Let The Cat In

Kaaron Warren, Aaron Dries, J. Ashley-Smith
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Let The Cat In

The award-winning podcast in which three horror writers and their guests riff on objects, inspiration, and those ideas that scratch at the door, miaowing to be let in. Guests to date include Nathan Ballingrud, Alan Baxter, JS Breukelaar, Isobelle Carmody, Brian Evenson, Lisa L. Hannett, Kathe Koja, John Langan, Helen Marshall, Paul Mannering, Lisa Morton, Lee Murray, Jason Nahrung, TR Napper, Dan O'Malley, Garth Nix, Sarah Read, Lynda E. Rucker, Angela Slatter, Melinda Smith, Cat Sparks, Paul Tremblay, Kyla Lee Ward, Sean Williams and more!

  1. OCT 26

    Slip

    The Cat gets permissive in this latest episode with special guest, author and artist Nik Vincent-Abnett. While Joseph has an on-air fashion meltdown and Aaron DIYs his bootcuts into flares, Kaaron forgets her own name. Clothing is discussed, as an expression of character, as shorthand for a time, as a face to show the world, as skin. The cyclic nature of fashion. Each generation’s possessiveness over the style of their time. Also Hussars, apportation, and the many people who died in Nik’s house. Ghosts as camera obscura. Ugg boots as the great leveller. Selling books with boobies. Aaron wants to be buried in a clown jacket. Nik takes a terminal photograph.  Buttons and bow-ties in this episode include: Schitt’s Creek Kaaron’s The Underhistory Nik’s The Wipe and Savant Check out the episode page for more pics and bits!

    1h 11m
  2. Episode 40 – Chorus

    SEP 22

    Episode 40 – Chorus

    The Cat goes positively bonkers over an audience with the best-dressed man in speculative fiction, game designer, teacher and writer, the incontrovertible Rik Lagarto. While Joseph gets all the ups and Aaron clobbers a Hobbit, Kaaron is haunted by a butterfly cake. The ghosts at Bethnal Green are discussed, as is ham (again), Nazis (fuck ‘em), and Russell Crowe’s piss. Also scar trees, scars in time, and the awareness of historical time as a new angle from which to perceive or experience the present. The importance of The Ugly Duckling. David Hasselhoff’s frozen poo. Aaron gives Rik some sensible advice. Scats and scent trails sniffed over in this episode include: Joseph’s collection The Measure of Sorrow Michael McDowell’s Blackwater Iain Banks’ The Crow Road John Waters’ A Dirty Shame Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year Of Rest And Relaxation Check out the episode page for more pics and bits.

    1h 11m

  3. AUG 16

    Wand

    The Cat gets ‘poetic and foul-mouthed’ in a bewitching episode with award-winning author and academic, the incantatory Lisa L. Hannett. While Kaaron gets a Lacroix and Joseph gets lost in the nineties, Aaron dodges the post-con blues by calling from the toilet. William Hope Hodgson is discussed, as is the gathering of disasters. An extended riff on the mixtape follows: the mixtape as a labour of love; the mixtape as a time capsule; the emotional beats of a mixtape. Also, the secret language of couples, the execution of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, and the cultural etiquette of burial mounds. The emotional safety net of a selfie and the magical thinking of everyday life. Aaron makes a mixtape confession. Lisa is careful not to say völva. Runestones and philtres conjured in this episode include: Lisa’s Viking Women Aaron’s Dirty Heads M John Harrison’s The Course of the Heart Check out the episode page for more pics and bits.

    1h 10m

  4. JUN 28

    Picturebook

    That Cat gets compulsive in an out-there episode with multi-award-winning author and associate professor, the incontestable Helen Marshall. While Kaaron investigates an autograph book and Joseph discovers a horror show in the guinea pig hutch, Aaron goes fungal and transforms into the Moth Boy. Helen works through her fixation with children and death. The dark and light sides of creative obsession are discussed, as are curiosity, boredom, and fandom – toxic and otherwise. The impact of parenthood on maintaining an obsession. Obsession as fuel to complete a project – and the importance of its ending. Also obsession as possession, romanticising obsession, and obsessive coincidence. Not forgetting mortality dump reads and struggling with smalltalk. Kaaron reveals what really happened to her ducks. Joseph bemoans the dearth of peppered mackerel. Aaron keeps a secret to seem more interesting. Helen invites everyone to visit her toilet. Paint-pots and palette-knives alluded to in this episode include: Emile Zola’s The Masterpiece JG Ballard’s Complete short stories Joyce Carol Oates’s Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. John Goodwin’s The Cocoon CH Pearce’s Jimmy Flip Brings His Little One to Work, and It Comes My Turn to Hold It Check out the episode page for more pics and bits.

    1h 7m

  5. MAY 31

    Episode 37 – Paper

    The Cat gets fibrous and transformative over afternoon tea with artist, paper maker and raconteur extraordinaire, the delightful Katharine Nix. While Joseph has an esoteric moment after two cups of tea and Kaaron rejects the popularly held contrivances of narrative convention, Aaron drops the bolognese and lets in the brown-snakes. Ancient alchemical processes are discussed, as are parallel evolution, the creative will, and carnivorous kelp. The urge to ask the big questions. Our quest for answers, forever on the border of a great mystery. The creative similarities between artists and scientists. The beauty of plant fibre paper making. The creative act as the thing in itself. Everyone listens as the rats in the cellar devour Katharine’s Moomins. Aaron flips the table. Dingbats and wingdings impressed into this episode include: Arthur Koestler’s The Act of Creation and The Sleepwalkers Dancer and choreographer Meryl Tankard Mark Rowlands’ The Philosopher and the Wolf Check out the episode page for more pics and bits.

    1h 7m

  6. MAR 27

    Box

    The Cat gets mutable (and, frankly, saucy!) in this special episode with our very own Kaaron Warren. While Aaron goes to a disastrous small-town hypnotism show and Kaaron reaches for the white-out, Joseph opens a black magic door that should have been kept well closed. Rewriting the past is discussed, and our changing perspectives on our own past. Also the vanishment of old haunts, and nostalgia – or its lack. The random scraps of things we scribble on when needs must. Writing vs typing. The addictive machinery of writing on a phone. Aaron invests in a woodchipper. Joseph goes home for sad reasons. Kaaron discovers a bizarre corner and a magic space. Flipperts and gibbets discussed in this show include: Gore Vidal’s Myra Breckenridge Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Brett Easton Ellis’s Less Than Zero American Graffiti Ian McEwan’s Sweet Tooth Tananarive Due’s The Reformatory Call-back to the infamous wet string episode Check out the episode page for more pics and bits.

    1h 3m

  7. FEB 23

    Episode 35 – Mask

    The Cat gets performative in a barnstorming episode from the town of Beechworth, with a sensational special guest: actor, freeformer, poet and Bram Stoker Award nominated author, the preternatural Kyla Lee Ward. While Kaaron paces the women’s ward of the asylum and Aaron loses his voice to Bon Jovi, Joseph mansplains a cat into a pigeon. Kyla immerses herself in phantasmal spaces. Voices are discussed, and accents, intonation and word choice. Feeling a character in the throat. The slippery strangeness of the voice. Also working your way into a character from the outside versus working your way out from within. Rebecca is revisited, as is Kaaron’s ‘hambone effect.’ Mimicry as a stepping stone, the formation, fluidity or calcification of the self. The masks we all wear, and other matters of a deep and divers nature. Pretexts and semblances spoken of in this episode include: AsylumFest 2023 Bloodsongs magazine Richard Adams’ Watership Down Robyn Cadwallader’s The Anchoress Stanislavski’s ‘Method’ Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca Kyla’s novella The Final Masque Photos courtesy of the incontestable Cat Sparks. See more of her AsylumFest 2023 snaps here. Check out the episode page for more pics and bits.

    1h 6m

  8. JAN 26

    Episode 34 – Totem

    The Cat gets spooky and kooky with a very special guest: author, screenwriter, living encyclopedia of all things Halloween, the one and only, the delightful, Lisa Morton. While Aaron dreams of Hal Bodner, and Kaaron writes about four hairdressers, Joseph drinks whisky, eats haggis, and invokes the spirit of the dead Rabbie Burns. Lisa brings a totem. Curses are discussed, and cursed objects, with an aside concerning the online cursed doll market. Also ritual as a language, the foundations of comedy, and the sadness of dead shopping malls. That terrible moment you realise you’re part of a folk horror ritual you didn’t consent to. Kaaron remembers Marilyn Monroe’s grave. Aaron discovers a cursed cabinet. Joseph hurls his body out into the void. Lisa finds her old teacher’s book. Everyone wonders about dread mechanisms. Snips and snails mentioned in this episode include: Lisa Morton’s Life On The Edge (1988) The origins of Burns Night Donna Tartt’s The Secret History Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man Check out the episode page for more pics and bits.

    1h 2m
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About

The award-winning podcast in which three horror writers and their guests riff on objects, inspiration, and those ideas that scratch at the door, miaowing to be let in. Guests to date include Nathan Ballingrud, Alan Baxter, JS Breukelaar, Isobelle Carmody, Brian Evenson, Lisa L. Hannett, Kathe Koja, John Langan, Helen Marshall, Paul Mannering, Lisa Morton, Lee Murray, Jason Nahrung, TR Napper, Dan O'Malley, Garth Nix, Sarah Read, Lynda E. Rucker, Angela Slatter, Melinda Smith, Cat Sparks, Paul Tremblay, Kyla Lee Ward, Sean Williams and more!

Information

  • Creator
    Kaaron Warren, Aaron Dries, J. Ashley-Smith
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2024
  • Episodes
    41
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Kaaron Warren, Aaron Dries, J. Ashley-Smith 2021
  • Show Website
    Let The Cat In

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