Talking Scared (Neil McRobert)

No one is doing dystopia right now like Agustina Bazterrica.   After Tender is the Flesh made us all consider vegetarianism, now she’s back for a long hard look at patriarchy, religion and populism in The Unworthy.   It’s a quiet end of the world, set almost entirely in the confines of a strange convent, and the cult who will do anything to maintain their power.   We talk about how Agustina finds the necessary voice of her characters, why love is just another form of madness, how science-fiction just can’t look away from misogyny, and how she once read five books to find a new word for penis.   Enjoy!   Other books mentioned:   Tender is the Flesh (2017), by Agustina Bazterrica The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), by Margaret Atwood Caliban and the Witch (2004), by Silvia Federici Dune (1965), by Frank Herbert A Canticle For Liebowitz (1959), by Walter M. Miller Jr. Silent Spring (1962), by Rachel Carson Fever Dream (2014), by Samanta Schweblin Los Demenios En El Convento (1985), by Fernando Benitez Brat (2024), by Gabriel Smith The Perfect Nanny (2016), by Leila Slimani   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch   Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social  on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Time to throw ourselves around. We’re covering Punk Goes Horror.   The anthology of stories inspired by punk and alternative rock songs came out just a few weeks back. It brings together a mosh-pit full of authors, both new and established, to transmute their favourite songs into nasty little stories.   I invited the anthology editor, William Sterling, and two of his contributors, Wendy Dalrymple and Brian McCauley, to talk about punk, and horror and the affinity between the two.   We get into our favourite ever gig experiences, the creepy assumptions behind certain emo-songs, and why punk (and music generally) is such an important light in dark times.   Enjoy!   Other books mentioned:   Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk (2024), by Kathleen Hanna Victorian Psycho (2025), by Virginia Feito Blood on her Tongue (2025), by Johanna van Veen Credenza (2025), by Wendy Dalrymple Breathe in, Bleed Out (2025), by Brian McCauley Poisoned Soup for the Macabre, Depraved and Insane: An Anthology of Nostalgic Terrors (2025), edited by Wendy Dalrymple and Grace R. Reynolds Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch   Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social  on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you hungry?   Depending on your…erm… tastes, the next hour of conversation will do strange things to your appetite. Our guest is Lucy Rose, whose debut novel, The Lamb renders muscle and fat and sorrow down into a rich stew of cannibalism and rural Gothic.   We talk about how rooted this book is in the landscape, history and folklore of Northern England – and we also talk a lot about eating people. How to make it sound gross… how to make it sound weirdly poetic.   This is a book that’s gonna get people talking.   Enjoy!   Other books mentioned:   Tender is the Flesh (2017), by Augustina Bazterrica No & Other Love Stories (2025), by Kirsty Logan The Tryst (2017), by Monique Rossey   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ka-tet picks up exactly where we left off: on the beaches of Midworld, with Roland Deschain. (If none of that makes any sense to you, go listen to episode one of the Dark Tower Deep Dive immediately) Nat Cassidy, Chris Panatier and I gather for a long, philosophical, expletive-littered conversation about Book 2: The Drawing of the Three. We get further into the character of Roland and his quest, and spend some time with the gaggle of oddballs he meets along his scenic tour of the coast. The seafood is particularly tasty! It’s good to be talking Tower again. Enjoy.   Nnedi Okorafor's article on Odetta/Detta   Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social  on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here is the first Let Us Palaver minisode – in which Nat Cassidy and I kick Chris off the call, and get to grips with the inner workings of The Dark Tower, without spoiling anything for him, or any of you on your first trip through these books. If you still listen after this spoiler warning and the two I give in the first few minutes of the episode… well, you only have yourself to blame. But for seasoned ‘slingers. I hope this is fun.   Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back and Happy New Year. 2025 looms ahead. Frightening. Uncertain. Crazy!!   Our first guest of the year has written the book that best captures this mad future we’re living in. Clay McLeod Chapman returns to Talking Scared, to talk about Wake Up And Open Your Eyes – his new novel of mass demonic possession, transmitted through poisonous media, and the destruction of families and communities.   It’s… disturbing.   It’s also gross as hell. Deliciously so. And we talk about that urge for the the ick! As well as his motivations in writing this book, his anxiety over releasing it, and the sadness that underlies our political echo chambers.   It’s a hell of a way to kick off a wild, weird year.   What Kind of Mother (2023), by Clay McLeod Chapman Ghost Eaters (2022), by Clay McLeod Chapman The Deluge (2022), by Stephen Markley Come Closer (2003), by Sara Gran The Stand (1990), by Stephen King Found: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories (2022), ed by, Andrew Cull and Gabino Iglesias American Rapture (2024), by CJ Leede Feast While You Can (2024), by by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The title speaks volumes this week. It’s a mission statement.   Kirsty Logan is the master of certain kind of edgy, on-the-margins fiction, Queer in every meaning of the word. She can be witchy and folkloric, or contemporary and cutting edge – and all of that range is showcased in her new collection, No & Other Love Stories.   We talk about female desire and monstrous fantasy, formal experimentation and the personal logic of stories…and some reassuringly unsettling focus on the erotics of human flesh and menstruation.   Don’t say we shy away here at Talking Scared.   Enjoy!   Other books mentioned:   Things We Say in the Dark (2019), by Kirsty Logan The Unfamiliar: A Queer Motherhood Memoir (2023), by Kirsty Logan “Skeleton,” by Ray Bradbury (1945), by Ray Bradbury Carrion Crow (2025), by Heather Parry “Tiptoe,” in Not a Speck of Light (2024), by Laird Barron   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ready to hear a conversation about some devastatingly dark things?   Sophie White and I have got you covered!   In this expansive chat, we talk about her calculatingly distressing novel, Where I End – in which an isolated island community plays host to the worst, cruellest kind of loneliness. And that books is a springboard for others things, psychosis, weaponised empathy, real-life atrocity and the way that all that darkness can seep into a place forever.   But then we also have a good old chat about books we love, and we swear a lot… so there’s a bright side.   This is a key conversation for me. A pivotal episode.   Enjoy!   Other books mentioned:   Recipes For a Nervous Breakdown (2016), by Sophie White Corpsing: My Body and Other Horror Shows (2020), by Sophie White Apt Pupil (1982), by Stephen King The Yellow Wallpaper (1892), by Charlotte Perkins Gilman The Girl Next Door (1989), by Jack Ketchum Sharkheart: A Love Story (2023), by Emily Habeck The Lamb (2025), by Lucy Rose Tender is the Flesh (2017), by Augustina Bazterrica Lunar Park (2005), by Bret Easton Ellis Our Wives Under the Seas (2022), by Julia Armfield Follow Me To Ground (2018), by Sue Rainsford   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch   Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social  on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The latest Off Book episode takes you out to the American desert and leaves you there, cold, alone and confused. We’re speaking with Dutch Marich, the surprisingly lovely mind behind the most terrifying found footage I’ve seen in years – The Horror in the High Desert series. These films are full of a particular kind of fear. Never obscure, but always hidden – leaving you as fascinated as you are scared. It’s the kind of weird, collective storytelling that used to set internet forums alight! In this 100% spoiler-free conversation, Dutch and I talk about withholding answers, we discuss the scary side of Nevada and his fascination with unexplained disappearances. And he even tell us the tenuous connection between his movies and Stephen King’s Desperation. Plus, if you’re a fan of these movies, you’ll find out a little info on what’s coming in the next instalment. Enjoy!   Sign Dutch's petition   Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back to the 80s this week for one of the most singular horror movies of the year – now streaming on Shudder. Dead Mail is an ode to the era, but there are no neon fonts or leg warmers (or Olivia Newton Johns) here. Instead we’re in the drear of the decade, for a story about a synth-obsessed man who keeps his business partner captive in his flock-wallpapered bathroom. The poor victim’s only hope is the investigative ‘Dead Mail’ department of his local post office. If that sounds mad… well, it is. And I’m joined by Kyle McConaghy, one half of the writing/directing duo behind the movie. We talk about scripting the crazy, about the hands-on reality of low-budget filmmaking, replicating 80s aesthetics, and a big bucket full of rubber rats. Enjoy! Dead Mail is streaming on Shudder from Friday 18th April   Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s a collegial week on Talking Scared. ‘Cos I’m talking dark, occult academia with someone very local to me.   Kate van der Borgh’s debut, And He Shall Appear is basically a sinister version of my own life. It’s about a young working class lad, like me, who goes to a prestigious university, like me… but there ours paths diverge, as he meets a fellow student who perhaps has diabolical powers.   It’s a twisted, obscure, psychological study of unreliable memory, inescapable guilt, and the haunting of not-knowing oneself. Kate and I talk about all of that, as well as the class divide, northern accents, the terror of infinity, favourite ghosts stories, and memories of underrage drinking in the same bars.   The book is great. I’m delighted to help celebrate it.   Enjoy.   The Sense of an Ending (2011), by Julian Barnes The Little Stranger (2009), by Sarah Waters The Pallbearer’s Club (2022), by Paul Tremblay We Were Villains (2017), by M. L. Rio The Secret History (1992), by Donna Tartt “All Souls,” in The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton (1973), by Edith Wharton   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s always great when Stephen Graham Jones comes to Talk Scared with us – but for once we aren’t talking about slashers!   No, this time, we’re talking vampires! Or are we?   Stephen’s new novel, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, is his best yet. Or at least the one that I love the most. It’s an epic and brutal saga of American history and shame, told through three very distinctive voices, speaking across the centuries. There are monsters with fangs AND with flags.   We talk about Stephen’s relationship with so-called Indian stories…about his use and misuse of animals in fiction, and the white-knuckle, red-hot writing style that leads to some truly crazy things.   Enjoy!   Other books mentioned:   Ledfeather (2008), by Stephen Graham Jones The Only Good Indians (2020), by Stephen Graham Jones The Babysitter Lives / Killer on the Road (2025), by Stephen Graham Jones Ceremony (1977), by Leslie Marmon Silko Riddley Walker (1980), by Russell Hoban A Game of Thrones (1996), by George R. R. Martin The Devils (2025), by Joe Abercrombie I Am Legend (1954), by Richard Matheson Dark Places (2009), by Gillian Flynn Dubliners (1914), by James Joyce Angel Down (2025), by Daniel Kraus The Warm Hands of Ghosts (2024), by Katherine Arden Victorian Psycho (2025), by Virginia Feito Curse of the Reaper (2022), by Brian McCauley Breathe in, Bleed Out (2025), by Brian McCauley   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch   Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social  on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tyranny is the key this week on Talking Scared this week. How fitting.   Susan Barker’s Old Soul is a globe-trotting, decade-spanning supernatural tour of autocracies, from behind the Iron Curtain to contemporary China. If that isn’t frightening enough, it also features an ageless woman who curses anyone she meets, a grand cosmic entity, and the exhilaration and terror of deep time.    Heady stuff, and Susan and I talk about all of it – and just why she likes to write about as many times and places in each book as she can.   Enjoy.   Incarnations (2014) by Susan Barker Sayonara Bar (2005), by Susan Barker Ghostwritten (1999), by David Mitchell Number9Dream (2001), by David Mitchell Slade House (2015), by David Mitchell House of Leaves (2000), by Mark Z. Danielewski Under the Skin (2000), by Michelle Faber Audition (1997), by Ryū Murakami The Denial of Death (1973), by Ernest Becker The Three Body Problem (2006), by Cixin Liu You Like it Darker (2024), by Stephen King Starve Acre (2019), by Andrew Michael Hurley Barrowbeck (2024), by Andrew Michael Hurley The Ritual (2011), by Adam Neville   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The man in black fled across the desert, and the podcaster followed…”   Welcome to the start of what is sure to be an epic journey. Step by step, over more than a dozen episodes, Talking Scared will be following the beam all the way to the Dark Tower – that mad edifice at the heart of Stephen King’s opus. Maybe it’s the heart of every story ever told… time will tell.   Unlike Roland Deschain, I don’t go alone. I’m joined by author and fellow King-nut, Nat Cassidy (Mary, Nestlings, When the Wolf Comes Home) and absolute newbie, Chris Panatier (The Phlebotomist, The Redemption of Morgan Bright) and in this first ever episode we tussle with the tricky, dusty, thorny opening that is Book One: The Gunslinger.   What follows dives deep into the book, but is 100% spoiler free about anything beyond it. So if you’ve only read The Gunslinger, you’re good to go.   I hope you enjoy our wanderings. I hope you tinct. I hope you darkle.   Other books mentioned:   On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000), by Stephen King It (1986), by Stephen King The Jerusalem Man (1988), by David Gemmell The Book of the New Sun (series, 1980-1987), by Gene Wolfe   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second Let Us Palaver minisode – in which Nat Cassidy dig into the things we couldn't say about The Drawing of the Three, and give MAJOR SPOILERS about whole Dark Tower series. We're really start to wonder if Chris is punking us.   Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social  on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text February’s focus on the best new Women-in-Horror continues with Leon Craig and her debut collection, Parallel Hells.  Leon is a North London writer with a globalised imagination. She’s been published all over the place, but is also a member of the Future’s in the Making, Queer writer’s collective. That perspective is inescapable in this collection. Wherever her stories take us, from an Eastern European pogrom, to a Viking settlement, or a BDSM dungeon frequented by denizens of the underworld – Leon maintains an outsider’s eye and a clear knowledge of the deliciously Gothic possibilities of Queerness. We talk Jewish folklore, emotional angst, mid-20s ennui, and the bright, healthy, happy side of sadomasochism. All that with some demonic-inflection and a good dose of the odd and downright weird. What’s not to like? Enjoy! Parallel Hells is published February 17th by Sceptre Books. Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Have you ever wondered what fresh testicles taste like? No? I don’t believe you. Our guest this week wants to get you thinking about it … well, that and many more important things. Gretchen Felker-Martin is the author of Manhunt – potentially the most buzzed-about horror novel of 2022. The story follows a pair of trans- protagonists through a blighted landscape of monstrous men and militant feminists – with the prized scrotal orbs being the key to continued life, and the pursuit of happiness. Quite a lot to chew on, right (I’ll stop!). On top of that pulpy set up, the book goes deep, turning the end-of-the-world into the perfect allegory for anti-trans thinking, but also sparing much empathy for the confused, the ignorant and the self-loathing. It’s an angry book, but a thoughtful one.  Gretchen and I talk about love and hate, about the fear of involuntary transitioning, about victimhood and caring and fighting back against facism. I went in expecting a polemic but ended the conversation feeling strangely better about the world. I hope you do too. Enjoy! Manhunt is published February 22nd by Tor Nightfire Other books mentioned in this conversation include: Tell Me I’m Worthless (2021), by Alison Rumfitt “The Screwfly Solution” (1977), by Alice Sheldon IT (1986), by Stephen King Gretchen’s interview with Heat Death can be found here.   Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store.  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Tyler Jones’ Burn the Plans reminds me of the first time I picked up Stephen King’s Night Shift. I didn’t know who this King guy was, only that his stories were varied, scary, funny, awful and sweet and sweetly awful. In short, a great time.  Burn the Plans is the same. The collection dashes from an ever-so-American-Gothic farm to a bloodsoaked art gallery, CIA psychic experimentation to invisible Frankensteinian limb-monsters. Tyler’s imagination runs amok and breaks the crockery. We talk about small presses and self-publishing, the discipline of being your own editor, the writing from the POV of kids and the problems with perfect prose. We also discuss the collection’s theme – that life isn’t safe, that we should learn to expect the unexpected, be ready to live with (and survive crisis).  That message has never been so clear as in recent news … and if you listen to this episode, please stick around for my outro as I have something to say, and dedications to make. Enjoy!  Burn the Plans was published February 28th by Cemetary Gates Media  Other books mentioned in this conversation include: Criterium (2020), by Tyler Jones Almost Ruth (2021), by Tyler Jones The Bone Clocks (2014), by David Mitchell The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (2010), by David Mitchell Consider This (2020), by Chuck Palahniuk From a Buick 8 (2002), by Stephen King Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Are you ready for another apocalypse? Covid and nukes not enough for ya?  Well here you go then. Something slightly different.   Mike Meginnis’ Drowning Practice is an odder than usual end-of-days. It’s a book in which everyone knows that time is up, and yet they just don’t seem to care. There are few (I won’t say zero) ravening lunatics in this book – but the more chilling realisation is that even at the end of the world, you still have to go to work. Mike and I talk about art and NFT monkeys, about poisoned capitalism and how his book mirrors our own pre-apocalyptic malaise. We also talk about the link between depression and creativity, and we have a friendly disagreement about whether the protagonist of this book is a deeply sinister character. This is a gentler end-of-days than most, but no less horrifying in its implications. Enjoy! Drowning Practice is published March 15th by Ecco Books.  Other books mentioned in this conversation include: The Men (2022), by Sandra Newman Never Let Me Go (2005), by Kazuo Ishiguro Lunar Park (2005), by Bret Easton Ellis Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com   Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Hey horrorfam – ready for a good ol’ murder mystery? Y’know, with ghosts… Our guest is Simone St. James, the doyenne of ‘Supernatural Suspense’ (as the marketeers love to call it). Her 2020 smash hit The Sundown Motel put her name up in lights, and her latest – The Book of Cold Cases keeps it there, shining cold and bright. It’s a tale of murder, media and misogyny –  told in the classic dual-timeline manner that seems to feature in all good supernatural suspense novels – and it features a female serial killer (or is she?), a haunted house (or is it?) and a VERY millennial true crime blogger (or is… yes, yes she is!) It was exactly the kind of story that I needed to blow the nuclear cobwebs off in our freshly frightening times.  Simone and I talk about the struggle of plotting, and its rewards for enjoyable stories. We wonder why we don’t get more female serial killers in fiction and the complexity of flipping gender roles within genre. We also tussle with the troubles of setting horror in Canada. …oh, and I try to convince her to start a podcast. Enjoy! Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com   Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This week is an orgy of horror. There are four of us. That makes it an orgy right? (I’ve never been to one – never got the invitation). Ahem … sorry.  I'll start again. This week I am joined by not one, but THREE guests.  John F. D. Taff, Livia Llewellyn, and of course, Josh Malerman. We could call them stars from the firmament of horror. Dark Stars perhaps. That would be fitting, considering that’s what they are here to discuss (amongst many, many things). Dark Stars is a benchmark spook fest. An anthology of fiction that attempts to set the tone for where we are in our collective horror moment.  John is the editor, Josh and Livia are contributors – amongst nine other names from the very forefront of the genre. Each story is different, with few tropes, little tradition and zero constricting theme. It’s just a collection of darkness, depravity and delight. John, Livia and Josh are old friends, old battle-companions from the horror vanguard. As such I’m essentially redundant this week. I just turned the show over to them and got out of the way.  I make an attempt at order and structure – we talk about making horror weird as hell, about drawing fiction from life, about how we use and abuse tropes in this new horror landscape, but mostly it’s about community, friendship and weird, perverse joy in being creepy together. Oh, and Josh and I talk bad drug experiences, whilst Livia joins my fight to put sex back in horror! Enjoy! Dark Stars: New Tales of Darkest Horror is published on May 10th by Tor Nightfire in the US and Titan in the UK. Other books mentioned in this episode include: Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural Horror (1980), ed. Kirby McCauley The House Next Door (1978), by Anne Rivers Siddons Rooster (2021), by John C. Foster Dark Factory (2022), by Kathe Koje Every Dead Thing (1999), by John Connolly Ghoul ‘n’ the Cape (2021), by Josh Malerman Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store.   Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Imagine it’s just you and two other people stuck in a single building for weeks on end. Everyone’s bad habits on display. How long would it take you to turn murderous? That’s just one of the possible questions asked in Emma Stonex’s The Lamplighters. Inspired by the real-world vanishing of the Flannan Isle Lighthouse keepers, but full of incident and weirdness all it’s own, The Lamplighters is equally poetic and paranoid, gentle and cruel, haunting and horrifying. It may be the best thing I’ve read this year. It will either make you want to move to a lighthouse immediately, or never again set foot anywhere but dry land.  Emma and I talk about the sea, about bad places and lonely buildings, and we come back again and again to the inexhaustible metaphor of the lighthouse. It all gets very lyrical, but we do also use the word “bonkbuster” at one point, to puncture the profundity. This is a truly fantastic book, and a great conversation with someone who shares our love for the windswept, memory-stained places of the world.  Enjoy!  The Lamplighters is published in paperback on March 1st in the US and March 31st in the UK. Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod  Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Alan Baxter is the Lord of Weird Australia. I said it before, he liked it, so I’ll say it again. Alan Baxter is the Lord of Weird Australia. Perhaps nothing he has written is as weird, or as Australian as the stories set in and around the town of Gulpepper. He took us there in The Gulp and now he’s taking us back in The Fall, the second collection of linked novellas outlining the town and its weird inhabitants. Bear in mind, when I say nothing he’s written is as weird or as Australian – this is a man who wrote a book about a homicidal kangaroo! So yeah, The Gulp and The Fall are weird. Weird as hell. Weirdness on toast (with or without vegemite). We talk about that weirdness, about how to make it work and when to reign it in or let it ride. We talk the beauty and threat of Australian wilderness and the monstrous potential of the ocean. We talk winging it when it comes to mythology and how even Alan isn’t sure where Gulpepper goes next. We talk about all sorts of things. It’s a blast.  Enjoy!  The Fall: Tales from the Gulp 2 is published on April 12th.Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Gulp (2021), by Alan Baxter The Roo (2020), by Alan Baxter The Fisherman (2016), by John Langan The Great and Secret Show (1989), by Clive Barker The Grief Hole (2016), by Kaaron Warren Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text I promise this week isn’t a pandemic novel. I know … we all need a break. No, Malcolm Devlin’s And Then I Woke Up IS about a disease, but not one that makes you cough, vomit or melt. Instead it’s a disease (drum roll), OF THE MIND!!  But even then, it’s not what you think – no rage monsters here. Well, not really. Instead, this novella is a perfect allegory of how narratives can infect, distort and corrupt. How reality is contingent, and how the truth is more elusive by the day. All that, with zombies (sorta)  Malcolm is a very polite man. So polite that he lets me use his book as a jumping-off point for all manner of cracked pseudo-philosophical theories. I basically forget the first rule of podcasting – DON’T talk more than the guest. Sorry. But when I give Malcolm chance to speak, he says great things. We talk about everything from the power of story and culture, to the problems with zombie narratives and how, in times of horror, Left and Right wing doesn’t necessarily mean what you think. Plus, we reminisce about the blue/gold dress illusion, the Bath Salts Cannibal, and other great noughties memes.  Enjoy!  And Then I Woke Up is published on April 12th, by Tor. Other books mentioned in this episode include: Unexpected Places to Fall From, Unexpected Places to Land (2021), by Malcolm Devlin The Wake (2013), by Elizabeth Knox “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling”, by Ted Chiang – found in Exhalation (2019)  Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text After much recent politickin’ and metaphor – we’re back with a good old-fashioned, honest-to-goodness ghost story.  And from a friend, no less. V. L. Valentine came on the show last year (ep.31) to talk about her debut medical horror whodunnit, The Plague Letters. Now she’s back with her sophomore novel, a ripe Gothic treat called Begars Abbey.  It plays with the tropes beautifully. There are secret rooms, sinister histories, mad old relatives, torture, crypts, sinister servants and lots of ghosts. Why the shift, from surgeons to spooks, you may ask. Well, Vikki and I talk about that. As well as what she learned between book 1 and 2, the elements of pacing, writing problematic women in the age of twitter, the macabre history of old dungeons and the perilous evils of Downton Abbey (ok – that last one is more my soapbox). Also, Vikki takes me to task about not yet finishing my own novel. Consider me chastened and now writing! Enjoy!  Begars Abbey is published on April 26th, by Viper. Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This week Alma Katsu brings her brand of immaculate historical horror to Talking Scared. After the The Hunger upped the ante on the Donner Party, and The Deep gave us a sinking feeling about the Titanic, Alma is back with The Fervor – a book too dark to write a pun about. It’s a tale of haunting and conspiracy during   the years of Japanese internment in the US. Spanning multiple states, and multiple POV’s, it weaves a story of anger, prejudice and hate that seems all too familiar today. We talk a lot about the history of internment and anti-asian prejudice in the US, about Alma’s heritage and career, and the unique perspective it gives her on the topic. But don’t worry, just as it’s all about to get worryingly serious –the spider demons pop in to lighten the mood! Enjoy! Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Hunger (2018), by Alma Katsu The Deep (2020), by Alma Katsu The Pallbearer’s Club (2022), by Paul Tremblay The Devil Takes You Home (2022), by Gabino Iglesias The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party (2009), by Daniel James Brown The Fervor is published on April 26th, by G.P. Putnam. It will be released in the UK in October, by Titan.  Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text It’s a week of deep-dives, haunted-houses and academic horror-stories this week on Talking Scared. Our guest is Isabel Cañas. And she’s having the busiest week known to (wo)mankind. Not only is she defending her doctoral thesis on Medieval Turkish Poetry, she also has the small matter of her debut novel – a sweetly sinister piece of Latin Gothic called The Hacienda  We talk about everything that could possibly have influenced the novel. From the creepy house she once lived in, to her worldwide travels and her academic studies. It also plays a part – but nothing more so than a childhood spent reading.  As well as diving deep into what made Isabel who she is, we also talk about Latinx horror generally, about mixing Catholicism with something even stranger, how she will never be frightened by the same things as Stephen King, and why it’s so important to keep the literary door ajar once you’ve kicked it open.  