C.J.Cooke: Gothic World Building

Our guest on the Writing Worlds Podcast today is the bestselling and award winning novelist, poet and academic C.J. Cooke. C.J.'s novels including the acclaimed 'The Lighthouse Witches' 'The Nesting' and 'The Ghost Woods' lean on the gothic tradition. Carolyn has built a huge and devoted international following and it is often the sense of world and place in her books that immerse readers so deeply. Carolyn's most recent novel 'The Last Witch' was published by Harper Collins in autumn 2025. You can find out more about C.J. Cooke and her work by visiting her website here https://carolynjesscooke.com/ Visit C.J's substack to read her blog 'The Gothic Cabinet' here https://cjcooke.substack.com/ You can follow C.J. on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/cjcooke_author/ You can hear bonus content from many of our Writing Worlds guests by joining our Patreon at the Gold Tier or above. There we have exclusive bonus content from many of our Writing Worlds Season One episodes with many more from season two coming soon. Click the link to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/⁠ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/⁠ And follow Emily on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/⁠ And Bluesky ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social⁠ You can purchase a copy of Emily Inkpen's book "The Dex Legacy: Season Two Scripts and Commentary" by searching for Emily Inkpen in your local Amazon store Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here ⁠https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories⁠ Follow them on Instagram here ⁠https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/⁠ And Bluesky here ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social⁠ If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via ⁠[e-mail]⁠ Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make. If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows. We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers. Click the link below to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices