This Is Horror

TOD 105 Adam McOmber: Mirror Worlds and Other Unreliable Settings

In this podcast Anya Martin interviews Adam McOmber about his most recent Weird novels The Ghost Finders (Journalstone) and Jesus and John (Lethe Press) and more. This episode was recorded on Wed. Nov. 10, 2021

Show Notes

In this podcast, Anya Martin interviews Adam McOmber about his most recent Weird novels The Ghost Finders (Journalstone) and Jesus and John (Lethe Press) and more.  The  conversation covers The Ghost Finders‘ inspirations including the Victorian superheroes and occult detectives, the Black Mirror as intercalary portal, the key role of the Gothic Other in his Weird fiction,  why he prefers writing in historical settings, favorite research sources, why Weird world-building should be through the ‘lens of the character’, unreliable settings and amnesiac characters, how Weird fiction can uniquely address Queerness, the power of desire, small town cult mentality, a little about Adam’s first novel The White Forest, gnostic roots of Jesus and John, spatial poetics and ‘bottle episodes’, raising up the pagan, and deeper truths. Adam reads an excerpt from The Ghost Finders (0:41:50) and concludes with more publishing news including a queer retelling of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles (Lethe Press, subscribe here) and his third collection Fantasy Kit (Black Lawrence Press, June 2022), as well as his reading recommendations including Mark Fisher’s The Weird and the EerieBrian Evenson, Steve Berman, Victoria Nelson, and Erik Davis.This episode was recorded on Wed. Nov. 10, 2021. Be sure to scroll down to Additional Links to find out more about the books and media recommended in this episode.

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Additional Links

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore (comics, wiki)

The Irregulars (2020, Netflix, trailer)

The Nevers (2020, trailer, HBO)

Spring-Heeled Jack (Atlas Obscura)

‘The Sherlock Holmes of the Occult World: A Look Back at Algernon Blackwood’s John Silence Stories’ (Conceptual Fiction)

Carnacki the Ghost Finder by William Hope Hodgson (wiki)

Welcome to Twin Peaks

Circles of Dread by Jean Ray (Wakefield Press)

Lacan: Symbolic and Real Order

‘The Real Elephant Man: A Look at the Life of John Merrick’ (Biography.com)

London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd (Review, 2000, The Guardian)

London Under by Peter Ackroyd

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched (documentary, Dir. Kier-La Janisse, Severin Films, 2021)

The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion by James Frazier (wiki)

The Limehouse Golem (2017, trailer)

TOD 084: The Outer Dark Symposium 2020: Weird World-Building Panel

‘9 Secrets of Sir John Soane’s Museum’ (The Londonist)

John the Apostle/Saint John the Beloved (wiki)

The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels (GoodReads)

Bart D. Ehrman

The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard (wiki)

Hunger Mountain Review (literary magazine)

Strange Attractor Press (UK)

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