S09.07: Why Horror with Stephen Graham Jones and Becky Spratford

We’re talking about the mythmakers again this week with a chat about romance’s sister genre, horror! We’re joined by NEA fellow, Bram Stoker Award winner and bestselling horror writer Stephen Graham Jones, and librarian and horror expert Becky Spratford. We talk about Stephen’s lifelong love of horror, the way horror reflects the world, the rules of horror and how romance and horror are actually two sides of the same coin. Happy spooky season, book lovers.

Fated States, our democratic phonebanking initiative continues this week—we’ll be calling Tennessee to get out the vote for Justin Pearson in the Tennessee 9th, and into Montana to get out the vote for Sam Forstag, candidate in the Montana 1st! There will be games, prizes and special guests! Learn more and register to phone bank with us at fatedmates.net/fatedstates.

If you’d like to come over and talk about horror with us, please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. Join the Fated Mates patreon to get access, and You also get one extra episode a month from us!!

Horror Fiction, Film, and Television Mentioned in This Episode

• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
• Off the Reservation by Stephen Graham Jones
• Why I Love Horror by Becky Spratford
• Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones
• Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews
• The Howling (1981)
• The Wolfen by Whitley Strieber
• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
• Heart Eyes (2025)
• I was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
• The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
• The Indian Lake Trilogy by Stephen Graham Jones
• Widow’s Bay (2026)
• Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca
• Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm
• Angel Down by Daniel Kraus
• The Grip of It by Jac Jemc
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Barker
• Scream (1996)
• Sinners (2025)
• Horror for Weenies by Emily C. Hughes
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Headlights by CJ Leede
• This Movie Doesn’t End the Way We Want by Hailey Piper
• Kiss, Slay, Replay by Rachel Harrison
• The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
• The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias
• My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
• Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Sponsors

• Avon Books, publishers of Emily Rath’s Devour Me, available in print, ebook and audiobook, at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, wherever you get your books, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Piper Rayne, author of Chasing Smoke, available in print, ebook, audiobook at Barnes & Noble, wherever you get your books, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Meghan Quinn, author of Christmas Staycation, available in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or wherever you get your books.
• Penguin Young Readers & Berkley XO, publishers of Charlotte B. Plumb’s Reap & Sow, available now in print, ebook or audiobook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/10/19/horror-with-stephen-graham-jones-and
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