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

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 talkingscaredpod@gmail.com    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 talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Send us a text 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 talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Send us a text 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 talkingscaredpod@gmail.com     Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Send us a text 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 talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Send us a text 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 talkingscaredpod@gmail.com     Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

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