This Is Horror

TOD 092 Sarah Read: Weaving Broken Bones Back Together Again

In this podcast Anya Martin interviews Sarah Read, author of the novel The Bone Weaver’s Orchard and collection Out of Water (Trepidatio, 2019), plus Sarah reads ‘The Hope Chest’ (Best Horror of the Year, 2020). The episode was recorded on Sunday Feb. 7, 2021

Show Notes

In this podcast during Women In Horror Month, Anya Martin interviews Sarah Read, author of the novel The Bone Weaver’s Orchard and collection Out of Water (Trepidatio, 2019). The conversation begins with her experiences as a librarian in lockdown, as well as editing the now-retired Pantheon, lamenting the impending loss of Black Static,  and participating in the Weird Dream Society and the Post Apocalyptic Writers Society (PAWS). The conversation then turns to the body horror that stitches through her fiction and manifests in unexpected ways, including her fear of broken bones, her love of cave archaeology, sewing as an intergenerational bond, dysfunctional family relationships, photographing cryptids, Weird road trips, seeing faces in the walls, stories under stories, and pandemic reality as uncanny horror. Discussion shifts to Sarah’s novel The Bone Weaver’s Orchard, a Gothic thriller set in 1926 Great Britain which has nods to Jane Eyre and the orphan/orphanage fiction of Frances Hodgson Burnett, and features all of her ‘favorite things’: bones, bugs, old houses, and body horror! (0:53:10) Sarah reads ‘The Hope Chest’ (Black Static # 72, Nov. 2019) which was selected by Ellen Datlow for her Best Horror of the Year, Volume 12 (Night Shade, 2020). The interview concludes with her publishing news and reading recommendations including Steve Toase, Eden Royce (Root Magic), and R. B. Wood (Bayou Whispers). This episode was recorded on Sunday Feb. 7, 2021. Be sure to scroll down to Additional Links to find out more,

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Additional Links

TOD 071 Quarantine Readings: Weird Dream Society

The House on the Rock (Spring Green, WI)

Pareidolia (Eds. James Everington and Dan Howarth, Black Shuck Books, 2019)

‘Weird tale’ by Secret Garden author Frances Hodgson Burnett discovered (The Guardian, April 9, 2020)

Show Credits

Hosts/Producers: Scott Nicolay and Anya Martin

Co-Host, News from The Weird: Justin Steele

Co-Host, Reviews from The Weird: Gordon B. White

Symposium Assistant Director: Melanie Crew

Symposium Programming Coordinator: Jess Lewis

Symposium Logistics: Melissa Eisner

Logo Design: Nick “The Hat” Gucker

Music: Michael Griffin