Horror, Cosmic and Personal

Back in August, I was a guest on the Against Everyone with Conner Habib podcast. The episode kicked off a multi-episode series on horror. Here is a portion of Conner’s introduction to our conversation, which was also his introduction to the series:

We’ll be asking the deep questions and seeing what unlit paths they lead us down. What is horror for? Whay do we condemn it even as we flock to it? What is the horror-nature of being? What happens when the imagination explores the violence, the darkness, and the screaming in the inner landscape and when we conjure it into art?

You don’t have to know much horror or even like horror to follow along with these episodes; each one will reveal a horror of life, of being human. Horror remains the best tool to investigate evil and to overcome it.

To kick off this series, I’ll start with the tension between the horrors of the cosmos and the horrors of the personal, with horror scholar and writer, Matt Cardin. Matt first came to my attention via his appearances on the Weird Studies podcast (first on WS 41, then on WS 126), where he spoke with such frightening depth about horror that I knew the horrifying must have, across his life, shocked him into new avenues of being. He’s the author of many books, including the story collection, To Rouse Leviathan, and also What the Daemon Said: Essays on Horror Fiction, Film, and Philosophy.

You can listen to the entire episode HERE.

The Daemon Muse

Last week I was interviewed by Mycelium Signal, the podcast of the Finnish visionary artist collective Tuonnen Portti. Here is the official episode description:

We’re excited to welcome our esteemed guest today, the accomplished author Matt Cardin, hailing from Arkansas, USA. In our conversation, we delve into a diverse range of topics including the concept of the daemon muse, the differences of science and scientism, explorations of pessimism and nihilism, insights into nonduality, and discussions on supernatural horror. We also touch upon the influences and thoughts of Robert Anton Wilson, Thomas Ligotti, H. P. Lovecraft, Carl Jung, James Hillman, and Stan Gooch. Additionally, we explore the harrowing concept of Chapel Perilous and discuss Matt’s very first published horror story, “Teeth.”

You can listen to the entire episode HERE.

I have also published a transcription of several portions of the interview at my newsletter under the title “Beyond the Veil: Religion, Scientism, and the Supernatural.”