Last week, I got to chat with Ram V, writer of beloved books such as The Many Deaths of Laila Starr, Detective Comics, These Savage Shores, and the newly released Deicidum. The last time I got to chat with Ram was two years ago, so it was good to catch up and talk about a variety of subjects, such as Deicidium and adaptations of his work, since The Many Deaths of Laila Starr was announced as an opera.

You can read our review of Deicidium here.

Ram V is an Eisner-nominated, award-winning author and creator of comics & graphic novels such as

GRAFITY'S WALL, THESE SAVAGE SHORES, THE MANY DEATHS OF LAILA STARR & the Eisner-winning BLUE IN GREEN.

Since publishing his first book in 2016, Ram's work has garnered critical and popular success, earning multiple awards. In addition to creating original work, Ram has written for iconic characters & titles such as Detective Comics, Swamp Thing, Justice League Dark, Catwoman, Venom, and Carnage at DC Comics and Marvel.

Ram lives in London-- dog person, doodles, argumentative, melancholic.

On this episode, Dan sits down with author Matilda Zeller to talk about her debut adult horror novel, It Looks Like You in the Dark, from Tor Nightfire. Zeller sums it up best herself: Stranger Things meets Reservation Dogs in the Arctic. The book is set in an Iñupiaq village in the 1990s. A group of Alaska Native kids are trying to mind their own business, but miners and an ancient shapeshifting monster called the Kushtaka won't let them.

Zeller's maternal family has roots in the Kotzebue region going back at least ten thousand years. She talks about the stories she grew up hearing, the real-world shadow of the Red Dog Mine, and how the Cold War cut off thousands of years of trade and connection between Alaska Native and Siberian communities. She also shares the unsettling origin of the book: a published account of a man pressuring a local girl into telling him the Kushtaka story at midnight. Zeller wanted to reclaim that story from the girl's point of view.

They also get into the sunlit dread of Midsommar, a raven who grants wishes you'll regret, and the music that fueled her drafting. And she explains why a horror novel needs a love story: "Nothing is actually horrific unless you care and unless you have something to lose."

About It Looks Like You In the Dark

Tapeesa is newly out of high school and working in a fish processing plant in the Inupiat village, Chukchi, where she's lived her whole life. Maybe that's why people tend to assume she isn't that bright—or maybe her mama is right and she does have bad blood. Either way, she knows the legend, and she knows the history. Her Ahna told her that the hungry creature—the kushtuka—appears to us in the form of someone we love. It will try to get us to follow it. Follow it where? Those who have gone no longer have throats to tell us.

The Kobuk River Valley of remote Alaska draws greedy white men time and time again. But whenever they come, death comes too. This time the white men are here for the long term, to create an open pit, a rare earths mine just north of the village. When her sister Esther goes missing, Tapeesa will do anything to get her back. Seeking justice, Tapeesa must track down the kidnapper in the darkening Arctic. What awaits beyond the warmth of her village is more horrible than she could imagine and closer to her than she knows.

IT LOOKS LIKE YOU IN THE DARK is a fast-paced, grab-you-by-the-throat story about love, loyalty, and all the fearsome monsters that emerge when we turn our backs on the land and each other.

About Mathilda Zeller

Mathilda Zeller writes horror and fantasy. She is of Inuit descent and her family and roots extend deep into the Kobuk River Valley, which inspires and informs her writing. Mathilda Zeller is a pen name, honoring two of her resilient great-grandmothers.

In this episode, we chat with Taylor Grothe about their new book, Lethal Kiss, and so much more. We discuss writing a book from a two-POV angle and what that offers a storyteller, especially in a love story. Taylor explains to Dan everything there is to know about Academia and Dark Academia style, including outfits and architecture. Taylor also breaks down her monster, vampires, and the Nordic Saga to dig into some of their influences. Be sure to pick up Lethal Kiss by Taylor Grothe, on sale now from Tor Nightfire!

About Lethal Kiss

LETHAL KISS follows two professors at Preston University. One is an exhausted scholar on the tenure track; the other is a draugr in disguise (think succubus, but worse) hoping to leave minimal bodies in her wake. But when a grisly murder occurs on her watch and not by her hands, the two are thrust together and discover an even deadlier creature that slinks beneath the marble floors. Digging deeper into the mystery brings certain death, but they're as drawn to the truth as they are to each other. And they're determined to kill for both.

About Taylor Grothe

Taylor Grothe (AKA T.G. Laine) is the USA Today bestselling author of adult and young adult horror, horror romance, and dark fantasy. They hold a nonfiction MFA from Fairfield University, served as the graduate Assistant Managing Editor of Brevity, and their short works appear in esteemed publications such as These Dreaming Spires (Titan Books), Brevity's craft blog, Haven Speculative, and Shortwave Magazine. They are a scholar of medieval literature and Nordic Saga. They live with their family in New England, and on the rare occasion they're not writing, they can be found playing with the cats, on the cello, or in costume!

Taylor is the author of the YA books Hollow and Monstrous Beautiful Things (Peachtree Teen), as well as adult books Lethal Kiss (Tor Nightfire) and The Mage and the Liar Knight (Little, Brown).