Meet the Maniac

Today, our maniac is Michael P. Marpaung! Join us as we discuss speaking our truth, science fiction, fantasy, and his inspirations.Enjoy!~The Chronicler Your Weekly Horror DirectoryThe Alchemists (Original Fiction)“Guilt Eats Away at Me” by Author Michele Bardsley “Wrath” by Daniel O’Donnell “Scumville - Part 7” by Joshua T Calkins-Treworgy “Some Infinities are Bigger than Others” by EJ Trask “An Echo in the Bone (Audio)” by Brian Martinez “Microdosing - 70mg of Bones” by Miguel S. “The Heart Knows What the Eyes Deny” by Travis Blake “Flesh and Blood: Chapter 9” by Jean Marie Bauhaus “Dark Waves - Chapter 2” by Matthew Christian “The Magic Show” by Lorne Bronstein “Hank” by Cobol “Tail” by Chris Patrick The Detectives (Original Non-Fiction)“The Great Stink” by Andrew Smith “March 2024 Wrap-Up” by A. B. Frank “Wait—Bram Stoker said Van Helsing was BASED on Someone?” by Chris Well “but my name was Elisa Day - the musical horror storytelling of Where the Wild Roses Grow” by sleightsofheart The Muses (Poetry)“Drip” by Kathrine Elaine “Skin-Deep” by Erin Ròse Latta The Collectors (Boom/Film Recommendations)“April Fools Day” by John Coon “Carnel” by Jessica Maison The Dissectors (Book/Film Reviews)“Cinemuse | Secret Window (2004)” by Maribel “The Salt Grows Heavy” by L.L. Ford The Loudmouths (Notes)“Ties” by Michael S. Atkinson “Throwback to Youtube” by Jean Marie Bauhaus “Terraria” by Michael P. Marpaung “A Tale of Poison and Annihilation” by Honeygloom “What Horror is Hiding in the Fog?” by Patricia J.L. 👻🧶🖊️ “Stephen King’s Dirty Birdies” by Jennifer Morrow Found Footage (Videos)“Manslaughter Demo (FLASHING LIGHTS WARNING)” by Skyla This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit macabremonday.substack.com

Today, our maniac is the very lovely Kathrine Elaine! Join us as we discuss Tolken, vulnerability in writing, and the importance of community here on Substack.Enjoy and in the wise words of Kathrine herself: “stay weird”!Mentioned on this episode: The Man Behind the Screen Jon T Redd Oscar V Kelly-Sibley EJ Trask TJ Patton Your Weekly Horror DigestSessions with Dr. Botgoreshared the first 6 chapters of their—quite grotesque-story called, “Lenny”. Fair warning, if you get squeamish easily, keep a trash can nearby!Scoot was kind enough to give everyone a book recommendation that made quite the impact on him. Nuclear destruction, nihilism and dwindling hope are sure to make this one a worthwhile read.The Midnight Blue Seagave us the first look at the labor of love they’ve been working on about H.P. Lovecraft’s rise to fame in horror culture. I’m sure you’ve seen authors look into Lovecraft’s work before, however this one is meticulous in its analysis and a stellar read!The Man Behind the Screen talked about music that uses macabre imagery to really drive it’s message home. What music videos have you seen that serve to amplify the message that the writer was trying to convey?Cobolshared an original work titled, “Amis” for their first ever Macabre Monday post. Go on show their work some love!Rene Volpi shared a twisted tale based on the true story of serial killer Donald Harvey, a nurse that killed 100+ patients. Truly chilling.Naptime Novelist gave us a ghost story inspired by her childhood home. I’m not sure what is creepier…the story the inspiration behind it!Anna C. Webster bestowed upon us an exceptionally well-written article that delves into analog horror and its recent increase in popularity.That’s all I have for you this week! Check back in next Monday to once again visit the Cemetery!Don’t forget about the upcoming deadline for the Wicked Writing Contest - March 18th! Read more about it here for all of the grisly details.Join the discussion on Notes here on the Substack platform every Monday!Stay Spooky.If you are looking for people to follow on Notes for Macabre Monday, check out all the people participating (We periodically update this list. This is the latest, trimmed list!):John Ward Andrei Atanasov Shaina Read Lloyd Miner Andrew Smith Honeygloom Macey A. B. Frank Leigh Parrish Jenovia John Coon The Chronicler S.E. Reid Edward Rooster Jessica Maison Buck Weiss reinancruz Patricia J.L. 👻🧶🖊️ Michael S. Atkinson Maribel Jennifer Morrow Stirling S Newberry Susan Earlam Author Michele Bardsley Daniel W. Davison Daniel O’Donnell Nicolina Torres Michael P. Marpaung Jon T L.L. Ford Olivia St. Lewis EJ Trask Anna C. Webster Skyla Lucas Mangum Redd Oscar Alec Worley Jay Rothermel Hannah V Kelly-Sibley Kathrine Elaine Josh Tatter The Man Behind the Screen Hamish Kavanagh Kay Moulton The Brothers Krynn Chris Well Brian Martinez Miguel S. sleightsofheart Scoot Travis Blake C.J. Heath Jean Marie Bauhaus Erin Rose Latta Macy Lu Sean Thomas McDonnell Targeted Nightmares Walther Cantu Lorne BronsteinMichaela McKuen S Tallett Cobol Rene Volpi @Tjpatton Aristotle Evangelos This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit macabremonday.substack.com

Hello listeners, welcome back to Macabre Monday’s Meet The Maniac. I'm your host, The Chronicler, aka Maya, and today I'm joined by our maniac, Mr.Scoot , author of the tech noir series “Duel”, amongst other notable stories. Scoot is a Catholic writer on Substack, boasting several newsletters, namely the Peasant Times Dispatch, Gibberish, Stained Glass Catechism, and Bima Sakti. Did I pronounce that right? Yeah, that's a collaboration with Michael P. Marpaung. It's a, I'm sorry, Michael, if I've mispronounced your name. It's apparently the Indonesian word for the Milky Way. So Scoot, you are a man shrouded in much mystery—I'd say. So why don't we suspend some of that with a proper introduction from you?All right. Hi, I'm Scoot. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what else to say besides what you said. I write a bunch of things. I don't write a lot of things. And I'm kind of new to the Macabre Monday crew. Kind of, I didn't, I didn't feel right kind of putting my name in the hat for the lottery until I started like writing something scary. So, and it's, it's funny because like, I'm afraid of, or I'm not, I don't handle it very well. So I don't know. I don't, I don't know what else to say. I'm a human being. I have a, like an actual face. That's not like a heart in a Betsy Ross flag. And that's, I don't know. I've already figured it. I've already lost words. So there you go. Don't worry. I'll have enough room, enough of them for the both of us. All right.I'm a chatterbox. So how did you get started on Substack?So the, the Catholic endeavors were really the first ones. I was on WordPress for a while and Substack kept popping up. People kept on talking about it and there it would like, so in such and such writer is talking about this on Substack. And I was like, all right, let me, let me explore it. Let me check it out. Maybe kind of see what kind of trouble I can get into.So Peasant Times Dispatch was kind of the first venture. And Substack makes it so easy to like go paid to like feel legitimate. Like, I don't know. WordPress feels like a blog and Substack feels like a professional newsletter. So like the idea was that I was going to start professionalizing my writing and you know, try to see what kind of an audience there is for it. The fiction side of the house actually came. So Gibberish was originally supposed to be a language newsletter. It was because like I was getting into conlanging and like wanted to do more with that. But I just didn't have the time. And I, I started