Tales from the Trunk

Today it is my absolute pleasure to welcome to the show none other than Martha Wells! Martha joins us to read from and talk about the newest entry in her Murderbot Diaries series, System Collapse, out November 14th from TorDotCom publishing!
 
A transcription of this episode by Kiri from the Murderbot discord is available here
 
Things we mention on this episode:
 
Hugo Awards
Nebula Awards
Locus Awards
Dragon Awards
Network Effect, Fugitive Telemetry, and Exit Strategy, by Martha Wells
Witch King, by Martha Wells
City of Bones, by Martha Wells
Jamie Jones
The Book of Ile-Rien: The Element of Fire & The Death of the Necromancer, by Martha Wells
Mammoths at the Gates, by Nghi Vo
Furious Heaven, by Kate Elliott
Andrea Hairston
The Water Outlaws, by S.L. Huang
Aliette de Bodard
Martha’s website, bluesky, mastodon, and insta
The Deadlands
 
Join us on November 17th, when my guest will be Sean Markey!

Hey everyone, Hilary here. Due to a combination of life things and poor planning on my part, there’s no new interview this time around, but I’d like to take this spooky month to highlight a great episode from the backlog with our composer and true horror ghoul, Lillian Boyd.
A few other things before we get to the episode:
This show is now on Bluesky at trunkcast.bsky.social, and I’m on there at hbbisenieks.bsky.social. Of the twitter-replacements, Bluesky seems to be the one where most of my writing friends have ended up, so it made sense that the show should find a home there, too.
Also, a heads up that due to scheduling needs, next month’s book tour with Murderbot author Martha Wells will be coming out on Monday, November 6th, rather than Friday the 3rd.
Finally, thank you all so much for listening. I always appreciate hearing from fans of the show. Your support and enthusiasm helps continue making this show what it is!
And now, on with the show!
 
It's my absolute delight, this time around, to welcome our very own composer, Lillian Boyd (@herelieslill), onto the show. Lillian reads her short-story-that-should-be-a-novella, "Inside Job" (cw: gore, skip forward 10:15 to avoid) before we just go off on an extended tangent about horror movies, noir, pulp, and being as thoroughly on our bullshit as is possible.
 
Things we mention in this episode:
 
Rank and Vile
Tetsuo the Iron Man
28 Days Later
My appearance on Rank and Vile
The Reinvented Detective, edited by Jennifer Brozek and Cat Rambo (2023)
Raymond Chandler
Guy Noir: Private Eye
A Prairie Home Companion
Nick Danger
The Firesign Theater
Clive Barker
Nightmare Alley
Guillermo del Toro
Magic for Liars, by Sarah Gailey
Nick and Nora
Humphrey Bogart
Farewell, My Lovely, by Raymond Chandler
P. Lovecraft (notable racist)
Scrip
Neuromancer, by William Gibson
Blade Runner
The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
"Panama," by Van Halen
Terry Pratchett
Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
The Discworld
The Bromeliad
Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett
The Long Goodbye, by Raymond Chandler
Chandler's cat letters
Guards, Guards! by Terry Pratchett
Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett
Neil Gaiman
Ichabod Crane
Michael Kane
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
Sandman, by Neil Gaiman
"The Book Job," The Simpsons season 23, episode 6
"Falafelosophy," Arthur season 14, episode 4a
"Neil Gaiman! What are you doing in my falafel?"
Alanis Morisette
Amanda Palmer
Tori Amos
Fiona Apple
"Silent All These Years," by Tori Amos
Where's Neil When You Need Him?
The Crüxshadows
Mirrormask
"Mr. Sandman," by The Chordettes
"Enter Sandman," by Metallica
Hot Topic
"Cry Little Sister," by Gerard McMann
The Lost Boys
Voltaire
Ego Likeness
The Velocipastor
"Toasty"
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Daybreakers
Placebo
"Running Up That Hill," by Placebo
"Running Up That Hill," by Kate Bush
Velvet Goldmine
"20th Century Boy," by Placebo
"20th Century Boy," by T. Rex
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Queen of the Damned
Twilight
Failure to Adapt
The baseball scene from Twilight
Underworld
Blade 3: Trinity
Triple-H
House of Wax
Friends at the Table: Sangfielle
The VVitch
Sarah Gailey's appearance on Episode 1 of this very show
Hailey Piper
Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy, by Hailey Piper
Trouble and Her Friends, by Melissa Scott
The Mountain Goats
Alien Vs. Predator
Fireside Quarterly, June-July 2021
The Rank and Vile list
Bride of Frankenstein
And Now the Screaming Starts!
Candyman II: Farewell to the Flesh
The Crow: Wicked Prayer
Brainscan
Videodrome
Audition
Lillian's Twitch
Hair Metal
"Dream Warriors," by Dokken
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
The Books of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin
Charles Vess
The Farthest Shore, A Wizard of Earthsea, and The Tombs of Atuan, by Ursula K. Le Guin
Keebio's Iris keyboard
Bán Dénes, mrzealot
Ergogen
Ghost in the Shell
Data
Hako Royal True switches
Hellraiser
Lillian's website, soundcloud, and reedsy

