Hellbilly: The Darker Side of Appalachia
Sep 9, 2026 · 32 min · 10 segments
... in which we discuss her upcoming novel Hymn for the Forsaken, American Gothic literature, social justice, and how all of these things are like the other. Welcome back, Hellions.
That's a really interesting point for a couple of reasons.
I grew up in, and I'm going to say this slowly because people always mix it up, Southwest Virginia.
So that means the corner of Virginia.
So different spaces.
But we grew up in isolated places.
You kind of get used to the isolation that horror movies invoke.
I don't know about you, but that never really scares me.
And so for other people to try to explain, yeah, there's isolation.
And we're just kind of like, okay.
country road at night, like listening to spring peepers and people are like, what are you doing? And I'm like, chilling.
And I remember being surprised when my husband, who was a military kid, so he grew up all over.
But the first time we were driving down a country road and he started getting a little jumpy.
And I remember just being like, what is your problem? Like, what's going on with you? You okay? Because yeah, you're right.
You get used to sort of Just kind of communing with the nature around you and just that's you're a part of it and that it feels natural.
Yep.
You learn like the local folklore.
That's a really interesting point for a couple of reasons.
I grew up in, and I'm going to say this slowly because people always mix it up, Southwest Virginia.
So that means the corner of Virginia.
So different spaces.
But we grew up in isolated places.
You kind of get used to the isolation that horror movies invoke.
I don't know about you, but that never really scares me.
And so for other people to try to explain, yeah, there's isolation.
And we're just kind of like, okay.
country road at night, like listening to spring peepers and people are like, what are you doing? And I'm like, chilling.
And I remember being surprised when my husband, who was a military kid, so he grew up all over.
But the first time we were driving down a country road and he started getting a little jumpy.
And I remember just being like, what is your problem? Like, what's going on with you? You okay? Because yeah, you're right.
You get used to sort of Just kind of communing with the nature around you and just that's you're a part of it and that it feels natural.
Yep.
You learn like the local folklore.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.