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It’s that time of year again. When I celebrate the winter solstice by getting some horror authors to come and talk in deep, emotional detail about a scary book that we like.
This time the Christmas Special Deep Dive kicks the tires and looks under the hood of Stephen King’s most underrated novel: From a Buick 8. My friends on this weird-ass-road trip are Ally Malinenko and Nat Cassidy. I asked them to do it for a coupla reasons. 1) They are lovely 2) hey really get King, and 3) they can speak to this book’s focus on grief and loss.
And oh boy do we talk grief, loss, afterlives and everything else. Turns out it’s not just a book about a car after all.
Don’t worry though, Ally is charming, Nat is snarky and together we’ll make you laugh.
And Christmas is supposed to be tinged with melancholy isn’t it…
Enjoy!
Other Books Mentioned
Matterhorn (2009), by Karl MarlantesHearts in Atlantis (1999), by Stephen KingThe Colorado Kid (2005), by Stephen King“The Night Flyer” and “Popsy,” in Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993), by Stephen KingNestlings (2023), by Nat CassidyThis Appearing House (2022), by Ally MalinenkoSupport Talking Scared on Patreon
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… and we’re back! Just in time for this seasonal tradition. The State of the Horror Nation 2024 – our expert-led review of the best that the year had to offer in terms of horror writing and pen-and-ink nightmares.
I’m joined, as ever by my stalwart co-host for this gig, Emily Hughes, author of Horror For Weenies (go check her mammoth 2025 anticipated horror book list at ReadJumpScares.com)
Our special correspondents are Anna Dupre, reviewer and interviewer at Anna Rose Reads, and Stephani Gagnon of the landmark, can’t-be-beaten horror podcast, Books In the Freezer
They pick their books of 2024, and we talk about the things that have defined the year, whilst also looking forward to what’s next.
Enjoy!
Anna's Essay on IT
https://filmfreakcentral.net/2024/10/terrifier-3-2024/
Books Picked
The Eyes Are the Best Part (2024), by Monika Kim
Cuckoo (2024), by Gretchen Felker-Martin
American Rapture (2024), by C.J. Leede
Woodworm (2024), by Layla Martinez
Horror Movie (2024) by Paul TremblayNight’s Edge (2024), by Liz Kerin
So Thirsty (2024), by Rachel Harrison
Model Home (2024), by Rivers Solomon
I Was a Teenage Slasher (2024), by Stephen Graham Jones
Books Anticipated
Victorian Psycho (2025), by Virginia Feito
The Poorly Made (2025), by Sam Rebelein
The Unworthy (2025), by Augustina Bazterrica
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (2025), by Stephen Graham Jones
Bat Eater (2025), by Kylie Lee Baker
Sick Houses: Haunted Homes and the Architecture of Dread (2025), by Leila Taylor
The Haunting of Room 904 (2025), by Erika T. Wurth
8114 (2025),by Joshua Hull
When the Wolf Comes Home (2025), by Nat Cassidy
Senseless (2025), by Ronald Malfi
King Sorrow (2025), by Joe Hill
And He Shall Appear (2025), by Kate van der Borgh
Nowhere Burning (2025), by Catriona Ward
Girl in the Creek (2025), by Wendy Wagner
The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre (2025), by Philip Fracassi
The End of the World As We Know It: Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand (2025), edited by Brian Keene and Christopher Golden
Old Soul (2025), by Susan Barker
rekt (2025), by Alex Gonzalez
Wake Up and Open Your Eyes (2025), by Clay McLeod Chapman
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This is the last way-back episode before the show returns with a scream next week.
But this is an episode worth remembering – my first ever conversation with Catriona Ward, about her game-changing The Last House on Needless Street too!
This was a big ask for a novice interviewer. How the hell do you talk about a book that hinges on such a huge secret. Somehow we managed to walk that tightrope, whilst also talking about cats (feline) serial killers, and the haunted bedroom of Cat’s (author) girlhood.
It’s fun to retread this grim path.
Enjoy!
Other books mentioned:
Rawblood (2015), by Catriona WardLittle Eve (2018), by Catriona WardThe Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper (2019), by Hallie RubenholdSpider (1990), by Patrick McGrathSupport Talking Scared on Patreon
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A chance to revisit one of my favourite books and favourite ever conversations this week.