it, you know, I think a couple months after I started the Peasant Times Dispatch did nothing with it. So then January of 23, I rebooted it. I was like, I'm going to post fiction. I was trying to put fiction on Peasant Times Dispatch. And I just, it didn't fit with everything else that was there. So I was like, all right, let's separate it. Let's have fun with it. And the rest is history. It was, it's been a lot of fun to play around with Gibberish and kind of experiment with things.It's been a lot of fun reading what you have. You mentioned Conlang. Do you use a lot of those skills for the Bima Sakti newsletter?That one's, that one has just started like a couple weeks ago or maybe a month ago. So eventually, maybe. But I definitely, I, I love what Tolkien did with his languages. And I love the depth that they, that it adds to worlds. I, I think about just the name of things a lot. And like, it doesn't take a lot of effort to go and either like back rationalize words. So an example of what, of what I've done is last summer, I posted a longer story called Blood or Flood, which is set in Atlantis. And, you know, I didn't think, I wasn't thinking about like inventing a language for it, but afterwards I was just thinking about it and so I posted a couple world-building articles on like how I might approach building a language based on what I've already done without thinking about it for the story. And so I was able to like, you, you back rationalize things and then you could just, the language expands very organically once you get a couple of guardrails and then you just follow it a little bit. So it, it added a lot of depth. And if I ever wanted to expand that story, now I've got some direction. I've got, you got to understand like history, culture, just kind of the way people think. And it, it, it kind of all flows naturally from there.That's so interesting. Were you into conglang before you started writing fiction or?Yes-ish. Well, it's funny because I was interested in language first and foremost. So my mom is from Canada, grew up hearing French all the time. Like I like to joke that I know how to scold myself in French. Like I don't actually know French. So languages have always been really interesting to me. And I've done like a stint on Duolingo or two, just kind of exploring other languages. I took like, I took a weird combination of languages in school. Like in high school, I started with Latin, then switched to German for some reason. And then I took like a couple of years of Spanish in college. So like they all just kind of mixed together and it just, it was, it was interesting, but I didn't really unlock language. I didn't know how to understand them until I started looking into like constructing languages. There's a website Zompist, I'll send a link to it. But it's, it really broke down, like what would, what are the steps that you would take to create a language? And it just kind of unlocked real languages for me. So then I was able to like, in trying to invent a language, I was understanding the grammar rules. And like, the minute constructions that go into understanding like real languages. So kind of both of them ascended together. And that was just really interesting to me.That is interesting. It's interesting you started with Latin, because I feel like that's a key to so many languages. And it's so mathematical, the way that it's structured, I feel like.Well, and that's one of the things that I've realized is that it's into, so I forget where I've talked about this, but like, there are people who will talk about being polyglots. And I'm not trying to like, insult polyglots of certain varieties. But like, if someone says that they speak seven different languages, but it's like Latin, French, Italian, German, English, you know, whatever, like, those are all Indo -European languages, they share more things in common than they have different.But like, when you start looking into like, Austronesian languages, like Tagalog in the Philippines, Indonesian, you know, Vietnamese, things like that, like, you're getting into entirely different language, like an entirely different language family. The way words are formed is completely different. The way like, there are grammar structures that don't exist in English. So it's the closest thing that you can get almost to a truly alien language, because it doesn't have anything in common. So like, when you find, if you were to encounter someone who like speaks, you know, languages in different language families altogether, then that's just, it's, it's, you have to break down the process and then relearn it from the ground up. So that that's something that's been really interesting for me to, like, approach without really understanding it.Interesting take a direction that this podcast today that I didn’t expect, but here we are.Language Monday.Yes, exactly. So what got you into writing fiction, if you don't mind me changing the subject?No, please. Fiction at all. I have always been a, like, imaginative person, I would say. I, I live a lot in my head. And so I think the, the, I can't remember the first fiction I ever tried to write. But I have always been just thinking of like, well, what if this and what if that and then just kind of expanding it, I would say, actually, this isn't necessarily like fiction related. But like, when I was in like, high school, there was a online game called Nation States that was run by the author Max Barry based on his book, Jennifer Government. And it allowed you to kind of like create a country and all this stuff. And then like, inevitably, people have like forums, and they would like roleplay their different countries, kind of like D & D, but international politics. And I like I dove deep into that. And I had a lot of fun with it. And so, like, that was kind of I kind of, I guess, that was backing into writing fiction by world building. And then I was able to take take that and then like, start doing it intentionally for writing fiction. And that was a lot of fun. So I don't know, like, the first serial I wrote on Substack was Sandbox Earth. And that came out of a conversation that I had with my dad about just like, what would happen if aliens came to Earth and then didn't notice us and then they like fought each other and it's like, it's, it's an idea that really stuck with me. And it has just lived in my head for all this time. So writing on Gibberish is really the first time that I have like brought that out and been like, hey, like all of these ideas for my entire life that I've just been swimming around my brain, like, I'm spilling them out for everyone like here, check them out. Like I find them interesting. I hope everyone else does too. So far, so good, I think.Oh, yeah, so far, so good. So far, so great. Oh, one of your top stories actually speaking of your fiction was Father and Son. I think that's your most popular on your website. It is.And for me, that's one of the most impactful stories that I read from you. And I think I've read quite a few of your, your stories.Thank you.I'd love to know about the process of writing that particular piece.Well, that's a, it's funny you should ask that because so that's another one that has lived in my head for a long time. It actually started I drew like a picture at work one time I used to work at a, I don't know one of my first jobs when I was in college was as a bank teller. And so there was a lot of like downtime, I would have like