Talking Scared

I’ve been looking forward to releasing this one… Nat Cassidy comes to Talk Scared about When the Wolf Comes Home, his new novel that I –and people like me – are already calling out as one of the Best Books of the Year™. It’s a shaggy, undisciplined, sprinting beast of a book that obeys no rules. You may think it’s a werewolf novel, and you may be right... but also very wrong. It’s a book about transformations of many kinds, about fatherhood and the very nature of fear itself. But it’s also funny, scary and sad as hell. You’ll love the damn thing, and this conversation. Enjoy! Other books mentioned: Mary: An Awakening of Terror (2022), by Nat CassidyNestlings (2023), by Nat CassidyPlay Nice (forthcoming, 2025), by Rachel Harrison Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social  on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back to the 80s this week for one of the most singular horror movies of the year – now streaming on Shudder.Dead Mail is an ode to the era, but there are no neon fonts or leg warmers (or Olivia Newton Johns) here. Instead we’re in the drear of the decade, for a story about a synth-obsessed man who keeps his business partner captive in his flock-wallpapered bathroom. The poor victim’s only hope is the investigative ‘Dead Mail’ department of his local post office.If that sounds mad… well, it is. And I’m joined by Kyle McConaghy, one half of the writing/directing duo behind the movie.We talk about scripting the crazy, about the hands-on reality of low-budget filmmaking, replicating 80s aesthetics, and a big bucket full of rubber rats.Enjoy!Dead Mail is streaming on Shudder from Friday 18th April Support Talking Scared on PatreonCheck out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerchCome talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the week that the world changed, we’re talking about the last time things got this crazy. Katherine Arden is the author of The Warm Hands of Ghosts — a novel set in the trenches of the First World War and on the borderline between horror and fantasy. It’s a Faustian pact made in No-Man’s Land, where our memories are the price we pay for keeping ourselves alive. In this episode we talk a lot about history, about inflection points and moments of no-return. We talk about how systems of power can seem so complex that they lead only to ruin – but we also talk devils and fairies and angels and brave, brave nurses with scarred hands. It’s a joy of a conversation, about the most hideous time to be alive. Enjoy! Other books mentioned:  The Bear and the Nightingale (2017), by Katherine Arden The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (2025), by Stephen Graham Jones Wasteland: The Great War and the Origin of Modern Horror (2018), by W. Scott Pool Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004), by Susanna Clarke The Master and the Margarita (1940), by Mikhail Bulgakov Lud in the Mist (1926), by Hope Mirrlees Ghosts Have Warm Hands: A Memoir of the Great War (1968), by Will R. Bird Between Two Fires (2012), by Christopher Buehlman Ghost Eaters (2022), by Clay McLeod Chapman Wake Up and Open Your Eyes (2025), by Clay McLeod Chapman Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social  on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we go from Edinburgh, Scotland to Nashville, Tennessee, in the company of crime author Tariq Ashkanani. Tariq’s The Midnight King is a tricky, quasi-metafictional murder mystery about cursed manuscripts, familial secrets and the most heinous murders. It’s also a love letter to the kind of occult-tinged American crime epics that both he and I grew up loving. We talk about the challenge of writing about serial killing without exploitation, about the unstable boundary between crime and horror fiction, about the allure of Hannibal Lecter and the pressure of a good twist. But mostly we just pay homage to the messy, bloodsoaked myth of America that inspired us so much over the years. Enjoy! Other books mentioned:  Welcome to Cooper (2021), by Tariq Ashkanani Red Dragon (1981), by Thomas Harris Galveston (2010), by Nic Pizzolatto The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper (2019), by Hallie Rubenhold The Devil All the Time (2011), by Donald Ray Pollock Uzumaki (2000), by Junji Ito Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social  on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Time to throw ourselves around. We’re covering Punk Goes Horror. The anthology of stories inspired by punk and alternative rock songs came out just a few weeks back. It brings together a mosh-pit full of authors, both new and established, to transmute their favourite songs into nasty little stories. I invited the anthology editor, William Sterling, and two of his contributors, Wendy Dalrymple and Brian McCauley, to talk about punk, and horror and the affinity between the two. We get into our favourite ever gig experiences, the creepy assumptions behind certain emo-songs, and why punk (and music generally) is such an important light in dark times. Enjoy! Other books mentioned:  Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk (2024), by Kathleen Hanna Victorian Psycho (2025), by Virginia Feito Blood on her Tongue (2025), by Johanna van Veen Credenza (2025), by