The House of Hunger was originally published in by Heinemann in 1978. The book is a collection of harrowing, autobiographical short stories in which Marechera’s experiences both in his native Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and as a university stude

#32 Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo

Aug 5th, 2020 1h 19m

Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo was originally published in Spanish in 1955. The book is published by Serpent’s Tail, the translation is by Margaret Sayers Peden and the readings in this episode are by Jakub Blank. The book concerns the journey o

#31 The Child Cephalina: An Interview with Rebecca Lloyd

Jul 18th, 2020 53m 21s

In this episode, I spoke to the writer, Rebecca Lloyd, about her novel, The Child Cephalina (2019), which is published by Tartarus Press:Rebecca Lloyd’s superb Gothic novel explores friendship, obsession and the uncanny in teeming mid-Victori

#30 Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy

May 14th, 2020 52m 38s

Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy was originally published in Italian in 1989. The translation is by Tim Parks, and the book is published by And Other Stories. The novel concerns the early years in the life of a young student at an ex

#29 Cinnamon Shops by Bruno Schulz

Apr 19th, 2020 1h 12m

I’m joined by Stefan Głowacki to discuss Cinnamon Shops, a collection of short stories by Bruno Schulz, which was originally published in Polish in 1934. In this episode, we discuss this classic of Polish literature in its most recent transla

#28 Dhalgren by Samuel R Delany

Apr 10th, 2020 1h 26m

Samuel R. Delany’s Dhalgren was originally published in 1975. Since its publication, Dhalgren has had its fair share of proponents and enemies - it has been called both the best and the worst book ever to come out of the field of science fictio

#27 The Naked Woman by Armonía Somers

Feb 8th, 2020 1h 1m

The Naked Woman by Armonía Somers was originally published in Spanish in 1950. The translation was made by Kit Maude and the book is published by The Feminist Press. On her thirtieth birthday, the main character, Rebeca Linke undergoes a vio

#26 Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia Butler

Dec 5th, 2019 1h 5m

Octavia Butler’s Bloochild and Other Stories was originally published in 1995. The book collects seven stories from throughout Butler’s career, and in this episode we focus on the title story, which depicts a social and sexual relationship bet

#25 The Mainz Psalter by Jean Ray

Oct 30th, 2019 52m 46s

Jean Ray’s The Mainz Psalter was originally published in 1930. We read the story in Jeff and Ann Vandermeer’s anothology, The Weird, and the translation is by Lowell Blair. The story tells the grizzly tale of The Mainz Psalter, a ship en rout

#24 One Moonlit Night by Caradog Prichard

Oct 27th, 2019 1h 10m

Caradoc Prichard’s One Moonlit Night was originally published in Welsh in 1961. The book is a classic of Welsh literature, which though greatly admired in its native country, is still shamefully neglected in the English-speaking world. Set

#23 Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees

Sep 23rd, 2019 1h 9m

Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope MIrrlees was originally published in 1926. Lud-in-the-Mist is the capital of the fictional free state of Dorimare, a country which shares a border with Fairyland, just across The Debatable Hills. Centuries ago, under

#22 The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas

Jul 19th, 2019 1h 6m

The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas was originally published in Nynorsk in 1957, and is available from Peter Owen books and now as a Penguin Modern Classics edition. The translation is by Michael Barnes and Torbjorn Stoverud. The central character of

#21 Graves: An Interview with Quentin S. Crisp

May 26th, 2019 1h 27m

On this episode of Sherds Podcast, I’m joined by writer, Quentin S. Crisp, to discuss his new novel, Graves (2019), published by Snuggly Books, who give the following description of the book: In Graves, Damien, a male nurse and self-styled ‘

#20 Hauntings by Vernon Lee

Apr 29th, 2019 1h 18m

In this episode, I’m joined by Patricia Pulham, Professor of Victorian Literature at The University of Surrey, to discuss Vernon Lee’s collection of supernatural tales, Hauntings (1890). The book collects four of Vernon Lee’s ghost stories,

#19 Forest of a Thousand Daemons by D. O. Fagunwa

Apr 22nd, 2019 1h 12m

D. O. Fagunwa’s Forest of a Thousand Daemons was first published in 1938; it marks the first full-length novel published in Yoruba and has become a classic work of African literature. The delightfully rich translation is by the Nobel laureate

#18 The Witches of Kyiv by Orest Somov

Mar 31st, 2019 1h 8m

The Witches of Kyiv and Other Gothic Tales collects a range of stories by Ukrainian Romantic author, Orest Somov which were originally published between 1827 and 1833. This collection comes from Sova Books and the translations are by Svitlana

#17 The Wall by Marlen Haushofer

Mar 4th, 2019 1h 15m

Marlen Haushofer’s The Wall was originally published in German in 1963. Our protagonist and narrator is a woman in her 40s. While visiting friends at a hunting lodge in rural Austria, she finds herself divorced from all human contact when an

#16 The Hill of Dreams by Arthur Machen

Feb 2nd, 2019 1h 20m

One contemporary reviewer referred to The Hill of Dreams as the “study, rather than the story, of a morbid temperament.” Often regarded as Machen’s masterpiece, this beautiful and idiosyncratic novel concerns the short life of a young writer,

#15 Beirut Nightmares by Ghada Samman

Dec 19th, 2018 1h 6m

Ghada Samman’s ‘Beirut Nightmares’ was originally published in Arabic in 1976. Set at the height of the Lebanese Civil War, this autobiographical novel concerns two weeks in the life of a journalist and writer living at the heart of the warzon

#14 The Human Chair by Edogawa Rampo

Oct 30th, 2018 1h 2m

Edogawa Rampo’s short story, ‘The Human Chair’,was originally published in Japanese in 1925. The story is taken from the collection, Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination, translated by James B. Harris, and published by Tuttle Publishing.

#13 The Dying Peasant by Karel van de Woestijne

Oct 28th, 2018 54m 37s

Karel van de Woestijne’s novella, ‘The Dying Peasant’, was originally published in Dutch in 1918. It is now available for the first time in an unabridged translation by Paul Vincent, published by Snuggly Books. The book concerns an elderly f

#12 Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban

Sep 23rd, 2018 1h 8m

Russell Hoban’s Riddley Walker was originally published in 1980. The novel is set in Kent some two or three thousand years after a nuclear holocaust which has destroyed the land, plunging society back to iron-age levels of technology. Its fo

#11 Ice by Anna Kavan

Aug 14th, 2018 1h 10m

Anna Kavan’s Ice was originally published in 1967 by Peter Owen books. The book is Kavan’s final and best known work, and appeared just one year before her death. In the aftermath of a nuclear war, society is rapidly crumbling as a wall of ic

#10 The Ship by Hans Henny Jahnn

Jul 10th, 2018 1h 6m

Hans Henny Jahnn was a German organ-builder, playwright and novelist. In this episode, we look at the only novel of his available in English, The Ship (1949), a beguilingly dark, allegorical tale set aboard a wooden ship with blood red sails

#9 The Wind by Dorothy Scarborough

Jun 20th, 2018 1h 2m

‘The Wind’ concerns the fate of Letty, a young girl plucked out of a life of ease in Virginia and forced to move to the plains of Sweetwater, Texas at the height of a terrible drought in the 1880s. Letty struggles to acclimatise in this new, h