these post-its, post-it notes and I would just draw on them and then I would like put them up like near my desk or whatev—whatever.And so like I did so the father and son started as like just a drawing it was like a giant—a red giant sun and like a man and his son walking into the sunset and like the shadows and all that and it was really cool so like that was, that was the inception of the idea.I knew I like I once I started fleshing it out. I, like I knew I wanted it to pack an emotional punch I knew. Generally, the beats that I wanted to hit. But I've tried writing this story maybe like three or four or five times. And it just was not coming together the way I wanted it to be. And so I ended up, I reached out to S.E. Reid and I was just like, listen, I’ve got this story that I’m working on, it is not working for me the way that I want it to. Like, what advice would you have for something like this. I don’t remember exactly how I phrased it, but and she, she mentioned this idea of like having refrains and so I don’t know if this is exactly what she had in mind or not, but the way that I took her advice is that like each character has like a line that they repeat and that is like for them. Like Adina, the woman who comes in, I’m here to protect him. But then she like changes who she’s protecting. I’m here to protect your son, not him. Like, spoilers for people that haven’t read it. Go read that. So, like, I don’t know. Everyone has, had like a different line so it just clicked. And I was like okay, like I’m able to establish with these refrains the, what the, defining feature of each character is and so, like how they all relate to each other. And it made it all click. It all spilled out very, kind of, easily once I figured out like how to approach it in that way. So it was really interesting.That is so interesting. So it was more musical, I guess, when you, the perspective.Yeah.Or poetic.Yeah. yeah, it's not a, it's not a way of thinking about writing that I'm very familiar with. But it worked here because I, I needed to have something that connected the scenes in my head together. And so that served as like the, the, I don't know, stitching for it. Like it's, I had, I had these disconnected scenes. I had the beats, but I didn't know how to merge them together in a way that was like that, that made sense. And that kept that kind of emotional depth that I was like hoping for. And so this, like having these refrains against a different backdrop in each beat allowed me to see kind of how everything was going. And so it was, I guess that's how that worked.But yeah, it's not something that I've, I've, it's not a way that I have thought about writing before. And so that was really, really good advice from S.E. Reid.Fantastic. She's really great.She helped me also with developmental editing for a longer piece and it blew my mind.She knows her stuff.She does.It's like she does this professionally or something.Another shout out to S.E. Reid on the podcast. Two times in a row. I wonder if we can keep this going. That'd be kind of funny.You mentioned before that you don't write a lot of horror, don't like a lot of horror. And it's kind of funny because I wouldn't describe you as a horror writer, but one of the first earliest stories I think I read of yours was, was Powerless which was a sci-fi horror.You did a great job with the Blackwater Entry. It's one of my favorites.Thank you.How did you come to write those? They seem very different than your usual style.So it's, it is interesting because I, I, one of the things that I like to do with Gibberish is deliberately experiment with my writing. Like I know I have a natural inclination to science fiction, but like, you know, horror is completely outside of my element. So like, let me try. Like, I'm not losing anything by experimenting, and if I do a terrible job, I'll just never touch it again.And so, so Powerless, actually, Bounty Hunt was, I think, the first attempt to really get something scary. Like, I wanted to capture the terror of running away from a relentless hunter. And, and Powerless kind of came out of that line of thought, whereas like, okay, like, how can I'm playing with tension, playing with like, the unknown. So I guess, man, I'm trying to think like, Powerless came out of like, I just decided to write something on the drive home one day. And so I, I just, I kind of cranked it out. And I knew generally kind of an idea. I think that one actually, did that one have a musical accompaniment? Some of them have like music that inspired me to write it. I'm trying to remember if that one did.I don't remember if powerless did. I remember, for me, the audio for Powerless comes from Cole Noble's podcast.Oh yeah.So I can just hear the rumbling sound of the ship. But that's the only thing I remember about sound.Okay, yeah. So I'm probably didn't have like a song for that one. But like, there's some, some of them had like, music that inspired me to, to kind of go for a mood, I guess.The Blackwater entry, that one, I wanted to do something different. And I was like, trying to think like the original idea when you initially talked about Blackwater, like the first thing that I reached for was like, poor man trying to make ends meet, like trying to make a buck subscribes to this, like clinical trial. And then like, I didn't write it. And so I sat on it. And a lot of other people did, did like a similar kind of idea much better than I could have. So I didn't want to, I didn't want to kind of go in on, on that kind of thing. Then I was like, all right, well, what else would be kind of a unique thing to have in this idea? Cause like the, the, the, the concept that you've brought up here is fascinating to me. Like, and how everyone has been able to be so consistent, like attaching to the lore. Like it's, it's amazing what everyone has done. It's been really fantastic just to, to witness and to be a part of.Oh yeah.So yeah, I just like, it's very open-ended. And so I wanted to, to plug in and I wanted to do something, something different. So like, okay. Like somehow I ended up on like serial killer. I was like, oh, great. How am I going to write a serial killer? I don't know what it's like to be a serial killer.So I decided not to write from the perspective of the serial killer. Like partly also, like, I think I mentioned this, like, like the thing that was difficult about that story for me was like, I did not want to get in the serial killer's head at all. I wanted to like, I wanted to avoid it for as long as possible. And I didn't want to like empathize. I didn't want to put myself or the reader in a perspective where they were like empathizing with a serial killer. So I, I didn't. So I, that's where like the Tracy Shields outside perspective came in. Like she was the MacGuffin to like explain what is happening to him. And then it was more kind of an illustrative perspective from Henry Prowse, the serial killer once he got into Blackwater. So, yeah. So I guess like I, I, I wanted to. I wanted to illustrate that he was deranged and I wanted to illustrate that he was like kind of scary, but I didn't want to, I don't know. I didn't want to make it over. I was just, I'm trying, I'm experimenting with ways to communicate ideas without actually saying them. And so it's like, it's a, it's a fun challenge. And so that's kind of how I approached Blackwater.You did a fantastic job with it. I think by not showing and the limited perspective, it