smallwood
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman – Laurence Sterne
Fredericton’s monthly reading series, ‘The Catch-Up,’ curated and hosted by acclaimed writer Fawn Parker, returns with readings by local authors Alison Taylor, Chuck Bowie & Mike Thorn!
The reading will take place here at the bookshop on Sunday, January 26th, 2025, @ 3pm.
Alison Taylor (they/them) is a writer, editor, and filmmaker based in Fredericton. Taylor’s short stories have appeared in various journals, and their debut novel Aftershock, published by HarperCollins Canada, received the Atlantic Book Awards John and Margaret Savage First Book Award (Fiction), and was shortlisted for the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. They received the 2024 Douglas Adams Richards Prize for Fiction for their work-in-progress, Confessions of a Binge Drinker (working title). They have edited a hundred-plus hours of television and many award-winning short films and music videos, and their own experimental films have screened at festivals internationally. They currently work in the editorial department at Goose Lane Editions and as a freelance editor of both books and film and video, and are working to complete a draft while two cats yell at them and a 70-pound boxer whines in their face.
Mike Thorn is a SSHRC-funded doctoral candidate in the Department of English (Creative Writing) at the University of New Brunswick. He is the author of Shelter for the Damned, Darkest Hours, and Peel Back and See. His writing has appeared in anthologies, magazines, and podcasts, including NoSleep, Vastarien, In Review Online, and American Twilight: The Cinema of Tobe Hooper. He co-hosts Craftwork, a writing-themed podcast, with Miriam Richer. Website: mikethornwrites.com.
Chuck Bowie is both a writer and an author, with thirteen books/novels published and one just underway. While he enjoys writing mysteries: Suspense-Thrillers and Cozy Mysteries, he also writes short stories. All of his books are well-reviewed, and he has sat on the boards of the Writers’ Federation of NB, The Writers’ Union of Canada, is a Fellow of the Kingsbrae International Residency for the Arts, as well as being acknowledged as a member of the Miramichi Literary Trail. His thriller series chronicles the adventures of Donovan, an international thief for hire, while his cozy series (written as Alexa Bowie) follows the adventures of the owner of an arts centre as Emma solves the crimes that swirl around her centre: The Old Manse. http://www.chuckbowie.ca
Daisy Miller, by Henry James (1879) A Room with a View, by E. M. Forster (1908) Pan’s Garden: A Volume of Nature Stories, by Algernon Blackwood (1912) The Custom of the Country, by Edith Wharton (1913) Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston (1937) Cassandra at the Wedding, by Dorothy Baker (1962) Another World, by Pat Barker (1998) Heartbreaker, by Maryse Meijer (2016) Babysitter, by Joyce Carol Oates (2022) The Guest, by Emma Cline (2023)
ADDITIONAL STANDOUT READS
We Are Here to Hurt Each Other, by Paula D. Ashe (2022) This Mortal Coil, by Cynthia Asquith (1947) The Space of Literature, by Maurice Blanchot (1955) The Writing of the Disaster, by Maurice Blanchot (1980) Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury (1957) Wieland; or, The Transformation: An American Tale, by Charles Brockden Brown (1798) Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleepwalker, by Charles Brockden Brown (1799) The Sublime and the Beautiful, by Edmund Burke (1757) The Daughters of Block Island, by Christa Carmen (2023) Gothic Metaphysics: From Alchemy to the Anthropocene, by Jodey Castricano (2021) The King in Yellow, by Robert W. Chambers (1895) Don’t Look Now, by Daphne du Maurier (1971) Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life, by Ruth Franklin (2016) Sea, Swallow Me and Other Stories, by Craig Laurance Gidney (2008) Twice-Told Tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1837) The Marble Faun, by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1860) The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith (1955) The Woman in Black, by Susan Hill (1983) The Witchcraft of Salem Village, by Shirley Jackson (1956) Let Me Tell You, by Shirley Jackson [edited by Laurence Hyman & Sarah Hyman DeWitt] (2015) Burn Man: Selected Stories, by Mark Anthony Jarman (2023) Man and His Symbols, edited by C. G. Jung & M.-L von Franz (1964) Uzumaki, by Junji Ito (2013) The Red Tree, by Caitlín R. Kiernan (2009) The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative, by Thomas King (2003) Something Like an Autobiography, by Akira Kurosawa (1981) What Are You, by Lindsay Lerman (2022) Existence and Existents, by Emmanuel Levinas (1947) Peyton Place, by Grace Metalious (1956) Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?, by Lorrie Moore (1994) Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, by Toni Morrison (1992) Devil in a Blue Dress, by Walter Mosley (1990) Black Water, by Joyce Carol Oates (1992) New England’s Gothic Literature, by Faye Ringel (1995) The Gothic Literature and History of New England, by Faye Ringel (2022) The Devil’s Candy: The Anatomy of a Hollywood Fiasco, by Julie Salamon (1991) The Last Man, by Mary Shelley (1826) The Craft of Writing, by William Sloane (1979) Lost Boy Lost Girl, by Peter Straub (2003) The Door, by Magda Szabó (1987) The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, by Tzvetan Todorov (1970) A Fatal Inversion, by Barbara Vine (1987) The Color Purple, by Alice Walker (1982) Star-Begotten, by H. G. Wells (1937) Ghosts, by Edith Wharton (1937) The Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe (1987) Strange Seed, by T. M. Wright (1978)
In this interview, we chat with Nour Abi-Nakhoul about copy editing, creative nonfiction, feverish creations, and so much more.
