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It was Thomas Wolfe who wrote “you can never go home again.” Huh, what did he know? (yes, I understand the metaphor – move on!)

This week’s guest proves that whilst you can go home, you may not want to. Erin E. Adams is an actor, playwright and now the debut author of JACKAL, a novel of homecomings horrid and awful.

Each year, in the small Pennsylvania town of Johnstown, a young Black girl goes missing, taken by whatever lurks in the woods surrounding the town. Helluva premise!!

Erin takes us on a tour of Johnstown, both the real and the sorta fictional version. We talk about justification and paranoia, about anger as a superpower and the notion that horror is a genre for white people. She explores the epochal moments from her town’s history and goes deep on her feelings about Black horror’s handling of trauma.

Then we compare our memories of small-town adolescence – finding that some sh*t is the same all around the world.

Enjoy!

Jackal was released on October 4th by Bantam.

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

How to Recognize a Demon has Become Your Friend (2011), by Linda Addison
Come With Me (2021), by Ronald Malfi – episode 49

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