It was a pleasure to speak to Isabel. I can’t believe she found the time.  Enjoy  The Hacienda is published on May 3rd by Berkley  Other books mentioned in this episode include: Mexican Gothic (2020), by Silvia Moreno Garcia (episode 3) This Strange Way of Dying (2013), by Silvia Moreno Garcia The House of Hunger (2022), by Alexis Henderson  Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Do think kids’ drawings are creepy? They are, right? All big smiles and suns with eyes and weird flowers the size of people… and the dead girls in the background. Right?  Our guest this week has built a whole horror story around these little paper nightmares.  Hidden Pictures is a novel that blends text and image in ways that I’ve never seen done before, or never as well. It’s a story of childhood imagination, suburban murder and summer terror. Think Gone Girl with Crayola ghosts. Jason and I talk about lots of things – the rise of 1% horror; the relationship between image and text, and how to adapt an experimental book for audio. We get into the fairy tale details that I missed, and ask kid’s imaginary friends are just so damn freaky.  Trust me, you’ll never look at your little cherub’s artistic offerings the same way ever again. Enjoy Hidden Pictures is published on May 10th by Flatiron Books and Sphere. Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Impossible Fortress (2017), by Jason Rekulak  A Kiss Before Dying (1953), Ira Levin Horrorstör (2014), by Grady Hendrix Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009), by Seth Grahame-Smith Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children (2011), by Ransom Rigg My article in Esquire on ‘The 50 Best Horror Novels of All Time’ Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod  Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This week’s episode couldn’t have come at a more pertinent time. As women’s reproductive rights come under assault in the US, as Roe V Wade gets rolled back and fat, sweaty men in suits make rules they will never have to obey – I’m joined by a writer who wrote a book about the cult of having babies. Anne Heltzel is the author of Just Like Mother, a contemporary Gothic techno-thriller about fertility, pressure, choice and cults. Okay, the real-world context may be heavy, but the book is a blast. It’s both a surface-level thriller and a deep indictment of the way that modern life has got us all under pressure and running just to keep up. Anne and I talk about the creepiness of dolls, whether we give too much importance to twists, our shared experiences of feeling off-course in our twenties, and how everything, anything can be a cult if you just tweak it hard enough. Enjoy! Just Like Mother is published on May 17th by Tor Nightfire  Other books mentioned in this episode include:  In the Dream House (2019), by Carmen Maria Machado Rosemary’s Baby (1967), by Ira Levin The Seven Visitation of Sydney Burgess (2021), by Andy Marino It Rides a Pale Horse (2022), by Andy Marino  You can download your free copy of Ash by Dan Soule from Amazon in your region until May 19th.   Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Here I come, ready or not! Our guest this week is Kiersten White. She’s the award-winning author of numerous macabre YA fictions, but now she’s making her debut in adult fiction (not that kind!) with Hide – a tale of life-or-death hide-and-seek. It’s a fantastic premise to begin with. Think The Hunger Games meets Squid Game, or any other kind of game but nastier and with more socio-political heft. Yeah, that’s right. Once again on Talking Scared the guest and I deconstruct society, in particular the capitalist nightmare that is at the core of Kiersten’s novel.  We talk about economic inequality horror, American fairytales, the conflict between boomers and millennials, and the difference between mazes and labyrinths. I even ask some good questions about craft. We laugh a lot, but be warned, there is a burning rage behind this book. Enjoy! Hide is published on May 24th by Penguin and Del Rey Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod  Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com   Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This week we go behind the curtain to look at the inner workings of a bona-fide modern classic.  Our guest is Scott Hawkins, whose debut novel, The Library At Mount Char delighted genre fans back in 2015. Now, to commemorate its first UK publication, Scott joins me for a conversation about its many madcap secrets. We talk about everything from cosmic ethics to kidney stone –  he gives us a little until-now-unknown backstory on some of the most mysterious characters, and I take umbrage at how awfully he treats the poor, poor pooches that guard his goddamned library!! This is a lovely conversation about the loveliest book you’ve ever read … that contains scenes of children being roasted alive. Enjoy!The Library At Mount Char was published in the UK on 10th May, by Titan BooksOther books mentioned in this episode include: We Are All Completely Fine (2014), by Daryl Gregory The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition (1990), by Stephen King Titus Groan: Book One of the Gormenghast Trilogy (1946), by Mervyn Peake Sharp Teeth (2007), by Toby Barlow Red Dragon (1981), by Thomas Harris.  The Mote in God’s Eye (1974), by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven The Hunger (2018), by Alma Katsu Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party (2009), by Daniel James Brown Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This week we go to magic school, but there isn’t a f***ing owl or a talking hat in sight. Instead, it’s a much more macabre affair, as J. M. Miro begins his trilogy of dark sorcery with Ordinary Monsters.  J. M. goes by a different name in his other, more prosaic writing life, but here, with us, in the blood and the shadows he writes as his second self. Which is a long-winded and torturous way to say this is a pseudonym. We talk about the creative and practical reasons behind that, as well as his tragic family history, his obsession with Victorian London, female detectives in history and how to write a compelling action scene. And we manage to do all that without saying a single hateful or prejudiced thing. Imagine! Enjoy! Ordinary Monsters was published on June 7th by Bloomsbury and Flatiron Books  Other books discussed in this episode include: By Gaslight (2016), by Steven Price (AKA J.M. Miro) Lampedusa (2019), by Steven Price Blood Meridian (1985), by Cormac McCarthy The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (1974), by Patricia A. McKillip Washington Black (2018), by Esi Edugyan Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text We’re closing out our (very) loose trilogy of episodes devoted to sinister schools and magical children. This week it involves pentagrams and witch-burnings, which are always a good time. Our guest, Stephen Lloyd, is better known for his comedy than his horror. He has spent a career crafting some of the biggest sitcoms of the century (some of which helped my marriage survive lockdown). Now, he has turned his pen to something much less wholesome, in his first novel, Friend of the Devil. We talk about Satanism and D&D and the aftermath of Vietnam – all that stuff that made the 80s such a goddamn fun decade for so many. But we also look at how those tendrils reach into the present set of existential crises. Socio-political shi*tshows aside, Stephen discusses the difference between writing horror and writing comedy, he explains the inner workings   of a TV writer’s room – and how penning a novel in isolation is a whole other thing.  I even ask him for advice on screenwriting, because my ill-conceived ambition knows no bounds… Enjoy!  Friend of the Devil was published on May 30th by G.P. Putnam Other books discussed in this episode include: The Book of the New Sun (1980-83), by Gene Wolf Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting (1979), by Syd Field Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983), by William Goldman Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This week on Talking Scared it’s monsters all day, every day.  To celebrate the release of Screams From the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous, we gather around the campfire with editor Ellen Datlow and three of her contributors – no less than Nathan Ballingrud, Chikodili Emelumadu and the great Joe R. Lansdale. As a result, this is not your average Talking Scared episode. There is interruption, overlap, argument much good humour.  Amidst the chaos we still manage a fascinating conversation about the creatures that lurk in the wilds and those who walk amongst us. We talk about what makes a monster, why we love them, and where they fit in our modern hyperconnected world. (and they have the audacity to tell me that Bigfoot isn’t real!) Enjoy! Screams From the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous was published on June 7th by Tor Nightfire Other books discussed in this episode include: The Wilds (2014), by Julia Elliot Ormeshadow (2019), by Priya Sharma Sundial (2022), by Catriona Ward Road of Bones (2022), by Christopher Golden And Then I Woke Up (2022), by Malcolm Devlin (episode 87) The Last Storm (2022), by Tim Lebbon Eden (2020), by Tim Lebbon Anybody Home (2022), by Michael Siedlinger Cunning Women: A Feminist Tale of Forbidden Love After the Witch Trials (2021), by Elizabeth Lee Hemingway's Widow: The Life and Legacy of Mary Welsh Hemingway (2022), by Timothy Christian The Writer’s Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse-Five (2021), by Tom Rosten African Monsters: Volume 2 (2015), edited by Margret Hellgadotir and Jo Thomas.  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Things are a bit fishy this week, as I’m joined by long-time friend-of-the-show Tim McGregor (@TimMcGregor1) to talk about the long history of fish-tailed women and why we find them so frightening … and sexy!  Tim’s forthcoming novella, Lure, is a mermaid story with bite! No Ariel here; Sebastian the Crab is hiding. Instead it’s about the war of attrition between a brutal patriarchal settlement and the sea-she-creature who holds them to account. (a little fitting for this week’s misogyny-a-thon in the Supreme Court)  As well as mermaid lore, we also talk about Tim’s upbringing in the Ontarian wilds … and his father’s axe … as well as disagreeing on heroes and villains, and delving into Tim’s experiences on the periphery of one of the year’s biggest horror meltdowns.   Enjoy!  Lure is published on July 18th by Tenebrous Press Other books discussed in this episode include: Between Two Fires (2012), by Christopher Buelhman Into the Drowning Deep (2017), by Mira Grant All the Murmuring Bones (2021), by Angela Slatter – (episode 29) The Essex Serpent (2016), by Sarah Perry The Monsters of Templeton (2008), by Lauren Groff Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text It’s been a rough couple of weeks. So, let’s have a laugh: Poe-style! Our guest is T. Kingfisher. She’s an expert in taking dry, dark horror classics and investing them with newfound life. In What Moves the Dead she manages to find the gruesome joy in even the most dolorous of text.  What Moves the Dead reconfigures and reapproaches Poe’s classic, “The Fall of the House of Usher.” It updates the year, introduces some gender fluidity, and even adds Beatrix Potter’s aunt. Yes, this is not your usual rewrite. It also involves mushrooms. Lots and lots of mushrooms. Consequently, we talk a lot about mycology – but we also get plenty of other fun stuff. Like whether we enjoy explanations in horror, how Albanian inheritance laws inspired her novella’s gender dynamics, and how her grandmother would have excelled at polygamy had it been invented. This episode is a sprinkle of zest into the rancid stew of life.  Enjoy! What Moves the Dead is published on July 12th by Tor Nightfire Other books discussed in this episode include:  The Twisted Ones (2019), by T. Kingfisher The Hollow Places (2020), by T. Kingfisher Perdido Street Station (2000), by China Mievelle Mexican Gothic (2020), by Silvia Moreno Garcia Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text DUM DUM DUM!!! 100 episodes!!  We did it. We reached an utterly abstract threshold together guys and we are DELIGHTED to be here.  I’m also delighted to welcome Paul Tremblay back to the show for a neat bit of circularity (as he was the one to kick things off way back in episode 1). Paul’s new novel, The Pallbearer’s Club came out just at the right time to make him the 100th guest. I’m convinced he planned it that way. It’s a tale of weird adolescence, New England folklore, Punk Rock and loneliness. Sounds typically bleak right? Well it is, but it also has jokes, a heartwarming friendship and argumentative notes in the margins – so it’s both a homecoming and a departure for Paul. We talk about his early desire to be a musician, his obsessions with misinformation, the art of fictionalising the truth, and the fear that inspires his uniquely uncanny set-pieces. Oh, and we also mention a certain film adaptation that may be in the works. Enjoy! The Pallbearers Club was published on July 5th by William Morrow and Titan Books Other books discussed in this episode include:  The Bus on Thursday (2018), by Shirley Barrett Lunar Park (2005), by Bret Easton Ellis A Confederacy of Dunces (1980), by John Kennedy Toole House of Leaves (2000), by Mark Z. Danielewski Our Share of Night (2023), by Mariana Enriquez Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text We’re heading into largely uncharted horror waters this week with our guest Nat Cassidy.  Nat’s debut horror novel, Mary: An Awakening of Terror dares to confront one of the last true taboos of horror fiction. No, it’s not cannibalism, or necrophilia, or the bowel movements of Tucker Carlson … no… it’s the menopause.  That’s right. Female physiology. The horror, the terror, think of the children!!! Nat and I talk about why horror shies away from the topic of middle age and menopause, and why he was inspired to tell this story when he was just thirteen years old. We talk about Stephen King and Carrie and their lasting influence. And we look back at the worse year of Nat’s life, and how it helped fuel the writing of Mary. We also promise (and fail) to talk about Bruce Springsteen, our shared north star. Watch this space for more on that in the future. Enjoy! Mary: An Awakening of Terror is published on July 19thth by Tor Nightfire Other books discussed in this episode include: We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families (1998), by Philip Gourevitch Carrie (1974), by Stephen King Parasite (1980), by Ramsey Campbell Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Do you like scary movies? Yes, course you do – you’re listening to a horror podcast. Okay, cliched horror quote asides – this week is something a little different for the show. It’s been a minute since we’ve had some non-fiction, and how better to scratch that itch-for-facts than with a discussion of BRAINZZZZZ? Our guest is Nina Nesseth: scientist, researcher and author of Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films. It does what it says on the cover. Nina guides us through a century of horror cinema, looking at how we, as a species, react neurologically and physiologically to scenes of blood, violence and carnage. Think of it, perhaps, as a tour of the most haunted house of all, the human mind.  