Nour Abi-Nakhoul is a writer and editor based in Montreal. She is the editor-in-chief of the award-winning quarterly Maisonneuve Magazine. Her short fiction has appeared in Hazlitt and The Walrus. Her debut novel, Supplication, was released by Penguin Random House in 2024.
“The Charlotte Street Arts Centre and the Fredericton Public Library are teaming up for a unique evening of storytelling inspired by our collective love for literature, libraries, and books of all shapes and sizes.
This special evening event will feature personal stories from a cast of New Brunswick writers including Ambrose Albert, Joce Anderson, Chuck Bowie, Ryan Griffith, Jordan Thretheway, Joanne LeBlanc-Haley, Eric Hill, Philip Lee, Paul McAllister, Thandiwe McCarthy, Fawn Parker, Mike Thorn, Jacques Poitras, and Sue Sinclair with all proceeds going to support both the Charlotte Street Arts Centre and the Fredericton Public Library.”
I am continuing a new annual tradition. I’ve organized my choices chronologically, with externally and/or posthumously edited collections/anthologies at the end.
Vathek, an Arabian Tale; or, the History of the Caliph Vatek, by William Beckford (1786) The Mysteries of Udolpho, by Ann Radcliffe (1794) The Monk: A Romance, by Matthew Gregory Lewis (1796) Wieland; or, The Transformation: An American Tale, by Charles Brockden Brown (1798) Zofloya; or, the Moor, by Charlotte Dacre (1806) Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley (1818) Melmoth the Wanderer, by Charles Robert Maturin (1820) The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, by James Hogg (1824) Twice-Told Tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1837) The House of the Seven Gables, by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1851) Carmilla, by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1872) Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886) The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde (1890) The Damned, by Joris-Karl Huysmans (1891) The King in Yellow, by Robert W. Chambers (1895) The Beetle, by Richard Marsh (1897) Dracula, by Bram Stoker (1897) The Invisible Man, by H. G. Wells (1897) Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, by M. R. James (1904) The Listener and Other Stories, by Algernon Blackwood (1907) The House on the Borderland, by William Hope Hodgson (1908) Pan’s Garden: A Volume of Nature Stories, by Algernon Blackwood (1912) The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka (1915) Ghosts, by Edith Wharton (1937) The Subjugated Beast, by R. R. Ryan (1938) Conjure Wife, by Fritz Leiber (1943) The Hounds of Tindalos, by Frank Belknap Long (1946) This Mortal Coil, by Cynthia Asquith (1947) The Scarf, by Robert Bloch (1947 / 1966) Hangsaman, by Shirley Jackson (1951) The Bird’s Nest, by Shirley Jackson (1954) I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson (1954) The Sundial, by Shirley Jackson (1958) The Breaking Point, by Daphne Du Maurier (1959) The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson (1959) Shock!, by Richard Matheson (1961) Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury (1962) We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson (1962) The Collector, by John Fowles (1963) The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, by Yukio Mishima (1963) Dark Entries, by Robert Aickman (1964) New Stories from the Twilight Zone, by Rod Serling (1965) I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream, by Harlan Ellison (1967) Rosemary’s Baby, by Ira Levin (1967) Last Summer, by Evan Hunter (1968) The Obscene Bird of Night, by José Donoso (1970) The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty (1971) The Room, by Hubert Selby Jr. (1971) The Other, by Thomas Tryon (1971) Burnt Offerings, by Robert Marasco (1973) Child of God, by Cormac McCarthy (1973) Carrie, by Stephen King (1974) ‘Salem’s Lot, by Stephen King (1975) Julia, by Peter Straub (1975) The Demon, by Hubert Selby Jr. (1976) Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice (1976) Long After Midnight, by Ray Bradbury (1976) The Shining, by Stephen King (1977) The House Next Door, by Anne Rivers Siddons (1978) Blood Secrets, by Craig Jones (1978) Strange Seed, by T. M. Wright (1978) Ghost Story, by Peter Straub (1979) Red Dragon, by Thomas Harris (1981) The Woman in Black, by Susan Hill (1983) Books of Blood: Volume One, by Clive Barker (1984) The Ceremonies, by T. E. D. Klein (1984) Hawksmoor, by Peter Ackroyd (1985) The Damnation Game, by Clive Barker (1985) The Juniper Tree, by Barbara Comyns (1985) Songs of a Dead Dreamer, by Thomas Ligotti (1985) Toplin, by Michael McDowell, (1985) The Hungry Moon, by Ramsey Campbell (1986) Beloved, by Toni Morrison (1987) Why Not You and I?, by Karl Edward Wagner (1987) The Fifth Child, by Doris Lessing (1988) The Girl Next Door, by Jack Ketchum (1989) The Pines, by Robert Dunbar (1989) American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis (1991) The Cipher, by Kathe Koja (1991) Grimscribe: His Lives and Works, by Thomas Ligotti (1991) Something Stirs, by Charles L. Grant (1991) Bad Brains, by Kathe Koja (1992) Skin, by Kathe Koja (1993) The Between, by Tananarive Due (1995) Zombie, by Joyce Carol Oates (1995) Traplines, by Eden Robinson (1996) Lunar Park, by Bret Easton Ellis (2005) The Red Tree, by Caitlín R. Kiernan (2009) Jack of Spades, by Joyce Carol Oates (2015) Heartbreaker, by Maryse Meijer (2016) Tender is the Flesh, by Agustina Bazterrica (2017) And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, by Gwendolyn Kiste (2017) Strange is the Night, by S. P. Miskowski (2017) The Seventh Mansion, by Maryse Meijer (2020) We Are Here to Hurt Each Other, by Paula D. Ashe (2022) Supplication, by Nour Abi-Nakhoul (2024) Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, by Edgar Allan Poe (1956) [edited by Edward H. Davidson] Tales of H. P. Lovecraft, by H. P. Lovecraft (2007) [edited by Joyce Carol Oates] Ghost Stories of Henry James, by Henry James (2008) [edited by Martin Schofield] The Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies, by Clark Ashton Smith (2014) [edited by S. T. Joshi]
In this interview, we chat with Paula D. Ashe about writer’s block, narrative movement, urban legends, and so much more.
Paula D. Ashe (she/her) is an author of dark fiction. Her debut collection We Are Here to Hurt Each Other (Nictitating Books) was a Shirley Jackson Award winner for Single Author Collection and a Bram Stoker Award Finalist for Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection. Recently, she received the Joseph S. Pulver Sr. Weird Fiction Award at NecronomiCon Providence. Paula was also an associate editor for Vastarien: A Literary Journal. She lives in the Midwest with her family.
Books and stories mentioned in this episode:
Supplication – Nour Abi-Nakhoul
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
Books of Blood; The Damnation Game; The Hellbound Heart – Clive Barker
Midnight Rooms – Donyae Coles
Blood from the Air – Gemma Files
“each thing i show you is a piece of my death” – Gemma Files & Stephen J. Barringer
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke – Eric LaRocca
In this interview, we chat with Lisa Tuttle about genre history, the ideal protagonist, Harlan Ellison’s writing advice, and so much more.
Lisa Tuttle was born and raised in Austin, Texas, and moved to Britain in the 1980s. Her first novel, Windhaven, co-written with George R.R. Martin, was followed by over a dozen fantasy, science fiction, and horror novels, including three recent books set in the 1890s combining crime and supernatural fiction, featuring the detective duo Jasper Jesperson and Miss Lane; the third volume, The Curious Affair of the Missing Mummies, was published last year. She has also written hundreds of award-winning short stories collected in several volumes, including A Nest of Nightmares, The Dead Hours of the Night, and most recently, Riding the Nightmare. She is the author of The Encyclopedia of Feminism (1986) and currently writes a monthly science fiction review column for The Guardian. She lives with her husband and their daughter in Scotland.
Book and stories mentioned in this episode:
The Saint of Bright Doors – Vajra Chandrasekera
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life – Ruth Franklin
Hangsaman; The Haunting of Hill House; “The Lottery” – Shirley Jackson
The MANIAC; When We Cease to Understand the World – Benjamín Labatut
Biography of X – Catherine Lacey
The Seventh Mansion – Maryse Meijer
Babysitter; By the North Gate; They; The Wheel of Love – Joyce Carol Oates
Mike Thorn 