Lazy Masquerade features chilling first-person stories people have sent in about close calls with killers, kidnappers and other psychopaths; even paranormal entities. The stories are narrated by Lazy M, the moniker of the channel’s creator, who lives in Dorking, near London.
A driver stops at traffic lights and sees a woman standing by the road. She comes to the window and asks for a lift. Something doesn’t feel right. He declines. She asks again. Again he declines. The lights change and he starts to drive away. She tells him he made the right decision.
A woman enters an elevator with her daughter in Seoul, Korea. Inside is a man wearing a yellow raincoat and cap, carrying something wrapped in newspaper. She moves her child away from the man, and pulls out a phone. She pretends to call her husband, who is away at work, and ask him to unlock their apartment door for her. When she exits the elevator with her child, the man in the yellow raincoat follows them. With some more quick thinking she and her child narrowly escape. The woman later learns the man in the yellow raincoat was Yoo Young Chul, a serial killer.
A group of trail riders on horseback stop when they see a jogger descending a rocky slope. He is running away from them, but his face is always turned back at them, watching them as he easily descends a rugged slope then ascends a rocky ridge without breaking his step, apparently some kind of demon, running off into the distance.
It’s disquieting listening to these stories, all purportedly true.

RV: I read that you liked Harlan Ellison’s short story “I have no mouth and I must scream”. Do you read much horror or fantasy and if so can you recommend some favorite books?

LAZY M: Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho was a really twisted read, and much darker than the film. In fact, it’s probably the darkest black comedy I’ve ever read. They’re both excellent though. One that I’d like to read soon is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. I’m a big fan of the movie Blade Runner, so it would be interesting to read the source material and see how the two versions differ. I suppose that can be counted as fantasy to some extent.

RV: What other novels or short story collections have you liked?

LM: James Clavell has done some great work. King Rat and Shogun were both good reads. My dad actually did some work for him when he was still alive, and was fortunate enough to get to know him. That’s what sparked my interest in reading some of his novels. I really enjoyed Murakami’s Norwegian Wood, too. On the spookier side, I’m a big fan of Lovecraft. There are some great Creepypasta writers out there as well, and many of those stories are extremely creative. A few of my favourites would have to be Candle Cove, Blue Light, and Dancing Down an Indian Hallway in Darkness.