ALTOONA, Pa. — Penn State Altoona faculty members Brian Onishi, associate professor of philosophy, and Jeff Stoyanoff, assistant professor of English and of women's, gender and sexuality studies, have released a new episode of their "Horror Joy" podcast. In the latest “Meet Your Maker” episode, Stoyanoff is joined by Scottish writer Jane Flett, whose debut novel “Freakslaw” is out from Doubleday (U.K.) and Zando (U.S.), and whose latest novel, “Welcome to the Chaos Camp,” was published earlier this month.
Flett describes how horror and joy connect through different ways people enjoy fear — adrenaline junkies, “white knucklers” and “dark copers” — placing herself in the first group. Stoyanoff and the author discuss haunted houses as horror rooted in inescapable, corrupted “safe” spaces, including hotels and the idea of buildings persisting on longer timescales. Turning to “Freakslaw,” set in a late-1990s Scottish mining town disrupted by a traveling funfair, Flett explores small-town conservatism, class, suffering, and joy as disruption, including queer community and character Derek’s coming-of-age.
Flett previews “Welcome to the Chaos Camp” as a New Orleans story involving climate weirdness, filmmakers, arson and cult-like non-hierarchical organizing, and makes several recommendations on further reading in the horror genre.
The full episode can be accessed on podcast providers or on Red Circle.