Spooky & Strange
Follow me into the endless library... Commentary, reviews, and retellings of horror tales, weird fiction, spooky stories, and mysterious mysteries with Aurelien. Books, short stories, flash fiction, and more.
Episodes
"Alanna gritted her teeth and thrust her chin forward stubbornly. She would see this through."
It's midwinter in the endless library, and Aurelien has only the very best books to shine a light in the gloom. "Alanna" (1983) by Tamora Pierce is a bright, fun, gritty-in-age-appropriate-ways, accessible first book in a girl-forward fantasy series.
Episode references:
- Sunny Nwazue from AKATA WITCH series by Nnedi Okorafor
- Pen...
A wealthy CEO faces a criminal investigation amid tragedy, trauma, and a supernatural threat. The Usher family learns an informant lurks among them.
The Fall of the House of Usher (2023) has entered the Flanaverse. Based on various Edgar Allan Poe stories and characters, this show explores the prominent and wealthy Usher family. Is this just spooky Succession? Is it spooky at all? What kind of horror is this? Watch episode 1 alon...
"Her head starts to turn, and I gasp --"
Trick or treat, spooky friends! Aurelien and Dustin (from The Rewatch Recap) wrote a spooky little PG-rated story together. Keep an eye on your windows and stay alert as you settle into "The Woman in the Brown Coat" (2022).
Produced by Dustin: https://linktr.ee/DustinCanRead
With additional voice acting by Kay: https://linktr.ee/fmwlpod
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"All the future looked gloomy and threatening, and the gaunt wolf hovered at the door of the Lynnes' humble home."
Gather round, spooks and strangers! For this special spooky season October Friday the 13th, Aurelien reads aloud chapter 1 of "Her Dark Inheritance" (1892) by Mrs. E. Burke Collins. What do you think the inheritance is, spooky friends? And do you want to hear more?
Read the story: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4...
"It was on Halloween, or All Hallows' Eve, that superstition ran riot..."
Trick or treat!
Aurelien explores the spooky archives of Project Gutenberg and comes back with 1880s non-fiction takes on Scottish Halloween traditions. How is bobbing for apples part of a divination ritual? Is any of this actually spooky? Join around the cauldron for readings and stories from "Curiosities of Superstition, and Sketches of Some Unrevealed ...
"Mary was a misfit. She didn't want to be beautiful. And she wasted time doing mad things - like eating and sleeping."
Aurelien reads another original Twilight Zone source story. This time, let's go back to 1952 (or is it 2022??) with The Beautiful People by Charles Beaumont.
Read the story at https://www.gutenberg.org/files/36258/36258-h/36258-h.htm
Want more old school stories? Support the show at https://www.patreon.com...
“Don't join the book burners. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book...”
―
Aurelien digs out from under a pile of library sale books and catalogs her unread gems. Tune in for hot takes on old books!
Ranging from "the most unusual mystery novel ever written", to neurological non-fiction, to the YA of our nightmares, and short story collections from fam...
Spooky salutations, listeners and readers! It's time for a "what I was reading when I wasn't here" mid-2023 check-in. Slither into the shade and have a listen, then make your plan of (reading) attack.
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- Black Bloom by Felix I.D. Dimaro
- After Dark with Roxie Clark by Brooke Lauren Davis
- Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant
- The Two Doctors Gorski by Isaac Fellm...
"Here are the confessions of a vampire."
Let's read INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (1976) by Anne Rice together, spooky friends! Tune in to hear Aurelien's running commentary on her first time reading Chapter 1/paperback book pages 1-34.
Readalong with your own copy or just listen in for the story!
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- Theme: Magical Transition by Kevin McLeod
- Additional music and sound effects from zapsplat.com
- Support the show at https...
Could you slip through a hole in reality? Aurelien interviews horror author Hailey Piper, author of QUEEN OF TEETH, THE WORM AND HIS KINGS, NO GODS FOR DROWNING and more. It's a far-ranging conversation about so many ways we experience horror.
Listen for horror geekery about unreliable narrators, our fuzzy reality, takes on modern movies, hopeful hopelessness, splatter Westerns, and how to trick your loved ones into reading the ...
We’re off the map of weirdness by this point.
How to describe this bizarre, mysterious, fantastical but also grounded, fun with very real consequences at stake, easy to read with heavy themes, 90s book? Go through the janitor's closet and meet under the school for THE INVASION (1996) by K.A. Applegate. Leave your prior preceptions at the door, don't judge this book by its many covers, and let's jump in! Seriously, don't even goog...
"Welcome to Aloisville, rainiest town in the rainiest state. Population: we don’t recall."
Don your rain gear and don't forget your umbrella for NOTHING BUT THE RAIN (2023) by Naomi Salman, a short tale of a drowning town and the people left (or kept) inside. Would you rather forget, or do what you can to survive? What does it mean to survive?
No spoilers in this one!
Episode references:
"Sometimes I feel dead," I told her, "and I hate everybody."
Let's get lethargic, and philosophical, with MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION (2018) by Otessa Moshfegh. A rare pick from the world of literary fiction, this book feels like eating alone in a dingy restaurant at 3am. It's not horror, but you may be unnerved in a different way. (Stick around for some Gatsby rambling near the end!)
No spoilers in this one!
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- T...
Why are some of us so attracted to being totally repulsed?
Aurelien and horror writer Ruth Anna Evans explore this question in a discussion of body horror and short fiction; the inherent horror of bodies; and why we poke at our bruises.
Plus, we share a non-spoilery preview of the collection OOZE: Little Bursts of Body Horror (2023), which is, across 21 stories, bizarre, strange, heartwarming, weird, surprising, and gross.
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"There's only one reality."
Take a stroll down a dark alley in Midtown to hear a modern horror cautionary tale, THE POSTMORTAL by Drew Magary (2011).
Read it at your own risk, this dark dark tale of humanity and vanity, and consider your answer to the question we are still asking today: would you want to live forever? No spoilers in this one!
- Read more from Drew Magary: https://twitter.com/drewmagary
- Inte...
"The news calls it a curse, but deep down, it's a mystery."
Meet Aurelien in the skies tonight to talk about THE TURNING by Hailey Piper. Spoilers ahead for this surprisingly optimistic story of transformation and change.
- Read more from Hailey Piper: https://haileypiper.com/
- Read more stories from OTHER TERRORS: AN INCLUSIVE ANTHOLOGY (2022): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60527041-other-terrors
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Interesting...
"... I saw the tiny naked woman cross the living room in full war cry."
Aurelien gets weird with short "Tiny Women" (2018) by Solange Rodriguez Pappe, translated by James D. Jenkins. It's part of The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories, vol 1, and a fun way to kick off ~*~*spooky season*~*~ (well, that and the dance break!)
Episode references:
“One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us.”
―
Join Aurelien for a short reading break to talk about some hotly anticipated horror tv shows and movies coming this fall. (Yes, even in alternate dimensions like endless libraries, though release dates will vary.)
- Watch the trai...
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