Talking Scared

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 [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Saddle up for a weird west week on Talking Scared. The start of a loose trilogy of sorts. This first instalment features Alex Grecian, talking about his fantastical vision of the Old West (and East) in 2023’s Red Rabbit and the brand-new follow-up, Rose of Jericho. We cover western inspirations, the melancholia of ghosts, Kansas legends and surprising witches. There’s also a nerdy little cryptid section thrown in there too cos you know I can’t resist. It’s a charmer this week. With a glint in its eye. Enjoy! Other books mentioned: The Yard (2012), by Alex Grecian Lonesome Dove (1985), by Larry McMurtry The Staircase in the Woods (forthcoming 2025), by Chuck Wendig The Summer People (2015), by Kelly Link “Skinders Veil,” in White Cat, Black Dog (2023), by Kelly Link Knock Knock, Open Wide (2023), by Neil Sharpson Pet Semetary (1983), by Stephen King 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 [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The latest Off Book episode has me facing my demons. My guest is Scott Derrickson, one of the best horror movie makers to ever do it. He scared us with Sinister, moved us with The Black Phone, marvelled us with Doctor Strange, and ruined my life with The Exorcism of Emily Rose. He’s back with The Gorge, a mad genre mashup, starring Anya-Taylor Joy and Miles Teller, currently streaming on Apple+. Scott joins me for a leisurely conversation about making that artistically-inclined ‘drive-in’ movie, as well as a tour through the highs (and lows) of his filmography. We get into the beauty and terror of super 8 film, his relationship with Joe Hill, and the challenge of the substantial, character led horror film. All complemented with blasts of lilting birdsong from Scott’s LA garden. Plus, a little hint of what to expect from The Black Phone 2! Enjoy! 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Time to misbehave. Virginia Feito’s new novel, Victorian Psycho, is all about good behaviour, positive standards and polite conduct…and what happens when you flout all that, by – I dunno – slaughtering a houseload of people. It’s a much buzzed about book that takes the psychopathy of American Psycho back to the straightlaced, be-corseted world of the 19th Century, then let’s rip. We talk about glorious violence, the humour of extremity, Charles Dickens and Bret Easton Ellis…and have a deeply amusing conversation about infanticide. Queen Victorian would be appalled. Enjoy! Other books mentioned: Mrs March (2021), by Virginia Feito American Psycho (1991), by Bret Easton Ellis A Christmas Carol (1843), by Charles Dickens Nightmare Abbey (1818), by Thomas Peacock The Secret Garden (1911), by Frances Hodgson Burnett The Lamb (2025), by Lucy Rose Come Closer (2003), by Sara Gran The Fate of Mary Rose (1981), by Caroline Blackwood David Copperfield (1850), by Charles Dickens 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text How else to end 2024 than with an entirely subjective list of the best things I’ve read over the year? How many of you will guess the number one spot? I bet none of you will guess the number two? Let me know your thoughts – what you loved, and what you think I missed Enjoy! Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text It’s that time of year again. When I celebrate the winter solstice by getting some horror authors to come and talk in deep, emotional detail about a scary book that we like. This time the Christmas Special Deep Dive kicks the tires and looks under the hood of Stephen King’s most underrated novel: From a Buick 8. My friends on this weird-ass-road trip are Ally Malinenko and Nat Cassidy. I asked them to do it for a coupla reasons. 1) They are lovely 2) hey really get King, and 3) they can speak to this book’s focus on grief and loss. And oh boy do we talk grief, loss, afterlives and everything else. Turns out it’s not just a book about a car after all. Don’t worry though, Ally is charming, Nat is snarky and together we’ll make you laugh. And Christmas is supposed to be tinged with melancholy isn’t it… Enjoy! Other Books Mentioned Matterhorn (2009), by Karl Marlantes Hearts in Atlantis (1999), by Stephen King The Colorado Kid (2005), by Stephen King “The Night Flyer” and “Popsy,” in Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993), by Stephen King Nestlings (2023), by Nat Cassidy This Appearing House (2022), by Ally Malinenko Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text … and we’re back! Just in time for this seasonal tradition. The State of the Horror Nation 2024 – our expert-led review of the best that the year had to offer in terms of horror writing and pen-and-ink nightmares. I’m joined, as ever by my stalwart co-host for this gig, Emily Hughes, author of Horror For Weenies (go check her mammoth 2025 anticipated horror book list at ReadJumpScares.com) Our special correspondents are Anna Dupre, reviewer and interviewer at Anna Rose Reads, and Stephani Gagnon of the landmark, can’t-be-beaten horror podcast, Books In the Freezer They pick their books of 2024, and we talk about the things that have defined the year, whilst also looking forward to what’s