A 15-part documentary series directed by Philip Gelatt (The Spine of Night, Love, Death & Robots), First Word on Horror highlights insightful conversations with authors Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Elizabeth Hand, Laird Barron, and Mariana Enriquez about the real-life influences behind their work and how they approach the craft of writing effective horror that lingers long after it's read.
With a new episode featuring Bram Stoker Award-nominated Mariana Enriquez (A Sunny Place for Shady People, Our Share of Night, Things We Lost in the Fire) coming to Substack on April 24th, we have an exclusive clip from the upcoming episode to share with Daily Dead readers, as well as the exclusive reveal of the episode's hauntingly mesmerizing artwork by Santiago Caruso, which depicts Mariana's short story "Adela's House."
Below, you can view Santiago's poster art and watch Marianna Enriquez discuss the horrors of dictatorship in our exclusive clip, and we also have additional details on First Word on Horror. To learn more about the documentary series, visit:
Episode: Mariana Enriquez (Adela's House- Premiering April 24)
Mariana Enriquez is a writer based in Buenos Aires. In English, she has published the novel Our Share of Night and three story collections, A Sunny Place For Shady People, Things We Lost in the Fire and The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, which was a finalist for the International Booker Prize, the Kirkus Prize, the Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Fiction.
Exclusive Episode Poster Artist Biography:
SANTIAGO CARUSO is an Argentine artist. His work cultivates a language of novel and personal rhetoric, although grounded in the symbolist aesthetics. Among his many works are illustrated versions of Jane Eyre (Folio Society); The Chants of Maldoror (Valdemar); The Dunwich Horror, The Bloody Countess, The Monk and the Hangman´s Daughter, The King of Yellow (Libros del Zorro Rojo); Materia Oscura, El Eco de mis Muertes (Aguijón de la Noche); The Walls of the Castle, The Booking (Black Labyrinth).He has made book covers for Tartarus Press, Actes Sud, Planeta, Sudamericana and Páginas de Espuma. Also he develops album covers for various bands in America and Europe. You can find his artwork in galleries and museums of Argentina, United States, United Kingdom, Slovakia, Brazil, Mexico and Spain.
From the Press Release: FIRST WORD ON HORROR is a fifteen-part documentary series that profiles five of the finest horror writers working today.
Across multiple episodes, each author discusses their life, their inspirations, their philosophies, and their writing techniques while reading one of their short stories. As fact and fiction blend, secrets are revealed and the delicate alchemy that turns human experience into creative expression begins to emerge.
The series is a love letter to writers of all ilk, to the primacy of the human experience, and to the simple act of reading a damned good story.
The authors profiled are New York Times bestsellers, multi-award winners, and cult favorites. In this first season, they are Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Elizabeth Hand, Laird Barron, and Mariana Enriquez.
Through the authors’ lives the series takes viewers from a harrowing Iditarod dogsled race in Alaska to the lurking terror of growing up under the Argentinian dictatorship; from the unbridled energy of the early DC punk scene to an ill-fated hunting expedition on the Blackfeet reservation in Montana.
FIRST WORD ON HORROR is directed by Emmy and WGA winning writer and filmmaker Philip Gelatt, whose credits include: The Spine Of Night, Europa Report, They Remain, The Bleeding House and Love Death + Robots. The project is produced by Will Battersby (The Spine Of Night, They Remain, Trumbo) and other key crew include Director of Photography Sean Kirby, Composer Peter Scartabello, Editor April Merl and Sound Designer Ben Cheah.
FIRST WORD ON HORROR- FULL Episode Release Dates:
February 7 - Stephen Graham Jones
February 21st - Paul Tremblay
March 14th - Elizabeth Hand
April 4th - Laird Barron
April 24th - Mariana EnriquezABOUT ETCH
Etch is an independent animation and production company run by the award-winning trio of Philip Gelatt, Will Battersby and Morgan Galen King. Specializing in the provocative, intelligent and innovative, as well as fantastical and horrific, Etch seeks to put the dark magic back into moving images.
Etch has expertise in animation, documentary and feature production and a core philosophy of maintaining ownership and creative control through novel approaches to production and distribution.
Episode Poster Art by Santiago Caruso:
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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