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The Writers Chair

The Writers Chair

By: Daniel Willcocks
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The Writer’s Chair is your all-access seat to honest conversations with the minds behind dark and dangerous stories. Hosted by bestselling horror author and award-winning podcaster Daniel Willcocks, this show peels back the curtain on the world of publishing — from indie to trad, and everything in between.


Whether it’s horror, thriller, dystopia or the strange and unsettling, you’ll hear from writers who live in the shadows. Expect raw truths, hard-won lessons, industry insight and the kind of unfiltered talk that only happens when dark minds get together over a glass of something strong.

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Episodes
  • Championing Indie Horror and Why Anyone Can Find Their People with KAYLEIGH DOBBS (Happy Goat Horror)

    Championing Indie Horror and Why Anyone Can Find Their People with KAYLEIGH DOBBS (Happy Goat Horror)
    Jun 5 2026

    Kayleigh Dobbs turned up to her first horror convention too nervous to speak to anyone, accidentally called Ramsey Campbell "Mr. Ramsey," and somehow came away with a fire lit under her that she hasn't stopped feeding since. Four years later, she has a short story in a Bram Stoker Award nominated collection, heads on semi-regular cake-and-coffee trips with Tim Lebbon, and is a well-revered reviewer of indie horror.


    Kayleigh is a writer, proofreader, and the founder of Happy Goat Horror — a review website and YouTube channel dedicated to horror fiction with a particular focus on indie publishing. In this conversation, she and Daniel dig into what horror actually is and why it matters, the community that makes the genre unlike any other, the complicated relationship between reviewing and writing, and why the most important thing any writer can do is write the book only they could write. Plus: an unexpected Britney Spears confession, a defence of the word "fuck," and a recommendation you almost certainly haven't heard of.


    💀 What we get into:

    • Kayleigh's origin story — from metal-loving teenager secretly bopping to Britney, to discovering indie horror fiction barely four years ago through Chillicon and Sinister Horror Company
    • Why horror conventions feel nothing like fan conventions for film and TV
    • The Tim Lebbon tangent: how a chance ask at a convention became a semi-regular cake-and-coffee friendship, and why Kayleigh thinks he deserves to be far more widely known
    • Joe Hill's articulation of why horror makes sense of a senseless world
    • Horror as the genre that does the most for empathy: representation of women, queer voices, Latinx horror, and why the stats on female directors in horror vs romance will surprise you
    • The origin of Happy Goat Horror
    • Indie vs traditional: what Kayleigh actually sees as a reviewer who reads across both
    • Why authenticity on the page is something readers can feel
    • AI, trends, and the only real defence a writer has: writing the most authentically human book they can
    • Kayleigh's novel she's determined to finish, a nonfiction project she's keeping firmly under wraps, and learning to stop being horrible to herself about productivity


    Links & Resources:

    • HATCHING SEASON: https://www.devilsrockbooks.com/submissions
    • THE WRITERS ROOM: https://www.danielwillcocks.com/thewritersroom
    • Happy Goat Horror: https://happygoathorror.com / https://www.youtube.com/@happygoathorror
    • Tim Lebbon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u99-ttJBeus&pp=0gcJCSgLAYcqIYzv
    • Jonathan Janz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNzvZpwubQo&t=2908s
    • Jamie Flanagan Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6e-Jgykckc
    • Joe Hill Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU2iM1LIDw8&pp=0gcJCSgLAYcqIYzv
    • Writer Resources: https://www.danielwillcocks.com/writers


    Subscribe to The Writer's Chair

    If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow writer.

    📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor

    🖥️ Find out more: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair


    📚 About Kayleigh Dobbs

    Kayleigh Dobbs is a writer and reviewer based in South Wales, with a focus on horror and comedy/horror. Her micro-collection The End, an apocalypse themed book of shorts from Black Shuck Shadows, was a 2024 Imadjinn Award Finalist for Best Collection. Her short story "TBR" is included in This Way Lies Madness, an anthology from Flame Tree that is currently a Bram Stoker Award Finalist and British Fantasy Award Finalist. She has a Masters Degree in Scriptwriting, though her focus shifted some years ago to more bookish formats, and she freelances as a proofreader and editor.