Zakiya Dalila Harris’s The Other Black Girl came out in early 2021, and for once I was ahead of the curve! Right from the start, I adored this novel of workplace micro-aggression and satirical horror in the publishing industry – and I’m glad to see the world has since agreed.
It’s a high-concept thriller that blends the paranoia of Rosemary’s Baby with the bite of Get Out – and for once it’s a story that deserves those comparisons. Zakiya talks about her own background in publishing and how it informed this nightmare. We talk about discussing racism in fiction, and (in a slightly meta way) we discuss how interviews LIKE THIS ONE may actually perpetuate a degree of othering. In short, I tie myself in white millennial knots, but Zakiya is wonderfully generous.
God I love this book. Some may say it’s not horror. I’d disagree so much that I stuck it on my list of best horror novels ever. Let’s see what you think.
Enjoy!
Other books mentioned:
All Her Little Secrets (2021), by Wanda M. MorrisRosemary’s Baby (1967), by Ira LevinSupport Talking Scared on Patreon
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I’m feeling Gothic this week. Must be the weather.
The Residence (2020), by Andrew Pyper The Haunting of Alma Fielding (2020), by Andrew Pyper Shadowland, or Light From the Other Side (1897), by Elizabeth d’Esperance “The Blue Lenses,” in The Breaking Point (1959), by Daphne du Maurier “The Mezzotint”, “A View From A Hill” and “Oh Whistle and I’ll Come To You My Lad”, found in The Collected Ghost Stories of M.R. James
In lieu of a new episode, I searched the vault and found this cracker from January 2021, in which Laura Purcell — doyenne of the contemporary British Gothic — talked me through her Victorian spookshow of mesmerism and haunted silhouettes, The Shape of Darkness.
We also get into the social nightmare of Victorian England – when life was even more gothic than it is now, believe it or not!
Enjoy!
Other books mentioned:
Support Talking Scared on PatreonCome talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected]
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This From the Vault episode is not quite so dusty. Gemma and I recorded this in 2022, but it’s more pertinent than ever. One because Gemma’s great uncanny novella The Folly is being reissued this week, and two, because the world is a mad place right now, and we all need to take care of our minds.
This conversation is all about that. An epic conversation about the issue of mental health as creators and consumers of dark stories. We dig DEEP into our own neuroses, and talk about how great horror comes with great responsibility.
Yes, there is difficult, challenging stuff to churn through — but there’s also chat about the Uncanny Valley, Men in Black, Creepypasta and Black Mirror. And the ethics of vandalising racist statues.
Enjoy!
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Still on a break – still releasing episodes “From the Vault.”
But this week’s was carefully chosen. In a time of darkness and doom-laden days, laughter is the best thing I can lace your horror with. And thankfully T. Kingfisher exists in the world.
The funniest horror writer I know. We spoke WAAAAY back in October 2020, in episode 9, when The Hollow Places had just come out.
Yes Ursula and I talk about that book, and The Twisted Ones (2019) and how they twist Weird classics into fascinating new shapes. But we also cover building your own Golem, the homicidal value of pig farmers, and the anxiety of being a frog biologist.
I dunno guys… just liste! Hope it makes you smile.
Enjoy!
Other books mentioned:
“The White People” in The House of Souls (1906), by Arthur Machen“The Willows”, in The Listener and Other Stories (2007), by Algernon BlackwoodIt Will Just Be Us (2002), by Jo KaplanFrom a Buick Eight (2002), by Stephen KingThe Graveyard Book, by Neil GaimanCoraline, by Neil GaimanFirefly Rain (2008), by Richard DanskySupport Talking Scared on Patreon
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I’m on a break – but couldn’t resist releasing something.
Especially on today of all days, when lovers of democracy require audio sustenance whilst they wait in line to preserve America.
For the first From the Vault episode, I’ve gone back to December of 2020, for an interview with Michael Marshall Smith. We talk about his 30 years of writing horror, fantasy, science fiction and assorted dark imaginings – captured in his career-spanning Best Of collection.
Michael gives us all the good stuff about where ideas came from, why he writes the way he does, and all those details that literary voyeurs like us, want to know.
It’s also a trip back into the weirdness of the pandemic, and the dying days of the Trump presidency. Have your trauma shields up just in case.
