Skip to content
thumbnail
EPISODE 77 | May, 04, 2026

Haunted House 4 - Ally Malinenko, This Appearing House, and Welcome To Dead House (Goosebumps)

0:00 0:00

Summary

Brian and Jeff continue their haunted house series on Horror Joy with guest Ally Malinenko, discussing her middle grade novel This Appearing House alongside R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps debut Welcome to Dead House.

Malinenko describes the joy of horror—especially for kids—as teaching readers how to face monsters, offering catharsis, and providing language to process fear and trauma.

She explains how This Appearing House uses a haunted-house structure to explore anxiety and the lasting effects of her cancer diagnosis without centering a “cancer book,” including why the diagnosis is largely unstated for young readers.

We also dive into bullying, parent-child gaps, rules and rule-breaking in Stine’s work, of Petey's death, and the nostalgic influence of Scholastic book fairs and iconic cover art.




arrow_back Previous Episode Return to Podcast

Discover more shows & releases

SWAJ Podcast Cover Art

Straight White American Jesus

The flagship show examining Christian nationalism and democracy.

Listen Now
Headshot of Andrew Seidel with constitution writing and text - One Nation Indivisible

One Nation Indivisible

Constitutional law meets church-state separation.

Listen Now

New Releases

Spirit & Power

Charismatics and Politics in American Public Life. A mixed media podcast that brings religion scholarship into a “This American Life” format.

Reign of Error

Reign of Error examines how white Christian nationalism and religious extremism have shaped U.S. politics in the Trump era and beyond.

Our Seven Neighbors

Our Seven Neighbors, season 5, explores the long, contested history of religious diversity in the United States—not as a feel-good celebration of pluralism, but as a hard-won achievement forged through conflict, exclusion, resistance, and moral struggle.

Shameless Theology

Shameless Theology centers queer, feminist, academically-trained Latinx theologians who are living examples of counter-narratives and theological resistance to the political and religious threats our people face.

Charismatic Revival Fury

An audio-documentary series on the Christian leaders and ideas that fueled the Capitol riot.

American Unexceptionalism

American Unexceptionalism examines what Americans learn from others around the world about how to protect democracy from religious nationalism and authoritarianism.

Horror Joy

Horror Joy is a podcast by two university professors who take a deep dive into horror in hopes of finding joy lurking in the shadows.

Pure White

A history podcast series that traces the relationships among sexual purity, White supremacy, and Christian nationalism from the 19th century to the present.

One Million Neighbors

One Million Neighbors is a limited podcast series about how American faith communities mobilized to do the impossible: resettling more than a million Southeast Asian refugees, in the face of widespread hostility toward migrants.

Sanctuary: On the Border Between Church and State

A limited podcast series about the politics of immigration, faith as radical hospitality, and the borders between church and state.

American Idols

A podcast series about how and why one world-renowned sociologist renewed his faith by leaving Christian nationalism behind.

APA Religions 101

An introduction to Asian and Pacific American religions through interviews with experts and practitioners.

Temple of Steal

The unofficial companion podcast to Breath of Fire.

Monster in the Mirror

How the fantastical beasts stalking the modern Christian nationalist imagination were birthed in another White, God-fearing empire.

Miss Information

A podcast about the ways online misinformation and conspiracy theories infiltrate wellness communities and conservative Christian spaces.
Explore More Shows