Mike Thorn interviewed for pulp MAG
Craftwork Episode 17: Worldbuilding, Aha Moments, & Writing for the Stage w/ S. P. Miskowski
In this interview, we chat with S. P. Miskowski about Asian horror cinema, the power of grief, the relentless desire to shape the self, and so much more.
S. P. Miskowski is a recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, for literature and for drama. Her books have been recognized with four Shirley Jackson Award nominations and two Bram Stoker Award nominations. Her stories have appeared in many anthologies including Haunted Nights, Human Monsters, Looming Low I and II, The Madness of Dr. Caligari, Uncertainties III, October Dreams 2, The Best Horror of the Year Vol. 10, and Darker Companions: 50 Years of Ramsey Campbell, and in magazines including Identity Theory, Black Static, Vastarien, Supernatural Tales, and Cosmic Horror Monthly. Her grunge noir novel I Wish I Was Like You was named This Is Horror Novel of the Year 2017 and is available via Audible. An omnibus of her books set in the weird fictional town of Skillute, WA is forthcoming from Broken Eye Books in 2025.
Books and stories mentioned in this episode:
- The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales – Alfred A. Knopf, pub.
- The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2024 – S. A. Cosby, ed.
- D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths – Ingrid & Edgar Parin d’Aulaire
- Go, Dog. Go! – P. D. Eastman
- Rock Paper Scissors – Alice Feeney
- The Haunting of Hill House; “Maybe it Was the Car”; “The Summer People”; We Have Always Lived in the Castle; “The Witch” – Shirley Jackson
- None of This is True – Lisa Jewell
- Audition – Ryū Murakami
- “Bluebeard”; “Cinderella” – Charles Perrault
- “The Black Cat”; “The Cask of Amontillado” – Edgar Allan Poe
- The Last Party – A. R. Torre
- The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2023 – Lisa Unger, ed.
Craftwork Episode 14: Debauchery, Plotless Fiction, & the Paranoiac-Critical Method w/ Nour Abi-Nakhoul
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.
Books mentioned in this episode:
- Kilworthy Tanner – Jean Marc Ah-Sen
- We Are Here to Hurt Each Other – Paula D. Ashe
- Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin
- The Guest – Emma Cline
- The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Autobiography of X; Pew – Catherine Lacey
- The Apple in the Dark – Clarice Lispector
- Fever Dream – Samanta Schweblin
- The Adventures of Ratman – Ellen Weiss
Mike Thorn discusses Bram Stoker’s “Gibbet Hill” on CBC Eyeopener
Loren McGinnis interviewed Mike Thorn about the recently uncovered Bram Stoker story “Gibbet Hill.”
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
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
Craftwork S1E11: Collaboration, Closet Dramas, & Writing for Audio w/ McKenna James Boeckner & Carlee Calver
In this interview, we chat with McKenna James Boeckner and Carlee Calver about nature writing, epistolary possibilities, elusive chicken detectives, and so much more.
McKenna James Boeckner is a Ph.D. candidate and contract lecturer at the University of New Brunswick (territory of the Wolastoqiyik people), with a specialization in long eighteenth-century British literature. As a creative writer, they slay with playwriting and have a penchant for fractured states of reality. Their most recent project is an eco-horror audio drama co-created with Carlee Calver, titled Us Soliscent Seeds. Find more of their work at memoirsofasodomite.com
Carlee Calver is a writer, playwright, and filmmaker from Bathurst, New Brunswick. She currently lives and works in Fredericton NB, where she received her M.A. in creative writing (screenwriting) from the University of New Brunswick. Her plays have been produced by Notable Acts Theatre Festival (2019) and Herbert the Cow productions (2022). She directed a FibeTV1 series called Skin and Bone (2023) that is now available online. Recently, Carlee was co-creator and producer of Us Soliscent Seeds (2023), a 4-part eco-horror audio drama set in Northern New Brunswick. All episodes are now available for streaming online.
Books mentioned in this episode:
- We Are Here to Hurt Each Other – Paula D. Ashe
- Carrie – Stephen King
- Blue Ruin; Red Pill – Hari Kunzru
- Melmoth the Wanderer – Charles Maturin
- The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
- Divergent series – Veronica Roth
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona – William Shakespeare
- Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
- Dracula – Bram Stoker
Mike Thorn discusses Shelter for the Damned on The Dark Mind podcast
Mike Thorn joins Vince Midgard on The Dark Mind Podcast to discuss his recent novel Shelter for the Damned.
They discuss the themes and inspirations behind the book, including the exploration of the Jungian shadow and the ambiguity of supernatural versus psychological elements. They also touch on Thorn’s previous work, Darkest Hours, his podcast Craftwork, and his experiences as a writer. The conversation concludes with Thorn sharing his love for reading, the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and his upcoming projects.
Craftwork S1E10: Weird Tales, Uncanny Dolls, & Creative Breakthroughs w/ Lisa Tuttle
Listen to Craftwork S1E10: Weird Tales, Uncanny Dolls, & Creative Breakthroughs w/ Lisa Tuttle.
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
- The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
- Lake of Darkness – Adam Roberts
- Cryptonomicon; Polostan – Neal Stephenson
Mike Thorn 