In this episode of Audicted, cohosts Katie O’Connor and Kat Johnson talk about literary monsters from newer authors, and why the genre is so effective in audio. They also explore the topic with Jonathan Maberry, author of the Joe Ledger series, the Rot & Ruin series, and more, as he shares his origins in horror as well as what he thinks it takes to create your own legendary monster. Download or stream the full episode here.
On the power of horror in audio
Jonathan Maberry: Horror is the thought of what's coming at you, terror is dealing with it in your face. So the horror is that buildup to that reveal. It's why most horror movies, once the monster is on there, it just becomes an action film. And it's one of the reasons I like audio so much, because we never see the monster. We constantly have to imagine it, which makes it much scarier, because we tend to imagine horrors based on our own fears.
Jonathan Maberry on his relationship with narrator Ray Porter
JM: I tend to have Ray's voice in my head when I'm writing, which if I was not a writer it would be a little weird, but I write somewhat now to his interpretation of the characters. He's made subtle changes in them with the inflections and actions he's given them. And it's deepened the experience for me as a writer. So I actually now write to be read by Ray Porter. […] You know, the relationship between author and reader is really critical. I know that as an audio fan myself, I follow the reader as much as I follow the writer. And when you get that perfect mix, you don't want to mess with magic.
Also in this episode:
When Catalina Cartagena returns home for her older sister’s wedding, she’s shocked to discover that her soon-to-be brother in law is possessed by a demon. To make matters worse, everyone else seems to be under the demon's spell - except for Diego Paz....
In 1973 Hell came home and invaded the body of a young girl. This is the story of a movie and its makers. It's a tale of dark and light, of loss and love. A story of faith and fury, of causes and curses, of horrors real and imagined, of unbridled ego and brute force filmmaking. It's the movie critics called "religious pornography" and "occultist claptrap." The movie that left audiences...hysterical. Decades later, it remains perhaps the most frightening movie we will ever see. From Wondery, this is a seven-part deep dive inspired by the story behind an unforgettable, classic movie. This is...Inside The Exorcist.
Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary, The Only Good Indians follows four American Indian men after a disturbing event from their youth puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives....
A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together....
Gabriel has spent the last decade trying to forget his best friend, the first boy he ever loved: Jacob. Ripped away from each other in the midst of a family tragedy, Gabriel grieved for Jacob alone, surviving in their small religious town before finally breaking free to attend college....
Yetu holds the memories for her people - water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners - who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one - the historian....
From critically acclaimed author Troy Onyango comes a dark, suspenseful tale of spirits bearing witness to a crime that rocks an island community, based on the Luo legend of the water people....
In this electrifying reinterpretation of a classical myth, Daisy Johnson explores questions of fate and free will, gender fluidity, and fractured family relationships. Everything Under is a daring, moving story that will leave you unsettled and unstrung....
Gary Bruce is a slacker of epic loserness. Can’t keep a job. His friends are as bad as he is. No girlfriend. No direction. Gary Bruce is also a werewolf. Desperate for any kind of success, Gary decides to out himself on YouTube....
When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week there’s either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills - and there’s nothing wrong with Joe Ledger’s skills....
There’s no doubt that the late Shirley Jackson was a genius: her inventive prose, incredibly human characters, and nearly tangible settings make her work particularly outstanding—and all the scarier for it. Her 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House was adapted into two films (one in 1963 and another in 1999) and, more recently, served as the basis for a widely adored Netflix series that premiered in 2018. Jackson’s spooky classic follows a researcher and his companions as they investigate the mysteries that abound in the seemingly haunted, ghastly Hill House estate. But when night falls on Hill House, things become more far unearthly than what could be perceived during the light and hope of day.
The Wolfman is one of the great classics of modern horror. Now, based on the upcoming film, is a terrifying new novel written by Jonathan Maberry, based on the screenplay....
A random murder in a public park. An artist wracked by fantastical and haunting dreams. A police inspector confronting the depraved rites of a voodoo cult....
