Episode 13 << Click to Listen

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John Langan, author of Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters and House of Windows, joins us for our horrifying thirteenth episode to discuss reading comics, becoming part of academia, and his love/hate relationship with Henry James.

Panel Topic: Horror

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Introduction

0:00 Introduction by Tor.com

0:38 Dave and John introduce the show

Interview: John Langan

02:10 Interview begins

02:25 Comics, Conan, and King: some of John Langan’s early influences, and how he became a writer

06:58 What scares a horror writer?

09:25 John’s return to academia and its influence on his short story “Tutorial”

14:05 Are professors allowed to read comics? For that matter, are students?

16:03 Regarding some comics that have made the cut as ‘literature’:Ghost World, Maus, The Watchmen, and more

18:19 John’s major milestones in short fiction, and how he turned to novels

21:48 About John’s new novel, House of Windows

22:49 The story-within-a-story form and why it appeals to John

25:12 How students receive a professor teaching speculative fiction

26:43 Regarding the professor’s love/hate relationship with Henry James

28:33 Feedback from readers

29:08 What’s coming up from John: “City of the Dog” appeared in the January/February issue of F&SF, and “The Shallows” is coming out in the Cthulhu’s Reign anthology in April

30:49 John offers some reading recommendations

31:39 End of interview

Dave and John discuss terror, horror, and…grammar? (Okay, that’s scary too.)

31:41 Stereotypes of horror writers and comedians

35:52 What scares John and Dave? A question inspired by Temple Library Reviews

37:54 Chuck Palahniuk’s “Guts”, which apparently makes people pass out when he reads it (YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, read at your peril!)

41:34 Terror, Horror, and the Gross-out

42:43 Upton Sinclaire’s The Jungle

43:11 Regarding Splatterpunk

44:39 John finds a horror movie that actually scares him

45:54 Urban legends that Dave found seriously creepy

47:27 In which we learn that some writers really need medication (and also, we’re glad that John is still alive)

48:52 News as horror, and how advertising uses fear to manipulate us

52:09 How news influences horror fiction

53:58 Color coding our fears, and lessons for horror writers

57:42 Dreamscape, Fallout, George R.R. Martin’s “Sandkings”, and more things that John and Dave find scary

01:02:08 Finding horror outside the usual horror context: Greg Egan’s “Learning to be Me”

01:03:35 The fine line between fiction and reality–kids, don’t do drugs!

01:08:20 From horror to grammar! Regarding Strunk and White:Geoffrey K. Pullum’s “50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice”, and when to ignore the rules

1:12:58 Show wrap-up

Next week: Holly Black, best-selling author of The Spiderwick Chronicles

Thanks for listening!

Show notes compiled by podtern Christie Yant. Friend us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.