Talking Scared

Send us a textIt’s not even the end of January and we’re already dealing with the second apocalypse of the year.This one is written by CJ Tudor, whose new novel, The Drift, moves her out of the crime chillers she is best-known for, into a whole other world of horror.It’s a series of locked room mysteries, occurring in the hideous aftermath of global pandemic. And if you are a little sick of global pandemics (who isn’t?) then at least this one has rage zombies and lots of murder.CJ and I talk about many things, from genre expectations, to failed novels, grief to TV adaptation – but the pandemic is a dominant theme. We talk about about some personal loss, so if that would be a trigger for you, go in pre-warned.But mostly, it’s a lovely chat with “Britain’s answer to Stephen King.”Enjoy!The Drift was published by Penguin on Jan 19th in the UK and Jan 31st in the US. Other books mentioned in this episode:The Burning Girls (2021), by C.J. TudorThe Chalk Man (2018), by C.J. TudorSign Here (2022), by Claudia LuxTo contribute to Laird Barron’s GoFundMe, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/laird-barron-hospital-costs-medication-costs.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

Send us a textWhen it comes to stress, they say selling a house is up there with divorce and death. Now imagine that house is haunted… by demonic puppets. Yeah – that’s the premise of Grady Hendrix’s brand-new horror novel, How to Sell a Haunted House. It combines Grady’s trademark humour, genre-knowledge and playfulness, with a genuinely frightening story about homes, and all the things they contain, both comforting and downright nasty.Grady and I dive into the economics of haunting, the value of earnestness in a world of irony, and we discover the difference between marionettes and hand puppets … which is more frightening that you would expect.It’s a fun conversation, about a joyfully creepy book.  Enjoy!How To Sell A Haunted House was published by Berkley on Jan 17th 2003. Other books mentioned in this episode:  The Final Girl Support Group (2020), by Grady Hendrix Horrorstör (2014), by Grady Hendrix We Sold Our Souls (2018), by Grady Hendrix My Heart is a Chainsaw (2020), by Stephen Graham Jones The Pallbearer’s Club (2022), by Paul Tremblay Moth Manor (1978), by Martha Sherman Bacon To donate to the fundraiser for Laird Barron, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/laird-barron-hospital-costs-medication-costs, and thanks SO much.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

Send us a text…AAAND WE’RE BACK! I hope you’re slipping into 2023 like it’s a warm bath, but either way this week’s episode will be a cold, sharp system shock. The guest is Stephen Markley; the book is The Deluge – a 900-page beast of ecological and societal disintegration, and the best book I have read in decades. Imagine The Stand was based on rigorous scientific research and was, y’know, about to happen to us all for real. Yeah! This is a scary one, even if it would never be listed in the horror part of the bookshop.Stephen and I talk about (re)considering apocalyptic fiction, choosing characters, how real events outpaced the writing of the book, and how the climate crisis forces us to ask some uncomfortable questions about social issues.  Like the book I question, this episode is heavy and challenging and frightening, but maybe… just maybe… it will give you some hope.Enjoy!The Deluge was published by Simon & Schuster on Jan 10th 2003.Other books mentioned in this episode: The Big Fix: Seven Practical Steps to Save Our Planet (2022) by Hal Harvey and Justin Gillis World War Z (2006), by Max Brooks Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet (2021), by Thich Nhat Hanh The Stand (1990), by Stephen King 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

Send us a textThe year is almost over. What is left to do except offer you my last-minute ranking of the best books I’ve read and enjoyed in 2022.I will warn you – I am poorly and my voice sounds like ten miles of bad gravel. This sounds like the Reba McIntyre book club. I am HUSKY!!Hang around for the afterword when my voice finally gives out as I labour over a long and elaborate thank-you for listening and supporting the show this year. At times 2022 has felt like a waking nightmare, but here in Spookybooklandia, we’ve kept things ironically nice.  Love to you all.Happy New Year. Here’s to the next.Books mentioned:  A Child Alone With Strangers (2022), by Philip Fracassi All the White Spaces (2022), by Ally Wilkes  Mary: An Awakening of Terror (2022), by Nat Cassidy  Burn the Plans (2022), by Tyler Jones  The Hollow Kind (2022), by Andy Davidson Screams from the Dark (2022), ed. Ellen Datlow House of Hunger (2022), by Alexis Henderson Reluctant Immortals (2022), by Gwendolyne Kiste Then I Woke Up (2022), by Malcolm Devlin The Clackity (2022), by Lora Senf  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

Send us a textIt’s that time of year again. A time to reflect, to look back over a tumultuous twelve months, and to talk about the horror books that helped us survive them.2022 has been a helluva year for the good kind of horror. Far too much for one man to cover. So I’ve drafted in some highly qualified friends – Emily Hughes and Janelle Janson. They have their fingers right on the arterial spurt of the genre – and they have each read far more than me.Together we deliver this year's State of the Horror Nation – talking about big issues in horror, the key books we’ve adored…and the dozens and dozens of titles we’re looking forward to in 2023.We raise a glass to a late and beloved horror icon, we make some new year’s resolutions, and Janelle and Emily get a bit squeaky about their big horror crush. Bet you can guess who (it’s not me!)Thanks for all your support this year.Books picked: Ghost Eaters (2022), by Clay McLeod Chapman – ep. 110 A Child Alone With Strangers (2022), by Philip Fracassi – ep. 120 Echo (2022), by Thomas Olde Heuvelt – ep. 78 Our Share of Night (2022), by Mariana Enriquez All the White Spaces (2022), by Ally Wilkes – ep. 76 We Are Here to Hurt Each Other (2022), by Paula D. Ashe Mary: An Awakening of Terror (2022), by Nat Cassidy – ep. 101 Burn the Plans (2022), by Tyler Jones – ep. 81 Just Like Home (2022), by Sarah Gailey  Books anticipated:  Don’t Fear the Reaper (2023), by Stephen Graham Jones  Silver Nitrate (2023), by Silvia Moreno Garcia Vampires of el Norte (2023), by Isabel Cañas Pinata (2023), by Leopoldo Gout Tell Me I’m Worthless (2023), by Alison Rumfitt (already out in UK) Spite House (2023), by Jonny Compton Lone Women (2023), by Victor Lavelle Everything Darkness Eats (2023), by Eric LaRocca Episode 13 (2023), by Craig Dilouie House of Good Bones (2023), by T. Kingfisher Nights Edge (2023), by Liz Kerin The Edge of Sleep (2023), by Jake Emmanuel The Drift (2023), by C. J. Tudor Bad Cree (2023), by Jessica Johns Maeve Fly (2023), by C.J. Leade A Light Most Hateful (2023), by Hailey Piper Looking Glass Sound (2023), by Catriona Ward The Beast You Are (2023), by Paul Tremblay The Salt Grows Heavy (2023), by Cassandra Khaw Burn the Negative (2023), by Josh Winning How to Sell a Haunted House (2023), by Grady Hendrix Abnormal Statistics (2023), by Max Booth III The Insatiable Volt Sisters (2023), by Rachel Eve Moulton Camp Damascus (2023), by Chuck Tingle Extended Stay (2023), by Juan Martinez House of Cotton (2023), by Monica Brashears  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textIt’s the Christmas Special and with the obligatory requirement to do something different – we’re turning the tables.Yes, I’m the one being interviewed this week.To make that a palatable offering for listeners, the guest interviewers are none other than Rachel Harrison and Josh Malerman. Friends of the show and horror superstars who, out of the goodness of their hearts, devoted an evening to asking me questions. Don’t listen for me; listen for them. Amongst other parts of my odd life, we cover my early gorilla terrors, my unhealthy relationship with running, and my time as an alpaca farmer. Oh and of course, Stephen King comes up a time or two.What have we learned in this self-important project – 1) the hubris of the male podcaster knows no bounds and 2) I become a lot less articulate when talking aboiut myself.Oh …  and also, I have an idea that you may, or may not like. Enjoy, and merry Christmas. 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

Send us a textAre you ready for some learnin’?This week rather than focusing on any single book, or any single author – I thought we’d have a little look at … y’know … the entire friggin’ history of Horror and Gothic across the centuries. After all, what’s a Christmas break from podcasting if you aren’t doubling the length of your episodes and making the scope infinite? Thankfully, I’m joined by a bona fide expert. Professor Roger Luckhurst, from Birkbeck College, London comes with me to talk about the history of dark culture. We use his great new book, Gothic: An Illustrated History as a guide. We cover everything we can in a couple of hours – from the birth of the genre in the 1700s, through Shelley and Stoker and all the way across the Atlantic to pick up with Poe and Lovecraft and Jackson. And as we get into the modern era we see the genre split and fracture in fascinating ways. I hope you enjoy this immensely. Prof Rog is the best guide an eager Goth or horror nerd could hope for.**Note – this episode was originally released on Talking Scared Patreon as a series of 3 shorter episodes. Gothic: An Illustrated is out now from Palgrave.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

Send us a textThis week I’m beginning my supposed ‘break’ from reading.There is still an episode, however, and it’s a doozy. You may be glad to hear I’ve put down the books for a short while, ‘cos my guest is a huge name from the cinematic aisle of the horror world – Craig Engler, GM of Shudder is in the house!!He joined me for a conversation back in October, when we were both in the throes of the Halloween build up. Now, listening to this weeks later, you can hardly hear the strain in our voices at all. We talk about Craig’s creative life and work – from his role in the show, Z-nation, to the helm of Shudder. We debate dream book-to-movie adaptations and, of course, I ask him which films he thinks are the scariest on Shudder. Most of them I’m too afraid to watch.Oh, and I may use this interview to apply for a non-existent job.Enjoy – this will have your Christmas TV binge covered.Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Library at Mount Char (2015), by Scott Hawkins (episode 94) House of Leaves (2000), by Mark Z. Danielewski Night Film (2013), by Marisha Pessl The String Diaries (2013), by Stephen Lloyd George 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

Send us a textGet ready to be sickened by my praise.My guest this week is Philip Fracassi. Last year his historical horror, The Boys in the Valley got the Stephen King endorsement. He’s already following up with A Child Alone With Strangers - his second novel (or is it his first, or his third – as you’ll hear it’s complicated).This book is an all-timer. It blends the relaxed, character driven storytelling of the best 80s horror, with a contemporary cross-genre style that keeps you shocked …  and shook. I tell you now, this book will take your heart, put it in a velvet box – and then stamp on that box until it’s mush.We talk about a lot of things in this 70-minute conversation. Writing believable children, creating great villains, and conceiving original monsters and true otherness. We explore insectile horror, empathy overloads and setcking to your guns on word-length.This is my last author-interview of the year and I couldn’t have hoped for a better book to discuss.Enjoy! A Child Alone With Strangers was released on October 25th by Talos Press Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Boys in the Valley (2021), by Philip Fracassi Gothic (2023), by Philip Fracassi The Stand (1990), by Stephen King The Magus (1965/1977), by John Fowles Let it Come Down (1952), by Paul Bowles The Delicate Prey and Other Stories (1950), by Paul Bowles 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 textAre you a city mouse or a country mouse? That’s the question at the heart of my conversation with Charlotte Northedge. Her new novel, The People Before argues that though the city may be a hassle, it’s a lot less scary than what waits out there in the fields and farmhouses of this pleasant land. Charlotte is very much a city mouse. She’s also the Head of Books for The Guardian Newspaper, which makes her superbly well-euipped to talk about fiction in general, and this is an episode that really gets into the Gothic tradition of which The People Before is part. We talk about the unique nature of the female gothic, domestic loads and mortgage terror, the economics of haunted houses, and I stand by my argument that rural axe-murders are fairly rare.Enjoy! The People Before was released on November 10th by HarperCollinsOther books mentioned in this episode include: The House Guests (2021), by Charlotte Northedge The Last House on Needless Street (2021), by Catriona Ward  Sundial (2022), by Catriona Ward  The Fell (2021), by Sarah Moss The Haunting of Hill House (1959), by Shirley Jackson Rebecca (1938), by Daphne Du Maurier The Turn of the Screw (1898), by Henry James  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