The Dark Mind Podcast

Taylor Grothe joins The Dark Mind Podcast to talk about Lethal Kiss, their sapphic dark academia horror romance from Tor Nightfire.
We get into why a university is the perfect hunting ground for a monster trying to stay hidden and a mortal just trying to survive.
Taylor shares what the rat race of tenure at Duke taught them, and how a real professor inspired one of the book's most unsettling men.
We talk about why horror and romance sit on the same continuum, the mortifying ordeal of being known, and the long tradition reaching back to Marcella.
Taylor opens up about writing Lacie as an autistic character, why higher academia demands constant masking, and how a beautiful campus can hide death beneath its floors.
We also cover Nordic saga, building suspense from detailed synopses, the Round Table Mentor program, cello, tarot, and life as a full-time author.
Taylor closes the episode by reading a passage from Lethal Kiss.
Lethal Kiss is available October 20, 2026.
Taylor Grothe
Official Website: https://www.taylorgrothe.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taylorlgrothe
X: https://twitter.com/taylorlgrothe
Substack, Hallowed Words: https://hallowedwords.substack.comhallowedwords.substack
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22593046.Taylor_Grothegoodreads
Lethal Kiss
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250433878
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lethal-kiss-taylor-grothe/1148909598?ean=9781250433879barnesandnoble
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/book/9781250433879bookshop
Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/Lethal-Kiss-Audiobook/B0GGC2HBV1audible
Hollow
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1682637778
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781682637777barnesandnoble
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/book/9781682637777bookshop
Support The Dark Mind Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast

Horror author Mathilda Zeller joins The Dark Mind Podcast to talk about her novel It Looks Like You in the Dark, out October 13, 2026, from Tor Nightfire.
The book expands "Kushtuka," the story that opened the anthology Never Whistle at Night, into a full novel set in the Inupiat village of Chukchi in Alaska's Kobuk River Valley.
Mathilda shares the frightening stories her grandfather told her while she lived with him during some of the hardest years of her life.
She explains how a 1970s account by an outsider who pressured locals into telling him their stories pushed her to reclaim the kushtuka legend.
We talk about why a monster that looks like someone you love is more horrifying than any stranger.
She describes working on a cultural preservation project in Kotzebue and how the Cold War cut her people off from their relatives in Siberia.
Mathilda explains why she left the Inupiaq language untranslated and how her mother and uncles helped her find Tapeesa's voice.
She also talks about choosing her editor after meeting with seven during the auction, the fairy belief behind the Bridget Cleary murder case, and the terrifying Arctic mermaid folklore behind her next novel.
Finally, she tells the story of the two resilient great-grandmothers who inspired her pen name.
Official Website
https://mathildazeller.wordpress.com/
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/mathildazellerauthor/
TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@mathildazellerauthor
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/MathildaZeller
X
https://x.com/MathildaZeller
Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22669904.Mathilda_Zeller
It Looks Like You in the Dark at Tor Publishing Group
https://torpublishinggroup.com/it-looks-like-you-in-the-dark/?isbn=9781250402035&format=hardback
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250402034
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781250402035
Bookshop.org
https://bookshop.org/a/0/9781250402035
Audible Audiobook
https://www.audible.com/pd/It-Looks-Like-You-in-the-Dark-Audiobook/B0GGC4S8L6
Kobo eBook
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/it-looks-like-you-in-the-dark
Support The Dark Mind Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast

What happens to a haunting when the most famous haunted house in America is finally torn down?
Two-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author Robert P. Ottone joins The Dark Mind Podcast to talk about his new novel, Amityville Awakens, out October 6 from CLASH Books.
Robert shares how his father, an overnight radio DJ on Long Island, was on the air the night the DeFeo murders came across the teletype.
We talk about what it is like to stand outside the real house today, why he invented a family who fled it in 1995, and why the dread in his book has nothing left to hold it back once the walls come down.
Robert explains the divide between North Amityville and the Village, the Long Island habit of looking away from its darkest chapters, and the line he draws between the Amityville legend and the real murders.
He also opens up about his writing life as a full-time teacher, the office where he writes surrounded by Jaws memorabilia and Godzilla toys, walking away from a book under contract, and what drew him to CLASH Books.
We close with family history, including a great-grandfather who survived World War I and became one of New York's first motorcycle cops.
Official Website
https://www.spookyhousepress.com/[spookyhousepress]
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/robertottone/
Letterboxd
https://letterboxd.com/RobertOttone/[letterboxd]
Amityville Awakens on CLASH Books (signed edition)
https://www.clashbooks.com/new-products-2/amityville-awakens-robert-p-ottone-signed[clashbooks]
Amityville Awakens on Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781968043292[barnesandnoble]
Amityville Awakens on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=9781968043292
Amityville Awakens on Bookshop.org
https://bookshop.org/book/9781968043292[bookshop]
Amityville Awakens on Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/247390607-amityville-awakens[goodreads]
Read Chapter One Free on Daily Dead
https://dailydead.com/exclusive-excerpt-the-terror-of-amityville-comes-back-to-life-in-robert-p-ottones-amityville-awakens/[dailydead]
Support The Dark Mind Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast

On this episode of The Dark Mind Podcast, horror author and investigative reporter Marc E. Fitch joins me to discuss his new short story collection, There Was No One There.
We talk about the capacity for evil hidden inside ordinary people and why Marc believes a scare lasts a moment, while horror comes home with you.
Marc shares the real-life experiences behind his stories, from a frightening moment in the ocean with his daughter to the Christian hymn that inspired The Starry Crown.
He explains how the collection's order follows the rise and fall of a piece of classical music, and why he rewrote the ending of Monster Parade twenty-five times.
We also discuss how investigative journalism and horror fiction feed each other, and why he believes much more of life rests on belief than we like to admit.
Marc reflects on thirteen years bartending beside a bus station, twelve years in inpatient psychiatric hospitals, and the harder view of the world those years left him with.
Finally, he talks about raising four teenagers and why parenthood is the most frightening thing he has ever done.
Official Website
https://www.marcefitch.com
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/marce.fitch/
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/MarcE.Fitch/[facebook]
X
https://x.com/fitch_marc[x]
Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6506478.Marc_E_Fitch
Inside Investigator
https://insideinvestigator.org/marc-e-fitch/
There Was No One There on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HDVVQ9PQ
There Was No One There on Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1FL1ZTD
There Was No One There on Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781958842744[barnesandnoble]
There Was No One There on Audible
https://www.audible.com/author/Marc-E-Fitch/B00DW6GDV4[audible]
Support The Dark Mind Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast

Chris Panatier returns to The Dark Mind Podcast to discuss his new novel Worry Box, out September 22 from Angry Robot.
The book follows the Martin family as they move into a new home while preparing to adopt their foster daughter, Lailah.
Troubled by increasingly violent intrusive thoughts, Lailah writes them down and hides them inside a homemade worry box, hoping to quiet her mind.
When disturbing events begin unfolding around the house, the family is forced to question whether the danger comes from Lailah, their new home, or something none of them fully understand.
In this conversation, Chris explains why he set out to write a horror novel in which every character is genuinely doing their best and things still fall apart.
He talks openly about drawing Lailah's intrusive thoughts from his own experience, which intensified after his daughter was born.
He describes the research he did into adoption and foster care, and his decision to avoid the story readers might expect.
We get into Alison and Nathan, two parents with very different histories, and the point where they stop being a team and start butting heads.
Chris also discusses Dru, the sister who holds on the longest, and why she became one of his all time favorite characters.
He breaks down his approach to the house itself, which he treated as a member of the family with a history and a point of view of its own.
He shares his theory that a house is essentially a sponge that absorbs the residue of everyone who has lived in it.
We talk about the kinship between Worry Box and A Head Full of Ghosts, and where the two books diverge.
Chris explains how humor functions as a pressure release valve inside an otherwise intense story.
He reflects on twenty five years of trial work, and how prying a story out of unwilling hands taught him that a story never simply arrives intact.
He talks about rewriting this book several times, and how instinct in art is acquired through repetition rather than something you are born with.
Chris also looks ahead to Daytide arriving from Saga Press, a collaborative comedy slasher with Sam Rebelein called Final Girl Greg, and a forthcoming Angry Robot novel titled So You Want to Summon a Demon.
He closes with a candid look at burnout, envy, and why he now celebrates every other writer's success.
Official Website
https://chrispanatier.com/[chrispanatier]
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/chrispanatier/
Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18894703.Chris_Panatier[goodreads]
Publisher Page for Worry Box
https://angryrobotbooks.com/books/worry-box/[angryrobotbooks]
Penguin Random House
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/827562/worry-box-by-chris-panatier/[penguinrandomhouse]
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1836730322
Barnes and Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/worry-box-chris-panatier/1149014636
Support The Dark Mind Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast