Ally joins to show to talk Mystery James, teen readers, and keeping horror fun.

About guest

Ally is the author of It Came from the Trees. She grew up on a steady diet of Halloween parties, horror films, Unsolved Mysteries, and Goosebumps books. She has always loved scary stories and got her MFA from Simmons University and, eventually, a job working in children’s publishing. In the past, she has written about all kinds of spooky subjects for the Tor Nightfire blog. She hails from Pittsburgh—ground zero for the zombie apocalypse. Ally lives with her husband and her two black cats, Nox and Fury. She’s afraid of the woods, the dark, and heights.

Topics discussed

Content warning: This episode contains mature themes. Listener discretion is advised.

During the show, we discuss:

• The Mystery James Duology
• Why Middle Grade Horror?
• Supporting Middle Grade
• Bridging MG and YA

Connect with Ally

• Instagram
• Bluesky
• TikTok
• Threads

Buy Her Books

• Books By Ally

Support the podcast

• Contribute to the Ko-Fi
• Send a message

Support Nailah

• Buy Dead Pretty
• Read my column

Kennedy joins to show to talk about her debut novel, There Used to Be People Here.

About guest

Kennedy Cole is a speculative author with a BFA in Creative Writing and a Certificate in Publishing. Born in North Carolina, she lives by the beach with her partner and enjoys playing games, puzzling, sipping matcha, and collecting tattoos. Her creative portfolio includes an array of published fiction, poetry, and nonfiction with Oakland Arts Review, Carolina Muse, Second Story Journal, and others. There Used to Be People Here is her first novel.

Topics discussed

Content warning: This episode contains strong language and mature themes. Listener discretion is advised.

During the show, we discuss:

• The realities for debut authors
• Mixing crime, thriller and the paranormal
• Community vs safety
• Surveillance, othering, and hope

Connect with Kennedy

• Instagram

Buy Her Books

• Preorder There Used to Be People Here

Support the podcast

• Contribute to the Ko-Fi
• Send a message

Support Nailah

• Buy Dead Pretty
• Read my column

A.P. Thayer joins to show to talk about his debut novel, Tapeworm.

About guest

A.P. Thayer is a speculative fiction author who grew up loving weird, dark, and fantastical stories. His writing explores identity, folklore, and the surreal dreamworld, where he draws from his Mexican-American heritage and third culture kid upbringing.

His debut novel, Tapeworm, is an exploration of failed relationships, decaying friendships, and queer exploration of desire. It is upcoming from Evil Twin in August of 2026. His second novel, tentatively titled Sorrow Lake, is slated for August 2027 with the same publisher.

Thayer is also a prolific short fiction writer, where he combines horror, magical realism, and weird fiction to create a genre he calls nightmarism. His short stories and essays have appeared in Apex Magazine, Dark Matter Magazine, Uncharted Magazine, the Los Suelos multimedia anthology, and others.

Topics discussed

Content warning: This episode contains strong language and mature themes. Listener discretion is advised.

During the show, we discuss:

• Inside Tapeworm
• Reinventing vampires
• Why the desert works
• Balancing body horror
• Millennial adulthood

Connect with A.P. Thayer

• Instagram
• Substack

Buy his book

• Tapeworm

Support the podcast

• Contribute to the Ko-Fi
• Send a message

Support Nailah

• Buy Dead Pretty
• Read my column

P.C. Verrone joins to show to talk about his debut novel, Rabbit, Fox, Tar.

About guest

P.C. Verrone's work has appeared in FIYAH, Strange Horizons, Nightmare, PodCastle, and numerous anthologies, including multiple “best-of-the-year” series. He has been a Tin House Resident, a Playwrights’ Center Fellow, and a We Need Diverse Books Black Creatives Revisions Workshop winner. He graduated from Harvard College and holds an MFA in creative writing from Rutgers University–Newark. His debut novel Rabbit, Fox, Tar was selected for Indies Introduce by the American Booksellers Association and Poets & Writers’s First Fiction series.

Topics discussed

Content warning: This episode contains mature themes. Listener discretion is advised.

During the show, we discuss:

• Inside Rabbit, Fox, Tar
• Reimagining Br'er Rabbit
• Tar Baby legacy
• Global folktale connections

Connect with P.C. Verrone

• Instagram
• Bluesky

Buy his book

• Rabbit, Fox, Tar

Support the podcast

• Contribute to the Ko-Fi
• Send a message

Support Nailah

• Buy Dead Pretty
• Read my column

Brenda joins to show to talk about her debut novel, Bruja's Nest.

About guest

Brenda LaTorre is a Mexico City native, author of BRUJA’S NEST, coming out in 2026 with Creature Publishing. Her stories have found a home in different places such as Pyre Magazine, BDA Publishing Anthology, the Collective Visions anthology, and more.

She holds an MFA from the University of Southern Maine and a Creative Writing Certificate from UCSD.

Topics discussed

Content warning: This episode contains mature themes. Listener discretion is advised.

During the show, we discuss:

• Inside Bruja's Nest
• Telenovelas as fairy tales
• Class and social mobility
• Motherhood and Panchito
• Brujeria and justice

Connect with Brenda LaTorre

• Instagram
• Threads

Buy his book

• Bruja's Nest

Support the podcast

• Contribute to the Ko-Fi
• Send a message

Support Nailah

• Buy Dead Pretty
• Read my column

A solo episode where I take you behind the scenes of my writing over the past few months.

Topics discussed

During the episode, I discuss:

• General updates
• My challenges
• My wins
• Lessons learned
• Audience Q&A

Support the podcast

• Contribute to the Ko-Fi
• Send a message

Support Nailah

• Buy Dead Pretty
• Read my column

Michael J. Seidlinger joins the show to discuss using vampire lore to satirize capitalism, inequality and more, in his latest book, Brokeula.

About guest

Michael J. Seidlinger is the Filipino-American author of Brokeula, Anybody Home?, and other books. His writing has appeared in Wired, BuzzFeed, The Believer, and Publishers Weekly. He works as a project manager at the Authors Guild. As a game developer, he's hard at work on a psychological horror title set for release in 2028.

Topics discussed

Content warning: This episode contains mature themes. Listener discretion is advised.

During the show, we discuss:

• Capitalism through the lens of vampirism
• Loneliness and individualism
• Balancing satire and horror
• Experimental fiction and structure
• Finding homes for your work

Connect with Michael

• Instagram

Buy His Books

• His full catalogue

Support the podcast

Contribute to the Ko-Fi

• Send a message

Support Nailah

• Buy Dead Pretty
• Read my column

Felix I.D. Dimaro joins the show to discuss billionaire hypocrisy, blurred reality, validation and loneliness in his latest book, Brain Dead Girls

About guest

Felix I.D. Dimaro was born in Nigeria, the youngest of five children. He moved to Canada at four years old, and was raised in Toronto, Ontario, in neighbourhoods that were considered to be “at risk”. In those neighbourhoods, Dimaro learned hard lessons at a young age, about things like discrimination, desperation and death, but also about strength, survival and passion.

A graduate of the University of Toronto with a BA in Psychology, his upbringing and interest in the human mind factor into the dark allegorical stories Dimaro writes. Stories that usually center around human monsters, morality, mental health, societal conditions, the environment, or the real-life issues he has experienced.

He has released eleven books to date, including the eco-thriller, “Black Bloom: A Story of Survival,” the extreme horror novel, “Humane Sacrifice: The Story of the Aztec Killer," and the tale of cat cloning gone wrong, "In the Darkness, Eyes and Teeth.”

When not writing, Dimaro is usually reading, watching professional wrestling, or running even though no one is chasing him.

Topics discussed

Content warning: This episode contains mature themes. Listener discretion is advised.

During the show, we discuss:

• Brain Dead Girls
• Outsourcing emotions
• Reality vs virtual collapse
• Accountability online
• The apocalypse
• The billionaire class

Connect with Felix

• Substack

Buy His Books

• Book Shop

Support Felix

Contribute to his Patreon

Support the podcast

• Contribute to the Ko-Fi
• Send a message

Support Nailah

• Buy Dead Pretty
• Read my column