Rachel Harrison's Play Nice

In Play Nice by Rachel Harrison, carefree Clio Barnes's life is interrupted when her estranged mother dies, and she and her sisters inherit their childhood home. Her plans to renovate the old place and sell it quickly fall apart when the demons from her past refuse to be ignored.  Recommended in this episode: Good Boy, streaming on Shudder NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.  UP NEXT: Mo Moshaty's short story "Dandelion Wine" in her collection Clairviolence Buy our books here, including Monster, She Wrote and our newest Toil and Trouble.

In Sarah Orne Jewett's short story "The Landscape Chamber," a woman travelling alone, in search of adventure, finds herself off the beaten path. When her horse is injured, she seeks help at an old manor tucked away in the country, seemingly forgotten by time. There, she meets an old man and his lonely daughter. While they welcome her in, it seems that something in the home does not want her there.    STORY LINKED HERE: "The Landscape Chamber"    Recommended in this episode: Sam Raimi's Send Help and Jennifer McMahon's The Night Sister   NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.    UP NEXT: Play Nice by Rachel Harrison Buy our books here, including Monster, She Wrote and our newest Toil and Trouble.

In Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Gothic horror The Bewitching , three different women across three timelines are interconnected by mysterious disappearances, murder, and dark magic. In 1998, graduate student Minerva researches the real events that inspired Beatrice Tremblay's most famous novel. In 1932, Beatrice Tremblay is caught up in the disappearance of her friend and roommate. And in 1908, Minerva's great-grandmother Alba has to fight for her family when a witch takes control of her life.  Recommended in this episode: God of the Woods by Liz Moore and Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan  NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses. And check out this list of Latino-owned bookstores to support.   UP NEXT: "The Landscape Chamber" by Sarah Orne Jewett  Buy our books here, including Monster, She Wrote and our newest Toil and Trouble.   

In Melanie Tem's Prodigal, eleven-year-old Lucy is grappling with the mysterious death of her older brother–a suspected drug overdose–when her older sister Rae mysteriously disappears. The losses alone are too much for her family, but now Lucy is visited by the ghost of her brother, leading her into a dangerous supernatural world.  Recommended in this episode:  I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.  UP NEXT: The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno Garcia Buy our books here, including Monster, She Wrote and our newest Toil and Trouble.   

Marjorie Bowen's short story "The Crown Derby Plate" opens as "three elderly, cheerful women" sit around a fire for a cozy Christmas. They talk of a nearby estate that is rumored to be haunted when one of the women remembers that they had beautiful Crown Derby china that she wants for her antique shop. So, she makes the journey to the house, only to discover a little more than she bargained for.  Recommended in this episode: Eiren Caffall's All the Water in the World  Listen to Lisa on the Lost Ladies of Lit podcast, discussing the Valancourt re-release of Rosalind Ashe's Moths. NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.  UP NEXT: Melanie Tem's Prodigal Buy our books here, including our newest Toil and Trouble.   

In E. Nesbit's story "The Shadow," a vibrant Christmas party has gone late into the night, and everyone stays over at the manor house, given the late hour. Three women are sitting up around the fire with cocoa in hand, gossiping about boys and telling spooky stories. One woman, though, has an especially frightening tale to tell.  Read "The Shadow" here.    Recommended in this episode: Sally Thorne's Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match  NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.  UP NEXT: "The Crown Derby Plate" by Marjorie Bowen Buy our books here, including our newest Toil and Trouble.

SPOILERS ABOUND as we discuss Mariko Koike's The Graveyard Apartment. Be forewarned!  A young married couple has found the perfect apartment for their growing family. It's beautiful and spacious. It's close to shopping, the train, and their daughter's school. The only problem? It is surrounded by a cemetery. A bit weird, yes, but not a problem–until strange and troubling events begin forcing out the tenants one by one, leaving the Kano family to fight by themselves.    Recommended in this episode: Beard by Kelly Foster Lundquist and The Broken Girls by Simone St. James  ALSO: Charlotte Riddell is in the news!   NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.   UP NEXT: "The Shadow" by E. Nesbit (Read online here)  Buy our books here, including our newest Toil and Trouble.   

In Mary Wilkins Freeman's short story "Luella Miller," a tale is told about a woman named Luella, who is prone to hysterics and drains the energy from everyone around her. Is she just a woman in need of help? Or something much, much more sinister?   Read Freeman's story on the Library of America "Story of the Week" site or listen to it via the Podcastle podcast, here: ​​https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcastle-650-luella-miller/id276266378?i=1000496354075    Recommended in this episode: Rachel Harrison's Play Nice and Lora Senf's The Nighthouse Keeper   NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.    UP NEXT: The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike Buy our books here, including our newest Toil and Trouble.   

Last episode, we welcomed author Jen Julian on podcast. And this episode, Mel and Lisa discuss her book Red Rabbit Ghost in more detail.  College Freshman Jesse Calloway returns to his hometown of Blacknot in North Carolina after receiving mysterious anonymous texts in a college social media app with clues about his mother's unresolved death. She died when he was an infant, so he doesn't remember much of her–and he will do anything to learn more. Unfortunately, layers of secrets cover this small town tragedy (and other aspects of its past as well), and it will be hard for Jesse to uncover the truth while simultaneously facing his unresolved loss.  Recommended in this episode: Clairviolence by Mo Moshaty NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.  UP NEXT: Mary Wilkins Freeman's "Luella Miller"  Buy our books here, including our newest Toil and Trouble.   

Today, we welcome writer Jen Julian to discuss her book Red Rabbit Ghost. Jen Julian is a writer from Eastern North Carolina. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and an MFA in Fiction from UNC Greensboro.  Her short story collection, Earthly Delights and Other Apocalypses, was the winner of the Press 53 Fiction Prize and was published in 2018, and her debut novel, Red Rabbit Ghost, is out now through Orbit/Redhook, 2025. Recent work has appeared in Gulf Coast Magazine, The Harvard Advocate, swamp pink, hex, Bourbon Penn, Third Coast Magazine, Wigleaf, and SmokeLong Quarterly, among other places. She has won numerous awards, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions, and Best of the Net, and had her work recognized as notable in The Best American Short Stories 2023. Recommended in this episode: Alisa Alering's Smothermoss and Rebecca Baum's forthcoming The Brood  NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.    UP NEXT: We discuss Red Rabbit Ghost in more detail.   Buy our books here, including our newest Toil and Trouble.