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