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What’s the scariest thing that can happen to you when you’re alone? Marcus Kliewer, the New York Times bestselling author of We Used to Live Here and The Caretaker, has built a career on that question. His characters are cut off, in over their heads, and never quite sure who (or what) they can trust. James and Marcus talk about the difference between being alone and being isolated, why fear is one of the few emotions people actually love to share, and why horror might be one of the healthiest ways we have to process the dark stuff. They also get into the childhood alien obsession Marcus never quite shook, what posting stories on Reddit taught him about writing with an audience, and the very unglamorous tricks he uses to protect his attention. Plus: the friendship advice you didn’t know a horror writer had in him. Show notes In this episode: Why putting a character alone in a house instantly raises the stakes. There’s no cat or roommate to blame for the noise. Alone vs. isolated: one is relational (lonely in a crowded room), the other is physical (a research base in Antarctica). What makes a good friend: someone you can go to without judgment, who will still judge you when you’ve earned it. How shifting fears like nuclear war, AI, and the pandemic shape what kind of horror we crave. “The real monster was grief”: tired trope, or the whole point of the genre? Roswell, Lilo & Stitch, and a dad who was not a discerning film censor. Trust, overthinking, and the horror of finding out weeks later that you read the room correctly. Why the scariest scenario is having your kindness used against you. Fear as a shared experience, from cavemen laughing at a rabbit to a theatre audience reacting to a gnarly scene. Cognitohazards, Nuclear War: A Scenario, and the unspoken contract between horror writers and their readers. Horror and extreme metal as healthy outlets for dark feelings. Lessons from Reddit: hook readers on the first line, write good cliffhangers instead of cheap ones, and let even two waiting readers keep you accountable. What writers owe each other: name your influences openly, and stop killing ideas because they resemble something else. Originality is overrated. Protecting your attention: half-hour blocks, a phone lockbox, a locked-down writing tablet, chewing gum, and a Pomodoro tracker you can see. Short stories vs. novels, and why long form makes the bad stuff hit harder.About MarcusMarcus Kliewer is the New York Times bestselling author of We Used to Live Here and The Caretaker. He started out posting horror fiction online, where both books began as short stories. He’s now writing his third novel, the first one he’s conceived as a novel from the start. Follow Marcus: Instagram linkRead the Friendless Substack 📩 [email protected]📱 @friendlesspod on Instagram and TikTok 🌐 friendlesspod.com Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr Okay, anyway, bye. 🖤

What if your broken heart summoned a talking bunny possessed by the ghost of a real-life historical muse? In this very special episode of Friendless, we dive deep into Heatstroke with debut novelist Meredith Cole. The novel is full of psychic bunnies, Faustian bargains, and feral California nights, but underneath all that surreal chaos is a raw exploration of what we reach for when real connection is missing. We unpack why Meredyth trusted fiction’s wild ability to capture heartbreak, obsession, and the absurdity of being absolutely unhinged, then how those operatic emotions can be both comedic and painfully human at once. The conversation touches on historical footnotes, the limits (or lack of) of friendship in the wake of romantic disasters, why vulnerability can feel  liberating after betrayal, and how chasing glamour might save you from despair (or at least make it interesting). Whether you’ve lived through your own “January year,” have fallen for a literary antihero, or just want to laugh at the wild ride of emotion and mania, this episode is your comfort, warning, and permission slip—all at once. If you need a laugh about all the ways heartbreak makes us a little ridiculous? We’ve got you covered. Pre-Order Heatstroke Read the Friendless Substack 📩 [email protected]📱 @friendlesspod on Instagram and TikTok 🌐 friendlesspod.com Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr

This week on a very special episode of Friendless, host James Avramenko welcomes returning guest Nathan Isles for a wide-ranging catch-up on aging, self-care, and how relationships change over time. Nathan shares what’s shifted since his last appearance: an amicable separation, dating again, deleting social apps for stretches, and a renewed focus on real-life connection over low-friction social media, including the guilt and “friendship FOMO” that online closeness can create. They talk about building deep friendships through consistent effort, Nathan’s moves across Western Canada, and his band Brain Bent’s growth—touring, opening for Wheatus, and learning to love the road despite music’s financial realities. Nathan also opens up about fear of change, shame and accountability, considering becoming an electrician, and mental health supports including DBT, medication, and treating sleep apnea, plus a practical takeaway: say yes to an invite and give others a chance to show up for you. Learn more about Nathan's work HERE Check out Brain Bent on Bandcamp Book Warehouse Midnight Launch of Threshing Day Tickets HERE Read the Friendless Substack 📩 [email protected]📱 @friendlesspod on Instagram and TikTok 🌐 friendlesspod.com Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr

This week on a very special episode Friendless, your pal and host of the show James Avramenko takes the mic for a very special solo episode, marking his 39th birthday with honesty, humour, and a healthy dose of self-reflection. In this Q&A retrospective, James  dives into the wild ride of aging, the evolution of the show, lessons learned about loneliness, connection, and community, and the often hilarious or cringe-worthy moments that come with navigating friendships. Expect candid stories of personal growth, unexpected friendships, musical nostalgia, the art of making (and losing) friends, and some incredible life reflections—including why aging is a privilege and how to survive being a mascot—or a bad haircut. Read the Friendless Substack 📩 [email protected]📱 @friendlesspod on Instagram and TikTok 🌐 friendlesspod.com Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr

In this very special episode of Friendless, your host James Avramenko sits down with Leandra Guillet. Together, they dive into the quirks of Vancouver life, from unpredictable weather and the city's mysterious moodiness to what it actually takes to find and foster community in a city full of "shelter cats." The conversation bounces (or "ADHD ping pongs") from the deep—human insecurity, the cyclical nature of history, and our collective need to be seen—to the delicious, like mourning cheese on a vegan journey and the surprisingly powerful life advice parents pass down about always layering up and never saying no to a meal. Along the way, expect musings on art history, the endless rhyming of cultural trends, the exhausting but ultimately rewarding pursuit of friendship, and why building community is, at the end of the day, your own responsibility. Read the Friendless Substack 📩 [email protected]📱 @friendlesspod on Instagram and TikTok 🌐 friendlesspod.com Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr

This week on Friendless, I'm joined by two guests I've been genuinely honored to sit down with: Elder Larry Grant, Elder in Residence at the Justice Institute of BC and UBC's First Nations House of Learning, and an elder of both the Musqueam Indian Band and Vancouver's Chinese community — and his co-author Scott Steedman, writer, editor, and publishing professor at SFU.  Together they wrote Reconciling, a book that maps Elder Larry's life not chronologically but geographically — Chinatown, Strathcona, Musqueam, the Fraser Valley — letting each place pull its own stories loose. We talk about growing up caught between two identities that were both, in different ways, denied to him. We talk about the specific, everyday mechanics of exclusion — the signs, the double standards, the small cruelties that build until they explode from somewhere inside you. We talk about his years of drinking and the two-beers-that-were-never-two-beers, and how getting sober became inseparable from learning to love and respect himself. And we talk about what reconciliation actually asks of a country that would rather it stayed on paper than stood as a monument you can't walk past. Reconciling is out now — grab a copy at Book Warehouse. Learn more about the Musqueam Indian Band • Email: [email protected] • Substack: https://friendless.substack.com/ • Instagram: @friendlesspod • TikTok: @friendlesspod Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr

Content Note: This episode discusses disordered eating. If you’re in recovery or feeling vulnerable, please prioritise your well-being. This week on a very special episode of Friendless, host James Avramenko sits down with poet Brandi Bird for a deep dive into creativity, recovery, and self-discovery. The conversation explores the messy realities of writing and publishing poetry, the impact of external validation, and the importance of allowing time and distance between lived experience and creative transformation. Brandi discusses their own journey through eating disorder recovery and how it shapes their work, approaches to confessional writing, and the ways truth, persona, and vulnerability intersect in poetry. The two tackle topics such as perfectionism, the pressures of literary recognition, and the liberation found in writing for oneself rather than for approval. They also reflect on the power of oral tradition, stage presence, and shared first drafts, as well as the nuances of exploring difficult family relationships—particularly with mothers—within art. The conversation turns to broader issues including medical bigotry, Indigenous identity, community, and what it means to move beyond victimhood to agency. From pop culture to personal struggles, this episode is an honest, witty, and intimate look at the intersections of art, healing, and being unapologetically oneself. 📩 [email protected]📱 @friendlesspod on Instagram and TikTok 🌐 friendlesspod.com Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr

Recorded live at Book Warehouse on Main Street, Vancouver, this episode features author and longtime Tyee columnist Steve Burgess, whose new book Cheapskate in Lotus Land: The Philosophy and Practice of Living Well on a Small Budget is part memoir, part cultural critique, and part philosophical provocation. Steve is a former disc jockey, television host, and film worker who has spent decades writing personal essays — first for the Vancouver Sun and Vancouver Magazine, then at The Tyee, where he's been a charter columnist since its founding. His previous books include Reservations: The Pleasures and Perils of Travel and the memoir Who Killed Mum? (named to year-end best-of lists at both the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star). In this conversation, James and Steve explore what it really means to be frugal in one of the world's most expensive cities — and why "cheapskate" might actually be a philosophy worth owning. Cheapskate in Lotus Land: The Philosophy and Practice of Living Well on a Small Budget — available at Book Warehouse (Main St and Broadway locations) and Black Bond Books 📩 [email protected]📱 @friendlesspod on Instagram and TikTok 🌐 friendlesspod.com Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr

This week on a very special episode of Friendless, your pal James Avramenko is joined by Charlie Demers.  Charlie Demers is a comedian, broadcaster, author, and 20-year veteran of CBC's The Debaters — and somehow all of that is just the warm-up. Recorded live at Book Warehouse on Main Street, this conversation starts with his new Canadian lexicon book The A-Team (a celebration of the words and phrases that mark you as one of us), takes a hard left into French immersion class politics, and ends up somewhere genuinely surprising: what treaty actually means, why Canadian humor is tender instead of cruel, and what it looks like to love a country you have complicated feelings about. Along the way: house hippos, English muffins vs. french fries, the roast of Kevin Hart as a culture clash, and why writing to a word count might be the most freeing thing a writer can do. If you've ever said "toque" in the United States and watched a room go silent, this one's for you. Charlie's new children's picture book I Sure Do is out this summer from Trade Wind Books. Season 2 of Superteam Canada drops on Crave. Find him at charliedemers.com and on Instagram. 📩 [email protected]📱 @friendlesspod on Instagram and TikTok 🌐 friendlesspod.com Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr

What happens when you've spent your whole life fitting a mold — and you finally decide you've had enough? This week, James sits down with Eddy Boudel Tan, Vancouver-born author of The Tiger and the Cosmonaut, recorded live at Book Warehouse on Main Street. In this episode: The experience of being second-generation Chinese Canadian — caught between cultures, between expectations, between versions of yourself What Eddy calls "Asian rage" — the anger that builds when you're expected to minimize yourself to move through the world The loneliness of being surrounded by people who love you but don't really know you Why Casper, the novel's protagonist, keeps people out even as he falls apart The Buddhist concept of impermanence, and what it actually does to your relationship with fear Going home when home doesn't feel like home anymore Identity as oversimplification — and the liberation of letting go of the label The fleeting, morbid, weirdly hopeful thought: What if this is the happiest I'll ever be?The Tiger and the Cosmonaut is available now wherever books are sold.  Find Eddy on Instagram at @eddyautomatic. REMINDER: May 19th at the Book Warehouse on Main (4118 Main street) An Asian Heritage Month Celebration of Authors with guests Eddy Boudel Tan, Wiley Wei-Chiun Ho, and Donna Seto. Doors at 6:30pm 📩 [email protected]📱 @friendlesspod on Instagram and TikTok 🌐 friendlesspod.com Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr

In this final episode of the DBT micro-season, James walks back through the terrain — mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness — not to reteach, but to reflect. What landed. What didn't. What surprised him. And, more importantly, how to actually use any of this in real life without turning it into another productivity project or, worse, becoming a DBT zealot who diagnoses everyone at brunch. Expect a tour back through the season, reflection questions to sit with, strategies for practising without burning out, and a slightly insistent reminder that you cannot do this alone — even (especially) coming from a podcast called Friendless. 📩 [email protected]📱 @friendlesspod on Instagram and TikTok 🌐 friendlesspod.com Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr

It's Independent Bookstore Day, and to celebrate, Friendless is doing a double feature — two short conversations recorded at the Bookshelf, both circling the same question: what do bookstores actually do for us that nothing else can? First up is MLA Christine Boyle, BC's Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs — and a lifelong library and bookstore nerd. We talk about the physical, relational experience you can't get from an online cart, why her 11-year-old plays her like a fiddle every time they walk past a bookshop, and the climate novel her book club still hasn't forgiven her for. Then I sit down with Cathy Jesson, the owner of Black Bond Books. Cathy started in her mother's store in Brandon, Manitoba in the sixties, moved to the coast, built the business into a three-generation family operation, and in 2012 stepped in on a five-day turnaround to save Book Warehouse from closing. She talks about running a bookstore as a business (not a pipe dream), why the magic only happens on the floor and not in the office, and what she wants customers to feel walking out on Independent Bookstore Day. Both conversations are short, warm, and — if you're anything like me — going to send you straight to your nearest independent. Mentioned in this episode: Black Bond Books, Book Warehouse, Hager Books - https://www.blackbondbooks.com/ Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson Fire Weather by John Vaillant A Truce That Is Not Peace by Miriam Toews The Women by Kristin Hannah Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert HeinleinFind Friendless on Instagram and TikTok @friendlesspod. Reach out: [email protected] Check out the Linktree: https://linktr.ee/friendlesspod Fun and safety, Sweet Peas. Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr

There's a version of kindness that isn't actually kindness. It's saying yes when you mean no, showing up depleted and resentful, and building relationships on a quiet lie — the lie that you're fine, that it's all okay, that you have no limits. And the thing about that version of kindness is it always ends the same way: in a blowup, a ghost, or an overcorrection so sharp it takes the whole relationship with it. Episode 8 of the DBT mini-season covers Give and Fast — the two interpersonal skills for when getting a yes isn't the point. Give is for when the relationship matters most: how to stay connected, be honest, and get through a hard conversation without torching what you've built. Fast is for when self-respect matters most: how to say no, hold your values, and not apologise for existing. The real skill, as James puts it, is knowing which one you need — and then actually following through. You'll come away with: A clear breakdown of Give (Gentle, Interested, Validate, Easy Manner) with real examples of what it looks and sounds like A full walkthrough of Fast (Fair, no Apologies, Stick to values, Truthful) — including why "I don't want to" is a complete sentence Two layered conversation scenarios showing how Give and Fast work alongside Dear Man in practice A reflection prompt to identify where in your life you're sacrificing self-respect just to keep the peace• Email: [email protected] • Instagram: @friendlesspod • TikTok: @friendlesspod Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr

Most of us were never taught how to ask for what we need — we were taught how to be nice, how to be agreeable, and how to silently hope the other person would just figure it out. And when they didn't, we either resented them or came in way too hot trying to make up for lost time. In this very special episode, James unpacks interpersonal effectiveness — the DBT module that's less about managing yourself and more about navigating other people, which, let's be honest, is the hard part. He covers how to get clear on what you actually want from a conversation before you open your mouth (spoiler: most of us skip this step), and walks through Dear Man, a structured skill for asking for things clearly, directly, and kindly without being apologetic or aggressive. This is episode seven of the DBT mini-season. You'll come away with: A framework for identifying your real goal in any difficult conversation (objective, relationship, or self-respect — and why you can only pick one) A full walkthrough of the Dear Man skill with real examples A short practice exercise to apply it to one thing you've been avoiding• Email: [email protected] • Instagram: @friendlesspod • TikTok: @friendlesspod Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr

What does it take to truly belong somewhere — and what happens when you didn't know that's what you needed? This week on Friendless, James sits down with Iona Whishaw — bestselling author of the Lane Winslow Mystery series — for a live conversation at the Book Warehouse on Main Street in Vancouver, BC. Her newest novel, A False and Fatal Claim, is the backdrop for a wide-ranging discussion about identity, deception, community, and the surprising things we discover about ourselves when we stop running. They get into: the lies we tell ourselves versus the lies we perform for others; why Iona doesn't plot her novels (and what that means for how story finds her); how Kings Cove functions as both utopia and honest mirror; the way technology has quietly eroded our capacity for friction — and why friction might be exactly what we need; Lane Winslow's journey from deliberate isolation to unexpected belonging; and how writing at 64 gave Iona a whole new life. Iona also shares how her mother — a larger-than-life woman who hitchhiked to Alaska with an evening gown and sneakers — became the unlikely skeleton of Lane Winslow, and what it means to inherit someone's courage second-hand. Recorded live at Book Warehouse Vancouver Pick up Iona's book at the Book Warehouse on Main Street. • Email: [email protected] • Instagram: @friendlesspod • TikTok: @friendlesspod Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr