Talking Scared

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55 – Daniel Kraus and a Bag of Squishy Organs in an Elastic Hide Sep 07, 2021

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Our show this week is part interview, part homage, all zombie!

Daniel Kraus, the author of zombie magnum opus, The Living Dead is in the hotseat. But he isn’t alone. Both he and his novel are accompanied by the spectral presence of the master himself, George Romero.

When Romero passed in 2017, he left behind years of work and ambition in telling the whole story of his zombie uprising in novel form. It’s a project that was passed on to Daniel, and he joins us to talk about that book, how it came to be, and what it was like collaborating posthumously with his idol.

We also get DEEP into zombie ethics. What they are, how they work, and what they mean! We talk about the pleasure and pressure of playing in Romero’s sandbox, how to integrate detailed research without ruining the flow of story, and I start to sound a bit paranoid in my theories on zombie’s as cultural propaganda.

It’s a great chat. Insightful as hell. And I think George would be delighted with how Daniel talks about their work.

Enjoy!

The Living Dead was published September 7th by Tor Nightfire

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

The Plague Dogs (1977), by Richard Adams
The Cipher (1991), by Kathe Koja

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54 – Stephen Graham Jones and Dancing with the Slasher Aug 31, 2021

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Talking Scared is a whole year old today, and to celebrate I’ve brought you one of the brightest stars in the horror sky, someone who is getting bigger, better and badder with each book he releases.

It’s Stephen Graham Jones!

Stephen is here to discuss My Heart is a Chainsaw – his oh-so-meta revision of the slasher movie and the final girl. The book starts dark and gets darker, with references to every single slasher that you’ve seen, as well as plenty you haven’t. If you say you’ve seen them all, you’re lying.

This isn’t just a rehash of Wes Craven’s Scream, though. As well as the tricks and references, My Heart is a Chainsaw has… well … HEART. Plenty of it. Just as Stephen says in this conversation: sincerity matters. The story matters.

Stephen and I talk about our favourite slashers, the joy of childhood horror viewing, the pros and cons of the final girl trope and how you blend irony and sincerity in a work of fiction. I take him to task for always killing animals in his stories and he DOES not make it better by telling me why.

Oh, and we both spend a bit of time idolising Joe R. Lansdale.

Thanks to everyone who has listened this past year. I can’t believe how far we’ve come and this show wouldn’t be what it is without you. Thanks so much.

Ok, sweetness over with. On with the bloodshed!

Enjoy.

My Heart is a Chainsaw was published August 31st by Gallery / Saga in North America and Titan in the UK.

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53 – Zoje Stage and What if You're Not a Good Person? Aug 24, 2021

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Morning campers!

This week we’re off to the great outdoors for a hike, a night under the stars and a spot of psychological terror.

Our guest is Zoje Stage. In her previous novels, Babyteeth and Wonderland she took us to dark houses and interior spaces. Her new novel, Getaway, does the opposite, dragging us on the adventure of a lifetime. A week hiking in the Grand Canyon. Just the ticket to blow away the covid claustrophobia.

Shame it all goes so horribly wrong!

We talk a lot about characters in this conversation – how to build them, how to make them interesting, and why no-one ever thinks they are the villain of the story. Zoje also relates the eerie incident in the Great Outdoors that inspires her novel, and I go on a rant about Thanos and Negan from the Walking Dead (keeping it highbrow!)

What we learn, most of all, is that a tent is only a psychological barrier against whatever else is roaming the wilds.

Enjoy!

Getaway was published August 17th by Mulholland Books

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

Babyteeth (2018), by Zoje Stage
Wonderland (2020), by Zoje Stage
Jaws (1974), by Peter Benchley
Deliverance (1970), by James Dickey
The Ritual (2011) by Adam Nevill
The Road (2006), by Cormac McCarthy

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

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52 – Richard Chizmar and the Truth Inside the Lie Aug 17, 2021

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This week the walls between reality and fiction begin to break down. What is truth, what is a lie? Can a story be both?

These are the kinds of questions my guest, Richard Chizmar, has become an expert at answering. His new novel (if we can call it that) is Chasing the Boogeyman and it’s a unique beast. Part memoir, part true-crime, part horror fiction – it takes the streets of Rich’s boyhood home, colours them sepia and then lets a serial killer run loose.

We talk about the illusion of storytelling, about true-crime and false memories, and the golden-hued horror that we both love. Stephen King, Ray Bradbury and others loom in the background, but Chasing the Boogeyman is uniquely Chizmar, in all the ways a book can be.