Wendy Dalrymple Breathe in, Bleed Out (2025), by Brian McCauley Poisoned Soup for the Macabre, Depraved and Insane: An Anthology of Nostalgic Terrors (2025), edited by Wendy Dalrymple and Grace R. Reynolds Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social  on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second Let Us Palaver minisode – in which Nat Cassidy dig into the things we couldn't say about The Drawing of the Three, and give MAJOR SPOILERS about whole Dark Tower series. We're really start to wonder if Chris is punking us. Support Talking Scared on PatreonCheck out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerchCome talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social  on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ka-tet picks up exactly where we left off: on the beaches of Midworld, with Roland Deschain. (If none of that makes any sense to you, go listen to episode one of the Dark Tower Deep Dive immediately)Nat Cassidy, Chris Panatier and I gather for a long, philosophical, expletive-littered conversation about Book 2: The Drawing of the Three. We get further into the character of Roland and his quest, and spend some time with the gaggle of oddballs he meets along his scenic tour of the coast. The seafood is particularly tasty!It’s good to be talking Tower again.Enjoy. Nnedi Okorafor's article on Odetta/Detta Support Talking Scared on PatreonCheck out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerchCome talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social  on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s always great when Stephen Graham Jones comes to Talk Scared with us – but for once we aren’t talking about slashers! No, this time, we’re talking vampires! Or are we? Stephen’s new novel, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, is his best yet. Or at least the one that I love the most. It’s an epic and brutal saga of American history and shame, told through three very distinctive voices, speaking across the centuries. There are monsters with fangs AND with flags. We talk about Stephen’s relationship with so-called Indian stories…about his use and misuse of animals in fiction, and the white-knuckle, red-hot writing style that leads to some truly crazy things. Enjoy! Other books mentioned:  Ledfeather (2008), by Stephen Graham Jones The Only Good Indians (2020), by Stephen Graham Jones The Babysitter Lives / Killer on the Road (2025), by Stephen Graham Jones Ceremony (1977), by Leslie Marmon Silko Riddley Walker (1980), by Russell Hoban A Game of Thrones (1996), by George R. R. Martin The Devils (2025), by Joe Abercrombie I Am Legend (1954), by Richard Matheson Dark Places (2009), by Gillian Flynn Dubliners (1914), by James Joyce Angel Down (2025), by Daniel Kraus The Warm Hands of Ghosts (2024), by Katherine Arden Victorian Psycho (2025), by Virginia Feito Curse of the Reaper (2022), by Brian McCauley Breathe in, Bleed Out (2025), by Brian McCauley  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social  on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Saddle up for a weird west week on Talking Scared. The start of a loose trilogy of sorts. This first instalment features Alex Grecian, talking about his fantastical vision of the Old West (and East) in 2023’s Red Rabbit and the brand-new follow-up, Rose of Jericho. We cover western inspirations, the melancholia of ghosts, Kansas legends and surprising witches. There’s also a nerdy little cryptid section thrown in there too cos you know I can’t resist. It’s a charmer this week. With a glint in its eye. Enjoy! Other books mentioned:  The Yard (2012), by Alex Grecian Lonesome Dove (1985), by Larry McMurtry The Staircase in the Woods (forthcoming 2025), by Chuck Wendig The Summer People (2015), by Kelly Link “Skinders Veil,” in White Cat, Black Dog (2023), by Kelly Link Knock Knock, Open Wide (2023), by Neil Sharpson Pet Semetary (1983), by Stephen King Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social  on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one is doing dystopia right now like Agustina Bazterrica. After Tender is the Flesh made us all consider vegetarianism, now she’s back for a long hard look at patriarchy, religion and populism in The Unworthy. It’s a quiet end of the world, set almost entirely in the confines of a strange convent, and the cult who will do anything to maintain their power. We talk about how Agustina finds the necessary voice of her characters, why love is just another form of madness, how science-fiction just can’t look away from misogyny, and how she once read five books to find a new word for penis. Enjoy! Other books mentioned:   Tender is the Flesh (2017), by Agustina Bazterrica The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), by Margaret Atwood Caliban and the Witch (2004), by Silvia Federici Dune (1965), by Frank Herbert A Canticle For Liebowitz (1959), by Walter M. Miller Jr. Silent Spring (1962), by Rachel Carson Fever Dream (2014), by Samanta Schweblin Los Demenios En El Convento (1985), by Fernando Benitez Brat (2024), by Gabriel Smith The Perfect Nanny (2016), by Leila Slimani  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social  on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices