SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hello, my fellow Dreadites. Welcome to the Dread Alert Podcast. Today we're joined by Philip Fercasi, author of the Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre. I loved this book. Philip is the Bram Stoker and British Fantasy Award-nominated author of the story collections Behold the Void and Beneath a Pale Sky and No One is Safe. His novels include A Child Alone with Strangers, Gothic, Boys in the Valley, and The Third Rule of Time Travel. His stories have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Best Horror of the Year, Nightmare Magazine, Interzone, and The Southwest Review. Philip, thank you so much for joining us today. We are thrilled to have you on the podcast. I just finished the book and I found it to be compelling, moving, and incredibly suspenseful as well. But before we jump into all that, why don't you tell me a little bit about your background and what got you into writing horror to begin with?

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Yeah, I mean, uh, the quick version is um, you know, I've I've I've been writing my whole life. I I I, you know, when I was like in third grade, we were given an assignment to write like a short story, and I wrote this like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pastiche. You know, I was careful to change the name so I wouldn't get sued. And um, and man, from there it was just like a fever. Uh, and uh started, you know, started reading everything and anything, you know. I was reading a lot of fantasy and science fiction when I was very young, and then I crept into the you know, the gateway drug that is Stephen King and started reading uh Stephen King and Clive Barker and uh Dean Koontz and Strangers and Watchers and Weave World and all that great stuff. And um, and yeah, so I was hooked early, but I didn't actually start writing horror fiction. Well, actually, I professionally, or you know, uh with you know, with earnest until about 10 years ago. Uh I I'd written some short stories that were horror when I was younger in my 20s. They never really went anywhere, but I but I but I wrote like three novels and like dozens and dozens of short stories that were I would say they were dark, but they weren't horror, they weren't genre. And um and then I but then I started around 2010, I was writing screenplays. I was writing a I was kind of making a semi-living as a as a working screenwriter, and I wrote like for Disney and I wrote a lifetime movie, and and um, and I was writing horror scripts, and then the screenplay thing kind of got annoying for a lot of reasons, and um, I wanted to get back into fiction, and I was talking to my girlfriend now wife at the time, and I said, you know, so I was just trying to like talk it through, and it hit me like this like you know, lightning bolt, light bulb, whatever you want to call it moment, where I was like, why don't I try writing horror fiction again? And I wrote a story called Mother, then I sold it. Like, I think I sent it out to Dunham's Manor Press, and within three hours they accepted it. And then I wrote a story called Altar uh for Dunham's Manor as well, which isn't you know has since been made into a movie by A24 that's coming out next year. Um and then I got a short story deal, collection deal out of that, and away we went. And so yeah, I and so it just was a matter of I think it was um um it was for me, it was the right time. I was a little, you know, I started a little older than a lot of writers, um, had um, you know, I didn't really publish anything until I was in my mid-40s. So um, but yeah, and then once I started writing Horn, I kind of kind of everything kind of clicked for me, and uh, and it's been it's been an amazing decade so far.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Well, the genre certainly benefits by having you here, that's for sure. And specifically with this novel, this fills a gap that I've not seen before. Uh, and just to give the listeners some context, because I think this is gonna air before the novel's released, the novel follows Rose Dubois, a resident of a senior living community, her friend we'll say, Miller, and some other colorful residents, as they face off against a slasher. And it's as much as it is a traditional slasher story, it's not a traditional slasher story. I I found the dynamic of an non-teenage final girl to be incredibly compelling. And I just was curious, where did the idea for an octagenarian final girl come from?

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Yeah, I mean, um, yeah, you know, it's funny. I, you know, I've been talking a lot about it being a slasher, and I don't know if it is a slasher. I think it's a, and I'm not saying it's I've I've described it that way as well. So I'm certainly not saying that's it's it's wrong, but but I think it um the way I I tend to say it's about a serial killer in a retirement home versus like a slasher, because I think slashers are so um much more about the kills and uh the killer and um and much less about the characters uh who are you know filling the quota, if you will, of sheep to slaughter. So um, whereas for me, I felt like this was much more of a thriller mystery with some definitely some definite horrific elements. But anyway, um to answer your question, um, yeah, you know, uh when I was um I was doing a tour for Boys in the Valley, and which my my previous uh book with Nightfire, and it came out in 2023, and my wife and I were staying in um this kind of old historic hotel in Virginia for an event that I was doing, and it and we were like doing a sunset stroll, and I just kind of mentioned casually, I'm like, this place is more like a retirement community than a hotel because the buildings were very historic and there was like these beautiful kind of grounds, like sloping green hills everywhere, and it just seemed like really idyllic and and peaceful. And and then, of course, I got you know attacked by the what if monster, and I was like, Oh, you know, what if this was a setting for our book? And what if there was a serial killer running around here? And how would the older residents respond to something like that? And by the time we got literally, this is the truth, we got back from our walk. I sat down on my laptop, I typed the words the Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre, and I wrote a half-page pitch and I emailed it to my agent. I kind of forgot about it, and then the next morning she emailed back and said, This is brilliant, we got to do it. And that was and that was it. From there, we were off and running.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

I think it's really interesting that you mentioned it's not a traditional slasher because I was picking up on that as well when I read the book. It feels like it takes its uh cues from Agatha Christie a lot and uh maybe Jallo as a as a genre. Um, we have you know, a masked killer, but it is more about the sleuth thing in the detective work. I thought that was I mean, you have more room to work with in a novel than in a 90-minute slasher, but I thought it was really interesting to still uh because I I think these scenes are vivid, the slashing is vivid, and I don't want to downplay that for the audience, but I thought it was really well constructed. Was there anything that like, and I read your end notes as well, so we don't need to get too terribly personal, but was there anything that you were able to use that was an inspiration that made it feel as real as it does and as ground as it as it does? The characters are so vivid and the setting is so vivid. Was there anything that was an inspiration for you?

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Yeah, you know, um yeah, I was able to draw on some experience because it was as far as the setting is concerned specifically, because I um, you know, I've been a full-time writer, I wouldn't have been a full-time writer for a few years. And before that, I was uh I worked in locations for film and TV. I was a location manager or an assistant location manager. And my job was to scout locations, and then when we'd film there, you know, I'd order the dumpsters and the bathrooms and I would find places for everybody to park and handle the permits and and deal with the building people or the or the house people or whatever you're whatever it is. And and uh anyway, so I was doing a TV show called Yellow Jackets. Um, and uh one of the scenes or one of the settings in that first season was this re was this retirement community. So we actually filmed in a retirement community and it was my location. So I was there for like a month, you know, because you're there doing all the prep work and you're dealing with all the residents and you're dealing with the administrators and all that stuff. So I took a lot from that um both you know that experience, and a lot of that made it into the setting of the Autumn Springs retirement home massacre, or the Autumn Springs retirement home, even though the even though it's set in upstate New York and this retirement home was here in Los Angeles. But um, and then also like my my um my wife's folks are recently moved into a retirement community and and that was kind of going on while I was writing the book. So I was able to kind of like, you know, they would send, you know, they would I would go visit them for the holidays or whatever, and they would be like, look, we have all these brochures for you to look because they knew I was writing the book. And and so I was like, I would burrow through their like brochures and their like activity schedules and all this other stuff. So I did have some some uh you know some um some stuff to work from for the setting. And as far as the characters, um you know, that was really just more um, you know, my imagination, you know, they just kind of popped out of my head. And I think I mentioned you mentioned the afterward, and you know, I mentioned that Rose, who is the main protagonist, you know, she arrived fully formed in my head with all this baggage and all this uh background and uh this wonderful spirit. And I just loved her, and uh it was so easy to fall into her head and to write her character for me. I just was very natural. Um, so yeah, and and then from there I think uh I, you know, I pull from you pull from people you know to a degree, um, but uh, you know, like but I think you know you want to give everyone their unique voice, but for the most part with characters, um, just like with Boys in the Valley, where there's 30 boys, and they all have to have a little bit of a distinct voice so the reader understands who's who's doing, you know, they're not getting mixed up. And um, same with this, like you want to give them each a little bit of a distinct voice, maybe some distinct features, but you know, not everyone can have a limp or an eye patch, but you want to definitely give them um a unique personality. So, but that's all just kind of comes from uh the you know my imagination and my ability to kind of make up characters and sort of immerse myself in them.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Well, they were all fully formed, then I grew attached to quite a few of them, and honestly, the losses.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Oh, you're you're right. The losses in this book hurt. Uh it was true. Um, but it got me thinking though, the main cast is considerably considerably older than me and and considerably older than you. Were there challenges or advantages with using that kind of a cast in a setting where they're fighting for their lives uh versus this masked killer?