    Kayleigh runs Happy Goat Horror, a review website and YouTube channel for horror fiction, with a particular interest in indie horror fiction. On the YT channel, she posts reviews, themed lists, rankings, and creator interviews. Recent interviewees include screenwriter Jamie Flanagan and author Joe Hill.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • High-End Pulp and Why Dean Koontz Deserves More Credit with DAN SOULE

    High-End Pulp and Why Dean Koontz Deserves More Credit with DAN SOULE
    May 29 2026
    Dan Soule couldn't read properly until he was 11. He was profoundly dyslexic, functionally illiterate through most of his childhood. He went on to get a PhD in English and linguistics, spent seven years as a university academic, taught writing, quit — and then finally had enough free time to figure out how to write fiction. Horror wasn't the plan. It just kept buying his stories.Dan Soule is a horror author based in Northern Ireland, born in England and raised in Byron's hometown of Southwell. His work spans literary fiction, science fiction, and horror, with short fiction appearing in Storgy, Shoreline of Infinity, Sanitarium Magazine, and Devolution Z, among others. His novels include Witch Hopper, a 150,000-word small-town folk horror rooted in Nottinghamshire mythology, and Jam, a tightly wound ensemble horror that asks what happens when a motorway traffic jam becomes something far worse.This conversation covers the feedback loop that turned Dan into a horror writer, why he thinks of horror as the original master genre, the craft concept of "armature" and how it shapes every character in Jam, and why the indie/trad divide matters a lot less than whether the book is actually good.💀 What we get into:From profound dyslexia to a PhD in English — and why writing never came easily even thenHow horror found Dan rather than the other way around: the magazines that kept buying his stories until he had to accept what he was writingWhy Dan thinks horror is the master genre — older than any category we try to put it in, and leaking into everythingDean Koontz, Stephen Laws, M.R. Carey, Ronald Malfi, and Dan Simmons' The Terror — the authors who shaped Dan's taste for high-end pulpThe three-category reality of modern publishing: indie, small press, and the big four — and why good and bad books exist in all threeThe "armature" concept: giving each character their own musical frequency, extended metaphor, and sentence cadence — and how Dan built this into JamWhere Jam came from: a tipsy thought on an empty Scottish motorway, liminal spaces, and a family lineage of serial killersWhy ensemble horror — The Thing, The Mist — is the perfect structure for trapping a cast of strangers who'd never otherwise share a spaceWitch Hopper: Nottinghamshire's Green Man myth, vengeful grey ladies, and a father-son story built on local folkloreTwo book recommendations that aren't obvious: Scott Carson's The Chill and Easol Murphy's All of MeLinks & Resources:Dan Soule's website: dansoule.comDan Soule on Instagram/Twitter: @writerdansouleCrystal Lake Publishing: crystallakepub.comDaniel Willcocks writer resources: danielwillcocks.com/writersHatching Season charity anthology submissions: devilsrockbooks.com/submissionsThe Writer's Room (Tuesday writing sprints): danielwillcocks.com/the-writers-roomReedsy: reedsy.comSubscribe to The Writer's ChairIf you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow horror fan or writer.📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@devilsrockbooks 🎧 Listen on your favourite app: https://pod.link/1829723468 💬 Join the community: https://www.devilsrockbooks.com/podcast📚 About Dan SouleDan writes stories where ancient folklore crashes into the modern world—usually with devastating results. His work blends dark fantasy and horror, creating atmospheric tales that explore the messy intersection of myth and everyday life. Whether he's crafting vivid, unsettling worlds or diving into the complexity of human relationships, Dan's writing balances beautiful, lyrical prose with moments that will make you hold your breath. Growing up in Nottinghamshire, England, Dan fell in love with landscapes steeped in old stories and older mysteries—influences that run through much of his work. These days, he lives on the Antrim Coast in Northern Ireland with his wife and two children, writing stories that continue to explore the dark corners where past and present meet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    49 mins
  • F**k Fear! Jack Ketchum's Two Words That Changed Everything with JONATHAN JANZ

    F**k Fear! Jack Ketchum's Two Words That Changed Everything with JONATHAN JANZ
    May 22 2026

    Jonathan Janz didn't read a single book until he was 14. He'd convinced himself he wasn't smart enough. Then he picked up a Stephen King novel — one King himself doesn't particularly like — and was completely transported. He's now written over a dozen horror novels, been championed by Brian Keene, Jack Ketchum, and Joe Lansdale, and still pumps his fist alone in his office every time he writes something he's proud of. He encourages this in others.


    Jonathan Janz is the author of more than a dozen novels including The Siren and the Spectre, Children of the Dark, and Wolfland. His work has been championed by Joe R. Lansdale, Jack Ketchum, and Brian Keene, and recognised by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist. He's also a full-time teacher — and that dual life shapes everything about how he reads, how he writes, and how he thinks about other people.


    This is one of the most openly human conversations in the archive. Jonathan talks about self-doubt, mentorship, the mechanics of writing six hours a week during term time and going wild in the summer, and why the best advice he ever received was two words from a man who's no longer here to say them.


    💀 What we get into:

    * How a cold letter to Brian Keene in 2010 or 2011 became one of the most important relationships of Jonathan's writing life

    * Jack Ketchum's two-word philosophy on fear — and why Jonathan returns to it every time he sits down to write

    * Joe Lansdale's 90-minute phone call: the gut-punch of honest mentorship and why you need someone who tells you the truth in a Texas twang

    * Why Jonathan still wakes up in the shower mentally cataloguing every mistake he's ever made — and what he does with that

    * The Tommy Knockers, Robert McCammon, and how Jonathan learned that beautiful prose and immersive storytelling aren't mutually exclusive

    * Writing six hours a week during the school year and still finishing a novel — the maths of constrained productivity

    * Why first drafts are train wrecks and editing takes three times as long as writing

    * Ryan Lewis, Josh Malerman, and the permission to celebrate the small wins without waiting for the big ones

    * Reading diversely as a craft decision — and why Jonathan is honest about how narrow his reading used to be

    * Using Marvel movies, Captain America, and Thor to have the conversations with his kids he doesn't know how to start otherwise


    Links & Resources:

    * Jonathan Janz's website: https://jonathanjanz.com

    * Jonathan Janz on Instagram: @jonathan.janz

    * Jonathan Janz on Twitter/X: @JonathanJanz

    * Brian Keene: briankeene.com

    * Joe R. Lansdale: https://joerlansdale.com

    * Robert McCammon: https://robertmccammon.com

    * Spin a Black Yarn (Malerman/Lewis): https://spinablackyarn.com

    * Scares That Care Convention: https://scaresthatcare.org



    Subscribe to The Writer's Chair

    If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow horror fan or writer.

    📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@devilsrockbooks 🎧 Listen on your favourite app: https://pod.link/1829723468 💬 Join the community: https://www.devilsrockbooks.com/podcast


    📚 About Jonathan Janz

    Jonathan Janz is the author of more than a dozen novels and numerous short stories. His work has been championed by authors like Joe R. Lansdale, Jack Ketchum, and Brian Keene; he has also been lauded by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and School Library Journal. His ghost story The Siren and the Specter was selected as a Goodreads Choice nominee for Best Horror. Additionally, his novel Children of the Dark was chosen by Booklist as a Top Ten Horror Book of the Year. Jonathan’s main interests are his wonderful wife and his three amazing children. You can sign up for his newsletter, and you can follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Amazon, and Goodreads.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    1 hr and 18 mins
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