Ep. 81: Lit Bookstores: Haunted Burrow Books

Join Kelsey and Amanda in their second Lit Bookstores featuring Roxanne, the owner of a horror-themed bookstore, Haunted Burrow Books, in Capitol Hill, Seattle. Roxanne discusses her horror origin story (from Goosebumps to Stephen King), why horror feels cathartic, and how she’s built a cozy “garden witch’s library” atmosphere—along with some surprising basement finds! She also dives into books across darker genres, highlights favorite horror styles (especially possession and suspense), and even offers Amanda some gateway and historical/gothic horror suggestions to check out. Be sure to to tune into this slightly spooky convo that just might convince you to pick up a horror novel…

00:00 Welcome to Lit Vibes Only

00:31 Follow Us on Socials!

02:16 Meet Roxanne of Haunted Burrow Books

02:40 Our Current Reads

10:46 Roxanne’s Horror Origin Story

13:30 Why Horror Hits Different

16:21 The Naming of Haunted Burrow

18:01 The “Vibe” of Haunted Burrow

20:08 Creepy Basement Finds

29:21 What Makes Horror Unforgettable

34:59 How Roxanne’s Horror Taste Evolved

38:12 Life as a Bookseller

41:02 Roxanne’s Recs for Amanda

44:58 Can Horror Be Healing?

50:50 Building the Haunted Burrow Community

54:44 Lightning Question Round

59:40 Where to Find Roxanne (and us!)

Follow us on TikTok & Youtube @litvibesonlypodcast and on Instagram @litvibesonly_podcast. You can also email us at litvibesonlypodcast@gmail.com We'd love to hear from you!

See you on Mondays!

Transcript

Welcome to Lit Vibes Only

Kelsey 0:06

Welcome to Lit Vibes Only where we lit the shit out of books we love and hate. I'm Kelsey, the unhinged, diehard, romantic and fantasy reader.

Follow Us on Socials!

Amanda 0:15

And I'm Amanda, the insightful, thrill seeker and historical fiction nerd. Welcome to our second Lit bookstores episode. We are so excited. We have a very special guest who's gonna be talking about a very special bookstore right here in the Seattle area, so we're very excited. But as always, before we get to the fun stuff, we have to direct you to our socials. So if you're not following us already, we are on Instagram at Lit Vibes Only. Under podcast, we are also on YouTube and on TikTok at Lit Vibes Only podcast. So make sure to like. Follow, comment, subscribe, all of those wonderful things. We love what we do here on the podcast and we also love what we're doing on our socials. So if you wanna see what's going on, what we're getting into beyond what's on the podcast, make sure to hop over there, say, Hey, give us your recommendations. If you are not on socials, you can also find us via email. We're at Lit Vibes only podcast@gmail.com and most recently this year, both Kelsey and I started accounts on the Fable app. So if you are not on there yet, you should absolutely join. A really fun feature about this app is that we each run our own book clubs. So if you're really invested in our quid episodes, you can read along with us. Prep for the episodes, share your thoughts and feedback, make predictions about whether or not the book's gonna be litted or quitted for either Kelsey or I. So please be sure to do that if you haven't already. We're having a great time over there. And then lastly, and most importantly, if you have not yet rated and reviewed our podcast, we kindly ask that you take a moment, either right now or at the end of the episode. Please give us a five star rating on Apple Podcast or on Spotify if you're enjoying it and want to hear more from us. And if you're on Apple Podcast, you can write a really short review, one or two sentences we'll do. And if you're on Spotify, you can write a comment on this episode or any episode telling us what you think and sharing your thoughts. So welcome, welcome. We're so glad you're here.

Kelsey 2:16

So today we want to welcome our wonderful guest, Roxanne, who is the bookstore owner of Haunted Borough Books in Cap Hill, Seattle.

Amanda 2:27

Woo-hoo. Welcome, Roxanne.

Roxanne 2:31

Thank you so much for having me.

Kelsey 2:33

Of course. We're really excited. We're so excited

Amanda 2:35

you're here.

Roxanne 2:36

I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to talk to you.

Our Current Reads

Kelsey 2:39

Yay. So one of the first things we do when we have a guest and how we open our episodes in general is we always ask each other what are we reading right now? So, Roxanne, do you wanna go first?

Roxanne 2:52

Absolutely. I am always thrilled to talk about what I'm reading, especially since I usually read three or four books at a time.

Amanda 2:58

Wow.

Roxanne 2:59

I am so happy. That There's a book called Trad Wife coming out on Tuesday that I am thrilled with. I got an arc for it, and I'm about halfway through. Okay. It is amazing. It's a horror about a trad wife influencer who is so desperate for a child that she gets impregnated with a demon's child.

Kelsey 3:19

Oh my

Roxanne 3:19

gosh. So incredibly well written. The tension is beautiful. It's almost literary in places I love. Wow. I'm so happy to have it in the shop. Nice. I'm also reading a fantasy called The Bookshop Below, which is like an ode to magical bookstores. A rather morally gray, fairly incompetent woman Inherits a magical book Shop and Hi, jinx and Sue. I just love a book about bookstores. I'm one of those people.

Amanda 3:51

Yeah, absolutely.

Roxanne 3:53

And then. What else am I reading? Oh I'm reading Make Me a Monster, which is a ya a horror, like a Frankenstein retelling. I don't read a lot of ya. Mm-hmm. And it's fairly cozy so far, but I heard it gets really dark, so I'm looking forward. Oh, interesting.

Amanda 4:09

Oh yeah, that's a drastic shift.

Kelsey 4:12

Cozy chew duck.

Amanda 4:14

Do you normally read multiple books at the same time?

Roxanne 4:18

I do.

Amanda 4:19

Okay.

Roxanne 4:20

It keeps me from getting bored with any one book also, especially because of the bookstore. There are a lot of books that I have to read in order to talk about them with people.

Amanda 4:29

Sure.

Roxanne 4:29

Or just because so many people have recommended it. I'm just like, okay, I need to at this point. Yeah,

Amanda 4:34

that's

Roxanne 4:34

fair. So there isn't enough time to read everything, but I can try.

Amanda 4:38

And Are these like on, in like multiple formats, like audiobook, ebook, physical book, or just all physical or all audio or.

Roxanne 4:46

Two are audio and one is a physical book.

Kelsey 4:49

Okay. Okay.

Amanda 4:50

Wow.

Roxanne 4:51

Because my commute is so long and also because I listen to audio books when it's slow at the bookstore, a lot of what I'm reading nowadays, I listen, but tra wife, I got a physical arc for it. So I'm reading that one at night.

Amanda 5:03

That one sounds particularly fascinating.

Roxanne 5:06

That's really good

Amanda 5:08

and very timely with all the tra wife influencers and influencing happening.

Kelsey 5:12

Oh my gosh. And demon baby.

Amanda 5:14

I know that. I was not expecting that to come out of your mouth. Like, Alright, tra wife influencer. Interesting. Then Demon baby. It's, yes. That's

Kelsey 5:23

hilarious.

Amanda 5:23

This is horror. All right. Do you wanna go next, Kelsey?

