Let The Cat In

27/01/2024

The Cat gets spooky and kooky with a very special guest: author, screenwriter, living encyclopedia of all things Halloween, the one and only, the delightful, Lisa Morton. While Aaron dreams of Hal Bodner, and Kaaron writes about four hairdressers, Joseph drinks whisky, eats haggis, and invokes the spirit of the dead Rabbie Burns. Lisa brings a totem. Curses are discussed, and cursed objects, with an aside concerning the online cursed doll market. Also ritual as a language, the foundations of comedy, and the sadness of dead shopping malls. That terrible moment you realise you’re part of a folk horror ritual you didn’t consent to. Kaaron remembers Marilyn Monroe’s grave. Aaron discovers a cursed cabinet. Joseph hurls his body out into the void. Lisa finds her old teacher’s book. Everyone wonders about dread mechanisms.

The Cat gets spooky and kooky with a very special guest: author, screenwriter, living encyclopedia of all things Halloween, the one and only, the delightful, Lisa Morton.

22/09/2023

The Cat gets cosy in the cubby house with special guest, author of All The Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns, Castle Full of Blackbirds, and more – so much more! – Angela Slatter. While Joseph reads another bogus biography and Aaron holds in a sneeze, Kaaron is delighted by a biscuit tin. Angela revisits the traumatising books of childhood. Solipsism is discussed, as is Nabokov’s dream Russia, and the USA of his imagination. Places of the imagination with no real-world existence. The idealisation of a place that becomes more real than the place itself. A toothless man is the telling detail. Not to mention, all the reasons why children should – nay, must! – be traumatised with dark tales. Aaron and Angela resurrect the ghost of Myrtle. Joseph makes a misguided commitment. Kaaron loses a ham bone.

The Cat gets cosy in the cubby house with special guest, author of All The Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns, Castle Full of Blackbirds, and more – so much more! – Angela Slatter.

25/08/2023

The Cat gets titular in the first episode of a brand new season, with special guest Jason Nahrung, Australia's number one vampire and author of Blood and Dust and The Big Smoke. While Kaaron takes a creepy clown as her plus one and Aaron gets unwholesomely into napkins, Joseph gets a lift with a stranger to knifey-town. Jason shares his abiding love of New Orleans, and everybody learns about the life of pirate Jean Lafitte. Titles are discussed: titles from nowhere; titles by consortium; titles as a story's guiding light. The comfort of titles on a bookshelf. The dangers of writing as a tourist. Everyone agrees you shouldn't be a wa**er. Kaaron and Aaron fall out over Love Story. Jason wonders where you got dem shoes. Joseph gets into jazz—wankily. Everyone agrees on the Bloody Mary.

http://ltcipodcast.com/2023/08/25/drawing/

13/06/2023

The Cat gets chimerical and discourses upon dreams with special guest Paul Mannering, award-winning author of the Drakeforth and Tankbread series, among many other fine stories. While Kaaron revisits some old dreams and Joseph gets obsessive, Aaron is scuttled sudsily by Shrek in his first Turkish bath. Paul puts his hand up for the teacher. Dreams are discussed, as is David Lynch, and that movie from the nineties where Steve Buscemi calls for more dwarves (only he doesn’t – about which, more below). The potency of first images. Capturing the weirdness and emotional weight of those images, while ensuring they make sense in this world. “It’s wearing your face!” Joseph, Kaaron and Paul appear in Aaron’s nightmares. Paul heals himself with a lucid dream. Aaron performs a (classic) Driesian wrap-up.

13/05/2023

The Cat gets intangible, discussing liminal spaces with special guest Sarah Read, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Bone Weaver's Orchard and Out of Water. While Joseph clambers through the brambles behind an old tyre yard, and Kaaron applies to be writer in residence at an all-night pub, Aaron looks up to find himself alone in a doctor's surgery waiting room. Sarah receives a warning from an empty room and unboxes a 200-year old bear pelt. Spaces are discussed, also places, and whether or not people or events leave a residue of energy in them. Also flower sack dresses, abandoned coal towns, and the eternal smouldering beneath the ground at Centralia. Aaron finds a pigeon in the ball pit. Everyone Frankensteins their locations.

The Cat gets intangible, discussing liminal spaces with special guest Sarah Read, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Bone Weaver's Orchard and Out of Water.

12/04/2023

The Cat gets definitively morbid with special guest, multi-award-winning author and editor, the ever-unquiet Lee Murray. While Aaron obsesses over Elmore Leonard's first hundred pages and Joseph deconstructs the double-helical structure of DNA, Kaaron finds some postcards and investigates a death by shark. Lee loses her box of things and opens the door to an interactive mystery. Defining moments are discussed, as are agency, mythology, and the internal and external factors that determine whether a story or its characters resonate. Also death, funerals, and relationships defined by tragedy. Kaaron digs deep to find the point of interest. Lee tells her own story in her own voice. Aaron thinks about Olivia Newton-John and OnlyFans a lollipop.

The Cat gets definitively morbid with special guest, multi-award-winning author and editor, the ever-unquiet Lee Murray.

18/03/2023

The Cat wrestles with long projects and what it means to be an artist with special guest, award-winning author, photographer, graphic designer and activist, Cat Sparks. While Joseph lets a novel die (again) and Aaron lets the wrong one in, Kaaron makes like Tweetie-Pie (or maybe some kind of crab). Cat takes a journey back to a time before helicopter parenting. Motivation is discussed, as is authenticity, identity and the art life. Also, Billy Joel’s Vienna. Recapturing the vibe of a work through music. Following the muse wherever it drags you. Also Frankenstein, Pet Sematary and the “Hemingway boner.” Everyone exposes their structural underwear. Cat whips out her climate trumpet.

24/02/2023

The Cat goes deep, DEEP into the illimitable expanses of negative space with special guest Nathan Ballingrud, incomparable author of The Strange, Wounds, and North American Lake Monsters. While Joseph gets nostalgic for Betamax and Aaron is thrown into existential crisis, Kaaron fills one minute’s silence with entirely inappropriate thoughts. Nathan navigates a tightrope of what – and what not – to say. Silence is discussed, as are the divers mysteries of the beyond, and the liberation of just starting something and seeing where it will lead. Also considered: the void created by our inability to comprehend what lies beyond death, which we fill with the entirety of the human imagination. Aaron fixates on Jan Brady. Kaaron unveils her journal of lies. Nathan brings a book. Everyone discovers the Northwest Passage.

All this and more in Episode 26 – Book! (Link in comments...)

06/01/2023

The Cat gets unhinged at the second live recording from AsylumFest 2022, with special guests AJ Spedding, Kat Clay, and David Schembri. While Kaaron finds a book from the world’s most haunted school, Aaron is haunted by a supernatural cow, and Joseph by the ghosts in crap plastic toys. (Yeah, thanks for nothing, Uncle Marty!) AJ brings a voodoo doll and makes a Black Beauty confession. Kat develops the killing name and mummifies a cucumber. David brings his toys and reminds everyone to play. Ennui is discussed. Also balloons, having fun with your art, and using imaginative play to take control of those situations in which you have none. Everyone crosses a line and sends Aaron back to his “other planet”.

The Cat gets unhinged at the second live recording from AsylumFest 2022, with special guests AJ Spedding, Kat Clay, and David Schembri.

21/12/2022

The Cat gets festive with an off the rails Season's Greetings special, with laconic superstar guest, Kaaron's Christmas tree! While Kaaron gives everyone presents from her personal Ground Zero of weird objects, Aaron slouches toward Bethlehem and Joseph wemembers Gweat Bwitain and the Xmases of yore. Pizza trees are discussed, also cursed paintings, holly, ivy, prawns and suncream. Lobster shells are deftly utilised as a metaphor for the stages in a life. Honour is restored in the Hunter S. Thompson universe. Kaaron exposes her most extraordinary fe**sh. Aaron longs for anarchy. Joseph is so horrified he loses the power of speech. Everyone wishes everyone a Merry Whatever and a Happy New Thing!

The Cat gets festive with an off-the-rails Season's Greetings special, with laconic superstar guest, Kaaron's Christmas tree!

16/12/2022

The Cat goes on a road trip and sets a record with special guest, author, publisher, and haunted asylum owner, Geoff Brown. While Aaron makes like Ellen DeGeneres, and Joseph makes like Dr Phil, Kaaron makes like Ricki Lake and goes hitchhiking on a serial killer’s patch. Geoff walks through a wardrobe into his own private Narnia. Dreams are (cheaply) analysed, impostor syndrome is discussed, as is luck, ghosts, and the decisions that haunt us. Geoff tells a real-life ghost story. Kaaron wears oversized pajamas. No one wants to go to Aaron’s for Christmas.

Get involved with the spectral power of Episode 22 – Asylum! (Recorded live at AslumFest 2022.)

The Cat goes on a road trip and sets a record with special guest, author, publisher, and haunted asylum owner, Geoff Brown. Live from AsylumFest 2022!

