Story Radio interviews Mathew Gostelow, the editor of Silent Screams: An Anthology of Quiet Horror, about trends in the horror genre, the meaning of 'quiet horror', the child's perspective in horror writing, contemporary vs historical fiction and many other topics such as Twin Peaks and Frankenstein.

We listen to a reading of 'Barnabas Calstock's Last Wish' by the author Terry Holland (Trigger warning: this story contains references to war and violence that some listeners may find disturbing).

About Mathew Gostelow

Mathew Gostelow haunts a leafy suburb of Birmingham, UK. His CV is a chaotic patchwork quilt, including journalism, pheasant farming, catering, and marketing. Mat’s taste in art, music, film, and literature is equally eclectic, although he tends to gravitate towards anything with a creepy, dreamy aesthetic.

If you catch him staring intently into the middle distance, Mat is either thinking about Twin Peaks or cooked breakfasts.

Some days he wakes early and scribbles strange tales.

Mat has written several books, including two speculative short story collections entitled An Ill-Stitched Menagerie and See My Breath Dance Ghostly, and a novella-in-flash; Dantalion is a Quiet Place. Mat has also co-written a horror-thriller novella called Watcher with his friend JP Relph, and edited an anthology of quiet horror short stories, titled Silent Screams.

He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Microfiction.

You can find Mat on Twitter: @MatGost, and BlueSky: @MatGost.

Website: https://weirding-words.blogspot.com/p/about.html

Substack: https://matgost.substack.com/

About Terry Holland

Terry Holland grew up in Essex, England, before studying in London and Berlin. He has dabbled in the theatre, music, journalism, translation and the occult and currently lives in the Netherlands with his black cat, Mackem, who is a reincarnation of a wise woman and herbalist known as Black Meg, persecuted as a witch in the northeast of England in the seventeenth century. He writes flash and short stories and will never, ever write a novel.

He bleats his Wordle scores @terryholland.bsky.social

The Producer was Martin Nathan.

Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.

Cover image by Eric Brenner

www.ericwbrenner.com