Bookish

...in which I venture into deepest Transylvania to speak with Alison Littlewood and Thomas Fletcher. Topics include: nature, fear, death, standing stones, the Moors and plumbing.

Chapter 5: Making Opposites Fit Together... ... in which I find myself back in Finsbury Park, London to meet Adam Marek in a busy (and noisy) Turkish café. We talk short stories, body horror and the pleasures of copywriting. I enthuse about Robert Aickman and confess to finding readings a bit boring; Adam about Karen Russell and confesses he finds them wonderful.

Alex Preston, author of The Revelations and This Bleeding City, talks to a woefully hungover Viv about religious beliefs, working for an investment bank, and writing fiction about the national crises. In lieu of a recording of Alex reading an extract from his work, this podcast also features 'The March Hare' by Billy Cotton and His Band, one of the greatest pieces of music ever recorded.

I Feel Oddly Proud And Utterly Worthless... Chapter Three. In which I find myself in Chorlton, the keffiyah capital of Manchester, speaking with Socrates Adams about working in recruitment, living in the wild, and his first book Everything's Fine.

Chapter Two: Their Faces Pressed up Against The Window of What They Haven't Got In which I talk to Greg Stekelman, perhaps better known as @themanwhofell, about writing stories for the internet, being on the cul-de-sac of near fame, and that cruelest of mistresses, sweetest of poisons: Twitter.

Chapter One: in which I find myself in Preston with Jenn Ashworth, novelist, childhood friend, and ex-Mormon. We discuss lost novels, lost teenagers, what it's like to be from the North, the terrifying things Latter-Day-Saint-folk get up to.