Tag: fiction

The Catch-Up Reading Series featuring Chuck Bowie, Alison Taylor, and Mike Thorn (January 26, 3 pm, Westminster Books)

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

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Best first reads, 2024

Pre-2024 releases only.

TOP 10 (one per author)

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)

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Craftwork S1E13: Ecstasy, Ruin, & the Talent of the Room w/ Kathe Koja

Listen to Craftwork S1E13: Ecstasy, Ruin, & the Talent of the Room w/ Kathe Koja.

In this interview, we chat with Kathe Koja about balancing simultaneous projects, resisting online distractions, raising the literary dead, and so much more.

Kathe Koja writes novels and short fiction, and creates and produces live and virtual events. Her award-winning books include The Cipher, Skin, Buddha Boy, Under The Poppy and Velocities, and she is currently at work on the Dark Factory immersive fiction project including Dark Factory, Dark Park and Dark Matter. Catherine the Ghost is her newest novel.

You can find her at kathekoja.com and on Instagram, Facebook and Threads.

Books mentioned in this episode:

  • Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
  • Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life – Ruth Franklin
  • Faust – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • The Mouse and His Child; Riddley Walker – Russell Hoban
  • The Default World – Naomi Kanakia
  • Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett – James Knowlson
  • A Place of Greater Safety; Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel
  • Doctor Faustus – Christopher Marlowe
  • Rimbaud: A Biography – Graham Robb
  • Frankenstein; The Last Man – Mary Shelley
  • Lost Boy Lost Girl – Peter Straub
  • The Secret Power of Music: The Transformation of Self and Society through Musical Energy – David Tame
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100 Favorite Horror Books: October 2024 Edition

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]

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Craftwork S1E12: Cruel Elegance, Cosmic Pessimism, & Rust Belt Vibes w/ Paula D. Ashe

Listen to Craftwork S1E12: Cruel Elegance, Cosmic Pessimism, & Rust Belt Vibes w/ Paula D. Ashe.

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
  • “Abed” – Elizabeth Massie
  • The Scar – China Miéville
  • Beloved; The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison
  • Song of the Tyrant Worm – Hailey Piper
  • Flowers for the Sea – Zin E. Rocklyn
  • Cows – Matthew Stokoe
  • The Secret History – Donna Tartt
  • The Color Purple – Alice Walker
  • Where I End – Sophie White
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