Stephen Graham Jones in FIRST WORD IN HORROR | ©2025 Etch

FIRST WORD ON HORROR is a new Substack docuseries, broken up into five three-part episodes that premiere every other Friday. Directed by Philip Gelatt and produced by Will Battersby through Etch, their company with Morgan Galen King, FIRST WORD ON HORROR interviews and profiles five acclaimed contemporary horror writers – Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Elizabeth Hand, Laird Barron, and Mariana Enriquez – each of whom reads one of their short stories and discusses their inspirations, philosophies and techniques. The stories are visually realized onscreen under the authors’ narration.

Jones, a multi-award-winning author, was born in Midland, Texas, and is a member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana. His novels include 2020’s THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS and the INDIAN LAKE trilogy (2021’s MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW, 2023’s DON’T FEAR THE REAPER, and 2024’s THE ANGEL OF INDIAN LAKE), all of which combine slasher horror with supernatural and mythic elements.

Jones gets on Zoom to talk FIRST WORD ON HORROR and his own work with ASSIGNMENT X.

How did Jones become involved with FIRST WORD ON HORROR?

“I knew the two people making it, Philip and Will. I’d met them in Telluride, a film festival, probably three years ago, maybe. Then they got hold of me, and they said, ‘Hey, do you want to be in this?’ I think they might have had Paul Tremblay at the time. I’m not sure. But I remember they said they had somebody, and I thought, ‘Well, I trust that person. If they’re doing it, I’ll do it.’ But in the first place, I trusted them, because I knew they were good dudes, I’d seen their work, their films, and so it was easy to say yes, because I trust them.”

Is FIRST WORD ON HORROR meant to be instructional?

For Jones, at least, “It’s not instructional as in, ‘Here are some craft techniques, and here are some writing tips.’ But I do think that any time I get to engage with an author interview, I’m learning – how do they do it, what kind of philosophy they take towards organizing their day, their week, their life, all that stuff – and so, I think through this whole series that people who watch it will be able to accumulate those tidbits and add them up into something productive in their own lives. But I don’t think I give any life advice.”

In Jones’s opinion, who is the target audience for the documentary?

“First and foremost, it’s horror people, horror fans, horror readers, horror movie fans, horror poetry, just anybody who is into any facet of horror, horror poetry, any facet of horror, I think it’s for them. But hopefully it finds a larger audience as well. It would be wonderful for it to serve as an introduction to the horror genre.”

Did Jones write the short story he reads in FIRST WORD ON HORROR specifically for the documentary or is it taken from one of his novels involving final girls?

Turns out it’s neither. “That’s a standalone story. I’m not sure where it published. It might be juke.com, it might be in one of my collections.”

FIRST WORD IN HORROR key art | ©2025 Etch

Jones is fond of final girls in slashers. “I had a novel I want to say back in 2012, THE LAST FINAL GIRL, and I also did a slasher in 2006, DEMON THEORY. THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS is a slasher, and yeah, I’ll always be doing slashers, I’ve always been doing them. So, the final girl bleeds out everywhere.”

What does Jones find so compelling about the slasher subgenre? Does he feel it’s distinct from other horror subgenres?

“I think it is distinct. I mean, it shares things, too, of course, but I think the main way it’s distinct is – it’s kind of what Jade Daniels talks about [in the INDIAN LAKE trilogy]. The slasher is a coin. You just flip it into the air, and on one side is the tragedy face and on the other side is the comedy face, and it’s a smile and a scream and a smile and a scream, which is to say, yes, it’s horror, so there’s going to be blood on the walls, there’s going to be death, screaming, all that terrible stuff, jump scares, but there’s also laughter.

“I think of all the horror genres and subgenres, the slasher is the one that has comedy and humor baked into it the deepest, and I think that’s why I appreciate slashers so much, because yeah, you cringe, you scream, you go away kind of revulsed and maybe it sticks with you for a while and you’re worried about turning the lights off. That’s all good. But you also laugh along the way, and I think laughter is so, so important.”

Much of Jones’s writing is intertwined with the idea of horror cinema. In the INDIAN LAKE trilogy, at least two of the main characters can compare their circumstances to obscure horror movies, down to the last detail. To flip that, does Jones like horror cinema that is somewhat literary?