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Um there were advantages as it pertained to the storytelling because I was able to really utilize a lot of the um uh challenges and conflicts that arose from the fact that there was a serial killer in a retirement home and that that these octagenarian, you know, aged folks were the ones who were having to deal with it because, like, for example, the police weren't taking the kills seriously because after all, it's a retirement home and people die. And um, and so that was kind of an element that I got to play with a little bit. And um, the idea, of course, being that physically, um, you know, there are limitations to someone who is 80, you know, and they're not gonna be jumping out of, you know, windows or you know, having these long drawn-out fight sequences or whatever, or running, or able to, like you mentioned the teenage girl, final girl, like being able to like run away and and you know, you can't have these giant set pieces where they're like running through an empty house and slamming doors. So you so yeah, there were that the physical limitations were were an were an interesting component, although I don't think I played on it too much, but I definitely was always like in the back of the reader's mind, right? Like, what are they gonna do if they're confronted with this by this killer? And also, you don't know who the killer is. For all you know, the killer is, you know, an older uh resident or whatever. So um, so I enjoyed those challenges. I enjoyed, I thought it brought a lot of texture to the to what is sort of a more non-traditional um story in the sense that I'm mashing up this kind of these two worlds of slasher and retirement home community. Um, so yeah, but stuff like especially with like the idea that, and also there's a lot in the book about um, oh, they're kind of dismissed because they are older and oh, you're being paranoid, or oh you're just being problematic, or you want attention and all this kind of stuff. So all that stuff, you know, I really wanted to dig into that um the perception that a lot of people have of folks who are in their late 70s and 80s or 90s, you know, the fact that they're not, you know, their their ideas and their um and their concerns aren't worthy or don't have the weight of someone who's younger just because they're older. You know, I really wanted to emphasize that these are real people with with with real desires and real fears and and and and they and um and society tends to uh you know uh have a certain perception of of our of our of our elderly generation when really there's so much there um that I really wanted to explore that you know that depth.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

Yeah, and I think that's uh a great segue into my next uh piece here. And that it's that I was an actor for a number of years, and uh as actors do, you make ends meet. And I worked as a simulated patient, not standardized where we're doing symptoms, but like role-playing with doctors, how to have end-of-life care discussions. And as a project manager, I worked with senior living communities doing content for those activity brochures uh that you mentioned. So I have a lot of experience in this world personally, and it's an important topic to me. Um I think that you a lot of people tiptoe around death when it comes to aging and dying. And I thought it was a really interesting blend here, and I wondered how you balanced some of the sensitivity about handling big issues like aging and blending it with a murder story. Uh there, you know, it has to be a little in the characters tiptoe as well. Nobody wants to come out and say it. And we'll get into the theme of not believing our elders in just a second, but I want to hear about the sensitivity of blending these stories first.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Yeah, I mean, that was a thing. Like, death is definitely a character in this, an unseen character in this book, a presence, if you will. And like I think there's parts of the book where, and I'm I'm paraphrasing myself, but where I described the fact that these there's a scene in the book where they're um where they're talking about um how they don't see death as a threat or as a stranger, even they kind of see it as a friend. And that when and when that and then within the context, it's I'm not saying these guys are all jumping off the rooftops. I'm saying the idea is that it's it's and it's it's you kind of live with death. You you're very aware of of death being, and I kind of I think a way I describe it in the book is like death is in every shadowed corner and and you know, is sitting with you at breakfast, and it's sitting with you when you have your late night scotch, and and every now and then death taps you on the shoulder and takes your hand and walks you away. And that's kind of more the the feeling because um uh because there is a familiar familiar familiarity, thank you, with death. Um, and you know, it's it's an it's it's that's also drawn a little bit like I remember I was visiting my wife's folks, and we were just sitting in their in their very nice apartment at the at this community, and they just kind of casually mentioned, oh, did you hear like you know, Ruby or whoever, um, across the hallway past and and then and then it segued into, oh, I wonder if if they're gonna put her place up for sale, or I wonder how long it will be before they occupy. And it all just all the conversation has kind of rolled right along. It so it was such a natural, you know, there wasn't like, oh my god, did you hear? Like it was very much like, oh, did you hear their and you know, and so I it so I think with with the retirement community, there, you know, while they have a lot of a lot of life to give and a lot of life left, and they all have these, like I mentioned, these desires and these wants and um this lust for life in a lot of ways. Um, I also think it's like there's a natural um understanding that, you know, at any moment, you know, um death can appear and and and take your hand, like I said. So um contrasting that commonality, that naturalness, that uh almost a philosophy or or a or a mindset with the idea of a shocking, violent death happening to people, and the and the the contrast between the two, because this isn't this isn't the natural order. This isn't this isn't life happening. Uh this is someone coming in and intruding and taking people. Um and and even at the opening scene, this is not a spoiler, it's in the first few pages, like the movie, this this the the um novel opens with them sitting there watching the Ingrid Bergman classic, you know, where death is doing playing chess with the night. And so I really wanted to get it right up right up front. Like, look, the death is here, and this is very much about you know, death and dying, but it's also very much about life, and it's about um how these characters perceive those two things and the yin and yang of that, which I thought was really something that was really interesting to explore. And I think even Rose at one point has a monologue where she's talking about um her desire for independence and her desire to live and her desire to want to do things. And and I think I even play on that a little bit, you know, on the emotions of that a little bit when some of these characters don't, you know, don't make it to the final chapter. And the idea that they're taken before their time, um is yeah, so it's definitely something that is woven densely throughout the fabric of this novel, the idea of death and the contrast between it being a natural occurrence and it being something that's um violent and taken.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

It was very sensitively handled. And I actually have a note here in my questions that uh I noticed plenty of chess references, a game I would absolutely lose if I was forced to play death. So uh not lost on me there. But I I do notice that that you have a good ear for this. It rang true to me in my experience. Whereas, you know, working with medical professionals, sometimes they're hesitant to even say the word death or dying. And that's a lot of the work we did was coach them how to have frank discussions where it felt like the residents were facing it every day and a little bit more comfortable with it, really, really sensitively handled. And aside from death, there are a ton of other themes in this novel. Um, love and family and trust. And uh, you know, Rose even says, I'm I'm you know, I'm old, I'm not dead, so of course, living life to the fullest. But one that we have already kind of talked about, um but not dove into fully. There's a large scene here about calling your children and how we make space for elderly people in our life, and how we uh sort of treat our aging population and maybe unintentional neglect. I took a quote down here and it says, You're not running a retirement home, Mr. Blackwell, you're running an Octogenarian orphanage. And I wondered, you know, I uh it's clear as a theme, but I wondered, is there anything you'd like to leave the readers with? After I put this book down, is there something that you want us to maybe consider about these residents, about the people in our life and how the themes of this book apply back to us?

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Yeah, I mean that scene that chapter was a tough one to write. And um and yeah, no, I mean I think I think the themes, you know, I I tried to explain the whole the whole book is uh was a little bit of a tight high wire act, you know, where I was trying to get across certain things, but I didn't want to beat it to death and no pun intended, but I but I was really trying to um explore things, but I wasn't my point was not to lecture or to or to preach, it was very much just to try and create an understanding for these characters, and by creating the understanding, then you're more immersed as a reader into what's happening to them. So, but no, I think for me, you know, for me it's it's about I think there's um I mean I again I I I don't want to my takeaway for any of my books is that I want people to enjoy the experience. I want people to have had fun, and I want people to have been maybe scared and thrilled, and maybe they laughed and maybe they cried. I would love, you know, my t my goal for every book that I write is that there's an emotional connection between the book and the and the reader, and that's my end game. So I say that because I don't really have like a and now here's the you know Wally Cleaver moral at the end of the episode that's leave it to be for everybody who's under 50. Um but uh but I but I will say that I I I I um I really wanted to make sure I got across the idea that because I that uh perception of the elderly is very skewed, and especially in the United States, um you know, where they're perceived to be sort of these children and and that shouldn't be taken seriously or that shouldn't be um learned from or catered to or respected even. And I think that is sort of like something that I wanted to address a little bit. And um, and also just address the fact that like look, like these are like, you know, people as they get older are still they're still people, they still have they still have desires and and and and they still have you know us cravings and for for and lots, like I said, lust for life. And and you know, one of the things with Rose was even though she has all this baggage, uh, she still like wants that independence and and she and she doesn't want to be tied down and she wants to have her own life. And she and like even um you know, one of the things that was tricky with the book was getting into um Rose's relationship with her daughter and her grandson. And the idea with that was to really get across the the love, the pure love of that relationship, but also the idea that, like, look, Rose is kind of like at one point I think she says, like, I don't want to be anybody's full-time babysitter. I don't, you know, it and so there's that contrast that makes her very real, I think. Like she's not just like this, she is a goosey grandma, but she's not a goosey grandma in that like, I'm gonna throw my life out to be, to be with, you know, with with my, you know, with my daughter or my grandchild 24-7. So so anyway, so that was, I think so that I guess from a takeaway from other than the enjoyment and other than the emotional connection, I would say the takeaway is that I think people should just think twice about how they perceive older folks. And that might not even mean 90 year old people or 80 year old people. It might even mean the way that 20 something year olds perceive 50 something year olds or even 30 something year olds perceive 50 or 60 year old people because I think there's like a I think there's like a uh a gap of of empathy and understanding where it comes to that like I've I read a book recently where this this this character was was this old like described as like this old daughtering white haired person and they had a cane and they had their favorite chair and they groaned when they sat down. And as I'm reading later in the like a couple like I think the next page or whatever it's revealed that that person is in their early 50s. And I'm like what the fuck like I'm like come like and like this is obviously written by someone who's very young and who doesn't who thinks that like oh when you're in your 50 you're like basically ready for the for the you know for the the the the the the farm in in in heaven where the dogs go where dogs are taken when they're left to die. But so I just think for me it's like perception has to be I think people need to think a little bit and that chapter you're describing where um the intolerance of it and the and the uh misunder misunderstanding of it and the fact that like you know the um lack of awareness that these are the people that raised you and sacrificed for you um and you owe them your respect. And so I think those are things that I definitely if people took those things away I would I wouldn't be mad about it.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

