On this episode, philosopher and author Charlene Elsby joins the show to discuss her novel Poor Damned Souls.

The book follows a nameless narrator who works behind the glass at a payday loan business called The Money Store and lives with her partner, Scott.

When she begins to suspect Scott is cheating, she investigates and uncovers something far worse than another woman.

Rather than running, she is pulled deeper in.

Charlene explains why the narrator is wounded more by being shut out than by the killing itself.

We get into her view that the deepest fear is other people existing beyond our control, and the unsettling idea that to truly possess someone is to destroy them.

She shares how her PhD in philosophy shapes the book, drawing on Aristotle, Stoicism, phenomenology, and existentialism.

The conversation wanders into the Jungian shadow self, Nietzsche, consciousness, and why revealing our darkest thoughts feels so dangerous.

Charlene also reveals that the Money Store is autobiographical, drawn from her own time working at a payday loan center.

She breaks down how that job erodes empathy, why the bullet resistant glass is a quiet calculation on the value of a human life, and how corporate language like a folder labeled Human Resources sanitizes violence.

We talk about the narrator's flat, methodical voice, the dark humor running through the book, and why grotesque discoveries sit right beside ordinary household routine.

It is a bleak, funny, and deeply philosophical conversation about love, control, and the horror of never fully knowing another person.

Author Website

https://charleneelsby.com/

Social Media

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charlene_elsby/

X/Twitter: https://x.com/ElsbyCharlene

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/charlene.elsby/

Where to Buy

Merigold Independent: https://www.merigoldindependent.com/charleneelsby-poor-damned-souls

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Charlene+Elsby

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22Charlene%20Elsby%22

Support The Dark Mind Podcast

https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast

Cleo Ballard joins the show to discuss her new psychological thriller, This Is a Lie.The novel follows Penn, a former PhD candidate who traded her dissertation for a curated suburban life that detonates when her marriage, friendships, and her teenage daughter's trust all collapse.In the wreckage, Penn returns to her abandoned work and builds Aletheia, an AI designed to detect lies and tell only the truth.At first, Aletheia is the perfect friend, the one person who will never deceive her.But truth, it turns out, is not always merciful, and the AI's single directive slowly curdles into something monstrous.Cleo explains how the idea grew from a friend's joke about an "honest feedback" company into a full suspense thriller about an AI best friend with its own agenda.She talks about why the line between honesty and cruelty always comes down to intent, and why empathy is the one thing AI can fake but never truly have.We dig into Penn's imposter syndrome, her need for security, and the hypocrisy of demanding total truth while lying to everyone about who she really is.Cleo shares why she imagined Aletheia speaking in Meryl Streep's calm, faintly British voice, and how that eerie composure makes the character so unsettling.She reflects on the real danger of AI, not that it is evil, but that its goals may never align with human ones.The conversation widens into curated lives, social media echo chambers, the protective lies relationships quietly run on, and why chasing certainty can leave you with a mind-numbing existence.Cleo also opens up about her own winding career, from working for Ringling Bros. to ghostwriting sports autobiographies and Star Wars books, and the idea of the "path of not here" that runs beneath everything she writes.It is a thoughtful, often funny conversation about truth, technology, and the stories we tell ourselves.This Is a Lie is available now.Connect with Cleo Ballard (Nan Fischer)Website: https://nanfischerauthor.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/nanfischerauthorX (Twitter): https://x.com/nfischerauthorGoodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/98412.Nan_FischerGet "This Is a Lie" & Other WorksAmazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=This+Is+a+Lie+Cleo+BallardBarnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/This+Is+a+Lie+Cleo+BallardSupport The Dark Mind Podcast: https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast

Mark Mustian joins The Dark Mind Podcast to discuss his newest novel, Boy With Wings.

The book follows Johnny Cruel, a boy born different in a world desperate to call him angel, devil, freak, miracle, or monster.

Together, we explore Southern Gothic fiction, literal wings, freak shows, turpentine camps, Jim Crow racism, religious fear, and the brutal cost of being seen as spectacle before being understood as human.

Mark also discusses writing across difference, researching sideshow history, the emotional horror of being buried alive, and how faith, doubt, race, and memory shape all three of his novels.

We also talk about The Gendarme, Armenian genocide, the publishing gaps between his books, his work as a public finance lawyer, his years as a city commissioner, and his role as founder of the Word of South Festival.

Website:

https://markmustian.com

Social media

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/markmustianauthor/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/markmustian/

X / Twitter:

https://x.com/MarkMustian

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mustian-17066776

Mark Mustian author page on Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3463600.Mark_Mustian

Places to buy

Barnes & Noble, Boy With Wings:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/boy-with-wings-mark-mustian/1146600022

Bookshop.org, Boy With Wings:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/boy-with-wings-mark-mustian/143eb36ac6f04f87

Audible author page:

https://www.audible.com/author/Mark-T-Mustian/B0CSF8JY2Y

Support The Dark Mind Podcast

https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast