Talking Scared

Welcome to the now sixth annual State of the Horror Nation.   This is the mega-episode, in which I gather a darkly-inclined supergroup of horror fans and commentators—a horror cabinet, if you will—to cast their informed eyes and minds over the year’s best horror.   We talk trends, generation gaps, terrifying moments, and pick what they consider to be their favourite scary books of 2025.   I am just a bystander and the man with the edit button. Bringing the talent and the opinion are Emily Hughes, Anna Dupre and George Dunn. Together they present a tapestry of horror in red and black and other hideous colours.   Suffer your TBR piles.   Enjoy.   Books Picked   Angel Down (2025), by Daniel Kraus Black Flame (2025), by Gretchen Felker Martin Futility (2025), Nuzo Ozoh One Yellow Eye (2025), by Leigh Radford Play Nice (2025), by Rachel Harrison Spread Me (2025), by Sarah Gailey Veil (2025), by Jonathan Janz When the Wolf Comes Home (2025), by Nat Cassidy What Hunger (2025), by Catherine Dang   Books Anticipated   Cruelty Free (2026), by Caroline Glenn Daytide (2026), by Chris Panatier Femme Feral (2026), by Sam Bessinger For Human Use (2026), by Sarah G. Pierce Headlights (2026), by C.J. Leede Itch (2025), by Gemma Amor Japanese Gothic (2026), by Kylie Lee Baker Kiss Slay Replay (2026), by Rachel Harrison I Know a Place: Rest Stop and Other Dark Detours (2026), by Nat Cassidy Molka (2026), by Monika Kim Nothing Tastes as Good (2026), by Luke Dumas Nowhere Burning (2026), by Catriona Ward On Sunday’s She Picked Flowers (2026), by Yah Yah Schofield Our Cut of Salt (2026), by Deena Helm Persona (2026), by Aiofe Josie Clements The Children (2026), by Melissa Albert The Curse of Hester Gardens (2026), by Tamika Thompson The Fourth Wife (2026), by Linda Hamilton The Hive (2026), by Ronald Malfi The Last Story of Jamie Gunn (TBC), by Thomas Olde Heuvelt The Red Sacrament (2026), by Sara Hinkley Spoiled Milk (2026), by Avery Curran Trad Wife (2026), by Sarah Langan Worry Box (2026), by Chris Panatier Wretch (2026), by Eric LaRocca   Other Books Mentioned   Come Knocking (2025), by Mike Bockoven Old Soul (2025), by Susan Barker Rekt (2025), by Alex Gonzalez The Lamb (2025), by Lucy Rose The Starving Saints (2025), by Caitlin Starling Bat Eater, and Other Names for Cora Zeng (2025), by Kylie Lee Baker Greedy (2026) by Callie Kazumi The Eyes Are the Best Part (2024), by Monika Kim Wake Up and Open Your Eyes (2025), by Clay McLeod Chapman The Unworthy (2025), by Augustina Bazterrica     Support Talking Scared on Patreon Emily Hughes Patreon link is here   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

It’s all about memory this week.   Remember that time literary superstar Carmen Maria Machado came on the show? No? Well here’s your chance to catch up on what you missed.   Carmen spoke to me about Her Body and Other Parties and In the Dream House – the former a collection of folktale and fable, spun to hideous effect; the latter a piercing fictionalised memoir of abuse and haunted relationships.   This was a daunting interview – we went deep into life, love and all the horrors they can bring. But we came up smiling.   It’s a happy memory.   Enjoy.   The Argonauts (2015), by Maggie Nelson The Ghost Variations (2021), by Kevin Brockmeier A Few Seconds of Radiant Filmstrip: A Memoir of Seventh Grade (2014), by Kevin Brockmeier Proxies: Essays Near Knowing (2016), by Brian Blanchfield Monster Portraits (2018), by Sofia Samatar The Hot Zone (1994), by Richard Preston The Haunting of Hill House (1959), by Shirley Jackson The Bloody Chamber (1979), by Angela Carter   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

Jeff VanderMeer and I did not fall out!!   This is a myth that has arisen since Jeff came on the show back in 2021, to discuss his eco-espionage crisis thriller, Hummingbird Salamander.   Well, this trip back to the Vault will hopefully dispel that rumour.   Instead what you’ll hear is a conversation with the Emperor of Weird fiction, talking about conservation and climate catastrophe, about plans to save the world and the villainy of tech – and about the furthest (Southern) reaches of a mad imagination.   Enjoy!   Other books mentioned: Annihilation (2014), by Jeff VanderMeer Borne (2017), by Jeff VanderMeer The Rain Heron (2020), by Robbie Arnaut 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

Revisiting a true highlight this week!   Will Dean’s The Last Thing to Burn is one of very few 10/10 books i've ever featured on this podcast. It’s a flawless study of isolation, survival, exploitation and the most toxic of masculinities – all about a Vietnamese immigrant, trapped in the home of her ‘husband,’ the monstrous Leonard.   Will is an amazing writer, with an amazing life. He’s creating classics like this, as well as the ongoing Tuva Moodyson series, all from the depths of a Scandinavian forest. We talk about his journey from small town UK to his fairytale present, the role of landscape and isolation in his work, broken psyches and much more…   Trust me, this book will stay with you!   Enjoy!   Other books mentioned: Misery (1987), by Stephen King On Writing (2000), by Stephen King Room (2010), by Emma Donaghue The Collector (1963), by John Fowles The Road (2006), by  Cormac McCarthy Asylum (1996), by Patrick McGrath Tickets for the Northern Weird event at Blackwells, Manchester.   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 flashback episode takes us to early 2021, when I was joined by Courtney Summers – the boundary-pushing author of dark YA fictions for a corrective lesson.   Courtney came on the show to discuss The Project, a novel of sinister elite cults, evil charisma and radicalisation. At the time Trump had just been kicked out of office, so those things seemed safe to talk about.   Alas… they are maybe scarier now.   Enjoy!   Other books mentioned: Sadie (2018), by Courtney Summers Redder Days (2021), by Sue Rainsford The Children of Red Peak (2020), by Craig Di Louie The Need (2019), by Helen Phillips 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 for a classic haunted house.   I’m on a short break from the show, to recoup, read without pressure and generally try not to implode. So we’re heading into the vault for some older conversations that new listeners may have missed and long-termers may enjoy anew.   Where better to start that in a haunted house with a Queen of 21st century horror – Ms Tananarive Due!   This was our first conversation together, back in May of 2021 – and we explored her bad-place archetype, The Good House, the elegiac horror of her collection, Ghost Summer, plus forays into her scholarship, film and TV work, and her relationships with Stephen King and Jordan Peele.   It’s a lot of fun.   Enjoy!   Other books mentioned:   Dark Dreams (2004), edited by Brandon Massey “The Comet” (1920),  by W.E. Dubois   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

Here be dragons!   I’m celebrating Halloween week on Talking Scared with the very cream of the bucket list. Joe Hill is finally on the show!   The author of Heart Shaped Box, NOS4A2, “The Black Phone” and Lock & Key is back with his first novel in nearly a decade, and it’s a beast!   King Sorrow is an epic of dragons, diabolical deals, decade-spanning friendships, love and hate and everything in between. It’s bloody brilliant!   Joe talks about the triple inspiration of The Hobbit, The Secret History and Friends. We tackle tech-bros and trolls (literally), and the formidable role of his mother, Tabitha King. And if we disagree on certain characters in King Sorrow, we’re certainly on the same page when it comes to the role of love in life and writing.   This is a special one for me. A special book and a special conversation.   Enjoy!   Other books mentioned: 20th Century Ghosts (2005), by Joe Hill Heart Shaped Box (2007), by Joe Hill The Fireman (2016), by Joe Hill The Hobbit (1937), by J.R.R. Tolkien The Secret History (1992), by Donna Tartt The Dead Zone (1979), by Stephen King Cloud Atlas (2004), by David Mitchell Old Soul (2025), by Susan Barker The Trap (1985), by Tabitha King “The Jewbird” (1963), by Bernard Malamud Coffin Moon (2025), by Keith Rosson   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

In our fifth Let Us Palaver, Nat and I dally a little longer in ‘Salem’s Lot to hunt down a few more vamps and follow up some threads mentioned in the main episode.   This is where we get spoilery, so this is just for those who have been to the Tower already. But we talk about Chris’s predictions for Father Callaghan, discuss the moral arc of King’s entire fictional project (no big thing right!) and even congratulate the man on his steadfast marriage.   Also, my wife makes an appearance bearing tea.   Enjoy.   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

‘Salem’s Lot is FIFTY years old this month. Hellfire, how did that happen? We’re gonna celebrate the bloodsucking and small town shenanigans for all they are worth!!   But some of you know that the Lot sits just to one side of the Path of the Beam – so this is also a key zig in our endless zagging towards The Dark Tower. You may just not know why yet? And neither does Chris, so no one tell him.   So in this two-fer episode we honour a true horror classic of 20th century literature, and we inch one step closer to the nexus of all things. Efficient!   Enjoy.   Other books mentioned: “Jerusalem’s Lot” and “One For the Road,” both in Night Shift (1978), by Stephen King Shitshow (2025), by Chris Panatier The Rats (1974), by James Herbert Dracula (1898), by Bram Stoker The Great Gatsby (1925), by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Harvest Home (1973), by Thomas Tryon   As mentioned – here is my Vulture list of the Best Horror Books of 2025 (so far).   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

Joe Lansdale is here to give us all a smack upside the head.   We are talking about The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale – his brand new career-retrospective, collecting the stories that have defined him for decades as one of the most edgy, provocative writers of the grim and grotesque.   We cover some of the classics, like “Bubba Ho Tep,” “Mr Weed Eater” and “On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks” – asking where the craziness came from, and finding the roots in Joe’s colourful life.   But we also discuss more serious matters, such as the hatred depicted in “The Night They Missed the Horror Show,” and what it means in our current puritanical, easily-outraged era.   Enjoy! Beware!   Other books mentioned: The Thicket (2013), by Joe R. Lansdale Paradise Sky (2015), by Joe R. Lansdale The Nightrunners (1987), by Joe R. Lansdale “A Rose For Emily” (1930), by William Faulkner “Cannibalism in the Cars” (1868), by Mark Twain “Duel” (1971), by Richard Matheson Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), by Mark Twain Neither Beg Nor Yield: Stories With an S&S Attitude (2024), edited by Jason M. Waltz Swords in the Shadows (2025), edited by Cullen Bunn The Only Good Indians (2020), by Stephen Graham Jones The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (2025), by Stephen Graham Jones The Gunfighters: How Texas Made the West Wild (2025), by Bryan Burrough Lonesome Dove (1985), by Larry McMurtry   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