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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 JamesThe Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine (2017), by Lindsey FitzharrisI’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer (2018), by Michelle McNamaraThe Devil’s Rooming House: the True Story of America’s Deadliest Female Serial Killer (2011), by M. William PhelpsSupport Talking Scared on Patreon
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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 HarrisonCackle (2021), by Rachel HarrisonSuch Sharp Teeth (2022), by Rachel HarrisonBlack Sheep (2023), by Rachel HarrisonNestlings (2023), by Nat CassidyReluctant Immortals (2022), by Gwendolyne KisteThe Militia House (2023), by John MilasThe Unsuitable (2020), by Molly PohligSupport Talking Scared on Patreon
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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 RhodesThe Good House (2003), by Tananarive DueBeloved (1987), by Toni MorrisonThe Vanishing Half (2020), by Brit BennettSing, Unburied Sing (2017) , by Jesymn WardWhen 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 GlasgowThe Elementals (1981), by Michael McDowellThe Conjure Woman (1899), by Charles W. ChesnuttThe House Behind the Cedars (1900), by Charles W. ChesnuttSupport Talking Scared on Patreon
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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. LeedeAmerican Gods (2001), by Neil GaimanBury Your Gays (2024), by Chuck TingleCamp Damascus (2023), by Chuck TingleSupport Talking Scared on Patreon
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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. GrauWater Statues (1980), by Fleur JaeggyMisery (1987), by Stephen KingHouse of Leaves (2000), by Mark Z. DanielewskiSupport Talking Scared on Patreon
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I started Off Book so that I could speak to some of the brightest dark stars in the wider universe of horror.
This week that plan comes to absolute fruition – ‘cos Kate Siegel is Talking Scared!
Yes, Kate Siegel, scream-queen of our generation, horror maven, acting superstar and now director of extraterrestrial found-footage nightmare (!!) ”Stowaway.” (a segment from the new V/H/S Beyond)
Kate talks to me about the steep learning curve of making that short, the camera techniques she uses to disorientate, bewilder and horrify. She talks about her approach to finding character, especially in her collaborations with her husband, Mike Flanagan – and she talks about the horror stories she loves most in the world.
She also calls me out very early on. How the hell did I recover??
Enjoy!
V/H/S Beyond is streaming now on Shudder
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Release your inner child!
…I mean through reading, not by letting it burst out of your stomach like some horrible sugar-coated xenomorph.
Lora Senf can help. Her Blight Harbor Trilogy is a piece of magic, an umbilicus of imagination between the tired old grump that you’re halfway to becoming, and the wide-eyed wonder you once were.
Lora and I talk about the challenge and reward of writing horror for kids, we talk about the influence of M.C Escher and his mad architecture, we talk about Bradbury and King and other inspirations (including the tiny role that I played in this story). And we also talk about the profound heartsick sorrow of loneliness.
Enjoy.
Other books mentioned:
The Hike (2016), by Drew MagaryThe Library at Mount Char (2015), by Scott Hawkins“Kaleidoscope,” (1949), by Ray Bradbury All Summer in a Day (1954), by Ray Bradbury“There Will Come Soft Rains” (1950), by Ray Bradbury The Foghorn (1950), by Ray Bradbury Pet Semetary (1983), by Stephen KingMisery (1987) by Stephen KingSomething Wicked This Way Comes (1962), by Ray BradburyCoraline (2002), by Neil GaimanThe House With a Clock in its Walls (1973), by John BellairsSupport Talking Scared on Patreon
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More devilish fun on Talking Scared this week when an old friend returns to talk about god, angels, demons and other things out there in the cold reaches of the universe.
Johnny Compton is the author of The Spite House, one of my most admired books from 2022. In his newest, Devils Kill Devils, he starts with a compelling question – “what if your Guardian Angel was a murderous threat” – and then heads off in grander directions.
We talk about how Johnny’s childhood religious confusion played a role in this book, what we both love about world-building and fan-theories, and our shared enthusiasm for the Alien universe. And Johnny gives my current favourite answer to the questions “what really freaked him out recently?”
Enjoy.
Other books mentioned:
The Spite House (2022), by Johnny Compton
Carrion Comfort (1989), by Dan Simmons
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Keith Rosson is our first guest to be personally recommended by Stephen King!
And the praise doesn’t stop there. Keith’s Fever House was one of the biggest hits of 2023, and now he’s back with the sequel, The Devil By Name, which takes the contained punk-rock fury of the first book in a whole different, nation-spanning direction.
