The CinemaChords Podcast

Howard Gorman
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  • TV & Film

Bringing you up close and personal with the voices shaping film, music, and storytelling today. Each episode dives into candid chats with filmmakers, actors, musicians, and authors — from rising talent to industry icons — as they share the stories behind their work, the challenges they’ve faced, and the sparks that keep their creativity alive.

  1. #44: Paul Tremblay Talks ‘Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep,’ AI, Human Agency and the Horror of Surrendering Ourselves to Technology

    5d ago

    #44: Paul Tremblay Talks ‘Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep,’ AI, Human Agency and the Horror of Surrendering Ourselves to Technology

    One of our most anticipated books of the year, Paul Tremblay’s latest, Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep, is all set to publish this coming June 30th through Bloomsbury. Taking aim at contemporary AI anxieties and the growing influence of technology giants, the book spins a surreal, darkly satirical and terrifying work of speculative fiction about technological overreach and human fragility that feels all too plausible in the not-too-distant future.    The book follows Julia Flang, a twenty-something temp, who is tasked with remotely guiding a man in a vegetative state – whose implanted AI links him to a shifting, nightmarish reality – across the country. As his memories resurface and danger mounts, Julia and her unlikely charge must navigate a surreal, grotesque world while uncovering who he really is and who he must find. In anticipation of the book’s release, CinemaChords sat down with Tremblay, who reflected on the unsettling inspiration behind the novel’s AI-controlled Weekend at Bernie’s premise, its examination of humanity’s growing deference to technology, and why lived experience, memory and art remain vital antidotes to a future increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence.Grab your copy of the book here: https://amzn.to/4f1tp9ESUBSCRIBE To Howard's Haunt on YouTube so as not to miss out on any upcoming videos: https://bit.ly/2KUmvrp

    41 min
  2. #43: Daniel Kraus on His Sci-Fi Frightmare ‘The Sixth Nik,’ Cronenbergian Biotech, and the Fight for Human Emotion

    Jun 19

    #43: Daniel Kraus on His Sci-Fi Frightmare ‘The Sixth Nik,’ Cronenbergian Biotech, and the Fight for Human Emotion

    Fresh off taking home the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his World War I novel, Angel Down, New York Times bestselling author Daniel Kraus is all set to take readers on a galaxy-spanning adventure in his latest release, The Sixth Nik, which publishes this June 23 through S&S/Saga Press. Part cosmic space opera, part body-horror frightmare, The Sixth Nik transcends genre to take readers far beyond the edges of civilized space where The Sickness—a sentient ship woven from living biomatter—is charting a course toward uncharted cosmic terror. Onboard is Sisilla, a nine-year-old cultist with a brain enhanced by arcane tech known as “niks,” sent to uncover why a plague-ridden planet has suddenly gone rogue.But the planet is far from the only threat. Trapped with a volatile, NonModded captain with a score to settle with Sisilla, a hacked robot that thinks she’s its child, and a living ship that is terrifyingly mutating from the inside out, Sisilla needs to survive long enough to uncover a cosmic secret far more terrifying than anyone could ever have imagined. In anticipation of the book’s release, CinemaChords sat down with Kraus, who shared his inspirations for creating a world that defies the laws of physics and leans into unprecedented, futuristic, Cronenbergian (bio)tech, sure to give you recurring, claustrophobic nightmares. We also discussed the novel’s exploration of deeply nihilistic themes, particularly how the “Niffakoq” colony draws bleak parallels to our own tech-saturated world. This includes how emotion becomes a form of rebellion in a society obsessed with absolute efficiency, and how we can’t stop progress—we can only mop up the mess. And, despite the book’s grim backdrop, we also covered the story’s glimmer of hope in how Sisilla’s struggle to unlearn her programmed instincts serves as a much-needed lesson in moral sovereignty. Secure your copy of The Sixth Nik here: https://amzn.to/4ebLmAK Add it to Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242986069-the-sixth-nik

    1h 4m
  3. #42 - Grief, Folklore, and Highway Horror: CJ Leede Talks Grimy New Shocker Novel 'Headlights'

    Jun 8

    #42 - Grief, Folklore, and Highway Horror: CJ Leede Talks Grimy New Shocker Novel 'Headlights'

