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Author, Tie-in Writer, and Podcaster Cat Voleur
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This week's guest, Cat Voleur, wears many hats and tackles a variety of issues in her life and work. We talk movie tie-in novels and Graveyard Shark in general. Also representation, horror and comedy, politics, non-fiction, and of course, a MadLib. The ep concludes with a killer short story you will not want to miss.
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Transcript
Introduction to Mentally Oddcast and Support Options
00:00:03
Speaker
Greetings friends. Thank you for joining us on the Mentally Oddcast where each week our guests regale us with tales of the creative process through the lens of addiction, recovery, mental and emotional health, trauma, treatment, medication, all that there because we believe that no matter what you are going through, you are not alone and you can make art about it.
00:00:31
Speaker
Art helps. Find us on Ko-Fi, that's K-O-F-I, to support the podcast and get all the back issues of Sometimes Hilarious Horror Magazine.
00:00:48
Speaker
You are listening to the
Interview with Horror Author Kat Velour
00:00:50
Speaker
Mentally Oddcast. My name is Wednesdayly Friday, and with us this week, we have Kat Velour, who is a horror author known for Revenge Arc, The Lore Keeper, and my apologies to Tanya Grace. She is a member of the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers and a co-host of the Nick F&Wu Cage Cast.
00:01:14
Speaker
When she's not creating or consuming morbid content, you can find her relaxing with her small army of rescued felines. Welcome, Kat. Thank you for having me. oh it is our pleasure. Our pleasure to have you. This is another one of those interviews that was really hard to schedule because we both had separate stuff going on. And here we are. So success. Yay.
00:01:40
Speaker
um we We like to start by asking guests to tell us the story of the first horror movie that they remember seeing. So let's have it. Excellent. um So I'm...
00:01:53
Speaker
ah Sure. i like to tell the story with a caveat that I grew up in a house where there just kind of were universal monster movies on in the background a lot. I have no recollection of the, I I'm sure one of those must've been my first, like it it was probably, you know, like a Dracula or maybe a Vincent price movie or something. I don't have any recollection of that. The one that like really, i remember my uncle was watching the sci-fi channel which was playing cube. Um, and I was like a little kid. I was not in any way allowed to be watching cube. Uh, but I did. i was like creeping behind the couch. I was just really quiet and nobody knew that I was there. And eventually my mom had to take a call and she like left and I just moved right on the couch and started watching. And, uh, yeah, it, um, I, so I like right in the deep end and I think it explains a lot about why I am the way that I am. like Yeah, that's a bloody one. It's just really brutal. And it was like the edited version a little bit because it was on the SyFy channel, but it was... um
00:03:07
Speaker
like There was enough that I really remember being like, oh, this is like a scary, scary movie. you know well and the thing about ah a sci-fi channel edit is that they don't tend to edit for violence. They edit for nudity and language. so you know, you're not going to hear the F word, but you are going to see somebody get cut in half. So...
00:03:31
Speaker
I was gonna say, I think the sci-fi edit of Cube is like maybe a minute shorter than a normal version
Kat's Journey into Horror Writing
00:03:36
Speaker
of Cube. But ah no, and that was like, from that point forward, um it was horror for like the rest of my life. It was like, oh this is the genre for me. um And it was a fight, you know, with my parents moving forward, because I wanted to watch, you know, Like things that were to the level of cube. And they're like, if you're going to watch horror movies, you know, you need to be watching stuff for kids. And it's like, no more cube.
00:04:02
Speaker
And my uncle, like never heard the end of that. Also from my parents, they were like, oh I'll bet. but ah yeah That's awesome. So it sounds like early horror viewing definitely put you on a path to writing horror. What was that process?
00:04:18
Speaker
ah Yeah, there were. it i was always interested, i guess, in writing um because I had liked reading fantasy books as a kid. But when I realized that I could be writing horror and horror didn't just have to be a movie thing, um i moved over pretty quickly. um and I think it was really difficult because it they always say that like cowards make the best movies.
00:04:46
Speaker
horror writers because there's like, you you can relate to that fear. And it took me a really long time because I didn't have like a lot of fear um around the time I started getting interested in horror.
00:05:00
Speaker
And by the time I was like of an age to be writing horror, I was pretty desensitized to the genre because I had that head start with the movies. So there was a period where I was writing like really awful horror movies. You know, that i was just like, this might spook somebody and like throwing stuff at the wall to see what stuck. um But, you know, getting more in tune with myself and my anxiety, I think in particular, really helped because while I don't have outright like fears of, oh, no, like, what if a clown got me or something? I don't know. But it's like, I do have a lot of anxiety and that was able to like, you know, channel into some of my work. In a way that was really difficult for me at first.
00:05:48
Speaker
Now, would you say that watching horror movies fed into your anxiety anxiety or do you think it was a cope? Because I'll tell you that the Jaws, just just the trailer for the movie Jaws, which, you know, I was about five when that came out. That gave me horrible nightmares and an interest in sharks that is still active today. But like, what was your experience?
00:06:12
Speaker
um I think it definitely helped give me an outlet ah for like some of the anxiety and depression as I got older. I i started getting um like anxious and depressed very young, and there was a period in there where, especially like in school, my counselors thought, I think that I was doing it for the intention. My first few counselor experiences were not very positive, and because I was so young. It's one of those i
00:06:43
Speaker
it usually doesn't get diagnosed so early. And, um and that was one of the one of the other things too, was that they blamed the horror movies, even though the horror movies made me feel a lot better. Cause it's like, you know, there's, it's an outlet, you know, it was, I think very regulatory for me to watch horror movies. um I still find a lot of like comfort in them. They're very cathartic, you know? And that's been my experience for the most part. I don't i don't think that the two are related, despite what the counselors told me um back in school. But i I can see there are some every now and then, especially because I did get into the genre so young, and Cube actually ah being one of them, where like...
00:07:27
Speaker
my brain just working a little bit differently. it would be always the weirdest stuff that would kind of trigger a lasting anxiety after the movie. Like it was never the concept of like death or being violently killed. It was always like, what if I'm in a situation where I need to know what a Cartesian coordinate is? Cause like I'm bad at math and that would be a problem. And then, you know, like I would be studying that like outside of school and my parents would be like, oh our kids doing like really advanced puzzles, and you know? And I was like, I need to know this could save my life one day. So I don't get crushed by a cube. Yes. So the cube can't get me. And then like, while I was ah not long after that, um
00:08:15
Speaker
And while I was getting really into horror movies, like Final Destination was the big thing. And I was like, well, I guess I got to learn about Omens and John Denver. My parents are like, they just thought I had a lot of really niche interests as a kid.
00:08:29
Speaker
um But I think some of that might have been the lasting horror movie anxiety. I mean... I think that's the attitude that fuels the entire streaming industry of like serial killers. Because when when I was a kid, there weren't a lot of serial killer books to to choose from. i mean, once you read and reread Helter Skelter, you kind of had to search for it.
00:08:53
Speaker
Yeah. It's that the the comforting part of it, like it it seems antithetical to say, oh yeah, i watched about this guy who killed a whole bunch of women and tricked them in ways that I would absolutely fall for. And then but it is cathartic because, first of all,
Mental Health and Horror: A Creative Intersection
00:09:10
Speaker
when you start watching it, you would know, from the beginning that Ted Bundy got his comeuppance in the end. Yeah.
00:09:18
Speaker
you know So it's it's comforting in that way. But I think that's, you know, like a lot of my comfort shows are like Dexter, The Sopranos, you know, Boardwalk Empire, stuff where you know people are going to be violently murdered in front of you, but yet you know it's coming. So yeah repeat watches are are also way more comforting than like, I don't know if you're watching the boys right now, but they're killing people because it's the last season. Sure. And some of some of them are going to be hard hits for sure. There was a hard hit pretty early on
00:09:52
Speaker
But yeah, yeah. So yeah, I think that that connection, people have a lot of different feelings about the connection between horror and anxiety and mental health on the whole. um i think probably it's just the nature of the show that most of the horror writers and and filmmakers that I talk to are also very much in touch with their neurodivergence, with their anxiety, with, you know, some of them have addiction issues. And it's just, it's so interesting to find horror as the common thread in all of those things.
00:10:29
Speaker
Yeah, I think it, i you know, being more in tune with that, I think, makes you more in touch with the underlying themes of horror. um ah As someone that does, like, the gorier, you know, like, more in-your-face, again, I think part of it, having...
00:10:48
Speaker
jumped into the deep end and then also just growing up in the early 2000s, you know, kind of like the torture porn era. ah That was a lot of what was in theaters when I was getting into the genre. And I think it shaped me a lot, but I i think a lot of those movies did get disregarded um by like the mainstream as being just over the top violence for violence sake. And I have found that a lot of people who have, who like share my taste in, in the more, like, gory horror movies, I think are getting more out of the underlying themes. Like, they're willing to look past some of the, you know, in-your-face shock value stuff. um and And I do wonder how much of that is, you know, neurodivergence.
00:11:36
Speaker
You know, it's interesting that you say that because I'm sounds like significantly older than you. So I was watching, you know, Halloween series, Friday the 13th, those things like when they came out, I saw the first maybe nine Friday the 13th, either in the theater or at the drive in.
00:11:56
Speaker
And that was the way that they were received as well. That it was violence for violence sake. It was corrupting a generation of youth. It was like Siskel and Ebert talked about how it was going to make kids give up on life because they thought they were just going to go into the woods and get murdered. It was his hysterical nonsense.
00:12:17
Speaker
And they they stood by it because they're just old and stodgy and they're like, oh, this genre will never take take off. It's for freaks and, you know, whatever, whatever. Not even bearing in mind things like German Expressionism or Dementia 13 or that Night of the Living Dead is an enduring classic. You know, they just sort of dismiss it in a way that...