This is an epic tale of occult magic, diabolical messages, punk rock, political machinations and, eventually, apocalypse. So there’s a lot to talk about. And I hope you enjoy the following. Especially the part where I crowbar Stevie Nicks into the conversation, because I’ve developed the world’s most belated obsession with her.
Enjoy.
Other books mentioned:
Mercy of the Tide (2017), by Keith RossonSpiral (1995), by Koji SuzukiThe Stand (1990), by Stephen KingKnockemstiff (2008), by Donald Ray PollockThe Low Desert: Gangster Stories (2021), by Tod GoldbergControlled Burn: Stories of Prison, Crime, and Men (2005), by Scott WolvenSupport Talking Scared on Patreon
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Laird Barron is on the podcast. This feels like cause for celebration.
Not only is Laird Barron a phenomenal writer. Not only is it wonderful that he’s back to writing and talking about writing. Not only am I lucky to be able to speak to him…
We also talked about DOGS!
Granted, a cybernetic, immortal monster hound called Rex – but a dog nonetheless. That’s just one of the crazy concepts that make up the stories in Laird’s new collection, Not a Speck of Light… and I mean crazy. These stories involve evil fathers, strange invasions, billionaire bird-women and a disaster-addicted monster – and we talk about how Laird balances the bizarre and brutal, the cosmic and the cynical, the horrific and the hardboiled.
Plus a lot of info on a very exciting project he’s currently working hard on.
Let’s all just be happy, Laird Barron is back. He’s writing. And he’s Talking Scared.
Enjoy.
Join the Laird Barron Reddit Read-along
Other books mentioned:
When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson (2021), edited by Ellen DatlowThe Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All (2013), by Laird BarronBlood Standard (2018), by Laird BarronThe Fisherman (2016), by John Langan“On Skua Island” – in Mr Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters (2009), by John LanganThe Children of Old Leech: A Tribute to the Carnivorous Cosmos of Laird Barron (2014), edited by Ross E. Lockhart and Jason SteeleThe Delicate Prey, and Other Stories (1950), by Paul BowlesThe Sheltering Sky (1949), by Paul BowlesSupport Talking Scared on Patreon
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Are you a Weenie? Don’t be offended. I am.
Weenies are the curious-but-nervous. Those of us who love horror, but who never feel safe from its power to ruin our sleep (and a week of our life). If that’s you, or if you know someone who suffers from Weenie-ism, then Emily Hughes is here!
Emily’s new book, Horror For Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You’re Too Scared to Watch is a public service for the scared. It will save relationships, help ease you into horror and hopefully teach you a thing or two about fear along the way.
In this conversation, we talk about how Emily came to write this most particular of books, and how she chose which films made the grade. We also hear about her own relationship with horror, from the film that haunted her as a child all the way to her grown-up reintroduction to scary movies.
And I finally try to back up my dislike for Hereditary.
Enjoy.
Other books mentioned:
Birdbox (2014), by Josh MalermanNightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films (2022), by Nina NessethTampa (2013), by Alissa NuttingCome Closer (2003), by Sara GranThe Family Plot (2016) by Cherie PriestCamp Damascus (2023), by Chuck TingleCuckoo (2024), by Gretchen Felker-MartinManhunt (2022), by Gretchen Felker-MartinSupport Talking Scared on Patreon
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Anna Bogutskaya is one of the UK’s most prominent film critics, with a penchant for horror. She knows her scary onions. And in her new book, Feeding the Monster, she asks an important question (well, important to the likes of you and me) – Why does horror have a hold on us?
In concise but free-ranging essays, she looks at the prominent themes that sets the horror oft the last decade apart, peeling back the skin of the genre to see how it’s muscle flex and grip, and also give you tons of films to watch in the process.
We have a similarly freewheeling conversation in this episode, talking about everything from our primal horror movie experiences, to the meme-ification of monsters and why Mike Flanagan is both outlier and heart of the genre.
Also… Anna introduces me to the concept of Vecnussy, which may ruin Stranger Things for you, like it has for me.
Enjoy
Other books mentioned:
Death of a Bookseller (2023), by Alice SlaterPenance (2023), by Eliza ClarkDanse Macabre (1981), by Stephen KingRed Dragon (1981), by Thomas HarrisCoup de Grace (2024), by Sofia AjramSupport Talking Scared on Patreon
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- Visa fler
