Talking Scared

04 - Jo Kaplan and What Makes a Great Haunted House?


Listen Later

Send us a text

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 [email protected].

    Thanks To Terry Smith Audio for sound editing.

    Support the show

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    Talking ScaredBy Neil McRobert

    • 4.9
    • 4.9
    • 4.9
    • 4.9
    • 4.9

    4.9

    264 ratings


    More shows like Talking Scared

    View all
    Faculty of Horror by Andrea Subissati and Alexandra West

    Faculty of Horror

    1,066 Listeners

    This Is Horror Podcast by Michael David Wilson and Bob Pastorella

    This Is Horror Podcast

    166 Listeners

    Nightmare on Film Street - A Horror Movie Podcast by Kimberley Elizabeth & Jonathan Dehaan

    Nightmare on Film Street - A Horror Movie Podcast

    954 Listeners

    The Losers' Club: A Stephen King Podcast by Bloody FM

    The Losers' Club: A Stephen King Podcast

    1,220 Listeners

    Reading Glasses by Brea Grant and Mallory O'Meara

    Reading Glasses

    1,728 Listeners

    The Evolution of Horror by Mike Muncer

    The Evolution of Horror

    798 Listeners

    Books in the Freezer - A Horror Fiction Podcast by Stephanie Gagnon

    Books in the Freezer - A Horror Fiction Podcast

    292 Listeners

    Halloweenies: A Horror Franchise Podcast by Bloody FM

    Halloweenies: A Horror Franchise Podcast

    966 Listeners

    The Movies That Made Me by SpectreVision Radio

    The Movies That Made Me

    550 Listeners

    Horror Queers by Bloody FM

    Horror Queers

    788 Listeners

    Colors of the Dark by FANGORIA Podcast Network

    Colors of the Dark

    470 Listeners

    She Wore Black by Agatha Andrews

    She Wore Black

    62 Listeners

    The Year of Underrated Stephen King by Kim C.

    The Year of Underrated Stephen King

    55 Listeners

    The Kingcast by FANGORIA Podcast Network

    The Kingcast

    898 Listeners

    Just King Things by Ranged Touch

    Just King Things

    633 Listeners