In this, the spookiest month, I’m delighted to welcome back to the podcast, Caitlin Starling! Caitlin reads us an excerpt from her terrific forthcoming novel, Last to Leave the Room, coming out October 10th from St. Martin’s Press, which leads us into a great conversation about the potential gaps left in for fanfic authors, among other things.
 
Things we mention this episode
 
The Death of Jane Lawrence, The Luminous Dead, Yellow Jessamine, and The Oblivion Bride, by Caitlin Starling
Neon Hemlock
And What Can We Offer You Tonight, by Premee
The Crawling Moon, edited by dave ring
Dracula Daily
Luminescent Machinations, edited by Rhihannon Rasmussen and dave ring
Turks (Final Fantasy VII)
Isaac Fellman
A Dark Song
Archival Quality, by Ivy Noelle Weir and Steenz
The White Road, by Sarah Lotz
Rotten dot com
Third man syndrome
Ernest Shackleton
The Echo Wife, by Sarah Gailey
Spiderman pointing
“Caver Continue,” by Caitlin Starling
The Queen’s Thief series, by Megan Whalen Turner
Severance
Shirley Jackson
Caitlin’s website, insta, and bluesky

We made it to the Biggest Number™ and Sarah Gailey is here today to help us celebrate with a retrospective on the last four and a half years of Tales from the Trunk!
Show notes coming soon!

This time around, it’s my pleasure to welcome Sarah Hollowell back to the show! Sarah reads us an excerpt of her new book, What Stalks Among Us, which releases September 12th, and then we fall down a hole of absolute gremlinry.
 
Things we mention this episode:
 
Sarah’s first episode
A Dark and Starless Forest, by Sarah Hollowell
Fast and Furious series
AEW All In
Adam Cole and MJF
Triple-H
Roman Reigns
RPF (Real Person Fic)
“The Unreality of Pro Wrestling”
The Shield (wrestling)
Dean Ambrose/John Moxley
Luchasaurus
Mantaur
Darkness Falls
Just Like Home, by Sarah Gailey
The Conjuring series
The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal
P-38 Lightning
Apex
The Poppy War trilogy, Babel, and Yellowface, by R.F. Kuang
The Priory of the Orange Tree and A Day of Fallen Night, by Samantha Shannon
His Majesty’s Dragon, Spinning Silver, and Uprooted, by Naomi Novik
Terry Pratchett
Regular Show, “California King” and “Eggscellent”
Labyrinth
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild
Oxenfree and Oxenfree II: Lost Signals
Return of the Obra Din
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Hades II
Hades
Animal Crossing
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Sarah’s bluesky, tiktok, insta
The Nursery Nurse tiktok
 
Join us again in two weeks for the 100th episode of Tales from the Trunk!

This time around, I’m delighted to introduce you to Jessica Mary Best! Jess and I do something a little different and perform for your listening pleasure part of the pilot episode of her trunked audio drama, Third Wheel! That reading leads us into a great conversation about the different approaches between written prose and writing for audio.
 
Things we mention this episode:
 
Stars, Hide Your Fires, by Jessica Mary Best
Chuck Tingle’s episode
Oliver!
Chekhov’s Gun
Brandon, Iowa
All Our Yesterdays, by Hilary B. Bisenieks
Sufjan Stevens
Fall Out Boy
Panic! At the Disco
Illinois, by Sufjan Stevens
“They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhh!” by Sufjan Stevens
“I Write Sins Not Tragedies,” by Panic! At The Disco
“Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off,” by Panic! At The Disco
“Of All The Gin Joints In All The World,” by Fall Out Boy
“Stars, hide your fires”
Tor dot com writeup
The Strange Case of Starship Iris
Tom Swifties
Munch Squad
Friends at the Table
Sarah Gailey
Lillian Boyd
Welcome to Night Vale
Audacity
Keep it Steady 
Unwell 
The Bear
Phoebe Bridgers
Criminal
Radiotopia
99% Invisible
The Allusionist
Articles of Interest
Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
Jess’s website and insta

This time around, it’s my delight to welcome back to the show Aimee Ogden (@Aimee_Ogden)! Aimee reads a delightful excerpt of her brand new book, Emergent Properties, available now wherever you buy books, which leads us into some great conversation about the things that made this book, whether or not those things ended up in the final draft.
 
 
Things we mention this episode:
 
“The Cold Calculations,” by Aimee Ogden
The Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells
Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney
Aimee’s Clarkesworld interview
Wallace and Gromit
Marie Kondo
“A Half-Remembered World,” by Aimee Ogden
Translunar Traveler’s Lounge
Dropout
CollegeHumor
Sam Reich
Game Changer
Entertainment Community Fund
Jeopardy!
Wheel of Fortune
Dungeons and Drag Queens
Escape from the Bloodkeep
Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Matt Mercer
Erika Ishii
Robert Reich
Breaking News (Dropout)
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Name That Bird
Aimee’s website
Spiders Georg
 
Stick around next time when my guest will be Jessica Mary Best

This episode’s reading carries content warnings for discussion of COVID, self harm, horror movie gore, and suicide and suicidal ideation. If you want to opt out of that, please skip forward 14 minutes from the start of the reading.
 
This time around, it’s my delight to continue our summer of screams with Lor Gislason (@lorelli_)! They read us a moving personal essay about how they got so dang goopy, which leads us into a great conversation about horror media, finding your people, and of course all things goopy.
 
Things we mention in this episode: 
 
Chuck’s episode
Camp Damascus, by Chuck Tingle
Heel (wrestling)
Lillian Boyd
Hear Us Scream: The Voices of Horror Volume II, edited by Cathering Benstead
American Psycho 2
Serial Killing 101
Hellraiser
Clive Barker
Neil Gaiman
Turkey Shoot (film)
Mandy (film)
Dune (2021)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
House of 1000 Corpses
The Devil’s Rejects
Foz’s episode
Zombie
Lucio Fulci
The Lion King
Sisyphus
Bound in Flesh, edited by Lor Gislason
Dragon Ball
Animorphs (series) by K.A. Applegate
Artemis’ turning Acteon into a stag
D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths, D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, D'Aulaires' Book of Trolls, by Ingri and Edgar D’Aulaire
The Mummy
Mummies Alive!
Street Sharks
Biker Mice from Mars
Mars Attacks!
Ozma of Oz, by L. Frank Baum
Return to Oz
Wicked
Sarah Gailey
Sickos
Sarah Hollowell
“Look,” by Sarah Gailey
Star Wars tweets
River of Teeth, by Sarah Gailey
Inside Out, by Lor Gislason
Resident Evil 4 remake
Control (game)
SCP Foundation
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Piccolo
Akira
Lor’s insta and blog
Joe Koch
 

It’s my absolute delight to welcome an absolute dream of a guest this time around: Chuck Tingle (@ChuckTingle)! We read from the first chapter of Chuck’s new horror novel, Camp Damascus, out July 11th from Tor Nightfire, which leads us into a great discussion on Chuck’s writing process, the things that changed between first draft and published book, and of course some of his and my favorite bits.
 
Things mentioned in this episode:
 
Game theory
Straight and Bury Your Gays (2024), by Chuck Tingle
A More Civilized Age
Kelly Lonesome
Get Out
Multi-level marketing
Grindcore
Discord
Friends at the Table
In the Lives of Puppets, by Tj Klune
Barry
Ratboys
Chuck’s BlueSky, Insta, Facebook, TikTok, Tumblr
 

This episode’s reading carries content warnings for children in perilous situations and description of injuries. The reading is 10:30 long.
 
This time around, it’s my pleasure to welcome Foz Meadows (@fozmeadows)! Foz reads an excerpt from his trunked novella, “Blood Penance,” which leads us into a great conversation about idea magpies, internet purity culture, horror, and kink.
 
Things we mention in this episode:
 
A Strange And Stubborn Endurance, by Foz Meadows
Captive Prince, by C.S. Pacat
Halloween
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Scream series
Allegory of the Cave, by Plato
“Hotel California,” by The Eagles
Lillian Boyd
Rank & Vile
Death of the author
Watership Down, by Richard Adams
Watership Down (movie)
All the Hidden Paths, by Foz Meadows
Finding Echoes, by Foz Meadows
Luminescent Machinations, edited by Rhiannon Rasmussen and dave ring
The Untamed
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
Heaven Official’s Blessing
Beyond Evil
KinnPorsche
Stray Kids
“Red Lights,” by Stray Kids
“Venom,” by Stray Kids
OnlyOneOf
Foz’s tumblr and tiktok