Author | Critic
“The Canyons and The Counselor represent an America unmoored from its own self-aggrandizing mythologies — the capitalist dream as nightmare of anxiety and violence. The films are haunted by symbols rather than subjects, made nowhere clearer than in McCarthy’s naming The Counselor’s title protagonist (played by Michael Fassbender) after his profession — he is a nameless intermediary, a metaphor.”
“Over the past few years I’ve had the privilege of enjoying an ongoing dialogue with one of my major creative influences, award-winning writer Kathe Koja. Two years ago, she and I discussed genre and process during the virtual launch for my second short story collection, Peel Back and See. Last year, we discussed our work’s relationship with cinema for In Review Online. While brainstorming about topics for future conversations, we decided to pursue the concept of numinosity: its permutations in literature in film and the role it plays in our own creative projects. This article is the result of our email thread on the subject.”
Film adaptations of Stephen King’s work often suffer from genre misidentification. This isn’t to say that filmmakers mistakenly read King’s work as horror fiction — much of it undoubtedly is horror fiction. The primary shortcoming of many adaptations — including Andy Muschietti’s 2017/2019 It duology — is a limited perception of what the horror genre is, what it can do, and how it interfaces with other literary and cinematic traditions. It (1986) might well be King’s most horrific novel, its title representing the numinous and multifaceted object of fear itself. It’s as replete with monsters and grotesquerie as anything the author has written, but it also might be his most thematically and structurally ambitious work.
“What sets Eli Roth apart from other contemporary American horror directors is his unique braiding of current issues with high genre literacy. This holds true for his latest effort, Thanksgiving, an anti-consumerist holiday giallo that traffics openly in reflexivity.”
Shepherd asked 949 authors and super readers to select their three favorite reads of 2023. Read Mike Thorn’s thoughts on his choices here.
Mike Thorn’s story “The Shape of Our Damnation” will soon appear on Tales to Terrify.
The podcast has released two of Thorn’s stories in the past. Listen to “@GorgoYama2013” and “Erosion”.
“The Winter Solstice. It’s dark, it’s cold, it’s the most wonderful time of year. And it’s full of f*cking monsters. Don’t act like you don’t know. You’ve heard the cracking ice, seen tracks in the snow, smelled the bloody breath, and felt the rumbling Ho-ho-ho deep in your guts. We celebrate because we’re terrified of the dark outside our door.
Winter is an eternity, particularly in Purgatory. So, no matter which Terrace you call home, we invite you to while away the long, frozen nights with this curated collection of short tales from some of the most deliciously demented minds in horror. Some will make you laugh, some will make you shiver, and some…well, let’s just say nothing is sacred here. Enjoy, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll live to see the Equinox.”
“Sheds, nightmares, violence, family, friendship, addictions, sacrifices… A Shelter for the Damned, by Mike Thorn is a book with a frenetic pace that keeps you reading non-stop. That shows us the hells that the most perfect families can hide. That even hides a first love story between its pages. Which brings us three very different teenagers who will be involved in a nightmare from which it seems impossible to escape and which breaks our hearts. If you are looking for a horror reading that shocks you with its rawness, you have to give it a try.”
Mike Thorn 