Talking Scared

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

Send us a textIt’s coming home, it’s coming … horror’s coming home!Alright, no one panic – this isn’t about football. We’ll avoid that particular nightmare of human corruption and talk about something much more nourishing – the delights of British Folk Horror.Our guest is Fiona Barnett, and these days it’s seems like a mini-celebration everytime I have a fellow Brit on the show. Her debut novel The Dark Between the Trees is also quintessentially British, mired in the myth and lore and landscape of these sceptic isles. Her novel follows two groups into the cursed Moresby Woods. One is a group of soldiers from the 16th Century; the other is a research group in the present day. Neither expedition goes at all well…Amongst many things, Fiona and I talk about writing female groups, about propelling the plot in the face of paralysis weirdness, we discuss the nature of folktale and truth, and we look into the abyss of Deep Time.And in case that all sounds awfully hifalutin – I make sure to talk about monsters as much as I can. Though this week, I promise, there is no Bigfoot. Enjoy! The Dark Between the Trees was released on October 11th by SolarisOther books mentioned in this episode include: Annihilation (2014), by Jeff VanderMeer Mythago Wood (1984), by Robert Holdstock Picnic at Hanging Rock (1967), by Joan Lindsey Deep Time: A Literary History (2023), by Noah Heringman Begars Abbey (2022), by V.L. Valentine Lolly Willowes, or the Loving Huntsman (1926), by Sylvia Townsend Warner 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 textI don’t always talk about Bigfoot … but when I do it’s with the BEST people.Our guest this week is Erika T. Wurth, author, narrative artist and creative writing guru. She is of Apache/Chickasaw/Cherokee descent and she pours all of that skill and heritage into her new novel White Horse. It’s a tale of haunting, hard-living and violence, with a certain hairy indigenous monster that pops up in your dreams.This is NOT the Bigfoot that you expect, or want to meet. As well as that brief foray into hairy hominid lore (I restrained myself; you’re welcome), Erika and I also talk about the dreaded dream sequence, the German phenomenon of Sonder, the real Overlook hotel and Jack Kerouac, of all people.Enjoy!White Horse was released on November 1st by Flatiron BooksOther books mentioned in this episode include: Buckskin Cocaine (2017), by Erika T. Wurth Black Sun (2021), by Rebecca Roanhorse  Ghost Eaters (2022), by Clay McLeod Chapman 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 textHalloween may be over but I trust you aren’t tired of horror? No? Good. ‘Cos this week’s guest packs a double-whammy – horror novels and horror movies all in one. Brian McAuley is a screenwriter and debut novelist. His first book, Curse of the Reaper is a behind-the-scenes look at how the horror movie sausage gets made, featuring the greatest slasher icon never to actually exist, and some of the best ‘bad’ scriptwriting you’ll ever read.Brian and I talk about Hollywood as a place of both cinematic and spiritual horror. We compare our favourite franchises and our love for Robert Englund. We discuss why the genre needs to remember to be fun, and how you can judge a lot from someone’s reaction to the latest Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  All in all, it’s the perfect book for the day after Halloween – when we just need to keep the horror train rollin’Enjoy!Curse of the Reaper was released on October 4th by Talos Press.Other books mentioned in this episode include:  Rootwork (2022), by Tracy Cross Hollywood Monster: A Walk Down Elm Street With the Man of Your Dreams (2009), by Robert Englund and Alan Goldsher The Dark Half (1989), 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 last episode before Halloween and it’s suitably about my favourite book of the year: Andy Davidson’s The Hollow KindAndy is the Stoker-nominated author of In the Valley of the Sun and The Boatman’s Daughter. The Hollow Kind is his third book and it packs a lot into its 400 pages. It’s as dense and weighty as an imploding paper star. It’s a haunted house story (of sorts), a creature feature (of sorts) and a whole lot of Southern Gothic of many kinds. The prose is lush and wow, does Andy know a lot about the history of Georgia both human and natural.We talk about that, as well as the link between industry and horror, the allure of extreme violence, and the sheer delight of finding a map at the front of a book. Plus, we go a little deeper than usual into the nature and origins of the evil at the heart of the story.Enjoy and have a happy Halloween my horror-loving siblings!The Hollow Kind was released on October 11th by MCD Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Boatman’s Daughter (2020), by Andy Davidson Convulsive (2022), by Joe Koch Absalom, Absalom! (1936), by William Faulkner Poachers (1999), by Tom Franklin Knockemstiff (2008), by Donald Ray Pollock Jo Koch interview with Andy at Southwest Review 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 was Thomas Wolfe who wrote “you can never go home again.” Huh, what did he know? (yes, I understand the metaphor – move on!)This week’s guest proves that whilst you can go home, you may not want to. Erin E. Adams is an actor, playwright and now the debut author of JACKAL, a novel of homecomings horrid and awful. Each year, in the small Pennsylvania town of Johnstown, a young Black girl goes missing, taken by whatever lurks in the woods surrounding the town. Helluva premise!!Erin takes us on a tour of Johnstown, both the real and the sorta fictional version. We talk about justification and paranoia, about anger as a superpower and the notion that horror is a genre for white people. She explores the epochal moments from her town’s history and goes deep on her feelings about Black horror’s handling of trauma. Then we compare our memories of small-town adolescence – finding that some sh*t is the same all around the world. Enjoy!Jackal was released on October 4th by Bantam.Other books mentioned in this episode include: How to Recognize a Demon has Become Your Friend (2011), by Linda Addison Come With Me (2021), by Ronald Malfi – episode 49  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 textDo you know anyone with hairy palms? Weird question, but as this week’s novel-in-question will convince you, it’s best to be careful around the hirsute.Our guest is Rachel Harrison, returning to Talking Scared with her brand new SUCH SHARP TEETH. It’s a tale of small-town relationships, female transformation, love and … werewolves.Anyone who has read either of Rachel’s previous novels, The Return or Cackle, will know that she has a knack for reinventing horror tropes within snarky satire. Such Sharp Teeth is no different in that regard. Rachel and I talk about messy characters, beastly metaphors, and rage filled rooms. We get into the unexpected earnestness of romance, and we wonder if      horror comedy may well be the best genre to represent contemporary existence.And stick around because Rachel also has the best ever answer to the question, what truly scares you… Enjoy!Such Sharp Teeth is released on October 4th by Berkley.Other books mentioned in this episode include:  Build Your House Around My Body (2021), by Violet Kupersmith The Return (2020), by Rachel Harrison – episode 17 Cackle (2021), by Rachel Harrison  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 best and spookiest season starts in earnest, this year on Talking Scared. Our guest is Jamie Flanagan, actor, screenwriter, and part of the team who delivered such televisual delights as The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass and now, The Midnight Club.With The Midnight Club due to land on Netflix worldwide this Friday – I rejigged the schedule to sneak in a chat with Jamie about his work on the show, his relationship with horror-maestro director, Mike Flanagan, and some of the magic that bubbled to the surface in Midnight Mass. Jamie pulls back the veil on the mythical ‘writers room’. He talks about the difficulty of getting anything to screen. And we talk, of course, about the influence of Stephen King.It’s a pleasant detour this week, away from books, without leaving the literary entirely behind.Enjoy!The Midnight Club is released worldwide on Netflix, October 7th.  Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Midnight Club (1994), by Christopher Pike  The Mist (1980), by Stephen King House of Leaves (2000), by Mark Z. Danielewski 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