00:12:40
Speaker
interestingly i think that horror is second only to like romance books and chiclet in terms of just being dismissed outright because of what it is largely by people that don't experience it and i'm not immune to that i've certainly talked trash about romance books i'm like why would i read a genre where you know it's gonna have a happy ending every time what's even in it for me but that's what people are looking for I fully get that. i I talk a lot of smack about romance, but I think it's actually, like, as someone, um I got my, I started my career in ghostwriting, and a lot of that was romance. And I actually think that romance is maybe the hardest genre to write.
LGBTQ Community and Sociopolitical Challenges in Ohio
00:13:21
Speaker
ah But it's just, it's so, it's it's fun to pick on sometimes, but I do it lovingly. and
00:13:27
Speaker
um I do it lovingly and with a deep appreciation for it as a craft because i and I think um like recent trends kind of show just how easy it is to forget that there's supposed to be like a craft there.
00:13:44
Speaker
um i think especially a lot of the classic romance or are some of like the greatest pieces of literature ever, but it's just, it's kind of fun to pick on all the same. oh totally. Yeah. It's just fun. oh
00:13:58
Speaker
So I see that you are from Ohio, which is culturally, ah my understanding is that ah Ohio is much more, much closer to the red parts of Michigan than the blue parts, which, you know, I'm in Ann Arbor, so...
00:14:15
Speaker
It's about as blue as it gets. And you're but you're also part of the queer community. Now, I have a friend who raised a son in Ohio. And one day he was attending a public school and they sent him home because he said to his teacher, sometimes girls kiss girls.
00:14:33
Speaker
And there was hysteria about it. They were very upset and sent him home. So my question about you being in Ohio right now is um how's that going? Great. ah No, i so here's the thing. I I'm on the road a lot.
00:14:49
Speaker
Um, I was living out in California, which is my home state. I was living out there right before the pandemic and I moved back out to Ohio to be closer to family. And since then I've been on the road so much that I'm kind of just abandoning my stuff at my parents' house and then moving around in my car from place to place. ah So I've been, i'm here currently in Ohio and I grew up in Ohio. When i when i was doing my Growing up in Ohio, I didn't know that I was queer. So i I missed a lot of the years where I think it would have been the hardest for me.
00:15:26
Speaker
um The area that I'm at right now, and and right now, i i don't know if this is just because I'm not like settled here as often. um But for me, the experience is actually pretty pleasant in terms of the queer community because I show up, I drop my stuff off, I go visit my friends who are all in the queer community. I hit up Cleveland for all like the fun drag shows. And then I'm kind of like...
00:15:53
Speaker
on the road somewhere else for a bit. And it's it's been a very positive experience as a queer person for me. But ah whenever it's like, cause I'm registered currently in Ohio as well.
00:16:06
Speaker
um And whenever there's like any kind of a voting issue or like when I go to do my research before like primaries and stuff, it's like, it's always a nightmare because you find out all this stuff about your state where you're just like, oh, that's awful. Like, how are we doing this?
00:16:23
Speaker
Um, ah we just had like our marijuana laws overturned by our governor. Uh, that was a big thing. And it's like, I, I missed most of that cause I was out of state, but I, I came back and I was so pissed. It's like, come on guys.
00:16:37
Speaker
Well, it usurps the will of the voters. I mean, that's, yeah that's just not okay. Like, even if I were anti-marijuana, which I'm, I'm just not, I'm California. There's no fucking way. But, uh, I, I would be pissed cause it's like, you know, what, why, why,
00:16:54
Speaker
What is going on? And it's like that a lot. um I live, i also, i guess not in like the, there are parts of Ohio, there are like little dots that are really blue. And I'm not in one of those, but I am like adjacent to one of those. So I'm very fortunate, I guess, in that way to miss a lot of the horror stories that you hear about Ohio. um but But I mean, like, it's not at all uncommon to like go to conventions or something and you see, you know, like the, um,
00:17:24
Speaker
There are like a lot of pro-life protesters that live not that far away. And that's always a headache because it's like, how many fights am I willing to get in on my way to like, you know, right like the doctor's office? The answer should be zero, but it's a conversation that I do have to have with myself more often than I like.
00:17:46
Speaker
I do want to touch on something that you pointed out because i just want to draw some extra attention to it. um You refer to the LGBTQ community and that seems to be the key.
00:18:01
Speaker
Even if you're in a very red place with very bad people, if you have your own community, you get to be somewhat insulated from that. So yeah it's something we talk about a lot on the show that like building your community is such an essential part of of happiness, especially in in one of those places. It's insecurity.
00:18:22
Speaker
And if you are dealing with things like depression and anxiety, that is one of the hardest things to do, to reach out, to make new friends, to try to connect with people.
00:18:33
Speaker
What advice would you have for someone in that position? um Again, this is a situation where I've been really fortunate. um I was the last one of my friends to come out of the closet. So there was already kind of a built-in community for me there, i guess. um But I will say, because when I was living out in... um I've kind of bounced around a bit. When I was living back out in California, it's weird because it's like I was born there and I had been back several times and I had family out there as well. So it's not like I never knew nobody moving out there. But I, you know...
00:19:16
Speaker
you don't want to talk about like gay things with your close relatives all the time, you know? so it's like, there was kind of that building up. And I think having the the really wonderful thing about the queer community is that it intersects with so many other communities. um At that time, i was really into Dungeons and Dragons and it was really, really easy for me to go into a game shop and talk about Dungeons and Dragons and come away with like six gay friends. so like ah If you can find one really cool person at any hobby, chances are not only that they're a part of the queer community, but that they'll have like their own queer friends and you can kind of ingratiate yourself into those circles. um That is something that's always helped me. it was less effective. I will say the the most red state that I've ever lived in I did not have a lot of queer friends down in ah when I lived in Alabama. And I think that was when my mental health was the worst because it was just like, I i was just barely out of the closet and i living in like the reddest part of the country and finding any kind of support group was just a nightmare. um Especially because there were not like, usually in another state, I could just say, oh, like go find a hobby shop or whatever. And it's like, if you didn't like guns or dogs, um like, what are you going to do in Alabama? And it's like, at that point I was already, i actually, i ended up at like a couple of dog shows anyway, just because I was living with the dogs, but I'm allergic. And it was like, I, this can't be my main hobby, you know, like I can't be looking for friends here.
00:20:58
Speaker
And it was very isolating. So yeah, I, the importance it really cannot be overstated to to find people that get you. But if you don't have an in already with pride or LGBTQ community, find one somewhere else, you know, like whatever you're comfortable doing, um there's a good chance that you can transition that into some kind of queer community as well.
00:21:28
Speaker
Right on, right on.
Self-Diagnosing and Mental Health Advocacy
00:21:30
Speaker
Okay. So for people that don't know, um when we are setting up guests for interviews, we have a pre-interview questionnaire.
00:21:38
Speaker
And one of the things that you mentioned on yours is that you don't have a quote-unquote official diagnosis. Yes. And... pardon me, lot of people have different feelings about self-diagnosis. um what i mean, is that is that where you're at? Like you're reticent to self-diagnose or do you just prefer not to say that you have a condition if if a doctor hasn't affirmed that?
00:22:06
Speaker
um i It's something that I struggle with a lot because I have been on both sides of that. I've been someone who has struggled to get diagnosed and who is like,
00:22:19
Speaker
you know, trying to get that, of but not less so now, um because of my health insurance just changed. So there's a lapse in it right now. But for years, you know, I've been trying to actively get this diagnosis. And there's a lot of like, medical misogyny. And just, there are so many hurdles to get through to to go through something like that. And God forbid, if you have another health condition that conflicts, it becomes the sort of like chicken and the egg situation where it's like, are you depressed or is depression a side of your, a side effect of the insomnia, you know? And then you try to get the insomnia diagnosis and it's like, are you being treated for your depression? And, you know, like it's, um so i I have a lot of sympathy for people that like cannot get, or aren't even interested in pursuing getting a diagnosis. um That's been my situation for a very long time. and
00:23:13
Speaker
i I do fully, like, empathize with that. On the other side of that, I have also known people who, like, very, um ah who who are just, like, I think maybe overly willing to self-diagnose themselves with things that, you know, you question. And then you feel bad for questioning it, you know, because it's, like, obviously they know their lived experience.
00:23:38
Speaker
Better than you do, but... You know who I always think about is is Chevy Chase. I don't know how familiar you are with with Chevy Chase, but... Chevy Chase comes to mind.
00:23:50
Speaker
Well, because he's an absolute dick, and if you ask him what his problem is... He says that he's complex and that no one understands him. And it's like, no, dude, you're a bully who never learned how to self-regulate. But that's always what comes to mind when I think of the negative parts of self-diagnosis. Because here's the thing.
00:24:13
Speaker
A doctor will say to a patient, don't just look up your symptoms online. You didn't go to medical school. And that's very reasonable. If you didn't go to medical school, you're not going to know enough about plenty of things, you know, to to like outsmart a doctor. But at the same time, if you're talking to your general practitioner about a very specific combination of of mental and emotional issues,
00:24:39
Speaker
the weekend that they spent learning about that and at a special conference in medical school does not, you know, that that's not going to trump you living with this condition your entire life and figuring it out yourself. So,
00:24:55
Speaker
what What is your take on when you have a different idea of your diagnosis than your doctor? and And I also want to point out that if you don't have an official diagnosis from a doctor or a psychiatrist, you can't get Medicaid for your issues unless they're going off label for you. so what What is your take on that?
00:25:16
Speaker
Or unless you're in California, you can get a weed card. And then that's like, yeah I've had so many like weed cards. um it's because it's, um, it can sometimes help with depression, but it's also the most effective treatment for insomnia that I've ever had. um i got to my weed card for PTSD.
00:25:38
Speaker
Oh yeah. Yeah. They're, they're versatile. Like they, they work. Um, but no, I, I, it's really tough. It's something that I, like, especially, I think if you're neurodivergent, um, but also, especially if you're, like, a woman or, um, non-binary but or trans, probably, um There's just, there's so much extra self-advocating that you have to do. I think that was one of the big hurdles for me ah was because I'm just, I'm not a super confrontational person and I have a lot of anxiety about going to the doctor. So when a medical professional is there telling me like, we don't think you have this, or we think this is a side effect of this other thing. And I'm going to refer you to someone else.
00:26:31
Speaker
um it's It's hard not to believe you know? And even when you believe yourself, um even it's it's tough because what do you... Like, your choices at that point are to get really confrontational, which can be difficult, or to kind of just say, I disagree, and then you don't get treated for the thing. Right.
00:26:56
Speaker
Well, yeah, I think... um Well, first I want to point out that this is even more true, like all the stuff that we go through, even more true for racial minorities, black women and brown women in particular. It's weird because for a lot of my life, I had this idea in my head that most black women were confrontational.
00:27:20
Speaker
And that that like made me nervous because most of the black women I know are more educated than I am. They are they they seem smarter than I am. They have better people skills because I'm autistic and as shit and I didn't find out until I was like early fifty s So, so, but it turns out that a lot of black women, they've just, they've had to be confrontational because the world is so shitty and dismissive to them even more than it is to to us as white women. So yeah it, cause like me, for example, I'm fat.
00:28:00
Speaker
So anytime I go to a doctor for any problem, the first thing they will do is ask me whether or not I've lost weight. And I've started saying things like, bruh, I've been overweight since I was four.
00:28:14
Speaker
This is a new problem. Can we look at it as if it's a new problem? Well, and also this idea of not wanting to order a test until I've lost the weight as if that's even an option.
00:28:27
Speaker
You know, and so I've started saying things like, okay, I'm just going to need you to note in my chart, and you say this in front of the nurse, please note that I asked for this test and that you said that it wasn't necessary and then make sure it's dated. And they after you say that, they're much more likely to order the test.
00:28:48
Speaker
That's one of those things that... There are like a bunch of little tips and tricks that I've gotten in like the last few months to take into my next doctor. And it's like, where was this when I was first going to the doctor for this kind stuff, you know?
00:29:03
Speaker
Because, ah and yeah, that was one that I've heard has been really effective. and Definitely. That's the kind of thing we got to spread around. We got to make sure that that people know how to advocate for themselves because it's hard. Because like we just said, we're not doctors. We didn't go to medical school. So we don't know necessarily what they're missing.
00:29:22
Speaker
We only know whether or not we're being helped. Right. Right. so it can be very difficult to articulate the kind of help that you're not getting because not having been to medical school, we don't know what that might be.
00:29:37
Speaker
Also, can we, ah like, because you brought up the weight thing, and I just, this is there have been so many bad experiences for me with, like, with this whole journey. But one of the first things I remember, like, when I was...
00:29:55
Speaker
ah like first starting to think that maybe I had depression and I was first starting to talk to like counselors because that was i being younger that was like the first step it was like the counselor and then you get a referral and all of my counselors were awful all of the public school counselors just sucked um And one of the first conversations I ever had about thinking that I was depressed, like I was warned that antidepressant antidepressants, if I had to go on them would make me gain weight. It's like I wasn't even like I was so um like up until high school because I was in dance classes. I was like very chronically underweight um until I was like into my mid teens. ah And like none of the doctors ever, it was one of those things that I didn't learn was unhealthy until after I was an adult looking back at like, sure because it's, you get praised if you're underweight and I didn't know it was a
Weight and Gender Biases in Mental Health Care
00:30:53
Speaker
problem. And then like, I found out later, it's like, if I had not quit dancing when I had, I probably would have had like some,
00:31:01
Speaker
pretty bad issues just for life. And it's like, but I know. And then like the fact that, and looking back, it's like ah the fact that I was already, that I was like preemptively being warned about, you know, drugs that could have helped my mental issue for, you know, like a i I don't know, like a cosmetic reason, I guess, essentially at that point, it's like, that's so frustrating. um yeah i just i never
00:31:31
Speaker
i can never believe how our system is in America. Well, and men aren't told that. You know what? Men are more typically told about mental health drugs. This is going to impact your erection. That's what men are told.
00:31:46
Speaker
You're not going to be able to get it up. You're going to have that problem now. And that typically, I mean, that is often enough to make men not take their meds, not even try. Yeah.
00:31:58
Speaker
So yeah, it it is certainly counterproductive. I mean, obviously there are health related reasons why you don't want to suddenly put on 50 pounds, but typically that's not what happens. No. know And this idea of like, oh no, you might become, you know, suddenly less attractive to people if if this happens. But I mean, the thing is that the way that society treats fat people, can exacerbate your depression. if It can. It really can. You know, most most people with parents know how it feels to be going through something and then have your parent openly comment on your weight, you know, up or down. oh are you eating enough? Oh, what, you know, are you snacking too much? Like whatever it is.
00:32:43
Speaker
And it's something that's not helpful. Like, being at a healthier weight now, um it's it's really weird to be like, because I went through a lot of my life with a certain amount of, like, skinny privilege, and it's weird to be feeling, you know, like, healthier than I ever have in my life and have people, like, treat me like I'm arguably more sick now. It's just, it's insane. i don't, I will never understand truth.
00:33:15
Speaker
obsession with. And I'm glad that I ended up kind of like out of the circles where that would have been drilled into me more. um Because I know that dancers are really susceptible to like eating disorders. and Oh, yeah. When I took dance as a kid, my mom thought it would make me skinny. So that's why I was in a class with like real dancers. But I remember coming in one day, and one of the girls from my class was just crying and crying and crying. I thought someone had died.
00:33:46
Speaker
And she was crying because she had gotten her period, which meant that her mom would find out that she had gone off her diet. Oh my god. Because she was used to being so too thin to menstruate. And it was... Yeah, so she was very upset that her body was functioning like a young woman's body normally would.
00:34:09
Speaker
And as a kid, like i didn't I didn't understand exactly what was happening. I understood like way later. Someone explained it to me. Because I didn't have the kind of relationship with my mom where I could just be like, Mom, why is that? Because she would just start yelling at So...
00:34:25
Speaker
yeah So what what I'd like to ask, though, is that, like, I mean, sociopolitics hits really hard for people with mental illness.
00:34:35
Speaker
um So has that impacted your ability to get a diagnosis or to get care, like what goes on in Ohio? ah Yes. ah the So on a direct level, just yes, because I have had to jump through a lot of, ah like,
00:34:55
Speaker
rings with my insurance lately, ah which has directly impacted it because it's like, at this point, I'm just trying to make sure that I'm covered, much less seeing the sort of specialists that I am supposed to be seeing, you know, like that's a pipe dream when I'm, I'm constantly filling out and, you know, it's just changing, like,
00:35:14
Speaker
constantly by the time I have all of the paperwork filled out, it feels like I need to fill out more paperwork and my coverage has shifted to somewhere else. So like at a direct level, yes. And then also on a larger level, because i and i I hope that the people listening are are going to be familiar enough. um Even though obviously I hope nobody's having like poor experiences, but I think just they're,
00:35:43
Speaker
is so much burnout just from everything all the time, always, ah that it's like, it takes so much mental energy to like have these fights with doctors and insurance companies. And, you know, sometimes even just with myself to get up and get out of the house. And then we fall into a situation the the world just feels a lot heavier than it used to. And I noticed um one of the first things that went like the, at all of my low points when I needed help the most, one of the first things that I stopped having energy for is to advocate for myself and to fill out paperwork and go through the like many, many hoops that are needed to try and get more help. And it,
00:36:32
Speaker
i has been i i've been fortunate this time in that I have a better support system um when things have gotten really rough. But like looking back at some of the most like extended rough periods in my life, a lot of it was because I just like gave up trying to improve any of the mental health stuff. you know Because its just you get tired. you get really worn down.
00:37:02
Speaker
Well, insurance companies in particular, I mean, that's that's orchestrated. That's like baked into the process. Well, and I didn't find this out until I had a long hospitalization in 2022.
00:37:17
Speaker
The bill, the first bill that I got, and we have insurance, was $149,000. And... forty nine thousand dollars and The doctor was was in the the room because I had to come back.
00:37:32
Speaker
And so we were like talking about that bill and the doctor said, oh, no, no, never pay the first bill. Yeah. said Okay. First of all, that wasn't an option. We weren't debating whether or not to write a check for $149,000, just FYI.
00:37:49
Speaker
But, but that's a thing. And my insurance, you know, cause they'll call you as soon as you come home from the hospital and just start asking you for like all these numbers and prescription numbers and all these, like, seriously, i just got home from the hospital.
00:38:06
Speaker
They're not feeling very well. Like, why are you doing this now? But sometimes they'll ask you to jump through hoops just to see if you'll do it. Because I had... They were... the UHC, of course, was...
00:38:22
Speaker
not covering a bill and they said that they needed a copy of my prescription again and I accidentally sent them the prescription from the optometrist so they got a prescription for glasses and then they approved it so they didn't even look at it they didn't look at what doctor it was from i mean it's it's just infuriating because like for our insurance we're actually paying for a whole family even though it's just my husband and me So it's already irksome that we're paying for children that like don't exist. You know?
