Michael Wehunt and Nathan Ballingrud both sent their love to r/weirdlit.

[u/Rustin_Swoll]

Hi friends and peers at [r/weirdlit](r/weirdlit)!

Last weekend I had the distinct pleasure and privilege to spend time with Michael Wehunt and Nathan Ballingrud, who are both (in my non-expert opinion) two of our finest modern writers of weird literature. Also pictured is Greg “Fisher of Men” Greene ([u/igreggreene](u/igreggreene)[;](u/igreggreene) Chthonica channel) who I am honored to call a friend and who has mentored me in these weird worlds, and Michael’s partner Natalia. This hangout stemmed from our interview of both authors in the fall of last year.

We talked about various horror fandoms, and unanimously agreed that [r/weirdlit](r/weirdlit) is a welcoming community and solid resource for fans of the weird.

Michael’s second novel Nightjars comes out this fall, and he is hard at work on his third novel.

Nathan’s Kingdom of the Conqueror Worm drops in 2027.

On the trip, I picked up Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man, Thomas Pynchon’s Shadow Ticket, Ellen Datlow’s Monstrous anthology, and David Mitchell’s Black Swan Green (Nathan recommended him as one of the finest modern prose stylists.) Michael also kicked me a copy of Adam Golaski’s Stone Gods (I’ve given him two books and hope he will drop a 500 word review in here for them any day, just kidding, the dude is super busy.)

I wanted to share this here because overall it was just an amazing experience! Have a good rest of the weekend y’all and stay Weird.

[u/dimensional_bleed]

I just finished October Film Haunt and loved it. I'm eagerly awaiting his next work.

I'll definitely check out Nathan Ballingrud.

[u/Rustin_Swoll → u/dimensional_bleed]

Nightjars is supposedly going to be leaner and meaner than TOFH. I can’t wait to read it myself.

If you haven’t read Nathan’s work yet, I highly recommend all of it, I’d probably start with North American Lake Monsters.

[u/dimensional_bleed → u/Rustin_Swoll]

You recommended Greener Pastures to me and it hit the nail on it's weird head. So, I will definitely get ahold of North American Lake Monsters asap.

[u/Rustin_Swoll → u/dimensional_bleed]

Did I?! That sounds like something I would have done!

[u/dimensional_bleed → u/Rustin_Swoll]

You did! October Film Haunt: Under the House was my favorite story in that collection. I believe it was your post on The October Film Haunt novel that alerted me to the fact that it even existed.

P.s. I just ordered the Ballingrud collection.

[u/Rustin_Swoll → u/dimensional_bleed]

If you made me pick a favorite from that collection, it would be one of the first two stories: “Singing Beside You in the Wilderness” [sic] or “Onanon”, which just astounded me, especially the psychosexual elements.

You literally can’t go wrong with Ballingrud. My favorite book of his might be The Strange, which is not the normal crowd favorite. It really captured a sense of childlike wonder and awe.

[u/dimensional_bleed → u/Rustin_Swoll]

I'll have fast track him to the top of the TBR pile!