Watching Evil Dead Unearthing the Radiant Artist Within

By: Josh Malerman

Published by Random House, 2025-09-16

From the bestselling author of Bird Box and Incidents Around the House, an impassioned book about a night that changed the author’s life and put into perspective the writing life—and how you too can be inspired to face the fears that might hold you back from doing your best work

“A fun, modern take on Stephen King’s On Writing . . . Malerman’s trustworthy insights and experiences will no doubt offer its readers who are struggling creatively a healthy dose of inspiration.”—Booklist, starred review

One night, bestselling author Josh Malerman—then just an aspiring writer—watched Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead with his fiancée and two friends. It was a gathering that could’ve gone unnoticed, another date night with a movie, but for Malerman, it became a landmark. It changed the course of his life, and it will inspire you to reflect on your own journey and to discover existing triumphs that are within you already.

Describing the course of the night, Malerman reflects on his life, from his career as a musician to his stack of rough drafts, written prior to ever being published—and on how meeting the love of his life, a fellow creative, opened him to new experiences and new ways of viewing the world they now quest through together.

Malerman deploys his own story to help readers not only write their unwritten stories but celebrate their uncelebrated victories: to find their voice, their vision, and their joie de vivre. By simply describing an uncommon and uncanny night, he guides aspiring writers beyond the blank page to the immortal life of the writer.