05/12/2022

The Cat makes like The Wicker Man and gets ritualistic with special guest Kirstyn McDermott, award-winning author of Hard Places and the Never Afters novella series. While Kaaron builds a backyard pool and Aaron gets his steps in, Joseph ruins summertime Christmas for everyone. Kirstyn learns the steps to Venus and shares a brief history of statuary in Ballarat. Folk horror is discussed, also Whitby, habits, and ultimate reality. Kaaron makes a Tina Turner joke. Everyone gets fed up with be******ty.

The Cat makes like The Wicker Man and gets ritualistic with special guest Kirstyn McDermott, award-winning author of Hard Places and the Never Afters novella series.

21/11/2022

The Cat goes on stage for our very first live show at this year’s NatCon: Conflux 16. Special guests – drawn from the Hat of Mystery (a hotel conference glass with some hastily scribbled names folded up inside) – include CH Pearce, Emilie Morscheck, Claire Fitzpatrick, and Zachary Ashford. While Kaaron brings old movie posters for the edification of all and Joseph performs a viking funeral for his pet mouse, Aaron reveals his fe**sh for albino carrots. Repurposed objects are discussed. Also Fijian taxi drivers, childhood holiday treasures, family mysteries, the voices of loved ones past, and the most appropriate names for a ferret. Emergency surgery is performed in the garage. Everyone has their picture taken.

The Cat goes on stage for our very first live show at this year's NatCon – Conflux 16 – with special guests drawn from the Hat of Mystery (a hotel conference glass with some hastily scribbled names folded up inside).

03/11/2022

The Cat reconnects with its purpose, turning trash into treasure with co-owner of Canberra’s legendary Green Shed, Sandie Parkes. While Kaaron is haunted by an old woman in a knife and Joseph cashes in on his teenage son’s emotional vulnerability, Aaron makes a robot out of paddle-pop sticks. Wet string is discussed, and doctors’ waiting rooms. The history and mystery of objects, their journeys and purposes old and new. The tragedy of objects unused. Fine art. Trench art. The slide rule world, set alight.

All this and more in Episode 20 – Slide rule

The Cat reconnects with its purpose, turning trash into treasure with co-owner of Canberra's legendary Green Shed, Sandie Parkes.

17/10/2022

The Cat gets temporal (via a dingey side-alley packed full of flashers) with special guest Alan Baxter, award-winning author of Sallow Bend and The Gulp, and bona fide kung fu master. While Kaaron remembers a story from primary school and Aaron remembers his first kiss, Joseph blows the lights in the bus station. Al chases a flasher through the streets of London. Time is discussed, as is nostalgia, and the sadness for things in one’s life that no longer exist. Al shares his grandma’s secret past in MI5. Aaron forms The Breakfast Club of senior citizens and Kaaron serves cocktails on the veranda. Parenting advice is offered. Everyone agrees that Horror – the genre of honesty – is the BEST genre. (Take that, Fantasy!)

The Cat gets temporal (via a dingey side-alley packed full of flashers) with special guest Alan Baxter, award-winning author and bona fide kung fu master.

07/10/2022

The Cat makes like Funes and gets memorious with special guest T. R. Napper, author of modern cyber-punk classics 36 Streets and Neon Leviathan. Joseph remembers a childhood event in third person, Kaaron steals her classmate's stranger-danger story, and Aaron steals somebody's homework. Intersubjective memory is discussed, alongside evolutionary theories of pain avoidance and what it means to be human. Also the Masters of the Universe. Smell and memory. Repressed memory syndrome. The memories stuck in places and objects, and the value of things in boxes. Joseph misremembers a quote about telepathy. Aaron comes down with the metaphor pox. Everyone doubts Kaaron's memories of scrambled eggs.

Listen to Episode 18 – He-Man now! (Or, at least, don't forget to...)

The Cat makes like Funes and gets memorious with special guest T. R. Napper, author of modern cyber-punk classics 36 Streets and Neon Leviathan.

26/09/2022

The Cat is back! Kicking off Season 2 with some little-known pub trivia, some Australian TV kitsch, and special guest, er… J. Ashley-Smith? Kaaron warns against the dangers of cigar-shaped UFOs, and Aaron researches insects that kill other insects to wear their corpses. Joseph delves into his ancestry to discover unknown family members, moustaches, and the mystery of the missing Rodin. Also discussed are secret societies, our receptivity to particular kinds of ideas, the joys of the longest of long-form fiction, and family sagas as told through a photo album. Not forgetting Aaron’s accordion philosophy of compressed time, Slaughterhouse Five, gutter-fudge, and Kaaron’s delicious flying-saucer biscuits. Also sadness without sentimentality, and the Jim Jones Kool Aid Space Telescope.

The Cat is back! Kicking off Season 2 with some little-known pub trivia, some Australian TV kitsch, and special guest, er... J. Ashley-Smith?

08/05/2022

Join The Cat and crew for an EPIC wrap-up, recap, clip-show, season finale, with special guest star… drum roll… our very own Aaron Dries. In this, our last episode of Season 1, Aaron has celebrity thrust upon him, Kaaron steals the celery (maybe), and Joseph sleeps in a hammock made from Aaron’s toenails. Milk is discussed (whether on toast or in a tall glass), as is creative obsession, JG Ballard and the Brady Bunch.

Plus, Aaron Van Gogh’s himself for your listening pleasure.

All this and more on the latest episode of the LET THE CAT IN podcast, DOLLS.

What a season it's been! We'll be back!

http://ltcipodcast.com/2022/05/07/dolls/?fbclid=IwAR0sXRQ4XD4pihtSToDaC9JKRzvY1-9RSTT87Jr-jOGzs1vC5pCe2BPYApT

Join the Cat and crew for an epic wrap-up, recap, clip-show avoidance season finale, with special guest star... drum roll... our very own Aaron Dries.

04/04/2022

In the penultimate episode of the season, the Cat gets magical with the illustrious queen of fantasy, bestselling author, Isobelle Carmody! Meanwhile, Joseph returns to the attic of his childhood, Kaaron digs in her treasure box for 1820s brooch p**n, and Aaron wards off magpies with dangerously distorted train-track pennies. Plus we discuss the magic of devotion, literary food, and the harsh cruelties of the Antiques Roadshow. Isobelle gets revenge on a dog thief and opens the real door into Narnia.

All this and more on our most recent episode, CROW. Enjoy!

http://ltcipodcast.com/2022/04/04/crow/?fbclid=IwAR2XsBKCKX0s9BxR2g1ydmZbXHU-HaCFOgCoP_E7KaiZzV2zAObFlszVFJE

In the penultimate episode of the season, the Cat gets magical with special guest, the illustrious queen of fantasy (and all the animals), Isobelle Carmody.

13/03/2022

The Cat grapples with life’s big questions in a truly surprising, jam-packed episode with special guest Sean Williams, bestselling author of many books and stories, composer and musician, all-round Renaissance man, and entertaining meal companion. Meanwhile, Aaron thwacks mandarines at passing trains, Kaaron takes a trip back to the Bishop’s widow’s snowglobe, Joseph spies on his neighbours to see what they covet, and Sean stresses (a bit too earnestly) that he is not a Peeping Tom.

No judgements here, Sean.

All this and more on the latest episode of Let the Cat In: JOURNAL.

http://ltcipodcast.com/2022/03/12/journal/?fbclid=IwAR2IjYuRWoamR-vyyOndB6x6d4f3lNMbDWEG8zpSIHWLwgMoz_5I6EA4C64

The Cat grapples with life's big questions in a super extended go-go mix episode with special guest the sensational Sean Williams.

02/03/2022

The Cat gets technical as horror editor Ellen Datlow joins the show from NYC, bringing insights into the conceptualising, compiling, editing and introduction of her (then) latest anthology, SCREAMS FROM THE DARK. Meanwhile, Joseph gets lost in a Borgesian labyrinth of shoes, Kaaron discovers the smells of the past, and Aaron takes a drubbing for his failure to correctly identify an alpaca (rightfully so, really).

Oh, and Ellen endorses cannibalism (of one’s own stories) and shares anecdotes from her time in Tehachapi Prison! Yes, you read that correctly.

All of that and more on this week's episode of the Let The Cat In podcast, HERMAN. Enjoy!

http://ltcipodcast.com/2022/03/01/herman/?fbclid=IwAR3fR3eaUEJ_EYJjgJk0hfvjW71ZJBAGsXHgg2GyZTBoRX8_9lWxax-Oj

The Cat gets technical as unparalleled horror editor Ellen Datlow joins the show from NYC.

13/02/2022

The Cat gets super shonky in this bumper episode with a right-royal guest: the monstrously majestic Garth Nix, New York Times bestselling author of the Old Kingdom and Keys to the Kingdom series, and The Left-Handed Booksellers of London.

Meanwhile, Aaron risks drowning to save his favourite books, Joseph fixates on random blinking lights, and Kaaron collects children’s teeth in a jar – other people’s children. Garth coins the ‘flop’ of a book and finds a tooth in his caramel. The joys of walking are discussed. Also, the shift in meaning as objects change hands over generations.

All this and way more awaits you on episode 12: Canon!

http://ltcipodcast.com/2022/02/13/canon/?fbclid=IwAR03AOXlUxXI1KiyMpZaD7PdxTiki7wfKgDYen_eobPTe6ST-uGeFeSaihU.

The Cat gets shonky in this bumper episode with a right-royal guest: the monstrously majestic Garth Nix.

29/01/2022

The cat gets sartorial in our latest episode, starring this week’s special guest, the unputdownable Kathe Koja, author of The Cipher and the Shirley Jackson Award-winning Velocities. While Kaaron pines for clothes she’s given away, Joseph has a clothing crisis, and Aaron makes a startling confession. Kathe brings the FUN – literally – and outlines the basis of her religion. We learn about clothes as a shortcut to character, clothes as armour, and ghosts in the clothes we don’t wear but can’t give away. Masks are considered—as expression and erasure—as is the malleability of reality. Kathe shares insights into her new immersive project Dark Factory. Kaaron acts out as the British High Commissioner’s wife. Joseph relives fancy dress party dread. Aaron finds fifty bucks. FUN (per Kathe’s definition) is had by all.

And you can get some too by digging on Episode 11 – Fun.

http://ltcipodcast.com/2022/01/29/fun/

The cat gets sartorial in our latest episode, starring this week's special guest, the unputdownable Kathe Koja.

16/01/2022

The cat is back! Ring in the new year with an episode of numinous dimensions, starring this week's special guest, the illimitable Lynda E Rucker, author of The Moon Will Look Strange and You'll Know When You Get There.

Kaaron gets inspired on a long car trip, while Aaron populates the butchers paper of childhood with nightmares. Joseph curses everybody by misnaming the Buddha. Lynda reveals the secrets of the weatherman, and unveils her creative fugue state. Divers topics are discussed: disorientation, dissonance, disbelief; the many oblique angles of weird fiction. The Daphne du Maurier Fan Club is established. Joseph rants trippily about 'the moment' while Aaron wears his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume. Kaaron puts her foot down.

You'll hear all this and more in Episode 10 – Buddha.

http://ltcipodcast.com/2022/01/16/episode-10-buddha/

The cat is back! Ring in the new year with an episode of numinous dimensions, starring this week's special guest, the illimitable Lynda E. Rucker.

14/12/2021

Wowee zowee hep cats – welcome to the last show of 2021! And what a show... The cats go deep and get Pavlovian with special guest Brian Evenson. If you're a fan of dudgeons, misperceptions, invocations; if you ever wanted to get up inside a bleak philosophy or get down with things that most definitely are NOT there; if you like bobbleheads; then Episode 9 – Bust is the one for you. Check it out and spread the love!

http://ltcipodcast.com/2021/12/14/bust/

In which the cats go deep and get Pavlovian with the singular and extraordinary Brian Evenson.

02/12/2021

Where do you look for inspiration? What do you do when ideas are scratching at the door?

Why, you listen to LET THE CAT IN, of course, and all will be revealed...

Come, join us. Follow the show!
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02/12/2021

Want professional? Maaaaaaybe look elsewhere.

Want to hang with Kaaron Warren, Aaron Dries, Joseph Ashley-Smith and the unmistakably unambiguous JS Breukelaar? Get involved with Episode 8 – Clock. Right. Now.

Memories, masks, masonic heirlooms. Nuff said.

http://ltcipodcast.com/2021/12/02/clock/

In our most professional podcast to date, we hang with the wonderful JS Breukelaar and mull on lost and forgotten things.

16/11/2021

Welcome to Episode 7 – Mould! Special guest Paul Tremblay shares his first art love, his passion for first-person as****es, and the inspiration for his new novel, The Pallbearers’ Club. Also Meatloaf, mixtapes, crowd-surfing possums, and the sartorial habits of fighting fish. Don't miss this wild s**z!

http://ltcipodcast.com/2021/11/16/mould/

In which a podcast muddles through lockdown with the incontrovertible Paul Tremblay.

01/11/2021

Notorious cobra charmer, John Langan, brings the snake vibe to this week’s episode. Aaron compares his writing process to a movie about Sarah Palin, Kaaron focuses on the details, and Joseph imagines everyone naked. The profound morality of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is discussed. Also sausages.

Get on board the mamba train with Episode 6 - Scarab!

http://ltcipodcast.com/2021/11/01/scarab/

Let The Cat In gets the snake vibe with special guest – our first from overseas, and the recent past – the unparallelable John Langan.