    CJ Leede has fast earned her stripes for her ability to make readers care before she makes them scared. Her knack for pairing pure, unadulterated terror with deeply empathetic character work is unmatched, and her brilliant new shocker Headlights doubles down on that signature formula. Born from a deeply personal period of grief and disillusionment, the book uses the backdrop of Colorado folklore to map the sinister anatomy of highway murders. For anyone fond of the tightly wound, sinister procedural thrills of Seven, "True Detective", or "Hannibal"/The Silence of the Lambs, this is bound to be your next absolute obsession - a relentlessly tight procedural where the book's grisly roadside horrors are matched blow-for-blow by the brilliant psychological depth of a deeply scarred cast. The novel centers on Special Agent Daniel Stansfield. On the brink of stepping away from the FBI, Stansfield is pulled back to Denver when seemingly innocent people are discovered on highways wearing the skin of total strangers, each with a single strand of hair tied around their tongue. To stop the cycle, he must confront both his own traumatic past and the entity behind these gruesome crimes before more lives - including his own - are claimed. To celebrate the book’s release tomorrow, June 9th, via Tor Nightfire,CinemaChords caught up with Leede to reflect on the novel’s geographical grounding in Colorado, her dedication to scratching that "anchored-in-reality" itch so the supernatural elements carry real resonance, and how her prose consciously rejects the reductive, single-trauma shorthand often found in fiction, opting instead for nuanced character studies that ultimately lend the book’s visceral horrors a satisfyingly profound psychological anchor. Secure your copy of HEADLIGHTS here.

    1h 4m
  4. #41 - Author Leah Rowan on rewriting horror history by giving one of the genre’s most famous victims her own voice in ‘Marion’

    Jun 1

    #41 - Author Leah Rowan on rewriting horror history by giving one of the genre’s most famous victims her own voice in ‘Marion’

    What happens when one of fiction’s most famous victims gets to tell her own story? Author Leah Rowan’s debut novel Marion arrives this week, reimagining one of the genre’s most enduring stories. Taking Robert Bloch’s Psycho as its starting point, the novel recasts its central victim as a resourceful and morally complex protagonist whose story resists the certainties of the original. Brimming with suspense and high-stakes tension, Marion echoes the moral and narrative instability of 1959’s Psycho, keeping readers uncertain about where their sympathies should lie. After stealing money to help her sister escape an abusive marriage, Marion finds herself stranded at a remote inn, where she kills a threatening innkeeper in self-defence. Now on the run as both thief and killer, she must navigate mounting dangers while uncovering dark secrets in a bid to protect both herself and her sister. Ahead of the book’s publication on June 2, CinemaChords sat down with Rown to discuss taking on a story as culturally entrenched as Psycho, finding space for her own voice in its shadow, the competing visions of womanhood embodied by the novel’s maternal figures, and the role fear plays in shaping the boundaries of a woman’s freedom. BUY YOUR COPY OF MARION HERE: https://amzn.to/4981DUQ

    48 min
  5. #40 - Author Nick Cutter Talks ‘The Dorians’: His Latest Horror Vision Examining the Fantasy of Eternal Flesh

    May 19

    #40 - Author Nick Cutter Talks ‘The Dorians’: His Latest Horror Vision Examining the Fantasy of Eternal Flesh

    Critically acclaimed bestselling author Nick Cutter, known for modern horror touchstones including The Troop and The Deep, returns with his latest novel, The Dorians, releasing today, May 19th. Exploring ageing, mortality, and the irresistible lure of turning back time, the novel follows five elderly volunteers offered an extraordinary proposition: the chance to slow, halt, or even reverse the ageing process. But, beneath the promise lie far more sinister implications - an ancient, self-perpetuating biological force only concerned with its own survival, indifferent to morality, consequence, or human desires. To coincide with the publication of The Dorians, CinemaChords spoke with Cutter about the anxieties and ideas underpinning the novel, including ageing, mortality, the seductive fantasy of second chances, the psychological lure of immortality, and the terror of watching the body gradually betray itself. Our interview also dug into themes of artistic obsession, regret, sexuality in later life, and the influence of classic vampire fiction and The Twilight Zone on the book’s disturbing dissection of rejuvenation and decay. BUY YOUR COPY OF 'THE DORIANS' HERE: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Dorians/Nick-Cutter/9781668079560

    1h 2m
  6. #39 - Sara van Os Talks ‘Decomposition Book,’ Necrotic Narratives, and the Capacity of Stories for Human Connection

    May 6

    #39 - Sara van Os Talks ‘Decomposition Book,’ Necrotic Narratives, and the Capacity of Stories for Human Connection

    Author Sara van Os is a Mexican-American, self-professed decomposition nerd who has, since college, been working in hospitality while diligently collecting stories of decidedly peculiar goings-on in the workplace. Her debut novel, Decomposition Book, arrives on May 7, 2026, via Dead Ink Books in the UK, and on May 19, 2026, via Hanover Square Press, and is guaranteed to thoroughly gast your flabbers. The novel follows Savannah, who, after an emotionally ruinous falling-out with her best friend, retreats to her family’s isolated lake house, where she unravels in solitude. When she wakes in the woods beside a dead woman for reasons unknown, she discovers a journal that pulls her into the victim Ava’s final, harrowing days. As Savannah becomes inexorably obsessed with Ava’s story, she begins to sense her presence—and forms a bond that feels at once terrifying and strangely alluringly real. Soon, Savannah is forced to confront whether she’s losing her marbles or clutching at the only meaningful connection she has left in the world. To celebrate the book’s release, CinemaChords sat down with van Os, who discussed how she arrived at the novel’s unique format, one that does not flinch from its necrotic premise yet wriggles with pitch-black humour and delivers heart-wrenching insights into loneliness, grief, and the surprising ways people reach for connection when life knocks them sideways. We also got into how the novel serves as a more-than-welcome reminder of the power of the written word: how stories allow readers to inhabit other lives, draw strength from them, and ultimately form bonds in ways we least expect.

    1 hr
  7. #38 - Tuning Into Terror: Author TJ Payne on Re-wiring Haunted House Tropes into a Clinical Nightmare

    May 5

    #38 - Tuning Into Terror: Author TJ Payne on Re-wiring Haunted House Tropes into a Clinical Nightmare

    TJ Payne’s Best of BookTok horror breakout Intercepts gets a much-welcomed reboot today, May 5th, reborn under Raven Books in a hardback edition featuring a never-before-seen bonus chapter. An absolute must for those who live for the DNA of “Stranger Things,” the high-concept chills of Stephen King’s The Institute, or the tech-paranoia of Minority Report, Payne fuses horror and sci-fi with a confident command of both, delivering dread with a clinical edge - quite literally. The book centres on Joe, who directs a black-site government facility where human ‘antennae’ - subjects pushed to the absolute brink with brutally amplified psychic abilities - are weaponized to intercept threats before they emerge. Joe maintains a cold, professional distance, shielding his conscience with the "greater good" mantra... and shielding his daughter, Riley, from the blood on his hands. But when the state’s most lethal asset turns its sights on his own blood, the question now becomes: how far will Joe go to save those closest to him?  To celebrate the release of the book CinemaChords’ sat down with Payne to discuss the journey from Tik Tok sensation to this new lease of life for the book, the genesis of the project - specifically how Payne transposed classic haunted house tropes into the clinical, creepy corridors of a government black-site - and how he kept the scares grounded and palpable in a world where the high-concept stakes were limited only by his own imagination.

    40 min
  8. #37 - Nat Cassidy on Crafting a Travelogue of Fear in His Debut Horror Anthology "I Know A Place"

    May 4

    #37 - Nat Cassidy on Crafting a Travelogue of Fear in His Debut Horror Anthology "I Know A Place"

    It’s always a sight for sore, googly eyes to hear that more Nat Cassidy is on the way. After When the Wolf Comes Home ranked among our top reads of last year, we were particularly eager to get our eyeballs on his first short fiction collection, I Know A Place, to find out in what new ways he would use his sharp, meticulously crafted storytelling to turn everyday settings into sources of dread.This new anthology guides readers through a series of unsettling locations where darkness hides in plain sight — from a suspiciously empty gas station rest stop in the middle of the night, to a doctor’s office where a bottle of booze and a tear-stained folder sit waiting on the desk; from a tech millionaire’s haunted kitchen and a Bible-quoting ventriloquist’s dingy apartment, to a yoga retreat in the middle of the desert — serving up a “travelogue” of novellas and stories that explore fear, obsession, and the shadows lurking just beyond the light.After reading the collection, the one and only Stephen King had the following to say: “These stories are f*cking great. They rule. So read them.” He also provides an introduction to the book. There is also a Barnes & Noble exclusive edition featuring alternate cover art designed by Alan Lastufka — who also created the standard cover — alongside two additional bonus stories only available in that edition so you're spoilt for choice. Love them both, we do.To celebrate the book’s May 5th publication, CinemaChords sat down with Cassidy to discuss the anthology, including whether the novella “Rest Stop” was always intended as the collection’s central piece and scene-setter, as well as the hidden horrors of dating — explored through two sharply observed “Meet-Cute” stories (the kind that could easily spiral into a full-blown dating-from-hell anthology) and what draws him to reworking seemingly “comforting” pop culture touchstones to expose the envy, entitlement, and fate lurking beneath them.BUY YOUR COPY of "I KNOW A PLACE" HERE: https://amzn.to/4cXkx4d BUY THE EXCLUSIVE BARNES & NOBLE EDITION HERE: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-know-a-place-nat-cassidy/1148692534SUBSCRIBE so as not to miss out on any upcoming videos at Howard's Haunt HERE: https://bit.ly/2KUmvrp

    1h 11m
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About

Bringing you up close and personal with the voices shaping film, music, and storytelling today. Each episode dives into candid chats with filmmakers, actors, musicians, and authors — from rising talent to industry icons — as they share the stories behind their work, the challenges they’ve faced, and the sparks that keep their creativity alive.

Information

  • Creator
    Howard Gorman
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    44
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Howard Gorman
  • Show Website
    The CinemaChords Podcast

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