Mary Lucia, " What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Weirder and Harder to Relate To" (U Minnesota Press, 2025)

About this episode

Mary Lucia shares her harrowing experience of being stalked while living as a popular rock DJ.

In What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Weirder and Harder to Relate To (U Minnesota Press, 2025) an iconic rock DJ of the Twin Cities tells her harrowing story of being stalked while living her very public life What's it like to be in the public spotlight when it just might get you killed? For Mary Lucia, becoming a wildly popular rock DJ meant connecting with a multitude of fans through a shared love of music and deep cuts. But for one listener, that connection became a dangerous obsession, catapulting Lucia into the terrifying three-year nightmare that she chronicles in this raw, wry, and profoundly courageous memoir. With electrifying wit and anger, Lucia shares her experience of navigating constant terror while life absurdly goes on: interview rock stars, curate a radio show song list, judge high school battles of the band, kick a drug addiction cold turkey . . . all while fearing what might be waiting in her mailbox or who might be waiting on her front step or at her back door. Lucia was no stranger to inappropriate or weird contact from fans, but things turned sinister when ten pounds of raw meat were delivered to her at work, followed by a steady stream of ominous letters…

People in this episode

Host: Marshall Poe

Guest: Mary Lucia

Topics covered

• stalking
• memoir
• rock music
• public life
• mental health

Keywords

• stalking
• rock DJ
• memoir
• public spotlight
• mental health
• obsession
• Twin Cities

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: U Minnesota Press

More episodes of New Books in Popular Culture

• Cape Fear Retells an Archetypal Revenge Story for a New Generation · June 10, 2026 · 57 min
• Aditya Deshbandhu, "The 21st Century in 100 Games" (Routledge, 2024) · June 9, 2026 · 1h 1m
• Ginger Dellenbaugh, "Maria Callas's Lyric and Coloratura Arias" (Bloomsbury, 2021) · June 6, 2026 · 57 min
• Adam Phillips, "The Life You Want" (FSG, 2026) · June 5, 2026 · 38 min
• Mary R. Lanni, "Using Nursery Rhymes with Today’s Kids: Their Legacy and Evolution" (Bloomsbury, 2026) · June 4, 2026 · 39 min
• For All Mankind Concludes Its Search For New Life · June 2, 2026 · 30 min