was, it was well done based on what you've said, do you think, what, if anything has writing horror taught you as a non-horror writer?Oh man. What you reveal to the reader is, or I guess what I'm trying to think how to say it. Like what you do not reveal to the reader is as important as what you reveal to the reader. And I, so I'm writing something for the Wicked Writing Contest. And I'm like with the music theme and I'm, I'm kind of having a hard time with it. So I'm trying to like wrangle it a little bit. And like what I'm bringing to that anyway, is I'm trying to like, I'm trying to balance how much information to actually share so that I can maintain tension and leave the, like the reader simultaneously knowing what's going on and not having any clue so that it's, it. An analogy that I like to come back to, is that writing any fiction, but especially kind of writing horror is kind of like telling a joke. Because if you say the punchline too early, then it ruins the entire thing. Like you want to build up this suspense of something. You want to build up this story, build up some expectation, and then you subvert it at the end. And it's like this, you can, in the last line, you can change an entire story. So figuring out how to maneuver that is very challenging and it's a lot of fun also.What books have influenced your writing style?Man, that's a good question. A lot of Asimov. So here's how I'll say it. I grew up on, or I guess I literally, literarily grew up on what I call the ABC ages of science fiction, Asimov, Bradbury, Clark, and Heinlein.They all have very unique and different styles. I would say like Asimov, I really like his expansive universes, the interconnectedness of his stories. That was always really inspiring to me. Bradbury is very, I don't think esoteric is quite the right word, but he's like imaginative and almost mystical about his science fiction.Arthur C. Clark, a master of the short story. He is someone who can like spend hundreds of words and then change the entire story in like the last minute. It's phenomenal. A recommendation for anyone interested in Arthur C. Clark stories. The short story Rescue Party is one of my favorites of all time.And Robert Heinlein. Robert Heinlein is very philosophical. I really like how he weaves his philosophical ideas, whatever you think about them, into a science fiction context, into a story that actually makes sense. And I think that's really, really important.So, yeah, I would say those are kind of the big influences on my writing.Those are good. I'm writing down Rescue Party.It's, you will not be disappointed.So we talked a little bit about your horror stories, but what got you into Macabre Monday?That's a good question. I think it's, it's, I am fascinated by horror. And not in like a, like, not as a fan, but as someone who like doesn't understand it. Like, there are so many wonderful writers on Substack who just do a phenomenal job writing scary stories. And, you know, horror is kind of an expansive term. There's a lot of like different sub genres and different facets to the whole idea.So what I enjoy about it is just, the exposure to a lot of these different people. Being able to see and like kind of almost study, I mean, for lack of a better term, like different, there are different writing styles. And just coming to understand a, like a genre that is not my own. I'm primarily science fiction. Horror is not my thing. But it's really interesting just to see kind of how, how everyone, everyone writes and Macabre Monday is kind of the way to do that.We talked about Macabre Mondays and you mentioned that it was a great way to get you introduced to other writers. Who on Substack are you reading these days?Oh man. Okay. I was afraid you would ask this because like there's so many people and I am going to like, even like I have a little notepad here and I was like, who I read and then I didn't write anything.S.E. Reid already shouted her out. Shaina Read’s Kindling. Her stories have been really fascinating for me because again, like, I'm not, not a horror reader or consumer by any stretch. But I like just, especially in the last interview, she talked about kind of her ethos behind writing stuff and like knowing that makes it so much more, so much more interesting to me. Because you can kind of like see the story behind the story. So I really love things like that.Gosh, who else? Keeping it on the spooky side of the equation. Leigh Parrishof Halcyon Horror. She does, She does a really great job. With kind of like slow burn tension, at least in the, I haven't read everything that she's written, but I've read a couple stories and I really enjoy that.Olivia St. Lewis’s Wednesday Afternoon. Her Lost Circus. I don't know, I forget why I dove into that, but I had a ton of fun, like reading a story that is just. It was a. It's, it's, it's scary. It's kind of gross. It's a, she's still, she's still publishing so I need to catch up on it but that was just, that was a lot of fun to go through as someone who does not really enjoy the genre.Gosh. As far as other science fiction people. Michael Marpaung and his Germanicus. He's, he's got some really interesting ideas. And really interesting ways of like conveying those ideas. So that's why I like, it was a Sci Friday thing where he kind of suggested the Bima Sakti collaboration so having a lot of fun with that. Redd Oscar Writes also. He, I was really in, like when I started writing on, on Substack. I was very jealous of Redd Oscar's style like it's just he does action sequences very well and very imaginative so I really appreciate his writing and have gotten a lot out of it just by kind of. I don't know. Again, studying it. I'm studying everyone's writing so spoiler alert.He does a great job, Both the short stories, long form, I don't know how he does it, and they're so different. They're so, always so interesting. Yeah. So I guess that's, I'm going to talk for hours if I start listing everybody.So, I want to plug your Substack side business, also, you're a narrator—a voice for hire.Yes. So, if you are listening to this and you appreciate my voice. I can use this voice for your own nefarious ends. So, I don't know that's been that's been a fun kind of side thing. Like it was a Cole Noble’s Authors and Embers where kind of that the idea of hanging a shingle kind of even came to be. And it's been it's been fun, it's it's a lot more challenging than I, than I realized like there's so much nuance to reading people's fiction.So if you want, like if anyone listening wants to like a taste of what I have produced so far, I think really the only thing that I have put out is Michael S. Atkinson’s. Man, the Good Guys, which is—or the Good Guy, the Good Guys? The Good Guys, which is a like the Archangel Michael and Raphael interrogating a snake, which is was just a lot of fun to read. He's, Michael Atkinson is a very imaginative writer I enjoy his stuff as well.He's a lot of fun to read.Yeah.So, what's next for Scoot? You're wrapping up Duel or you've written, you've wrapped up Duel? I think there's one more episode left?One more episode, I have, By the time this publishes, if this publishes next Monday then I will have both written and published the final episode.I gotta get on that, but I'm—So exciting. Yeah. So, that's going to be wrapping up here shortly.The Selected Letters of Armin Talor. I'm really excited about that. The Slowburn kind of letter writing is, it's a fun experiment. That's experimenting with kind of the mediums more.I've got a gibberish anthology coming soon, where I'm compiling the stories that I wrote in 2023. John Ward has made an amazing cover for it. I'm so excited to get that out. I think I shared a version of it on notes, but so that's going to be just kind of a compendium of everything that I wrote for gibberish in 2023. And, oh man, what else? Gibberish writing competition, probably come in sometime Q1 24. So we'll see more announcements on that but yeah, that's honestly, once Duel is done I'm looking forward to being a reader again because it has been it's hard work getting a serial out and I've learned a lot from it, so it's been fun but exhausting.It's been fun reading it. I'm sad that it's going to be over. All right, I think we're kind of wrapping up here I can't believe we managed to fit everything into 40 minutes that's— Somehow we pulled it off.It flew by though actually. Yeah, so then I guess to our readers we'll sign off here. Is there anything you want to leave our Macabre Monday listeners with?keep doing Macabre Monday, like just what it is doing for the community is both important within the Substack ecosystem and just fun as a fiction community. So I think it's a great service, so it's great that there's so many people involved. Tell your friends, bring people from outside of Substack in to check out horror writers that are amazing, that are undiscovered in the popular mind so keep doing that. That's my, that's my PSAWonderful okay then, I guess we'll close off there. So thank you very much for coming and speaking with us today.Thanks for having me.Your Weekly Horror DigestMacy Lu wrote a short story inspired by the pictures she took when arriving in Japan. What comes to mind when reading her story?The Midnight Blue Sea shared the first part of a three part series about dissecting H.P. Lovecraft’s work and influence. If you’re a…Lovecrafter? Lovecraftian? This is for you!Jean Marie Bauhaus published and shared the second chapter to her horror serial, Flesh and Blood. Get in now while the story is new!Travis Blake dove into the depths of the Earth to give us this short horror story. Claustrophobia will not serve you well with this one!Chris Well shared 15 interviews he has had appear on his publication Monster Complex, including Stephen King and Anne Rice!Hamish Kavanagh decided to experiment with flash fiction and thus provided us with this 50 word horror story based on a single word, “Curse”.Michael P. Marpaung shared some horrific poetry that is sure to give you some chills.Jessica Maison gave us a twofer! On one hand she shared a recommendation of a horror comic called Destroyer by Victor LaValle. On the other hand she shared her monster of the week, Ammit, a guardian demon from Egyptian mythology!That’s all I have for you this week! Check back in next Monday to return to the Cemetery.Don’t forget about the Wicked Writing Contest! One month left!Join the discussion on notes here on the Substack platform every Monday!Stay Spooky.If you are looking for people to follow on notes for Macabre Monday, check out all the people participating (updated list): John Ward Andrew Smith Carla Pettigrew John Coon Jon T The Chronicler Honeygloom Macey A. B. Frank Cole Noble Leigh Parrish Buck Weiss Jenovia S.E. Reid Edward Rooster Jessica Maison reinancruz Shaina Read Patricia J.L. 👻🧶🖊️ Michael S. Atkinson Maribel Jennifer Morrow Stirling S Newberry Susan Earlam Author Michele Bardsley Lauren Salas Daniel W. Davison Daniel O’Donnell Nicolina Torres Michael P. Marpaung Olivia St. Lewis L.L. Ford Joshua T Calkins-Treworgy EJ Trask Anna C. Webster Skyla Redd Oscar Alec Worley Hannah V Kelly-Sibley Kathrine Elaine Renee George The Man Behind the Screen Hamish Kavanagh Kay Moulton Chris Well Brian Martinez A.M. RadioMiguel S.sleightsofheartScootTravis BlakeC.J.’s SubstackJean Marie Bauhaus The Midnight Blue Sea Joyce Macy Lu Sean Thomas McDonnell This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit macabremonday.substack.com

With the New Year, a new evolution of Meet the Maniac has emerged for your listening pleasureHello, everyone. I'm M.E. Beckley, but many of you know me simply as The Chronicler on Substack.Today, I present to you Macabre Monday's first podcast episode, Meet the Maniac. Our first guest is the lovely Shaina Read, who writes Kindling. Kindling is a newsletter, as Shaina puts it, for people with boring lives and active imaginations.Join us as we discuss how she joined Substack, Stephen King, horror, developing skills as an author, and who she's reading these days.I hope you all have as much fun listening to this as I did when recording it. Feel free to tune in to the podcast above or read the transcription of the interview below—or both!Enjoy!Okay, so how about we get a brief introduction about who you are and what you do on Substack?Yeah, so I'm Shaina Read and I have a Subtack called Kindling, where I, it's kind of a mixed bag. I review dark fiction. I cover issues of censorship, I write about authors and writing and I publish fiction.So it's all fiction centered. Most of it's pretty dark, a lot of horror, but yeah, it's kind of my passion project, I guess you could call it.So I'm a computer programmer by day, and, um, yeah, I have two kids and two dogs and I love the outdoors. I'm pretty funny, um, I think I like my jokes.Thank you so much. Okay, so, I really like your Substack genuinely, but before we get into that, I would like to know how you got started on Substack and how long you've been on the platform using it.Yeah, that's a good question.I have, I have a couple of friends from high school, actually, and, you know, we don't see each other a whole lot anymore. but we keep in touch, and we were kind of like nerdy, artsy kids in high school. And so we've all gone on to, you know, we all have like our jobs that we have to do to support ourselves, but all of us are still doing art or writing or, you know, music, whatever it was, combination of those things. So one of those friends, I had him over for dinner one night and he was talking about this new platform that he heard about. I think there were journalists that he liked that were writing on it and he said it's called Substack, and so I started getting his newsletter kind of just to support him and keep in touch with what he's been doing, and I got really curious.So I started looking on the platform and I think I found L. Griffin, and saw that she was writing fiction. And I thought that sounds super interesting because at the time I'd been writing fiction for a couple of years, like I hadn't shared any story with anybody and wasn't really sure how to get kind of like feedback or a feeling of like how these stories would go over.I was submitting them to magazines, but you know how that goes; it's a pile of rejection slips. So I thought I should just try this and see what happens.So that was a little over a year ago, and I mean, I actually, I sat on it for about eight months. So I wanted to do it in January of 2022, and then I got really scared. So I finally published last August, I think was my first, my first time publishing, and I thought about quitting a handful of times since then. Just because it's the nature of the beast, I think.But it's the people; I love the community of people on there. There's so many good writers. There's so much good fiction. So I'm kind of around just because I've made these really cool connections with other horror writers and horror fans and it was something that's missing from my everyday life.So yeah, so I'm not going anywhere anytime soon.It feels like being a part of a kind of the club you always wanted to join and in college or high school.Yeah, definitely.Yeah, so how did you get started writing?Yeah, you know, I'm I, I always wrote like I had journals as a little kid. I was pretty shy so I read a lot and I think I started writing.I read the Diary of Anne Frank in third grade, like didn't understand the majority of that book, but I loved that she kept a diary. I think that's what I took away when I was like 9 years old. That's all I got from that. And I used to write goofy little stories about my pets and things like that, but I got really discouraged later on in high school. There were just people better than me, and so instead of doing the work, I just went, oh, I'm not the best at that, so I guess I'm just not going to do that. That's not a viable option.So like looking back, it's so silly.But so relatable.Yeah.And I think it was because I had so many talented friends around me. I just was, you know, like I wasn't as good as them and a lot of them, I'm still not as good at writing as them. But that doesn't mean there's not a place for any of the stories. That's where my perspective has changed.You know what I mean?Like, I want to write these stories. So who cares? They're not as good as other people; of course not. But so I think I've always written, but I've gone through very long periods where I've given up or stopped or, you know, like, been too nervous to do it just kind of a baby about.And so, oddly enough, computer programming, that's something that was so hard for me to learn and having learned that and I'm not the best at that either, but I'm pretty good at it.That has made me realize that writing is a craft. It has to be worked at. I can't just expect. It's not really different from computer programming in a lot of ways. The practice has to be there.So that's made me kind of buckle down and take myself more seriously. Even if I don't have success at it, I think that's the only way to get better. And you know, what's funny is like programming has a similar, like I realized because I think part of what intimidates people with any art is once you like look at the top of the top you get the gatekeepers like people who really believe like you either have this or you don't.But that's the same thing in programming and I'm thinking like babies don't know math. Like that's ridiculous. You know what I'm saying?It's so true. Like of course there's other savants. Yeah, but most people are just learning it.That's so interesting. So programming was kind of like a breakthrough for you; It really pushed you into your art. That's so interesting.Yeah, I mean, in two ways.One, because I'm not passionate about it, you know? I can do it for a day job. So it made me realize, oh, writing is really important to me.Yes, like, this pays the bills and it's a good job and I like it. I like a lot of parts of it, but it made me realize like, oh, I need to pursue. I need to try to do something with writing because I can't stop thinking about it.You know, like I picked up a pen again at 32 years old. I got my computer programming degree late. It's like everything's late for me, you know, so it's like, okay, you need to do it. It’s now or never.There's also no such thing as late when it comes to writing. I think that anyone can jump in at any time.Yeah, and I agree because I've actually, that's a good point because Substack, there are a decent amount of people on there.Like there's a couple of 80 year olds who are like, I just love it. And they're good writers. You know what I mean?Yeah! So you mostly, so you stick with fiction. Fiction is your thing, but you're mostly kind of a horror based Substacker, right?Yeah. Yeah, I asked myself that a lot, because I definitely, like in my normal life, people are really shocked—and not in a good way.Like, I don't think I've had, including my family, like people are my, my family, they subscribe to my Substack, and they're pretty worried. They're reading my stories going like, what is wrong with you? Like, why are you thinking about this?Um, so why horror? I've loved it since I was a little kid. Like I used to sneak out and, you know, watch movies that my parents were watching. The Shining was my first behind the couch little flick that I watched at five, which is way too young. It was totally traumatizing, but I don't know. I just loved it. I like to be scared.I think my real life is like pretty boring, and so there's something to the excitement of horror. And I think too, I'm, I'm very bothered by evil, you know, like I, I have a hard time with it. I have a hard time with the reality that so many bad things happen in the world. And I think horror gives me a way to kind of examine the dark parts of humanity and human nature, why people do what they do without having to like go meet with serial killers and ask them, you know what I mean?Like it's a safe way for me to explore what would people do if this happened? Or why would somebody do A, B, and C, and I can go as deep and dark as I want. And you can keep it fun too. It can be a fun, you know, like horror is so broad. Like there's so many layers to it. And I like so many aspects of horror, like the fun campy stuff, but then also like the really dark, scary, real stuff, you know.So I think part of it too, is that I tend to be a fearful person. I have anxiety, you know, like about the state of the world. But yeah, so I think that it's just a way to process anxiety about the world. Like, I think it's, I think it's that for a lot of people, at least, but yeah.Definitely. That's super interesting. I hear that from a lot of different horror writers that the interest comes from a what if perspective. But you mentioned Stephen King, which brings me to my next question. You have a Stephen King book club.I do, yeah.Where you explore all of his works. So tell us a little bit about that.Yeah, I am, like, I'm kind of obsessed with Stephen King. It's embarrassing. I hope he never knows.Like, my husband likes to make jokes, because I have asked him things like, did you know he was, he's over six feet tall? He's like, I didn't know that and I don't care. So that shows the level. It's a little, it's a little much. But all of that to say, yeah, I love his writing.I like I don't even want to like it because it feels almost not cool to like Stephen King at this point because he's so big. But yeah, I love the way that he writes people. I love his villains. I love, I just, I love that his books are centered around love and friendship, like the people that beat the monsters. Typically, you know, they're like kind of normal little weaklings and they come together and it's through like this greater goodness or purpose that they that they kill Pennywise or whatever it is.Yeah, I love Stephen King. And I think he's, I don't know, I think he was like, pretty daring to like a lot of the works that he wrote. Maybe it's not anymore, but I think when they were written, you know, like Carrie, like all the religious elements there. I would imagine that was kind of hard to write. I don't know.He wrote like a story about a girl getting her period in the shower. Like that's not easy for a man to write, you know what I mean? So, and I think he did a pretty good job. You know, like he captures a lot of things really well. He's so good.Definitely, and he's not all dark either. There's a collection of short stories I read, and you probably would know them and I can't remember the title of them. One was about it's like a federal a CIA agent who's in a country in South America who survives torture and escapes. You know the one I'm talking about?I do and I can't remember the collection that's in but yeah, he definitely has and his later works too have gone kind of all over the place. Which some people hate, but he's a good literary writer too like he has a little bit of a literary bent for sure in a lot of his work so I think I like that too, that he's just, he's sci-fi, he's, you know, which I don't, I don't like his sci-fi as much as his horror, for sure. But yeah, have you ever read Lisey's story?No, I don't think so.That one's a weird, it's so good.I love that. But it's a great example of like, it's really scary, disturbing, but like, very beautiful. He can do that too sometimes. And I love when horror can can kind of mix those worlds, you know what I mean? We're in the one moment you're like in awe of whatever and then the next people are being eaten by, you know.But that's modern horror. That's it. It doesn't have to be pure horror. There's a book that's on my TBR and it's supposed to arrive today in the mail called Between Two Fires, which is both fantasy and horror, and I love, I love that overlap so much.I do too.But you mentioned discomfort, like pushing boundaries and all of that, which seems to be a prominent theme on your website. You're really interested in that exploration of literature. You're like, if you're uncomfortable, good, because you like to discuss censorship and banned books.I would love to know more about that. That is really interesting to me.Yeah. Some of it comes from, so I was a fundamentalist Christian for, I don't know, a long time, 15 years, maybe. And so coming out of that is extremely difficult out of any fundamentalist belief. And I don't think it just has to be religious. It's just whatever you hold to be the absolute truth about the world with no question, right?And no science and no, and not even science, but just know, maybe you haven't even thought it through, because that's how I was, at least I hadn't thought through why I believe things I just took, you know, so and so said this, I have to believe it. That's what I believe. That's how I live my life.Um, so coming out of that was really hard and, and part of me, um, not writing was a result of those beliefs. Like I, I think one of my first posts I posted about it's, you know, cheesily named “How Stephen King Saved My Life”, but it's a little bit true. It's really how Stephen King made me write again. And it's all part of that journey. It's like for all of us, right? It's always wrapped up in some personal whatever that we're working through.So anyway, fundamentalism. I restricted myself a lot. I didn't allow myself to read anything that didn't go with a very specific theology, including Christian authors, like I, you know, if they didn't subscribe to my exact way of viewing the world, I didn't read them. I didn't listen to music that didn't align with that. I didn't watch movies. I mean, it was so limited. And I wasn't raised that way; I chose it.So that's even weirder to think about, you know?Yeah, so trying to figure out why did I do that? How did I so easily believe something without ever really thinking it through and how can I prevent myself from doing that again?Because once you've, it's, I imagine people that join cults must feel this too, right? Where you go, I, I'm not a stupid person. Why did I believe so-and-so about everything that they said?Like realizing that I have that tendency has made me very cautious of my own biases, prejudices, uh, like the things that I think are true. And so I, I use literature media. I use it to make myself uncomfortable to go like, do you really believe that? Or is that really true? And I think that that should be a big part of reading. I mean, it doesn't have to be, but I think it could help.Like I see so many of the issues in our culture being that we are listening to one side of a story and we probably should be listening to like 50 sides of that story, you know what I mean?Yeah, so that's, that's why I'm really passionate about it, because I feel like it helped pull me out being able to empathize, hear other perspectives realize there's good people that don't think exactly like I do. And there's bad people that think exactly like I do. And what does that mean about the world? You know, and in my everyday life, I can't expose myself to all those ideas, so books are the way that I do it.So interesting. So how did you get into Macabre Mondays?Well, I, um, John Ward actually told me about it. He's such a good like community center point. Like he brings so many people together.So, um, yeah, he tagged me in something and said, Hey, Shaina, you should participate in this. I was like, Oh my gosh, it's here! Cause I, I think I complained to him before too, that you know, I didn't know enough horror authors on Substack and I knew they had to be somewhere, you know, like it's not just me. Like, come on guys, where is everybody?But horror is kind of a hard sell too, as you probably know, like it's very niche and it can mean so many things. I think people are very turned off by the idea of it. Like, at least that's what I encounter.More than horror, I think fiction on Substack can sometimes be a hard sell.Yeah, and I get it too. It's hard to read it. Like, there's not a good, especially serials, it is hard. Like, it's hard for me and I like them. I can only imagine if you're not super, you know what I mean?You just see the viewership tank after the third episode or whatever. But do you see fiction taking off on Substack in a different way than maybe it has in the past?Yeah, I don't know what it's going to look like. I think part of it really is just like if it could feel like an e-reader, like if there was an option for that, I think it would be so much easier.That's interesting.Yeah, because I think it's mostly just the feel like humans, I mean, every freaking website developer knows that like you'll lose people. I mean, if you just have one little thing that's like a little inconvenient, they're off, you know.So, I think it's mostly that just having to, like I said, like, if I start in the middle of a serial having to like, find my way back to and authors do a great job of linking, but I'm like, God, wouldn't that be cool if you could just read it like a book? Because, yeah, I think that's kind of what and especially I don't know about you, but like, most of my readers are on email. Like, they're not gonna like, if they don't have the app, like the idea that they're going to scroll through their emails and find like my, yeah, I don't think it's happening.Yes, and no matter how hard you push the app, in the emails, it is, it's significant. I think it's like 10% more for me, um, are on email. And I think, Oh, come on; I put so much effort to the website!I know, I know they have no idea!No, and it's very clear for you now. I understand you're, uh, you're, you're, you're a techie, but your website is so organized. It was very easy for me to, to access.Oh, good. I hope so.Yeah. And of course, S.E. Reid, She's like made the whatever you want to call that really high. I was like, ooh.That she’s set the bar.Yeah, so I reorganized after I saw hers. I was like, that is smart. That's a lot better.So she's really a trailblazer for fiction, I think, on Substack.I think so, too, yeah.Substack often talks about grassroots, but like she's usually the first person that I think of where I'm like, that's really from nothing.Yeah.Yeah.It's like, I think it's that's the coolest part about Substack, the idea that you can have a community with your readers. It's actually something I wasn't sure if I would like I was like, I'm not really sure if it's going to be healthy, like all those things, right? Because social media is whack so. and it's been so awesome. Like it's, I can't believe how much I care about my readers. When I don't see them, I'm like, where is this person? They usually comment. Are they around? It's like, I feel like I have a relationship with them. So that part's been really cool.You really do have a good, I would say, relationship with your subscribers. They're very involved.They are, yeah. There's a few that I feel like, God, I'd love to meet them. You know what I mean? I wish we could have a book club in person.Who on Substack do you read regularly?Oh, there's a lot.Michael Moore. So he has two substacks. He does write some fiction, but I- The director?No, I know. I always wonder if he gets... No, he's like, he has one newsletter that's kind of political. It's just kind of about like cultural topics and whatnot. And then he has another one that, of course, I can't remember the name of. But he wrote about his journey with his father's death. So his father had cancer. So I read that one and it's really, really beautifully written, super raw. So yeah, I appreciated that so much.Sherman Alexie , cause I adore him. He's on Substack. Yeah, I read his, one of his banned books. Like it's banned constantly by school districts and reviewed that before I realized he was on Substacks. So that was a really fun experience.S.E. Reid, Jibberish, Scoot writes Jibberish.Yes, we have to tag Scoot in this! He's been mentioned now.Yes, we do. Yeah, I read your stuff, Maya.Oh, really?!I do, yeah.Oh, no, I’m so flattered.Yeah, you're a rising horror star on Substacks. I like that you said you write everything too. I was like, oh, in my mind, you're a horror author.Oh, wow!Ben Wakeman, are you familiar with him? He just, he just hosted a, I think he called it like an exercise in empathy, where he had writers who write, yeah, he writes Catch and Release. I love his stuff.Okay, Nathan Slake, I cannot forget about him. Do you know him?Nathan Slake? Oh, I, okay—I thought—I'm also like you. I follow a lot of people, so I get I get mixed up. I think so though. I think I do follow him.Okay, Nathan. He's British and he writes these magical—his stories are so beautiful. So you should tag him because he really deserves. He really deserves it.And then Daniel W. Davison, if you're familiar with him.Oh, yes.Like really scary. I really like his stories; they scare me.Oh, 100%. The “The Werewolf of Mariahilf am Inn” is how I was introduced. He wrote one—He was one of my first readers and one of the first writers I followed on Substack and—he wrote one where this, I don't want to give it away, but it just was so disturbing. It's like, I think it was a marionette. There's some title about a marionette, but anyway, it was extremely disturbing and I loved it. So, yeah.Fantastic writer. Literally such a grip on atmosphere. Also one of the first ones I subscribed to and interacted with online. Sort of funny; we're living parallel lives here.We are.So that's a really good list.Yes, there's a lot. I'm probably forgetting someone really important. I'm sorry guys, if I forget about you.What are you working on right now?So right now, behind the scenes, I haven't been writing as much fiction actually on Substack because I'm working on finishing a novel and I have to finish it. It's been in my brain for years and I finally outlined it in October, and so I have like the bones of the story. I've never outlined anything before, but I realized that I don't think I can write a novel without an outline—It's too scary.So yes, so that is behind the scenes. That's where my energy is going. Because even if it's trash, if I can finish this, it's going to be huge.So amazing. So to all our listeners, look forward to Shaina Read's novel coming out when? Maybe like a year, two years?We’ll say two years.Two years. So I think we’ll wrap it up now. Thank you so much again, this has been absolutely lovely. Besides Substack, where can we find you?I’m on Instagram, I’m on Twitter, Facebook weirdly enough. I’m kind of old. I think that's it; thank God.Shaina’s Website: https://www.kindlinghorror.com/Fantastic! All right, well, we'll tag all of those places in our next newsletter coming out Monday, I think, this Monday. We'll find out. I'll find out. But again, thank you so much for your time and sharing yourself with us. It's been absolutely lovely.Yeah. Thank you so much for having me.Your Weekly Horror DigestBrian Martinez shocked us all by sharing an interview he did with horror author Grady Hendrix, who wrote the best-selling book, Horrorstör.The Man Behind the Screen gave us the chance to check out a completed fantasy/horror novella called “In the Giant’s Shadow”. So many have praised this story for its quality, be sure to check it out!Lucas Mangum wrote and shared a horror short story called “Don’t Go In the Barn”. Do you dare find out what awaits within the sinister barn?L.L. Ford bestowed upon us yet another chilling short tale dubbed, “On Your Shoulder”. Do you have what it takes to brave this one?Jon T, once again, has outdone himself and provided a daringly haunting audio experience that is chock full of classic horror stories.Patricia J.L. 👻🧶🖊️ wrote about the time that she went to Hell and back…literally.John Coon talked about origin stories and their love/hate relationship with horror. What’s your take; do you prefer the monster’s origin to be left untouched, or do you like to dive deep into the lore?Shaina Read provided us with a list of her favorite short horror stories that she read throughout 2023. There are some killer stories to check out on here!That’s all I have for you this week! Check back in next Monday for The Cemetery and don’t forget about the Wicked Writing Contest!Join the discussion on notes here on the Substack platform every Monday!Stay Spooky.If you are looking for another community project to be apart of, check out the ongoing Blackwater Files by The Chronicler! Click here.If you are looking for people to follow on notes for Macabre Monday, check out all the people participating (updated list): John Ward Carla Pettigrew Andrew Smith Honeygloom Macey A. B. Frank Cole Noble Leigh Parrish Jenovia John Coon The Chronicler S.E. Reid Edward Rooster Jessica Maison Buck Weiss reinancruz Patricia J.L. 👻🧶🖊️ Michael S. Atkinson Maribel Jennifer Morrow Stirling S Newberry Susan Earlam Author Michele Bardsley Lauren Salas Daniel W. Davison Daniel O’Donnell Nicolina Torres Michael P. Marpaung Jon T L.L. FordOlivia St. LewisJoshua T Calkins-Treworgy EJ Trask Anna C. Webster Skyla Redd Oscar Alec Worley Hannah V Kelly-Sibley Kathrine Elaine Renee George Josh Tatter The Man Behind the Screen Hamish Kavanagh Kay Moulton Bros Krynn’s Newsletter Chris Well Brian Martinez A.M. Radio Music by Danijel Zambo, Friendly Ghost. https://uppbeat.io/t/danijel-zambo/friendly-ghostLicense code: OLJHAAD9BTDKNTXJ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit macabremonday.substack.com