Talking Scared

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115 – Andy Davidson & Ornate Maps of Hell Oct 25, 2022

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The last episode before Halloween and it’s suitably about my favourite book of the year: Andy Davidson’s The Hollow Kind

Andy 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

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114 – Erin E. Adams & Monsters in the Rust Belt Oct 18, 2022

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It 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

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113 – Rachel Harrison & Teeth, Needles & Gnomes Oct 11, 2022

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Do 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

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112 – Jamie Flanagan & Stories as Companions for Loneliness Oct 04, 2022

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The 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

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111 – Alexis Henderson and Hot Marxist Bloodletting Sep 27, 2022

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It’s not only vampires that drink blood. That’s what we find out on this week’s episode.

Our guest is Alexis Henderson – author of The Year of the Witching and now, her sophomore novel, House of Hunger. It’s a luscious, lurid tale of dark fantasy, blood and sex. Y’know … all the good stuff.

Oh, and it’s one of my favourite books of the year.

Alexis and I discuss the collision of horror and fantasy, the erotics and politics of blood, and the double standards when it comes to female perversion. We also talk a little about a certain Bloody Countess, who plays a big part in the background of House of Hunger.

Enjoy!

House of Hunger is released September 27th by Ace Books

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

A Dowry of Blood (2022), by S.T. Gibson
The Year of the Witching (2021), by Alexis Henderson

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110 – Clay McLeod Chapman and Unhealthy Obsession with Clear Plastic Tarps Sep 20, 2022

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Wanna get haunted?

That’s the delightful proposition offered by Clay McLeod Chapman’s Ghost Eaters – a novel of ghosts, grief and ghastly narcotics. Just take one pill and you can sell all the phantoms that surround you. What a premise!

It’s Clay’s second time on Talking Scared and he’s always welcome. There are few more honest, open, and thoughtful writers out there. This time around we go deep, into the real emotional core of Ghost Eaters, talking about lost friends and long-ago dreams. We discuss 90s indie art, postmodernism’s pains-in-the-ass, and our drug experiences (turns out we’re lame).

Oh, and there are Machine Elves. What are Machine Elves, you ask? Listen to find out.

Enjoy!

Ghost Eaters is released September 20th by Quirk Books

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

Between Two Fires (2012), by Christopher Buehlman
Whisper Down the Lane (2021), by Clay McLeod Chapman – (episode 32)
The Secret History (1992), by Donna Tartt
Infinite Jest (19960, by David Foster Wallace

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109 – Gemma Amor and The Big Mental Health in Horror Bonanza Sep 13, 2022

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The time has finally come to go to the scariest place imaginable – the inside of the human mind.

Thankfully, we have a friend to accompany us on this most hideous of trips. I’m joined this week by Gemma Amor, author of the brand-new techno-horror FULL IMMERSION. It’s a book that deals with trauma, psychosis and experimental treatment, and it’s the perfect springboard for an epic conversation about mental health in horror.

Gemma and I cover the autobiographical elements of her novel and how it helped her recovery. I lay bare my own neurosis and explain why this genre is not necessarily a safe space. And Gemma explains the dangerous reality of being a woman in the horror game.

If that all sounds a tad sombre, don’t worry – there is also chat about the Uncanny Valley, Men in Black, Creepypasta and Black Mirror. As well as the pros and cons of pushing over racist statues.

It’s a long episode this one. You won’t get this level of self-indulgence every week. But it was just too good a conversation to cut short.

Let’s head into my head, it’s scary there!!

Enjoy!

Full Immersion is released September 13th by Angry Robot

Read Gemma’s essay - The Female Experience of Fear

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108 – Hailey Piper and Ambulatory Brain Monsters Sep 06, 2022

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Finally, she’s here!

After months of waiting for schedules and book releases to align, Hailey Piper is on the show. She’s here to talk about both of her 2022 releases – each is a kidnapping experience.

The novella Your Mind is a Terrible Thing takes us up into the void and into creepy inner space. Her forthcoming novel No Gods for Drowning transports us somewhere else entirely.

Hailey lets me blather on about social commentary and metaphor before reminding me gently that sometimes it’s ok to enjoy the story. We talk about concise world-building (how!!), zombie capitalism, police brutality, anxiety and body autonomy, and why Queer characters don’t need an agenda to be worthy of inclusion.

By the time this goes live Hailey has probably written another two books!! But for now, I’m just delighted to have her on the show to discuss these two.

Enjoy!

Your Mind is a Terrible Thing was released May 2022 by Off Limits Press; No Gods for Drowning is published September 7th, 2022 by Polis Books.

Other books mentioned in the episode include:

Crime Scene (forthcoming 2022), by Cynthia Pelayo
The Possession of Natalie Glagow (2018), by Hailey Piper
Benny Rose the Cannibal King (2020), by Hailey Piper

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107 – Zin E. Rocklyn and the Commonality of Pain Aug 30, 2022

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Time to get weird and wiggy and wondrous.

Our guest this week is Zin E. Rocklyn, author of many short fictions, and her (very) recently award-winning novella Flowers for the Sea.

It’s an afro-speculative blend of science fiction, horror, fantasy, myth, dystopia, pre-history and apocalypse – all confined to a single boat in a big, bad ocean, and all told within 100 pages.

Phew – it’s dense!

Zin and I cover a lot this week. We barrel through her the twin crises of reproductive rights and climate change – and look at how inequality is a huge component of both. We talk about writing the body, evoking smell and how pain has many uses.

That sounds dark. It is. But there is also light, including an unexpected reference to an old British sitcom, the juxtaposition of Zin and Hyacinth Bouquet made me laugh!!

Enjoy this one.

Flowers for the Sea was released October 2021, by Tor

Other books mentioned in the episode include:

We Are Here to Hurt Each Other (2022), by Paula D. Ashe
Spectral Hue (2019), by Craig L. Gidney
No Gods for Drowning (2022), by Hailey Piper
“My Genre Makes a Monster of Me”, by Zin E. Rocklyn (2018) in Uncanny Magazine, 24

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106 – Gwendolyn Kiste and the Madwomen Bite Back Aug 23, 2022

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Get your bell bottoms, your peace sign, your tie dye and your … crucifix!

This week’s guest is Gwendolyn Kiste and her new novel, Reluctant Immortals, transports us to San Francisco in 1968, the summer after the Summer of Love, when the sun is setting on the hippie movement. Into this chaos comes a quarter of iconic Gothic characters, ready to fight it out all over again.

Like the book, the surface of this conversation belies its inner darkness. Yes we talk hippies. Yes we talk Haunted Hollywood. Yes we talk cheesy movies. But we also get into the horrific implications of vampires for sexual consent, the true hideous power of the patriarchy, and how women are weaponised against women.

There is substantial conversation about domestic and sexual abuse in the second half of the conversation. Just a warning in case this is a problem for you.

It’s a tough conversation, but a good one.

Enjoy!

Reluctant Immortals is released in North America on August 23rd by and in the UK on November 22nd by Titan.

Other books discussed in this episode include:

Something Borrowed, Something Blood-soaked (2018), by Christa Carmen
To Be Devoured (2019), by Sarah Tantlinger
The Rust Maidens (2018), by Gwendolyn Kiste
“The Eight People Who Murdered Me (Excerpt from Lucy Westenra’s Diary)”, by Gwendolyn Kiste, Nightmare Magazine, issue 86, (2019)
“The Woman Out of the Attic, by Gwendolyn Kiste, in Haunted House Short Stories (2019)
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (1998), by Peter Biskind

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