Talking Scared 100 – Paul Tremblay and the First-Person Asshole Narrator
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
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