Kelsey 5:26

Yeah. I'm still reading the same book that I talked about the weeks prior blood Marked by Tracy Dion. Mm-hmm. It's great so far. I just yeah, I'm slowly getting through. Books these days. Yeah.

Amanda 5:44

And that's the second.

Kelsey 5:47

Mm-hmm.

Amanda 5:47

In the legend born trilogy. So that's, it's actually, that's a YA book as well. Roxane, I don't know if you're familiar. I

Roxanne 5:53

am, yeah.

Amanda 5:54

Both

Roxanne 5:55

has been really popular.

Amanda 5:56

Yeah.

Kelsey 5:56

Actually I bought my copy from you. Yeah

Amanda 6:03

perfect connection. I am a huge fan of thrillers and I, I usually try to switch things up. I don't normally read four or five thrillers in a row. I'll read some historical fiction or contemporary fiction, but I've been on a thriller kick and I literally just this morning, finished what Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall. And it's my first thriller by her that I've read and enjoyed it. 10 out of 10. The premise is that there's a group of. 11-year-old girls who one of them gets attacked by a serial killer in the woods and is stabbed like 17 times and nearly dies, but she survives and 20 years later, one of the three girls wants to come forward with this secret that they've all been keeping and things just unravel from there. And there were some pretty clever plot twists in there that I didn't fully see coming, which is huge for me'cause I've read a lot of thrillers at this point. I feel like I'm pretty good at calling the ending. So that was quite satisfying. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I'm excited to read more of her work now that I've found her, I am surprised. I actually haven't heard more about her'cause it's a solid read. So that's what I just finished and I need to figure out what I'm gonna dive into next.

Kelsey 7:18

You do always guess like the plot points.

Amanda 7:23

I feel like, especially for. I do. I think so. I think for me, as long as there's, because usually in most thrillers there's multiple twists. It's never just like the one thing. So I usually guess at least one, if not all of them. Yeah. But I still find it a very satisfying genre. Are you, I know there's some crossover sometimes between horror and thriller. Roxanne, do you also enjoy thrillers?

Roxanne 7:45

I do. I haven't been reading many thrillers lately. I found that for some reason the past year or so, they've been really stressing me out a lot more than they used to. Very fair. But I did pick up Alice Feeney's new book, my husband's wife, and it's Oh, yep. Incredibly stressful. I have to read it in pieces. What I didn't mention. Earlier is that I'm actually reading technically like 10 books right now. Oh God. The three oh my God mentioned are just the ones that I'm like actively reading. Okay. But my husband's wife, I am reading that one slowly on the side. Okay. But I have no idea what's going on. If it were like a horror, I would swear something Supernatural is going on. But it's not, it's a thriller and I cannot figure out what the twist is.

Amanda 8:28

Oh, okay. I have mixed feelings about Alice Feeney. I feel like some of her books are pretty solid and some, I'm like, this was a mess. But

Roxanne 8:37

sometimes I lie is one of my favorite thrillers. If you, who

Amanda 8:40

is it?

Roxanne 8:41

Sometimes I lie.

Amanda 8:43

Oh, okay. I'm gonna jo this down. I haven't read that. And it's by, is it by Alice Feeney? Alice?

Roxanne 8:50

It is.

Amanda 8:51

Oh, okay. I don't think I've read that one. I'm gonna, I'm literally typing it in as we speak. Sometimes I lie. So you don't forget it for later. Always adding too. My TBR I actually just read not to spend too much time talking about thrillers, but I just finished the brand new Mary Cubica thriller that came out I think last week. It's not her. And it was like a solid thriller, like middle of the road, like not amazing, not horrible. It was fine. I was hoping for a little bit more, but it's hard to be a good thriller author.

Kelsey 9:21

Yes.

Amanda 9:21

There's only so many ways to make a story twisting. Okay.

Kelsey 9:24

It's so funny because I've read so few and Amanda has given me some recommendations, but through our lit litted or Quitted episodes and I either hate it or I love it, but I mostly hate them.

Amanda 9:37

Yeah, there's no middle of the road for you.

Kelsey 9:39

No.

Amanda 9:40

Yeah. You're pretty

Kelsey 9:41

vicious with my picks have, they can have such awful plot holes and I'm just like. This doesn't make any sense.

Amanda 9:52

Yeah.

Kelsey 9:52

And so I feel critical of them.

Amanda 9:55

There is a certain level of like, things have to unfold, just so, and there have to be a series of coincidences sometimes in order for it to work. And sometimes that does drive me crazy with thrillers, so I get that. Alright, but let's do the thing. There's so many questions and I'm so excited to learn more about you, Roxanne and your store and the horror genre, which I feel like I'm just starting to dip my toes into. I started like a little bit last year and more this year and I'm really enjoying it. Yeah. So Kelsey, take it away.

Kelsey 10:20

So yeah, and I think I'll be on the sidelines. Possibly forever. Unless you had a recommendation for me, Roxanne, because, I mostly go to your bookstore. When my husband wants to go, I always find something, but he's always talking about the horror bookstore, your bookstore. And you always recommend books for him and he has a jolly old time.

Roxanne 10:43

Thank you for being so supportive.

Roxanne’s Horror Origin Story

Kelsey 10:45

Oh, of course. So getting into like your origin story, what would you say your horror origin story is? Was there absolutely a specific book, movie, or moment that made you realize horror is your genre?

Roxanne 11:00

There wasn't any specific moments or book. I just remember. Growing up, the vast majority of books that I picked up were horror of some kind. I started with the Goosebumps books especially and I'm bummed that I can't find them nowadays, but they were a choose your own adventure series called Reader Beware. You Choose The Scare. They were a series of goosebumps books and I cannot find them anymore, but I loved them so much. After that, I moved on to Edgar Allan Poe and after that I moved on to Stephen King. Then after high school I went into college mode and real life mode and didn't read for probably a solid like six, seven years.

Amanda 11:41

Mm-hmm. Same

Roxanne 11:43

Then after. Going through a kick of like Russian classics. In my late twenties, I picked up Stephen King's misery. Oh. And it's like, oh, right. I really love horror. And then most of what I picked up after that, I was probably about 30. Most of what I picked up after that was either a horror, a thriller, a dark fantasy. Something. Yeah.

Amanda 12:08

I,

Roxanne 12:08

although I really enjoy a light book every now and then.

Amanda 12:11

You do enjoy

Roxanne 12:12

a lighter book.

Amanda 12:14

Okay. Wait, what do you, I'm curious, what do you consider a lighter book?

Roxanne 12:19

Confessions of a Shopaholic. Okay. Crazy Rich Occasions. Legends and lattes.

Amanda 12:24

Okay.

Roxanne 12:25

I love a cozy book.

Amanda 12:26

Okay. It's a nice balance. Sometimes you just need a little bit of a palate cleanser in between.

Kelsey 12:31

Yeah, definitely.

Amanda 12:33

I do remember those goosebumps books and I distinctly remember not being allowed to read them because Really? Oh yeah. That was not allowed in my household. Granted, I grew up as Kelsey. Kelsey knows this, but like in a very like, religious conservative home and that was not okay. I also was just a huge scaredy cat, so that was,

Kelsey 12:52

I actually enjoyed the goosebump books when I was a kid, which.

Amanda 12:57

Oh, it

Kelsey 12:57

didn't grow into anything, but yeah.

Amanda 13:01

So you used to like horror when

Kelsey 13:03

you were, apparently

Amanda 13:04

when you were younger. Do you

Roxanne 13:05

remember what your favorite was?

Kelsey 13:06

No idea, but yeah, I remember what you're talking about though. Those reader beware.

Why Horror Hits Different

Amanda 13:13

Yeah. Uhhuh. Yeah. And I remember there was a Goosebumps TV show for a while.'cause I remember watching a couple episodes at my friend's house, like sneakily my parents didn't know and then having like nightmares the next day. But I do remember, yeah, they were, yeah, they were definitely eerie. So you answered this next question a little bit in terms of like why you would choose then to have a horror themed bookstore specifically, but what do you feel like horror offers that other genres perhaps don't? Both as a reader and as a book seller?

Roxanne 13:50

Yeah, there is just an entirely different atmosphere and usually plot structure to horror that for some reason my brain just clicks with. Mm-hmm. I can't speak for other readers why it clicks with them the way it does, but for me, I really enjoy the downward arc that a character can go on. Like in a classic hero's journey or other genres, there's this buildup of a character, trials and tribulations, and then they succeed and you can see that in their character growth as well. Mm-hmm. What I love about horror is you usually see a character's degradation as they slip down into madness or into desperation, and you just get so many different facets of their personality coming out in these situations where they're just. They're incredibly vulnerable. I greatly enjoy seeing all those different emotions and thoughts that come out when a character is truly desperate.

Amanda 15:00

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 15:00

For some reason it's cathartic for me. I enjoy reading about it. That psychological breakdown. Yeah.

Kelsey 15:08

Yeah, that's such an interesting way to put it. I love that. Because obviously, like I said, I don't have much experience with the horror genre and that just intrigued me.

Amanda 15:19

It's funny because I talk about this so much on this podcast, like one of my favorite things about the books that I read is that I love messy characters. I love people behaving badly. And this actually came up most recently in our Weathering Heights episode because everyone in that book is behaving badly and is just a little bonkers and talk about degradation and just like a downward moral arc. And I find, I think that's another place too, where in thrillers, especially psychological thrillers, you can often see that similar. Unraveling of a character, I guess I should say. And I really like it. And I think that's what has started to pull me into the horror genre because I'm like, it's so much more than just I don't know, a jump scare, quote unquote. I know we don't have really have jump scares in, in a book versus a film, but yeah, there's a lot more to it than that. It's a lot more complex and gritty and disturbing. Yeah, to watch someone kinda just come apart at the seams. Yeah.

The Naming of Haunted Burrow

Kelsey 16:11

So thinking about like your love of horror and then you created a bookstore and you built a bookstore out of that love. What made you choose the name of your bookstore? The Haunted Borough books.

Roxanne 16:27

Oh, yeah. That's complicated. So I knew I wanted it to reference rabbits. It is a joke with me and my significant other that I'm essentially a rabbit at heart. Okay. It's my impulsivity. It's my stress levels. I'm made of anxiety. So I knew that it was going to have to be something to do with rabbits. I also just like the idea of a borough, it's this really cozy place, and to me, books and books, homes like a library or a bookstore are just safe places. And to me that felt like a borough.

Kelsey 17:08

Yeah,

Roxanne 17:09

I feel like I latched onto haunted because of the iPic Panter haunted Borough books. And I didn't realize that until after I was doing like my logo and everything. I'm just like, oh, it's

Amanda 17:21

Shakespeare proud. It's interesting that you said that identify as someone who's very anxious and have anxiety and but you don't find that horror novels exacerbate that? I

Roxanne 17:31

don't okay. I feel generally very safe when I'm reading horror.

Amanda 17:35

Okay.

Roxanne 17:36

It definitely feels more like a window than a mirror.

Amanda 17:39

Sure.

Roxanne 17:40

It's, that's not the case right now with suspense books. For some reason, I, they're really stressed now, but I can still do a whore.

The “Vibe” of Haunted Burrow

Amanda 17:47

Okay. Interesting. Yeah.'cause I think most people would equate reading a whore novel with ratcheting up, right? Mm-hmm. Anxiety or fear. Those deeper concerns. Yeah. I also struggle with anxiety, so I'm like, I don't know that I've ever put those two things together, but that's great. Okay, so talking about your bookstore and its creation and building it from the ground up. When people walk into haunted borough books, what is the atmosphere that you've created in the shop and how do you want people to feel when they walk into this horror bookstore?

Roxanne 18:21

What I really wanted it to be was a garden witches library. Everything that I have in the shop, I wanted to give the impression that you're walking into like somewhere magical where someone. Lives mm-hmm. That they have collections. So that's why I have the plants, I have the dolls, but everything is just supposed to look really cozy at the same time.

Amanda 18:50

Okay.

Roxanne 18:51

So I'm hoping people feel warm and invited in the space while also having it very clear that it's also supposed to be moody my favorite compliment when people come in is they say it's quote, a vibe. I'm just like, I really hope that it's, that we're thinking the same vibe.

Kelsey 19:13

I definitely is the vibe.

Roxanne 19:15

Thank you.

Amanda 19:16

How did you feel when you walked in for the first time? Kelsey?

Kelsey 19:19

That's a good question. Yeah. It was clear. It's a horror bookstore, everything's black. And I appreciated the way that books were organized'cause they were easy to find. Because obviously, she doesn't just have horror. She also has some fantasy and mystery thriller books. And all of those are easy to find. In the store, but I feel like your presence, Roxanne, is my favorite part of the store and being able to chat with you about any book and if you don't know about it, like you're willing to look it up or look information about it up. So to me that's why I love about your bookstore.

Roxanne 20:00

Thank you.

Creepy Basement Finds

Amanda 20:01

It's why we love just like local bookstores, like you can't get that from Amazon or from these, massive chain bookstores

Kelsey 20:08

yeah. So I remember one story you told me you have something in your store that was like in the basement.

Roxanne 20:15

I was allowed to go into the basement. The landlords, when I moved into the store, they told me that. I was welcome to use the basement for like storage, or if I just wanted to go down and check it out, I could. Mm-hmm. There's a lot of stuff down there because as I think most people know by now, the building is set for redevelopment in the very near future. Mm-hmm. So there isn't really a huge reason to go clear it out unless it's for like sanitary reasons. So there's a lot of stuff down there, and we found a piece of very unusual artwork of this creature, this like robot cy work thing who's wearing a gas mask and the hose connects to its stomach, the legs, I think it's just its body is shaped like a light bulb. It's strange, but the artist was on the. On the drawings. So I posted it on Instagram and I tagged the artist. And the artist saw it and they were like, where did you find this? Turns out they used to live in Seattle. And it must have just ended up in the basement from an old maybe an old tenant or something. Wow. But we also found some really cool books down there. We found a Maya Angelou like a kid's book, like a picture book called, it's something like, life doesn't Scare Me. I think it has this really weird picture of a dinosaur on it. We also found a piece of artwork, like it looks like a tree or like a pyramid, but it's made out of those like pigeon spikes. I asked the landlord for permission to display it because it's technically it all belongs to them. So I wanted They're okay with it. And they're like, yeah, use whatever you want. So I was

Amanda (2) 22:09

gonna say, some of those things sound like a perfect fit for decor,

Amanda 22:11

and basements in and of themselves are just in general are creepy and eerie and have such strange collections of things. So I feel like it's apropos you went gather and found these things that you could then decorate with. How perfect.

Kelsey 22:24

I know I have another question, but I wanna ask you this first because I know you got to extend your lease. Do you know how long this current lease goes.

Roxanne 22:35

Yeah, the current lease goes through May. After that, I think I might be able to go month to month. I'm not really quite sure what's going to happen after that, though. It's kind of up in the air. It's possible that I'm gonna go non-oral for a little while and maybe pop up again in a year. Mm-hmm.

Kelsey 22:52

Okay. Yeah. So you still keep everything crossed, still have interest in continuing the bookstore?

Roxanne 22:57

Yes. I love doing it very much. I wanna continue. Yeah. It's just whether or not I'll be able to, is the question.

Kelsey 23:03

Sure. Thinking about when you started the bookstore what was something that surprised you since opening the bookstore,

Roxanne 23:13

how excited people are about books? I just loved seeing it, especially after. Maybe before, five, 10 years ago. I feel like eBooks were still really strongly, a lot of people's preference. Mm-hmm. And it seems like people are starting to gravitate back towards physical books. Mm-hmm. And I was just happy to see it.

Kelsey 23:38

Yeah.

Roxanne 23:39

I was also really happy to see that a lot of people are getting into reading perhaps for the first time since they were very young. And a lot of it, and this is the only time that I say this, the only time I think it's thanks to TikTok for a lot of it.

Amanda 23:58

Yeah.

Roxanne 23:58

And I'm not mad about it. I'm just like, for whatever reason. Mm-hmm. You are reconnecting with books. I'm so happy you're doing it. There are a lot of younger people coming into the store, and I say this to somebody who is turning 40 in. A very short amount of time. Early happy birthday. When I say younger people, like maybe early twenties.

Kelsey 24:20

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Roxanne 24:21

I'm just like, I'm so happy to see younger people getting back into reading because I was really worried that a lot of people weren't for the longest time.

Amanda 24:31

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, no, I agree. I think book Talk has been really instrumental in getting more people reading. Again, like the massive amount of influence it's had to the point where, as I'm sure you know, like when people are in bookstores, when people are in Target, even they're looking for like, oh, these books are popular and book talk. And people are like, these are the book talk recommended books to read. It's become its own entity, which is pretty wild. And I do remember. They I don't know, surge of interest in eBooks. Especially when Kindles were first coming out. Everyone's like, ditch the paper books, write the physical books, and go with an e-reader. And I feel like that as you were saying, has started to fade a little bit. Yeah. And more people are like, yeah, we're just gonna go to an actual bookstore and get a physical copy of something we can hold. Which makes me very happy because mm-hmm. I'm a big fan of an actual book, physical book. Mm-hmm. So one of the things I'm assuming is challenging as a bookstore owner, I'm not a bookstore owner, but I could imagine is that obviously you have your own taste, your own interests, the books that you love. Mm-hmm. So how do you balance that with also stocking a bookstore that's going to appeal to a wider audience?

Roxanne 25:40

Much of it was accepting or knowing that my taste should not dictate someone else's tastes.

Kelsey 25:49

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 25:49

Just because I don't like a book or a genre isn't my thing, doesn't mean that somebody else shouldn't pick it up and shouldn't love it. And I'm just happy when somebody is reading and connecting with a book that they love. I don't care if I don't like it, that's not for me to say, I am so happy to put that book in their hands if that's what they're going to jive with.

Amanda 26:10

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 26:10

So I have a hard time stalking certain sections because I am not well versed in those genres because I don't enjoy certain genres.

Amanda 26:22

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 26:23

Even if I was widely read in them, I still wouldn't really know what's like good because they're not my thing. Like I'm never going to be able to. Figure out what is a quote, good romance book, because romance isn't my thing. So I actually enlist friends to tell me like, Hey, what is, what should I have on my romance shelves? And I should say there are like two people right now who I owe a lot of thanks to. One is a friend named Danielle, been working in bookstores for a long time, who has been helping me since I first pitched the idea of a bookstore to her over a year ago. And another one is the owners of Begyle books in Pioneer Square out to them, especially for some Bipoc Romance recommendations. And they totally came through for me. Yay. To get back to your actual question, like how do I figure out how to stock based off of either my taste or what my tastes or not, it's. I go a lot based on recommendations, what other people tell me that they have been enjoying, especially in genres that I am not really into or not familiar with. I have friends that have helped me with my sci-fi section, with my graphica section. What else? Horror. I largely do either by myself or recommendations from customers at the store. I don't read a lot of splatter punk, so I took a lot of recommendations for splatter punk horror. Yeah, it's been a community effort.

Amanda 27:54

That is amazing. I'm, I guess I'm curious because I haven't been to your bookstore yet, do you, it sounds like you have a variety of genres beyond horror. Do so even though it's a horror themed bookstore, folks can come and find pretty much anything. Is that a fair assumption? Across genres,

Roxanne 28:11

I would say anything. I would say that I try to have something. For almost everyone. I have what I call my island of lost books. Okay. Which is like some popular general fiction. In general nonfiction for say your friend dragged you in'cause they wanted to check out the Horror Fantasy bookstore. Lost books might find something there, but most of what I have is on the darker side or fantasy. Okay. So nowadays I like to say I'm a horror and fantasy bookstore rather than just a horror themed. So my nonfiction section is a lot of either horror or true crime focused things. My graphica section is either a horror or fantasy. My kids section is all either horror fantasy with some exceptions. Yeah. Okay. So I probably don't have something for everyone. But I tried to cover all my bases.

What Makes Horror Unforgettable

Amanda 29:05

Yeah, it sounds like it. Absolutely. It's interesting that you mentioned Beguiled books a moment ago because we actually had her on the podcast. Oh, the owner. She was our first lit bookstores interview. Oh. And it was great. We had such a wonderful conversation. So dialing in more specifically to the horror genre itself and horror book specifically, in your opinion, what makes a horror book unforgettable to you?

Roxanne 29:31

The narration? To me, it's how insightful is the writing outside of the story. It's one of the reasons why I really love there are two books that I'll say that are my absolute favorites for what is in my store right now. And two of those are the last house on Needless Street and the hall of places.

Amanda 29:54

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 29:54

And the reason being, the narration, there are just some things that'll pop out like that is so incredibly insightful and there are things that are scattered throughout these books that just make you stop and go, wow, I just never thought of this situation in that way before. So I feel like there are a lot of books that I'll enjoy for the dialogue or the character development or the plot. But what really makes a book engaging for me and what will make me keep picking it up is there's something in the writing and the narration that I just wouldn't have thought of myself. And I wanted to hear that author's perspective on it.

Amanda 30:37

Do you prefer first or third person? I don't have a

Roxanne 30:42

preference. I just don't like second.

Amanda 30:44

Okay. Oh yeah same.

Kelsey 30:46

I wanna go back to a comment you made in the last question where I just appreciate the call out of. Your taste is your taste. And we get to respect other people so that you do respect other folks' tastes. And it's not about judgment. Mm-hmm. And that's really what Amanda and I try to promote here on the podcast, while we have fun with each other and we tease each other about books that we may or may not like, like it's us, like engaging with texts that we might not have otherwise. Mm-hmm. And and ultimately Amanda's taste is gonna be Amanda's taste and my taste is gonna be my taste. And we continue reading books from each other's preferences and have at it. So it's

Amanda 31:30

fun and sometimes we find things we really love. I've been surprised many times in the past year and a half at books, but I would've never picked up. Ever

Kelsey 31:39

if you hadn't been it,

Amanda 31:40

if I hadn't been forced to read them and I'm like, oh, I actually really did enjoy the AAR series, who would've guessed?

Kelsey 31:46

Yeah. That's wild. So yeah, and vice versa, although I have less, I would say it's fine. But anyway thinking about diving more into your horror taste, are there horror sub genres you think are like wildly underrated?

Roxanne 32:07

Underrated I, oh dear. I guess I would need to know what people don't think highly of in horror. And I guess, don't I guess I don't know what would be underrated because most people that I interact with regarding horror love everything in the genre.

Kelsey 32:29

We could switch up the question. Mm-hmm. And that what are the horror sub genres that you love?

Roxanne 32:37

I love suspenseful Horror. I love possession Horror. Absolutely love.

Kelsey 32:43

Oh, I was like, hold on. What is that? Okay? Yes.

Roxanne 32:46

Yeah.

Kelsey 32:46

That's you,

Roxanne 32:47

I need to pick back up. I started it and I put it down the possession of Albas. Isabel uh, it's incredible so far, but I had to put it down'cause I needed to read something else. The Exorcist is one of my favorite books. My best friend's exorcism. My favorite Grady Hendricks book. What else do I really like? There, there are many, but someone recently called them Exorcism book. I'm like, no, there's about the Possession. It's about the loss of control. It's about the stress of having this deep Come Closer is my favorite possession book.

Amanda 33:21

Oh, okay.

Roxanne 33:21

Sarah Grant, it's bite-sized. It's incredibly well paced. I read it in two days and I'm not a fast reader. I love, absolutely love that book. I love possession books.

Amanda 33:33

Also, just so you know, I'm like jotting down all of these books as you're

Kelsey 33:37

Amanda's like, hold on. Wait, what was that again?

Amanda 33:40

I was like, I like, I'm not kidding. I'm very much trying to expand my excursion into their horror genre. And so anytime folks have recommendations, I'm like, okay, let me check this one out.

Kelsey 33:50

Okay.

Amanda 33:52

I love that. Have you, I know that this, the movie is about an exorcism, but have you seen The Exorcist? Is that a movie that you're like, are you, I guess I should ask, are you into horror films as well?

Roxanne 34:03

I'm not.

Amanda 34:04

Okay. Okay.

Roxanne 34:05

I finally, that's so interesting. I just, I don't like movies is the thing. Oh, okay. Okay. I I'm not really a movie person. Usually when I really like a movie, it's a horror. My favorite movie is The Shining. Okay. Yeah, and like I said, I just watched Sinners last week. It was incredible. Good. So good movie for a vampire movie. The Vampire showed up a little late. Everything. I loved the storyline. I loved the cinematography, I loved the actors in it. It was just absolutely incredible. It was so good. I just, I think the vampires could have showed up a little earlier,

Amanda 34:40

and here's me on the other side of it. I was like, you know what, we can, just, they could have waited a little bit longer.

Kelsey 34:47

Amanda's not huge into vampires. Yeah,

How Roxanne’s Horror Taste Evolved

Amanda 34:52

no. But it is an excellent movie. Absolutely. Yes. It deserves all of the accolades and awards that it's been receiving and getting nominated for. Kind of wrap up this section of questions. You obviously started reading horror when you were very young and then took a break and then came back to it. How do you feel like your taste in horror novels and in the horror genre has evolved over time? Or do you feel like it's been pretty consistent throughout in terms of what you enjoy about the horror genre?

Roxanne 35:20

I'd say it's mostly been pretty consistent. It seems like I enjoy a lot of the same things that I enjoyed back when I was 10 years old and reading a Goosebumps book. I would say that I went through a suspense and thriller kick.

Amanda 35:36

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 35:37

Maybe five years ago. And as I already mentioned, I'm just not doing suspense and thrillers right now other than trying to slowly get through that allo book. But I think a lot of what I read back then, other than. Upping the maturity level of the type of books.

Amanda 35:57

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 35:58

A lot of what I'm looking for is the same. I'm looking for characters that are showing me who they are. I'm looking for suspense. It's what I love about Stephen King books. When I was a teenager, I tore through most of his books. I got 20 mass market paperbacks at a garage sale. Whoa. One day when I was a teenager and I tore through them. I think he does suspense kid development very well. I could still go through a book of Edgar Brown Post short stories. Hop Frog is one of my favorite stories to this day.

Amanda 36:32

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 36:32

It's incredible. It's this. Imprisoned or rather an enslaved dwarf enslaved by the king to be a court jester gets his revenge. It's an incredible revenge story.

Amanda 36:46

That's so Edgar Lan Poe

Roxanne 36:48

Yes.

Amanda 36:50

On brand for him.

Roxanne 36:52

Favorite.

Amanda 36:53

Because isn't he wrote what is it? It's the Cask of a Monte. Is it a Montero Monte? He, that's him as well, right? It's, yeah. Yeah. Like he write, he writes revenge.

Roxanne 37:03

It's so good. It's so good.

Amanda 37:06

I do remember reading his short stories when I was younger and very much enjoying them. So I guess there has always been maybe a small part of me that has enjoyed horror.

Kelsey 37:15

Yeah, sounds like it.

Amanda 37:16

Yeah.

Kelsey 37:18

It's funny, you mentioned, what was it, mass market or mass. What are they called? Those

Roxanne 37:22

yeah. Mass market paperbacks. Or Pocket paperbacks.

Kelsey 37:25

Yeah. I heard you're

Roxanne 37:26

going away.

Kelsey 37:26

Yeah, my friend just sent me this video, actually us Amanda on mm-hmm. Our Instagram.

Amanda 37:32

Oh, okay.

Kelsey 37:33

Just that they're Yeah, exactly what you just said. They're out of style now and they're going away. Mm-hmm. But that was one of the ways that Stephen King got his like fame mm-hmm. And like entry point, because his books were so accessible to folks. Mm-hmm. But yeah, I definitely see, again, like we were talking thanks to TikTok, people are. People are reading more, but also there is this shift in style, right? Where it's like people just want the pretty large hardback books they can put on their shelves and display, mm-hmm. And so there is this shift in the types of books as well.

Amanda 38:08

Yeah. The aesthetic. Yeah.

Kelsey 38:12

Shifting gears bringing yourself back to the bookstore did you realize giving book recommendations would be like this new skill you'd be talking about daily with folks?

Roxanne 38:26

It's what I was hoping for.

Kelsey 38:28

Yay.

Roxanne 38:28

I know a lot of people say that they want to open a bookstore or become librarians because they like to read. I did it because I like talking about books. Yeah.

Kelsey 38:37

Yeah.

Roxanne 38:38

I knew that there wasn't going to be a lot of reading on the clock while I had the bookstore open I had the bookstore open This was about, because I love talking to people about what they and I are reading and making recommendations and seeing if we can find a book that the other person will enjoy.

Amanda 38:59

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 38:59

And maybe following up in a month. Did you like the book?

Kelsey 39:04

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

Roxanne 39:04

What are you doing now?

Amanda 39:06

What's next?

Roxanne 39:07

Yes.

Kelsey 39:09

Yeah. Yeah, when you come into the bookstore, it's so clear that you love talking about books, so that comes off very clearly. How would you read a customer or do you look for specific clues when you're trying to help them?

Roxanne 39:23

I'm pretty straightforward. I just ask me. Some people don't make recommendations, some people just like to browse. Yeah. Or they'll say that they liked this and that author and I'm just like I'm happy to show you a couple authors that might be similar. Mm-hmm. Some people, for example, if they say they like Larry Baron, I'd recommend Thomas Otti, or even Hailey Piper if they want something modern. If they liked Sylvia Morina. Garcia's. Have you read Isabel Con? Or if they're looking for a specific feel? I think you asked earlier, what if somebody isn't into horror? I might rephrase that if like they're just getting into horror, like what is a good introductory book? I have a few books that I'll always recommend to somebody who's newer to horror.

Amanda 40:11

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 40:12

Like the last house on Needless Street feels more like a suspense at times than a horse. So I'll often put that one into people's hands and see if they like that. Or do they want something fast paced? Do they want something more gothic? Do they want something that has stronger character development? Maybe something where the horror is more unknowable rather than straightforward.

Amanda 40:34

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 40:35

I try to have a few titles like in my Back Pocket so I can find a few recommendations quickly to get the ball rolling. And then they'll either let me know are we going in the right direction or not, and I'll try to pivot from there. But yeah. Thankfully, most people have an idea of what they're looking for, or they'll have at least a few clues to lead me in the right direction so I can help them. Yeah.

Amanda 41:02

I'm curious, instead of asking you this next question, since you already answered it I'm gonna put you on the spot a little bit. So I obviously love thrillers. I really love psychological thrillers. So if I were to come into your shop and be like, Hey, Roxanne, I love psychological thrillers. They're my jam, but I wanna shift more into horror. Yeah. I'm curious what kind of books you would recommend for me.

Roxanne 41:19

So in addition to the Last House on Needless Street,

Amanda 41:22

okay.

Roxanne 41:22

I might recommend a book called The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino and Glas, I believe. Or I would recommend something like The Troop by Nick Cutter, because these are really fast paced books and they're not necessarily focused on. Creeping dread, but rather the plot and what's going on to these characters, like the devil Takes you home, there's a mission, there's a cartel, there's desperation, there's all that kind of like fast-paced stuff that you might find in like an action movie. Whereas the TRO it's like Lord of the Flies, but with tapeworms, it, oh, has it has a closed environment. Nobody leaves, nobody comes in. You have people slowly uncovering this very desperate situation trying to figure out what they're going to do. That one does have some animal violence in it, so I try to give people content warnings for that.

Amanda 42:21

Okay. Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 42:23

And then also again, the last house on Needless Street because it is twisty. Yes. And it is more suspenseful. Yeah.

Amanda 42:29

Okay. I put it on there. I was also just thinking, so my other top genre, which you might have picked up in my little intro blurb is that I love historical fiction. Oh. I recently read The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell.

Roxanne 42:43

Oh, that's coming up for our book club.

Amanda 42:44

Oh yeah. So I recommended it for my book club. We're currently reading for this one. I was like, guys, so I also really like horror that is similar to that. So it's historical fiction and it's blending with horror and it's just so eerie and it just creates like this suspense. So I'm curious if there are other books that come to mind that might fit or might be similar to that book.'cause I really liked it and if not, that's okay. I realize I'm totally putting you on the spot right now, but I read and I was like, oh my gosh, this is my jam.

Roxanne 43:14

Let me think for a second.'cause I don't have my shelves in front of me.

Amanda 43:17

Sure.

Roxanne 43:18

Most of the historical horrors I can think of are more gothic.

Amanda 43:22

That's great. I love gothic horror.

Roxanne 43:25

Okay. If you want something historical and gothic uhhuh, I'd recommend nda.

Amanda 43:31

Okay. Oh, I've heard of this one. Okay. I think it might,

Roxanne 43:34

It's so creepy. What I love about Kanye's writing is that it's steeped in culture, absolutely dripping with the character's environment. It's one of those books that you can't take out of that one said in Mexico. Mm-hmm. The possession of Albad is said in Spain, but you can't take these books out of their environment and plop them down in Kansas or New York. Like it doesn't have to take place where they are. It's because mostly of the character interactions and how they're raised to deal with certain situations. I absolutely love her writing too. It's so foreboding at times. Mm-hmm.

44:24

But

Roxanne 44:24

it's also very beautifully written.

Amanda 44:27

Ugh. And I'm a huge fan of the writing. I often talk about this. I'm one of those people who are like, yeah, really, that's really important to me. And if I never have folks, it's not, they're just like, that's not what I'm looking for, is like. how good of a writer the author is per se, and like their style. But I am I love that. That makes me even more excited to check. And I'm assuming all of these books that you just recommended you have in your shop?

Roxanne 44:48

Yes.

Amanda 44:49

Great. I will have to swing by,'cause I work in Cap Hill, so I'll have to see by pick up a couple. Okay.

Can Horror Be Healing?

Kelsey 44:56

You definitely should. Shifting again topics, but thinking about again, the genre in general, do you think horror can be healing or cathartic?

Roxanne 45:12

Mm-hmm. I do. I feel like especially a really strong ending. So I think sometimes with healing, emotional healing. I think sometimes it's not about getting the resolution that you want as much as the one that you feel like makes sense.'cause it's validating.

Amanda 45:39

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 45:40

And I think that if somewhere, if there was a situation that was just incredibly traumatizing and things went horribly wrong, and it's never going to be the same again because things are just broken. If for some reason you had a happy ending where everything was fluffy and fine. That would almost feel like gaslighting.

Amanda 46:07

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 46:07

It would just be like, no that's not how it works. That's not what makes sense in my head. Based on my experience and based on what I know about the world. You're lying.

Amanda 46:17

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 46:17

If I see that instead that ending, that is honest. That makes sense. Based off of everything you've told me about this story so far, I would feel connected to that book. I would feel like, yes, this is right. This isn't what I want, but it is what is right.

Amanda 46:41

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 46:42

Yeah.

Amanda 46:42

Yeah. That's a great answer. That

Kelsey 46:45

makes a lot of sense.

Amanda 46:45

Yeah. Yeah. Especially'cause you were talking earlier about, horror. Is a genre in which you do see characters falling apart and going through really difficult things and that mm-hmm. I think you used the term degradation that's happening over the course of the novel. And because horror has the ability to get into some of those dark spaces and places, I think it can be a place for people to process and to feel like lived experiences are being seen and talked about. Yeah, absolutely agree. And I don't think that's something people often think about when they think about horror either. So that was also just like a really great question to ask Kelsey. I think people just think it's about like the gore, this being scared, and it's so much more than that. Horror provides this really great venue for us to explore. Again, as you said, Roxanne, these other facets of humanity and the human experience that can be brushed over in other genres sometimes. And can feel like too dark for other genres. So Yeah. Absolutely. And I think to build off of that are there particular authors or books that you feel seen like in their work and what they put out there?

Roxanne 47:53

Probably. Anything in which the plot revolves around feminine rage. There's a book that I'm reading right now called The Mad Wife and I know and same goes with. A book called The Hounding. The hounding is a horror, a host historical horror, and mad wife is more of a, it, I guess it's technically historical, just a few decades prior, but it's more of a thriller.

Kelsey 48:19

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 48:19

Anything where women are being held down by their circumstances or about what people think women should be or how women should act or behave. It just it pisses me off because thankfully I was raised by a woman who taught me to not just be strong and independent, but to know who I am and to not take shit from the world if mm-hmm. They tell me that I'm something different.

Amanda 48:56

Yeah. Yeah.

Roxanne 48:57

So books like that where there is a lot of raging against injustices to women, those books will

Amanda 49:04

resonate

Roxanne 49:05

it'll go one way or the other. Either I'll tear through them or I'll get so angry that I'll need to put it down.

Amanda 49:14

I can absolutely agree. I actually just read Freedom McFadden's new book that again, just came out Dear Debbie. And it's all about this midwife, just like on a rampage and it's great.

Kelsey 49:27

I'll

Amanda 49:27

have to

Kelsey 49:27

pick it up.

Amanda 49:29

Yeah. Yeah. Did I say midwife or housewife? I meant to say housewife, midwife. Oh, I

Roxanne 49:34

was like, okay.

Amanda 49:34

Sorry. Not a housewife. A housewife, sorry. Going on a rampage and I found it very, yeah, cathartic and just like a release. Being a woman in this world sometimes is just like, oh, I just need to throttle someone. And it was nice to let that out through that book. So I think it's great.

Roxanne 49:55

There is another, a historical that I should recommend.'cause you asked for historical horror. Oh yeah. Brahms book, SLU Foot, it's a witchy horror. Okay. But he, this woman, it takes place in Puritan Times. And this woman who's not from the Puritan community marries in. So she's not of their ways, but she is so strategic and headstrong. I love this character so much. So if you want a character that you can just like root for the entire way mm-hmm. Until she's literally becoming a witch, then, and even then you're just like, this was justified. I'd recommend that one too.

Amanda 50:32

And wait, so what is the title one more time?

Roxanne 50:34

Slew foot.

Amanda 50:35

Slew Foot. Okay. Amazing artwork

Roxanne 50:37

as well.

Amanda 50:38

Oh, yay. Perfect. Thank you.

Kelsey 50:40

That's great.

Amanda 50:42

Getting a whole list going here. This is fantastic.

Building the Haunted Burrow Community

Kelsey 50:44

Switching gears again. I keep saying that. What else? What kind of community are you hoping to create and build through the store?

Roxanne 50:56

Yeah. I am extremely fortunate that people are down to join us for book clubs. It's my favorite. It's an hour of everybody talking about a book.

Kelsey 51:08

Yeah.

Roxanne 51:08

I was also doing write-ins for a little bit, but they were touch and go. I might not be doing them anymore, but I really was hoping to foster. A bit more of the writing community as well as the reading community. But I love that the book clubs have taken off. Absolutely. Do. Yep.

Amanda 51:26

Yeah. That's

Roxanne 51:27

fun.

Amanda 51:27

Such a great way to connect with other readers, like mm-hmm. It truly is. So we're clo we're like getting to the last little bit here and so we've got some fun questions. And this is one of them. So if Haunted Burrow books were a horror trope, oh, what do you think it would be and why? And it's okay if you need to think about this one for a minute'cause it's a little off, like off the wall.

Kelsey 51:50

It's just a fun,

Roxanne 51:52

I think that I was secretly a witch and that's how I read as much as I do. Yes. In reality it's audio books. But I think the trope would be that, I rush in the door at two minutes before opening and I used my magic to clean everything up and straighten all the books and I don't know, I don't know. This is really just like me wishing I had powers in the morning.

Kelsey 52:19

That would be the perfect time to have powers.

Amanda 52:22

It was

Kelsey 52:22

this morning.

Amanda 52:23

Yes. It's giving any

Kelsey 52:25

time of the day.

Amanda 52:28

It's giving very like fairytale lost in the wood princess vibes who's like singing in the animals are coming in and helping her clean.

Kelsey 52:34

There

Roxanne 52:34

you go. I would love that. Especially bunnies if

Amanda 52:39

yes.

Roxanne 52:39

So I have a couple rabbits and clowns in the store. Mm-hmm. If they could like actually come to life and come out. Yes. I have two clowns and in addition to my mascot rabbit, I have thank you to, somebody who works across the street from me, they came in with this amazing little gold painted rabbit figurine that they found at like a thrift store. And they're like, I don't have a place for this anymore. Do you want it? I'm just like, yes, I do.

Kelsey 53:10

Aw, that's sweet.

Amanda 53:13

Yeah. I like the V idea of them all coming alive in the morning and helping you straighten up and then just, that's that's perfect. It's so again, so on brand for haunted borough books.

Kelsey 53:24

And then thinking about what is your dream like event or author visit, if you could have anybody in your store?

Roxanne 53:33

Anybody. Maybe Sarah Grant.

Amanda 53:35

Okay.

Roxanne 53:36

Katri Ward. Isabel Kanye. I, you know what I would've said, Jane Stanton Hitchcock, unfortunately, she passed away recently. Oh. But she wrote, and these incredible thrillers that were like rich people, fiction. They all involved socialites in New York.

Kelsey 53:56

Oh, fun.

Roxanne 53:57

I love the book so much. And I know I know Ruth Ware is

Amanda 54:01

Yeah.

Roxanne 54:02

Controversial, but I love Ruth Ware. I do too. I would just like to read her. I do.

Kelsey 54:06

Oh my gosh. Why is she controversial?

Roxanne 54:09

A lot of people say that her protagonist. Tend to be the stereotypical fragile woman, but to me that like just amps up the anxiety for me, like for me, for a protagonist to be really fragile and not really knowing what to do in a situation and maybe not really being able to advocate for herself. I'm just like, I get that I'm in there before. Yeah. Yeah. This would absolutely make the situation worse.

Lightning Question Round

Amanda 54:35

Same. Yeah. I actually hadn't heard that criticism of her work before, but yeah, I guess I could see it, but it, yeah, it doesn't at all bother me. I'm like, yeah, I relate. Awesome. Okay, so we're gonna do like our fun lightning round, rapid fire round. So this is just like really quick off the cuff responses that we'll just blow right through. Mm-hmm. And then we'll give you a chance at the end just to plug your bookstore and if you have socials, et cetera that people can find you on, we'll include that as well. So first, for our lightning round what is one horror book you wish more people talked about?

Roxanne 55:06

Clowns versus spiders, is

Amanda 55:09

that the name of the book?

Roxanne 55:10

It's the name of the book. It's a horror comedy about a troop of clowns that get fired from their circus because of budget cuts and they have to work at a haunted house as evil clowns and they hate it. Oh my God. All day they're hearing about how people think that clowns are evil and scary and that they hate clowns. They're making little kids cry. But then one day giant spiders invade, and after trying to run and trying to hide, they realize what they need to do is raise up and defeat the spiders to defend the good name of clowns. 10. 10. I love this book so much. Oh my God.

Amanda 55:44

Just hearing. That's hilarious. It does. It sounds so funny.

Roxanne 55:48

It's

Amanda 55:49

so good. Wait, but is it actually scary or is it like a, it sounds like it's comedy

Roxanne 55:52

at times. It's scary.

Amanda 55:54

Okay. Okay.

Roxanne 55:55

So like horror comedy can go one of two ways. You can either take a serious situation and make it silly or you can take a silly situation and make it serious.

Amanda 56:02

Sure.

Roxanne 56:02

And I think that they took a silly situation and made it serious.

Amanda 56:05

Okay.

Roxanne 56:06

Like they, some of them do not make it. Some of them, okay. The ending is so good. The climax amazing. And people, the entire time the townspeople think that they're evil clowns because they're dressed up in their evil comic because they came straight from work. My, and they're goodness. Like fighting off these horrible spiders and people are like, those evil clouds. I'm like, no, they're saving you.

Amanda 56:34

That sounds like something I might have to read actually.

Kelsey 56:37

Oh my God. Okay. Horror book that genuinely scared you.

Roxanne 56:44

The Exorcist. And to answer your question from earlier, I actually have not, I don't believe I've seen the movie. Oh, okay. I've seen parts of it and it seems gross, but the most Yeah. Was genuinely scary. And it has some wonderful conversations about whether the little girl might actually be psychic. There is, oh the Battle of Wills in the book is so much more about trying to extract the information from, that they need from this demon. And the demon is just trying to outsmart them the entire time.

Amanda 57:17

Mm-hmm.

Roxanne 57:17

It's amazing. The other one that genuinely scared me is The Ritual by Adam Nevill It is so incredibly atmospheric. It's like a witch in the Woods book, but the writing, it just grabs you and it doesn't let go. Oh,

Amanda 57:32

okay. Maybe I'll have to try that one too. We'll see.

Kelsey 57:37

There's also

Roxanne 57:38

a dark road. I tried watching the movie for the ritual and I didn't like it. I just but I need movies to be it. It was a very visual movie and those don't hold my attention.

Amanda 57:49

That's fair. That is fair. Okay, next one. Flip side, what is a comfort horror read for you?

Roxanne 57:57

I recently started reading Rachel Harrison, who's oh

Amanda 58:01

yes. Uhhuh.

Roxanne 58:02

I love her new book play. Nice.

Amanda 58:03

I, yep.

Roxanne 58:05

It's yeah, you read it?

Amanda 58:06

I read it. Yeah.

Roxanne 58:07

It's so good. It's

Amanda 58:08

so good.

Roxanne 58:09

Between the sisters.

Amanda 58:11

Yeah. Must It was great.

Roxanne 58:12

So well done.

Amanda 58:14

That was a good one for me'cause it was like not too scary. Yeah. And it does, have some really good like social commentary in there as well because I know she has a lot of like feminist horror. Yeah, I really liked it. I need to read, actually I read Cackle as well recently. I loved Cackle and I love Ralph The Spider. He's adorable. And probably not scary. Like the spiders and clown versus spiders.

Kelsey 58:37

Spiders. Um, Horror. You refuse to read

Roxanne 58:42

splatter punk. Because I just don't have the stomach for it. I'm not really into body horror very much. Okay. The troop Nick Cutters the troop was I, that was like the limit of what I can handle. Although there is a splatter punk book that's been really popular at my store recently called The Horror. Okay. I think it's by Sore, I think. But it apparently has a lot about grief in it, and the amount of people that I've recommended to me have almost convinced me to read it. Oh. But still, I'm just not a splatter punk reader. Yeah. Can't do Gore

Amanda 59:21

either. It's not for me.

Kelsey 59:23

That's such a funny name.

Amanda 59:26

Splatter Punk.

Roxanne 59:27

Oh, splatter Punk.

Where to Find Roxanne (and us!)

Amanda 59:29

Because it makes it sound like it's not as. It sounds lighthearted I don't know. Thank you. It reminds me of the group, what is on Nickelodeon, these to slime people. That's what makes me think of yeah. Okay. If someone reads one horror book this year and they're interested in horror, you're not pushing that anyone? If someone reads one horror book this year, it should be what?

Roxanne 59:49

Come closer.

Amanda 59:50

Come closer. Okay. Is that on my list? You, oh, you gave me that one earlier. Yes. It's on there. Okay.

Kelsey 59:55

Oh, great. Okay. And then the final portion, which we found you've read one of the books that we've done litted or Quit it episodes for was Weathering Heights by Emily Bronte. A Lit It or Quit it for you.

Roxanne 1:00:10

Split it, but only if you enjoy a gothic. Otherwise it might be really boring.

Amanda 1:00:14

That's fair. I just think so many people who have seen this trailer for the new movie are gonna be vastly disappointed if they're like, oh my gosh, it's a romance. Let me read this lovely romantic. It's not a romance, in my opinion. It's not a romance. Awesome. Okay. Then to finally wrap things up, we definitely want folks to be able to find you connect with you, go to your bookstore if they're local. So can you just tell us, tell folks where you're located and if you have socials in places where they can connect with you?

Roxanne 1:00:42

Awesome. I'm happy to have you. It's located at four 30 15th, a east right on the same block as the punk rock Flea market, which we love. I'm on social media, Instagram at haunted Borough books. And if you want to check out our events, there is always a running list of events@hauntedrobooks.com.

Amanda 1:01:06

Awesome. Thank you. I will definitely be stopping in the bookstore soon, especially'cause you're so close to where I work. So I'm excited to pick up some of these recommendations and do a little bit more exploration of the horror genre. Amazing. So happy

Roxanne 1:01:20

to see you both soon.

Amanda 1:01:21

Yeah, it was so great to have you. Thank you for taking time out of your busy week to chat with us and listeners. As a reminder, we are also on socials and Kelsey's gonna run you through those really quickly.

Kelsey 1:01:33

We are on Instagram at Live Vibes only podcast and TikTok and YouTube at Live Vibes only podcast. And of course, always go over to any podcasting platform you're on and rate and review us, but especially on Spotify and Apple, we greatly appreciate it. It helps our podcast be more seen by others and, gosh, what am I missing? Fable. Fable, we are now on Fable, which is where we host our monthly book clubs that you get to vote on which book is coming up next, which means you are voting on which books we are highlighting on our podcast. So if you want some authority in any of that, some say, please go to fable and check us out. We are both at Lit Vibes only podcast and it either says Kelsey or Amanda, and that is the book club we're associated with.

Amanda 1:02:32

Yes, we would love to have you. We love chatting with you guys and it's just one more way to connect with all of you readers out there. So thank you for joining us and we'll see you next Monday. Bye

1:02:44

bye.