We dissect everything ­– movies, culture, eyeballs (prepare yourself!), and the trailer for Rob Zombie’s The Munsters. We also talk about communicating science in the new age of anti-rationality, how our brains can tell screens and real life apart, the best ever decade for horror, and we mock the phrase elevated horror in all the ways that stupid term deserves.  Enjoy! Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films was published on July 19th by Tor Nightfire Other books discussed in this episode include: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (2003), by Mary Roach Found Footage and The Appearance of Reality (2014), by Alexandra Heller-Nicholls  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text What scared you as a kid? Monsters? Ghosts? The thing in your closet? The perilous state of the environment and the terrible carbon footprint of children’s toys? If it’s any of the former then you’re in good company. (If it’s the latter then boy did we need you in 1987!) This week’s guests understand the fear that makes the childlike mind tick and tock, they know how to get under young skin, and they know how to inject a little hope into the horror.  Ally Malinenko, Dan Poblocki and Lora Senf are three of the finest middle-grade authors around. Their books, This Appearing House, Tales to Keep You Up at Night and The Clackity present three very different kinds of nightmares to challenge, inspire and slightly terrify readers age 8-12. In this middle-grade special we dive deep into each of their book, to examine how horror works for younger readers. When does a lot become too much? And what can we say to the gatekeepers and politicians who would rather these precious children not read such awful things. It’s an important question, cos, after all, kids are the ones who are going to have to both survive and save this world – so let’s at least prepare them with some horrors they can conquer in the here and now. This is a longer episode, and a slightly left-turn. But it’s also a lot of fun and surprisingly dark.  Enjoy! The Clackity is published June 28th by Atheneum This Appearing House is published August 16th by Katherine Tegen Books Tales to Keep You Up at Night is published August 16th by Penguin Workshop Other books discussed in this episode include: Hoodoo (2015), by Ronald L. Smith Hide and Don’t Seek, and Other Very Scary Stories (20212), by Anica Mrose Rissi Ghost Love (2020), by Dennis Mahoney The Nest (2015), by Kenneth Oppell It Looks Like Us (2022), by Alison Ames Liars Room (2021), by Dan Poblocki The House With a Clock in Its Walls (1973), by John Bellairs Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story (1986), by Mary Downing Hahn “The Raft”, in Skeleton Crew (1985), by Stephen King  The Haunted Book (2012), by Jeremy Dyson To find out more about my friend Amy Sarthou and her Portable Magic project to increase inclusive school reading – you can follow her on instagram at PortableMagic_reads_books Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Are your doors and windows locked? Good. ‘Cos this one is going to scare you! This week I’m joined by Michael J. Seidlinger, author of the new home-invasion nightmare, Anybody Home. You’ve read this scenario before – invasion, torture, death and suffering – but never like this.   We talk about why home invasion is so singularly frightening, about the role of movies and lenses in our hyper-surveillant culture, we disagree on the current state of experimental fiction, and Michael gives perhaps the most startling answer yet to the question of where did the idea for this book come from…  All that, plus my rantings on the morality of torture porn, some really geeky video game chat, heavy metal metaphors, and an afterword containing some important questions for the future of this show.   Enjoy!  Anybody Home is published August 16th by CLASH books Other books discussed in this episode include: The Shards (2023), by Bret Easton Ellis Hoarders (2021), by Kate Durbin Frank (2002), by R. M. Berry “The Death of the Author” (1967), by John Barthes – read here  Support Talking Scared on Patreon  Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This week we’re crossing the podcast streams again – and broadening our reading at the same time. Agatha Andrews is the host of She Wore Black, a Texas-based podcast of Gothic, Mystery and Horror. She’s also my horror-podcasting buddy, the romantic yin to my dark, depraved yang. And she knows a thing or two about Gothic Romance. It turns out it’s not all virgins in nightgowns (though they do make an appearance). Agatha talks me through the complex, overlapping relationships between Romance, Gothic, horror and erotica. We talk about how love combines with fear, why happy endings are an ironclad rule and the joy of the Danger-Bang. She also helps me navigate some recent twitter beef that had me utterly confused. This is a little diversion for the show, a ramble down a different path for this week. But hey, give love a chance! (plus, we also talk about House of Leaves) Episodes of She Wore Black are released weekly and you can find Agatha at @sheworeblackpod Other books discussed in this episode include: The Haunting of Maddy Clare (2012), by Simone St. James Mexican Gothic (2020), by Silvia Moreno Garcia The Hacienda (2022), by Isabel Cañas Goddess of Filth (2021) by V. Castro  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Get your bell bottoms, your peace sign, your tie dye and your … crucifix! This week’s guest is Gwendolyn Kiste and her new novel, Reluctant Immortals, transports us to San Francisco in 1968, the summer after the Summer of Love, when the sun is setting on the hippie movement. Into this chaos comes a quarter of iconic Gothic characters, ready to fight it out all over again. Like the book, the surface of this conversation belies its inner darkness. Yes we talk hippies. Yes we talk Haunted Hollywood. Yes we talk cheesy movies. But we also get into the horrific implications of vampires for sexual consent, the true hideous power of the patriarchy, and how women are weaponised against women. There is substantial conversation about domestic and sexual abuse in the second half of the conversation. Just a warning in case this is a problem for you.  It’s a tough conversation, but a good one. Enjoy! Reluctant Immortals is released in North America on August 23rd by and in the UK on November 22nd by Titan. Other books discussed in this episode include: Something Borrowed, Something Blood-soaked (2018), by Christa Carmen To Be Devoured (2019), by Sarah Tantlinger The Rust Maidens (2018), by Gwendolyn Kiste “The Eight People Who Murdered Me (Excerpt from Lucy Westenra’s Diary)”, by Gwendolyn Kiste, Nightmare Magazine, issue 86, (2019) “The Woman Out of the Attic, by Gwendolyn Kiste, in Haunted House Short Stories (2019) Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (1998), by Peter Biskind Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Time to get weird and wiggy and wondrous. Our guest this week is Zin E. Rocklyn, author of many short fictions, and her (very) recently award-winning novella Flowers for the Sea. It’s an afro-speculative blend of science fiction, horror, fantasy, myth, dystopia, pre-history and apocalypse – all confined to a single boat in a big, bad ocean, and all told within 100 pages. Phew – it’s dense! Zin and I cover a lot this week. We barrel through her the twin crises of reproductive rights and climate change – and look at how inequality is a huge component of both. We talk about writing the body, evoking smell and how pain has many uses. That sounds dark. It is. But there is also light, including an unexpected reference to an old British sitcom, the juxtaposition of Zin and Hyacinth Bouquet made me laugh!! Enjoy this one. Flowers for the Sea was released October 2021, by Tor  Other books mentioned in the episode include: We Are Here to Hurt Each Other (2022), by Paula D. Ashe Spectral Hue (2019), by Craig L. Gidney No Gods for Drowning (2022), by Hailey Piper “My Genre Makes a Monster of Me”, by Zin E. Rocklyn (2018) in Uncanny Magazine, 24  Support Talking Scared on Patreon  Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Finally, she’s here! After months of waiting for schedules and book releases to align, Hailey Piper is on the show. She’s here to talk about both of her 2022 releases – each is a kidnapping experience.  The novella Your Mind is a Terrible Thing takes us up into the void and into creepy inner space. Her forthcoming novel No Gods for Drowning transports us somewhere else entirely.  Hailey lets me blather on about social commentary and metaphor before reminding me gently that sometimes it’s ok to enjoy the story. We talk about concise world-building (how!!), zombie capitalism, police brutality, anxiety and body autonomy, and why Queer characters don’t need an agenda to be worthy of inclusion. By the time this goes live Hailey has probably written another two books!! But for now, I’m just delighted to have her on the show to discuss these two. Enjoy! Your Mind is a Terrible Thing was released May 2022 by Off Limits Press; No Gods for Drowning is published September 7th, 2022 by Polis Books. Other books mentioned in the episode include:  Crime Scene (forthcoming 2022), by Cynthia Pelayo The Possession of Natalie Glagow (2018), by Hailey Piper Benny Rose the Cannibal King (2020), by Hailey Piper  Support Talking Scared on Patreon  Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text The time has finally come to go to the scariest place imaginable – the inside of the human mind.  Thankfully, we have a friend to accompany us on this most hideous of trips. I’m joined this week by Gemma Amor, author of the brand-new techno-horror FULL IMMERSION. It’s a book that deals with trauma, psychosis and experimental treatment, and it’s the perfect springboard for an epic conversation about mental health in horror. Gemma and I cover the autobiographical elements of her novel and how it helped her recovery. I lay bare my own neurosis and explain why this genre is not necessarily a safe space. And Gemma explains the dangerous reality of being a woman in the horror game.  If that all sounds a tad sombre, don’t worry – there is also chat about the Uncanny Valley, Men in Black, Creepypasta and Black Mirror. As well as the pros and cons of pushing over racist statues. It’s a long episode this one. You won’t get this level of self-indulgence every week. But it was just too good a conversation to cut short. Let’s head into my head, it’s scary there!! Enjoy! Full Immersion is released September 13th by Angry Robot  Read Gemma’s essay - The Female Experience of Fear Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Wanna get haunted? That’s the delightful proposition offered by Clay McLeod Chapman’s Ghost Eaters – a novel of ghosts, grief and ghastly narcotics. Just take one pill and you can sell all the phantoms that surround you. What a premise!  It’s Clay’s second time on Talking Scared and he’s always welcome. There are few more honest, open, and thoughtful writers out there. This time around we go deep, into the real emotional core of Ghost Eaters, talking about lost friends and long-ago dreams. We discuss 90s indie art, postmodernism’s pains-in-the-ass, and our drug experiences (turns out we’re lame). Oh, and there are Machine Elves. What are Machine Elves, you ask? Listen to find out.  Enjoy! Ghost Eaters is released September 20th by Quirk Books   Other books mentioned in this episode include:  Between Two Fires (2012), by Christopher Buehlman  Whisper Down the Lane (2021), by Clay McLeod Chapman – (episode 32) The Secret History (1992), by Donna Tartt Infinite Jest (19960, by David Foster Wallace Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text It’s not only vampires that drink blood. That’s what we find out on this week’s episode.  Our guest is Alexis Henderson – author of The Year of the Witching and now, her sophomore novel, House of Hunger. It’s a luscious, lurid tale of dark fantasy, blood and sex. Y’know … all the good stuff. Oh, and it’s one of my favourite books of the year. Alexis and I discuss the collision of horror and fantasy, the erotics and politics of blood, and the double standards when it comes to female perversion. We also talk a little about a certain Bloody Countess, who plays a big part in the background of House of Hunger.  Enjoy! House of Hunger is released September 27th by Ace Books    Other books mentioned in this episode include: A Dowry of Blood  (2022), by S.T. Gibson  The Year of the Witching (2021), by Alexis Henderson Support Talking Scared on Patreon  Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text The best and spookiest season starts in earnest, this year on Talking Scared.  Our guest is Jamie Flanagan, actor, screenwriter, and part of the team who delivered such televisual delights as The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass and now, The Midnight Club. With The Midnight Club due to land on Netflix worldwide this Friday – I rejigged the schedule to sneak in a chat with Jamie about his work on the show, his relationship with horror-maestro director, Mike Flanagan, and some of the magic that bubbled to the surface in Midnight Mass.  Jamie pulls back the veil on the mythical ‘writers room’. He talks about the difficulty of getting anything to screen. And we talk, of course, about the influence of Stephen King. It’s a pleasant detour this week, away from books, without leaving the literary entirely behind. Enjoy! The Midnight Club is released worldwide on Netflix, October 7th.   Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Midnight Club (1994), by Christopher Pike  The Mist (1980), by Stephen King House of Leaves (2000), by Mark Z. Danielewski Support Talking Scared on Patreon  Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Do you know anyone with hairy palms?  Weird question, but as this week’s novel-in-question will convince you, it’s best to be careful around the hirsute. Our guest is Rachel Harrison, returning to Talking Scared with her brand new SUCH SHARP TEETH. It’s a tale of small-town relationships, female transformation, love and … werewolves. Anyone who has read either of Rachel’s previous novels, The Return or Cackle, will know that she has a knack for reinventing horror tropes within snarky satire. Such Sharp Teeth is no different in that regard. Rachel and I talk about messy characters, beastly metaphors, and rage filled rooms. We get into the unexpected earnestness of romance, and we wonder if      horror comedy may well be the best genre to represent contemporary existence. And stick around because Rachel also has the best ever answer to the question, what truly scares you…  Enjoy! Such Sharp Teeth is released on October 4th by Berkley. Other books mentioned in this episode include:  Build Your House Around My Body (2021), by Violet Kupersmith The Return (2020), by Rachel Harrison – episode 17 Cackle (2021), by Rachel Harrison  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text It was Thomas Wolfe who wrote “you can never go home again.” Huh, what did he know? (yes, I understand the metaphor – move on!) This week’s guest proves that whilst you can go home, you may not want to. Erin E. Adams is an actor, playwright and now the debut author of JACKAL, a novel of homecomings horrid and awful.  