Podcast Episode 16: Aren’t Horror Writers Nice?

Michael WestThe Genre Traveler is back in the saddle again and chatting with horror author Michael West. Our conversation covers giant monster movies, campy horror flicks, Hershey’s Kisses, why love is the perfect topic for horror, Michael’s short story anthology and his forthcoming book, bed bugs, how nice people in the horror community are and more. Oh … and we both love to laugh.

Note: This podcast was recorded late last year, so the reference to “February of this year” is February 2010.

To help defray the cost of hosting the podcast, archived episodes greater than four months old will be made available for sale at $0.99 per episode.

Duration: 27:56
File Size: 32 MB

Mentioned in this Episode:

Giant Monsters

  • Rodan – a mutated pterosaur introduced in the 1956 Japanese movei Rodan
  • Gamera – created in 1965, this giant flying turtle from the Japanese giant monster films produced by the Daiei Motion Picture Company in Japan is a friend to children
  • Gojira/Godzilla – the quintessential Japanese giant monster first seen in 1954
  • Gorgo – star of the 1961 British giant monster movie of the same name
  • The Giant Behemoth – at 1959 film featuring the resurrection of a dormant dinosaur caused by radiation fallout from marine atomic tests
  • Reptilicus – A 1961 film originally shot in Danish, and recreated in English for an American audience with a nearly identical cast

Local monster movie shows

  • The Million Dollar Movie (Indianapolis)
  • Captain Cosmic – I won a T-shirt on this show and still have it!
  • Creature Features – local TV stations throughout the US had a horror movie show by this name throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s
  • The Son of Svengoolie (Chicago) – would you believe my sister and I had a crush on this guy?

 

 
The Night Gallery
This horror anthology was Rod Serling’s follow up to The Twilight Zone and aired 1970-1973. The episode Michael mentions in this podcast was “Death on a Barge,” which originally aired in 1973, starred Lesley Ann Warren as a woman who lives on a barge, marooned there by her fear of crossing running water.

Roger Corman
Often called “King of the B-movies,” Corman is a master of the low-budget film. Many filmmakers have gotten their start working with Corman, including Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard. In this podcast, Michael mentions Attack of the Crab Monsters, which came out in 1957.

Sammy Terry was a horror host in Indiana from 1962 to 1985.

Horror authors

  • Richard Matheson – author of such classics as I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come. Also wrote the script for several The Twilight Zone Episodes, including “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” starring William Shatner.
  • Stephen King – Master of the macabre, was the top most favorite authors in a recent Harris Poll on American reading habits
  • Clive Barker – English author, film director and visual artist best known for his fantasy and horror fiction

For more information about Michael West:

For previous episodes, go here.

 

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About the author

As The Genre Traveler, Carma Spence loves to view the world through Genre-Coloured glasses. In other words, she sees the world through a lens of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, where trash cans can be Daleks in disguise and neighborhood forests can harbor faeries and sprites. Magic realism is real! Or at least you can choose to see the world that way to add to the fun and awe of life.

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