Special Episode: Seth Skorkowsky and Jon Hook on Modern Mythos

We’re back with the conclusion of our interview with YouTuber and author Seth Skorkowsky. This time, we are also joined by Jon Hook, Seth’s co-host on their new Modern Mythos podcast. As well as being one of the founders of the Miskatonic University Podcast, Jon is a prolific RPG author who has written for Call of Cthulhu and Swords & Wizardry, amongst others.

During our conversation, we delve into where to draw the line with horror, the worst GMing advice we have ever encountered, and whether Scott is secretly from East Texas. And, of course, we talk about the Modern Mythos podcast itself. Specifically, we get into how the podcast started, what its mission is, and what to expect from future episodes.

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Special Episode: Seth Skorkowsky on Modern Mythos (part 1)

We’re back with another special interview episode. This time, Scott talks to fan-favourite YouTuber and author, Seth Skorkowsky. Unfortunately, Jon Hook — Seth’s co-host on their new podcast, Modern Mythos — was held up. Happily, Seth and Scott still found plenty to talk about.

Over the course of the conversation, Seth shares his thoughts about the merits of a consistent gaming group, horror in RPGs, and the history of weird fiction. Seth also discusses elements of his latest novel, Ashes of Onyx, and the difficulties of marketing a book that doesn’t fit into a neat genre category. And if all that weren’t enough, he shares a family anecdote about a UFO cult taken straight out of Pulp Cthulhu.

When you’re done with this episode, join us for the conclusion of the interview, when Jon Hook joins the chat and we get into the nuts and bolts of Modern Mythos.

Seth Skorkowsky

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Modern Mythos podcast logo by John Sumrow

Special Episode: Adrian Tchaikovsky on non-human intelligences

We’re back with another special interview episode. This time, Scott talks to bestselling science fiction and fantasy author Adrian Tchaikovsky. In particular, they discuss how Tchaikovsky portrays a wide range of non-human characters in his work and how we might apply this to gaming.

During the course of the conversation, we go into how Tchaikovsky’s career has moved from fantasy to science fiction, what his work owes to his experience as a GM, and just how gaming has led to him narrating some of his own audiobooks. On the way, Tchaikovsky offers an impassioned defence of arthropods as protagonists, insights into how cosmic horror relates to science fiction, and his opinions about how Lovecraft had the best monsters.

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Books by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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Special episode: Interview with Professor Christopher McGlothlin

We’re back with another special episode. This time, Paul talks to Professor Christopher McGlothlin about horror films. Primarily, they discuss the good professor’s current Kickstarter campaign, Transgressive Horror, a collection of essays by a variety of writers, looking into horror films that have somehow broken the rules.

McGlothlin goes into detail about the essays, explaining how they bring new and interesting perspectives to some familiar films and others that may be less well-known. He also shares his personal thoughts about horror films and his experiences as a horror fan.

The Kickstarter campaign ends on the 27th of May.

Transgressive Horror edited by Christopher McGlothlin

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Things we mention in this episode include:

The Abominable Dr Phibes film poster
Night of the Living Dead film poster

We’re back with another special interview episode. This time, however, we’re breaking away from cults and turning back to a topic we discussed in episode 127: that uneasy ground that lies between comedy and horror.

Matthew McLean is the writer, producer and one of the stars of A Scottish Podcast. While the name may not suggest it, A Scottish Podcast is steeped in Lovecraftian horror. It’s also pretty damn funny.

The basic premise is that Lee, a failed disc jockey, has decided to reboot his career by starting a paranormal investigation podcast. He ropes his long-suffering friend Doug into producing it and the two of them travel across Scotland, investigating weird cases they are increasingly forced to take seriously.

What stops A Scottish Podcast from being just another paranormal drama is its cast of wildly eccentric supporting characters. The stories swing wildly between comedy and horror, usually keeping the two elements discrete but sometimes mixing them to great effect (such as in the recent special, “Fish Supper Over Innsmouth”).

Be warned that A Scottish Podcast is even more sweary than the Good Friends and that the humour is very Scottish. As Matthew mentions in the interview, however, this has not proved a barrier to international listeners.

In our discussion, Matthew and I talk about the relationship between comedy and horror, where the humour lies in Lovecraft, and how he goes about writing and creating the podcast. This last part turned into a general discussion about producing audio drama which should prove informative to anyone thinking about doing so.

A Scottish Podcast

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