Each year, in the small Pennsylvania town of Johnstown, a young Black girl goes missing, taken by whatever lurks in the woods surrounding the town. Helluva premise!! Erin takes us on a tour of Johnstown, both the real and the sorta fictional version. We talk about justification and paranoia, about anger as a superpower and the notion that horror is a genre for white people. She explores the epochal moments from her town’s history and goes deep on her feelings about Black horror’s handling of trauma.  Then we compare our memories of small-town adolescence – finding that some sh*t is the same all around the world.  Enjoy! Jackal was released on October 4th by Bantam. Other books mentioned in this episode include: How to Recognize a Demon has Become Your Friend (2011), by Linda Addison Come With Me (2021), by Ronald Malfi – episode 49  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text The last episode before Halloween and it’s suitably about my favourite book of the year: Andy Davidson’s The Hollow Kind Andy is the Stoker-nominated author of In the Valley of the Sun and The Boatman’s Daughter. The Hollow Kind is his third book and it packs a lot into its 400 pages. It’s as dense and weighty as an imploding paper star.  It’s a haunted house story (of sorts), a creature feature (of sorts) and a whole lot of Southern Gothic of many kinds. The prose is lush and wow, does Andy know a lot about the history of Georgia both human and natural. We talk about that, as well as the link between industry and horror, the allure of extreme violence, and the sheer delight of finding a map at the front of a book. Plus, we go a little deeper than usual into the nature and origins of the evil at the heart of the story. Enjoy and have a happy Halloween my horror-loving siblings! The Hollow Kind was released on October 11th by MCD  Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Boatman’s Daughter (2020), by Andy Davidson Convulsive (2022), by Joe Koch Absalom, Absalom! (1936), by William Faulkner Poachers (1999), by Tom Franklin Knockemstiff (2008), by Donald Ray Pollock Jo Koch interview with Andy at Southwest Review  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Halloween may be over but I trust you aren’t tired of horror?  No? Good. ‘Cos this week’s guest packs a double-whammy – horror novels and horror movies all in one. Brian McAuley is a screenwriter and debut novelist. His first book, Curse of the Reaper is a behind-the-scenes look at how the horror movie sausage gets made, featuring the greatest slasher icon never to actually exist, and some of the best ‘bad’ scriptwriting you’ll ever read. Brian and I talk about Hollywood as a place of both cinematic and spiritual horror. We compare our favourite franchises and our love for Robert Englund. We discuss why the genre needs to remember to be fun, and how you can judge a lot from someone’s reaction to the latest Texas Chainsaw Massacre.   All in all, it’s the perfect book for the day after Halloween – when we just need to keep the horror train rollin’ Enjoy! Curse of the Reaper was released on October 4th by Talos Press. Other books mentioned in this episode include:  Rootwork (2022), by Tracy Cross Hollywood Monster: A Walk Down Elm Street With the Man of Your Dreams (2009), by Robert Englund and Alan Goldsher The Dark Half (1989), by Stephen King  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text I don’t always talk about Bigfoot … but when I do it’s with the BEST people. Our guest this week is Erika T. Wurth, author, narrative artist and creative writing guru. She is of Apache/Chickasaw/Cherokee descent and she pours all of that skill and heritage into her new novel White Horse. It’s a tale of haunting, hard-living and violence, with a certain hairy indigenous monster that pops up in your dreams. This is NOT the Bigfoot that you expect, or want to meet.  As well as that brief foray into hairy hominid lore (I restrained myself; you’re welcome), Erika and I also talk about the dreaded dream sequence, the German phenomenon of Sonder, the real Overlook hotel and Jack Kerouac, of all people. Enjoy! White Horse was released on November 1st by Flatiron Books Other books mentioned in this episode include: Buckskin Cocaine (2017), by Erika T. Wurth Black Sun (2021), by Rebecca Roanhorse  Ghost Eaters (2022), by Clay McLeod Chapman Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text It’s coming home, it’s coming … horror’s coming home! Alright, no one panic – this isn’t about football. We’ll avoid that particular nightmare of human corruption and talk about something much more nourishing – the delights of British Folk Horror. Our guest is Fiona Barnett, and these days it’s seems like a mini-celebration everytime I have a fellow Brit on the show. Her debut novel The Dark Between the Trees is also quintessentially British, mired in the myth and lore and landscape of these sceptic isles. Her novel follows two groups into the cursed Moresby Woods. One is a group of soldiers from the 16th Century; the other is a research group in the present day. Neither expedition goes at all well… Amongst many things, Fiona and I talk about writing female groups, about propelling the plot in the face of paralysis weirdness, we discuss the nature of folktale and truth, and we look into the abyss of Deep Time. And in case that all sounds awfully hifalutin – I make sure to talk about monsters as much as I can. Though this week, I promise, there is no Bigfoot.  Enjoy!  The Dark Between the Trees was released on October 11th by Solaris Other books mentioned in this episode include: Annihilation (2014), by Jeff VanderMeer Mythago Wood (1984), by Robert Holdstock Picnic at Hanging Rock (1967), by Joan Lindsey Deep Time: A Literary History (2023), by Noah Heringman Begars Abbey (2022), by V.L. Valentine Lolly Willowes, or the Loving Huntsman (1926), by Sylvia Townsend Warner Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Are you a city mouse or a country mouse?  That’s the question at the heart of my conversation with Charlotte Northedge. Her new novel, The People Before argues that though the city may be a hassle, it’s a lot less scary than what waits out there in the fields and farmhouses of this pleasant land.  Charlotte is very much a city mouse. She’s also the Head of Books for The Guardian Newspaper, which makes her superbly well-euipped to talk about fiction in general, and this is an episode that really gets into the Gothic tradition of which The People Before is part.  We talk about the unique nature of the female gothic, domestic loads and mortgage terror, the economics of haunted houses, and I stand by my argument that rural axe-murders are fairly rare. Enjoy!  The People Before was released on November 10th by HarperCollins Other books mentioned in this episode include: The House Guests (2021), by Charlotte Northedge The Last House on Needless Street (2021), by Catriona Ward  Sundial (2022), by Catriona Ward  The Fell (2021), by Sarah Moss The Haunting of Hill House (1959), by Shirley Jackson Rebecca (1938), by Daphne Du Maurier The Turn of the Screw (1898), by Henry James  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Get ready to be sickened by my praise. My guest this week is Philip Fracassi. Last year his historical horror, The Boys in the Valley got the Stephen King endorsement. He’s already following up with A Child Alone With Strangers - his second novel (or is it his first, or his third – as you’ll hear it’s complicated). This book is an all-timer. It blends the relaxed, character driven storytelling of the best 80s horror, with a contemporary cross-genre style that keeps you shocked …  and shook. I tell you now, this book will take your heart, put it in a velvet box – and then stamp on that box until it’s mush. We talk about a lot of things in this 70-minute conversation. Writing believable children, creating great villains, and conceiving original monsters and true otherness. We explore insectile horror, empathy overloads and setcking to your guns on word-length. This is my last author-interview of the year and I couldn’t have hoped for a better book to discuss. Enjoy!  A Child Alone With Strangers was released on October 25th by Talos Press  Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Boys in the Valley (2021), by Philip Fracassi Gothic (2023), by Philip Fracassi The Stand (1990), by Stephen King The Magus (1965/1977), by John Fowles Let it Come Down (1952), by Paul Bowles The Delicate Prey and Other Stories (1950), by Paul Bowles Support Talking Scared on Patreon  Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This week I’m beginning my supposed ‘break’ from reading. There is still an episode, however, and it’s a doozy. You may be glad to hear I’ve put down the books for a short while, ‘cos my guest is a huge name from the cinematic aisle of the horror world – Craig Engler, GM of Shudder is in the house!! He joined me for a conversation back in October, when we were both in the throes of the Halloween build up. Now, listening to this weeks later, you can hardly hear the strain in our voices at all.  We talk about Craig’s creative life and work – from his role in the show, Z-nation, to the helm of Shudder. We debate dream book-to-movie adaptations and, of course, I ask him which films he thinks are the scariest on Shudder. Most of them I’m too afraid to watch. Oh, and I may use this interview to apply for a non-existent job. Enjoy – this will have your Christmas TV binge covered. Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Library at Mount Char (2015), by Scott Hawkins (episode 94) House of Leaves (2000), by Mark Z. Danielewski Night Film (2013), by Marisha Pessl The String Diaries (2013), by Stephen Lloyd George Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Are you ready for some learnin’? This week rather than focusing on any single book, or any single author – I thought we’d have a little look at … y’know … the entire friggin’ history of Horror and Gothic across the centuries. After all, what’s a Christmas break from podcasting if you aren’t doubling the length of your episodes and making the scope infinite?  Thankfully, I’m joined by a bona fide expert. Professor Roger Luckhurst, from Birkbeck College, London comes with me to talk about the history of dark culture. We use his great new book, Gothic: An Illustrated History as a guide.  We cover everything we can in a couple of hours – from the birth of the genre in the 1700s, through Shelley and Stoker and all the way across the Atlantic to pick up with Poe and Lovecraft and Jackson. And as we get into the modern era we see the genre split and fracture in fascinating ways.  I hope you enjoy this immensely. Prof Rog is the best guide an eager Goth or horror nerd could hope for. **Note – this episode was originally released on Talking Scared Patreon as a series of 3 shorter episodes.  Gothic: An Illustrated is out now from Palgrave. Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text It’s the Christmas Special and with the obligatory requirement to do something different – we’re turning the tables. Yes, I’m the one being interviewed this week. To make that a palatable offering for listeners, the guest interviewers are none other than Rachel Harrison and Josh Malerman. Friends of the show and horror superstars who, out of the goodness of their hearts, devoted an evening to asking me questions. Don’t listen for me; listen for them.  Amongst other parts of my odd life, we cover my early gorilla terrors, my unhealthy relationship with running, and my time as an alpaca farmer. Oh and of course, Stephen King comes up a time or two. What have we learned in this self-important project – 1) the hubris of the male podcaster knows no bounds and 2) I become a lot less articulate when talking aboiut myself. Oh …  and also, I have an idea that you may, or may not like.  Enjoy, and merry Christmas.  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text It’s that time of year again. A time to reflect, to look back over a tumultuous twelve months, and to talk about the horror books that helped us survive them. 2022 has been a helluva year for the good kind of horror. Far too much for one man to cover. So I’ve drafted in some highly qualified friends – Emily Hughes and Janelle Janson. They have their fingers right on the arterial spurt of the genre – and they have each read far more than me. Together we deliver this year's State of the Horror Nation – talking about big issues in horror, the key books we’ve adored…and the dozens and dozens of titles we’re looking forward to in 2023. We raise a glass to a late and beloved horror icon, we make some new year’s resolutions, and Janelle and Emily get a bit squeaky about their big horror crush. Bet you can guess who (it’s not me!) Thanks for all your support this year. Books picked: Ghost Eaters (2022), by Clay McLeod Chapman – ep. 110 A Child Alone With Strangers (2022), by Philip Fracassi – ep. 120 Echo (2022), by Thomas Olde Heuvelt – ep. 78 Our Share of Night (2022), by Mariana Enriquez All the White Spaces (2022), by Ally Wilkes – ep. 76 We Are Here to Hurt Each Other (2022), by Paula D. Ashe Mary: An Awakening of Terror (2022), by Nat Cassidy – ep. 101 Burn the Plans (2022), by Tyler Jones – ep. 81 Just Like Home (2022), by Sarah Gailey  Books anticipated:  Don’t Fear the Reaper (2023), by Stephen Graham Jones  Silver Nitrate (2023), by Silvia Moreno Garcia Vampires of el Norte (2023), by Isabel Cañas Pinata (2023), by Leopoldo Gout Tell Me I’m Worthless (2023), by Alison Rumfitt (already out in UK) Spite House (2023), by Jonny Compton Lone Women (2023), by Victor Lavelle Everything Darkness Eats (2023), by Eric LaRocca Episode 13 (2023), by Craig Dilouie House of Good Bones (2023), by T. Kingfisher Nights Edge (2023), by Liz Kerin The Edge of Sleep (2023), by Jake Emmanuel The Drift (2023), by C. J. Tudor Bad Cree (2023), by Jessica Johns Maeve Fly (2023), by C.J. Leade A Light Most Hateful (2023), by Hailey Piper Looking Glass Sound (2023), by Catriona Ward The Beast You Are (2023), by Paul Tremblay The Salt Grows Heavy (2023), by Cassandra Khaw Burn the Negative (2023), by Josh Winning How to Sell a Haunted House (2023), by Grady Hendrix Abnormal Statistics (2023), by Max Booth III The Insatiable Volt Sisters (2023), by Rachel Eve Moulton Camp Damascus (2023), by Chuck Tingle Extended Stay (2023), by Juan Martinez House of Cotton (2023), by Monica Brashears  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text The year is almost over. What is left to do except offer you my last-minute ranking of the best books I’ve read and enjoyed in 2022. I will warn you – I am poorly and my voice sounds like ten miles of bad gravel. This sounds like the Reba McIntyre book club. I am HUSKY!! Hang around for the afterword when my voice finally gives out as I labour over a long and elaborate thank-you for listening and supporting the show this year. At times 2022 has felt like a waking nightmare, but here in Spookybooklandia, we’ve kept things ironically nice.   