Shownotes
About this episode
Greg Greene interviews horror & espionage author (and 35-year intelligence community veteran) Alma Katsu on her new horror novel FIEND, dropping September 23, 2025 from Putnam! Alma's one of the most fascinating writers working today. We discuss FIEND along with the current political environment, AI, being a woman leader in a historically male-dominated work environment, and the paranormal. 00:00 - Welcome horror & espionage author Alma Katsu! 01:00 - Alma gives us the pitch for her new book FIEND 02:14 - Is writing fiction different from writing historical fiction? (Spoiler: YES) 03:42 - The fictitious Berisha family and the real Katsu family 05:54 - Family Dynamics of the Rich & Famous (Of the richest man in the world, Alma says, "He's a special case 'cause he's so darn weird, right? He sort of *breeds* children.") 11:21 - The Berisha dynasty: family, business, and clan. And why make them Albanian? 15:42 - Maris, the middle daughter: gender, favor, and patriarchy 19:30 - Living with a lineage of secrets 22:22 - "We're in an age now, kind of like the 90s, the old Gordon Gecko thing, where greed is good, right? That all people care about is wealth." 26:16 - Monsters and the nature of evil 28:29 - Maris Berisha 32:02 - Maris faces the frequent challenge of women in leadership roles: "Be in control, but not controlling." 35:49 - American oligarchy 39:00 - Truthiness: "What we're going through is historic to the Untied States. We're seeing information being used as propaganda really, at levels that we used to see in Russia." 42:03 - Alma on AI-based propaganda: "It's hard not to be super-pessimistic." 45:25 - What the supernatural does for this story. 49:47 - The paranormal burden of proof 54:34 - Film and TV options!