It was my honor and privilege to be invited onto The Horror Show With Brian Keene this week, along with my good friend, author John Bruni. The episode airs on TheHorrorShowWithBrianKeene.com at 7pm EST Thursday, September 22nd 2016.
The Horror Show is also available through ProjectiRadio.com, iTunes, Stitcher and all other major podcast channels. But before you listen to the episode, I’d like to give you a little backstory on how I ended up a guest on one of, if not THE most popular horror fiction related podcast on the internet.
Our history with the show, beyond both being huge fans of both Brian Keene’s fiction (which can be found here, if you’re not already familiar with him) and The Horror Show podcast, started when the two of us both ran ad copy on the show way back in January. Only the ads didn’t run. For either of us.
After a few months, John (whose great books can be found here) and I talked about how we’d heard episodes that had no ad copy since we’d paid for our spots and found it odd that ours had never aired. So we both independently contacted Project iRadio (The Horror Show’s podcast network) and asked if there had been some kind of mix up.
It turned out there had been, which lead to a hilarious bit on the following week’s show where Brian gave John and I both cover blurbs for our books since the network had screwed up the ads.
One thing lead to another and both John and I were extended invitations to appear on the show as future guests. Which got me thinking. I’ve hung out with John many times while on trips to Chicago for writing related activities and even personally vouched for John with the Bizarro Writers Association’s midwest chapter.
So I called up John and asked if he would be interested in joining me on a crazy cross-country adventure which would see me hopping a train to Chicago, hooking up with John, then driving the nearly 12 hours to appear on The Horror Show together.
A little more back story is necessary. Way back in 2006, I met filmmaker Mike Lombardo (check out his awesome body of work here) just as both of us were starting out in our burgeoning filmmaking careers.
He and I supported each other for years online, and became great friends. Over the years, he and Brian Keene also became great friends and business associates.
Through a bizarre coincidence, years later when I would start my career as a fiction writer, I found the bizarro writing scene and the pinnacle of bizarro fiction, Eraserhead Press. Eraserhead happens to own a horror imprint called Deadite Press which happens to be the trade paperback home of author Brian Keene.
The fates, it seemed, were going to make sure that Brian and I met. And so we did. John Bruni drove us the 11 some-odd hours to Mike Lombardo’s house where we would ultimately end up recording this week’s episode of The Horror Show. You can read all about the rest of the trip beyond the recording of the podcast by clicking here to read my weekend recap.
I’m not going to talk about the show itself. I want that to stand on its own. I will say that the energy in the room was electric as Brian, Dave, Mike, Marry, Phoebe, John and myself spent two hours talking about writing, metal music, godzilla movies, Billy Zane in The Phantom, porn, publishing and so much more.
I wanted to give shout-outs to my friends and fellow authors Danger Slater, Melissa Lason and Michelle Garza The Sisters Of Slaughter, CV Hunt, and fellow Project iRadio podcaster and host of Bizzong, Frank Edler.
But alas, I was overwhelmed when Brian and his crew rushed into Mike’s house and I just sort of hung on for dear life as the podcast started and 7 people started talking. But i suspect a great number of people are going to visit this post over the next few days so please consider this your shout-out, guys. Sorry I messed that one up!
Please give this week’s show a listen, even if you aren’t an avid podcast fan or even a fan of Brian Keene. This show is what happens when a bunch of great people travel great spans of time and space for an opportunity to chat with one another. We did good, gang. I’m proud. 🙂