Talking Scared

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**Talking Scared**

Conversations with the biggest names in horror fiction. A podcast for horror readers who want to know where their favourite stories came from . . . and what frightens the people who wrote them.

Latest Episodes:

155 – Stephen King & Writing From the Nerve Endings Aug 08, 2023

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Our guest this week is Stephen King.

That’s it. That’s the intro.

Stephen King. The architect of modern horror and the creative north star of my life, and many of yours. He’s on the show, talking about his new book, Holly and why the central character just won’t let him go. We cover his attitude to academia, horror and hope, how his worldview sits with a fractured reality, and we even hear some exciting, exclusive details about some upcoming books.

I lack the words to convey my delight.

Enjoy

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

The Boy on the Bridge (2017), by M.R. Carey
DMV (2023), by Bentley Little
Mary: An Awakening of Terror (2022), by Nat Cassidy
The Clackity (2022), by Lora Senf
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), by Agatha Christie
“Beyond the Wall of Sleep,” (1919), by H.P. Lovecraft
The Passenger (2023), by Cormac McCarthy
Light Perpetual (2021), by Francis Spufford
The Deluge (2023), by Stephen Markley

Holly is published on September 5th by Hodder and Scribner

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154 – Alex Woodroe & The Sweet Science of Folk Horror Aug 01, 2023

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We’re off on a Goth pilgrimage this week folks, to the motherland, Transylvania, to talk folk-horror and more with Alex Woodroe.

Alex is a Romanian writer of dark fictions, the Editor in Chief of Tenebrous Press, and the debut author of Whisperwood. The book brings the monsters of Romanian myth and legend to the fore in a battle of wills with an isolated village. There isn’t a vampire in sight. Bram Stoker didn’t know what he was talking about.

Alex does! And we get into lots of things, from the difference between fantasy and folk-legend, political allegory and the recent history of dictatorship, to the very real undead myths in her own family tree.

I learned a lot from this conversation.

Enjoy!

Whisperwood was published by Flame Tree Press on July 11th

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153 – Chuck Tingle & Riding the Lonesome Train Jul 25, 2023

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This week we’re joined by the man, the myth, the mystery that is Chuck Tingle.

Who knows the truth of this enigmatic figure? What visage lies beneath the pink bag that forever encases his face? Does he really have a PhD in massage? Puzzles abound…

The one thing that’s certain is the brilliance of his new novel. Camp Damascus is a full-bloodied horror novel set in that most hideous of environs: a religious community and a gay conversion camp. Sounds triggering. It may well be … but Chuck has also invested this story with such hope and joy and yes, LOVE, that it more than salves all the human horror and demonic jump scares.

We cover tons in this episode – the stoic seriousness of fictional sex, the maligned trinity of genres, rattling the religious right, the simple trick to writing effective jumpscares and the final, full declaration of why love is real.

Enjoy!

Camp Damascus was published by Tor Nightfire on July 18th and Titan Books on July 27th

An article about Chuck – worth reading

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

Straight (2021), by Chuck Tingle

Revival (2014), by Stephen King

Dark Matter (2010), by Michelle Paver

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152 – Andrew Michael Hurley & Our Green, Unpleasant Land Jul 18, 2023

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This week I’m recording very close to home with Andrew Michael Hurley.

Andrew burst onto the folk-horror scene with subtle aplomb (can one burst subtly?) back in 2014, with The Loney. That slice of weirdness was set in the very town in which I spent my wet, dismal childhood holidays. It conjured shivers in more ways than one.

Now he is here to talk about the reissue of his 2019 novel, Starve Acre. It’s a bleak, bitter, wintery tale of isolation, grief and ritual, set in the Yorkshire Dales. Where I also spent some holidays – does Andrew know something I don’t? Hmmmm?

We talk about his relationship with folk horror, and how it helps us express our communal British angst. We make comparisons to some unexpected movies, discuss authorial freedom, and talk about deep knowledge, invented lore and horror as replacement for spirituality.

It’s all a good excuse to yell about the government.

Enjoy!

Starve Acre was re-issued by Penguin on July 4th.

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

The Loney (2014), by Andrew Michael Hurley
Elmet (2017), by Fiona Mozley
The Gallows Pole (2017), by Benjamin Myers
Waterland (1983), by Graham Swift
Cold Hand in Mine (1975), by Robert Aickman

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151 – Verity Holloway & The Onion Skin of Trauma Jul 11, 2023

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War, what is it good for? Absolutely noth…. well actually, it is quite good for horror stories.

Our guest this week doesn’t plumb the usual horrors-of-war route, though. Verity Holloway’s The Others of Edenwell is a supremely subtle, slow-burning excavation of trauma and national nightmares, set in a (supposedly) idyllic spa-cum-convalescent-hospital as battle rages elsewhere.

Of course, there are horrors much closer to home.

It’s possibly my first foray into the First World War on this podcast and Verity and I talk about her family connection to the story, her physical connection to the hospital setting, and her inspirations in the literature of the time. We also discuss cryptozoology, ghost stories, and why German helmets have such a creepy design.

Enjoy!

The Others of Edenwell was published by Titan on July 4th.