next. Enjoy! Anna's Essay on IT https://filmfreakcentral.net/2024/10/terrifier-3-2024/ Books Picked The Eyes Are the Best Part (2024), by Monika Kim Cuckoo (2024), by Gretchen Felker-Martin American Rapture (2024), by C.J. Leede Woodworm (2024), by Layla MartinezHorror Movie (2024) by Paul Tremblay Night’s Edge (2024), by Liz Kerin So Thirsty (2024), by Rachel Harrison Model Home (2024), by Rivers Solomon I Was a Teenage Slasher (2024), by Stephen Graham Jones Books Anticipated Victorian Psycho (2025), by Virginia Feito The Poorly Made (2025), by Sam Rebelein The Unworthy (2025), by Augustina Bazterrica The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (2025), by Stephen Graham Jones Bat Eater (2025), by Kylie Lee Baker Sick Houses: Haunted Homes and the Architecture of Dread (2025), by Leila Taylor The Haunting of Room 904 (2025), by Erika T. Wurth 8114 (2025),by Joshua Hull When the Wolf Comes Home (2025), by Nat Cassidy Senseless (2025), by Ronald Malfi King Sorrow (2025), by Joe Hill And He Shall Appear (2025), by Kate van der Borgh Nowhere Burning (2025), by Catriona Ward Girl in the Creek (2025), by Wendy Wagner The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre (2025), by Philip Fracassi The End of the World As We Know It: Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand (2025), edited by Brian Keene and Christopher Golden Old Soul (2025), by Susan Barker rekt (2025), by Alex Gonzalez Wake Up and Open Your Eyes (2025), by Clay McLeod Chapman Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This is the last way-back episode before the show returns with a scream next week. But this is an episode worth remembering – my first ever conversation with Catriona Ward, about her game-changing The Last House on Needless Street too! This was a big ask for a novice interviewer. How the hell do you talk about a book that hinges on such a huge secret. Somehow we managed to walk that tightrope, whilst also talking about cats (feline) serial killers, and the haunted bedroom of Cat’s (author) girlhood. It’s fun to retread this grim path. Enjoy! Other books mentioned: Rawblood (2015), by Catriona Ward Little Eve (2018), by Catriona Ward The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper (2019), by Hallie Rubenhold Spider (1990), by Patrick McGrath Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text A chance to revisit one of my favourite books and favourite ever conversations this week. Zakiya Dalila Harris’s The Other Black Girl came out in early 2021, and for once I was ahead of the curve! Right from the start, I adored this novel of workplace micro-aggression and satirical horror in the publishing industry – and I’m glad to see the world has since agreed. It’s a high-concept thriller that blends the paranoia of Rosemary’s Baby with the bite of Get Out – and for once it’s a story that deserves those comparisons. Zakiya talks about her own background in publishing and how it informed this nightmare. We talk about discussing racism in fiction, and (in a slightly meta way) we discuss how interviews LIKE THIS ONE may actually perpetuate a degree of othering. In short, I tie myself in white millennial knots, but Zakiya is wonderfully generous. God I love this book. Some may say it’s not horror. I’d disagree so much that I stuck it on my list of best horror novels ever. Let’s see what you think. Enjoy! Other books mentioned: All Her Little Secrets (2021), by Wanda M. Morris Rosemary’s Baby (1967), by Ira Levin Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text I’m feeling Gothic this week. Must be the weather. In lieu of a new episode, I searched the vault and found this cracker from January 2021, in which Laura Purcell — doyenne of the contemporary British Gothic — talked me through her Victorian spookshow of mesmerism and haunted silhouettes, The Shape of Darkness. We also get into the social nightmare of Victorian England – when life was even more gothic than it is now, believe it or not! Enjoy! Other books mentioned: The Residence (2020), by Andrew Pyper The Haunting of Alma Fielding (2020), by Andrew Pyper Shadowland, or Light From the Other Side (1897), by Elizabeth d’Esperance “The Blue Lenses,” in The Breaking Point (1959), by Daphne du Maurier “The Mezzotint”, “A View From A Hill” and “Oh Whistle and I’ll Come To You My Lad”, found in The Collected Ghost Stories of M.R. James Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This From the Vault episode is not quite so dusty. Gemma and I recorded this in 2022, but it’s more pertinent than ever. One because Gemma’s great uncanny novella The Folly is being reissued this week, and two, because the world is a mad place right now, and we all need to take care of our minds. This conversation is all about that. An epic conversation about the issue of mental health as creators and consumers of dark stories. We dig DEEP into our own neuroses, and talk about how great horror comes with great responsibility. Yes, there is difficult, challenging stuff to churn through — but there’s also chat about the Uncanny Valley, Men in Black, Creepypasta and Black Mirror. And the ethics of vandalising racist statues. Enjoy! Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Still on a break – still releasing episodes “From the Vault.” But this week’s was carefully chosen. In a time of darkness and doom-laden days, laughter is the best thing I can lace your horror with. And thankfully T. Kingfisher exists in the world. The funniest horror writer I know. We spoke WAAAAY back in October 2020, in episode 9, when The Hollow Places had just come out. Yes Ursula and I talk about that book, and The Twisted Ones (2019) and how they twist Weird classics into fascinating new shapes. But we also cover building your own Golem, the homicidal value of pig farmers, and the anxiety of being a frog biologist. I dunno guys… just liste! Hope it makes you smile. Enjoy! Other books mentioned: “The White People” in The House of Souls (1906), by Arthur Machen “The Willows”, in The Listener and Other Stories (2007), by Algernon Blackwood It Will Just Be Us (2002), by Jo Kaplan From a Buick Eight (2002), by Stephen King The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman Coraline, by Neil Gaiman Firefly Rain (2008), by Richard Dansky Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text I’m on a break – but couldn’t resist releasing something. Especially on today of all days, when lovers of democracy require audio sustenance whilst they wait in line to preserve America. For the first From the Vault episode, I’ve gone back to December of 2020, for an interview with Michael Marshall Smith. We talk about his 30 years of writing horror, fantasy, science fiction and assorted dark imaginings – captured in his career-spanning Best Of collection. Michael gives us all the good stuff about where ideas came from, why he writes the way he does, and all those details that literary voyeurs like us, want to know. It’s also a trip back into the weirdness of the pandemic, and the dying days of the Trump presidency. Have your trauma shields up just in case. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Halloween has finally arrived. I’m marking it in grim, macabre style. For this Off Book Samhain Special, I’m joined by Kaelyn Moore, host and creator of Heart Starts Pounding – a podcast for the darkly curious, which offers up a new true-story of horror, hauntings and mystery every week. Kaelyn is a treasure trove of haunted anecdote and freaky facts. We only touch the tip of her knowledge in this conversation, but still manage to cover the grimmest deaths at Disneyland, a South American Nazi cult, the most cursed book in history and Kaelyn’s own family history with an early American serial killer. All that, plus a lot of recommendations for movies and the gruesome true-crime reading. Stick around for the afterword, and plenty of updates on the future of Talking Scared, Enjoy! Happy Halloween. Books mentioned: The Man From the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery (2017), by Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine (2017), by Lindsey Fitzharris I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer (2018), by Michelle McNamara The Devil’s Rooming House: the True Story of America’s Deadliest Female Serial Killer (2011), by M. William Phelps Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Things are heating up as we approach Halloween. I’m joined by a good friend of Talking Scared – Rachel Harrison – to talk about the hot kind of immortality Her new novel, So Thirsty, does much more than that though. It weighs the weaponization of beauty culture, it asks how women can navigate a world in which youth seems to be everything, and it illustrates the sheer social awkwardness of immortality. Plus – it prompts a frank reckoning with just how badly I would cope in an orgy. This is a fun episode, a deep episode, the perfect kind of bookish sign off for a few weeks whilst I take a break. And maybe a good hour of respite from the manic news cycle. Enjoy. Other books mentioned: The Return (2020), by Rachel Harrison Cackle (2021), by Rachel Harrison Such Sharp Teeth (2022), by Rachel Harrison Black Sheep (2023), by Rachel Harrison Nestlings (2023), by Nat Cassidy Reluctant Immortals (2022), by Gwendolyne Kiste The Militia House (2023), by John Milas The Unsuitable (2020), by Molly Pohlig Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text As we gear up for Halloween, we get all gussied up in Gothic. Del Sandeen joins me to talk about the curses, colorism, and all the many influences in her Southern Gothic debut This Cursed House. It’s a novel that twists the sub-genre’s typical reliance on race, for a more subtle, pernicious form of prejudice. But it’s also chock full of all the haunted house–cursed family–secret rooms–and weird incest that you could want from a truly Gothic novel. It’s a damn good time, as is this conversation. We talk about New Orleans hauntings, the inspiration of Del’s grandmother, forgiveness as a theme, and the relative ickiness of incest. Consider this your starting gun for spooky season. Enjoy. Other books mentioned: Voodoo Dreams (1993), by Jewel Parker Rhodes The Good House (2003), by Tananarive Due Beloved (1987), by Toni Morrison The Vanishing Half (2020), by Brit Bennett Sing, Unburied Sing (2017) , by Jesymn Ward When the Reckoning Comes (2021), by LaTanya McQueen “A Rose For Emily,” (1930), by William Faulkner “Jordan’s End,” in The Shadowy Third (1923), by Ellen Glasgow The Elementals (1981), by Michael McDowell The Conjure Woman (1899), by Charles W. Chesnutt The House Behind the Cedars (1900), by Charles W. Chesnutt Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Things get disinhibited on Talking Scared this week, when CJ Leede joins us for a conversation about her new novel, American Rapture. The novel plunges middle America into a torrid apocalypse, as a sexual plague spreads across the nation, creating “lust hell on earth.” In this framework, C.J crafts a story of sexual awakening, sacrifice, found family, hypocrisy and cruelty. It’s a book that is both extreme and comforting in equal measure. We talk about that crazy balancing act, about the threat of fundamentalist thought, the terror of demons, the delights of Americana, and the cathartic power of killing your characters. Oh…and gear up for some very forthright opinions on religion. Enjoy. Other books mentioned: Maeve Fly (2023), by C.J. Leede American Gods (2001), by Neil Gaiman Bury Your Gays (2024), by Chuck Tingle Camp Damascus (2023), by Chuck Tingle Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Hold hands, we need to stick together. This week’s episode plunges us into the impossible and endless dark, with Sofia Ajram and her experimental, existential headf*ck of a debut novella, Coup de Grâce. It’s the tale of a man who gets lost in an endless subway station – and the monsters inside (and inside himself) We talk about everything from the mythical history of mazes, to legends of the early internet, the mystery of Elisa Lam and what Sonic the Hedgehog has to tell us about the readers role in a story. Plus, a fair bit of chat about mental health, depression and suicidal ideation. That makes it sound a lot less fun than it is, but only fair to warn you. This is an episode for the adventurous and terminally online. Enjoy. Other books mentioned: I Am the River (2018), by T.E. Grau Water Statues (1980), by Fleur Jaeggy Misery (1987), 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 [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text I started Off Book so that I could speak to some of the brightest dark stars in the wider universe of horror. This week that plan comes to absolute fruition – ‘cos Kate Siegel is Talking Scared! Yes, Kate Siegel, scream-queen of our generation, horror maven, acting superstar and now director of extraterrestrial found-footage nightmare (!!) ”Stowaway.” (a segment from the new V/H/S Beyond) Kate talks to me about the steep learning curve of making that short, the camera techniques she uses to disorientate, bewilder and horrify. She talks about her approach to finding character, especially in her collaborations with her husband, Mike Flanagan – and she talks about the horror stories she loves most in the world. She also calls me out very early on. How the hell did I recover?? Enjoy! V/H/S Beyond is streaming now on Shudder Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Release your inner child! …I mean through reading, not by letting it burst out of your stomach like some horrible sugar-coated xenomorph. Lora Senf can help. Her Blight Harbor Trilogy is a piece of magic, an umbilicus of imagination between the tired old grump that you’re halfway to becoming, and the wide-eyed wonder you once were. Lora and I talk about the challenge and reward of writing horror for kids, we talk about the influence of M.C Escher and his mad architecture, we talk about Bradbury and King and other inspirations (including the tiny role that I played in this story). And we also talk about the profound heartsick sorrow of loneliness. Enjoy. Other books mentioned: The Hike (2016), by Drew Magary The Library at Mount Char (2015), by Scott Hawkins “Kaleidoscope,” (1949), by Ray Bradbury All Summer in a Day (1954), by Ray Bradbury “There Will Come Soft Rains” (1950), by Ray Bradbury The Foghorn (1950), by Ray Bradbury Pet Semetary (1983), by Stephen King Misery (1987) by Stephen King Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962), by Ray Bradbury Coraline (2002), by Neil Gaiman The House With a Clock in its Walls (1973), by John Bellairs Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text More devilish fun on Talking Scared this week when an old friend returns to talk about god, angels, demons and other things out there in the cold reaches of the universe. Johnny Compton is the author of The Spite House, one of my most admired books from 2022. In his newest, Devils Kill Devils, he starts with a compelling question – “what if your Guardian Angel was a murderous threat” – and then heads off in grander directions. We talk about how Johnny’s childhood religious confusion played a role in this book, what we both love about world-building and fan-theories, and our shared enthusiasm for the Alien universe. And Johnny gives my current favourite answer to the questions “what really freaked him out recently?” Enjoy. Other books mentioned: The Spite House (2022), by Johnny Compton Carrion Comfort (1989), by Dan Simmons Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Keith Rosson is our first guest to be personally recommended by Stephen King! And the praise doesn’t stop there. Keith’s Fever House was one of the biggest hits of 2023, and now he’s