Talking Scared

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05 – Jeremy Robert Johnson and Where Did That Octopus Come From? Sep 30, 2020

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This week we get visceral – with the extreme body horror of Robert Jeremy Johnson and his new novel THE LOOP.

Jeremy speaks to us from Portland, Oregon, where he’s busy watching the forest fires and working on ways to weaponise his words for good. THE LOOP is a novel all about conspiracy theory, medical mishap, and a class war raging through a small town. Think your favourite 80s teen comedy (with its guts spilling out) mixed with a little bit of 50s pulp Americana and smeared with 2020s political frenzy. That’s THE LOOP and man, it’s a trip!!

Oh, and we hear some VERY alarming claims about the octopus!

The books we discuss in this episode include:

The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton (1967)
Survivor Song, by Paul Tremblay (2020)
IT, by Stephen King (1986)
Boy’s Life, by Robert McCammon (1991)
Summer of Night, by Dan Simmons (1991)
A Collapse of Horses, by Brian Evenson (2016)

Come talk books with us on Twitter @talkscaredpod or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com.

Thanks To Terry Smith Audio for sound editing.

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04 - Jo Kaplan and What Makes a Great Haunted House? Sep 22, 2020

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This week’s guest is up-and-coming horror extraordinaire, Jo Kaplan. Jo’s new haunted house novel, It Will Just Be Us is a tour-de-force of chills, thrills and things that kill. It’s got everything you could possibly want: creepy old house – check, mysterious locked room – CHECK, a witch who lurks in a swamp – CHECK!!!! It’s also got some of the best female relationships I’ve read in horror for a while, enough to pass the Bechdel test with flying colours.

Jo and I talk about Freud’s uncanny and the infamous Winchester House, how to research her locations (or not), and how to make a ghost feel like something new. This chat feels like getting in at the ground floor of what will be a skyscraper career. Listen now, and you can say you were there at the start!

The books we discussed this episode include:

The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson (1959)
“Jordan’s End”, by Ellen Glasgow, in The Shadowy Third (1923)
The Gone World, by Tom Sweterlitsch (2018)
House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski (2000)
Don’t Turn Out the Lights: A Tribute to Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, edited by Jonathan Mayberry (2020)
The Only Good Indians, by Stephen Graham Jones (2020)
Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno Garcia (2020)

Come talk books with us on Twitter @talkscaredpod or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com.

Thanks To Terry Smith Audio for sound editing.

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03 - Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Mexican Gothic, NOT Romance Sep 16, 2020

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This week we’re in conversation with Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the author of Mexican Gothic - 2020's twisted publishing phenomenon. We discuss the novel's roots in British soil, and whether a book can be considered 'too' Mexican or not Mexican enough. Along the way we also consider the classic Mexican horror cinema of Enrique Taboada, why not everything has to be magic realism, and why all aspiring writers should learn to keep their receipts.

Silvia has fiery words for those who think every damn book that comes from Mexico needs to feature the day of the dead. It's an intense conversation - challenging and thought-provoking. Just don't dare call Mexican Gothic a romance!

Come talk books with us on Twitter @talkscaredpod or reach out direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com.

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02 - John Langan and Writing Under "The Influence" Sep 08, 2020

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In the second episode i'm in conversation with John Langan, contemporary literary horror superstar and all round scholar of the genre.
John is the author of the Bram Stoker Award-Winning classic The Fisherman and his latest collection is Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies. We talk about great influences and literary ventriloquism, what makes a great horror title, and what it's like to be part of the coolest club in the horror community. There are few writers out there with a better understanding of their own genre than John, and this interview is a primer in horror writing for newbies and aficionados alike.
Books mentioned in our conversation include:

Robert E. Howard - Wolfshead, and Other Stories
Stephen King's Christine, Cujo and Skeleton Crew
Laird Barron - "More Dark" in The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All
Laird Barron - The Isiah Coleridge series (Blood Standard, Black Mountain, Worse Angels)
Clive Barker - Books of Blood, Volumes 1-6
Stephen Graham Jones - "Raphael" in The Ones That Got Away
Henry James · What Maisie Knew
Peter Straub - Ghost Story

Come talk books with us on Twitter @talkscaredpod or reach out direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com.

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01 - Paul Tremblay and Why It's Not the End of the World Sep 01, 2020

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In the first ever episode of Talking Scared we speak to horror megastar Paul Tremblay, author of the modern classic, A Head Full of Ghosts and this year's virus-shocker Survivor Song.
There are musings on pandemics real and imaginary, the terror of sharks, and the terrible truth at the heart of horror fiction.
Books mentioned in our conversation include:

The Stand – Stephen King
Rabid: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus – Bill Wasik & Monica Murphy
Things We Lost in the Fire – Mariana Enriquez
2666 – Roberto Bolano
“The Colonel’s Son” – in The Secret of Evil by Robert Bolano

Come talk books with us on Twitter @TalkScaredPod

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