If that all sounds gorge-risingly poetic then, well, first of all, sod-off, it’s my podcast and I’ll rhapsodise if I want to. Secondly, don’t worry we also talk about monsters and mayhem and the time Rich’s friend crapped in his own hand. In short, something for everyone.

Enjoy!! (I really did!)

Chasing the Boogeyman was published August 17th by Gallery Books in North America and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK.

Other books mentioned include:

Gwendy’s Button Box (2017), by Richard Chizmar and Stephen King
Gwendy’s Magic Feather (2019) by Richard Chizmar
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark (2018) by Michelle McNamara
True Crime Addict (2016), by James Renner
Lunar Park (2005), by Bret Easton Ellis
From a Buick Eight (2002), by Stephen King
It (1986), by Stephen King
Boy’s Life (1991), by Robert McCammon

Support the show on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod

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

Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store.

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51 – Brian Evenson and Little Potted Nightmares Aug 10, 2021

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This week’s guest couldn’t be better timed. In a week when we find out the world is not only screwed, it’s REALLY screwed, our guest is Brian Evenson, with his new collection, The Glassy Burning Floor of Hell – which could be a description of many places on the globe right now.

These stories transport the reader to strange, deformed, blasted landscapes. Like the worlds they depict, Brian’s tales are harsh and dark and frightening but, as you’ll hear me say, they are also a surprising amount of fun. As well as the end of all things, there are also cults, flying cities, terrifying feathered men, and a murderous leg.

So read them and enjoy them – but heed the wakeup call. These monstrous worlds could all too easily be our own

(if you want some light relief, here’s the wiki on the Human Interference Task Force – cats and cults and wizards-a-plenty)

Enjoy.
Other books mentioned in this episode include:

“Solution” (2020), by Brian Evenson - Read it Here
Altmann’s Tongue (1994) by Brian Evenson
Father of Lies (1998) by Brian Evenson
The Open Curtain (2006) by Brian Evenson
Last Days (2009) by Brian Evenson
The Turnip Princess and other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales (2015), by Franz Xaver von Schönwerth
The Book of the New Sun (1980), by Gene Wolfe
The Dying Earth (1950), by Jack Vance. Full series collected as The Compleat Dying Earth (2000)
A Canticle for Liebowitz (1959), by Walter M. Miller Jr.
Thin Places (2020), by Kay Chronister
Age of Blight (2016), by Kristine Ong Muslim

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

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50 - Sara Flannery Murphy and the Witches They Couldn't Burn Aug 03, 2021

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Sisters are doing it for themselves – literally!

Our guest this week is Sara Flannery Murphy, author of Girl One – which is either a feminist dystopian nightmare or a superhero origin story, or both. It is an alternative history of genetic science that asks the question of what would happen if women no longer needed men to conceive a child. The answer is simultaneously complex and chilling.

Sara and I talk about writing as a feminist in the time of Trump (and living in a Red State), and whether her characters are witches in any sense of the word. We discuss how pathogenesis has always had a home in the horror genre. And I demand to know why, if she was going to rewrite history, she didn’t save poor Kurt Cobain.

Enjoy!

Girl One was published by on 1st June by FSG in the US and on August 5th by Raven Books in the UK.

Other books mentioned in the show include:

Carrie (1974), by Stephen King
Firestarter (1980), by Stephen King
The Return (2020), by Rachel Harrison
Marilou is Everywhere (2019), by Sarah Elaine Smith

Support the show on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod

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

Thanks to Adrian Flounders for graphic design.

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49 – Ronald Malfi and Can Death Do Us Part? Jul 27, 2021

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Why isn’t there more horror about marriage?

Think about it. You marry someone. Spend your life with them. But do you really know them, or what they are capable of.

Ronald Malfi’s Come With Me pries open these secrets, sending the protagonist on a tailspinning road trip in pursuit of the truth about the woman he has loved and lost. It’s a big, satisfying, chunky summer novel packed full of murder and monstrosity and motel-stays in the creepier corners of the country. You’ll love it.

Ronald joins me to talk about the book, about writing grief and the very real tragedy that underpins Come With Me. Despite the absurd heat at either end of the conversation, we soldier on heroically, taking in local lore, the link between leaded petrol and serial killers, and why ecology may be the new haunting. And yes, we talk about how marriage should be a bigger theme in horror! Next time your wife, or husband, or significant other gets up in the night – think about that. What are they up to in the bathroom? Could be the usual. Could be something evil. Mwah ha ha!

Enjoy.

Come With Me was published by Titan on 20th July.

Other books mentioned in the show include:

December Park (2014), by Ronald Malfi
Snow (2010), by Ronald Malfi
The Only Good Indians (2020), by Stephen Graham Jones
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark (2018) by Michelle McNamara

Support the show on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod

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

Thanks to Adrian Flounders for graphic design.

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48 – Chuck Wendig and the Comforting Embrace of Horror Jul 20, 2021

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Weather this hot demands the cool balm of a book, and do I have one for you.

The Book of Accidents is the latest horror-epic from Chuck Wendig – the seeming literary successor to King, Straub, McCammon and Barker. Wendig’s books take you in their embrace and say “you’re mine now” or maybe “we all float down here.” Here, in this case, being a mineshaft in the rural vacancy of Pennsylvania.

There is plenty of hype around The Book of Accidents and I’m delighted to say it’s all earned. This is quite simply the kind of big, bombastic storytelling you don’t get much of anymore, a steak-and-lobster-with-ice-cream for after sort of novel that fills you up and leaves you satisfied.

The book is so big, and the ideas so grand, that Chuck and I end up forgetting to talk much about the actual story. Instead we discuss what it has to say about society – good and bad – about kindness, and love and the comfort of horror that we all-too often ignore in favour of the viscera. In short, it’s a wholesome conversation about a wholesome book, about a very unwholesome scenario.

Oh – and Chuck tells us all about the very real haunted house that inspired it. A house he happens to have grown up in.

Enjoy!

The Book of Accidents was published by Del Rey on 20th July.

Other books mentioned in the show include:

Blackbirds: Miriam Black #1 (2012), by Chuck Wendig
Wanderers (2018), by Chuck Wendig
The Three (2014), by Sarah Lotz
Road of Bones (coming 2022), by Christopher Golden

Support the show on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod

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

Thanks to Adrian Flounders for graphic design.

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47 – Grady Hendrix and Final Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Jul 13, 2021

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Hello fellow horror-fiends. This week we’re going retro, to the heyday of horror, when men wore masks and women checked basements in their negligee.

Our guest is Grady Hendrix, a writer perpetually interested in taking tropes, only to stab them, kill them, and resurrect them as something new. He’s done it with exorcisms, vampires, the devil and … erm .. IKEA.

Now he’s taking on the slasher and his counterpart, in The Final Girl Support Group. A novel that takes the bloody, weary body of the female heroine, and gives her the chance to kick the hell out of the monster chasing her. It’s meta, funny, wry and ironic – but it’s also a story with heart. I enjoyed it immensely.

Grady and I talk about our favourite slashers (and final girls), why we’re obsessed with nostalgia, what it means that we enjoy films about killing women, and I – once again – give away too much of my own psychological frailty. This time it’s my all-consuming terror of Freddy Kruger.

This is a book and conversation that will REALLY please the true horror lovers.

Enjoy!

The Final Girl Support Group is published July 13th by Berkley in North American and Titan in the UK.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

Paperbacks From Hell (2017), by Grady Hendrix
We Sold Our Souls (2018), by Grady Hendrix
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires (2020), by Grady Hendrix
Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film (1992), by Carol J. Clover
The Last Final Girl (2012), by Stephen Graham Jones
Final Girls (2017), by Riley Sager
The Tribe (1981), by Bari Wood
When Darkness Loves Us (1985), by Elizabeth Engstrom

Support the show on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod

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

Thanks to Adrian Flounders for graphic design.

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46 – The State of the Horror Nation, with Sadie Hartmann and Emily Hughes Jul 06, 2021

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This week we’re doing something different. No author and no single book. Instead it’s a roundtable discussion, with Sadie Hartmann (AKA Mother Horror) and Emily Hughes, the genius loci behind Tor Nightfire. Together we look back over the last six months – the highs, the not-so-many-lows and all the endless twitter controversies – to address the state of the horror nation at the midpoint of 2021.

All three of us talk about the books we have loved the most so far this year, what else we are looking forward to in the months ahead, and what our hopes are for horror writing in general.

We also address the concerns around trauma, trigger warnings, twitter subtweeting and the endless, vice-like grip of Goodreads.

If you want to get a true sense of the breadth and depth of the horror being created right now, then this is designed for you. Also, if you just want to listen to three horror nerds talk about scary stuff whilst you do the ironing, then it’s also for you.

Basically, it’s for everyone.

Cos I’m a giver.

Enjoy!

Emily Hughes’ list of horror books to be excited about in 2021 is HERE.

The (huger-than-normal) list of books mentioned in this episode includes:

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