Counting Casualties Podcast: Gothic Fiction

I woke up this morning to rain and cold, and while making coffee and blearily looking onto the cross-street below from my kitchen, I noticed a hearse, a limo, six pallbearers, and a maple coffin being carried into the church across the street. I’ve lived in this apartment three years now, and this is the first time I’ve seen a proper funeral procession walk into that place.

I realize this makes me a bit morbid, but with the weather as it is, all I’d really need to throw at this scenario to turn it into a plot bunny is Guns n’ Roses playing “November Rain” in the background, and the ghost of whoever’s in that box showing up next to my fridge bearing a portent of ill things to come.

My imagination is indebted to the gothic. Just give me a graveyard or a castle ruin, and magic happens.

It follows that at the first mention of Poe, Lord Byron, or Mary Shelley, you’ll have my attention — so when Meghan Harker made the first announcement that she was developing a podcast about horror in the gothic literary tradition, I tuned in pretty quick.

A twice-monthly podcast, I’ll be talking about gothic fiction and horror, fangirling over favorites like Lord Byron and Edgar Allan Poe, and hopefully entertaining you with humor. I’ll also be making “reads” casts, where I choose a Gothic work and, well, read it to you. Because I like those.

Meghan’s got a great reading voice, and she gleefully shares anecdotes about some of her favourite authors when they were first starting out in the fiction business. If you like horror, feel like being entertained by someone who truly loves and appreciates the genre, and would enjoy a few insights about the great works of gothic literature, tune in.

You can listen to her first episode on Podomatic here, or follow the podcast on Twitter @casualtypodcast