00:38:56
Speaker
Yeah. It's like, you should be covering my pets. but also But, you know, it's just, it's so frustrating because it's very obvious that insurers don't want to help us. They don't want to cover us. They just stand in between us and our doctors because the way that medicine exists, we can't call around to a different hospital to see who's going to be more cost effective.
00:39:19
Speaker
Right. So, all right. So moving on. Moving away from the inadequacies of medical care.
Kat's Writing Experience with Graveyard Shark
00:39:30
Speaker
Now, my husband and I, we are major, major B-movie fans. We watch all the good stuff. I love it. I was pretty excited to hear about your involvement with Graveyard Shark. um Oh! Yeah.
00:39:43
Speaker
miss and it' ah that You wrote the the novelization for Graveyard Shark, and I want to hear everything. How did that come to pass? I did. um So I had done a couple of novelizations already with SRS Cinema, a very famous distributor of just some of the worst shark movies you've ever seen. and I actually had a my editor works... with my editor press
00:40:15
Speaker
help with Mad Angel Studios and was like, listen, ah they just sent me a screener of their new movie and you've got to do this novelization. I was like, you know, i I don't even know what movie this is. I've never heard of this studio before. I don't know what's going on. And she was like, no, listen, it's called Graveyard Shark. And I've never seen a movie that is more up your alley than this. You've got to get to it.
00:40:39
Speaker
So I started watching some of their other stuff, all fantastic. um I actually, they had, we were kind of in talks about doing the novelization and they had given the rights to someone else ah for the novelization. And I was like, oh man, that sucks. Like, that's just, that's devastating. Cause now I'm all in on graveyard shark. And then I don't know what happened there, but it fell through and they, they reached out like, um I don't know, six months later. And they're like, if you still have openings and and want to,
00:41:07
Speaker
me in talks for graveyard shark and it's like oh absolutely i've got to work on this thing nice nice so how long does it take for you to put something like that together ah Usually not very long. um Graveyard Shark was a pretty smooth process overall. there were like um Usually what happens, and it depends on how you're doing it, sometimes I work with presses. Graveyard Shark was just me in the studio, which is always fun because I can get away with batshit crazy stuff that you know like a normal editor might not let me get away with. ah There's kind of an epistolary element to the graveyard shark novelization. I got to use a lot of the original assets from the film and stuff. But when you're working with, ah you know, presses, they don't always like to do that back and forth. Like there's a lot of mediation involved. So my dream process is just me and a studio. I love doing stuff like that. And that made the process pretty fast, even though there were a couple edits there.
00:42:12
Speaker
that needed to be done during the process. But I sent it over, I think, in three weeks. I had a rough draft from the time that they sent me the script. And I sent it back. And then and there there were a couple edits. There were... Greyfair Chark is fun. it's the only um It's the only novelization I've worked on where I was too woke. And I say that with the caveat of... um that Because that was...
00:42:38
Speaker
because I think it's very funny and silly. Everyone was really sweet about it. um the There's a character in the movie who's a lesbian who used he pronouns in the script. And my...
00:42:52
Speaker
brain just with the sort of friends that I have it and the sort of life experience that I have I saw that and immediately was like trans man he him pronouns got it not even gonna question not even gonna bring up the fact that he's trans because this is the kind of incredible representation that we need and then and I sent in the entire script that way uh they got back to me and they're like hey So why did you take out this lesbian character? Like, we don't think you're a homophobic cat. And it's like, huh? A lesbian. And then, ah you know, like, because the screenplay just, you know, the casting, they had cast a woman, then they thought it would be obvious to me. that they had changed that character to a lesbian because I had seen the movie so many times by that point. And it just, it had never occurred to me that would be the case. So, I mean, like there were a lot of little fixes like that, you know, um and where the studio was like, there's this element in the movie that we would like to keep, even though it wasn't in the screenplay, even though traditionally I do work from scripts and not the final film. So it was, um but yeah, and I think even that process, even the editing, we were done like another two weeks after that. And I think the hardest part for me on that one really was just the artwork. Like getting the artwork done took longer, I think, than writing the book. Wow.
00:44:22
Speaker
Yeah, that's, so did you have interactions with the screenwriter or do you you just work off the script? No, I had some interactions with the screenwriter. we did a lot of the initial back and forth. um More than anything, because it was because there was like so much contract stuff that needed to be done, i think the person that I talked to on the team most was their lawyer.
00:44:44
Speaker
ah But I did talk to the screenwriter. i got to talk to some of the cast, actually, which was a really... fun experience because I usually it's usually just me and the rights holder like I very seldom even get to talk to the screenwriter and so getting to meet people that had like cameoed in the movie and stuff was just fantastic um I don't know if you've seen Graveyard Shark oh yeah ah the the actor that plays Pookie actually reached out to me afterward and was like, I read your book and I thought it was a lot of fun. And then I felt really guilty because it's like, if you had reached out, I would have sent you a copy of the book. like Right. but
00:45:25
Speaker
No, it it's been one of my most fun novelization experiences because the team was so, so kind. Well, i I love novelizations of movies. i was big into Alan Dean Foster, you know, the the two, well, the first two alien books I read until they fell apart.
00:45:45
Speaker
um And i I follow Jeff Strand now, who did yeah ah Attack tack of the Killer Tomatoes. yeah That might be my all-time favorite movie novelization, by the way. The very idea that there is one is just such a beautiful thing that someone said, you know what we need, and then made it happen.
00:46:06
Speaker
um I did not know that there was an International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. yeah How long have you been involved with them? um I actually just paid one-year member pay member fee. So I, yeah, like just past the one year anniversary of joining the association. um i don't know if you know Tim Wagner.
00:46:30
Speaker
ah He was a huge inspiration to me because like when I was, before I was a writer, before I even wanted to go into fiction, um I was really big into the Black Flame imprint of like the Nightmare on Elm Street fan fiction that was getting published. And he did one of those. and i so he was like a huge inspiration <unk> as a kid. And I thought that was just the coolest job in the whole world. I was like, oh, my God. you can publish Freddie books for a living. I got, I was so excited and Black Flame closed and I was like, oh, well that was the one opportunity to do that. And it's never going to come back because I didn't know how things worked. And then um he, since then had actually, he got to do some of the like biggest, like my dream novelizations he got to work on. And i
00:47:19
Speaker
I saw that he was teaching. I had actually done a couple of like my indie shark books already, but I saw that he was teaching a class at a convention that I happened to be at, and I was like, I've got to go. enroll in this class because I've got to meet Tim Wagner. And he was just like one of the kindest, most supportive people. Like the class was really informative. He gave everybody a ton of resources. He was handing out his personal email from people that took the class to like talk to him about stuff. And ah we ended up talking a lot about novelizations and and the process and
00:47:57
Speaker
um he was just so so kind and he let me know like he emailed me um i emailed him and was like you know do you have that extra resource list and he emailed me back and then he was like you also need to apply to join the International Association of Media Italian Writers because like that's where a lot of the things get posted you know um it's a really good community you can get a lot of like in like a lot of the contacts that you need and stuff. And he just, he he was so helpful and he insisted that I join. And I feel really guilty sometimes because I joined and like the first week I got a new job through the um through the association. and I'm like never on the forums anymore because I'm always doing fun projects with the press, doing media tie-ins. But it's, it really is. It's a wonderful, don't
00:48:54
Speaker
community of people and wow and tim wagner one of the he's like the classic example that i use of like why you should sometimes meet your heroes uh he just blurbed my new book and he just so so sweet uh That's awesome.
00:49:14
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's one of the the best things about being on social media is how many writers there are and how open they are. I have to say, i added Ramsey Campbell a while back and...
00:49:29
Speaker
he vets everybody. so I added him as a friend on Facebook and then I got a private message like months later, like after I'd forgotten that I did it. And I was like, you're a dick, man. Impersonating Ramsey Campbell is fucked up. Don't ever do that again. And it was really him. And I was like, hi. hello Big fan. Long time. First time. like But it is still... Oh, that's crazy.
00:50:01
Speaker
And, you know, I try to be a little more assertive in that because Jack Ketchum died before I got a chance to talk to him. Because i was a chicken shit and never approached him. We were in an anthology together.
00:50:17
Speaker
And I still was like, i don't know what I would say to someone like Jack Ketchum. And everybody's like, how about hello, you dumbass? But...
00:50:28
Speaker
But that's the thing is that like, I need to get over that, that starstruckiness because I know lot of exceptional writers that I get to be online friends with and they're just normal ass people with normal ass lives that wrote some books I like and that, you know, this this whole like mental pedestal that I put people on is unhealthy for any number of reasons.
Publishing Challenges and Creative Processes
00:50:54
Speaker
um Now I want to get into your work. um Cause like my first book was, was a vengeful book as well. I want to hear about your book, revenge arc.
00:51:08
Speaker
Yes. um I love talking about Revenge Arc. It's, ah you know, as a writer, it's it's one of those, like, all of my books are, you know, my children, and I don't have favorites kind of a thing. But Revenge Arc was my debut. That was, like, the first thing that I published, and it is the it To this day, i think it's the most ambitious thing that I've done. It's the only thing I got to like really collaborate with a full team on So I'm very biased toward it. I think in that way, it probably is my favorite thing that I've ever done. um
00:51:43
Speaker
and it's all... ah It's just a crazy debut to have had because it is oh epistolary it's all 100 true to source formatted so when you are reading through and this isn't true for the ebook but when you read the um the physical when you're reading the paperback it um like everything that is written as an email looks like yeah the email server uh anything that's in a discord chat looks like the discord chat it it's
00:52:15
Speaker
like really super ambitious. I, we lose money on it sometimes, uh, selling it at conventions and stuff because it's all full color printed. And, uh, by the time we like ship it out and stuff, it's like, it it really, it's the epitome of like a passion project. Uh,
00:52:36
Speaker
because it's just not super profitable book, but was one of the best experiences. Not if you have to price it like a textbook, my goodness. I know, and we don't, is the thing. I think, and it's commentary that I get a lot. It's like the number one piece of feedback that I receive at conventions is like, why on earth is Revenge Arc not more expensive?
