Talking Scared

Send us a textHistory is haunted. Ghosts are injustice persevering. So many horror stories hinge on that idea, but for Tananarive Due it’s more personal than that. Her new novel, The Reformatory, is borne from the ghosts hidden in her own family history.  The story takes place in a hideously cruel juvenile correction facility, in a racist town, in the 1950s. As you can imagine, very few good things happen to her child protagonist.  We talk about the link between horror and history, about writing from her family tree, about the very real reformatories that persisted into the modern era, and about looking cruelty full in the face and wrestling it into story. This conversation is the perfect context for a near-perfect novel.  Enjoy! The Reformatory was published October 31st by Saga and Titan Books  Books mentioned:  The Only Good Indians (2020), by Stephen Graham Jones The Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America (2012), by Gilbert King Kindred (1979), by Octavia E. Butler  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textSometimes when you’re doing something scary good company can be a blessing.  Nat Cassidy is good company. And this week he talks me through the haunted hallways and avenues of his New York horror ode, Nestlings – but he also helps me tackle the very real world horror that is turning our newspapers into nightmare-fodder and the Middle East into a tinderbox. But have no fear (well, always have a little fear!) this is no mere despairing, depressing look at reality. We also talk about gargoyles and vampire-adjacent things, about New York winters and longing for home … and of course, about Stephen King.  Enjoy! Nestlings was published October 31st by Tor Nightfire Books mentioned: Mary: An Awakening of Terror (2022), by Nat CassidyNightmares in the Sky (1988), by Stephen King and F-Stop Fitzgerald‘Salem’s Lot (1975), by Stephen KingThe Shining (1977), by Stephen KingFrom a Buick 8 (2002), by Stephen KingRosemary’s Baby (1967), by Ira LevinThe Keep (1981), by F. Paul WilsonI, Claudius (1934) by Robert GravesThe Guns of August (1962), by Barbara W. Tuchman Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textSome stories are just too big for one podcast. Some stories should be too big for one book.  Sam Rebelein’s Edenville is one such story. This 300-something page novel has more crammed into it than your average fantasy trilogy. There is backstory upon backstory, a cosmic framework, and enough different monsters to fill Guillermo del Toro’s minibus. Yet somehow Sam corrals it all into a whimsical horror romp – a well-organised riot. We talk about ideas… about thinking them up, letting them evolve and, most crucially, getting them on paper. We talk narcissistic writers, the power of dreams, the unique eeriness of the Hudson River Valley and the questionable nature of curses. This conversation is a call to arms for writers. It’s a weary acceptance that maybe, just maybe, sitting your arse in the chair is the most important thing you can do all day. Enjoy! Edenville was published October 3rd by Titan Books and HarperCollins Books mentioned:  Echo (2022), by Thomas Olde Heuvelt Camp Damascus (2023), by Chuck Tingle Hannibal (1999), by Thomas Harris  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textSome stories are too short, some are too long, but some stories are just right. It’s the Goldilocks zone: the novella.What is the secret to crafting a longer story but not letting it run away from you? How do you sustain the terror beyond the shortest form? How do you know what to keep in and what to cut out? This is the art of the novella, and I’m joined by a pair of expert practitioners to talk it through. Josh Malerman and Ronald Malfi have both published novella collections this year – Ron’s They Lurk and Josh’s Spin a Black Yarn contain multitudes. From motel-lot self-mutilation to deathbed serial killer confessions, via the Oregon backwoods and the core of Saturn(!!), these stories take us to places without wasting a word.Josh and Ron provide a masterclass on the art of the novella, as well as ALL the enthusiasm you could ever pack into an hour of conversation. This one will put a smile on your face and inspiration in your typin’ fingers! Enjoy. They Lurk was published was published on July 18th by Titan; Spin a Black Yarn was published August 15th by Del Rey Books mentioned: Daphne (2022), by Josh MalermanGoblin (2021), by Josh MalermanGhostwritten (2022), by Ronald MalfiPet Sematary (1983), by Stephen KingThe Long Walk (1979), by Stephen KingMrs Dalloway (1925) by Virginia WoolfHouses Without Doors (1990), by Peter StraubBloom (2023), by Delilah S. DawsonThe Turn of the Screw (1898), by Henry James Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textThis week is a special roundtable episode. An exciting, challenging and very very thought-provoking tour of contemporary Black horror, in the company of three writers at the bleeding edge.  Nnedi Okorafor, Maurice Broaddus and Lesley Nneka Arimah are just three of the contributors to Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror. It’s curated by Jordan Peele, who knows a thing or two about that particular landscape, and these three authors present a fantastic cross-section of how versatile Black horror is right now. We talk about their stories, about the anthology as a whole and the broader topic of Black horror. What does that even mean? What is the role of history? Of trauma? And of the future? At times, these guests turn the interview around on me, asking me to reflect on my own presumptions and the baggage I bring to these stories. Like I said, challenging and exciting. Hope you enjoy it. Out There Screaming was published on October 3rd by Picador and Random House Books mentioned:  Dark Dreams: A Collection of Horror and Suspense by Black Writers 92004), ed. Brandon Massey King Maker (2010), by Maurice Broaddus How High We Go in the Dark (2022), by Sequoia Nagamatsu Demon Copperhead (2022), by Barbara Kingsolver The Changeling (2017), by Victor LaValle No Gods, No Monsters (2021), by