The CinemaChords Podcast

Howard Gorman

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

    1d ago

    #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
  2. #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
  3. #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
  4. #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
  5. #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
  6. #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
  7. #36 - Aimee Pokwatka Talks New Novel ‘Accumulation’: haunted homes, childhood terrors, and everyday unease

    May 1

    #36 - Aimee Pokwatka Talks New Novel ‘Accumulation’: haunted homes, childhood terrors, and everyday unease

    A terrifyingly close-to-home sense of everyday unease runs through all of Aimee Pokwatka’s work, turning familiar spaces into something slightly off-kilter. The author of Self-Portrait with Nothing and The Parliament, she has also taught writers of all ages and worked as an editor on Salt Hill Journal and The Newtowner, and is a member of Yellow Studio, a creative community for women and artists in Northern Westchester. She now returns with her third novel, Accumulation, published by Putnam Books on 5 May 2026, a story partly inspired by her own New York home – one she suggests might not be entirely ghost-free. Her tense, unsettling and serpentine new book lays bare the high price women pay for the promises of domesticity and motherhood, and the many ways in which families can be haunted. The story centers on Tennessee Cherish, a former documentary filmmaker turned stay-at-home mom who moves with her family into their dream home, only to find her husband increasingly absent and her children behaving strangely. As unsettling occurrences begin to pile up – from mysterious noises, a recurring doll, to extremely disturbing discoveries – she starts to suspect something is supernatural is afoot in the house and is forced to uncover the source of the haunting before it destroys her family. To mark the book’s publication, CinemaChords spoke with Pokwatka about how the novel transcends typical ghost story trappings, exploring causality and our minds’ tendency to distort and rationalize unsettling experiences. We also discuss how the story reframes childhood fears through a parent’s lens, stressing the value of confronting those fears head on. Pokwatka also shares her on own reliance on nonfiction as a way to stay grounded, a perspective that definitely helps give the novel’s supernatural elements a real sense of realism and emotional weight. Purchase your copy of the book HERE.

    49 min
  8. #35 - The Horror of Holding On: Leigh Radford Talks Exploring Terminal Illness Through a Haunting Zombie Lens

    Apr 30

    #35 - The Horror of Holding On: Leigh Radford Talks Exploring Terminal Illness Through a Haunting Zombie Lens

    Leigh Radford’s debut novel, One Yellow Eye — named among our top horror books of 2025 — will be released in paperback on 7 May, featuring a special edition with yellow sprayed edges. The new edition is published by Pan Macmillan and available to order HERE. Drawing on her extensive background in broadcast journalism and literary publicity, Radford crafts a narrative that transcends typical genre boundaries, offering a profoundly human exploration of loss, obsession, and scientific inquiry. Her novel reimagines the zombie mythos through the lens of a biomedical scientist confronting an outbreak that turns her husband into one of the last infected. As she conceals him within their home, Kesta Shelley’s desperate quest for a cure becomes a meditation on the fallout of terminal illness, where moral certainties blur and a myopic, self-justifying morality emerges — one that increasingly compromises the boundaries of harm in pursuit of a personal or perceived greater good. To celebrate the book’s release, CinemaChords’ Howard Gorman sat down with Radford to discuss her emotionally charged reimagining of the zombie genre. She spoke about how the novel uses the virus as a haunting metaphor for terminal illness — capturing the emotional weight, uncertainty, and slow unraveling that such diagnoses bring. Radford also reflected on the protagonist’s inner turmoil: a scientist who trusts in logic but finds herself undone by grief and self-doubt. This psychological tension adds depth and vulnerability to a story already grounded in a disturbingly plausible scientific premise. Layered throughout are intimate, nuanced depictions of how trauma reshapes our mental landscape — elevating the novel into something far more affecting than a conventional horror tale.

    54 min
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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
    42
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Howard Gorman
  • Show Website
    The CinemaChords Podcast