A weird fiction podcast from John Lombard

When I started this blog/podcast I intended to write short articles talking about the inspirations behind each story, partly to remind...

I think everyone who has read comics for decades has a story like this one in them, as an exorcism if nothing else. Briefly the creators...

I fell off writing these story notes in my scramble to get stories done balanced with work & life... But let's dive back in. After huge...

After inexplicably starting off these stories with a samurai tale, The Three Heads , one year later I wanted to go back to the samurai...

Of course, the main inspiration for this story is the Chinese novel Journey to the West , best known in Australia through the TV series...

This story started with a rewatch of the charming Disney Robin Hood movie from 1973, the cartoon where Robin Hood and Maid Marian are...

First up, I originally wanted to call this "The After School Hot Chip and Gravedigging Club" - I think it's more resonant, but it gives...

The concept here is straightforward - what if the light from stars controls minds, and light pollution in cities blocks it. From there,...

This story had an interesting genesis... I did some on-location research in Melbourne! I took a holiday that included a trip to the video...

To begin, the kernel of this story is the claque, organised professional applauders in French theatre, circa the 1820s. I have used...

The inspiration for this story is of course the American pulp heroes of the 20s & 30s - cheap, violent, and nasty stories of...

Writing a story each month, not every story is going to be a resounding success - so it is with this story of a haunted supermarket,...

I had the idea for this story many years ago - that for the Beast in Beauty and the Beast, the curse wouldn't necessarily be an...

This story has a lot going on! To start, I first got into Chinese history a few years back through the History of China podcast....

For 'A Confederacy of Lanyards', the starting point was a Rat King. A Rat King is an apparently real phenomenon where rats get their...

Let's talk a little about the ideas that went into 'The Three Heads'. As you may have been able to tell, I'm interested in Japan's...