Evil Video Games and Feminine Rage with Tatiana Schlote-Bonne

In this episode of Talking Horror, Rachel Redd sits down with Tatiana Schlote-Bonne, author of The Mean Ones, Such Lovely Skin, and the upcoming dark fantasy What Feeds Below. Tatiana dives deep into how her background writing deeply personal essays about family trauma and living with her mother's ex-boyfriend ultimately pushed her to seek pure escapism through horror fiction.We discuss her childhood exposure to Resident Evil and Stephen King , the catharsis of surviving toxic male gaming lobbies , and balancing the mentally taxing world of publishing with the physical discipline of Olympic weightlifting. Whether you're a cozy gamer , a powerlifter , or just looking to dive into an immersive void filled with diabolical mushrooms, this conversation is for you.Timestamps:00:00 – Horror as a Comfort Genre & Writing for Fun00:36 – Introducing Tatiana Schlote-Bonne & Her Bizarre, Unsettling Worlds02:41 – Childhood Tastes: Goosebumps, Dean Koontz, and Resident Evil04:31 – Chasing Scares & Desensitization in Horror Movies08:50 – From High School Family Trauma to the Iowa Non-Fiction Writing Program16:31 – The Pivot from Memoir to Fiction During the Pandemic19:31 – The Parallels of Writing Horror and Olympic Powerlifting21:35 – Navigating Toxic Masculinity in Call of Duty Lobbies27:30 – Cozy Gaming, Brain Rot, and Video Game Inspirations32:22 – Such Lovely Skin: Demonic Video Games and Horrific Secrets38:46 – The Mean Ones: Cults, People Pleasing, and 2000s Mean Girls46:02 – What Feeds Below: Anime Inspiration, Diabolical Mushrooms, and Body Horror52:23 – Adapting Voice for Protagonists & The Agony of the Publishing Industry55:06 – Author Confessions Rapid Fire: Ghost Rom-Coms and the Dread of StartingConnect with Tatiana Schlote-Bonne:tatiana-schlote-bonne.comInstagram: @thebuffwriterTikTok: @the_buff_writerFollow Talking Horror Podcast:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelreddreads/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rachelreddIf you enjoyed this episode, please Like, Subscribe, and hit the notification bell to help us grow the horror community!