October might be over but that doesn't mean we have to say goodbye to all things spooky. I had the chance to sit down with Bram Stoker Award-nominated author Johnny Compton to talk about his new collection of horror stories – Midnight Somewhere.
Interview: Author Johnny Compton Talks Midnight Somewhere
I would love to hear how you got into being a fan of horror. Were you the kid reading Goosebumps and watching Are You Afraid of the Dark, and then kind of graduated into the scarier stuff? Or were you more like, I'm scared of this, and I grew up to kind of conquer my fears?
Johnny: I'm gonna confess a little bit to my age here. I'm a little bit outside of the demographic for Goosebumps. I do remember Are You Afraid of the Dark, but I was a little older when Goosebumps really rose to prominence. I'm in my mid-40s, so for me, it was more the Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark book series.
Even before then when I was in kindergarten, my teacher played a record for the class that was a scary story record. They had on it the Tale of the Golden Arm, which is a classic kind of rising from the grave to reclaim an artifact that was stolen ghost story. And fell in love with spooky stories from there.
I grew up in Mississippi, along the Gulf Coast, surrounded by a lot of scary stories in that respect as well. So I think that embedded it in me when I was like five years old and it just became permanently fixed as my favorite go-to. If I can't think of anything else to put on the television or what have you, it's always something scary.
I thought the whole book was phenomenal. Some were scary, some were more thought-provoking, and then yeah, some of them, I laughed. I don't know what that says about me, but I would love to hear from you what you think readers should expect from this book.
Johnny: I mean, hopefully similar to your experience, something well-rounded. There are some stories here that are more cutthroat, direct horror. There are some that are designed to be a little bit more thought-provoking, emotional even.
And then there are stories that I deliberately tried to bring out my humorous side, which through my first two novels, I haven't really gotten to explore very much.
So I like to think that I can crack a joke or two at least from time to time. I was able to at least write a couple of stories that are just explicitly designed to be funny. I'm hopeful that people will receive it the way you did and embrace the variety that comes within the story.
Midnight Somewhere goes on sale December 9, 2025.
Watch the full interview with Johnny Compton
About Midnight Somewhere
A man gets into a car that can take him anywhere he can imagine–including the past, into the worst mistake of his life, a memory he does not want to relive, cannot escape, and is even more afraid to alter …
A seemingly harmless, forgettable film about “alien hand syndrome” inspires a wave of self-harm among viewers–and even stranger things among those who become obsessed with it …
A woman tries to bring her dead lover to life through a macabre ritual that requires attacking his corpse. Is it because she longs to be with him again … or because the two of them have unfinished business?
The assorted characters in this thrilling collection encounter horrors that range from mysterious to murderous, discovering that darkness can find anyone, anywhere, at any hour of the day. After all, it's always Midnight Somewhere …
*This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
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