This Podcast Is... Uncalled For - Stacy Walsh

Episode Date: June 19, 2026

Today we interview Kansas City area horror writer Stacy Walsh.  We talk about the KC horror scene and how her writing could translate to film. Check out Stacy's work at authorstacywalsh.com

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Hello everybody, welcome to the podcast. I have a terrific guest with me today. Go ahead and introduce yourself, please. Hello, my name is Stacey Walsh. I'm a local author here in Kansas City. Yep. And Stacey, I found at a site for a podcasters called Matchmaker.fm. Which connects podcasts with guests and vice versa.

So, yeah, I'm seeing that. you're mostly a horror writer? Horror, yeah, psychological thrillers and horror. I try to have some mystery component in all of my books. So most of them have at least a small amount of mystery to basically that's the, you know, the who-done-it is my latest book, Shiny Happy Psycho, is definitely horror with mystery, a whodunit. Yeah, I have your website of now. it's author staceywalsh.com and i'll include that in the show notes thank you for people to

check out so we have shiny happy psycho i'm thinking the rm it at the r em song and that may even where they came from i i tried to i asked um my whole family we all love war so i tried to kind of get some ideas from them. We all kind of came up with some different titles for this last book. And I did a poll on Facebook and that's essentially everybody loved that title. So I was like, I'm going with that one. Calm down, dear. Yes, yeah. That one I came up with, that just kind of popped into my head when the idea for the story got into my head. It's because that story in particular is basically about an abusive relationship, but I swapped the gender rules.

So all of the title, all of the chapter headings are like triggering verses. You know, for women, if somebody tells them to calm down, we typically get a little triggered. So every title heading in that book, every chapter heading is a verse, sort of dedicated to that sort of thing. Then we have soil. Soil. That was the first book I ever wrote. It was the second one actually traditionally published. Calm Down Dare got picked up first.

and then they went ahead and grabbed soil too. And that one is, was, actually was inspired by my childhood home. I lived in a house when I was growing up that we felt like this a lot of strange things happened. So we always called it our haunted house, like the haunted house we used to live in and we moved. And I used some of the things. I mean, nothing like what I wrote about in soil happened. Right. Be very clear on that because that one ends with a very tragic thing happening.

Nothing like that happened, but I did put a little tidbits of hearing music play. We all had that happen in this childhood home. We ended up with snakes in our vent at one point, which was very odd. That went in the book. So that one was inspired by that, and that one was really fun to write because I got to do little back stories for the house within the story. It's almost like I got to write little short stories to incorporate into the full story, which was really fun.

And, yeah, the house had a haunted house. I can't talk today. The haunted house angle, that's interesting because I'm a UMKC grad. We have famously a haunted house on campus. Oh, really? The Epperson House, yeah. Okay, I didn't know that. So the Epperson House at UMKC is how to be haunted.

Okay, I have to look that up. And then the last book we have on your site is Three Way. Yeah, that one gets misunderstood. The title's supposed to... Quite suggestive. Yeah, it sounds suggestive. I go to a lot of book events around you. Kansas City and there is you know a multitude of genre authors there and I am I am the least smut I could

be I have almost zero smut in my book and so when people come to my table you know the psychological thrill or horror author they're like what is this about I'm like okay I did that on purpose because I wanted people to like see it and be like what but that book is actually more it's almost like my most family drama it doesn't have a lot of horror elements it doesn't really even have a lot of mystery elements. It's about an incident that happened in the 90s to three different kids and how they all viewed that incident through their lives and the formative years leading up to the incident. So it's basically a story in three parts. Yeah, so basically told from three different points of views. Exactly. So that's interesting. So how'd you get into writing in the first place?

So as a child, grown up, I always wrote poetry. That was sort of my escape to just go write out my feelings in a poem. I loved doing that. My grandpa actually wrote poetry, which was odd. He was kind of a rough farmer-share-cropper guy. And so to hear that he had these heartfelt poems that he would write was really interesting. And I was inspired by that. And after his death, sometime in the 80s, sorry, in the 80s, I was inspired to write my first poem.

And I remember showing it to my family, and they all loved it. So years went on. I did get some poetry published. I would not be able to tell you where. So as I was a teenager, and I was like, oh, thanks. And I don't know where that went. But, you know, the time went on. I went to school.

I became a nurse. I had children. I always in the back of my head was like, I wish I could write a novel. I wish I could and I stopped and started probably a thousand times. You know, got an idea, I wrote part of it down and then we're like, no, I have something else that's going on. I have to do this. And then it got to the point where my kids were old enough. They were much more self-sufficient.

I had quit my nursing career to stay home with them growing up, and that's nursing in particular is really hard to get back into. So I was like, well, now what? And I sat down and broke soil and then went from there. So nursing, how hard? a job is that really and I know there's a lot qualifications that go into doing that and shout to all the nurses who took care of me and take care of everyone absolutely yeah it's it is from what I understand I think it's one of the hardest degrees to get we started when I was in my class in 19 oh gosh I'm going to age myself I graduated in 1999 so I started in 1997 my project

I graduated my nursing program in 1999. We started with maybe 50 kids in my program and ended with maybe 30. It's a kind of cutthroat to get through the degree. And the instructors are up front and will tell you that. Like most of you are gonna drop out. If any of you are married, most of you are gonna end up divorced. It's just, it's a very hard program to get through.

And it's a challenging, challenging job. I worked with pediatrics mostly and I loved that. But it's hard to see sometime. It's hard to be there. every day and the demands put on nurses are just incredible. Like, I switched several jobs due to the demand being so outrageous. It was like, I don't feel safe doing this. You know, the patient ratio.

And I think that's just getting worse. And it is a profession that once you're out, you can go back, but it's difficult to get back in. Yeah. Yeah. So have you thought about writing a story? about nursing? I never have. I, you know, I have a lot of stories in nursing.

I have a lot of crazy stories. I did home care for a while. I did, I worked in the only ICU. I worked for the government for a while. So I have tons of stories, but there, it's never been anything that's inspired a book. So, yeah. That's interesting.

Because my life experience is, that's the basis of the body. gas release. Oh yeah? Yeah, yeah. Worked in security, worked in Warehouse, ran for office a couple of times, a bit filmmaker. Oh, that's a good question. If we have any, Kansas City does have a, shall I say, reputation for being a horror-centric film scene. Have any local filmmakers approached you that's adapting their they haven't it it would be a blast if they did

all right so any filmmakers out there you need to film ideas for your horror movies talk to Stacy absolutely yeah in particular shiny upy psycho I actually after I wrote that book and published it I dreamt about it

like about how the characters would look in a movie and like it and I think it'd make a great one it would be very it would be very 1990s-esque core film type thing Cool, so, yeah, try. Yeah, like, Scream or, because I was 90s?

90s, yeah, it was definitely inspiration based on, Scream was one of my favorite horror movies of all time. So that kind of inspired me. And I didn't take a lot of components from that movie because, you know, it is a who-done-it, and it does start in high school and then end later. But I still feel like, It's completely original, but it was just that sort of atmosphere, that 90s atmosphere of something happening and it ended up being lured that gets passed down through the high school.

You know, the murders that start the story happened on campus grounds. And so then as you go through the book and it switches timeline to more President Day, that story is now an urban legend kind of thing. So that was more where the scream idea, you know, that it being part of that, that inspiration because of the scream war that goes through all the movies. Sure, sure. So just as a thought exercise, who would be the ideal cast for such a movie? Oh gosh. Yeah, I don't know. So some of the characters within the book, they have, the time.

frame goes from 1993 to 2023, I think, or 24. Now I can't remember. I should have brought a copy. So that would be, for my reference, it would be all of high school and all of college for me. Right, yes. And then like almost into your adult lives. And so in my head, I'm like you'd have to have somebody that could really pull off looking like a high school student and adult at the same time. When I imagined a lot of the characters, I did have an idea of how they looked in my head. And I've gotten it, they're pretty stereotypical characters. Like there's a lot of, you know, you've got two cheerleaders, kind of have the smart girl, and then you have more of the intellectual kid, boy, and then the jock. So these are the five main characters that are called the Rockway Five that are in the 1990s.

So in my head I have pictures of what they look like, but I can't think of any actor that I know. That's okay, I can't think of any current actors that would fit the description of it. Right, yeah. But for the time, probably. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure. I know Kansas City has a ton of aspiring actors. A lot of them have been on my podcast. Have they?

Several of them would probably fit the middle. So, you have this word to be a locally produced independent film. I certainly know the resources to approach, you know, the Independent Filmmakers Coalition. Yeah. Great place to get started. Yeah, it would be very fun. We went to, I don't know if Kansas City is completely, well, they probably are, but I just did a vendor event at Nightmare in the Ozarks.

Have you, it's an indie film festival down in Eureka? I hadn't been to that one. Yeah, it may be kind of newer. Like, I hadn't heard of it either. So Eureka Springs, Arkansas, the weekend before Halloween, has a giant zombie parade every year. And so to kick off that parade lately, this one person has been putting on an indie film festival.

And we got to go this year because I was a vendor just at the book fair part. But they had, myself. funds went with me and so they got to see all these indie films that were coming out but they're from all over but i know i think kansas city had one there so all right uh you want to happen to the filmmaker was you or no um the only reason i know is because i'm familiar with the with the lead actor actress that was a suppy happy super super happy fun clown i think is what i'm sorry super happy fun clown i think is what super happy fun clown yeah let me look at that was at the festival i didn't get to see it

it played on like Thursday and I didn't get there until Friday. Super happy. Fun clown. I'm pretty sure that was through Kansas City. All right. So let's get the IMDB here, 2025. To escape a life of Patrick Gray, who is a friend of mine. Oh, okay, yes.

Is the director. I know Jennifer Seward. Yes, I know her too. I also have an acquaintance of her ex-husband, Davis-Darock. Oh, okay. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep.

Let's see. Matt McCann. I know that name. He ran for Kansas House back in 2016. Same time as I was run for Kansas Senate. Okay. Friend of the podcast, Jason Turner. Oh, okay.

Yeah. So they were there. I know that they had a movie there. I was actually bummed to miss it. It was one I wanted to see. And I got there too late. Yeah. Patrick is actually based in Lawrence for the most part. Oh, okay.

And it comes to at Casey from time to time. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, I know the guys. Yeah. It's funny. It's my world. Yeah, really is.

And Patrick, if you happen to be listening, I'd love to have you on the podcast at some point. Because that would be an interesting day every day. Yeah. So I assume you have still more ideas that you'd like to. Yes, I do. I have a book that is nearly complete now called Hollow. It's sort of similar to Shiny Happy Psycho and that it's more 80s horror-esque inspired.

So it's to do with the camp in the Ozark Mountains where murders happen, you know, all off Friday the 13th, but it's not anything like those movies either. So just the inspiration, I was like, oh, a camp would be fun. And actually, I had some friends that told me about this abandoned camp that you can find at Swope Parkway if you walk through the trail. Okay, yeah, in Swip Park, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And so, me and my family went through a walk there and we saw some of the old foundations.

The structures are gone. But that was also an inspiration for it. So it started as a standalone book. I wrote the whole thing. It takes place at a fictional camp called Camp Blackbird Hollow. And it morphed into a trilogy in my mind. And so now I have an outline for two more books. So the first one will be hollow.

I don't know when it'll come out. I'm in the middle of editing it right now, and then I'll probably send it to my publisher soon, which I've already clarified that my publisher is totally fine with going ahead and publishing the first book, even though I don't have the other two complete. But I have an outline for them, and I know what essentially will be going on through them.

George R. Martin certainly set that precedence. With the Song of Ice and Fire books, he keeps talking about finishing them up. Yeah. But to my knowledge, he's still working on that. Right, yeah. He ain't getting old. He ain't getting younger. You've got to get done.

I'm hoping because I have outlines for the second book, which will be a sequel. and then I have an outline for the third book, which will be a prequel of how the camp even originated. And I have enough of it written out that I feel like it's going to come pretty easy to me. You know, when I first start a book and I don't know the characters, that's the harder part is like envisioning them, getting the background, understanding their motivations, and kind of passionate, like rounding them out to a 3D version instead of, you know, flat. So I now, because I'm, because I know these characters,

I feel like it's just going to come real listening. Right. And I will agree. I've tried writing myself. It's hard. It is hard. Yeah. It is one of those, like, there's a part of me that loves it. Like, I love when I have a great day of writing, and I get, like, a really good, like, several pages. And then I go back to it two days later, and I'm like, who wrote this film? So there's a lot of apostor syndrome, a ton of. self-doubt, self-criticism, rejection.

And it's just, you just have to develop really thick skin and then keep going and be nicer to yourself. Not that I'm good at that. I still internally will be like, this is awful. And then I get it to, you know, you have to, the editing part, I think, is my least favorite. I love coming up with the story and I love writing it. And then I get to the editing part and I'm like, oh my gosh. Like it's just you have to read it over and over and over. And you just want every single chapter to really be shiny.

Right. And to be fair, most of my writing has been screenwriting. Yeah, and I wouldn't even have the first clue I wanted to do that. Yeah, it's a difference. It is a similar idea to trying to write a book, but definitely difference. Because, I mean, you're writing for actors to read and recite your lines, follow your direction. and go from there. I would imagine that would be very difficult.

Even before I wrote soil, I looked into, because when you're creative, like, I'm assuming the same thing, you just have these stories running in your head. And I'm like, how do I get these out on paper? Like, is it a book? Do it a screenplay? So I looked into screenplay, and I was like, I can't do that. I'm going to go book.

All right, good deal. Good deal. All right. So any closing thoughts? Yeah, no. I would love to connect with more people in the Kansas City area that like to read mysteries and horror. And there's a few communities within Kansas City that are great for authors, if anybody's out there trying to be an up-and-coming author. The indie boom is happening right now, and that's a great time to get started on it if you're thinking about it. Now's the time.

And I'll go and pitch a group. I personally am not involved with by I know of, the Casey Screenwriters Group. Yes. Yes. And the only reason I haven't been involved with them is they traditionally met at the same time as the independent filmmakers coalition. But it sounds like they've been a little more cooperative, shined. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Yeah.

Now is the time for people to start getting creative and having stuff come from different sources. All right. Well, Stacey, thank you for being on the podcast. Thank you so much for having me. It's one more time before I close it up. Authorstasywalsh.com. I will leave that in the show notes for y'all to check out. And thank you all for listening.

And we will talk to you next time. This podcast is Uncalled for is hosted, produced and edited by myself, Mike Chernke. Our music is the, this podcast is Uncalled for theme created at suno.com. SUNO.com. Our outro music for this episode is glow together, also created at Zuno.com. Special shout out to Love Coffee in Lisa, Missouri, for allowing us to record. this episode and I did check the IMD for that movie for the podcast. Jessica Whifffield is also in that movie so another reason to go check it out. Please support the podcast and purchase our

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