Love to you all. Happy New Year. Here’s to the next. Books mentioned:  A Child Alone With Strangers (2022), by Philip Fracassi All the White Spaces (2022), by Ally Wilkes  Mary: An Awakening of Terror (2022), by Nat Cassidy  Burn the Plans (2022), by Tyler Jones  The Hollow Kind (2022), by Andy Davidson Screams from the Dark (2022), ed. Ellen Datlow House of Hunger (2022), by Alexis Henderson Reluctant Immortals (2022), by Gwendolyne Kiste Then I Woke Up (2022), by Malcolm Devlin The Clackity (2022), by Lora Senf  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text …AAAND WE’RE BACK!  I hope you’re slipping into 2023 like it’s a warm bath, but either way this week’s episode will be a cold, sharp system shock.  The guest is Stephen Markley; the book is The Deluge – a 900-page beast of ecological and societal disintegration, and the best book I have read in decades. Imagine The Stand was based on rigorous scientific research and was, y’know, about to happen to us all for real.  Yeah! This is a scary one, even if it would never be listed in the horror part of the bookshop. Stephen and I talk about (re)considering apocalyptic fiction, choosing characters, how real events outpaced the writing of the book, and how the climate crisis forces us to ask some uncomfortable questions about social issues.   Like the book I question, this episode is heavy and challenging and frightening, but maybe… just maybe… it will give you some hope. Enjoy! The Deluge was published by Simon & Schuster on Jan 10th 2003. Other books mentioned in this episode: The Big Fix: Seven Practical Steps to Save Our Planet (2022) by Hal Harvey and Justin Gillis World War Z (2006), by Max Brooks Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet (2021), by Thich Nhat Hanh The Stand (1990), by Stephen King Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text When it comes to stress, they say selling a house is up there with divorce and death. Now imagine that house is haunted… by demonic puppets.  Yeah – that’s the premise of Grady Hendrix’s brand-new horror novel, How to Sell a Haunted House. It combines Grady’s trademark humour, genre-knowledge and playfulness, with a genuinely frightening story about homes, and all the things they contain, both comforting and downright nasty. Grady and I dive into the economics of haunting, the value of earnestness in a world of irony, and we discover the difference between marionettes and hand puppets … which is more frightening that you would expect. It’s a fun conversation, about a joyfully creepy book.   Enjoy! How To Sell A Haunted House was published by Berkley on Jan 17th 2003.  Other books mentioned in this episode:  The Final Girl Support Group (2020), by Grady Hendrix Horrorstör (2014), by Grady Hendrix We Sold Our Souls (2018), by Grady Hendrix My Heart is a Chainsaw (2020), by Stephen Graham Jones The Pallbearer’s Club (2022), by Paul Tremblay Moth Manor (1978), by Martha Sherman Bacon To donate to the fundraiser for Laird Barron, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/laird-barron-hospital-costs-medication-costs, and thanks SO much. Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text It’s not even the end of January and we’re already dealing with the second apocalypse of the year. This one is written by CJ Tudor, whose new novel, The Drift, moves her out of the crime chillers she is best-known for, into a whole other world of horror. It’s a series of locked room mysteries, occurring in the hideous aftermath of global pandemic. And if you are a little sick of global pandemics (who isn’t?) then at least this one has rage zombies and lots of murder. CJ and I talk about many things, from genre expectations, to failed novels, grief to TV adaptation – but the pandemic is a dominant theme. We talk about about some personal loss, so if that would be a trigger for you, go in pre-warned. But mostly, it’s a lovely chat with “Britain’s answer to Stephen King.” Enjoy! The Drift was published by Penguin on Jan 19th in the UK and Jan 31st in the US.  Other books mentioned in this episode: The Burning Girls (2021), by C.J. Tudor The Chalk Man (2018), by C.J. Tudor Sign Here (2022), by Claudia Lux To contribute to Laird Barron’s GoFundMe, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/laird-barron-hospital-costs-medication-costs. Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Are you ready for another bloody confrontation? Same rules, different setting (actually still my attic bedroom) and more gore? Stephen Graham Jones AKA Professor Slasher, returns to Talking Scared to discuss Don’t Fear the Reaper, the sequel to his zeitgeist-blasting slasher-ode, My Heart is a Chainsaw. Reaper takes us back to Proofrock, Idaho for a freezing night of rage and bloodshed, with returning favourites and a whole new killer who reads like the distillation of American carnage. That all sounds suitably epic. Hopefully this conversation matches. Stephen and I talk about favourite slasher sequels, minority monsters in fiction, getting to know Jade Daniels even better, and the importance of writing yourself into a corner. This is an episode a lot of you have been waiting for. Enjoy. And watch out for hook-handed men. Enjoy!  Don’t Fear the Reaper was published by Saga and Titan Books on 7th February, 2023  Other books mentioned in this episode: Maeve Fly (2023), by C.J. Leade My Heart is a Chainsaw (2021), by Stephen Graham Jones The Final Girl Support Group (2021), by Grady Hendrix Moon of the Crusted Snow (2018), by Waubgeshig Rice Support Talking Scared on Patreon  Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text It’s a Valentine’s day episode and what better to celebrate today than a conversation about cruelty, brutal folklore, political terror and black magic? Don’t tell me I don’t understand my audience. I’m beyond delighted to welcome Mariana Enriquez to the show to talk about her massive novel, Our Share of Night. It features all of the above ingredients, in a 700+ page roam through decades of Argentinian history, demonic misconduct. This ranks amongst the most unstructured conversations I’ve had on this show. I just say some words and then let Mariana let rip. But to give you a taster – we cover her current boredom with the short story, the double standard of harming kids in fiction, houses that eat people, Freddie Krueger and Heathclife and why horror is inevitable in Argentinian fiction Enjoy! Our Share of Night was published by Granta in the UK in October, 2022 and in the US on 7th February, 2023 by Hogarth Other books mentioned in this episode: The Black Maybe: Liminal Tales (2022), by Attila Veres The Dangers of Smoking in Bed (2009), by Mariana Enriquez Things We Lost in the Fire (2017), by Mariana Enriquez Shuggie Bain (2020), by Douglas Stuart In Patagonia (1977), by Bruce Chatwin Mary: An Awakening of Terror (2022), by Nat Cassidy READ: Smithsonian article about Chiloe and the imbunche Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text I like my ghosts like I like my podcasts – weird and slightly furious.  Thankfully, this week delivers on both counts – with Johnny Compton’s The Spite House delivering more ghosts than you think you could fit into 250-pages … and none of them are anything less than fuming!  Johnny talks us through the odd, off-kilter history of spite houses, we trace the legacy of the American haunted house novel, discuss ghost lore and dismiss orbs. We talk about complex father figures and I have my smuggest ever moment of being accidentally right about something.   It’s a blast. Johnny is a joy to talk to and his book gives great ghostliness. Enjoy! The Spite House was published by on February 7th by Tor Nightfire. Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This week I take a road trip with Matt Ruff, into the more monstrous corners of the universe. Sure, some of them are alien planets… but some are here on earth, with the racists!  Matt is best known as the author of 2016’s Lovecraft Country. He never planned to write a sequel, yet here it is. The Destroyer of Worlds picks up several years later, when Atticus, Letetia, Montrose and Hipolyta et al are still battling malign forces both human and otherworldly. I went into it nervously, thinking surely a white author can’t pull of a story about Black characters in Jim Crow America without really sh***ing the bed. I was wrong!  Matt and I debate the responsibility and potential pitfalls of the project, and what his books get right that other ventriloquised stories get wrong. But we also talk about monsters and comic horror and the terror and joy of a wide-open universe. And of course, Lovecraft. Though, not kindly.  Enjoy!The Destroyer of Worlds was published by on February 21st by HarperCollins  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Vampires, finally! After years of recording a horror podcast, I’ve finally recorded a conversation about the first thing you all probably think of if I said “horror monster.” Actually, at this very moment, maybe you’d name a Floridian politician but you get my drift… I’m delighted to be joined by Jacqueline Holland, to talk about her new novel of bloodsucking and cursed immortality, The God of Endings. As with so many books featured on this show, it’s an offbeat look at an old trope, with a vampire that has no problem with garlic and who is not at all horny! She’s also a pre-school teacher in the 80s. That’s REALLY hardcore! Jacqueline and I talk about horror imposter-syndrome, the history of New England vampires, monstrous mothers, the terror of living forever, and how she has always been…in her own words… a dark weirdo. Enjoy! The God of Endings was published by on February 7th by Flatiron Books Other books mentioned in this episode include: What I Didn’t See, and Other Stories (2002), by Karen Joy Fowler We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (2013), by Karen Joy Fowler Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England’s Vampires (2001), by Michael Bell Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962), by Ray Bradbury The Martian Chronicles (1950), by Ray Bradbury The Shining (1977), by Stephen King Just Like Mother (2022), by Anne Heltzel – Episode 92 The Upstairs House (2021), by Julia Fine – Episode 27  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text There is no cool and collected way to introduce this week’s episode. Our guest is Margaret Atwood. Yes, that Margaret Atwood. The author of The Handmaid’s Tale. One of the few writer’s who genuinely deserves to be called an icon (though she may be tired of the term).  She published her first novel in 1969 and now as she enters her seventh decade of writing, her stories are no less challenging or surprising.  Her new collection, Old Babes in the Wood is a feast of darkness and light. It swerves from myth to sci-fi, to body horror, all bookended by stories about love and loss and grief. And she came on this little show to talk about it. We unveil the inspirations behind some of the stories. We talk about disease and dystopia through history, the dangers of Canadian wilderness, men who turn into bears, the relationship of horror and slapstick, and her own haunted house. It was a privilege.  Enjoy! Old Babes in the Wood was published by on March 7th by Vintage and Doubleday Other books mentioned in this episode include: Bunny (2019), by Mona Awad Carmilla (1872), by Sheridan Le Fanu  The Handmaids Tale (1984), by Margaret Atwood Oryx and Crake (2003), by Margaret Atwood Alias Grace (1996), by Margaret Atwood Lady Oracle (1976), by Margaret Atwood Black Water: The Book of Fantastic Literature (1983), ed. Alberto Manguel Dark Arrows: Chronicles of Revenge (1985), ed. Alberto Manguel On Writing (2000), by Stephen King The Death of Grass (1956), by John Christopher Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Wagons West this week, with a guest I’ve been trying to get on the show since the early days. It’s Victor Lavalle. I had always wanted to speak to him about The Ballad of Black Tom in the dream that we could join together to call Lovecraft names. As it turns out, that will have to wait, cos he’s brought out a brand-new novel … and it’s a Weird Western.  Cue squealing!! It’s one of my favourite sub-genres. We talk about homesteading and wilderness, about bad neighbours and New York City, about family and fidelity to truth and the need for happy endings … and there’s an awful lot of chat about monsters.  This is one of the best episodes of the year so far. You’ll learn, you’ll laugh, you’ll almost certainly cry. Why aren’t you crying? What’s wrong with you? Are you heartless?? Enjoy! Lone Women was published by on March 28thth by One World Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Ballad of Black Tom (2016), by Victor Lavalle The Changeling (2017), by Victor Lavalle The Devil in Silver (2012), by Victor Lavalle Montana Women Homesteaders: A Field of One’s Own (2009), by Dr Sarah Carter The Autobiography of My Mother (1996), by Jamaica Kincaid Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Terrible times and awful words await us this week. Thankfully, on this show that’s a good thing! Our guest is Max Booth III, the wizard behind Ghoulish Books and the author of bathroom-set apocalypse, We Need to Do Something. He’s here to talk about his new collection of uber-dark stories, Abnormal Statistics. These tales are pitch black, treacle-thick pieces of clotted nastiness. Bad things happen to lots of people, most frequently children (but never dogs). Many a mind is tortured and many a tooth is sucked (!!)  Max and I talk about how these stories reflect his own disjointed childhood. We talk about awful true crimes and why he’s addicted to information that is bad for him. We also try to pin down precisely what it is about human teeth that seem so universally unnerving… plus some references to my favourite creepypasta stories. This is the best bad time you’ll have this week. Enjoy! Abnormal Statistics was published by Apocalypse Party on March 23rd  Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Haunting of Camp Winter Falcon (2022), by Jonathan Raab This Appearing House (2022), by Ally Malinenko “The Whimper of Whipped Dogs” (1973), by Harlan Ellison Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Fairy tales are the first horror stories, right? Kids being eaten by witches, narcissistic imps who steal your babies. That’s the good stuff.  Kelly Link knows a thing or two about the darkness inside fairy tales, and how to (re)tell them for maximum effect. She is a superstar of the short story, a Pultizer nominee and someone who just plain knows a lot of interesting stuff.  Her new collection, White Cat, Black Dog takes some of your favourite stories and twists them into new shapes. Some you’ll recognise, most you won’t (unless you have a degree in folklore or just run to Wikipedia to look smart). We talk about how and why she reinvents stories, why she wishes every story was a ghost story, and how she controls the extreme weirdness in her fiction.  Oh, and she also indulges me as I ask her lots of questions about my favourite story in years. One she wrote. You’ll be sick of me saying the title by the end. Enjoy! White Cat, Black Dog was published on March 28th  Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Women Could Fly (2022), by Megan Giddings Get In Trouble: Stories (2015), by Kelly Link When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson (2021), ed. by Ellen Datlow Our Share of Night (2022), by Mariana Enriquez  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Back to the Island this week! With Rachel Eve Moulton and The Insatiable Volt Sisters. Rachel sophomore novel is the weirdest island story since Lost, or Brexit. It features a strange family with a stranger secret, curses, killer quarry ponds and the wearing of other people’s skin. And yet you probably still want to visit Fowler Island (I did).  We talk about working with surrealism, about writing volatile sisters and gendered monsters, and about the wonderful horror-lure of island life.  It’s worth noting, we also spend time discussing famous suicide hotspots – this seems like something you should know in advance.  Enjoy! The Insatiable Volt Sisters was published on April 4th by FSG  Other books mentioned in this episode include: Tinfoil Butterfly (2019), by Rachel Eve Moulton Hurricane Girl (2022), by Marcy Dermansky Diary (2003), by Chuck Palahniuk The House of Dies Drear (1968), by Virginia Hamilton “The Raft”, in Skeleton Crew (1985), by Stephen King Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This week we’re dissecting spectres and excavating the haunted house in Ai Jiang’s word-of-mouth smash, Linghun. Ai’s novella is a blast. A read-in-one-sitting tale of grief and greed and ghosts and what the word HOME really means. We go deep, talking about different cultural iterations of the supernatural, the impact of location on writing style…and the horrors of the Edinburgh vaults.  Enjoy! Linghun was published on April 4th by Dark Matter INK Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text What if the world ended, not with a bang, but a slow squelch?  That’s sort-of the premise of The Marigold, the brand-new novel from Andrew F. Sullivan. In this book a slow apocalypse is corroding Toronto. Above ground, urban development is driving ecological disaster, whilst in the basements and dark places a new fungal menace is squirming from the shadow. You may never look at your own athlete’s foot the same way. Andrew and I talk about many things, mushrooms and mycology, the weird ‘third life’ of fungus and the cosmic horror to be found in the soil and loam. We also look at how grimy 80s exploitation movies influenced his book, and I discover an awful lot about raccoons. A great conversation about a unique book.  Enjoy! The Marigold was published on April 18th by ECW Press Other books mentioned in this episode include: Annihilation (2014), by Jeff VanderMeer What Moves the Dead (2022), by T. Kingfisher The Deluge (2023), by Stephen Markley Follow Me To Ground (2018), by Sue Rainsford Night Terror: Troubled Sleep and the Stories We Tell About It (2023), by Alice Vernon Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text You will know Justin Cronin as the author of the landmark The Passage. That trilogy set the world of horror and science fiction (and all points in between) alight in the early 2000s and he’s back after eight long years, with The Ferryman. This time he’s swapping vampire plagues for something wholly more subtle … but no less terrifying. I can’t tell you what ‘cos that would ruin it for everyone, but it may shake the very building blocks of your reality. Justin and I discuss all manner of existential worries, from the nature of reality to the malign impact of ‘wellbeing’ lifestyles. We talk about Kazuo Ishiguro, Planet of the Apes and myriad other influences that flow into the wonder, horror and awe of The Ferryman. Don’t worry, we cover The Passage too…  And he also explains how telling any story is just like telling a joke really, really well. Enjoy!  The Ferryman was published on May 2nd by Ballantine Books and Orion Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Earth Abides (1948), by George Stewart Lonesome Dove (1985), by Larry McMurtry Never Let Me Go (2005), by Kazuo Ishiguro The Remains of the Day (1989), by Kazuo Ishiguro Netherland (2008), by Joseph O’Neill Planet of the Apes (1963), by Pierre Boulle Shotgun Lovesongs (2013), by Nickolas Butler Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text No book has ever made me so painfully aware of my nipples as Katrina Monroe’s The Graveyard of Lost Children. And I won’t ever have to breastfeed.  Katrina’s novel is a full-treatment of the horrors involved in motherhood. Yes there is love, but there is also social pressure, paranoia, loneliness and chafing! And that’s before we even get to the spectral Black-Haired Woman who haunts the unlucky mothers of Katrina’s second novel. Parenting horror has seen a lot of great titles in recent years, but this may be my favourite. In this episode we talk about changeling lore, about asylums, about the motif and metaphor of wells, and the creepiest mental health condition i’ve ever heard of. And I guarantee this is the only horror lit podcast of the week to feature the phrase “stool sample.” Enjoy! The Graveyard of Lost Children was published on May 9th by Poison Pen Press Link to The Burning of Bridget Cleary Other books mentioned in this episode include:  They Drown our Daughters (2022), by Katrina Monroe If We Were Villains (2017), by M. L. Rio Such a Pretty Smile (2022), by Kristi DeMeester The Good People (2016), by Hannah Kent Last to Leave the Room (forthcoming 2023), by Caitlin Starling Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text We are paying tribute to the best of us this week. The booksellers. Keepers of the flame, beacons in the night, purveyors of meaning in a cold, dark universe … usually. Alice Slater used to be a member of that celebrated guild, now she’s written about the light and dark side of the trade in her debut smash, Death of a Bookseller. It pulls back the curtain on an industry we all care deeply about, to reveal the obsession, madness and … murder(?) behind the chai lattes and instagram posts. In this conversation we cover a lot of ground… from the problems inherent in True Crime, book-fetishization, and the weird empathy we feel for serial killers’ pets. Plus, I get to talk about my favourite things (see: everything mentioned so far) with someone who genuinely once worked in my local bookshop. This was a blast. Enjoy!  Death of a Bookseller was published on April 25th by Hodder and Scarlet Other books mentioned in this episode include: Savage Appetites: True Stories of Women, Crime and Obsession (2019), by Rachel Monroe The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper (2019), by Hallie Rubenhold You (2014), by Caroline Kepnes Gone Girl (2012), by Gillian Flynn The Last House on Needless Street (2021), by Catriona Ward The Sluts (2004), by Dennis Cooper Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke (2021), by Eric LaRocca Echo (2022), by Thomas Olde Heuvelt  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text In the immortal words of Creed’s Scott Stapp, “can you take me HIIIGHER?” Yes, I can. Our guest this week is Nicholas Binge, author the new buzzy, horror-sci-fi novel, Ascension. It’s about a very weird, very big mountain that appears out of nowhere to lure the unwary upwards. Nothing good occurs, of course. Again…much like a Creed concert. This is where the comparison’s to terrible post-grunge rock ends (thankfully) cos Nick and I have much more fun making comparisons to the likes of Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker and H.P. Lovecraft… to the classic Gothic and Adventure stories that Nick mixes with his oh-so-modern science-fiction themes. Ascension is a treat for fans of both traditions. We also talk about the place of mountains in our literature, the shattering chaos of quantum mechanics, recontextualising neurodiverse characters and the occasional shoggoth! Enjoy! Ascension was published on April 25th by HarperVoyager and Riverhead Books. Other books mentioned in this episode include: Annihilation (2014), by Jeff VanderMeer The Lost World (1912), by Arthur Conan Doyle At the Mountains of Madness (1936), by H.P. Lovecraft House of Leaves (2000), by Mark Z. Danielewski Fever Dream (2014), by Samanta Schweblin Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text What if the house that shaped you was a broken, haunted place? That’s one of many questions we explore this week, in the company of Sarah Gailey. Their 2022 hit, Just Like Home is out in paperback and … hell … do we get our fingers right into its dusty, cobwebbed corners!  We talk about serial-killing fathers and monstrous mothers, the power and pitfalls of descriptive prose. We discuss Freudian metaphors and the profound fears of childhood, offer a fresh take on the thorny question of unlikeable female protagonists, and I present my ‘possession’ theory on the crimes of Ted Bundy (it’s bullsh*t.) This is a lovely conversation about dark things. Enjoy! Just Like Home was published in paperback on May 30th by Tor and Hodder & Stoughton Other books mentioned in this episode include: River of Teeth (2017), by Sarah Gailey The Echo Wife (2021), by Sarah Gailey Maw (2022), by Jude Doyle Monstrilio (2023), by Gerardo Sámano Córdova The Sickness (2023 –), by Jenna Cha and Lonnie Nadler Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text  If horror is indeed a broad church, then our guest this week is preaching from the darkest of pulpits.  Paula D. Ashe is the author of We Are Here To Hurt Each Other – a collection of short stories that has accrued infamy and acclaim in equal measure over the last 12 months. Her stories are cruel. They present a depraved world of man (and woman’s) direst excesses, a world that rubs against the numinous and the cosmically amoral.  Can you say ‘trigger warnings needed’! We talk at length about the allure of extreme horror, about whether an author can truly consider their readers’ feelings, about horrendous crimes and the difference between the horror of imagery and action. We also give a lot of love to Clive Barker and his influence on Paula’s own mythos-building. This may be the most extreme episode of Talking Scared ever recorded. Enjoy (whatever that means!)  We Are Here To Hurt Each Other was published on 21st Feb 2022, by Nictitating Books  Other books mentioned in this episode include: Where I End (2022), by Sophie White Stephen (1991), by Elizabeth Massie The Hellbound Heart (1986), by Clive Barker Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text I’ve rarely been more excited about an episode – for you to hear it or, indeed, about its very contents. We’re joined this week by Mike Flanagan. Yes, that Mike Flanagan. The genius loci of modern visual horror, the writer and director behind Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep, The Midnight Club and Oculus. Our most literary horror director and a man who understand that horror is where the heart is.  If you think my praise is too gushing then… we’ll just have to disagree. He may be a filmmaker, but he sure does love books. In this conversation we talk about Mike’s deep love for horror stories, how his childhood reading continues to influence his career, and what he’s still loving about the genre. We discuss his upcoming take on Fall of the House of Usher, his next Stephen King adaptation, and a certain tower that looms in the distance. Yes, Mike’s career – like all great things – follows the Beam.    The Fall of the House of Usher is out on Netflix later this year.  Other books mentioned in this episode include: The House with a Clock in its Walls (1973), by John Bellairs It (1986), by Stephen King Gerald’s Game (1992), by Stephen King “The Life of Chuck,” in If it Bleeds (2020), by Stephen King Echo (2022), by Thomas Olde Heuvelt Blackwater (1983), by Michael McDowell If You See Her (2019), by Ania Ahlborn This Appearing House (2022), by Ally Malinenko The Clackity (2022), by Lora Senf  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Come get a balloon, bring your slingshot, let’s float…it’s here!!! Yes, finally we’re off to Derry, to do battle with that goddamn clown. But as everyone knows, we can’t fight Pennywise alone. That’s why I’m taking my trusty, loyal, brave band of Losers with me. Nat Cassidy (Mary: An Awakening of Terror) and Ally Malinenko (This Appearing House) are joining me for a tour of the sewers, subtext and sociological horrors at the heart of King’s IT.  Halfway through we realised this would to be a two-parter, ‘cos there is just too much to say. The horrors will follow in Part Two, this time we focus mainly on the heart. We talk about the characters, the depictions of childhood… and yes we get into that  scene (with possibly surprising opinions).  I so hope you like this episode gang. I want to finally take the chance to explain what this book means to my enduring boyish heart.  Enjoy!Read Grady Hendrix's essay HERE Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Thrust your fists against the post and still insist you see the…  …oh hello. You came back. Thank Gan. We have a monster to defeat this week.  Yes, this is the second part of the Talking Scared dive into Stephen King’s IT. This time we are getting weird.  Joined by stalwart friends, Ally Malinenko (Ghost Girl, This Appearing House) and Nat Cassidy (Mary: An Awakening of Terror), I’m delving below ground and into the cosmic tangle that underpins all of King’s fiction. We’re asking what is Pennywise? Where did he come from? What does he want and what the hell is that giant turtle doing?  It has been a labour of love, talking for hours with friends about my favourite book. Thank you so much for listening, and remember… we’re stronger together.  Enjoy! Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This week Danielle Trussoni arrives at Talking Scared in a rush. She has a meeting to get to, and we have LOTS of things to talk about in less than an hour. Her new novel, The Puzzle Master crams in enough for a whole Discovery Channel series on conspiracy, mysticism and esoteric history, plus dolls, Golems, quantum computing and a cute little Dachshund named Conundrum.  How is a host supposed to cover all that at a rush. The answer, drink more coffee and don’t pause to breathe! We manage it. We talk about all of the above, plus depictions of altered mental states, the curse of a Dan Brown comparison, and Danielle’s search for the perfect haunted house.   Enjoy! The Puzzle Master was published by Penguin Random House on June 13th. Other books mentioned in this episode include: Angelology (2010) by Danielle Trussoni Nestlings (2023), by Nat Cassidy The Long Shalom (2023), by Zach Rosenberg Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text War, what is it good for? Absolutely noth…. well actually, it is quite good for horror stories. Our guest this week doesn’t plumb the usual horrors-of-war route, though. Verity Holloway’s The Others of Edenwell is a supremely subtle, slow-burning excavation of trauma and national nightmares, set in a (supposedly) idyllic spa-cum-convalescent-hospital as battle rages elsewhere. Of course, there are horrors much closer to home. It’s possibly my first foray into the First World War on this podcast and Verity and I talk about her family connection to the story, her physical connection to the hospital setting, and her inspirations in the literature of the time. We also discuss cryptozoology, ghost stories, and why German helmets have such a creepy design.  Enjoy! The Others of Edenwell was published by Titan on July 4th. Other books mentioned in this episode include: All the White Spaces (2022), by Ally Wilkes “Still Falls the Rain” (1944), by Edith Sitwell Negative Space (2020), by B.R. Yeager Ghost Eaters (2022), by Clay McLeod Chapman Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This week I’m recording very close to home with Andrew Michael Hurley.  Andrew burst onto the folk-horror scene with subtle aplomb (can one burst subtly?) back in 2014, with The Loney. That slice of weirdness was set in the very town in which I spent my wet, dismal childhood holidays. It conjured shivers in more ways than one.  Now he is here to talk about the reissue of his 2019 novel, Starve Acre. It’s a bleak, bitter, wintery tale of isolation, grief and ritual, set in the Yorkshire Dales. Where I also spent some holidays – does Andrew know something I don’t? Hmmmm? We talk about his relationship with folk horror, and how it helps us express our communal British angst. We make comparisons to some unexpected movies, discuss authorial freedom, and talk about deep knowledge, invented lore and horror as replacement for spirituality.  It’s all a good excuse to yell about the government.  Enjoy! Starve Acre was re-issued by Penguin on July 4th. Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Loney (2014), by Andrew Michael Hurley Elmet (2017), by Fiona Mozley The Gallows Pole (2017), by Benjamin Myers Waterland (1983), by Graham Swift Cold Hand in Mine (1975), by Robert Aickman Support Talking Scared on Patreon  Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This week we’re joined by the man, the myth, the mystery that is Chuck Tingle.  Who knows the truth of this enigmatic figure? What visage lies beneath the pink bag that forever encases his face? Does he really have a PhD in massage? Puzzles abound… The one thing that’s certain is the brilliance of his new novel. Camp Damascus is a full-bloodied horror novel set in that most hideous of environs: a religious community and a gay conversion camp. Sounds triggering. It may well be … but Chuck has also invested this story with such hope and joy and yes, LOVE, that it more than salves all the human horror and demonic jump scares. We cover tons in this episode – the stoic seriousness of fictional sex, the maligned trinity of genres, rattling the religious right, the simple trick to writing effective jumpscares and the final, full declaration of why love is real.  Enjoy! Camp Damascus was published by Tor Nightfire on July 18th and Titan Books on July 27th  An article about Chuck – worth reading Other books mentioned in this episode include: Straight (2021), by Chuck Tingle Revival (2014), by Stephen King Dark Matter (2010), by Michelle Paver Support Talking Scared on Patreon  Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text We’re off on a Goth pilgrimage this week folks, to the motherland, Transylvania, to talk folk-horror and more with Alex Woodroe. Alex is a Romanian writer of dark fictions, the Editor in Chief of Tenebrous Press, and the debut author of Whisperwood. The book brings the monsters of Romanian myth and legend to the fore in a battle of wills with an isolated village. There isn’t a vampire in sight. Bram Stoker didn’t know what he was talking about. Alex does! And we get into lots of things, from the difference between fantasy and folk-legend, political allegory and the recent history of dictatorship, to the very real undead myths in her own family tree. I learned a lot from this conversation. Enjoy! Whisperwood was published by Flame Tree Press on July 11th  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Our guest this week is Stephen King. That’s it. That’s the intro. Stephen King. The architect of modern horror and the creative north star of my life, and many of yours. He’s on the show, talking about his new book, Holly and why the central character just won’t let him go. We cover his attitude to academia, horror and hope, how his worldview sits with a fractured reality, and we even hear some exciting, exclusive details about some upcoming books. I lack the words to convey my delight. Enjoy Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Boy on the Bridge (2017), by M.R. Carey DMV (2023), by Bentley Little Mary: An Awakening of Terror (2022), by Nat Cassidy The Clackity (2022), by Lora Senf The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), by Agatha Christie “Beyond the Wall of Sleep,” (1919), by H.P. Lovecraft The Passenger (2023), by Cormac McCarthy Light Perpetual (2021), by Francis Spufford The Deluge (2023), by Stephen Markley  Holly is published on September 5th by Hodder and Scribner  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Sorry not sorry this week. Yes I’m going to destroy your wallet and your bookshelves…but you LOVE IT!! Our guest is Sadie Hartmann, AKA Mother Horror to the likes of us. One of the most influential horror reviewers in the world. The editor in chief of Dark Hart Books and the co-owner of the Night Worms horror subscription service. She knows a thing or two about this haunted library. And she’s written a book to guide the unwary, or the just-plain curious. Or anyone who wants a new book to read. 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered is Sadie’s guide to the horrid books that she loves – the ones that chill her blood, warm her heart and turn her stomach.  We talk about her selection process, her blogging origin story, the gatekeeper problem in horror, our shared fear of certain kinds of book and the joy of scary stories featuring kids on bikes.  Renew your library card or get ready to buy some books! 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered was published on August 8th by Page Street Publishing Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Devil All the Time (2012), by Donald Ray Pollock Knockemstiff (2008), by Donald Ray Pollock Come Closer (2003), by Sara Gran Lord of the Flies (1954), by William Golding Boys in the Valley (2023), by Philip Fracassi The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore (2018), by Kim Fu Devil’s Creek (2020), by Todd Kiesling Gather the Daughters (2017), by Jennie Melamed The Girl Next Door (1989), by Jack Ketchum Along the Path of Torment (2020), by Chandler Morrison Apartment 16 (2010), by Adam Neville Last Days (2012), by Adam Neville The Reddening (2019), by Adam Neville Lonesome Dove (1985), by Larry McMurtry A House with Good Bones (2023), by T. Kingfisher Number One Fan (2020), by Meg Ellison House of Leaves (2000), by Mark Z. Danielewski Let the Right One In (2004), by John Ajvide Lindqvist Betty (2020), by Tiffany McDaniel On the Savage Side (2023), by Tiffany McDaniel Whalefall (2023), by Daniel Kraus  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text We’re off to La La Land this week, to talk cursed films, 90s horror nostalgia and Winona Ryder(!!)  Our guest is Josh Winning – who has parlayed his years of writing from and about film sets into a horror novel. Burn the Negative is set in the backlots, soundstages, cutting rooms and dank motel rooms of Hollywood. It features a film with a fatal jinx and a whole lotta love for the 90s teen slasher.  Amongst all of that, Josh and I also tick off the uncanny creepiness of child stars, the validity of fun in horror and the power of the silhouette in making a really scary horror villain.  Enjoy Burn the Negative was published on July 11th by Penguin Random House Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Shadow Glass (2022), by Josh Winning The Final Girl Support Group (2021), by Grady Hendrix My Heart is a Chainsaw (2021), by Stephen Graham Jones House of Leaves (2000), by Mark Z. Danielewski “N”– in Just After Sunset (2008), by Stephen King Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text If you thought The Last House on Needless Street was tricksy, just wait until you hear about Looking Glass Sound. This is Cat’s ode to the Maine of Stephen King, the enigmatic narrators of Shirley Jackson and… well, a host of other comparisons that I foist upon her in the next hour. Above all that though – the book is so typically, inimitably Catriona Ward. It’s a destined Gothic classic that takes the genre, crumples it into a ball before rewriting the whole thing.  We cover the purpose of metafiction in horror, how writing a book is like falling in love, the eeriness of the Maine coast and her fascination with the Neverland Ranch. If that isn’t enough Cat also tells us a ghost story that happened to her just the night before. Tricksy, very tricksy…as Gollum would say. Enjoy Looking Glass Sound was published April 20th by Viper Books in the UK and 22nd August by Tor Nightfire in the US. Other books mentioned in this episode include:  Lunar Park (2005), by Bret Easton Ellis The Rules of Attraction (1987), by Bret Easton Ellis The Secret History (1992), by Donna Tartt My Other Life (1996) by Paul Theroux Any Human Heart (2002), by William Boyd The Haunting of Hill House (1959), by Shirley Jackson Death of a Bookseller (2023), by Alice Slater Mrs March (2021), by Virgina Feito  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Why do we keep heading back to the woods? WHY?? Nothing good ever happens there. Alexander James would argue otherwise, but he’s clearly made of sterner stuff than me. In his debut novel, The Woodkin, Alex parlays his love of the wild outdoors into a story that heads toward a familiar backwoods nightmares, before veering far off the beaten trail into something stranger and even scarier.  In this episode we talk about his love for the woods of the Pacific Northwest (and yes! I ask him about Bigfoot of course). We cover the controversy surrounding an earlier title choice, the influence of D&D on his writing and the trick to realistically depicting fear in fiction. It’s a happy hike into darkness.  Enjoy The Woodkin was published August 22nd by CamCat Books Other books mentioned in this episode include: Dark Mountain (1992), by Richard Laymon Offseason (1980), by Jack Ketchum Mexican Gothic (2020), by Silvia Moreno-Garcia The Hacienda (2022), by Isabel Cañas I'm a Search and Rescue Officer for the US Forest Service, I Have Some Stories to Tell CritStupid Podcast (Alex's D&D podcast) Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text I’m back, partially rested and with some romance lingering in my soul. Good timing, cos this week’s episode focuses on the heart as well as the blood that it pumps.    Isabel Cañas returns to the show to talk about her second novel, Vampires of El Norte – a sweeping historical love-story set against a backdrop of class tumult, war and … yeah… vampires. It’s not a spoiler guys – it’s in the title!   Isabel speaks so eloquently about the relationship between vampirism and cultural legacy, about how it isn’t only the undead who invade your space and drain your essence. She describes the intense, insane schedule of writing the book, how landscape invites the supernatural, Mexican boogeymen and boogeywomen, and historical fiction as feminist conundrum.   Enjoy. With heart, soul and viscera.    Vampires of El Norte was published on August 15hth by Berkley   Books mentioned:   The Hacienda(2022), by Isabel Cañas Mexican Gothic (2020), by Silvia Moreno Garcia Lone Women (2023), by Victor Lavalle Island Witch (forthcoming 2024), by Amanda Jayatissa   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Clay McLeod Chapman returns to Talking Scared to answer some serious questions, the first being what the holy f**k Clay?!   Clay has never been a writer to shy away from a high concept challenge (haunted mushrooms, anyone?) but his latest novel, What Kind of Mother goes into the uncharted regions of the mind and soul, dredging the craziest of horrors from the murky waters of his native Chesapeake Bay.   We talk the terrors of both adolescence and parenthood, the terrible power of imagination, why Virginia still beckons his storytelling home … and crabs. Ohhhh we’ll get to the crabs!   Clay is a great writer, a wonderful person and a good friend of the show. I hope you enjoy this episode.    What Kind of Mother was published on September 12hth by Quirk Books   Books mentioned: Spin a Black Yarn (2023), by Josh Malerman They Lurk (2023), by Ronald Malfi Graveyard of Lost Children (2023), by Katrina Monroe Delicate Condition (2023), by Danielle Valentine Just Like Mother (2022), by Anne Heltzel Pet Sematary (1983), by Stephen King The Return (2020), by Rachel Harrison Razorblade Tears (2021), by S. A. Cosby Conjuring Up Philip: An Adventure in Psychokinesis (1976), by Iris M. Owen and Margaret Sparrow Superstition (1997), by David Ambrose   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This week on Talking Scared we are joining hands with Chuck Wendig to take the fight to Big Fruit. They have been lying to us about apples all our lives.   Chuck’s new novel, Black River Orchard is all about apples. Tasty, evil, corruptive. The book grows from the fertile soil of American small-town horror, and we talk about some texts in that storytelling style, as well as how Chuck himself approaches writing such big books with so many character arcs. We also cover apple-lore, how politics fits into horror fiction, the appeal of violent characters and a whole lot of books we think you should read.    Enjoy. This book is a great way to say goodbye to summer.   Black River Orchard was published on September 26th by Del Rey   Books mentioned:   Fever House (2023), by Keith Rosson Ring Shout (2020), by P. Djèlí Clark The Fisherman (2017), by John Langan The Tommyknockers (1987), by Stephen King ‘Salem’s Lot (1975), by Stephen King Mary: An Awakening of Terror (2022), by Nat Cassidy Swan Song (1987), by Robert R. McCammon Maeve Fly (2023), by C.J. Leede   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Come home!! We have to come home!! The House is calling us.  Yep, this week we are going back to the most haunted house of all. Hill House. Shirley Jackson’s classic bad place. And we’re going in the company of three-time Shirley Jackson Award Winner, Elizabeth Hand, whose new novel is the first ever sanctioned sequel to Jackson’s classic.   A Haunting on the Hill submits four new unwitting victims to the horrors of Hill House. But that’s where the stories diverge. Liz’s take on this soured ground is a whole different thing, full of witchcraft, theatre-drama and weirdness even Jackson didn’t dream up.   We talk about Jackson’s huge legacy, the pressures and pleasures of playing in her sandbox, treating Hill House as a character and murder ballads.    Enjoy! Welcome home.    A Haunting on the Hill was published on October 3rd by Mulholland Books and Sphere   Books mentioned:   When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson (2021), ed. by Ellen Datlow The Shining (1977), by Stephen King Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music (2011), by Rob Young The Magic Box: Viewing Britain through the Rectangular Window (2021), by Rob Young Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices