A podcast featuring the horror, fantasy, and sci-fi authors you haven’t found yet, and the worlds they’re creating.
Hey, folks. Walt here. I’m the owner of Strangleroot Books & Games and the founder of The Spec-Fic Speakeasy podcast. Let me give you a quick intro so you’ll know what to expect.
Our Mission
Discoverability is the single biggest challenge authors face (that, and standing out from the glut of slop masquerading as fiction these days). Our mission is simple: connect horror, fantasy, and sci-fi readers with indie and small-press authors they don’t yet know, and give those authors room to be their real selves.
If you’ve ever finished a book and thought, why the hell has nobody told me about this person, congratulations, you’ve found your bar. Grab your libation of choice and join us.
Our Goals
- Improve author discoverability.
- Help readers find new authors they’ll love.
- Help readers avoid AI slop.
- Hopefully, do all this while being at least somewhat entertaining.
Who’s It For?
- Readers who are tired of the algorithm recommending the same six books and want something with teeth.
- Spec-fic authors who’ve put a real book into the world and want to share it with people who’ll love it.
We’re the introduction. What you two do after that is your business.
House Rules
We want you to have a good time, but there is 1 rule above all others: we have zero tolerance for AI-generated content. Every author we interview writes their own books. That means no AI “drafting” or even “polishing”.
What We Talk About
Books, obviously, but spec-fic is a big, beautifully strange family, and we go where it goes. Think interviews with authors, roundtables where we argue about subgenres, games and bits that go off the rails, and rabbit holes that go some unexpected places.
A Note on Our Vibe
This is a bar for grown-ups. Expect swearing, gallows humor, conversations about body horror that get uncomfortably specific, sexual topics, and more. We’re 18+/R-rated.
What we’re not is cynical. We love this stuff. Every episode is made by people who’d be talking about these books anyway. We just started recording it. Think The Muppet Show meets the most unhinged book club you’ve ever seen.
Know Someone We Should Have On?
We’re always looking for guests. The bar is low:
- A pulse. (Negotiable for horror writers.)
- Zero AI anywhere in the book.
- Something published and available to read: novel, novella, serial, whatever. Indie and self-pubbed absolutely count.
That’s it.
We’re also open to any speculative fiction author joining us for things like roundtables and discussions, regardless of whether they have published work for sale.