“I like all horror cinema, I’m pretty sure, except for when it’s too slow. Then I kind of check out. To tell you the truth, the stuff that people want to call ‘elevated’ will sometimes go a little bit slow for me. But I do like horror cinema. Especially in the INDIAN LAKE trilogy, that’s very, very important to Jade Daniels, the main character, so it suffuses the whole trilogy.

“But in THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS, it’s not important at all. I just let the story and the context and tone and characters signal to me whether we’re going to incorporate horror cinema this time or not. After the INDIAN LAKE trilogy, I probably need to step away from doing that so much, just to prove that I can, that I’m not using horror cinema as a crutch.”

Is doing an on-camera interview about horror writing, as Jones does for FIRST WORD ON HORROR, in any way related to horror cinema?

Jones laughs. “Oh, just the horror of getting up earlier than I usually do. No, interviews are always fun. I like talking to people.”

A lot of influential horror seems to come out of Texas, not only from Jones, but also his fellow writer Joe R. Lansdale, and movies like THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE and FROM DUSK TILL DAWN. Is there something unique about Texas horror?

Jones contemplates the question. “I’m good friends with Joe, and people always class us together, which we both laugh about, because he’s East Texas and I’m West Texas, and we’re like, ‘It’s completely different cultures.’ It’s amazing how distinct East and West Texas are, and also, South Texas. Then when you go into the cities, it’s a whole ‘nother deal. But if there is something peculiar, or local, or unique to Texas horror, what would it be? I’m trying to think of how it differs from horror in the West

“I do feel there’s a difference between the horror we get out of the Rockies, say, and horror that’s set in Massachusetts or Rhode Island. I think those are a little bit different. How is Texas different? It’s often drier, but that’s probably what I say because I’m from West Texas and not East Texas like Joe. If there is anything really unique about Texas horror, I can’t come up with it right now, anyway.”

Does Jones prefer writing that simply flows, or does he enjoy doing stories that require research?

“Oh, I very rarely research. Research is zero fun for me. I far prefer to become a good enough writer where I can make it up and the reader doesn’t doubt it. That’s what I strive for.”

This said, Jones did research women’s prisons for the INDIAN LAKE trilogy.

“I did a little bit. I thought, ‘Where does Jade have to stay, and what’s it like where she stays? I think if I can get it right, then it’s probably my duty and obligation as a writer, such that someone who’s been through that system and is familiar with it doesn’t get kicked out of the narrative because I get a little fact wrong.’ But in all the places that I can fudge it, I fudge it.”

When did Jones feel that he’d made it as a writer?

“Let me think. It might be the first summer I saw my book in an airport. That feels really good, to see your book in an airport. That probably would have been sometime in the 2010s. I don’t remember the exact moment, but I do know, to me, that felt like a step of some sort.”

In Jones’s interview in FIRST WORD ON HORROR, he discusses the damage that writing horror can do to an author. At least so far as we known, the profession hasn’t turned Jones into a serial killer, so what kind of damage is he talking about?

“I think with any kind of art, not just horror, you’re having to directly face feelings and emotions and issues that are easier to skirt. And I think that you come away a little bit more singed each time. You think starting out that you’re going to grow calluses, that you can hold this hot stuff and it’s not going to burn you, but if you’re going to tell an honest story, you have to make yourself vulnerable to it, and that means taking your gloves off, taking your calluses off, and touching it and letting it burn you. And you don’t show physical scars, but there are other kinds of scars, I think.”

Isn’t the received wisdom that it’s supposed to be healthy to confront one’s inner demons?

Jones laughs at this. “I used to think that, yeah. Stephen King, in answer to, ‘You must sleep terribly, because you have all this scary stuff in your head,’ was, ‘I sleep fine. I give my nightmares away.’ And I thought that’s the way it would be, but what I found is that when I write my nightmares down onto the page, they just have more resolution. They have names, they have locations, and they’re a lot more real, and so, I’m thrilled it works like that for Stephen King. It does not work like that for me.”

What would Jones most like people to get out of FIRST WORD ON HORROR?

“Probably to find out that we horror writers who are being profiled in this aren’t out stepping on baby rabbits. There’s always a presumption that horror writers must do horror all the time. To tell you the truth, I’ve never found a more accepting, compassionate group of people to move among than horror writers. They are supportive and really good people, by and large. And I think the world doesn’t have that conception, so hopefully this documentary series can get people to feel that a little bit.”

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Article: Exclusive Interview: Author Stephen Graham Jones on the new Substack documentary FIRST WORD ON HORROR

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