Talking Scared

Latest Episodes:

203 – Constant Readers & Celebrating Stephen King’s Short Stories (Part Two) Jul 19, 2024

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Part One was epic. Part Two is just as good. In that way, it’s much better than the adaptation of IT!

In the second part of this celebration of King short stories, a whole other roster of Constant Readers come along to talk about their favourites. We have writers for all ages, a fellow podcaster and a filmmaker with important updates.

All of them united by one thing – their love of these little twisted word-worlds that Stephen King has given us over the years.

This was a blast, but god I’m glad it’s finally done.

Enjoy!

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202 – Constant Readers & Celebrating Stephen King’s Short Stories (Part One) Jul 16, 2024

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What’s your favourite Stephen King story? Everyone has one.

Hot off the back of the recent interview with the man himself, it seemed a neat idea to get a few friends on the show to talk about their own preferences from King’s huge back-catalogue of short fiction.

I am the architect of my own doom!

What was supposed to be a small side project grew, like Grey Matter, or unnatural mist, into FOUR HOURS of top-notch King chat, with some of the best and brightest constant readers. I’m not telling you who they are… why spoil the surprise.

But in this first of a double-bill you can hear old and new friends of Talking Scared talk about the King short that lights their fire, freezes their marrow, or breaks their heart. It’s a whole lot…and it’s only half.

Enjoy!

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201 – Stephen King & Touching Other Worlds Jul 09, 2024

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Stephen King is back!

What other intro do you need?

Okay, fine. He talks to me about the stories behind the stories in his new collection, You Like it Darker. I had the audacity to ask him “where he got some of his ideas.”

He also updates us on the potential of a third Jack Sawyer book, to follow The Talisman and Black House. He hints at what’s next from him, and Holly Gibney. He gives a perspective on his view from the top of the horror pyramid, and I finally get to ask him about a beloved-yet-underappreciated novel.

Is that enough for you, or do I need go on?

Thought not…

Thanks for listening – and enjoy.

Other books mentioned:

Waiting for Winter (1966), by John O’ Hara
Horror Movie (2024), by Paul Tremblay
A Head Full of Ghosts (2015), by Paul Tremblay
Survivor Song (2020), by Paul Tremblay
Fever House (2023), by Keith Rosson
Nestlings (2023), by Nat Cassidy
Come With Me (2021), by Ronald Malfi
American Rapture (2024), by C.J. Leede

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200 – Every-Damn-One and Their Scariest Story Jul 02, 2024

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200 episodes! Madness. Who knew there could be so much to say about horror?

I knew. You knew. And here we are.

It turns out that the real cursed treasure was the friends we made along the way – and how better to celebrate the bicentennial, than by inviting some of the Talking Scared nearest and dearest, to tell us their scariest story?

I called, they answered – with tales of voyeuristic ghosts, horrifying roadside encounters, disappearing witches, whispering demons, damaged eyeballs, lost children and ….Richard Simmons!!

Enjoy this. You deserve it. Thank you so very much for your ear, your attention and your support over these last four years.

Onward.

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199 – Josh Malerman & The Most Frightening Love Story Jun 25, 2024

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My unpaid cohost returns. Josh Malerman ladies and gentlemen.

Josh has been on the show many times before, but never have I been so excited to speak to him. His latest novel, Incidents Around the House is about as good a horror book as I’ve ever covered on this show… or possibly read in my life. It’s the story of a young girl, her family, and the entity pursuing them, but – as you’ll hear – it goes a whole lot deeper (and unforgivingly darker) than that.

Josh tells us about the unique process of writing this book. We discuss the challenges of child narrators. I beg insight into the demons and half-glimpsed horrors of his story… and I assault him with odd comparisons.

It’s all very freewheeling and fun. As the 199th episode should be, before we tip over the edge into a whole new century.

Enjoy – and read this damn book!

Other books mentioned:

The House of Last Resort (2024), Christopher Golden

Coraline (2002), by Neil Gaiman

The Exorcist (1971), by William Peter Blatty

Good Night Sleep Tight (2024), by Brian Evenson

Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993), by Stephen King

From a Buick 8 (2002), by Stephen King

11/22/63 (2011), by Stephen King

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Off Book #2 – National Park After Dark Jun 21, 2024

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In the second Off Book episode we get out of our armchairs and go on a real adventure. Well, not really – but we talk to two people who do.

Danielle and Cassie are the hosts of National Park After Dark – a podcast catering to the “morbid outdoor enthusiast.” They have skyrocketed to success, with well-researches stories of murder, maulings and mad incidents out in the world’s national parks.

I’ve listened for years now and I’m delighted to finally get the chance to ask them all the questions… what is their favourite flavour of outdoor macabre? Is there a particular unsolved mystery that burns a hole in their brain? What’s the scariest thing they’ve encountered out there… and should we reintroduce wolves to the UK? (Yes!)

You don’t need to like the outdoors to enjoy this episode. Danielle and Cassie do the hard work for us.

Just enjoy!

Books mentioned:

Wolfish: Wolf, Self and the Stories we Tell About Fear, Ferocity and Freedom (2023), by Erica Berry

A Bolt From the Blue: The Epic True Story of Danger, Daring ad Heroism at 15,000 Feet (2012), by Jennifer Woodlief

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999), by Stephen King

Where the Dead Wait (2023), by Ally Wilkes

Fire in the Sky: The Walton Experience (1997), by Travis Walton

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198 – Paul Tremblay & The Book is Better Jun 18, 2024

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Paul Tremblay returns to Talking Scared on a long orbit, like that fabled Planet X that’s going to kill us all.

He’s back after two years for another discussion of horror aesthetics, introspective terrors and mixed-media nightmares – this time in Horror Movie, his meta-take on cursed cinema and lethal creativity.

Horror Movie is about young filmmakers and the shoot that marks them all, even unto death. It’s also about the making of art, the machinery of fear and the cynicism of Hollywood. But beneath all that self-reflexive interrogation, it’s also just a damn creepy story. And Paul talks to me about all of it.

Note – there is jet lag aplenty in this episode. An arms race of confusion and forgetfulness. It makes for a good time. Bear with us.

Enjoy

Other books mentioned:

The Pallbearer’s Club (2022), by Paul Tremblay
A Head Full of Ghosts (2015), by Paul Tremblay
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (1966), by Joyce Carol Oates
Greasy Lake and Other Stories (1985), by T. C. Boyle
The Stand (1978/1990), by Stephen King
A Better World (2024), by Sarah Langan
Curdle Creek (2024), by Yvonne Battle-Felton

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197 – Elle Nash & Insects in the Ozarks Jun 11, 2024

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Elle Nash’s Deliver Me ruined my week. In the best possible way.

This book, about a woman so desperate for a child that she does truly terrible, no-good things, contains some of the bleakest, most brutal scenes I’ve read in a while. And it’s not even really being treated as a horror novel.

Elle and I talk about that.

We also talk about the hot-button topics of the novel, the patriarchy, the toxic Christianity, the… insect erotica! But we also discuss her wandering heart and the empathy and provocation that drives her work.

It’s a lovely, laid back conversation about a challenging book.

Enjoy

Other books mentioned:

Geek Love (1989), by Katherine Dunn

Violent Faculties (2024), by Charlene Elsby

Frisk (1991), by Dennis Cooper

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196 – Todd Keisling & The Eras Tour: Horror Version Jun 04, 2024

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Todd Keisling can write the hell out of a short story. So well, in fact, that they may convince you to resist a bully, stop going to church, or tell your boss to f**k off!

Cold, Black and Infinite is full of liminal tales of the between-places. Cosmic “Otherness” that defies religion or belief. Corporate soul-hells that take everything you have…and more.

Weird then, that they are so fun.

Todd and I talk about all of that connective tissue between his stories. Plus, we map The Southland, this “pocket cosmos” of weird Appalachia that is destined to be the stage for the next era in his career.

It’s a blast. And this conversation is the anti-corporate, anti-fundamentalism, anti-bully screed you’ve been waiting for.

Enjoy.

Cold, Black and Infinite was released September 2023, By Cemetery Dance

Other books mentioned:

Ugly Little Things: Collected Horrors (2017), by Todd Keisling
The Final Reconciliation (2018), by Todd Keisling
Devil’s Creek (20200, by Todd Keisling
In the Lake of the Woods (1994), by Tim O’Brien
The Raw Shark Texts (2007), by Steven Hall
‘Salem’s Lot (1975), by Stephen King
The Bad Book (2021), ed. by John D. Taff (contains “Gethsemane”)
The Cheese Monkeys: A Novel in Two Semesters (2002), by Chip Kidd
The Ceremonies (1984), by T. E. D. Klein

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195 – Emil Ferris & The Patron Saints of our Imperfection May 28, 2024

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Something new for me this week. A bold venture into uncharted territory.

The graphic novel!!

As is proper, I’ve started with one of the best. Emil Ferris joins me to talk through the creation of her landmark epic, My Favourite Thing is Monsters. Volume 1 came out in 2017 to rapturous acclaim, and now, Volume 2 picks up exactly where that story of cute werewolves and cherished monsters let off. This is an EVENT!!

Emil talks me through this alternative form of storytelling. She tells me about the laborious process behind the books, and how it saved her life (literally). Most of all though, we talk creativity, and how art and monsters are the things that will preserve humanity.

Enjoy.

My Favourite Thing is Monsters is released May 28thth from Fantagraphics

Other books mentioned:

Maus (1986), by Art Spiegelman

The Talisman (1984), by Stephen King and Peter Straub

The Shape of Water (2018), by Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus

Whalefall (2023), by Daniel Kraus

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