Talking Scared

Send us a text Another year done. We squeaked through without another plague or a nuclear apocalypse (don’t tempt fate Neil!!) and along the way, oh the stories we read! The only thing left to do after mopping away the chalk pentagrams, is to run you through my very favourite books of the year. The so-called Best Horror Novels of 2023, as chosen by me. Ten of them to be precise, cos humans are obsessed with round numbers. Mwaha, in fact I talk about thirteen!! Thanks again for listening and supporting the show. You give my addled rants a semblance of purpose, and it’s appreciated. Onward into 2024 and its multitude of horrors!!! Enjoy. Support Talking Scared on Patreon Visit the Talking Scared site 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 Dickens said that Christmas Eve was a time for ghost stories, and who am I to argue? It is my show though, so I get to pick the ghost story – and I picked Peter Straub’s classic novel of the name. A tale of old men with horror in their youths, seductive evil and a town besieged by winter and… worse things. It’s a slippery beast though, this novel. So to really help pin it down, I needed help. I called and help came, in the form of Alan Baxter (author of Sallow Bend, The Gulp and many more), Lauren Bolger (Kill Radio) and John Langan, whose novel, The Fisherman, continues what I think is Straub’s American gothic legacy. We talk about the book in granular detail – it’s monsters, it’s politics, it’s storytelling and, of course, it’s ghosts. It’s about as jolly a time as you can have talking about ancient evil visiting small towns. But enough about Santa. Light the fire, pour a drink, enjoy! You’ve earned it. Support Talking Scared on Patreon Visit the Talking Scared site 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 so we come to the end of another year in horror. Time to look back at the best that 2023 has had to offer, as determined by three of the best in the business. My trusted horror chancellor, Emily Hughes joins me ­– alongside C.J. Leede, the author of this year’s gloriously transgressive Maeve Fly, and the maestro of the macabre himself, Victor Lavalle. Together we cover the year’s freshest nightmares in the macro and the micro, looking at wider trends and picking our own favourite horror fiction from this year’s epic crop. This is a blast. We laugh, we yell, and we declare that the nation is strong, and good, and frightening. Enjoy! Books Picked: Our Share of Night (2023), by Mariana Enriquez Boys Weekend (2023), by Mattie Lubchansky Black Sheep (2023), by Rachel Harrison The Reformatory (2023), by Tananarive Due Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror (2023), ed. Jordan Peele and John Joseph Adams Fever House (2023), by Keith Rosson Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology (2023) ed. Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. Red Rabbit (2023), by Alex Grecian Whalefall (2023), by Daniel Kraus Books Anticipated: Horror For Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You’re Too Scared to Watch (2024), by Emily Hughes American Rapture (2024), by C.J. Leede Ghost Roots (2024), by Pemi Aguda A Mask of Flies (2024), by Matthew Lyons The Z Word (2024), by Lindsay King-Miller Your Shadow Half Remains (2024), by Sunny Moraine First Light (2024), by Liz Kerin Bury Your Gays (2024), by Chuck Tingle I Was a Teenage Slasher (2024), by Stephen Graham Jones The House of Last Resort (2024), by Christopher Golden The Book of Love (2024), by Kelly Link King Nyx (2024), by Kirsten Bakis Moon of the Turning Leaves (2024), by Waubgeshig Rice In the Valley of the Headless Men (2024), by L.P. Hernandez Island Witch (2024), by Amanda Jayatissa The Haunting of Velkwood (2024), Gwendolyne Kiste The Redemption of Morgan Bright (2024), by Chris Panatier Horror Movie (2024), by Paul Tremblay You Like It Darker (2024), by Stephen King Support Talking Scared on Patreon Visit the Talking Scared site 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 We’re going up in the world this week – longitudinally and latitudinally, with the GOAT of endurance, adventure Gothic, Michelle Paver. Michelle joins me for a big conversation about her novels Dark Matter and Thin Air – two of the most effective ghost stories of the 21st century. One takes us to the Arctic, the other to a Himalayan peak, both places littered with the dead… who may still be around. We talk about how ghost stories work, their tradition and what perhaps differentiates them from horror. We consider the challenge of writing heroes with imperial perspectives, and Michelle relates her own, eerie, dangerous experiences out in the frozen wilds. This is perfect winter listening, even if we did record it in July. Enjoy! Books mentioned: Wolf Brother (2004), by Michelle Paver The Abominable (2013), by Dan Simmons 30 Days of Night (2002), by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith The Others of Edenwell (2023), by Verity Holloway “The Kit Bag” (1908), by Algernon Blackwood Cold Earth (2009), by Sarah Moss Number 90 and Other Ghost Stories (2000 rpt) B.M. Croker A Beleaguered City (1871), by Margaret Oliphant The Long Tale (Tail) of Dogs in Fiction (Esquire) 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 Last time Gemma Amor came on the show we had a good ol’ chinwag about our haunted brains. This time around we get to some other ghosts, in her new novel, The Folly. It’s a sharp slice of coastal Gothic; Cornwall’s answer to The Shining if you will. The story follows Morgan and her aging father to the weird structure of the tital, where they find hauntings of many stripes, some uncannily