#38 - Tuning Into Terror: Author TJ Payne on Re-wiring Haunted House Tropes into a Clinical Nightmare

#43: Daniel Kraus on His Sci-Fi Frightmare ‘The Sixth Nik,’ Cronenbergian Biotech, and the Fight for Human Emotion

Fresh off taking home the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction [https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/daniel-kraus] for his World War I novel, Angel Down [https://cinemachords.com/cinemachords-best-horror-books-of-2025-so-far-top-horror-novels-you-need-to-read/], New York Times bestselling author Daniel Kraus [https://www.danielkraus.com/] is all set to take readers on a galaxy-spanning adventure in his latest release, The Sixth Nik [https://amzn.to/4efSugV], which publishes this June 23 through S&S/Saga Press [https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Sixth-Nik/Daniel-Kraus/9781668079478]. Part cosmic space opera, part body-horror frightmare, The Sixth Nik transcends genre to take readers far beyond the edges of civilized space where The Sickness—a sentient ship woven from living biomatter—is charting a course toward uncharted cosmic terror. Onboard is Sisilla, a nine-year-old cultist with a brain enhanced by arcane tech known as “niks,” sent to uncover why a plague-ridden planet has suddenly gone rogue.But the planet is far from the only threat. Trapped with a volatile, NonModded captain with a score to settle with Sisilla, a hacked robot that thinks she’s its child, and a living ship that is terrifyingly mutating from the inside out, Sisilla needs to survive long enough to uncover a cosmic secret far more terrifying than anyone could ever have imagined. In anticipation of the book’s release, CinemaChords sat down with Kraus, who shared his inspirations for creating a world that defies the laws of physics and leans into unprecedented, futuristic, Cronenbergian (bio)tech, sure to give you recurring, claustrophobic nightmares. We also discussed the novel’s exploration of deeply nihilistic themes, particularly how the “Niffakoq” colony draws bleak parallels to our own tech-saturated world. This includes how emotion becomes a form of rebellion in a society obsessed with absolute efficiency, and how we can’t stop progress—we can only mop up the mess. And, despite the book’s grim backdrop, we also covered the story’s glimmer of hope in how Sisilla’s struggle to unlearn her programmed instincts serves as a much-needed lesson in moral sovereignty. Secure your copy of The Sixth Nik here: https://amzn.to/4ebLmAK [https://amzn.to/4ebLmAK] Add it to Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242986069-the-sixth-nik [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242986069-the-sixth-nik]

#42 - Grief, Folklore, and Highway Horror: CJ Leede Talks Grimy New Shocker Novel 'Headlights'

CJ Leede [https://torpublishinggroup.com/author/cj-leede/] has fast earned her stripes for her ability to make readers care before she makes them scared. Her knack for pairing pure, unadulterated terror with deeply empathetic character work is unmatched, and her brilliant new shocker Headlights [https://torpublishinggroup.com/headlights/] doubles down on that signature formula. Born from a deeply personal period of grief and disillusionment, the book uses the backdrop of Colorado folklore to map the sinister anatomy of highway murders. For anyone fond of the tightly wound, sinister procedural thrills of Seven, "True Detective", or "Hannibal"/The Silence of the Lambs, this is bound to be your next absolute obsession - a relentlessly tight procedural where the book's grisly roadside horrors are matched blow-for-blow by the brilliant psychological depth of a deeply scarred cast. The novel centers on Special Agent Daniel Stansfield. On the brink of stepping away from the FBI, Stansfield is pulled back to Denver when seemingly innocent people are discovered on highways wearing the skin of total strangers, each with a single strand of hair tied around their tongue. To stop the cycle, he must confront both his own traumatic past and the entity behind these gruesome crimes before more lives - including his own - are claimed. To celebrate the book’s release tomorrow, June 9th, via Tor Nightfire [https://torpublishinggroup.com/headlights/],CinemaChords caught up with Leede to reflect on the novel’s geographical grounding in Colorado, her dedication to scratching that "anchored-in-reality" itch so the supernatural elements carry real resonance, and how her prose consciously rejects the reductive, single-trauma shorthand often found in fiction, opting instead for nuanced character studies that ultimately lend the book’s visceral horrors a satisfyingly profound psychological anchor. Secure your copy of HEADLIGHTS here [https://torpublishinggroup.com/headlights/].

