Oh, the HORROR! With Zachariah Chamberlin on Books, Banter, & Beyond
Donna sits down with horror author Zachariah Chamberlin — a former firefighter and paramedic turned self-published-then-hybrid author — for a deep dive into a genre Donna herself has never been able to stomach on the page. By the end of the conversation, Zach might just have talked her into it. In this episode: Zach traces his love of horror back to childhood nights watching Friday Fright Night with his mom, and his first film (An American Werewolf in London) at age six. Donna and Zach unpack the surprising overlap between horror and romance readers, and why "dark romantasy" fans often cross over into horror. A breakdown of horror's subgenres — cosmic/Lovecraftian horror, slasher, body horror, demonic horror, and splatterpunk — with movie touchstones like The Thing, In the Mouth of Madness, and Hellraiser. Why writing horror is about visceral, felt experience rather than just description — and how Zach's background in theater and film shapes his "cinematic" prose. The story behind his debut novel, We Come Bearing Curses — the first book in The Curse Bearers trilogy — an extreme cosmic horror set in a fictional, isolated Midwest town, following two brothers pulled into a prophecy against a cult of Old One worshippers. How the trilogy's themes of trauma and recovery are drawing directly from Zach's own healing process after his career as a first responder, and what that means for book two, We Are Broken Curses. His upcoming short story in the anthology Dead Avenue Volume 2 (out this September), a haunted-house tale following a reporter who gets more than he bargained for. The reality of being a "hybrid published" author, and an audiobook of his debut currently in the works for a Halloween release. A candid conversation about dyslexia, ADHD, and audiobooks as real reading — a topic close to Donna's heart as the mom of three boys with dyslexia. A sweet detour into My Daddy Eats Monsters, the bedtime horror story Zach wrote for his own kids. Where to find Zachariah Chamberlin: We Come Bearing Curses — available everywhere books are sold, and free with Kindle Unlimited. Catch him in person at Crypticon Kansas City, August 14–16, at the Kansas City Book Beats booth. Grab a free short story featuring the main character of We Come Bearing Curses — link below. https://heyzine.com/flip-book/6d3d71ced3.html Find him on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads: @ZachariahChamberlin 🎧 Subscribe to Books, Banter, & Beyond for more conversations with authors, readers, and everyone who loves a good story. Want to be on the podcast? Contact Donna here: https://www.donnarmadden.com/contact-donna-r-madden/ #BooksBanterAndBeyond #DonnaRMadden #ZachariahChamberlin #CosmicHorror #HorrorBooks #HorrorAuthor #Lovecraftian #DarkRomantasy #HorrorCommunity #IndieHorror #AuthorInterview #BookPodcast #WeComeBearingCurses #TheCurseBearers #IndieAuthor #HybridAuthor #BookTube #Bookstagram #AudiobooksAreReading #DyslexiaAwareness #Crypticon #KCBookBeats #WritingCommunity #ReadersOfYouTube #DeadAvenueAnthology