familiar. It wouldn’t be a Gemma Amor episode if things didn’t get personal – and we talk about anxieties of identity, father/daughter dynamics and the trauma of the Covid years. But it doesn’t get too real or heavy, cos we the nature of cursed buildings and twists on possession to deal with. Enjoy our rural Britishness. I think we hide our inner yokel well. The Folly was published by Polis Books on in December 2023 (US) and January 2024 (UK) Books mentioned: Full Immersion (2022), by Gemma Amor Six Rooms (2021), by Gemma Amor Rebecca (1938), by Daphne du Maurier My Cousin Rachel (1951), by Daphne du Maurier “The Birds,” (1952), by Daphne du Maurier Annihilation (2014), by Jeff VanderMeer The Lamplighters (2021), by Emma Stonex The Dark Between the Trees (2022), by Fiona Barnett 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 We’ve had Cowboys versus Aliens but have you ever considered a threeway fight between gunslingers, vampires and weird cosmic cultists to an Elder God? If not why not? What do you even think about when you are washing the dishes? But fear not, C.S. Humble has you covered. His weird western trilogy, That Light Sublime is packed with all of the above and more. In The Massacre at Yellow Hill and A Red Winter in the West Seth introduces a cast of lovable rogues and the stakes of their battle against the worst that this and other worlds can offer. Now, in the concluding volume, The Light of Black Star, he brings it all home, with honour, humour and shattering heartbreak. We talk about broadening the scope of the western, how That Light Sublime links with Seth’s Black Wells series, and he explains his fundamental disagreement with the tenets of cosmic horror. We cover what Mister Rogers has to oteach us about horror writing…and how to write stories that, in Seth’s words… “attain the high romance that the human heart is reaching for.” He’s a poet and a raconteur. I’m also present. Enjoy! The Massacre at Yellow Hill, A Red Winter in the West and The Light of Black Star were all published in 2023 by Cemetery Dance. Books mentioned: East of Eden (1952), by John Steinbeck Lonesome Dove (1985), by Larry McMurtry Merciless Waters (2023), by Rae Knowles Midas (2023), by Tyler Jones Lone Women (2023), by Victor Lavalle Red Rabbit (2023), by Alex Grecian The Legend of Charlie Fish (2023), by Josh Rountree The Demon of Devil’s Canyon (coming 2024), by Brenna LeFaro “Pigeons From Hell” (1938), by Robert E. Howard The Thicket (2013), by Joe R. Lansdale Cold in July (1989), by Joe R. Lansdale The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All (2013), by Laird Barron Moby Dick (1851), by Herman Melville Fevre Dream (1982), by George R. R. 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 Sometimes two words can make a jaded horror reader sit up straight. Ghost is one, Dinosaur is another. Ghost. Dinosaur. Have you ever heard a more beautiful combination, a sweeter symphony of syllables. If “Ghost Dinosaur” doesn’t make you go squeeee and shake your fists in excitement, I don’t know how to help you. Anyway, that’s the focus of Luke Dumas delightful new novel, The Paleontologist. It’s a story about a haunted man, a creepy museum, institutional intrigue, murder and GHOST GODDAMN DINOSAURS!! We talk about all of that and lots more, including humour in horror, how far a book can stretch a reader’s empathy, and why privilege is such a complex issue to tackle. But yeah. Also Ghost Dinosaurs. Enjoy! The Paleontologist was published 31st October by Atria Books Books mentioned: A History of Fear (2022), by Luke Dumas Children of the Fang, and Other Genealogies (2020), by John Langan The Lost World (1912), by Arthur Conan Doyle Jurassic Park (1990), by Michael Crichton Tyrannosaur Canyon (2005), by Douglas Preston The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr Spencer Black (2013), by E.B. Hudspeth The Bonus Room (AKA Bedbugs) (2023) by Ben H. Winters Nestlings (2023), 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 Horror is about finding light in darkness. That’s the mission statement of this podcast, at least. And it’s never been truer than in this week’s episode. Tyler Jones re-joins us on Talking Scared to talk about his new novel, Midas. We cover its original mix of western tropes, Gothic fantasy and cult horror, but it’s family that lies at the heart of both the book and the conversation. Tyler talks us through the real life emotional rollercoaster that inspired this story. It’s a personal conversation. Upsetting in parts, but lit through with love and life and all the good stuff. And if I’m sounding a little pompous and portentous here, don’t worry – we also slide seamlessly into some nerdy chat about biblical mysteries and ancient alien nonsense. This is an important episode, for me and for Tyler. I hope you enjoy it. p.s – here’s to Goliath the horse! Enjoy! Midas was published in October by Earthlings Publications 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 History is haunted. Ghosts are injustice persevering. So many horror stories hinge on that idea, but for Tananarive Due it’s more personal than that. Her new novel, The Reformatory, is borne from the ghosts hidden in her own family history. The story takes place in a hideously cruel juvenile correction facility, in a racist town, in the 1950s. As you can imagine, very few good things happen to her child protagonist. We talk about the link between horror and history, about writing from her family tree, about the very real reformatories that persisted into the modern era, and about looking cruelty full in the face and wrestling it into story. This conversation is the perfect context for a near-perfect novel. Enjoy! The Reformatory was published October 31st by Saga and Titan Books Books mentioned: The Only Good Indians (2020), by Stephen Graham Jones The Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America (2012), by Gilbert King Kindred (1979), by Octavia E. Butler 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 Sometimes when you’re doing something scary good company can be a blessing. Nat Cassidy is good company. And this week he talks me through the haunted hallways and avenues of his New York horror ode, Nestlings – but he also helps me tackle the very real world horror that is turning our newspapers into nightmare-fodder and the Middle East into a tinderbox. But have no fear (well, always have a little fear!) this is no mere despairing, depressing look at reality. We also talk about gargoyles and vampire-adjacent things, about New York winters and longing for home … and of course, about Stephen King. Enjoy! Nestlings was published October 31st by Tor Nightfire Books mentioned: Mary: An Awakening of Terror (2022), by Nat Cassidy Nightmares in the Sky (1988), by Stephen King and F-Stop Fitzgerald ‘Salem’s Lot (1975), by Stephen King The Shining (1977), by Stephen King From a Buick 8 (2002), by Stephen King Rosemary’s Baby (1967), by Ira Levin The Keep (1981), by F. Paul Wilson I, Claudius (1934) by Robert Graves The Guns of August (1962), by Barbara W. Tuchman 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 Some stories are just too big for one podcast. Some stories should be too big for one book. Sam Rebelein’s Edenville is one such story. This 300-something page novel has more crammed into it than your average fantasy trilogy. There is backstory upon backstory, a cosmic framework, and enough different monsters to fill Guillermo del Toro’s minibus. Yet somehow Sam corrals it all into a whimsical horror romp – a well-organised riot. We talk about ideas… about thinking them up, letting them evolve and, most crucially, getting them on paper. We talk narcissistic writers, the power of dreams, the unique eeriness of the Hudson River Valley and the questionable nature of curses. This conversation is a call to arms for writers. It’s a weary acceptance that maybe, just maybe, sitting your arse in the chair is the most important thing you can do all day. Enjoy! Edenville was published October 3rd by Titan Books and HarperCollins Books mentioned: Echo (2022), by Thomas Olde Heuvelt Camp Damascus (2023), by Chuck Tingle Hannibal (1999), by Thomas Harris 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 Some stories are too short, some are too long, but some stories are just right. It’s the Goldilocks zone: the novella. What is the secret to crafting a longer story but not letting it run away from you? How do you sustain the terror beyond the shortest form? How do you know what to keep in and what to cut out? This is the art of the novella, and I’m joined by a pair of expert practitioners to talk it through. Josh Malerman and Ronald Malfi have both published novella collections this year – Ron’s They Lurk and Josh’s Spin a Black Yarn contain multitudes. From motel-lot self-mutilation to deathbed serial killer confessions, via the Oregon backwoods and the core of Saturn(!!), these stories take us to places without wasting a word.Josh and Ron provide a masterclass on the art of the novella, as well as ALL the enthusiasm you could ever pack into an hour of conversation. This one will put a smile on your face and inspiration in your typin’ fingers! Enjoy. They Lurk was published was published on July 18th by Titan; Spin a Black Yarn was published August 15th by Del Rey Books mentioned: Daphne (2022), by Josh Malerman Goblin (2021), by Josh Malerman Ghostwritten (2022), by Ronald Malfi Pet Sematary (1983), by Stephen King The Long Walk (1979), by Stephen King Mrs Dalloway (1925) by Virginia Woolf Houses Without Doors (1990), by Peter Straub Bloom (2023), by Delilah S. Dawson 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 [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text This week is a special roundtable episode. An exciting, challenging and very very thought-provoking tour of contemporary Black horror, in the company of three writers at the bleeding edge. Nnedi Okorafor, Maurice Broaddus and Lesley Nneka Arimah are just three of the contributors to Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror. It’s curated by Jordan Peele, who knows a thing or two about that particular landscape, and these three authors present a fantastic cross-section of how versatile Black horror is right now. We talk about their stories, about the anthology as a whole and the broader topic of Black horror. What does that even mean? What is the role of history? Of trauma? And of the future? At times, these guests turn the interview around on me, asking me to reflect on my own presumptions and the baggage I bring to these stories. Like I said, challenging and exciting. Hope you enjoy it. Out There Screaming was published on October 3rd by Picador and Random House Books mentioned: Dark Dreams: A Collection of Horror and Suspense by Black Writers 92004), ed. Brandon Massey King Maker (2010), by Maurice Broaddus How High We Go in the Dark (2022), by Sequoia Nagamatsu Demon Copperhead (2022), by Barbara Kingsolver The Changeling (2017), by Victor LaValle No Gods, No Monsters (2021), by Cadwell Turnbull The Nesting (2020), by C.J. Cooke Leech (2022), by Hiron Ennes “Africanfuturism Defined.” (2019), by Nnedi Okorafor 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 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices