31 Days of Horror: Day 23-- Becky and Stephen Graham Jones on Fated Mates Talking About Horror

A few weeks ago, Stephen Graham Jones and I sat down with my old friend Jen Prokop and bestselling Romance author Sarah McLean to talk about Horror on their popular podcast Fated Mates. From their about page:

The most listened to romance novel podcast, Fated Mates is co-hosted by bestselling author Sarah MacLean and romance critic Jen Prokop. Weekly episodes include romance novel read-alongs and lively discussions of the work of the genre, highlighting the romance novel as a powerful tool in fighting the patriarchy…with absolutely no kink shaming.

Here is the page for our episode:

S09.07: WHY HORROR WITH STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES AND BECKY SPRATFORD

We’re talking about the mythmakers again this week with a chat about romance’s sister genre, horror! We’re joined by NEA fellow, Bram Stoker Award winner and bestselling horror writer Stephen Graham Jones, and librarian and horror expert Becky Spratford. We talk about Stephen’s lifelong love of horror, the way horror reflects the world, the rules of horror and how romance and horror are actually two sides of the same coin. Happy spooky season, book lovers. 

If you’d like to come over and talk about horror with us, please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. Join the Fated Mates patreon to get access, and You also get one extra episode a month from us!! 

Click on the image to listen

Please click through to see a list of all of the books, television, and movies we mentioned in this episode. There are A LOT and they use graphics to showcase them, So click through. 

And if you scroll past those images you also get these AMAZING notes:

• We are joined by two guests today, horror author Stephen Graham Jones and librarian Becky Spratford. Stephen’s newest book is Off the Reservation. You might also enjoy the book Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature, which was edited by Becky and contains an essay by Stephen.
• I tried to find the article about the fish in the tanker trunk and failed, but looks like transporting fish via truck has other horrors to offer us.
• The Summer Scares Program is now part of iRead, a national summer reading program. Maybe you’d enjoy the Books in the Freezer podcast, a reference to this classic scene from Friends.
• What are: slashers, extreme horror, and cosmic horror.
• Jordan Peele, John Krasinski, and David Gordon Green are three men who moved from comedy to horror.
• Just like they create a best romance list every year, the librarians at the New York Public Library’s also publish a Best Horror List.
• Hitchcock on suspense vs surprise.
• Thanks to Becky for the realization that romance and horror are the two genres with their own holidays. [Becky's note: I gave Grady Hendrix full credit for this in the podcast] 

The four of us had a great time chatting and I really do think it is a great resource for all of you. Sarah and Jen were great interviewers. They truly cared about us explaining WHY HORROR to their Romance audience. This is NOT a discussion on Horroromance. Not at all. It is two people well versed in Horror talking to two people who are well versed in Romance, and sharing their knowledge to the benefit of ALL readers.

I hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed recording.