TIH 182: Kathe Koja on The Cipher, Christopher Marlowe, and Strangest Story Ever Written

TIH 182 Kathe Koja on The Cipher, Christopher Marlowe, and Strangest Story Ever Written

In this podcast Kathe Koja talks about The Cipher, Christopher Marlowe, the strangest story she’s ever written, and much more.

About Kathe Koja

Kathe Koja is a writer, performer, director and independent producer. Her work crosses and combines genres, from historical to contemporary to YA to horror. Her novels including The CipherSkinBuddha Boy, Talk, and the Under The Poppy trilogy—have won awards, been multiply translated, and optioned for film and performance. Christopher Wild is her latest novel.

Show notes

  • [04:00] Life lessons growing up
  • [11:55] Conflict with expanding stories into something they aren’t
  • [13:30] Identifying whether a story is good or not
  • [26:00] Different books at different times in your life
  • [28:00] First experience reading Christopher Marlowe
  • [40:00] Vampires and Dracula
  • [47:30] Live performances / 4D films
  • [55:00] Different mediums for different effects
  • [01:00:00] Reading outside of comfort zone
  • [01:11:10] What would Marlowe be most angry about right now?
  • [01:14:30] Talking politics/social media/net neutrality
  • [01:32:00] Ross Byers, via Patreon, asks about strangest story ever written
  • [01:38:30] Max Booth, via Patreon, asks about state of mind during the writing of The Cipher
  • [01:44:55] Connect with Kathe Koja

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Resources

The two stories Kathe references are “Coyote Pass”and “La Reine d’Enfer”.

The reader’s review: “The biggest reason why I bumped it down to only two stars was that the story ‘La Reine d’Enfer’ belonged completely in the really objectionable horror genre from beginning to end. It literally gave me nightmares. I know that even Charles Dickens’ descriptions of children living in the streets and being treated horribly is given a lighter touch through his voice, but this story of suffering was just way too disturbing for me.”

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