00:52:57
Speaker
Yeah. But it's because, like, the press priced it pretty low. I actually sell it so that I don't lose money all the time on it. Because it's my number one It's, like, the one that sells the best. I actually price it a little bit more expensive, like, at con tables and stuff to account for shipping. But I don't want to... It's one of those things where it's, like, the press was just, like, so happy to put this out into the world. And that energy has kind of carried through. um But it's my love letter to 2010s-era creepypastas in a big way. um Because i just I was so inspired...
00:53:36
Speaker
and I guess really nostalgic for that time in horror history when things were circulating around on the internet and you had to go to like five other websites to try and figure out which parts were true and which parts were just fully made up for the chaos of it all. And I really wanted to condense that experience down into like a book that could be read into like one single sitting kind of chaos.
00:54:05
Speaker
Wow. Okay, and and we're gonna have we'll have a link tree for you in the description so that will ah lead us to all of your great works.
00:54:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's on there. You can find that one. um
00:54:21
Speaker
But it is my favorite for that reason. Because it just, like, I've never gotten to do... And I... So I moved into formatting after starting with Revenge Arc. Formatting is kind of like my side hustle that I do. And I'm nowhere near as good as the full team of people that did Revenge Arc. But I always have to clarify, like, when I get a new client, it's like, you know that I didn't format that right. but Like, I'm good, but I'm not that good. all right But I do a lot of... um it like impacted my work quite a bit because i did move into like stylized epistolary formats because it's something that like when i was when i was when the rejections were pouring in for Revenge Arc because nobody wanted to format it and I was really worried that I was going to like have to self-publish this thing and I didn't know anything about the publishing industry and i I didn't know how to format a book. I was so scared that I was going to have to do it myself. So I i try to kind of pay that forward by being someone who will format bat-chick crazy stuff for you if you need it. um
00:55:26
Speaker
Even though I know that, like, it's... Because we had, like, we were commissioning artists and stuff for this, and it just, like, I... It was not a one-woman project, but... I would think not. Because I used to format in, oh gosh, what is it called? It's Adobe. It's Illustrator, but it's like for entire books. Yes.
00:55:47
Speaker
And man, that thing was, I mean, the learning curve on that is like a spiral staircase, man. It was insane. um and now And then people were like, well, why don't you just use Word? Like, what do you mean? I need to make PDF. What? What? I could have just been using Word all this time. um Which, like, not really. There's there's plenty of stuff you you can't do in Word that you can do in Adobe. But, like, yeah, I think people...
00:56:19
Speaker
don't often appreciate the importance of layout of like font choice is another thing that just is huge that some people kind of disregard and you know novels they have a vibe especially yeah if you're talking about a print book you know all of that stuff impacts what your mind is doing while you read like it's important and But I think it's also one of those things like, you know, like movie lighting or or cologne where like it's just supposed to give you a vibe and you should really only notice it if it's bad.
00:56:57
Speaker
Yes. I think that's exactly it. like you don't want to it's There's a lot of detail and a lot of like artistry that goes into formatting a book, but the goal is for it not to be noticed. like You don't ever want it to be distracting from the right right project. Yes. the the only the The only layout stuff you should be noticing is the cover.
00:57:23
Speaker
Yes. Yes. Yeah, my husband is a graphic designer and he does not all, but a lot of my covers. And so it gives me like I have more of a feel for it because I never i never know what I want.
00:57:37
Speaker
I only know what I don't want. So he'll make something and I'll be like, oh, no, no, I get it now because I don't want that, that, that or that. Yeah. but Aren't I helpful? You know, whereas the first time he says, okay, well, what are you thinking for this?
00:57:54
Speaker
I don't know. I wrote the book. That's the part that I do. I don't do the other parts. but That's one of my favorite parts of working like with a press. is because And it's it's so funny because sometimes I also really irritate presses because I'll come in with art already and I'll be like, hey,
00:58:11
Speaker
art. um And then we have to kind of work out rights and stuff to actually get that art on my book. But like most of the time um when i when I'm not trolling a press, I really love letting someone else take over the cover design because I never know what I want until I see it. And um it's always so nice for someone else to just be like here. i Especially when it's like my editor. um i worked with Slashic Horror which is how I got your information for the podcast. Yes. ah and And David Jack is like very patient with me about art. i I threw like a big hissy fit about the cover for my first book with them because I, the, the art had literally inspired the story in that case and I had the licensing rights to it. So i was like, my one condition. But then when I came in with a second book for them, ah he was like, are we going to have any like weird cover adventures with this one? And it's like, no, I have nothing. I don't know what I want. Like I, and he,
00:59:15
Speaker
He's like, you know, can I get like a mood board or like some concepts or anything for this? It it was a very drawn out process, but he sent it over to Christy, who did my cover, also for Revenge Arc, and she knocked it like right out of the park. It's like one of the most beautiful covers I've ever seen. And it's like, i'm I'm so glad that there was a team here because I would not have come up with this.
00:59:39
Speaker
You guys know what you're up to. Well, yeah, I mean, because when my first book came out, I didn't want to self-publish because I wanted the like validation of being chosen by a house who wanted to invest in the book. And to my mind, the tradeoff for that was that I did not get a say in the covers. I did not get a say in who was going to do the audiobooks unless I produced them myself.
01:00:05
Speaker
um So that just seemed to me at the time like, oh, that's part of the process. I'm just the writer. I don't get to choose these things. But now i i do because now I can say to my publisher, no, man, I don't want that font. I want this other font, you know, and and be listened to. And I don't know.
01:00:25
Speaker
if like it feels like something that would happen because you're more established in your career and people are taking you more seriously but i don't think that's it i think it's because i'm working with a publisher that i know better as a person who trusts me more not necessarily because i'm such a super successful writer or whatever but just you know because we we vibe and she believes in the work so that's That's kind of one of my dreams is to be like so successful that I have the opportunity to be a diva about cover art. because i yeah
01:00:59
Speaker
And then I would just, I'm like one of the easiest people to please cover art. I would just completely like, i I'd be so excited, but i think it'd be fun though to have that because whenever I have that in a small press where I get like final approval on a cover, I feel so important. Um, I like never have any changes, but the idea that I could have a change is like, oh, that's awesome.
01:01:23
Speaker
Oh, you're a professional designer? Let me tell you your business right quick. Yeah. Let me let me give notes on this perfect piece of stuff right here.
01:01:34
Speaker
So you have consented to talk about a time in your life when you felt in legitimate fear for your life.
Personal Experiences and Inspirations in Writing
01:01:41
Speaker
So what would you like to say about that?
01:01:46
Speaker
I... ah so i it It hasn't happened often. There have been just, like, a couple instances in my life where I've, like, really been concerned about it. um I think the main one... and this like It's so... There's survivor bias, right? Where you look back and you're like, oh, I survived this thing. So it's like, it was silly and irrational to be worried about it. But, um you know, it's not when it's happening, you know? ah And that was also... That was in my time living in Alabama. I... And this is...
01:02:23
Speaker
I never know how rational or irrational this is, but I, because I, I trusted my partner ah at the time, you know, um, I, I, like, he wasn't abusive. He wasn't like horrible to me or anything. Uh, but he did, when we moved to Alabama, he got a gun and I, we both went to classes, uh, to learn how to use the gun ah before we, like, kept it in the house, and ah he was a horrible, horrible shot, and he was just, like, and already the statistics are just, like, not in my favor here, right, because it's, like, the spouse that gets shot more often than intruders, ah and I, like,
01:03:11
Speaker
And then coming away and he he was like, it's going to be okay because we're going to go to these classes and it's going to be fine. And then we came away from the classes and it's like, I think maybe only I should be allowed to use this gun. Like, I just, I was so convinced already. Like, I had a lot of anxiety about having the gun in the house in the first place. And then we did have a break in one time and I just, and like nothing happened. It ended up being like, they heard the dogs, they got scared off, they left. We filed a police report the next day. And it was like, I i don't think I was in any real danger of dying that night in retrospect.
01:03:48
Speaker
But when you hear, like, the glass crash, right? And then the guy that's a horrible shot goes to grab the giant gun. i i thought I was dead, for sure. It was, like, either somebody breaks in successfully and I'm dead. Or, like, my partner trying to defend me shoots me in the face and I'm dead. Like, I just... i I don't think, and it was it was really weird because I was really panicked at first, and then there was just kind of this serenity that came over me that's like, okay, well, this is it. I don't think I've ever been like so convinced that I was going to die. That was like one of the scariest nights of my entire life. and it's like And then after that, it was like, we've got to get rid of this guy. like i don't I don't think it helped. I don't think that's the reason why, you know, if anything, we should be thanking the dogs, I think, because I just... yes yes
01:04:39
Speaker
But I was so sure you know, like that just. Well, and being a horror person, your mind is automatically going to go to the worst case scenarios for things like that happen, you know, because we don't watch a lot of movies where people fight it off bravely or nothing ends up happening. You know, it always goes to the bad place.
01:05:04
Speaker
And I think that was one of, it was like a very eye-opening experience in that regard as well, because in like a slasher movie, by the time you get to the gun, you know, that's like the thing that saves you. And being in a situation where a gun wasn't very loosely in play, it was like, this is going to be the part that kills me. Actually, i would take like my chances with like the baseball bat, I think, rather than to just have the gun in the Yeah.