I used to be super intimidated by the classics, but eventually I realized that you don’t have to read or like all of them, you just have to find the ones that do it for you. Dracula is one of those classics I’ve devoured time and time again. Even with all the film adaptations out there, Stoker is still the best source to go to for a dark vampire tale.
In this sweeping, threaded narrative of the global phenomenon known as the Vampire Wars, mankind is unwittingly infected by a millennia-old bacteria unknowingly exhumed by a scientific expedition in Antarctica....
Zombie hunting has always sounded pretty boring to 15-year-old Benny Imura. But he needs a job, and since zombie hunting is the only job available at the moment, he begins training. All the while, he hopes to escape his troubled family and build a better life. On his path, he makes some friends with similar ambitions and finds his long-lost brother. Together, they embark on a treacherous quest for safety from the zombie plague—and maybe even a cure. Along the way, they learn: zombies are nowhere near the top of the list of scary creatures that want them dead... and being human means more than just not being a zombie. There are six audiobooks in the Rot & Ruin universe: the four novels of the main series, a short story collection, and the first book in a brand new series set in the same world but with a different protagonist. Actor and award-winning narrator Brian Hutchison performs the main series, making suspense drip from every word. When it comes to zombie series, you can't beat Jonathan Maberry's saga for sweeping excitement, and you can't beat the audio experience for immersing yourself in Benny Imura's world.
The title of Ray Bradbury’s dark and expertly crafted blend of fantasy and horror derives its name directly from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, where, in Act IV, the Second Witch senses the arrival of Macbeth to the witches’ cave with the prophetic line, “By the pricking of my thumbs/Something wicked this way comes.” Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes follows two 13-year-old best friends and their terrifying experience with a traveling carnival. While the plot of Bradbury’s work doesn’t stem from Macbeth, the title elicits such an unsettling feeling, you know you’re in for a nightmarish ride well before chapter one.
He's a beach bum who won his houseboat in a card game. He only works when his cash runs out, and his rule is simple: he'll help you find whatever was taken from you, as long as he can keep half....
This one-of-a-kind performance puts a unique spin on a treasured classic....
Sir Derek Jacobi reads a collection of tales from the master of ghost stories, M. R. James....
In the wake of a destructive Maine summer thunderstorm, an impenetrable mist descends from the direction of a local military facility and infiltrates the small town of Bridgton....
In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. A teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside, not after last time. A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory....
From best-selling author Victor Methos comes a gripping, edge-of-your seat thriller in which a group of young friends travel through remote woods in search of the legendary Bigfoot.
Mia is reluctant to go camping with her boyfriend and sister, who are graduate students working on a dissertation about American folklore. But ultimately, they convince her to help document the trip. The group sets off to Black Creek, a remote destination in the Pacific Northwest where Bigfoot has allegedly been sighted. They think they’re prepared for anything, but their sense of terror grows as they find more and more evidence to suggest the monster really is out there. Eventually, Mia realizes she’ll be lucky just to make it out of the woods alive.
William Shakespeare, the most celebrated poet in the English language, left behind nearly a million words of text, but his biography has long been a thicket of wild supposition....
A man risks his soul and his sanity to save his family from malevolent forces in this brilliant novel of horror and the supernatural from the award-winning pioneer of speculative fiction and author of the classic My Soul to Keep....
Zombie hunting has always sounded pretty boring to 15-year-old Benny Imura. But he needs a job, and since zombie hunting is the only job available at the moment, he begins training. All the while, he hopes to escape his troubled family and build a better life. On his path, he makes some friends with similar ambitions and finds his long-lost brother. Together, they embark on a treacherous quest for safety from the zombie plague—and maybe even a cure. Along the way, they learn: zombies are nowhere near the top of the list of scary creatures that want them dead... and being human means more than just not being a zombie. There are six audiobooks in the Rot & Ruin universe: the four novels of the main series, a short story collection, and the first book in a brand new series set in the same world but with a different protagonist. Actor and award-winning narrator Brian Hutchison performs the main series, making suspense drip from every word. When it comes to zombie series, you can't beat Jonathan Maberry's saga for sweeping excitement, and you can't beat the audio experience for immersing yourself in Benny Imura's world.
