Mike Thorn's Blog, page 17

Toronto Arts Report: Mike Thorn, The Voice of Canadian Horror, Talks Dark Subject Matter and Curiosity

"Can you tell me about your childhood? What kinds of creative activities did you engage with? What were some of your favourite books as a kid?

I drew a lot as a kid, and I also started writing when I was quite young. I discovered C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien while I was in elementary school, and I was totally mesmerized by their books. R. L. Stine was my gateway into horror, but the real gamechanger was my first encounter with Stephen King; I read Pet Sematary while serving an in-school suspension in junior high, and that was the moment that everything changed."

Read the full interview.

Double COSMIC HORROR review (The Nothing That Is & Shelter For The Damned)

Jason White (Jason's Weird Reads) reviews Kyle Winkler's The Nothing That Is and Mike Thorn's Shelter for the Damned.

Watch the video.

Night Worms Guest Post: DARKEST HOURS Playlist by Mike Thorn

“Heavy metal has always shared a close relationship with the horror genre. From metal grandaddy Black Sabbath’s very name (lifted from Mario Bava’s 1963 anthology film) to the occult aesthetics of black metal and the grisly imagery of death metal, this diverse sonic universe overlaps with horror in varying noteworthy ways. Indeed, I found my gateways into heavy music around the same time I discovered horror fiction and cinema, and it all seemed somehow connected.”

Read the full article.

Mike Thorn’s Top 20 Horror Films of the 21st Century Featured on Horrorville (Letterboxd)

Brett Petersel selected Mike Thorn's list of the 21st century's top 20 horror films for inclusion on Letterboxd Horrorville.

See the list.

Mike Thorn presents a cinematic mood board for his latest book Darkest Hours: Expanded Edition

“As I did with Shelter for the Damned, I have created here a list of titles that provide a kind of cinematic 'mood board' for Darkest Hours. I included the films I reviewed in the expanded edition’s Criticism section, as well as the films that had overt or indirect impact on the stories.”

Read the guest post and see the list on Kendall Reviews.

Darkest Hours: Expanded Edition Reviewed on Kam’s Place

“No sober person had any supernatural encounters. Nothing good happens after dark, so stay the F*** home. Oh, and mirrors are evil so get rid of them! Now!”

Read the full review.

“Lovecraftian Horror for Metal Lovers”: Darkest Hours Reviewed on Plagued by Visions

"[A] delightful love letter to the 'metal band t-shirt' generation, with a sensible and grotesque treatment of a variety of topics plaguing aimless youth: drugs, peer pressure, the erratic and tragically passionate first pangs of love, and there’s even quite a bit of satirization and lampooning of pompous academia, which I quite enjoyed."

Watch the video.

Jeremy Fee Reviews Darkest Hours: Expanded Edition

Watch the video.

Mike Thorn Interviewed on Cursed Morsels

Eric Raglin talks to Mike Thorn about the horrors of academia, formative metalhead experiences, and addiction in horror fiction. In the second half of the episode, they have a spoiler-filled discussion of “A New Kind of Drug” from Thorn’s collection Darkest Hours (Raglin provides a warning in advance, and the rest of the episode is spoiler-free).

Listen to the episode.

Review of Darkest Hours: Expanded Edition on IndieMuse

“In the short story notes, Thorn cites a lot of influences (both literary, musical and cinematic) that inform his work, but Thomas Ligotti seems to be a name that crops up throughout. While Darkest Hours covers a lot of the same themes (nihilism, anxiety, and the human condition), Thorn’s work approaches them in a far more mainstream and accessible way. Still, I think this says a lot about the prevailing tone of his work, and there are stories here that scared (‘Long Man’, ‘Sabbatical’), disturbed (‘The Auteur’, ‘Fear and Grace’) and disgusted (‘Fusion’) like few other collections have managed for me.”

Read the full review.