01:05:34
Speaker
but Yeah. yeah Wow. Well, thank you for sharing that. That's that's something. My goodness. Let's let's lighten it up a little. i think what what What are you streaming these days?
01:05:47
Speaker
um I am helplessly obsessed with Taskmaster right now. ah Not only am I watching the current season, but like I'm watching I'm rewatching with my family. And then my partner has also just started up Taskmaster. So I'm watching in three different places right now. And I'm very obsessed. Wow. Okay. yeah i'm I'm familiar with it, but I don't I don't watch it.
01:06:14
Speaker
Normally I'm a big, like, ah because I love media so much, I usually have, like, really sophisticated answers about, like, what kind of foreign films I'm watching or or what kind of, like, weird indie show I found. But i don't know. I just got off of, like, I just got off of a long bed rest ah for a surgery. So it's been all, like, the lighter and dumber a show is, the happier I am right now. yep.
01:06:43
Speaker
It was nice to have like a kind of turn-your-brain-off, easy, non-sequential show. And it's a big divergence for me also because I am usually... like ah I need drama, you know? I'm always like watching Game of Thrones. or I get it. I get it. Because like you know I just went through another big medical thing myself. And I've been watching Kathy Bates as Matlock.
01:07:10
Speaker
which is a CBS show, so it's the fucking fash. But other than that, it's because it's it's cozy. And cozy viewing, like cozy reading, is something that I'm usually pretty snooty about.
01:07:24
Speaker
You know, if you're not making me examine society or the human condition, what am I here for? But that's not what this show is. This this show sets up a little mystery, and ah a woman who's like trying to figure something out And then, you know, so there's like some intrigue, some like borderline spy stuff because it's lawyers, but it's so fun and it's a legal show, but it isn't like, you know, the practice or LA law where every week they're trying to enrage you.
01:07:57
Speaker
Yeah. You know, there's, well, first of all, it's it's people of a lot of different ethnicities working together, so there and there's no racial tension ever, so it's like a fantasy story in that way. But also, the bad guys, the mean, rich guys, like, everybody gets what's coming to them in the end.
01:08:16
Speaker
So it's it's very satisfying in that way. Plus, it's Kathy Bates. I mean, plus kathy Bates, you know. yeah she She's like actress Weird Al. Like, if you don't like Kathy Bates, there's probably something wrong with you.
01:08:30
Speaker
Fully agree. You are not to be trusted if you don't like... Like, explain yourself. How could you go around not liking Kathy Bates? No, I want an explanation.
01:08:41
Speaker
So, um... My apologies to Tanya Grace. Tell us about it. um My apologies to Tanya Grace is a sort of ghost story.
01:08:55
Speaker
um it is, a it parallels, it's, I think, i and i've I've gone on to say this on, like, a lot of different podcasts, because I believe it's true, I think there's a little bit of, um like, self-insertion in all characters, a little bit, you know, just because i that's how, that's the nature of viewpoints, you know, like, um Even if you're writing a character that's very different to yourself, um it's still kind of your perception of what that character would be like. There's that lens that I think it's impossible to shake to a certain extent as a writer. ah But My Apologies to Tanya Grace ah deals a little bit more, i guess it brushes against some of my real world experiences, even though um the the protagonist is very different than me. but it's about a, ah much like Revenge Arc, it's about an aspiring writer who is um dealing with some repressed trauma. She goes back to her hometown, and um it's it's very much about survivor's guilt. ah There's a ghost element, and it's, um yeah, it's sort of a
01:10:16
Speaker
it's different than my experience, but she also has a lot of my flaws, I think, where she also just very much like my experience, not getting a formal diagnosis. She's just like, okay, well, here's this thing that's wrong with me and i better deal with, you know, nobody else is going to deal with this.
01:10:35
Speaker
And I think that's probably the element that a lot of people were drawn to about it because it is just very unconventional. Like there are a lot of large steps that get kind of ignored by the protagonist because she just jumps ahead to the part where it's like, I'm going to have to deal with this myself.
01:10:56
Speaker
Wow. So it sounds like this is a story that you wanted to tell for your own reasons. Is, is there a target audience?
01:11:09
Speaker
um I think I, A target audience for, my apologies to Tanya Grace, I think would be anyone that is dealing with any kind of survivor's guilt or anyone who feels just a little bit out of place. There is a queer component to Tanya as well, where she is um she's kind of looking back at one of her unsuccessful um heterosexual relationships, and she's in a very straight passing relationship currently, but is bisexual herself. And I think there a big element of her character is that just sort of not feeling queer enough, which is not a theme of the book. It's something that I have delved into in some of my other works. And my apologies to Tanya Grace, doesn't hit it quite as hard. But it is an element of her character where it's just like, here's this other thing that I'm just going to kind of not address because I don't know if I fit in to this box here. And I think anyone who has issues with avoidance generally i would really relate to Mallory. she She kind of has some of those worst impulses that I think a lot of us have where it's just hard to kind of quantify lived experiences sometimes.
01:12:23
Speaker
Okay. All right. Cool. Well, that makes sense. And again, we will have a link tree. Yes. When we go. um So your new book is actually nonfiction.
Queer Representation in Media
01:12:36
Speaker
Yes. So what do we need to know about queer tastes? ah Queer Tastes is my non-fiction debut. It's actually, um i got my, like, when I started publishing stuff under my own name, a lot of it was articles and stuff. I did a lot of blog content and, um like, research pieces, but I've never done anything long form like that. So it was very different than what I usually get to do. um It's a collection of essays. It's 20 essays, and each one is a film recommendation, that is a problematic queer representation that I'm recommending anyway.
01:13:14
Speaker
ah And it's for the, it's for my other i queer friends, I guess, who don't like the traditional like queer films in the horror genre, which was always me. And it's kind of an allegory. It draws a lot of um parallels, I guess, to just,
01:13:37
Speaker
Also, when you're someone who identifies or self-identifies media a lot, um it can be really difficult to not like the same things that your community likes because it can be very othering. So this is just kind of an embracing of here are these other things that you can also like that are you know flawed but worthy of discussion. and it's it's kind of opening up discussions for all 20 of those films.
01:14:07
Speaker
Cool. And Tim Wagner blurbed it. So. Yeah, yeah, I saw that. So i um I'm recalling when Basic Instinct came out.
01:14:18
Speaker
and Oh, yeah. And it very big deal that there was an openly bisexual character in it. Well, two, actually. yeah. that, spoiler alert, they're both murderers.
01:14:30
Speaker
yeah and And, you know, folks folks didn't like that. And on the one hand, like, yay, there's a bisexual character. Oh, no, everyone's first introduction to a bisexual character is that they're demented and and murdery. um Yeah.
01:14:46
Speaker
You know, Heavenly Creatures, same deal. Like, you don't see a lot of movies about coming-of-age lesbian movies, and then you do, and they get together on a murder. Again, spoiler alert. And they're violent, yeah.
01:15:00
Speaker
So... So yeah, I get it. and then But then you get a movie like They Slash Them, which you know is fun, and but it's also it's also fun because it's like kind of a quote-unquote bad movie. It's slashery and exploitive, and yet there's Kevin Bacon for some reason. Yeah.
01:15:25
Speaker
But yeah, I also see how like if I was if I was like ah a more queer person because I'm bisexual, but I'm married to a dude. I'm like basically the lowest difficulty level for LGBTQ things. um But yeah, if I felt like that was my community and that I was being represented there, I don't think I would like that very much.
01:15:48
Speaker
You know, yeah that that would not speak to me personally. And i I think that's sort of the, there's, the book addresses this a little bit as well, where there's sort of a mob mentality in the in a lot of queer spaces about which problematic things in film we are, as a group, willing to overlook or not. And so a lot of my book is just like, hey, you know, it's widely accepted that we're going to accept these passes in like these classic
01:16:19
Speaker
queer films, but let's maybe extend that grace to this, because maybe somebody will like this movie more and see themselves in this representation, even though it's a little bit more um dicey, perhaps. And i the other core premise of the book, I guess, is that more representation is good representation because it can be a gateway into even better representation somewhere further down the line. um i think, because like even with, ah you talked about basic instincts, where that was oh maybe not the end-all be-all of healthy bisexual representation, but it got in the public eye, it got a lot of conversation started. i think it opened the door for better bisexual representation moving forward. And I think a lot of the process looks like that. um I did a lot of research into the book about like movies that came out during the Hays Code era, where there were a lot of restrictions in place about how
01:17:21
Speaker
ah queer communities could be represented. And I think there's something very still ingrained in modern queer horror where we are predisposed to like the villains because on the big screen for a very long time, that was how we got to have representation at all. And um yeah, and it just kind of adds more to that canon of like overlooked queer representation from And it goes from, I believe, my earliest book, ah my earliest movie in there is 1940, all the way up to like just a couple years ago. So, okay, wide spanning.
01:18:02
Speaker
Wow. Yeah, I didn't get a chance to to finish it, um but but I will. Because, yeah. Well, I'm i'm also curious to know, like, if what movies stand out as being good representations that are, like, really solid. Because in terms of television, i know, like, Billy Crystal was the first openly gay character on TV. And it was considered revolutionary at the time.
01:18:29
Speaker
And when you look at it now, it's pretty damn offensive. Yeah. yeah Which I think is also important to, like, look at stuff in its time. But, yeah you know, that can be challenging. And I do recognize that.
01:18:47
Speaker
Well, yeah, but I mean, that's the thing is that as a kid... I was learning what a gay person was from that show and they were not telling me the right stuff, which really is a lesson in the fact that you can't just take what TV says at face value.
