Brad Ricks returns to The Dark Mind Podcast to discuss Dead Mountain, his new creature horror novel set in Dyatlov Pass.

In 1959, nine experienced hikers cut their way out of their tent and fled barefoot into a blizzard in the Russian Urals.

Sixty years later, a documentary crew goes silent in the same frozen pass, and Caleb Forrester joins a desperate expedition to bring his twin sister home.

Brad explains why he chose not to solve the mystery, using the known facts as guardrails and writing into the blank space between them.

He talks about building a hero who refuses to believe his sister is dead, and how that refusal filters every warning he hears.

We dig into the empty white landscape as a monster in its own right, where the cold, the dark, and getting lost can all kill you.

Brad shares how he handled the real hikers with respect, why he chose not to write a found footage novel, and what a standalone lets him do that a series cannot.

He also discusses the slower, patient dread of Dead Mountain compared to the action of The Night Crew series, his early morning writing ritual, and his drywall approach to first drafts.

Brad closes the conversation with a reading from the book.

Official Website
https://www.bradricks.com

Dead Mountain
https://www.bradricks.com/dead-mountainbradricks

Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H46H5RBP

Amazon Author Page
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0CRPYPF1Q

Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Brad%20Ricks

Audible
https://www.audible.com/author/Brad-Ricks/B0CRPYPF1Q

Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/35228162.Brad_Ricks

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/BradRicksAuthor

Brad Ricks's Book Crypt
https://www.facebook.com/groups/bradricksbookcrypt

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

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@bradricksauthor

X
https://x.com/BradleyRicks

Threads
https://www.threads.com/@bradricks

The Night Crew Podcast
https://thenightcrewpodcast.podbean.com

Support The Dark Mind Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast

Horror author Mathilda Zeller joins The Dark Mind Podcast to talk about her novel It Looks Like You in the Dark, out October 13, 2026, from Tor Nightfire.
The book expands "Kushtuka," the story that opened the anthology Never Whistle at Night, into a full novel set in the Inupiat village of Chukchi in Alaska's Kobuk River Valley.
Mathilda shares the frightening stories her grandfather told her while she lived with him during some of the hardest years of her life.
She explains how a 1970s account by an outsider who pressured locals into telling him their stories pushed her to reclaim the kushtuka legend.
We talk about why a monster that looks like someone you love is more horrifying than any stranger.
She describes working on a cultural preservation project in Kotzebue and how the Cold War cut her people off from their relatives in Siberia.
Mathilda explains why she left the Inupiaq language untranslated and how her mother and uncles helped her find Tapeesa's voice.
She also talks about choosing her editor after meeting with seven during the auction, the fairy belief behind the Bridget Cleary murder case, and the terrifying Arctic mermaid folklore behind her next novel.
Finally, she tells the story of the two resilient great-grandmothers who inspired her pen name.

Official Website
https://mathildazeller.wordpress.com/

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

TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@mathildazellerauthor

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/MathildaZeller

X
https://x.com/MathildaZeller

Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22669904.Mathilda_Zeller

It Looks Like You in the Dark at Tor Publishing Group
https://torpublishinggroup.com/it-looks-like-you-in-the-dark/?isbn=9781250402035&format=hardback

Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250402034

Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781250402035

Bookshop.org
https://bookshop.org/a/0/9781250402035

Audible Audiobook
https://www.audible.com/pd/It-Looks-Like-You-in-the-Dark-Audiobook/B0GGC4S8L6

Kobo eBook
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/it-looks-like-you-in-the-dark

Support The Dark Mind Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast