TOD 027: A Strange & Darksome Night: A Panel & Readings Celebrating Nightscript III

In this podcast The Outer Dark presents ‘A Strange and Darksome Night: Readings from Nightscript III’ from Night Time Logic Reading Series, hosted by Daniel Braum and featuring authors Inna Effress, Julia Rust, and David Surface, plus an exclusive interview with Daniel Braum and CM Muller, editor of Nightscript III. The panel and readings were recorded live at Lovecraft Bar in New York City on Monday November 27, 2017.

The Outer Dark Symposium on the Greater Weird is a unique immersive one-day event featuring approximately 12 hours of panels, readings, signings and social activities centered around contemporary Weird and speculative fiction. The second annual event will be held Saturday March 24, 2018 at the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, CA, one of the Weirdest Places in the USA. Limited to 75 attendees. Buy your memberships here.

Show Notes

(00:02:17) The Outer Dark presents ‘A Strange and Darksome Night: Readings from Nightscript III‘ from Night Time Logic Reading Series, hosted and moderated by Daniel Braum (The Wish Mechanics) and featuring authors Inna Effress, Julia Rust, and David Surface, recorded live at Lovecraft Bar in New York City on Monday November 27, 2017. After a short introduction by Daniel Braum, the authors discuss Weird fiction and their stories in Nightscript III, including starting points for defining the elusive Weird, how the author’s own works relate to Weird fiction, defying genre conventions, The Weird seeping into mainstream media, working with the supernatural or the ‘strange’ element in their stories, Robert Aickman who is an inspiration for the Nightscript series, the subconscious as ‘magic’, clueing in your muse, ‘major natural disasters’, night time logic, emotions invoked by their Nightscript III stories, the tension when the supernatural may or may not show up, their favorite stories from the anthology, sadness in horror stories, and changes in perspective when writers go Weird.

(00:59:10) The three authors read their stories in Nightscript III: (00:59:50) ‘Young Bride’ by Julia Rust, (01:16:50) ‘Something You Leave Behind’ by David Surface, and (01:32:25) ‘Liquid Air’ by Inna Effress. Thank you to Daniel Braum for recording this special evening.

Discussion: Daniel Braum and CM Muller

(00:01:10) Daniel Braum and CM Muller join Scott to introduce the panel and then return between segments (00:50:10) to discuss the panel and readings as an entry level to Weird fiction, the Night-Time Logic series, framing Nightscript to appeal to readers of Weird and Strange fiction, other genre terminology such as the ‘uncanny’ and the ‘eerie’, unhinged reality, and introducing the Nightscript III authors.

(01:58:33) CM Muller goes further behind the scenes of the Nightscript anthology series including its lineage in the tradition of Shadows (ed. Charles L. Grant), Whispers (ed. Stuart David Schiff), and Shadows and Tall Trees (ed. Michael Kelly), taking submissions for Nightscript IV (January 2018 reading period) and Twice-Told: A Collection of Doubles (June 2018), and how he stretches the edges when editing. (02:14:05). The episode concludes with Daniel Braum reading from ‘Palankar’, his story in Nightscript III.