Horror from the High Desert

On this fourth edition of the Horror From the High Desert "Book Club," author Tamika Thompson ("Unshod, Cackling, and Naked," the upcoming "The Curse of Hester Gardens") joins Scotty to discuss Tananarive Due's 1995 classic "The Between." They talk about the novel's seismic impact on the genre, its masterful craftmanship, and its handling of race, family, lo...

Author and friend-of-the-pod Daniel Braum ("Creatures of Liminal Space," 2025) returns to talk about his brand new collection, "Phantom Constellations" (November 15, Cemetery Dance). He and Scotty talk about the porous border between horror and "the weird," writing about loss through the prism of strangeness, the power of The Cure's music, writing dark fiction with wa...

Listen to this special BONUS EPISODE featuring the new anthology "The Rack II: More Stories Inspired By Vintage Horror Paperbacks" (October 14, 2025). In this followup to last year's episode featuring the first volume of "The Rack," Scotty once again talks to editor Tom Deady, as well as six authors featured in this outstanding collection! - Editor Tom Deady - Author Larry Hink...

For all of you staying in and curling up by the fire on this Halloween night, why don't you cue up this interview with author John Collins? He comes onto the podcast to talk to Scotty about his novella "The Leeds Point Horror" (2025, Alien Buddha Press), and they have a wide-ranging conversation about influences from Stephen King, "Jaws," splatterpunk, classic 1950s pulp fictio...

Author Rebecca Baum joins Scotty to talk about her upcoming horror novel "The Brood" (October 28, Thomas and Mercer). They discuss sinkholes, cyclical cicadas, becoming an author in one's 40s, creating a story from the character in, approaching horror with a fresh eye, and more. They also look back at Dario Argento's 1985 insect-horror classic "Phenomena" (also known as "C...

Bram Stoker Award-winning author Christa Carmen ("The Daughters of Block Island," "Beneath the Poet's House") comes back onto the podcast to discuss her upcoming novel, "How to Fake a Haunting" (Oct 7, Thomas & Mercer). She and Scotty talk about what they believe and don't believe when it comes to ghosts, and Scotty once again describes what it was like growing up...

Director Frances Lawrence and screenwriter J.T. Mollner's adaptation of Stephen King's "The Long Walk" has been Scotty's most anticipated movie of 2025. So he invited his buddy Amelia Ampuero--the co-host of his other podcast, The Weirdest Thing--back onto the show to talk about it. Scotty gives a quick rundown of the book's history (along with the lore behind the Richard Bachman pen nam...

Author Sam Rebelein ("Edenville," "The Poorly Made and Other Things") returns to talk about his upcoming novel "Galloway's Gospel" (September 16, William Morrow). He and Scotty chat about puppies, poo pigs, doomsday cults, the nefarious power of advertising, Sam's "Rebelverse" and the increasingly bizarre world of Renfield County, and more! They also talk ab...

Happy "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" Week everybody! Come celebrate with Scotty and New Mexico luminary Chad Brummett. Chad is, of course, the noon anchor for Albuquerque's KRQE News 13. He's also a celebrated actor in movies like "3:10 to Yuma" and TV shows like "Longmire," as well as a regional Emmy-winning documentarian for the series "Legendary New Mexico."...

Author M.M. Olivas comes onto the podcast to discuss her novel "Sundown in San Ojuela" (2024, Lanternfish Press), as well as her novelette "¡Sangronas! Un Lista de Terror" (published in Issue 60 of Uncanny Magazine). She and Scotty talk about her early days as a movie-loving, dinosaur-and-Kaiju-obsessed outcast in Northern California, her initial aspirations as a filmmaker and...

Here's another bonus episode of "The Weirdest Thing" podcast! In a follow-up to their last episode, where Scotty and Amelia discussed the brand-new horror novel "Come Knocking," author Mike Bockoven decided to crash the podcast for a wide-ranging conversation about the book, his previous hit "FantasticLand" (2018), his work as a journalist, writing, horror, theatre, t...

Author Rachel Eve Moulton ("Tinfoil Butterfly," "The Insatiable Volt Sisters") returns to talk to Scotty about her upcoming novel "Tantrum" (August 5, G.P. Putnam's Sons). They discuss the book's unique look at family, the parasitical horror of pregnancy, the uncanny terror of parenthood, the loneliness of the New Mexican landscape, and more. They also talk about the...

Bram Stoker Award-winning author Robert P. Ottone ("The Vile Thing We Created," "There's Something Sinister In Centerfield") returns to the podcast to talk about his new collection "Tear Me Open: Fears Unwrapped" (June 24, Winding Road Stories). He and Scotty have a wide-ranging conversation that encompasses everything from spooky tourist traps, sports and horror, iss...

Author and musician Jeremy Wagner comes onto the podcast to talk to Scotty about his years as guitarist and lyricist for the seminal death-metal band Broken Hope (also known as the band that broke Scotty's body back in '97), as well as his career as a horror writer with the popular novels "The Armageddon Chord," "Rabid Heart," and the upcoming "Wretch" (look for it in...

This week Jeff and Bethany Stedden join Scotty to talk about creating New Mexico's one and only dedicated horror festival, the Morgue & Krypt Horror Fest. They discuss growing up as a pair of lonely horror geeks in the Albuquerque region, traveling to fan fests throughout the greater Southwest, and how doing so inspired them to start their own event here at home. They describe the challenges o...

Boston-bestie Mandy Connor returns to talk about four movies. She and Scotty start with the best of the bunch: the truly frightening 2024 Irish mystery-horror film "Oddity," by writer/director Damian Mc Carthy and featuring a standout performance from Carolyn Bracken. They then shift gears with 2020's oddball but impressive indie psychological drama/sci-fi horror movie "Horse Girl,&...

For the very first time, Scotty is simultaneously releasing the most recent episode of his other podcast, "The Weirdest Thing," as a bonus episode in the "Horror From the High Desert" feed! He and his cohost Amelia Ampuero take a deep dive into the new Prohibition-era vampire movie "Sinners," starring Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, and Wunmi Mosaku, and written/...

In the first half of this two-part episode, author Rae Wilde ("Merciless Waters," I Do Not Apologize For My Position on Men") returns to talk about her upcoming novella "I Can Fix Her" (June 3, CLASH Books). They discuss the terror of "nightmare logic," Rae's interest in exploring toxic sapphic romance, the "Wilde Test" (i.e. decentering men altogether...

On this third edition of the Horror From the High Desert "Book Club," author Rachel Eve Moulton ("Tinfoil Butterfly," "The Insatiable Volt Sisters") joins Scotty to discuss Katherine Dunn's 1989 classic "Geek Love." They talk about the novel's strangeness, its unexpected horror elements, its unique take on beauty vs. "freakishness," its unflinching...

Author Ally Russell ("It Came From the Trees," Delacorte Press, 2024) joins Scotty to discuss growing up as a horror fan in the zombie hub of Pittsburgh, taking inspiration from R.L. Stine, Stephen King, and her father's macabre sense of humor, deciding to pursue a career as a writer after working as a bookseller at Barnes & Noble, and pursuing an MFA in Children's Literature at Simm...

Author and podcaster Jeff C. Carter comes onto the podcast to talk to Scotty about how making short films in his parents' basement helped shape his creative aesthetic. They then commiserate about their various film school and Hollywood experiences, talk about the art of creating the perfect flash fiction piece, and discuss Jeff's collection "We Bleed Orange & Black: 31 Fun-Sized Tales For...

On this second installment of the Horror From the High Desert "Book Club," author Daniel Braum ("The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales," "The Serpent's Shadow") joins Scotty to talk about celebrated speculative fiction author Lucius Shepard and his seminal collection of weird stories "The Jaguar Hunter" (1985, Arkham House). They consider Shepard's uniq...

Author Drew Huff ("Free Burn," Dark Matter INK, 2024) joins Scotty for a wide-ranging conversation about splatterpunk, processing trauma through fiction, science-fiction world building, the strange contradictions in H.P. Lovecraft, and more. They also discuss Drew's brand new novel "The Divine Flesh" (March 4, Dark Matter INK) and her sapphic sci-fi novella "Landlocked in...

Author Larry Hinkle returns to talk about his upcoming novella "The Eris Ridge Trail" (March 4, Four Winds Bar Publishing). He and Scotty discuss the book's connection to stories from his previous collection "The Space Between" (2024, Trepidatio Publishing), the differences in his writing process for short fiction vs. longer work, their shared fascination with hidden, abandoned...

Author Sam Rebelein returns to the podcast, this time to talk to Scotty about his upcoming collection of interlinked stories, "The Poorly Made and Other Things" (February 11, William Morrow Paperbacks), which are all set in the same fictional upstate New York county as his debut novel "Edenville" (2023, William Morrow). Sam and Scotty discuss his process in creating the ever-ex...