01:19:04
Speaker
Yes. Like don't pronounce cities the way that Bugs Bunny does because you'll end up looking like a fool. um So getting back though to to representation as a concept,
01:19:17
Speaker
Now, a lot of people that complain about representation sound like they're illustrating why it's bad that we don't have it. You know, because any sort of of queer representation, even like a fat person having a romance and not just being the funny best friend, like we're so bad at representation that now when people see it, it feels like an agenda.
01:19:42
Speaker
Yes. Instead of just saying like, oh, well, why does that person have to be this color? Why do they have to be gay? Well, because people like that exist in the world. And so this is depicting that world where these people exist.
01:19:56
Speaker
Yeah. But what we do about that? um Honestly, so this is this has touched on a little bit in the book.
01:20:06
Speaker
as well, just because I am in favor of more ambiguous representation. um i ah Obviously, the dream, right, is to get to a place where there's so much representation for everybody that you can experiment and get crazy and we can have problematic characters and they don't speak for all of the entire community um and which is not the case right now and politically it does always feel like a statement um
01:20:37
Speaker
so i Which is why currently I am in favor of the more ambiguous representation. I think my personal favorite, and this also in the book, um I have felt most seen and most loved as a pansexual ah person from x And the word pansexual is not in there.
01:20:58
Speaker
It's just they don't touch on it. I was like, oh, yeah, I understand this mindset. Like I get her. um We're on the same page. And that was it. And I felt very seen, which is not always something that happens for me. Whereas there are movies that that do get a little bit more into it where i have been kind of annoyed because like, even as someone that feels underrepresented, it can feel really preachy, you know, where people have to go out of their way to be like, here is the, and I think both sides are important because they both move us forward to that place where there's more representation and and we don't have to be so in your face about it. But I, you know, i prefer one over the other one for sure, because I, at the end of the day, i would rather um like queer people be seen as characters. and not as queer characters, which is a very difficult balance to strike. um I think studios get in the way a lot also. This is something I've noticed more in television than in movies, but studios do kind of get in the way because if they have representation, they want all of the credit for having representation. So there's a lot of pressure on screenwriters to like have labels announced loudly, just kind of inserted in the conversations where it's like, I don't...
01:22:17
Speaker
As a queer person, I don't think I would talk this way. So it's it's like a communal, but I very much, i think that writing more diversely and getting more of your own, like if you only feel comfortable writing from like your own perspective and you're a queer person,
01:22:40
Speaker
put out as much stuff as you can anyway. Cause I, I think the solution is just more representation overall over time should get better. Um, which I know doesn't address the issue right now that studios suck, but we've just got to keep plugging away at it. I think.
01:22:59
Speaker
Well, this whole Disney thing is so depressing because Disney is just so openly fash now.
Critique of Political Themes in Media
01:23:05
Speaker
And, yeah, I was actually writing for Culturists when they did this little sweep where there was supposed to be a show about a softball team and one of the characters was trans.
01:23:21
Speaker
And she was voiced by a trans actress. And then they decided to keep the actress. They didn't fire her, but the character isn't trans anymore. And they said that they were going to stay out of sociopolitical issues. And then when they recut the episode together, there was a girl who was praying to Heavenly Father.
01:23:42
Speaker
And like, oh no, you're not you're not staying out of social issues. But then like you're a bunch of minority shows, like they were supposed to do a Princess Tiana show that got axed. They were supposed to do a show about Okoye from Black Panther and that got axed.
01:24:01
Speaker
it was It was really, and and I think there was supposed to be a Moana series, and they ended up, they made it, like, into ah a film, like a direct video film or whatever, but...
01:24:12
Speaker
Yeah, it was really depressing. Like they just went through and and cleaned house of like anything that was, we well, we we know what we're saying, you know, all the women directors got to go, the black directors got to go, the black women directors especially have to go. So yeah, it was ah a sign of things to come.
01:24:35
Speaker
Another problem, if I can go off on a tangent, because that just that reminded me, and this has nothing to do with horror, really, at all, but i like i do get really wound up sometimes because the media literacy crisis is infiltrating creator spaces as well, to an alarming degree. There's a certain...
01:24:58
Speaker
very famous author that I've been beefing with on Twitter, in New York times bestseller who I just keep bullying um because I, ah it started like we had a disagreement about generative ai and then it has escalated to such a place where now we're just but like, I'm constantly on his case about stuff, but one of the, he gave an interview um not that long ago.
01:25:25
Speaker
is it I have, i I'm fighting Andy Weir currently. And i ah which is scary to say, right? Because like big name in comparison to me, like $600 million dollars box office this week.
01:25:48
Speaker
oh But he gave an interview recently. Yeah. Yeah.
01:25:57
Speaker
idiot. Oh, disappointed sigh. ah But one of the things, and so like, I was already, we already had issues at that point. I think I might be blocked, honestly, or just like being completely ignored now, which is fine, because it's better for my mental health than when I'm not back and forth with New York Times bestselling authors. But, uh,
01:26:21
Speaker
But no, like, he gave an interview that really wound me up because he, first of all, the first thing, and I i had to pause, it was like a one-hour interview, and I kept having to pause it. took me, like, four days to listen because everything made me so mad that I had to walk away for a little while. But he started, like, really early in ah He said that he didn't think that, he thought his works were so popular and well-received because he stays away from politics. which I think is crazy if you've read any of his books.
01:26:53
Speaker
ah like Just like the inherent premise of any of his work is ah about, like, the eventual, like, governments have to band band together to save humanity. Humanity is, like, always on the brink of extinction in any of his books, and he's just like, nothing political there, don't see it. And then, like, later on in that same interview, he talks about how he he was being, because, like, at the time that he gave the interview, it was when ah the Star Trek show was being cancelled, he...
01:27:28
Speaker
was talking about like which new Star Trek shows he does and does not like. And one of the things that he said was that he thinks a problem with some of the new Star Trek shows is that they have gotten like too political. and i like Gene Roddenberry fucking turning over in his grave like i just and then he like And he talked about um the original series and how you know his favorite part was when they like went down with lasers and were shooting stuff. And it's like, if that was what you took away...
01:28:01
Speaker
from Star Trek. And, like, my immediate reaction, ah because i've I've just gotten into the habit of, like, shooting any complaint I have directly to Andy Weir over Twitter, um but, like, myy my immediate reaction was just to be, like, ah you know, if if you don't like, you know, but political themes and ah progressive messaging, maybe you should watch Star Wars. And then it's, like, no, because Star Wars is about...
01:28:26
Speaker
fascism. Like, you can't even, because usually, you know, and at first it was just going to be like, ah you know, if you're there for the fighting, you know, but then it was like ah the the themes, the progressive themes are so baked in to like all science fiction just about. i don't understand. yeah Apparently not his, God forbid. ah Yeah, I mean, first of all, the so much of the new Star Trek is great.
01:29:00
Speaker
Yeah. Strange New Worlds is outstanding. I thought Starfleet Academy was really fun. I was bummed that it... And, I mean, they had such a good villain. News Braca was a wonderful villain. And I don't...
01:29:15
Speaker
I don't, like, his people will say, oh, Star Trek is so woke now. When did it get so woke? Like, dude, in the 60s, what are you talking about? I i know. i just, and it's it's one thing, because, like, if you're someone, if you're... anyone that has been on the internet, and especially if you're anyone that likes Star Trek and has been on the internet, you know, you you know how people are. Like, a lot of people are dumb, a lot of people have some really brain-dead takes about your favorite shows, and because they just, because they want to see the action, you know, they want to see the lasers going off. But it's like, it's so disheartening to see that from like contemporary science fiction writers. Yeah. It's like, you know what you need, buddy? Buck Rogers.
01:30:02
Speaker
that's That's what you're looking for. Because even Battlestar Galactica is going to go way over your head now. Yeah. and But i do think I think that's a part of the problem with the representation, because it's it's hard to say like that I want more present but nuanced representation, when honestly, I...
01:30:20
Speaker
genuinely worry if, like, mainstream audiences, or even in some cases, like, critics and, you know, creators could understand anything less than, like, blatant in-your-face labels, which makes it sound preachy, but then, like, I, they're just, people aren't reading messages into things.
01:30:41
Speaker
overall there's that trend now and i i heard about this from somebody i know that writes uh for netflix they work well i probably shouldn't say but they um they have to write things that people can follow even when they're also digging around on their phone you know they have to like restate the plot and say people's names over and over it's insane and Here's the thing is that I'm, especially with Netflix shows, I'm very guilty of like scrolling during them, but I do wonder, like, there are so many good shows that I, it would never occur to me to touch my phone. Like if we were doing ah more invested, like cinematic content for streaming platforms, if it weren't considered content, if we went back to making like shows and art and even I'm, you know,
01:31:36
Speaker
a millennial. I miss the filler episode as much as anybody, but like if they were entertaining, I still wasn't on my phone, you know, but like I, I just, oh the solution to the problem I think is making the problem so much worse.
01:31:52
Speaker
Yep. I concur.
Podcast and Media Literacy Discussion
01:31:55
Speaker
So you are also a podcaster. Yes. do we need to know about that? Um, I used to co-host the Slasher Radio podcast and I stepped away, but I do still, so I used to be like more into podcasting. I used to do serious big podcast. And now, I do the Nick F and Woo Cage cast, Colin Willem Dafoe. Um, cause on the, ah we ran out of Nick Cage movies. So now we're, now we're talking about Willem Dafoe on there in between Nick Cage movies.
01:32:27
Speaker
But yeah, uh, every week, we do We are chronologically working our way through Nick Cage's continuing filmography and also sometimes Willem Dafoe's continuing filmography. and it's fun. It's goofy. ah it is the i've I've been on a decent amount of podcasts in my lifetime. And it is this is the worst oh why this is the worst rated slash attended one. and ah I just don't care. It's fun.
01:33:00
Speaker
Okay, cool. It's a fun time. We have a very strict, like, this isn't work policy on the Nick F and Woo Cage cast, where, like, if something is going to become too inconvenient, we don't do it because we don't want it to feel like work. So it it brings in this very laid back energy.
01:33:17
Speaker
Nice. Nice. Yeah. We're actually, we're getting to the end of our time. So first I want to establish, are are we going to have a reading from you at the end of the episode? Yeah.
01:33:29
Speaker
Uh, absolutely. You can, if you want one. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, totally. You want to do, uh, maybe a novel chapter or a piece from, uh, let's see. Well, a piece from clear case would probably be fun or, um, or yeah, a novel chapter.
01:33:49
Speaker
yeah, absolutely. You could introduce it for us, but it sounds like you're not sure yet what you want to do. So that's cool. It can also be, I can send, it can be a surprise. But stick around after the episode because we will have something.
01:34:04
Speaker
i will. Was there anything that you wanted to cover that we did not get to? No, I think... I'm sorry I went on so many tangents. I always know, that's what we do here. That's the point.
01:34:18
Speaker
I'm sorry I got all up on my high horse about science fiction again, but I just... like The media literacy crisis, I think, shows up in science fiction early and because It is so latent. And then I'm really worried it's going to trickle more and more into like other genres. We're going to start seeing just these sort of willfully ignorant takes on political issues. i hear that. I feel pretty strongly that sci-fi is meant to examine where we're going as a society, whereas horror is meant to examine who we are deep inside, what happens when we get tested.
01:34:59
Speaker
That's a really good breakdown of the difference, I think. Well, thanks. And yeah, I mean, if we're not doing that, then it might as well just be an action movie, you know? not Yeah. Oh, no, I am dissing action movies, but... um Well, I mean, they're they're not to my taste.
01:35:16
Speaker
So yeah i it I generally perceive them as less... mentally and emotionally challenging. I mean, I'm sure Toretto has had a fascinating life or whatever with, with, he lives with much verve, but, um, yeah, it's really just not, not what I'm looking for.
01:35:35
Speaker
And I don't, I don't see, ah the, the point in it compared to, to other more challenging genres, but, you know, that's just me. Um,
01:35:46
Speaker
We also like to give guests a chance to ask me a question if they have one. So if you do, now is the time. Yeah. um This was actually i a question that i had earlier in the discussion and I didn't want to like break up the flow or anything, but do you ever find um as someone that has spent time in the horror space and as someone who has um probably a deeper connection to, like, representation of certain ah groups and experiences. Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you have to, like, second-guess media recommendations when you're talking to someone else? Do
01:36:34
Speaker
you you have to give out, like, a lot of caveats and... Well, you know, honestly, the first thing that comes to mind is when I was in my 20s, before I was a professional sex writer, um i was pretty vanilla.
01:36:47
Speaker
I was raised by conservatives, and I didn't have a lot of exposure to things. And a friend of mine loaned me a book called The Story of oh which um okay i'm not gonna describe it a whole lot but it's basically you know about sexual slavery and uh disguised as pleasure and and as somebody with a ah history of of dv and and trauma and stuff it was um Goddamn, I hated it. it was It was horrible and offensive, and i I just found it gross. It was like one of the unsexiest things ever that was presented to me like a a titillating sex book. And that...
01:37:33
Speaker
really to me sharpen my focus and and put me on this path to parsing the difference between this is not to my taste and this shouldn't exist because being raised by conservatives those were very much the same thing if you didn't like something and no one else should be able to enjoy it it shouldn't exist it might be of the devil maybe demons brought it here we don't know we we just don't know so So, yeah, I think, and then later, my husband is, he's very Christian, and he's from a a pretty religious family. His mother, you know, she was autistic, and her, like, focus, her, like, topic of focus was Jesus. So, you know, that was kind of...
01:38:22
Speaker
that That was like her whole deal. And I didn't know that. I mean, I knew she was Christian, but I didn't know she was, you know, that that one particular stripe where everything is is fed through that that lens. So I recommended to her a movie that I had just seen and enjoyed very much called Quills, which is about the Marquis de Sade in the asylum.
01:38:49
Speaker
And it was, I mean, it's it's an excellent film, but it's it's very violent and overtly sexual and raunchy as hell. And, you know, that's, so well what is his name? Jeffrey Rush is is the Marquis de Sade. And then Kate Winslet is there and Joaquin Phoenix. It's amazing, but I basically recommended violent soft corn porn to new boyfriend's mother. who was, you know, with the stuffy sort of Christian. so So that didn't go very well because she was she wrote back as if I hadn't seen the film yet and said, do not watch this film. It's evil. It is an evil film.
01:39:32
Speaker
and And to me, that's still... Like, I shouldn't be shocked by that. I shouldn't be shocked at someone calling a piece of art evil.
01:39:43
Speaker
But I still am, especially if it's someone that I'm expected to have some sort of interpersonal relationship with. Now, she's gone now, and and our relationship was pretty tumultuous. But...
01:39:57
Speaker
it It certainly, those kind of experiences definitely make me examine like the nature of art and how it impacts people and how people are going to feel about it. Like, you know, somebody can watch Monty Python's Holy Grail or or Life of Brian, even worse. They'll watch Life of Brian and they'll just walk away enraged. Whereas when I watch it, I laugh all the way through.
01:40:21
Speaker
so So, yeah, I don't know if that answers your question, but that that is ah that's that's my take on it. Yeah. No, that's good. It's hard with in-laws.
Mad Libs Game and Conclusion
01:40:33
Speaker
it's hard with in-laws
01:40:38
Speaker
ah
01:40:40
Speaker
All right, so I have my little book out because it is now time for the Mad Lib. Are you ready for this? I'm ready-ish. ish Okay, cool. So we're going to start with some nouns. Let me count. One, two, three, four, looks like five singular nouns.
01:41:00
Speaker
Singular Singular nouns. Oh, God. My immediate reaction, it's like, things that are on my desk. um yeah I mean, let's go ahead. Desk, because it's there. um Burrito. That's it. That's the end. No, oh sorry. ah Shoe.
01:41:23
Speaker
almost said shoes, because that's, but singular. Singular now. Yep, singular. Basket. And... One more. One more. um Coffee cup.
01:41:39
Speaker
That's one that should be on my desk and is not currently. All right. So we will need some. Actually, I need a plural noun.
01:41:51
Speaker
Pineapples.
01:41:54
Speaker
Gotta go to lunch. Okay. And next we will need some adjectives. One, ah two, three, four, looks like five.
01:42:06
Speaker
Five adjectives. Okay. um ah Tantalizing. ah Purple. Sweet. Sweet.
01:42:24
Speaker
Why is it when someone asks you for an adjective, your brain just goes like completely blank? Sharp. We have a ah tougher time with these because the pressure is on to pick good words. The Yeah. All right. so one Oh, I never had that. i just The pressure was just to communicate like a human and not to like, I didn't even think about good words. um yeah Transparent.
01:42:51
Speaker
What's going on with me today? I'm so sorry in advance about these words. You know what? I need another plural noun. Another plural noun. Oh, geez. i See, now I can't remember what my other nouns were. ah Candles.
01:43:11
Speaker
Okay. And i need a verb. Racing. Racing.
01:43:25
Speaker
All right. And now a verb ending in ing. Oh, no.
01:43:33
Speaker
Uh, frolicking. Okay. This one is person in room and that is always the guest. Um, so a silly word.
01:43:47
Speaker
but Why were none of my silly words like appropriate at first? They don't and have to be appropriate. Because i whenever when anyone says a silly word... ah meaning ah You know what?
01:44:01
Speaker
Does it have to be an English word? can I say pamplemousse? No. over Yeah. Pamplemousse. Alright. Okay. A part of the body.
01:44:15
Speaker
ah I'm going to go with finger.
01:44:20
Speaker
Alright, and a part of the body plural. Uh, shins.
01:44:30
Speaker
And one more part of the body.
01:44:34
Speaker
Earlobe.
01:44:39
Speaker
And there we have it. So this is a sports recap, is what it Oh, good. It was the final game of the National Deskball Championships.
01:44:51
Speaker
And Pomplamoose, it was finger-biter. oh that was supposed to be like an exclamation. Pomplamoose! It was a finger-biter! Excuse my French. Sacre bleu! The hometown team, the tantalizing mudslingers, was losing by just one burrito.
01:45:14
Speaker
The candles were loaded, but the team was down to its last purple batter, and then the final pitch. The sold-out crowd was on its shins, screaming, racing, mudslingers, racing, and waving giant foam pineapples.
01:45:32
Speaker
The pitch to star player, Cat, was perfect, and crack! The shoe was airborne! but The sweet outfielder took off frolicking toward the fence, with his basket outstretched to catch the ball.
01:45:48
Speaker
But all he could do was watch it sail over his earlobe and into the stand. One coffee cup scored and then another. The crowd went absolutely sharp.
01:46:01
Speaker
The Mudslingers won the game that day and their hearts. Oh, and the hearts of their transparent fans forever.
01:46:12
Speaker
There we have it. i I feel like I don't make the most entertaining Mad Libs, but I will say that's like, it's very funny to me because that's a pretty accurate representation of what the inside of my brain is like.
01:46:25
Speaker
That's like so on point. Sounds tantalizing. All right. So everybody be sure to keep on listening after my closer because we're going to have a reading from Kat. In the meantime, I want to thank everybody for being here and remind you to check us out on Ko-Fi. That's K-O-F-I, where you can download past issues of Sometimes Hilarious Horror Magazine and also support us here at the show.
01:46:53
Speaker
Thank you so much, Kat, for being here. Thank you so much for having me. It was our pleasure, and we will see everybody next week.