JUST ONE MORE DAY until the premiere of The Company of the Mad: The Stand Podcast, featuring Mike Flanagan, Tananarive Due, and Anthony Breznican.
As the host of the podcast, today I thought we might get to know each other a little better. I mean, who is this Jason Sechrest dude anyway?!
So, here’s everything you need to know about me and how I got here…
My introduction to Stephen King was Tim Curry popping up in the storm drain on primetime TV. I was 10 years old, and Pennywise scared the shit out of me.
I wanted to be one of the Losers though.
Badly.
So I raced out and bought the book.
I lugged that thing around with me everywhere, man. Like the Losers, I was bullied every day. I was too scared to fight back, but I thought with their help, maybe I could defeat the monsters.
So one day I swung the 1,138 page novel around, and hit David Schuff in the face with it.
Square in the jaw!
… He never fucked with us again.
When I was 10, we had a class assignment to write a letter to our hero. I chose Stephen King. I sent him the letter, along with my first short horror story — which was all of about 2 pages long.
I’ll never forget the day I came home from school to find an envelope in the mail addressed to me from Stephen King.
He was gracious enough to tell me how much he enjoyed my story, and how surprised he was that I was only 10 years old. What he told me after that is something that has never left me.
Never stop writing.
I didn’t. 5 years later, I became a published journalist at 15 years old. The youngest staff writer for Femme Fatales magazine.
I was just a teenage boy interviewing the likes of Linda Blair, Elivra, Dee Wallace Stone. That’s a story in and of itself! Which you can read later if you’re interested… here.
In 2016, I was inspired to read (and in many cases re-read) all of Stephen King’s novels in chronological order.
But I noticed something different this time around.
I discovered that for all the scares King packs with a punch into his stories, there are equal parts wisdom and life lessons to be found.
So I proposed an idea to one of Stephen King’s publishers.
A column called “What I Learned from Stephen King” exploring the themes and wisdom in King’s work. I’ve tackled Carrie, Cujo, Misery, Pet Sematary, and more.
You can find those columns here.
Re-reading King’s work reignited a fire in me! I was reminded of my own childhood dream of becoming an author.
So I sat down, and wrote my first horror story since I was a teenager.
The story, “Orange Grove Court,” was published last year in Cemetery Dance Magazine. Which has published the likes of Ray Bradbury, Clive Barker…
...and Stephen King!!!
Whoa. … Ka IS a wheel!
I’ve written a dozen short horror stories in the last year, all of which are available to subscribers of my Patreon page at: Patreon.com/JasonSechrest.
Higher level subscribers also get audiobook recordings of the stories, exclusive introductions and afterwords, signed books, magazines, and more.
You can hear me read audio recordings of my “What I Learned from Stephen King” column there too.
I’m currently working on my first novel, The Dog Trainer, which subscribers to my Patreon page get to read before anyone else. New chapters are posted every month.
You can subscribe here: https://patreon.com/jasonsechrest
Welp, that about brings us up to date!
Tomorrow will mark the launch of The Company of the Mad: The Stand Podcast, and I can’t wait to share the video of the first episode with you!
Mike, Tananarive, Anthony, and I had a blast talking about this epic novel, and we hope you enjoy listening.
You can join us in #TheStandChallenge by reading along with us! Let us know your thoughts on The Stand and tweet us using the hashtag: #TheStandChallenge.
Jason Sechrest’s Twitter: @jasonsechrest
Mike Flanagan’s Twitter: @flanaganfilm
Tananarive Due’s Twitter: @tananarivedue
Anthony Breznican’s Twitter: @breznican
You can also SUBSCRIBE to be notified of new episodes, columns, and all our latest news here.
