The Monster She Wrote Podcast

Mel and Lisa cordially invite you to a wedding as we discuss Rachel Harrison's Kiss, Slay, Replay . This wedding weekend was already a disaster: Willa is stuck in a social nightmare watching her ex-fiance with his new girlfriend while she tries her best to be happy for her best friends at their nuptials. But the awkward situation turns deadly when a masked killer begins slashing their way through...

Join Mel and Lisa as we discuss Octavia E. Butler's Kindred.     In 1976 California, Dana is a writer, navigating love and life with her husband Kevin. But Dana's life is complicated when she begins to spontaneously time travel back to 1800s Maryland. These trips are dangerous–especially for a black woman traveling back to the slavery-era antebellum South. And with little control over when she tra...

Join Mel and Lisa as we discuss Gwendolyn Kiste's Great Gatsby reimagining In These Gilded, Ghostly Hearts. In 1955, Daisy Buchanan is found dead in the mansion in West Egg that used to belong to the infamous and enigmatic Jay Gatsby. Attempting to grapple with her unhappy relationship with her lost mother, Daisy's daughter, Mel, visits the mansion and becomes entangled in ghosts of the past, lead...

Today, we welcome Gwendolyn Kiste back to the podcast to discuss her new novella, In These Gilded Ghostly Hearts.  Gwendolyn Kiste is the four-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Rust Maidens, Reluctant Immortals, The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own, Pretty Marys All in a Row, and The Haunting of Velkwood. Her short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in outlets including Lit Hub, Night...

In Jennifer McMahon's newest novel Stay Buried , brother and sister Ashley and Malcolm inherit their grandmother's property in Boone's Ferry, Vermont. They know the property has its quirks–including a resident that they've now inherited too–but what they weren't expecting was a generational curse that has come back with full force.      Recommended in this episode:  Alma Katsu's Incarnate (out 9/2...

Jennifer McMahon is the New York Times Bestselling author of thirteen novels including The Winter People and Stay Buried. She's written about ghosts, demons, serial killers, shape-shifting monsters, an evil fairy king, a terrifying swimming pool, and more. She lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida with her partner, Drea. When not writing, she spends time growing tropical fruit, exploring the wilds of...

In Linda Hamilton's The Fourth Wife , Hazel Russon finds herself in an arranged marriage to Jacob Manwaring, a man who lives in the Utah wilderness in the crumbling Manwaring manor with his three other wives and their children. Hazel doesn't know what to expect of her new life, but she never expected a manor home full of mysterious sounds, specters of women, and a terrifying attic that holds too m...

In Darcie Little Badger's "The Scientist's Horror Story," three friends at a scientific conference meet up and tell ghost stories. One is pure fiction and one is not: which one is scarier?  This short story can be found in the anthology  Never Whistle at Night. (The sequel Never Whistle at Night: Part 2 Back for Blood is available for preorder now and will be out in bookstores this August.) Recomm...

TW: This novel includes depictions of death by suicide and harm/death to an animal. We mention it in this episode but do not discuss in depth. Be advised. What happens when a horror author moves into the suburbs? Murder, of course. In Lindy Ryan's novel Dollface , new resident Jill finds herself at the heart of a slasher plot, straight out of one of her novels. Recommended in this episode:  the Ve...

In This House Will Feed by Maria Tureaud , Maggie, a young woman trying to survive the Great Hunger in Ireland, is rescued from a workhouse by the enigmatic Lady Catherine, who brings Maggie back to her estate home. She promises Maggie a roof over her head, food to eat, and, eventually, a shockingly ample plot of land to call her own–with one catch. Maggie must pretend to be Lady Catherine's daugh...

Join us as we interview author Maria Tureaud on her Irish Gothic This House Will Feed.    Maria Tureaud is an editor and acclaimed author of middle grade and adult fiction. Born and raised in County Clare on the west coast of Ireland, she now lives with her husband and son in New Jersey and can be found online at AuthorMariaTureaud.com .   Recommended in this episode: The Eyes Are the Best Part an...

In "Perdita" by Hildegarde Hawthorne , Silvia and Jack settle into their newlywed lives on Alfalfa Ranch, owned by Silvia's Aunt Agnes. Things would be perfect, except for the little ghost child who can't quite leave them alone.  More on Hildegarde here.    Recommended in this episode: The Macabre by Kosoko Jackson NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–a...

In Anne Rivers Siddons's The House Next Door, Colquitt and Walter Kennedy are living their dream life. They have flourishing careers, a thriving social life, and a home they love in an affluent Southern suburb. But when an architect builds a house on the lot next door, immediately Colquitt worries that their quiet life will be disrupted. Unfortunately, the house has something much worse in store f...

In Liz Moore's The God of the Woods , the idyllic setting of the Adirondack mountains conceals something sinister. One child going missing is a tragedy–but two children–and from the same family is a disturbing pattern. A young investigator is pretty sure that the wealthy Van Laar family is concealing something, if only she can get close enough to the family to find out what they are hiding.   Reco...

Heads up, listeners. The ghosts of Hill House invaded this recording, so you might hear some audio glitches.    In Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House , Eleanor Vance has just buried her ailing elderly mother when she is invited to be part of a psychic investigation at a notoriously haunted house. The plan is to rent the home out for the summer and see what evidence of ghosts they can col...

In Mo Moshaty's short story "Dandelion Wine" in her collection Clairviolence , a long married couple have a fight over a plum cake won in a bingo game that just might be the end for the two of them.    Recommended in this episode: Lindy Ryan's Dollface , Gwendolyn Kiste's In These Gilded Ghostly Hearts (preorder) , and Jane Harper's The Survivors    NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all...

In Play Nice by Rachel Harrison , carefree Clio Barnes's life is interrupted when her estranged mother dies, and she and her sisters inherit their childhood home. Her plans to renovate the old place and sell it quickly fall apart when the demons from her past refuse to be ignored.  Recommended in this episode: Good Boy , streaming on Shudder NEWS: We have a  Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our...

In Sarah Orne Jewett's short story "The Landscape Chamber," a woman travelling alone, in search of adventure, finds herself off the beaten path. When her horse is injured, she seeks help at an old manor tucked away in the country, seemingly forgotten by time. There, she meets an old man and his lonely daughter. While they welcome her in, it seems that something in the home does not want her there....

In Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Gothic horror The Bewitching , three different women across three timelines are interconnected by mysterious disappearances, murder, and dark magic. In 1998, graduate student Minerva researches the real events that inspired Beatrice Tremblay's most famous novel. In 1932, Beatrice Tremblay is caught up in the disappearance of her friend and roommate. And in 1908, Minerva's...

In Melanie Tem's Prodigal, eleven-year-old Lucy is grappling with the mysterious death of her older brother–a suspected drug overdose–when her older sister Rae mysteriously disappears. The losses alone are too much for her family, but now Lucy is visited by the ghost of her brother, leading her into a dangerous supernatural world.  Recommended in this episode:  I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacque...

Marjorie Bowen's short story "The Crown Derby Plate" opens as "three elderly, cheerful women" sit around a fire for a cozy Christmas. They talk of a nearby estate that is rumored to be haunted when one of the women remembers that they had beautiful Crown Derby china that she wants for her antique shop. So, she makes the journey to the house, only to discover a little more than she bargained for. ...

In E. Nesbit's story "The Shadow," a vibrant Christmas party has gone late into the night, and everyone stays over at the manor house, given the late hour. Three women are sitting up around the fire with cocoa in hand, gossiping about boys and telling spooky stories. One woman, though, has an especially frightening tale to tell.  Read "The Shadow" here .    Recommended in this episode: Sally Thorn...

SPOILERS ABOUND as we discuss Mariko Koike's The Graveyard Apartment . Be forewarned!   A young married couple has found the perfect apartment for their growing family. It's beautiful and spacious. It's close to shopping, the train, and their daughter's school. The only problem? It is surrounded by a cemetery. A bit weird, yes, but not a problem–until strange and troubling events begin forcing out...

In Mary Wilkins Freeman's short story "Luella Miller," a tale is told about a woman named Luella, who is prone to hysterics and drains the energy from everyone around her. Is she just a woman in need of help? Or something much, much more sinister?   Read Freeman's story on the Library of America "Story of the Week" site or listen to it via the Podcastle podcast, here: ​​ https://podcasts.apple.com...

Last episode, we welcomed author Jen Julian on podcast. And this episode, Mel and Lisa discuss her book Red Rabbit Ghost in more detail.  College Freshman Jesse Calloway returns to his hometown of Blacknot in North Carolina after receiving mysterious anonymous texts in a college social media app with clues about his mother's unresolved death. She died when he was an infant, so he doesn't remember...