Our First Fears

26 - Return to Oz with Mar Romasco-Moore

In Episode 26, author Mar Romasco-Moore talks about their love for the cult classic Disney film, Return to Oz and how it influenced their latest young adult novel, Deadstream. This is one of our favorite films EVER, and if you haven’t seen it, you absolutely must. It’s got Dorothy Gale escaping a psychiatric hospital, a talking chicken side-kick, the Emerald City in ruins, a headless princess with nefarious intentions, and a king made of stone who REALLY loves Dorothy’s infamous ruby slippers. We explore the whys and hows of the making of this film and the repercussions of its possibly unintentional horrors on unsuspecting young viewers, like us.  Mar Romasco-Moore is also the author of the novels I Am the Ghost in Your House, Krazyland, Some Kind of Animal, and Ghostographs: An Album. Their new book, Deadstream, hit shelves on April 1st, 2025.  Dan Poblocki is the bestselling author of the recent novels Tales to Keep You Up at Night and More Tales to Keep You Up at Night, along with Ghost Hunter’s Daughter, Liars’ Room, The Stone Child, The Nightmarys and others. His picture book with James Rey Sanchez, My Brother’s Butt is Haunted, is arriving July 29th, 2025 from Penguin Workshop. Pre-order your copy RIGHT THIS MINUTE by visiting danpoblocki.com. Follow the Our First Fears podcast on Instagram @ourfirstfears & @danpoblox and Bluesky @danpoblock.bsky.social. And feel free to reach out at ourfirstfears@gmail.com.

25 - Nuclear Nightmares with Grady Hendrix

Bestselling author, Grady Hendrix, joins Our First Fears for Episode 25 to talk about growing up as a cold-war kid, terrorized by constant reports in the 1980s of threats of a nuclear strike. He found strange solace in certain books and movies at that time, specifically Warday, The Steel, the Mist, and the Blazing Sun, Special Bulletin, and Threads. We chat about these titles and others, along with the primal places in pop-culture from where these stories may have burst, as well as how young people process The News, which, more and more, feels like its own horror subgenre.  Grady Hendrix is the Stoker Award winning author of Horrorstör, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, We Sold Our Souls, The Final Girl Support Group, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, How to Sell a Haunted House, and more. His non-fiction collaboration with Will Errickson, Paperbacks from Hell, is a history of the horror fiction boom of the 1970s and 80s. His latest novel, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, came out in January of 2025. Dan Poblocki is the bestselling author of the recent novels Tales to Keep You Up at Night and More Tales to Keep You Up at Night, along with Ghost Hunter’s Daughter, Liars’ Room, The Stone Child, The Nightmarys and others. His picture book with James Rey Sanchez, My Brother’s Butt is Haunted, is arriving July 29th, 2025 from Penguin Workshop. Pre-order your copy RIGHT THIS MINUTE by visiting danpoblocki.com [https://www.danpoblocki.com/]. Follow the Our First Fears podcast on Instagram @ourfirstfears & @danpoblox and Bluesky @danpoblock.bsky.social. And feel free to reach out at ourfirstfears@gmail.com.

24 - The Conjuring's Ed & Lorraine Warren with Lorien Lawrence

Episode 24 of Our First Fears has creepy middle-grade author, Lorien Lawrence chatting with Dan about Ed and Lorraine Warren, the real life “ghost hunters” who were played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in James Wan’s 2013 film THE CONJURING and its many sequels and offshoots. Lorien’s childhood experiences growing up near the Warrens’ infamous Connecticut home has inspired her own work about a ghost-hunting family, and the stories she shares about living in their shared hometown provide insight into a possible darkness hiding underneath the wholesome image that the Warrens built up for themselves in the media over the course of the latter half of the twentieth century.  Lorien Lawrence is the author the middle-grade Frightwatch series, which includes the novels The Stitchers, The Collectors, and Unmasked. Her latest book, The Many Hauntings of the Manning Family, is out March 18th, 2025. Horror-master Stephen King had this to say about The Stitchers: “The chills come guaranteed!” Find all of Lorien’s books now at your favorite local bookshop. Dan Poblocki is the bestselling author of the recent novels Tales to Keep You Up at Night and More Tales to Keep You Up at Night, along with Ghost Hunter’s Daughter, Liars’ Room, The Stone Child, The Nightmarys and others. His picture book with James Rey Sanchez, My Brother’s Butt is Haunted, is arriving July 29th, 2025 from Penguin Workshop. Pre-order your copy RIGHT THIS MINUTE by visiting danpoblocki.com [https://www.danpoblocki.com/]. Follow the Our First Fears podcast on Instagram @ourfirstfears & @danpoblox and Bluesky @danpoblock.bsky.social. And feel free to reach out at ourfirstfears@gmail.com.

Bonus - A Tale to Keep You Up at Night, "Imogen's Skeleton"

In this bonus episode, your host, Dan Poblocki, reads another creepy story, this time from his recent novel MORE Tales to Keep You Up at Night, and talks again about the story’s origins. “Imogen’s Skeleton,” is about a shy girl named Imogen who realizes that she may have a few things in common with the model anatomy skeleton that hangs at the back of her middle school classroom. But when she pushes back at the bullies in her life, and in her own home, both Imogen and the classroom skeleton go through some changes . . . together. Read with permission from Penguin Random House LLC.  Dan Poblocki is the bestselling author of the recent novels Tales to Keep You Up at Night and More Tales to Keep You Up at Night, along with Ghost Hunter’s Daughter, Liars’ Room, The Stone Child, The Nightmarys and others. His picture book with James Rey Sanchez, My Brother’s Butt is Haunted, is arriving July 29th, 2025 from Penguin Workshop. Pre-order your copy RIGHT THIS MINUTE! Follow the Our First Fears podcast on Instagram @ourfirstfears & @danpoblox and Bluesky @danpoblock.bsky.social. And feel free to reach out at ourfirstfears@gmail.com.

23 - Urban Legends with Jeramey Kraatz

In Episode 23, author Jeramey Kraatz joins Our First Fears to chat about urban legends. If you’re intrigued by tales of killers lurking at lover’s lanes, weirdos hiding under beds who like licking your hand in the middle of the night, creepy calls that come from inside the house, as well as creepypastas and terrifying memes, this episode is sure to send the right kind of shivers up your spine.  Jeramey Kraatz is the author of The Cloak Society, Space Runners, and the new graphic novel I Witnessed: The Lizzie Borden Story. He also writes English dub scripts for anime franchises, including My Hero Academia. He lives in Dallas, TX.  Find all his books now at your favorite local bookshop. Dan Poblocki is the bestselling author of the recent novels Tales to Keep You Up at Night and More Tales to Keep You Up at Night, along with Ghost Hunter’s Daughter, Liars’ Room, The Stone Child, The Nightmarys and others. His picture book with James Rey Sanchez, My Brother’s Butt is Haunted, is arriving July 29th, 2025 from Penguin Workshop. Pre-order your copy RIGHT THIS MINUTE! Follow the Our First Fears podcast on Instagram @ourfirstfears & @danpoblox and Bluesky @danpoblock.bsky.social. And feel free to reach out at ourfirstfears@gmail.com.