What certainly made me think quite a bit about the you know my mom is 75 and I'm I'm 42. I'm no spring chicken but I have a two year old. So I'm thinking about the legacy that I'm leaving her and the care that I will need when she's in her twenties to forties. Uh it it just I was very emotionally honest with some of those scenes and and even some of the scenes where the where you're describing the assisted living uh nurses who look through the patients and it's no malice there. It's just business as usual. I thought it really just jumped out at me as something that it affected me for sure. No good I'm there yeah there are plenty of tense scenes and moving scenes that affected me in this book and I'll tell you up front I'm a sucker for any scenes that are heartwarming and involve a dog and there's one such heartwarming scene in this book. Is there a scene that stands out to you that you really love that you were looking forward to writing anything like that without spoiling the book too much it's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

You know it's funny because when I when I first reconceive of a book if I know that I know that the idea has merit if scenes start popping up in my head and I'll kind of be like oh that's interesting or that's interesting and and um and then if the characters start kind of walking around and talking in my head I know I'm I got something. So Autumn Springs was a bit different in the sense that I um I didn't really have those moments in my head. I think I it was it was the only novel I've ever written that I didn't did not outline. And that was not by choice. It was because it just refused to be outlined and I was talking to somebody about it and they said I wonder if it's because so much of it is reactionary so much of it the the you know the it's there's agency with these characters but also so much of it is I'm responding to what's happening and which is true. And um and also I don't really know the reason but but I think it's so I was I didn't really have a like I said a lot of the scenes in my head I didn't even know how it was going to end until I was writing the ending to be frank which is very unlike me I'm I'm I'm a I'm an incredibly um anal outliner. But um but yeah I'm trying to think if there's a scene that specifically I I will say I guess I'll say that um I really enjoyed writing the scenes with Rose and Tatum yeah um Tatum Byrd. I just enjoyed writing those scenes there they brought a lot of peace to me um and and you know I in the afterward I mentioned that my father you know suffered from dementia and I had to take care of him during a lot of that time and I think that when Tatum having a similar affliction and being able to kind of explore what I had gone through with my father through that character was something that was pretty cathartic. So those are the scenes that I think those moments of through in the story they're kind of sprinkled throughout I think are the ones that I probably am most um I probably uh I guess I guess I would say the most connected with and I probably and I really enjoy those I really enjoyed writing those moments.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

Those moments specifically with Tatum were of course very sad uh watching him struggle but there was a beauty there was a beauty in that sadness and such a beauty in that relationship. Yeah um definitely some of the standout moments in the book some of the most human moments in the book for me these are a few questions that we ask all of our guests and uh so you can take your time and think about these answers if you need to um but there were a lot of Easter eggs in this book specifically uh you have references to Black Sunday the seventh seal castle uh castle of blood a few character names that I noticed that might be some horror royalty names uh I'm thinking of Friday the 13th and uh there's a Dr. Kincaid maybe I'm thinking of Mark Kincaid from Scream. So you have your horror chops and they're proven on the page what is your favorite slasher movie or slasher novel and I'm gonna open it up and say mystery novel or mystery movie as well.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