Cadwell Turnbull The Nesting (2020), by C.J. Cooke Leech (2022), by Hiron Ennes “Africanfuturism Defined.” (2019), by Nnedi OkoraforSupport Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textCome home!! We have to come home!! The House is calling us. Yep, this week we are going back to the most haunted house of all. Hill House. Shirley Jackson’s classic bad place. And we’re going in the company of three-time Shirley Jackson Award Winner, Elizabeth Hand, whose new novel is the first ever sanctioned sequel to Jackson’s classic. A Haunting on the Hill submits four new unwitting victims to the horrors of Hill House. But that’s where the stories diverge. Liz’s take on this soured ground is a whole different thing, full of witchcraft, theatre-drama and weirdness even Jackson didn’t dream up. We talk about Jackson’s huge legacy, the pressures and pleasures of playing in her sandbox, treating Hill House as a character and murder ballads.  Enjoy! Welcome home.  A Haunting on the Hill was published on October 3rd by Mulholland Books and Sphere Books mentioned:  When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson (2021), ed. by Ellen Datlow The Shining (1977), by Stephen King Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music (2011), by Rob Young The Magic Box: Viewing Britain through the Rectangular Window (2021), by Rob Young Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textThis week on Talking Scared we are joining hands with Chuck Wendig to take the fight to Big Fruit. They have been lying to us about apples all our lives. Chuck’s new novel, Black River Orchard is all about apples. Tasty, evil, corruptive. The book grows from the fertile soil of American small-town horror, and we talk about some texts in that storytelling style, as well as how Chuck himself approaches writing such big books with so many character arcs. We also cover apple-lore, how politics fits into horror fiction, the appeal of violent characters and a whole lot of books we think you should read.  Enjoy. This book is a great way to say goodbye to summer. Black River Orchard was published on September 26th by Del Rey Books mentioned:  Fever House (2023), by Keith Rosson Ring Shout (2020), by P. Djèlí Clark The Fisherman (2017), by John Langan The Tommyknockers (1987), by Stephen King ‘Salem’s Lot (1975), by Stephen King Mary: An Awakening of Terror (2022), by Nat Cassidy Swan Song (1987), by Robert R. McCammon Maeve Fly (2023), by C.J. Leede  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textClay McLeod Chapman returns to Talking Scared to answer some serious questions, the first being what the holy f**k Clay?! Clay has never been a writer to shy away from a high concept challenge (haunted mushrooms, anyone?) but his latest novel, What Kind of Mother goes into the uncharted regions of the mind and soul, dredging the craziest of horrors from the murky waters of his native Chesapeake Bay. We talk the terrors of both adolescence and parenthood, the terrible power of imagination, why Virginia still beckons his storytelling home … and crabs. Ohhhh we’ll get to the crabs! Clay is a great writer, a wonderful person and a good friend of the show. I hope you enjoy this episode.  What Kind of Mother was published on September 12hth by Quirk Books Books mentioned: Spin a Black Yarn (2023), by Josh Malerman They Lurk (2023), by Ronald Malfi Graveyard of Lost Children (2023), by Katrina Monroe Delicate Condition (2023), by Danielle Valentine Just Like Mother (2022), by Anne Heltzel Pet Sematary (1983), by Stephen King The Return (2020), by Rachel Harrison Razorblade Tears (2021), by S. A. Cosby Conjuring Up Philip: An Adventure in Psychokinesis (1976), by Iris M. Owen and Margaret Sparrow Superstition (1997), by David Ambrose  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textI’m back, partially rested and with some romance lingering in my soul. Good timing, cos this week’s episode focuses on the heart as well as the blood that it pumps.  Isabel Cañas returns to the show to talk about her second novel, Vampires of El Norte – a sweeping historical love-story set against a backdrop of class tumult, war and … yeah… vampires. It’s not a spoiler guys – it’s in the title! Isabel speaks so eloquently about the relationship between vampirism and cultural legacy, about how it isn’t only the undead who invade your space and drain your essence. She describes the intense, insane schedule of writing the book, how landscape invites the supernatural, Mexican boogeymen and boogeywomen, and historical fiction as feminist conundrum. Enjoy. With heart, soul and viscera.  Vampires of El Norte was published on August 15hth by Berkley Books mentioned:  The Hacienda(2022), by Isabel Cañas Mexican Gothic (2020), by Silvia Moreno Garcia Lone Women (2023), by Victor Lavalle Island Witch (forthcoming 2024), by Amanda Jayatissa  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textWhy do we keep heading back to the woods? WHY?? Nothing good ever happens there.Alexander James would argue otherwise, but he’s clearly made of sterner stuff than me. In his debut novel, The Woodkin, Alex parlays his love of the wild outdoors into a story that heads toward a familiar backwoods nightmares, before veering far off the beaten trail into something stranger and even scarier. In this episode we talk about his love for the woods of the Pacific Northwest (and yes! I ask him about Bigfoot of course). We cover the controversy surrounding an earlier title choice, the influence of D&D on his writing and the trick to realistically depicting fear in fiction.It’s a happy hike into darkness. EnjoyThe Woodkin was published August 22nd by CamCat BooksOther books mentioned in this episode include: Dark Mountain (1992), by Richard Laymon Offseason (1980), by Jack Ketchum Mexican Gothic (2020), by Silvia Moreno-Garcia The Hacienda (2022), by Isabel Cañas I'm a Search and Rescue Officer for the US Forest Service, I Have Some Stories to TellCritStupid Podcast (Alex's D&D podcast)Support Talking Scared on PatreonCome talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices