MSW Classic: "The Summer People" by Shirley Jackson
Release Date: 08/19/2025
Majorie Bowen's "The Crown Derby Plate"
The Monster She Wrote Podcast
Marjorie Bowen’s short story “The Crown Derby Plate” opens as “three elderly, cheerful women” sit around a fire for a cozy Christmas. They talk of a nearby estate that is rumored to be haunted when one of the women remembers that they had beautiful Crown Derby china that she wants for her antique shop. So, she makes the journey to the house, only to discover a little more than she bargained for. Recommended in this episode: Listen to , discussing the Valancourt re-release of Rosalind Ashe’s Moths. NEWS: We have a now! Find all of our favorite books at our...
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E. Nesbit's "The Shadow"
The Monster She Wrote Podcast
In E. Nesbit’s story “The Shadow,” a vibrant Christmas party has gone late into the night, and everyone stays over at the manor house, given the late hour. Three women are sitting up around the fire with cocoa in hand, gossiping about boys and telling spooky stories. One woman, though, has an especially frightening tale to tell. Read “The Shadow” . Recommended in this episode: NEWS: We have a now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses. UP NEXT: Buy our books , including our newest
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Mariko Koike's The Graveyard Apartment
The Monster She Wrote Podcast
SPOILERS ABOUND as we discuss Mariko Koike’s . Be forewarned! A young married couple has found the perfect apartment for their growing family. It’s beautiful and spacious. It’s close to shopping, the train, and their daughter’s school. The only problem? It is surrounded by a cemetery. A bit weird, yes, but not a problem–until strange and troubling events begin forcing out the tenants one by one, leaving the Kano family to fight by themselves. Recommended in this episode: by Kelly Foster Lundquist and by Simone St. James ALSO: Charlotte Riddell is in the...
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Mary Wilkins Freeman's Luella Miller
The Monster She Wrote Podcast
In Mary Wilkins Freeman’s short story “Luella Miller,” a tale is told about a woman named Luella, who is prone to hysterics and drains the energy from everyone around her. Is she just a woman in need of help? Or something much, much more sinister? Read Freeman’s story on the Library of America site or listen to it via the Podcastle podcast, here: Recommended in this episode: and NEWS: We have a now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses. UP NEXT: Buy our books , including our newest
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Jen Julian's Red Rabbit Ghost
The Monster She Wrote Podcast
Last episode, we welcomed author Jen Julian on podcast. And this episode, Mel and Lisa discuss her book in more detail. College Freshman Jesse Calloway returns to his hometown of Blacknot in North Carolina after receiving mysterious anonymous texts in a college social media app with clues about his mother’s unresolved death. She died when he was an infant, so he doesn’t remember much of her–and he will do anything to learn more. Unfortunately, layers of secrets cover this small town tragedy (and other aspects of its past as well), and it will be hard for Jesse to uncover the truth...
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Interview with Jen Julian
The Monster She Wrote Podcast
Today, we welcome writer Jen Julian to discuss her book . Jen Julian is a writer from Eastern North Carolina. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and an MFA in Fiction from UNC Greensboro. Her short story collection, , was the winner of the Press 53 Fiction Prize and was published in 2018, and her debut novel, , is out now through Orbit/Redhook, 2025. Recent work has appeared in Gulf Coast Magazine, , , , , Third Coast Magazine, , and , among other places. She has won numerous awards, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions, and Best...
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Elizabeth Hand's A Haunting on the Hill
The Monster She Wrote Podcast
In Elizabeth Hand’s , Holly Sherwin is living every writer's dream. She has grant money to finish her new play, which she uses to rent a mansion in the woods so that she can work in peace. The only problem? The mansion is Hill House, a living, breathing bad place that promises to turn Holly’s dream into a nightmare. Recommended in this episode: Laura Purcell’s NEWS: We have a now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses. UP NEXT: Interview with author Buy our books , including our newest
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Tanith Lee's "Where All Things Perish"
The Monster She Wrote Podcast
“She looks through water, / She looks through air, She leaps at the moon / And she looks in. Give her silver, Give her gold, / And bind her eyes With a brick and a pin.” “Where All Things Perish” by Tanith Lee was first published in Weird Tales #325 (Fall 2001). It’s available in full on , which also links to an interview with Lee by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer. Recommended in this episode: by Lindsey Fitzharris NEWS: We have a now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses. UP NEXT: by Elizabeth Hand Buy...
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MSW Classic: "The Summer People" by Shirley Jackson
The Monster She Wrote Podcast
We are on a summer hiatus, but we will be returning with brand-new episodes soon! Please enjoy this classic episode on "The Summer People" by Shirley Jackson. Shirley Jackson once again proves that she is the queen of creepy short stories, this time with her story “The Summer People.” The story starts idyllic, like many of Jackson’s stories. The Allisons are a wealthy older couple who summer in a cabin by a lake in rural New England. Their picturesque existence quickly turns nightmarish, however, when they decide to extend their trip and stay past Labor Day.
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MSW Classic: "Summer" by Tananarive Due
The Monster She Wrote Podcast
We are on summer hiatus! So please enjoy this MSW Classic episode on Tanarive Due's "Ghost Summer" Tananarive Due’s “Summer” (from her story collection Ghost Summer) is set in her fictional town of Gracetown, Florida, where the humid and murky swamps hide bodies and demon leeches. It’s not a place to raise a baby–or maybe it is.
info_outlineWe are on a summer hiatus, but we will be returning with brand-new episodes soon! Please enjoy this classic episode on "The Summer People" by Shirley Jackson.
Shirley Jackson once again proves that she is the queen of creepy short stories, this time with her story “The Summer People.” The story starts idyllic, like many of Jackson’s stories. The Allisons are a wealthy older couple who summer in a cabin by a lake in rural New England. Their picturesque existence quickly turns nightmarish, however, when they decide to extend their trip and stay past Labor Day.