Yeah you got to read my novel Gothic because you'll have a lot of you'd have a lot of fun if you read Gothic which is basically my homage to 80s horror and that thing is like nothing but nothing but Easter eggs throughout uh you'll have a lot of fun with it. Um I'm actually writing the sequel to it right now. Um excellent uh uh I mean Halloween is my Halloween is my fit one of my favorite movies um period so uh that would probably be the one I would definitely point to um I just uh I thought that was so astonishingly original for its time and such a um I don't know I just love I just love the the way that Carpenter crafted that that movie and I even loved I even loved Halloween too you know where they're in the hospital and everything. And Halloween three is like you know batshit crazy. So uh I didn't even have a huge problem with that. At the time I know it's kind of an outlier but uh I'm not a fan of the remakes but that's don't hold it against me. But um but yeah so Halloween would be the answer. I I that's the I was never a Jason guy. I was never I I I was a Freddy guy. Um Nightmare on Elm Street would be a close close second to Halloween like 1A 1b uh and I've I probably seen the original Nightmare on Elm Street oh you know that was one of those ones where we wore out the videotape when I was a kid so I've probably seen it a hundred times and I loved I I don't I think I stopped after the like the third one I don't know if I really went past past that when they when the when the when the main I'm sorry I don't know her name I'm sorry but the main when the main character returned yeah Nancy yeah Nancy returned I think that was the third one right yep like there was like the dream thing yeah and then there was dream warriors yeah so I I think the third one is where I stopped but yeah but that was that would be my one A and one B Halloween and uh nightmare on Elm Street. Halloween is the uh most accurate and correct answer it is also my favorite film of all time I think there you go yeah yeah but I do remember can I say one thing I do remember when I I tell you this and I just had this in my head and it's one of those moments that I I haven't really thought about till just now but I I I think one of the things that really got me interested in in speculative storytelling or I won't even say fiction but speculative horror maybe even but I remember watching um Friday the 13th for the I'm sorry uh Nightmare on street for the first time and the the the when she pulled him out of the dream at the end and they had that whole fight set piece I was blown away blown away because I was kind of like for me that was taking something that I kind of was fun and I got it and it was and it was scary and all that good stuff. But then kind of like completely turned it on its head where you know and and did something so you interesting and unique that I just remember being like mind blown at that twist and not seeing it coming as a younger kid. But um anyway so that was a pivotal moment I think in my kind of horror horror development and I still love to this day like turning stories like completely on their heads and going a different direction that people aren't expecting.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

Oh yeah I oftentimes call it the Home Alone sequence. I know Home Alone came out after that but Nancy she shows so much ingenuity we just we on our on our TikTok channel right it's Home Alone man you're actually I never thought about that either we we talked about our favorite final girls and Nancy's my number three of all time because of that sequence. She's just she's clever and uh yeah she's fantastic. But my next question was what's your favorite horror movie? But we kind of covered that is there any we have one A, one B. Is there anything else you'd like to toss in the ring?

SPEAKER_01 31:36

No my favorite horror movie period of all time is Aliens. Excellent aliens so we're James Cameron's aliens James Cameron's aliens yes yeah Jane Aliens is my favorite movie of all time my second favorite movie of all time is the thing.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Yes uh then I would go Jaws yeah then I would go then I would go Halloween and then Neymar Number Street's definitely in the top ten but yeah I think Aliens is a new comment for this podcast but the thing and Jaws are our most commonly received answers because they are two nearly perfect films I think I think the thing is I it's hard for me because Halloween is my favorite movie of all time but I can respect the fact that the thing is probably Carpenter's masterpiece.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Yeah I mean yeah I I they're just different like I mean Halloween is like mood is a mood is a mood man it's a vibe and uh the thing is just you know gonzo and uh but they're both classics and and and aliens is just it's just you know I like I you know I don't I do I am uh happy and proud to stand on my soapbox and say that it's my favorite movie I I I I just I just I just think it's a perfect action film and uh and and I just have I I mean I've I have so much fun watching it and I've rewatched it I don't know how many times and I've seen the uncut and but I mean I'm not one of those guys like I don't have like I know they just came out with like a a version like like all the people talking and does all this big role and I'm not I'm not really one of those guys. I'm not really that big of a cinophile but but I but I love that movie and uh and I loved Alien too the original alien as well I should say but but uh but yeah but but some of that some of the original alien didn't really um doesn't really uh it didn't doesn't date well like some of the some of the effects were a little yeah sad.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

I agree with that.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

But aliens it still holds up and that's a great movie.

SPEAKER_00 33:28

The emotional arc that Ripley goes on in that with the parallel of losing her child and Newt uh I I just yeah it's it's perfect.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

And there's so many things because I've had this argument like Paul Trembling and I will go on and on about alien versus aliens but but I've had um um and Tim Levant will come to my defense. But um but uh the thing about aliens that people don't I don't think I shouldn't say people don't realize but that I have to sometimes introduce into the conversation is like there were so many things from that movie that were done for the first time in that movie that now when you go back and watch it you're like it feels kind of cliche like like the monitors popping out with when you know when the aliens did that was the first time that been done and like then it became like a thing right now all the monitors are going so but there's a few things like that in that movie throughout where they it was the first time they'd been done and that movie set the set um set the standard for action movies going forward and anyway so I did and I just uh and I the ending of the ending is perfection I don't know I just the double ending the fourth act is perfection just perfection and then soundtrack come on so what are you working on next anything coming up that you want to plug yeah so I have um Autumn Springs comes out September 30th um April 7th I think April next year of 2026 my uh new novel called Seraphina comes out which is historical horror takes place during the Civil War it's got kind of a witch in the woods vibe um so I'm excited about that and then I have a new story collection coming out in fall of next year called Traps and Spectres uh which is 14 stories got an introduction by Matt Dinneman who did the Dungeon Crawler Carl books um so that'll be fun to get out and then um right now I'm writing uh Gothic the end which is a sequel to Gothic so that's gonna come out in April of 2027 from Clash um as well. So those are my next three big releases I have some novel novellas and other stuff coming out but those are the next big three releases. So yeah right now I'm writing Gothic too um and then I'm gonna start working on a new book probably early next year um tentatively called the farm probably won't be called that but that'll and then I have a book called Blue Butterfly that is um that is hopefully like any day gonna be um we'll have an announcement on so that but that is with a publisher and they are hopefully they're considering so we'll and we'll we'll see so hopefully I'll have two books next year and then you know all things go well we'll have two books in 2027 and and keep that going moving forward is the idea.

SPEAKER_00 36:11

This might be PTSD from my actor days but anytime I'm speaking to an artist who says they're booked out into 2027 I want to throw a small party for them. That is fantastic stuff.

SPEAKER_01 36:19

Yeah you kind of have to it's weird with with writing because you kind of have to think that far ahead because by the time you you know by the time you put a book out for submission to the time that book actually comes out you're talking about a couple of years and you know even once you sign a deal with the book you're talking probably at least a year maybe a year and a half so so you always have to sort of think that far ahead as as a writer if you're doing it as a career like I am and it you need to kind of keep make sure that you have you can pay the rent for the next couple years. So um yeah so you had to kind of yeah right now it's all about 2027 and 2028. That's awesome though I can't wait we'd love to have you back on to talk about historical horror that is something that I uh I I'm always thrilled with I'll I'll to get I'm I'll make sure Clash gets you a a copy of the book when they have advanced review copies.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

That'd be fantastic. Thank you. Yeah um where can people find you to stay up on all this cool stuff uh are there you know I I know in the back of the book you have your blue sky and your website and I believe an Instagram as well.

SPEAKER_01 37:17

Yeah I'm yeah I'm pretty I'm very I'm active on Instagram I'm active on Facebook um um uh blue sky a little bit less so but uh Facebook and Instagram are the best two places and then my website pforcassi.com has all my books and stories and blogs and events and all that kind of stuff on it so there's a newsletter and blah blah blah so yeah those are the but social media there's a group on Facebook called Facebook Freaks which or Philip Furcassi Freaks which is not started by me but it's like 900 strong and uh all they do is like talk about the books and it's a great community. So this those are kind of the best places to hang out if you're looking uh for more stuff from me.

SPEAKER_00 37:57

That's fantastic and we'll put that in the description if you're watching us on YouTube you'll have that in the description. If you're listening to us it should be in the podcast description as well. Well Philip I can't thank you enough for your time today. Honestly it has been a a really fun chat and the book is just outstanding. I can't wait for it to get into everybody's hands. Um it's the Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre with a cool cover. I love it uh I'm I'm here for it and I can't wait for you to all read all to read this as well. Thanks anything you want to leave us on?

SPEAKER_01 38:28

No I just appreciate you uh uh giving me the time I'm glad I was able to be here awesome well that's all we got for you today and stay spooky my friends