Get Lit With Leza

Discussing the horror legacies of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein & Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House with living legend Kathe Koja, author of The Cypher, with re-release coming in November 2020 from Meerkat Press. 

Zac Smith is the author of 50 BARN POEMS, published recently by CLASH Books. We chatted about barns, the art of getting blurbs, ghosts, the lit scene & a bunch of other fun stuff. Zac is a funny guy & this is a funny ep. You can follow Zac on Twitter @ZacTheLinguist

I chatted with actor & author Kevin Bigley about indie lit, comedy, making art & working in Hollywood. He gave me the behind the scenes scoop of working in TV & working with Greg Daniels on his new show UPLOAD, out now on Amazon. His debut novel COMAVILLE, was published this March by CLASH Books. Follow Kevin on Instagram @kevinwbigley

Alexandra Naughton is the author of a place a feeling something he said to you, published by spooky girlfriend press. She is editor in chief of be about it press. More at alexandranaughton.com (photo by rohan dacosta). We chatted about her Blackout/Britney Spears themed zine antho, Lana Del Rey, Marilyn Monroe, toxic relationships, the symbolism of music videos & hexes. 

Chandler Morrison is a novelist currently residing in Los Angeles, though he originally hails from Cleveland, Ohio. His works include the currently-available Dead Inside, Until the Sun, Hate to Feel and Just to See Hell, as well as the upcoming novel Along the Path of Torment. He hasn't worn any type of footwear other than cowboy boots since 2011, and his tan is fake. We talked about necrophilia, Marilyn Manson, his strange obsessions & why acid is better than coke. Follow him on Twitter @mechachandler

Steve Anwyll is the author of Welfare (NY Tyrant) & is also a super chill Canadian. We talked about his tumultuous childhood, wild teens, literary muses, & reminisced about the time I pissed in a public park in Montreal with him & caught it all on video (video at Trash Panda Poetry on YouTube). Follow him @oneloveasshole on Twitter & IG.

Megan J. Kaleita has a BA from Hartwick College and an MA from Wilkes University. Megan has published in Luna Station Quarterly and Hello Horror, & JukePop Serials. She has $35k in student debt. This Book Is Brought To You By My Student Loans is her first book. Get the unbelievable true stories, by turns sad & hilarious. Anecdotes of a childhood of work, economic hardship, mental & physical health struggles, working in sexist environments, the MFA experience, & striving for something more despite constant adversity. Follow her on Twitter & Instagram @MeganJKaleita

Josh Malerman is a New York Times bestselling author & one of two singer/songwriters for the rock band The High Strung. His debut novel, Bird Box, is the inspiration for the hit Netflix film of the same name. His other novels include Unbury Carol & Inspection. Malerman drank Jack & Coke & I worked my way through a bottle of white wine. He talked about his writing & editing process. We geeked out about Italian horror movies, vintage collectibles, living writer heroes, the limitless reaches of art, & butchered classic movie titles. This was such a blast. Find Josh Malerman on the internet @JoshMalerman

Lindsay Lerman's debut novella I'M FROM NOWHERE is a dark tale of grieving & rebirth. After Claire's husband dies, she has to reassess her whole life, her idea of who she is. The setting is a dying planet. The atmosphere is her own soul in painful flux. Lindsay Lerman holds a PHD in Philosophy from Guelph in Ontario, Canada. She works as a translator & a teacher. We talked Existentialism, the dark side of love, grief, death, tragic heroines, & what comes next for female voices in literature. You can follow Lindsay on Twitter @lindsaylerman & IG @lindsay.lerman You can preorder her book at clashbooks.com & Amazon.

Kathe Koja writes novels and short fiction, and creates, directs and produces immersive performances and events with a rotating ensemble of artists. VELOCITIES, her second short fiction collection, is forthcoming in 2020, along with a reprint of her Bram Stoker Award winning debut novel, THE CIPHER. DARK FACTORY is her newest fiction and performance project. We talked books, artistic inspirations, her neverending obsession with Wuthering Heights, the cathartic medicine that is horror, real life ghost encounters & the power of story. Find her on Twitter & IG @KatheKoja & find her on Patreon creating her latest multimedia experience, DARK FACTORY.

Anna Suarez is a queer Cuban American poet and storyteller. She started her writing career by doing open mics at local Portland bars. Her publications include stories in Exotic Magazine, poetry in Unchaste Volume 2, and scholarly research in Comparative Woman. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and French from Portland State University. This is her first poetry collection out now from CLASH Books. We talked about everything from Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Anais Nin, to Catfish, dick pics & The Kardashians as I worked my way through an entire bottle of white wine & then onto red. Anna drank White Claw Hard Seltzer. They are the unofficial sponsors of this ep. Follow Anna on Instagram @rosemarygoddess

Andrew J. Stone is the author of the novellas The Mortuary Monster and All Hail the House Gods and the forthcoming novel The Ultimate Dinosaur Dance-Off (Rooster Republic Press, 2020). His short stories and poetry have appeared in Hobart, Gutter Eloquence, DOGZPLOT, among others. We talked about revolution, Mexican culture, & his weird asf fiction.

Kenning JP García is an Afro-Absurdist diarist and the one and only NahNahist antipoet living in Albany, NY. Kenning is the author of This Sentimental Education, Slow Living, and Yawning on the Sands. Kenning is an editor at Five 2 One, Rigorous and runs the Ex-Spec Po section of the Operating System. We talked Proust, St. Rocco's Reading Series, Twisted Fairy Tales, serial killers & the appeal of tragedy, while he drank at a bar in Albany. Find Kenning being a sassy Cancerian on Twitter, IG & FB @KJPGarcia

Elle Nash is the author of the novel Animals Eat Each Other (Dzanc Books), which was featured in the 2018 June Reading Room of O - The Oprah Magazine and hailed by Publishers Weekly as a ‘complex, impressive exploration of obsession and desire.’ Her short stories and essays appear in Guernica, The Nervous Breakdown, Literary Hub, The Fanzine, Volume 1 Brooklyn, New York Tyrant and elsewhere. She is a founding editor of Witch Craft Magazine and a fiction editor at Hobart Pulp. We talked Witch Craft Magazine, astrology, social media k holes, & cemeteries. You can follow Elle on Twitter & Instagram @saderotica.

Big Bruiser Dope Boy has been writing for ten years. This is his first book. He lives in Colorado. He’s been published in Burningword, Deluge, Fanzine, Fluland, Hobart, New York Tyrant Magazine, Philosophical Idiot, Tragickal, Witch Craft Magazine, and Word Riot. He tweets @bigbruiserdopeb. Tune in for gay af poetry, Biggie love, & daydrinking.

Brian Alan Ellis runs House of Vlad Productions, is the author of novellas, short-story collections, Something to Do with Self-Hate, & Sad Laughter. His writing has appeared at Juked, Hobart, Monkeybicycle, Electric Literature, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Funhouse, Talking Book, and Queen Mob’s Tea House, among other places. We got down & talked suicide, his sad life & AWP travel plans. He lives in Florida, and tweets sad and clever things at both @brianalanellis and @HouseofVlad.