Nathan Ballingrud has a wonderfully demented imagination. He has a way of reaching into your brain and finding all of those creepy little corners where you hide the things that make you cringe and make your skin crawl. In his first collection of stories, North American Lake Monsters, there was a bit more realism in his stories and characters. Hulu has optioned that, and will start shooting an anthology series this summer. <\/p>\n
In Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell<\/em>, he goes for broke, to the point where he was worried he might be going over the top. Not worried enough, though, to pull anything back. In \u201cAtlas of Hell,\u201d a decapitated skull allows a mob lackey fetch demons and objects from the underworld. In \u201cThe Diabolist,\u201d a young girl is left alone in her scientist father\u2019s mansion when he dies with an imp trapped in a tank, and starts to fight back against the town that has always ostracized her. <\/p>\n In \u201cSkullpocket,\u201d flesh-eating ghouls sponsor a deadly fair for children. In \u201cThe Visible Filth,\u201d which is now a film called Wounds<\/em> on the festival circuit starring Armie Hammer, Dakota Johnson, and Zazie Beets, a bartender in a New Orleans dive fights his own jealousy and a mysterious stranger who contacts him through a phone left behind at the bar after a fight. Nightmare creatures attack a town and flay its inhabitants to make giant, singing skin structures in \u201c\u201dThe Maw,\u201d and pirates take, quite literally, a journey to the shores of Hell in \u201cThe Butcher\u2019s Table.\u201d <\/p>\n I talked to Ballingrud about his inspiration for these stories, which included Stephen King and Mike Mignola, how they\u2019re all connected, the new film, and more. He finds all of this creepiness quite fun, which is good for us, because he\u2019s got more stories on the way, and a full-length book he\u2019s working on to release in 2021, which he says is set on Mars in 1930. You can find out more about his work on nathanballingrud.com<\/a> and find him on Twitter under @NBallingrud<\/a>. <\/p>\n Our featured track this week is a cover of the Rolling Stones\u2019 \u201cSympathy for the Devil\u201d from their longtime backup singer Bernard Fowler. This is a spoken-word version of the song, as are all of the Stones covers on the new album, Inside Out<\/em>. Fowler has been singing with the Stones for more than three decades now, and had the idea that he could put the lyrics up front by covering the songs in this style. He started doing it at soundchecks on tour with the Stones, and told Mick Jagger at one point he planned to cut an album. Jagger apparently gave his blessing, and the album was born. <\/p>\n Fowler is getting ready for the new Stones tour now, and I caught him before a rehearsal to talk about his album and his history with not only the Stones, but Herbie Hancock, Bootsy Collins, and more. Tune in next week for that. If you want to check out more of his work, you can find it on Spotify and check out his site at bernardfowler.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n You can listen to and download the podcast from the player below, On YouTube or Spotify, or subscribe\/review on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Stitcher, or Google Play. Enjoy!<\/p>\n