back with the sequel, The Devil By Name, which takes the contained punk-rock fury of the first book in a whole different, nation-spanning direction. This is an epic tale of occult magic, diabolical messages, punk rock, political machinations and, eventually, apocalypse. So there’s a lot to talk about. And I hope you enjoy the following. Especially the part where I crowbar Stevie Nicks into the conversation, because I’ve developed the world’s most belated obsession with her. Enjoy. Other books mentioned: Mercy of the Tide (2017), by Keith Rosson Spiral (1995), by Koji Suzuki The Stand (1990), by Stephen King Knockemstiff (2008), by Donald Ray Pollock The Low Desert: Gangster Stories (2021), by Tod Goldberg Controlled Burn: Stories of Prison, Crime, and Men (2005), by Scott Wolven Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Laird Barron is on the podcast. This feels like cause for celebration. Not only is Laird Barron a phenomenal writer. Not only is it wonderful that he’s back to writing and talking about writing. Not only am I lucky to be able to speak to him… We also talked about DOGS! Granted, a cybernetic, immortal monster hound called Rex – but a dog nonetheless. That’s just one of the crazy concepts that make up the stories in Laird’s new collection, Not a Speck of Light… and I mean crazy. These stories involve evil fathers, strange invasions, billionaire bird-women and a disaster-addicted monster – and we talk about how Laird balances the bizarre and brutal, the cosmic and the cynical, the horrific and the hardboiled. Plus a lot of info on a very exciting project he’s currently working hard on. Let’s all just be happy, Laird Barron is back. He’s writing. And he’s Talking Scared. Enjoy. Join the Laird Barron Reddit Read-along Other books mentioned: When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson (2021), edited by Ellen Datlow The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All (2013), by Laird Barron Blood Standard (2018), by Laird Barron The Fisherman (2016), by John Langan “On Skua Island” – in Mr Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters (2009), by John Langan The Children of Old Leech: A Tribute to the Carnivorous Cosmos of Laird Barron (2014), edited by Ross E. Lockhart and Jason Steele The Delicate Prey, and Other Stories (1950), by Paul Bowles The Sheltering Sky (1949), by Paul Bowles Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Are you a Weenie? Don’t be offended. I am. Weenies are the curious-but-nervous. Those of us who love horror, but who never feel safe from its power to ruin our sleep (and a week of our life). If that’s you, or if you know someone who suffers from Weenie-ism, then Emily Hughes is here! Emily’s new book, Horror For Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You’re Too Scared to Watch is a public service for the scared. It will save relationships, help ease you into horror and hopefully teach you a thing or two about fear along the way. In this conversation, we talk about how Emily came to write this most particular of books, and how she chose which films made the grade. We also hear about her own relationship with horror, from the film that haunted her as a child all the way to her grown-up reintroduction to scary movies. And I finally try to back up my dislike for Hereditary. Enjoy. Other books mentioned: Birdbox (2014), by Josh Malerman Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films (2022), by Nina Nesseth Tampa (2013), by Alissa Nutting Come Closer (2003), by Sara Gran The Family Plot (2016) by Cherie Priest Camp Damascus (2023), by Chuck Tingle Cuckoo (2024), by Gretchen Felker-Martin Manhunt (2022), by Gretchen Felker-Martin Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Anna Bogutskaya is one of the UK’s most prominent film critics, with a penchant for horror. She knows her scary onions. And in her new book, Feeding the Monster, she asks an important question (well, important to the likes of you and me) – Why does horror have a hold on us? In concise but free-ranging essays, she looks at the prominent themes that sets the horror oft the last decade apart, peeling back the skin of the genre to see how it’s muscle flex and grip, and also give you tons of films to watch in the process. We have a similarly freewheeling conversation in this episode, talking about everything from our primal horror movie experiences, to the meme-ification of monsters and why Mike Flanagan is both outlier and heart of the genre. Also… Anna introduces me to the concept of Vecnussy, which may ruin Stranger Things for you, like it has for me. Enjoy Other books mentioned: Death of a Bookseller (2023), by Alice Slater Penance (2023), by Eliza Clark Danse Macabre (1981), by Stephen King Red Dragon (1981), by Thomas Harris Coup de Grace (2024), by Sofia Ajram Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Send in the clowns. Tell them not to forget their crossbows and chainsaws. This week our guest is Adam Cesare, who’s Clown in a Cornfield trilogy reaches a climax (I won’t say end) in Book 3: The Church of Frendo. I read all three books in one mad rush and they confounded all of my horror-savvy, slasher-weary expectations. These books are a State of the Nation story for the ages – think George