Reading Glasses – Ep 435: Human Monsters + Alma Katsu!
Airdate: October 30, 2025
Hosts: Brea Grant & Mallory O’Meara
Featured Guest: Alma Katsu
Episode Overview
This special Halloween episode is dedicated to the theme of "Human Monsters"—stories where the scariest evil is created by people themselves, not supernatural entities. Brea and Mallory discuss their favorite horror sub-genre recommendations featuring slasher killers, mad scientists, cults, and more, all centering around terrifying, but very human, villains. They’re joined by author Alma Katsu to discuss her new horror novel Fiend, her own experience analyzing real-life human evil, and why humans are, at times, more fearsome than demons or werewolves.
Episode Breakdown
1. What Are Brea & Mallory Reading? (00:45–04:33)
Brea’s Pick: The Manner of Dreams by Christina Lee (00:45)
- Haunted house with a Hollywood legacy.
- Spooky setting, multiple timelines, queer love story, but “not super scary.”
- Brea: “It very much reminded me of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, if that had a ghost story element to it.” (02:12)
Mallory’s Pick: Strange Houses by Uketsu, trans. Jim Rien (02:28)
- Japanese novel, mysterious author.
- Focus on unsettling, odd floorplans rather than hauntings.
- “It’s truly one of those books where I’m like, ‘How quickly can I get home and read this?’” (03:57)
- Written in mostly dialog and floor plans.
- Too creepy to read alone at night.
2. Listener Feedback: Book Clubs & Reading Retreats (04:40–07:41)
- Rachel tells a story about a two-person library book club and the fun of reading at the same pace (04:58).
- “If you have someone in your life who you can do this with, I 10 out of 10 recommend.” – Rachel (05:14)
- Riley organizes an annual reading retreat with a friend—reading, gift bags, digital detox, tandem reading (05:37).
- Sarah creates a three-person book club with friends in different states—all reading queer romance together online (06:45).
- Mallory: “It’s really fun to figure out what the wheelhouse thing that you all have in common is and read books for that.” (07:34)
3. Main Discussion: Human Monsters in Fiction (10:52–23:32)
Why Human Monsters?
- Brea: Finds “real stuff” scarier because it could really happen. Slashers, cults, and mad scientists appeal more than supernatural (11:24).
- Mallory: Not typically her go-to since she loves supernatural lore, but a well-written human monster sticks with her (11:49).
Book Recommendations
- Brea: The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monica Chem – POV of a woman spiraling into violence; slasher but with empathy for "the monster." (12:18)
- Mallory: The Daughter of Dr. Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (13:10)
- “What’s really fun about this book is that the human-animal hybrids are the good guys. The bad guy is the human. The monster is the human.” (13:31)
- Brea: Lakewood by Megan Giddings – Shady experiments, racism, system as villain, horror/litfic blend (14:17).
- Mallory: Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
- “It’s like a slasher buffet...all these different slasher franchises.” (16:21)
- Brea: A Better World by Sarah Langan – Cultish, walled-off community, human conformity and fear (16:38).
- Mallory: The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
- “There is one moment from this book that's just a description of a sound...still haunting to me.” (18:05)
- Unique, disturbing structure, serial killer, cat as POV character. (18:02–19:25)
- Brea: Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed – Post-apocalyptic cult controlling girls’ lives, dark, devastating (19:33).
- Mallory: Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon – Modern/fractured take on Frankenstein; decline and danger at an eerie Vermont facility (20:40).
- Brea: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind – Historical, obsessive killer with supremely developed sense of smell (21:35).
- Mallory: Stephen Graham Jones (blanket slasher recommendation): I Was a Teenage Slasher, Killer on the Road, etc.
- “If you like slashers, you kind of can’t go wrong with Stephen Graham Jones.” (22:51)
4. Interview: Alma Katsu on “Fiend” and Writing Human Evildoers (27:02–43:53)
What is Fiend about? (27:34)
- Alma: “It’s about this family…the Bresha family…one of the wealthiest families in the world. But it always seems like something not very nice happens to their competitors or anyone who crosses their path. And it’s sort of rumored that there’s some ancient evil that’s been helping this family out for a thousand years.”
- Succession struggle; the 'real' horror comes not from the demon, but from humans themselves.
Moving from Historical Horror to Contemporary (29:00)
- Alma: “It was easier and fun...I got the idea whole. It just all came to me—what the story was, what it would be about.”
- Fiend already optioned for TV (29:40).
Why Human Monsters Are Scarier (30:35)
- Based in Katsu's real expertise: working as an analyst on genocides and war crimes.
- “When you see what really the average everyday person is capable of…You realize that the werewolf really has nothing.” (31:27)
- “Humans can be really, really horrible.” (32:14)
- Explores evils of the powerful, their capacity for moral rot, and the normalization of cruelty in families.
Notable Quotes
- “The werewolf is actually a pretty reasonable guy. It’s not his fault, you know, once a month.” – Mallory (31:27)
- “It’s one of those really fun, rare books where you don’t like a character but you cannot stop reading about her.” – Mallory on Fiend (32:14)
On Problematic Romantic Archetypes in Literature (33:43–36:07)
- Katsu cites Oliver Twist’s Bill Sikes as a lasting, terrifying human monster.
- “The bad boyfriend imprints on a lot of us.” (34:49)
- She notes her first book, The Taker, explores the dangers of “bad men” as romantic ideals.
Horror Wheelhouses (39:45)
- For Katsu, it’s about innovative narrative form, grappling honestly with human evil.
- Currently reading and recommending: You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White (40:26).
Where to find Katsu
- Wrapping up her event tour with final dates in Boston.
- Most active on Instagram and BlueSky; main updates via her Substack newsletter (43:08).
5. Recommendation Request: Seeking Truly Horrifying Books (44:02–47:50)
Listener Sarah seeks books as scary as The Island of Dr. Moreau and Watchers, especially those with “creature feature, stalking woods, and scientific horror” elements.
Recommendations:
- Brea: When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy
- “If that kind of thing scares you, where you’re hearing it from the monstrous perspective…this one would scratch that itch for you.” (45:52)
- Mallory: What Kind of Mother by Clay McLeod Chapman
- “If you have any content issues, please read the content warnings ahead of time. But this is a really unique body horror book that’s very haunting.” (46:58)
Notable Quotes & Moments
- Brea on book club with friends:
- “It’s very cute.” (05:37)
- Mallory on human monsters:
- “So much of what I love about horror is the lore…so a lot of the human monster stories are just like, this person sucks and they’re bad.” (11:49)
- Alma Katsu on the most frightening monsters:
- “Humans can be really, really horrible.” (32:14)
- “You realize that the werewolf really has nothing. The werewolf is actually a pretty reasonable guy. It’s not his fault…” (31:27)
- Brea on Gather the Daughters: “It’s just a…really dark, but really well written…I really liked this book.” (20:23)
- Mallory on Fiend protagonist: “You don’t like a character but you cannot stop reading about her…it reminded me a little bit of Yellowface.” (32:14)
Timestamps for Key Segments
- 00:45 – Brea’s “spooky season” read
- 02:28 – Mallory’s “creepy house” obsession
- 04:40 – Listener book club stories
- 10:52 – Human monsters: Sub-genre breakdown & personal taste
- 12:18 – Book recommendations: human evil
- 27:02 – Alma Katsu interview
- 27:34 – Summary of Fiend
- 30:35 – The reality of human evil
- 39:45 – Alma Katsu’s horror wheelhouse
- 44:02 – Listener reco request: most horrifying books
The Tone
As always, the episode is light, warm, and a bit irreverent; the hosts giggle about their own horror boundaries and joke about making the “biggest Airbnb ever” for a Reading Glasses retreat, but the conversation turns sincere when they and Alma Katsu discuss how disturbing real human cruelty can be—both in fiction and in the world. The show’s hallmark encouragement for all types of bookish weirdness and found family are present throughout.
Further Engagement
- Want more book recs? Email readingglassespodcast@gmail.com
- Sign up for their newsletter (link in show notes)
- Follow Alma Katsu on Instagram/BlueSky/Substack
- Buy Reading Glasses spooky merch (link in show notes)
Closing
- Support the show by rating/reviewing or buying merch (“Help us feed our cats!”).
- To everyone: “Thanks for listening, and thanks for reading!”