#41 - Author Leah Rowan on rewriting horror history by giving one of the genre’s most famous victims her own voice in ‘Marion’

What happens when one of fiction’s most famous victims gets to tell her own story? Author Leah Rowan [https://www.leahrowanbooks.com/]’s debut novel Marion [https://amzn.to/4981DUQ] arrives this week, reimagining one of the genre’s most enduring stories. Taking Robert Bloch’s Psycho as its starting point, the novel recasts its central victim as a resourceful and morally complex protagonist whose story resists the certainties of the original. Brimming with suspense and high-stakes tension, Marion echoes the moral and narrative instability of 1959’s Psycho, keeping readers uncertain about where their sympathies should lie. After stealing money to help her sister escape an abusive marriage, Marion finds herself stranded at a remote inn, where she kills a threatening innkeeper in self-defence. Now on the run as both thief and killer, she must navigate mounting dangers while uncovering dark secrets in a bid to protect both herself and her sister. Ahead of the book’s publication on June 2, CinemaChords sat down with Rown to discuss taking on a story as culturally entrenched as Psycho, finding space for her own voice in its shadow, the competing visions of womanhood embodied by the novel’s maternal figures, and the role fear plays in shaping the boundaries of a woman’s freedom. BUY YOUR COPY OF MARION HERE: https://amzn.to/4981DUQ

#40 - Author Nick Cutter Talks ‘The Dorians’: His Latest Horror Vision Examining the Fantasy of Eternal Flesh

Critically acclaimed bestselling author Nick Cutter [https://www.craigdavidson.net/nickcutter/index.html], known for modern horror touchstones including The Troop and The Deep, returns with his latest novel, The Dorians [https://www.craigdavidson.net/nickcutter/The-Dorians.html], releasing today, May 19th. Exploring ageing, mortality, and the irresistible lure of turning back time, the novel follows five elderly volunteers offered an extraordinary proposition: the chance to slow, halt, or even reverse the ageing process. But, beneath the promise lie far more sinister implications - an ancient, self-perpetuating biological force only concerned with its own survival, indifferent to morality, consequence, or human desires. To coincide with the publication of The Dorians, CinemaChords spoke with Cutter about the anxieties and ideas underpinning the novel, including ageing, mortality, the seductive fantasy of second chances, the psychological lure of immortality, and the terror of watching the body gradually betray itself. Our interview also dug into themes of artistic obsession, regret, sexuality in later life, and the influence of classic vampire fiction and The Twilight Zone on the book’s disturbing dissection of rejuvenation and decay. BUY YOUR COPY OF 'THE DORIANS' HERE: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Dorians/Nick-Cutter/9781668079560

#39 - Sara van Os Talks ‘Decomposition Book,’ Necrotic Narratives, and the Capacity of Stories for Human Connection

Author Sara van Os [https://www.instagram.com/saramcclarinet/] is a Mexican-American, self-professed decomposition nerd who has, since college, been working in hospitality while diligently collecting stories of decidedly peculiar goings-on in the workplace. Her debut novel, Decomposition Book [https://amzn.to/4nauaQe], arrives on May 7, 2026, via Dead Ink Books [https://deadinkbooks.com/?srsltid=AfmBOooyGsEnLn_0x6tYw5e9zKMw6Ih1N_AC_StLIWl9oIK-z12b4n0Z] in the UK, and on May 19, 2026, via Hanover Square Press [https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/hanoversquarepress], and is guaranteed to thoroughly gast your flabbers. The novel follows Savannah, who, after an emotionally ruinous falling-out with her best friend, retreats to her family’s isolated lake house, where she unravels in solitude. When she wakes in the woods beside a dead woman for reasons unknown, she discovers a journal that pulls her into the victim Ava’s final, harrowing days. As Savannah becomes inexorably obsessed with Ava’s story, she begins to sense her presence—and forms a bond that feels at once terrifying and strangely alluringly real. Soon, Savannah is forced to confront whether she’s losing her marbles or clutching at the only meaningful connection she has left in the world. To celebrate the book’s release, CinemaChords sat down with van Os, who discussed how she arrived at the novel’s unique format, one that does not flinch from its necrotic premise yet wriggles with pitch-black humour and delivers heart-wrenching insights into loneliness, grief, and the surprising ways people reach for connection when life knocks them sideways. We also got into how the novel serves as a more-than-welcome reminder of the power of the written word: how stories allow readers to inhabit other lives, draw strength from them, and ultimately form bonds in ways we least expect.