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

All the White Spaces (2022), by Ally Wilkes
“Still Falls the Rain” (1944), by Edith Sitwell
Negative Space (2020), by B.R. Yeager
Ghost Eaters (2022), by Clay McLeod Chapman

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150 – Danielle Trussoni & Puzzling All Over the World Jul 04, 2023

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This week Danielle Trussoni arrives at Talking Scared in a rush. She has a meeting to get to, and we have LOTS of things to talk about in less than an hour. Her new novel, The Puzzle Master crams in enough for a whole Discovery Channel series on conspiracy, mysticism and esoteric history, plus dolls, Golems, quantum computing and a cute little Dachshund named Conundrum.

How is a host supposed to cover all that at a rush. The answer, drink more coffee and don’t pause to breathe!

We manage it. We talk about all of the above, plus depictions of altered mental states, the curse of a Dan Brown comparison, and Danielle’s search for the perfect haunted house.

Enjoy!

The Puzzle Master was published by Penguin Random House on June 13th.

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

Angelology (2010) by Danielle Trussoni
Nestlings (2023), by Nat Cassidy
The Long Shalom (2023), by Zach Rosenberg

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149 – Clowns at Midnight – The Big IT Deep-Dive (Part Two), with Ally Malinenko & Nat Cassidy Jun 30, 2023

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Thrust your fists against the post and still insist you see the…

…oh hello. You came back. Thank Gan. We have a monster to defeat this week.

Yes, this is the second part of the Talking Scared dive into Stephen King’s IT. This time we are getting weird.

Joined by stalwart friends, Ally Malinenko (Ghost Girl, This Appearing House) and Nat Cassidy (Mary: An Awakening of Terror), I’m delving below ground and into the cosmic tangle that underpins all of King’s fiction. We’re asking what is Pennywise? Where did he come from? What does he want and what the hell is that giant turtle doing?

It has been a labour of love, talking for hours with friends about my favourite book. Thank you so much for listening, and remember… we’re stronger together.

Enjoy!

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148 – Feral Childhoods – The Big IT Deep-Dive (Part One), with Ally Malinenko & Nat Cassidy Jun 26, 2023

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Come get a balloon, bring your slingshot, let’s float…it’s here!!!

Yes, finally we’re off to Derry, to do battle with that goddamn clown. But as everyone knows, we can’t fight Pennywise alone. That’s why I’m taking my trusty, loyal, brave band of Losers with me. Nat Cassidy (Mary: An Awakening of Terror) and Ally Malinenko (This Appearing House) are joining me for a tour of the sewers, subtext and sociological horrors at the heart of King’s IT.

Halfway through we realised this would to be a two-parter, ‘cos there is just too much to say. The horrors will follow in Part Two, this time we focus mainly on the heart. We talk about the characters, the depictions of childhood… and yes we get into that scene (with possibly surprising opinions).

I so hope you like this episode gang. I want to finally take the chance to explain what this book means to my enduring boyish heart.

Enjoy!
Read Grady Hendrix's essay HERE

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147 – Mike Flanagan & Lighting Up the Darkness Jun 13, 2023

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I’ve rarely been more excited about an episode – for you to hear it or, indeed, about its very contents.

We’re joined this week by Mike Flanagan. Yes, that Mike Flanagan. The genius loci of modern visual horror, the writer and director behind Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep, The Midnight Club and Oculus. Our most literary horror director and a man who understand that horror is where the heart is.

If you think my praise is too gushing then… we’ll just have to disagree.

He may be a filmmaker, but he sure does love books. In this conversation we talk about Mike’s deep love for horror stories, how his childhood reading continues to influence his career, and what he’s still loving about the genre. We discuss his upcoming take on Fall of the House of Usher, his next Stephen King adaptation, and a certain tower that looms in the distance.

Yes, Mike’s career – like all great things – follows the Beam.

The Fall of the House of Usher is out on Netflix later this year.
Other books mentioned in this episode include:
The House with a Clock in its Walls (1973), by John Bellairs
It (1986), by Stephen King
Gerald’s Game (1992), by Stephen King
“The Life of Chuck,” in If it Bleeds (2020), by Stephen King
Echo (2022), by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Blackwater (1983), by Michael McDowell
If You See Her (2019), by Ania Ahlborn
This Appearing House (2022), by Ally Malinenko
The Clackity (2022), by Lora Senf

Support Talking Scared on Patreon

Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com

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146 – Paula. D. Ashe & A Bizarre & Bitter Reprieve Jun 06, 2023

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If horror is indeed a broad church, then our guest this week is preaching from the darkest of pulpits.

Paula D. Ashe is the author of We Are Here To Hurt Each Other – a collection of short stories that has accrued infamy and acclaim in equal measure over the last 12 months. Her stories are cruel. They present a depraved world of man (and woman’s) direst excesses, a world that rubs against the numinous and the cosmically amoral.

Can you say ‘trigger warnings needed’!

We talk at length about the allure of extreme horror, about whether an author can truly consider their readers’ feelings, about horrendous crimes and the difference between the horror of imagery and action. We also give a lot of love to Clive Barker and his influence on Paula’s own mythos-building.

This may be the most extreme episode of Talking Scared ever recorded.

Enjoy (whatever that means!)

We Are Here To Hurt Each Other was published on 21st Feb 2022, by Nictitating Books

Other books mentioned in this episode include: