Backmask
Written by Carolina Cruz: 6/30/2026
Those who know me personally know I have a few things that will always bring me joy, no matter the context—horror, music, and gay people. With this in mind it should be no surprise that the novel Backmask by O F Cieri was an instant hit from the first chapter. Backmask follows Valerie Chill, masc lesbian and secretary to eccentric record executive Nicholas Hush, as she navigates her boss's obsession with recreating a song he heard in his dreams. As Hush and Chill put together a team of occult "experts" to help them detangle Hush's visions, they attract the interest of more than one government agency. While the funding seems a blessing at first, it slowly becomes clear that the attention they've garnered with their project might be more than surface level.
Set in 1960s Manhattan Backmask paints a rich picture of every element it decides to tackle, from queer politics to music history to behavioral science. I was personally thrilled by the acknowledgment of early waves of Ska and their influences on the development of the post-punk genre. It was particularly fun to treat the breadcrumbs of the dream band's identity like a game, picking apart mentions of fishnet shirts, bats and cobwebs and placing them against my own knowledge of a future Hush has only got a glimpse of. Likewise, Hush's descriptions of the sound he's searching for are delightfully vague while evoking something frustratingly familiar. This might not have been the intended way to read the book but I love a puzzle. I will note, I did not once come close to guessing correctly. I really should have, given the music I've been listening to right now, but I did not.
The book is told in the style of old pulp noir novels, a style that strengthens the already palpable atmosphere of the book and makes it all-encompassing. Listeners of the Casual Obsession podcast will know I have complicated feelings in regards to the Giallo genre of film (Italian horror noir, for those unfamiliar). While I can enjoy certain things, many of the genre's hallmarks fall flat for me. Somehow, Backmask manages to remind me of all of the things I love from Giallo while avoiding all the bad. Cieri even includes an entire song, in a way, but unlike Iron Maiden's inclusion in Dario Argento's Phenomena, this song fits.
I would be remiss to end this review without talking about the characters. The cast of Backmask is small but packed with charm, from our guarded and sharp narrator Chill to Richard Scission, the charismatic face of the mysterious Institute for Metaphysical Research. Each of their motivations wove together in such a way that while their actions never surprised me, even if they sometimes were the exact action I didn't want them to take (usually for their own sake). The developing romance between Chill and Sophie Blaine, another member of the Institute, was nuanced and painfully real at times. Never a simple relationship, but always one I was rooting for, even when things around them started to get really weird.
I would highly recommend this book. Since this is a horror movie podcast's website, I'll put it like this: this book is for fans of the Giallo genre, Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise, or Ty West's filmography. The audio book will be released through the independent production studio of Haruspex Audio in July 2026, so keep an eye out for that, and check Right Here, Write Queer podcast for my interview with author O F Cieri where we discuss the book in more detail!