EP. 6 | Angela Sylvaine — Lost Girls, Making Readers Feel, & Horror as Therapy

In this episode of Uncanny Women Podcast, KJ Brantley sits down with Angela Sylvaine, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Frost Bite, Cold Snap, The Dead Spot: Stories of Lost Girls, and Chopping Spree—and a self-proclaimed “cheerful goth.”Angela shares how she found her way to horror after beginning her writing career in her thirties and gradually learned to trust the voice and instincts that made her work distinctly her own. She and KJ talk about the pressure writers often feel to prove their work is sufficiently serious or literary, and the freedom that comes with recognizing that horror can be funny & quirky, emotionally honest, and deeply meaningful all at once.Their conversation shifts to the ’90s-inspired worlds of Frost Bite and Cold Snap, where humor and familiar pop culture references help tell stories about real fears, loss, and uncertainty...and of course, cults. Angela talks about how her childhood shaped both her upbeat personality and the darker themes in her writing, and why strength, especially the strength of women and girls, keeps showing up in her work.KJ and Angela also discuss the more unsettling emotional territory of The Dead Spot: Stories of Lost Girls, the catharsis of female rage, and the assumptions people sometimes make about women who write violent or macabre fiction. Angela considers why her future work may be angrier, how horror allows writers and readers to face injustice without looking away, and why the horror community itself is often far more well-adjusted than you might expect.Angela Sylvaine’s Woman in Horror Book Pick:With Friends Like These by V.S. LawrenceAngela Sylvaine’s Books Mentioned in This Episode:Frost BiteCold SnapThe Dead Spot: Stories of Lost GirlsChopping SpreeOther Books and Authors Mentioned in This Episode:With Friends Like These by V.S. LawrenceMy Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady HendrixThe Troop by Nick CutterHell Hath No Sorrow Like a Woman Haunted by RJ JosephGwendolyn KisteRJ JosephConnect with Angela Sylvaine:Instagram: @angela_sylvaineWebsite: angelasylvaine.comAbout the Host, KJ Brantley:KJ Brantley is an Indigenous-mixed, autistic horror and dark fiction author whose work explores motherhood, feminism, identity, neurodivergence, trauma, and psychological horror. Drawn to the intersection of entertainment and social commentary, she crafts stories that are both unsettling and emotionally resonant. She is the host of Uncanny Women Podcast and founder and organizer of the SoCo Women in Horror Fest. She is currently the President of the Women in Horror Arts and Media Association. KJ lives in Colorado with her husband, two toddlers, and an ever-growing stack of spooky books.Learn more at WomenInHorrorFestival.com.