Spooky & Strange

Spooky Aurelien

1 Creator

Follow me into the endless library... Commentary, reviews, and retellings of horror tales, weird fiction, spooky stories, and mysterious mysteries with Aurelien. Books, short stories, flash fiction, and more.

#54 in the Top 100 Indie books All time chart

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Top 10 Spooky & Strange Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Spooky & Strange episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Spooky & Strange for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Spooky & Strange episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Aurelien talks "Scream"on The Rewatch Recap

Spooky & Strange

08/12/22 • 0 min

Hey spooky friends!

Did you know there was a TV show based on the movie "Scream"?

Aurelien and Dustin are going back to 2015 and watching season 1 of the MTV original series SCREAM!

Did you watch it? Trick question - no matter your answer, jump in and join us for The Rewatch Recap.

See you there~

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rewatch-recap/id1636230425
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5t7akUU8Mu4m52lWkY4u1I?si=55c48a1a303c4d9e
Listen (and connect) on Goodpods: https://goodpods.app.link/7rCtAogWXrb

2 Listeners

1 Comment

Tiny Women by Solange Rodriguez Pappe

Spooky & Strange

09/19/22 • 15 min

"... I saw the tiny naked woman cross the living room in full war cry."

Aurelien gets weird with short "Tiny Women" (2018) by Solange Rodriguez Pappe, translated by James D. Jenkins. It's part of The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories, vol 1, and a fun way to kick off ~*~*spooky season*~*~ (well, that and the dance break!)

Episode references:

Get the collection: https://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-valancourt-book-of-world-horror-stories-vol-1.html
Exploring the genre of "magical realism": https://twitter.com/bookishminna/status/1508599858399219721

Theme: Magical Transition by Kevin McLeod
Additional music and sound effects from zapsplat.com

2 Listeners

1 Comment

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh

Spooky & Strange

03/20/23 • 19 min

"Sometimes I feel dead," I told her, "and I hate everybody."

Let's get lethargic, and philosophical, with MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION (2018) by Otessa Moshfegh. A rare pick from the world of literary fiction, this book feels like eating alone in a dingy restaurant at 3am. It's not horror, but you may be unnerved in a different way. (Stick around for some Gatsby rambling near the end!)

No spoilers in this one!

Theme: Magical Transition by Kevin McLeod
Additional music and sound effects from zapsplat.com
Support the show at https://www.patreon.com/spookyaurelien

2 Listeners

Horror writer Ruth Anna Evans drops in

Spooky & Strange

02/22/23 • 35 min

Why are some of us so attracted to being totally repulsed?

Aurelien and horror writer Ruth Anna Evans explore this question in a discussion of body horror and short fiction; the inherent horror of bodies; and why we poke at our bruises.

Plus, we share a non-spoilery preview of the collection OOZE: Little Bursts of Body Horror (2023), which is, across 21 stories, bizarre, strange, heartwarming, weird, surprising, and gross.

Keep up with Ruth Anna Evans at https://twitter.com/ruthannaevans
Grab OOZE in paperback form https://godless.com/products/ooze-little-bursts-of-body-horror-edited-by-ruth-anna-evans

Theme: Magical Transition by Kevin McLeod
Additional music and sound effects from zapsplat.com
Support the show at https://www.patreon.com/spookyaurelien

2 Listeners

1 Comment

The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells

Spooky & Strange

10/25/21 • 6 min

"It was as if all the pain in the world had found a voice."

Aurelien took a short trip to "The Island of Doctor Moreau" (1896) by H.G. Wells. It's an unfortunately readable classic about brutality, ego, torture, and humanity.

To paraphrase Hobbes: it was nasty, brutal, and not short enough.

Add "Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?" by Frans de Waal to your tbr: https://wwnorton.com/books/Are-We-Smart-Enough-to-Know-How-Smart-Animals-Are/

Theme: Magical Transition by Kevin McLeod * Additional music and sound effects from zapsplat.com

1 Listener

1 Comment

Starsong by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Spooky & Strange

02/13/22 • 8 min

"The starsong is louder now, swelling in a way that says something's coming."

Pop into the endless library for a sweet treat: "Starsong" (2018) by Tehlor Kay Mejia. Published in the excellent witchy collection Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft, edited by the fabulous Jessica Spotswood and Tess Sharpe, it's a story of growing up and finding your magic. (And flirting with cute girls on Instagram!)

Read more from Tehlor Kay Mejia: https://www.tehlorkaymejia.com/books

Buy the collection: http://jessicaspotswood.com/books/toil-trouble/

Special music shout out to Leonell Cassio's "A Magical Journey Through Space"

Theme: Magical Transition by Kevin McLeod

Additional music and sound effects from zapsplat.com

1 Listener

1 Comment

Spoiler alert! Galax-Arena (2/2)

Spooky & Strange

07/26/22 • 28 min

Whether you finished reading "Galax-Arena" or you're just here for a good story, proceed with caution: there's spoilers ahead!

Aurelien spills this story's secrets, and screams alongside the characters, through the rest of this wild, YA mind-f$ck adventure. Plus, what's up with Bro Rabbit? And how about that ending?

Theme: Magical Transition by Kevin McLeod * Additional music and sound effects from zapsplat.com

1 Listener

1 Comment

Curiosities of Superstition by W. H. Davenport Adams

Spooky & Strange

10/08/23 • 36 min

"It was on Halloween, or All Hallows' Eve, that superstition ran riot..."

Trick or treat!

Aurelien explores the spooky archives of Project Gutenberg and comes back with 1880s non-fiction takes on Scottish Halloween traditions. How is bobbing for apples part of a divination ritual? Is any of this actually spooky? Join around the cauldron for readings and stories from "Curiosities of Superstition, and Sketches of Some Unrevealed Religions" (1882) by W. H. Davenport Adams.

Read it for yourself: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/41566/41566-h/41566-h.htm

Want more random reads? Support the show at https://www.patreon.com/spookyaurelien

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Theme: Magical Transition by Kevin McLeod
Additional music and sound effects from zapsplat.com

1 Listener

Nothing But the Rain by Naomi Salman

Spooky & Strange

04/19/23 • 12 min

"Welcome to Aloisville, rainiest town in the rainiest state. Population: we don’t recall."

Don your rain gear and don't forget your umbrella for NOTHING BUT THE RAIN (2023) by Naomi Salman, a short tale of a drowning town and the people left (or kept) inside. Would you rather forget, or do what you can to survive? What does it mean to survive?

No spoilers in this one!

Episode references:

THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN by Michael Crichton: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/3f86584b-518f-4923-a39e-14cc282f71f
58 RULES TO ENSURE YOUR HUSBAND LOVES YOU FOREVER by Rafeeat Aliyu: https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/58-rules-to-ensure-your-husband-loves-you-forever/
THE LONG RAIN and ALL SUMMER IN A DAY by Ray Bradbury

Interesting word of the book:

vivarium noun, plural vi·var·i·ums, vi·var·i·a [vahy-vair-ee-uh, vi-] a place, such as a laboratory, where live animals or plants are kept under conditions simulating their natural environment, as for research.\ ----

Theme: Magical Transition by Kevin McLeod
Additional music and sound effects from zapsplat.com
If you'd like to support the podcast or commission an episode, https://ko-fi.com/spookyaurelien

1 Listener

TV Binge Club 2: Harvest of upcoming horror

Spooky & Strange

08/25/22 • 16 min

“One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us.” ― Kurt Vonnegut

Join Aurelien for a short reading break to talk about some hotly anticipated horror tv shows and movies coming this fall. (Yes, even in alternate dimensions like endless libraries, though release dates will vary.)