The ARC Party

Part three! This time, we talk about Josh’s recently-filmed documentary For All The Books . In case this title isn’t familiar, for years Josh has been looking for something beyond social media where he can express the full experience of writing a book. I could go on, but I’ll just let you listen to Josh explain it. It’s a pretty cool story, and the documentary is great too! I got to screen the mos...

If you’re looking for a discussion about Josh’s upcoming book INCIDENTS AROUND THE HOUSE , go back one episode. It’s all about the book, and you get to hear Other Mommy speak! This time around We have a few drinks and talk about super fandom, the lost art of writing letters, and the importance of capturing and archiving the creative process. It’s a sloshy fun time, and especially considering the t...

This is the first in a series of episodes with Josh Malerman I’m calling Interviews Around The House, from my recent visit to Michigan for a weekend of hanging out with Josh. If you want to know more about what that weekend was like, check out this post . In this episode We primarily talk about Josh’s awesome upcoming release INCIDENTS AROUND THE HOUSE. In future episodes, we talk about Josh’s doc...

I’m giving away 25 bookplates signed by Paul Tremblay. All you have to do is pre-order your copy of HORROR MOVIE using my bookshop.org affiliate link, and tell me about it! Step 1: Pre-order using THIS LINK Step 2: Email robb@thearcparty.com and tell me your Bookshop order number, and your mailing address. The first 25 orders using my affiliate link will have a bookplate signed by Paul sent to the...

FIRST LIGHT is coming out on April 23rd! It’s the much-anticipated sequel to Kerin’s debut novel NIGHT’S EDGE. First thing’s first: Order FIRST LIGHT right now! And if you’re new to Liz, you can also order NIGHT’S EDGE at the same time, on my Liz Kerin list on Bookshop Now that that’s taken care of. If you haven’t done so, go back and listen to my interview with Liz for NIGHT’S EDGE. I don’t know...

The trilogy is complete, so it’s time to bring you our third and final deep dive into the books in the Indian Lake trilogy: THE ANGEL OF INDIAN LAKE. With this installment, that brings the deep dive talk time to about six and a half hours, and I must say that we could have talked so much more ! For the sake of ease, here’s all the YouTube versions of the episodes all together, so it’s easy to acce...

Eric Larocca is a master of exploring the boundaries of horror, and often going beyond them. His upcoming collection THIS SKIN WAS ONCE MINE AND OTHER DISTURBANCES consists of two longer, novella length stories, and two shorter ones. If we’re talking overall theme, Eric says that this book is looking into the concept of human connection. Along the way, we get some fetishes, some deaths in the fami...

Stephen Graham Jones has two books out this year. One of them is the third book in the Indian Lake trilogy, THE ANGEL OF INDIAN LAKE. It’s the epic conclusion to an amazing story. What better way to celebrate its arrival, than to take a closer look at all three of the books. So, that’s what I decided to do. Greg Greene - a noted Stephen Graham Jones scholar. He’s managed to collect all of Stephen’...

Cynthia Pelayo’s love for Chicago and its history and people is on full display in this sweet, creepy, sad, entertaining novel. As a Chicagoland native, it was so fulfilling to be able to picture the places she mentions, know the culture of the people that fill the book. But, that’s lucky me for knowing the area. You don’t need to know Chicago to fall in love with this book. And I was lucky enough...

Chloe Spencer wrote a hell of a novella with MEWING. A young hopeful model and social media influencer finds her way into an influencer enclave, and will do anything to make her dreams come true. It’s a commentary on ambition. It makes us think about what we sacrifice when we create our online personas. It turns our stomach - all while being an entertaining and fun story. Chloe has had a hell of a...

Stephen Graham Jones has two books out this year. One of them is the third book in the Indian Lake trilogy, THE ANGEL OF INDIAN LAKE. It’s the epic conclusion to an amazing story. What better way to celebrate its arrival, than to take a closer look at all three of the books. So, that’s what I decided to do. Greg Greene - a noted Stephen Graham Jones scholar. He’s managed to collect all of Stephen’...

2024 is here! I know I’ve been planning my reading for the year for a while now. How about you? Are you in need of some recommendations? I have just the thing! It’s The ARC Party’s first ever Horror Preview episode! The reason this episode exists is because Emily Hughes aggregates a ton of information about forthcoming horror books every year, and posts a comprehensive, and frankly amazing list of...

Here is the sixth, and final, LitReactor ARChive episode. In this one, I chat with the two head honchos of LitReactor about the genesis of the site, the goals of the site, and some of the highlights over the years. Peppered throughout are some call-in audio clips from contributors. It’s a nice little tribute to the site, and a fitting goodbye. I appreciate everything it worked for and represented...

LitReactor, as we know it, is closing down. I’m reposting the episodes I hosted for Unprintable (their podcast) over here on The ARC Party, so that they don’t go away when the site shuts down. This is the fifth of six episodes - a deep dive into grammar featuring LR’s managing editor, and two LR columnists who both have written and/or taught classes on the topic of grammar. One more to go after th...

In this episode, I say this is the third of six episodes. It’s the Fourth. Oops! Check out an awesome conversation between me and Brian Keene and Michael David Wilson, where we talk about the art of interviewing someone. We share some personal stories from our years of experience, share what really matters to us when it comes to respecting guests, cultivating engaging questions, and delivering a g...

It’s the third of six LitReactor Archive episodes. In this episode, Sadie Hartmann (Mother Horror), and Becky Spratford (The Horror Maven/RA For All) Joined my on LitReactor’s Unprintable podcast to talk about the art of book reviews. If you were ever curious about what goes in to a book review, or what some of the dos and don’ts are, this is the episode for you! Hear a social media influencer tal...

This is the second of six ARC Party episodes, where I’m reposting my small run of episodes of their Unprintable podcast. As LitReactor is closing down, I wanted to give my episodes a place to live on, because they were great conversations that should not be lost to the ages. In this episode, Rob Hart joined to cohost an interview with SA Cosby, about his then-latest book RAZORBLADE TEARS. Rob was...

With the lights at LitReactor going dark for good in the coming weeks, I wanted to find a way to archive the handful of episodes that I recorded from them back in 2021. This is the first of six episodes, where I “re-air” the talks I hosted on their podcast, Unprintable. In this episode, Rob Hart joins me as a cohost to speak with Alma Katsu about her then-newly released book RED WIDOW, and also he...

Pre order House of Bad Memories directly from Cemetery Gates Media And grab Michael’s other books, too! Here’s the second part of my discussion with Michael David Wilson about his upcoming book HOUSE OF BAD MEMORIES. In this episode, we dive deep in to the story, and Michael get’s very personal about some of his experiences that inspired parts of the books. In addition to chatting about the book,...

Buy BECOMING THE BOOGEYMAN and the other books we mentioned on my Bookshop page! The problem with ending your podcast, and getting sick, then kinda starting a new podcast, and then stopping it, and then eventually starting a new one… is that you miss the opportunity to keep talking to awesome people. Case in point: Richard Chizmar joined me on Booked. back when he released the second book in the G...

Pre-order NESTLINGS today ! While you’re at it, grab MARY as well! This book has it all! A creepy luxury building with secrets. An opportunity too good to be true. Something not feeling right. Some kind of monsters? While this book does tackle some serious topics, such as living with a disability after having just had a baby, dealing with loss and grief, and having shitty landlords, it is entertai...

Pre-order THE DEAD TAKE THE A TRAIN on bookshop.org and grab more books from Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey ! I’ve been stoked about The Dead Take The A Train for what feels like EVER. Before I read THE SALT GROWS HEAVY, before I had Cassandra on earlier in the year. The moment I saw this frickin cover, and read the frickin synopsis, I knew I’d be getting an ARC, reading the shit out of it, and...

Pre order House of Bad Memories directly from Cemetery Gates Media And grab Michael’s other books, too! Michael David Wilson’s newest book is such a big deal, we had to break this discussion into two parts! In the tradition of Michael’s podcast This is Horror, we started by talking in depth about some of Michael’s early life lessons, about writing, and his other books and stories. In our follow up...

Pre-order HATCHET GIRLS, and why not also grab SMALL TOWN MONSTERS while you’re at it? HATCHET GIRLS is a book I’ve been looking forward to since I started this podcast at the beginning of the year. It landed on my radar super early, and I immediately started the process of setting up an episode. The premise sounded great, and I definitely need to do my reading in the YA arena. Not only was the bo...

Pre-order COLD, BLACK & INFINITE directly from Cemetery Dance! With his new collection of short stories, Todd Keisling made sure to have something for everyone. Zombies? Check. Black eyed kids? Check. Creepy mannequins? Check. Conspiracy theory radio shows? Check. Being slowly ground down to nothing under the gears of a corporate job that just happens to be for a company run by a cosmic horror? Ch...