Hey, it's Amp here's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. I've been on a horror reading kick

lately, and a note I made in the margins of one of my books the other day was, is horror the most

self-referential genre? A lot of contemporary horror seems to be aware of the tropes of the

genre and is either leaning into them or reacting against them. And this is true for the two books we're going to talk about today. In a bit, a short story collection that toys with the idea of the so-called final girl, which if you're not a horror head and don't know what that is, do not worry. We will explain it when we get to it. But first, NPR's A Asia Roscoe talks to Jeanette Winterson, author of the

collection, The Nightside of the River, about how to make a ghost story in the age of the smartphone.

That's ahead.

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A Door Creek, a chill win. Maybe a thump, thump, thump upstairs. All signs you've been

visited by a ghost. But for author Jeanette Winterson, a ghost can send a ping to your phone

or visit you in the metaverse. She's written a new collection

of ghost stories, one that spans all sorts of genres at the nightside of the river. And the author

of Oranges are not the only fruit in Frankenstein. joins us now. Welcome to the program.

Hey, thanks for having me. It's great to be here. Why do you think we are drawn to ghost stories,

not only in fiction, but like in our lives? All humans want to do is break down every barrier.

That's been our great success story. But death is the hard boundary. It's the barrier that everybody on this planet will meet at some

point in their life, no matter how wealthy they are, no matter who they are, no matter what,

their achievements. You know, that's coming for them. And human beings long to believe that there

might be something on the other side of that. And you know what, even the most skeptical of us,

...