Orwell’s Animal Farm, but with fascist clowns rather than Bolshevik swine. Adam and I have one of those very Talking Scared conversations. We get into the political and the personal, touching on his time as a teacher, the challenge of empathy, the role of guns in fiction and the rural/urban divide in America. But also… clowns! Horrible face-painted bastards that they are. Enjoy. The Indian Lake Trilogy (2021-2024), by Stephen Graham Jones “The Lottery” (1948), by Shirley Jackson Influencer (2024), by Adam Cesare Rest Stop (2024), by Nat Cassidy Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Literary or genre fiction? Dumb question. This week’s guest showcases just how dumb! With her debut collection of stories, Mystery Lights showing that horror is literary and literary is horror. These tales of the American desert are full of hauntings, monsters, killers, and other oddities, yet they take a non-typical approach to the strangeness. They care more about the human in the mix than the weird thing in the corner. I loved them – and they proved that every time I think I know my own reading tastes, I find an exception to the rule. Lena and I talk about her literary allegiance to the desert, about the literary establishment’s appetite for strange things, about women treating women poorly, and about how she writes stories that don’t need to “click.” Enjoy. The Shining (1977), by Stephen King “Lamb to the Slaughter,” (1953), by Roald Dahl The Garden (2024), by Claire Beams Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This week’s guest on Talking Scared: Off Book scares children. I mean… that’s not his main job or intent (I don’t think) but he does it anyway. Trevor Henderson is the internet’s favourite horror artist. He creates digital nightmares that have become the fuel for a new generation of nightmares. Trust me, in the few moments that Gen Z aren’t being terrified by climate change or the slide into global racism… it’s Trevor’s “Cartoon Dog” or “Long Horse” – or his iconic Sirenhead – who are capering through their minds. But his pictures are just the start of it. He works in movies, in video games, in podcasting and he’s even written a book. He’s horror’s renaissance man, and he joins me to talk about it – from how he started, to the secrets of great monster design. And then we spend the end of the show just talking about some awesome movies you may not have seen or heard of. This is a fun episode. Trevor is at the beating heart of horror. Enjoy! Movies mentioned: The Ritual (2017) Arcadian (2024) Horror in the High Desert (2021) Horror in the High Desert 2: Minerva (2023) Late Night With the Devil (2024) History of the Occult (2020) Fake Documentary Q (YouTube Channel) StopMotion (2024) The Cat With Hands (2001) Infested (2024) Loop Track (2023) Savageland (2015) The Tunnel (2011) Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Finally, Gabino Iglesias is on the show. I tried, and failed, to get him for his break-out Stoker-winning smash, The Devil Takes You Home. Now he’s here to talk about his brand new barrio-noir, House of Bone and Rain. It’s an amalgamation of brutal street violence and Lovecraftian otherness – all taking place in the sweltering eye of a Puerto Rican hurricane. Gabino and I talk about the parts of the book that reflect his own life and youth. We talk about his rapid rise, and follow-up nerves. We talk about reclaiming Lovecraft. But mostly, we talk about violence – the horror of it, the reality, the sheer awful immediacy, and how the real thing is nothing like the stuff on a movie screen. It’s a good chat, about the right kind of manhood. Enjoy. The Devil Takes You Home (2022) by Gabino Iglesias Hungry Darkness (2015) by Gabino Iglesias Zero Saints (2015), by Gabino Iglesias The Ballad of Black Tom (2016), by Victor LaValle Woodworm (2021), by Layla Martinez Lost Man’s Lane (2024), by Scott Carson Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Remember those books you read in the summer when you were young? Kids fighting evil in their small town? Bikes, and blood brothers and promises to keep? If you love those kinda stories then you’re in good company. This week Jonathan Janz joins me to talk about the coming-of-age horror in his ongoing epic, Children of the Dark. Book One was rereleased earlier this year, just in time for the sequel The Nightflyer’s to continue the story of Will Burgess and the monstrous secrets in his backyard. As well as a whole lot of chat about favourite movies, a million book recommendations and Jonathan’s beautifully wholesome horror movie bond with his daughter – we also discuss the canon of coming of age horror, how to write honestly about childhood, the role of theme in a story, and where Jonathan’s monsters originated. Climb up to our treehouse. Bring snacks. Enjoy. Savage Species (2013), by Jonathan Janz Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962), by Ray Bradbury Dandelion Wine (1957), by Ray Bradbury The Body (1982), by Stephen King The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012), by Stephen King Boy’s Life (1991), by Robert R. McCammon The Dark Valley (1998), by Joe Donnelly The Deer Kings (2021), by Wendy Wagner The Reformatory (2023), by Tananarive Due Summer of Night (1991), by Dan Simmons Ghoul (2007), by Brian Keene The Beast House (1986), by Richard Laymon The Girl Next Door (1989), by Jack Ketchum Incidents Around the House (2024), by Josh Malerman Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Why is Adam Nevill so scary? I don’t know. Do you? He’s a nice guy – as you’ll hear in this episode. Yet he tells stories that crawl under your skin and stay there. Stories that squat in your subconscious. His latest novel, All the Fiends of Hell is no exception. Same elusive nightmare mystery, but expanded to a whole epic end-of-the-world canvas. And when Adam says end of the world, he means it. In this conversation we talk about apocalyptic fantasy, about angels and demons, about the sea and its endless hope, and about his own unique style when it comes to fear and monsters. Oh… and about a certain prog-rock masterpiece that plays a big part in this story and in each of our childhoods. Enjoy. The War of the Worlds (1898), by H.G. Wells The Road (2006), by Cormac McCarthy Nuclear War: A Scenario (2024), by Annie Jacobsen Apartment 16 (2010), by Adam Nevill Last Days (2012), by Adam Nevill Banquet for the Damned (2004), by Adam Nevill Invasion: The Inside Story of Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival (2022), by Luke Harding The Turn of The Screw (1898), by Henry James The Exorcist (1971), by William Peter Blatty Here is the link for Adam’s story - “Where Angels Come In” at Nightmare Magazine And the link to the Shadows at the Door Kickstarter for EARWORM Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Part One was epic. Part Two is just as good. In that way, it’s much better than the adaptation of IT! In the second part of this celebration of King short stories, a whole other roster of Constant Readers come along to talk about their favourites. We have writers for all ages, a fellow podcaster and a filmmaker with important updates. All of them united by one thing – their love of these little twisted word-worlds that Stephen King has given us over the years. This was a blast, but god I’m glad it’s finally done. Enjoy! Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text What’s your favourite Stephen King story? Everyone has one. Hot off the back of the recent interview with the man himself, it seemed a neat idea to get a few friends on the show to talk about their own preferences from King’s huge back-catalogue of short fiction. I am the architect of my own doom! What was supposed to be a small side project grew, like Grey Matter, or unnatural mist, into FOUR HOURS of top-notch King chat, with some of the best and brightest constant readers. I’m not telling you who they are… why spoil the surprise. But in this first of a double-bill you can hear old and new friends of Talking Scared talk about the King short that lights their fire, freezes their marrow, or breaks their heart. It’s a whole lot…and it’s only half. Enjoy! Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Stephen King is back! What other intro do you need? Okay, fine. He talks to me about the stories behind the stories in his new collection, You Like it Darker. I had the audacity to ask him “where he got some of his ideas.” He also updates us on the potential of a third Jack Sawyer book, to follow The Talisman and Black House. He hints at what’s next from him, and Holly Gibney. He gives a perspective on his view from the top of the horror pyramid, and I finally get to ask him about a beloved-yet-underappreciated novel. Is that enough for you, or do I need go on? Thought not… Thanks for listening – and enjoy. Other books mentioned: Waiting for Winter (1966), by John O’ Hara Horror Movie (2024), by Paul Tremblay A Head Full of Ghosts (2015), by Paul Tremblay Survivor Song (2020), by Paul Tremblay Fever House (2023), by Keith Rosson Nestlings (2023), by Nat Cassidy Come With Me (2021), by Ronald Malfi American Rapture (2024), by C.J. Leede Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text 200 episodes! Madness. Who knew there could be so much to say about horror? I knew. You knew. And here we are. It turns out that the real cursed treasure was the friends we made along the way – and how better to celebrate the bicentennial, than by inviting some of the Talking Scared nearest and dearest, to tell us their scariest story? I called, they answered – with tales of voyeuristic ghosts, horrifying roadside encounters, disappearing witches, whispering demons, damaged eyeballs, lost children and ….Richard Simmons!! Enjoy this. You deserve it. Thank you so very much for your ear, your attention and your support over these last four years. Onward. Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text My unpaid cohost returns. Josh Malerman ladies and gentlemen. Josh has been on the show many times before, but never have I been so excited to speak to him. His latest novel, Incidents Around the House is about as good a horror book as I’ve ever covered on this show… or possibly read in my life. It’s the story of a young girl, her family, and the entity pursuing them, but – as you’ll hear – it goes a whole lot deeper (and unforgivingly darker) than that. Josh tells us about the unique process of writing this book. We discuss the challenges of child narrators. I beg insight into the demons and half-glimpsed horrors of his story… and I assault him with odd comparisons. It’s all very freewheeling and fun. As the 199th episode should be, before we tip over the edge into a whole new century. Enjoy – and read this damn book! Other books mentioned: The House of Last Resort (2024), Christopher Golden Coraline (2002), by Neil Gaiman The Exorcist (1971), by William Peter Blatty Good Night Sleep Tight (2024), by Brian Evenson Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993), by Stephen King From a Buick 8 (2002), by Stephen King 11/22/63 (2011), by Stephen King Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text In the second Off Book episode we get out of our armchairs and go on a real adventure. Well, not really – but we talk to two people who do. Danielle and Cassie are the hosts of National Park After Dark – a podcast catering to the “morbid outdoor enthusiast.” They have skyrocketed to success, with well-researches stories of murder, maulings and mad incidents out in the world’s national parks. I’ve listened for years now and I’m delighted to finally get the chance to ask them all the questions… what is their favourite flavour of outdoor macabre? Is there a particular unsolved mystery that burns a hole in their brain? What’s the scariest thing they’ve encountered out there… and should we reintroduce wolves to the UK? (Yes!) You don’t need to like the outdoors to enjoy this episode. Danielle and Cassie do the hard work for us. Just enjoy! Books mentioned: Wolfish: Wolf, Self and the Stories we Tell About Fear, Ferocity and Freedom (2023), by Erica Berry A Bolt From the Blue: The Epic True Story of Danger, Daring ad Heroism at 15,000 Feet (2012), by Jennifer Woodlief The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999), by Stephen King Where the Dead Wait (2023), by Ally Wilkes Fire in the Sky: The Walton Experience (1997), by Travis Walton Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Paul Tremblay returns to Talking Scared on a long orbit, like that fabled Planet X that’s going to kill us all. He’s back after two years for another discussion of horror aesthetics, introspective terrors and mixed-media nightmares – this time in Horror Movie, his meta-take on cursed cinema and lethal creativity. Horror Movie is about young filmmakers and the shoot that marks them all, even unto death. It’s also about the making of art, the machinery of fear and the cynicism of Hollywood. But beneath all that self-reflexive interrogation, it’s also just a damn creepy story. And Paul talks to me about all of it. Note – there is jet lag aplenty in this episode. An arms race of confusion and forgetfulness. It makes for a good time. Bear with us. Enjoy Other books mentioned: The Pallbearer’s Club (2022), by Paul Tremblay A Head Full of Ghosts (2015), by Paul Tremblay “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (1966), by Joyce Carol Oates Greasy Lake and Other Stories (1985), by T. C. Boyle The Stand (1978/1990), by Stephen King A Better World (2024), by Sarah Langan Curdle Creek (2024), by Yvonne Battle-Felton Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Elle Nash’s Deliver Me ruined my week. In the best possible way. This book, about a woman so desperate for a child that she does truly terrible, no-good things, contains some of the bleakest, most brutal scenes I’ve read in a while. And it’s not even really being treated as a horror novel. Elle and I talk about that. We also talk about the hot-button topics of the novel, the patriarchy, the toxic Christianity, the… insect erotica! But we also discuss her wandering heart and the empathy and provocation that drives her work. It’s a lovely, laid back conversation about a challenging book. Enjoy Other books mentioned: Geek Love (1989), by Katherine Dunn Violent Faculties (2024), by Charlene Elsby Frisk (1991), by Dennis Cooper Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text Todd Keisling can write the hell out of a short story. So well, in fact, that they may convince you to resist a bully, stop going to church, or tell your boss to f**k off! Cold, Black and Infinite is full of liminal tales of the between-places. Cosmic “Otherness” that defies religion or belief. Corporate soul-hells that take everything you have…and more. Weird then, that they are so fun. Todd and I talk about all of that connective tissue between his stories. Plus, we map The Southland, this “pocket cosmos” of weird Appalachia that is destined to be the stage for the next era in his career. It’s a blast. And this conversation is the anti-corporate, anti-fundamentalism, anti-bully screed you’ve been waiting for. Enjoy. Cold, Black and Infinite was released September 2023, By Cemetery Dance Other books mentioned: Ugly Little Things: Collected Horrors (2017), by Todd Keisling The Final Reconciliation (2018), by Todd Keisling Devil’s Creek (20200, by Todd Keisling In the Lake of the Woods (1994), by Tim O’Brien The Raw Shark Texts (2007), by Steven Hall ‘Salem’s Lot (1975), by Stephen King The Bad Book (2021), ed. by John D. Taff (contains “Gethsemane”) The Cheese Monkeys: A Novel in Two Semesters (2002), by Chip Kidd The Ceremonies (1984), by T. E. D. Klein Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices