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Ah the madhouse. The loony bin. The ASYLUM!!

A classic horror location. One of my favourites, but problematic as hell in the wrong hands.

Thankfully, I have the right author for the topic. Christ Panatier has the talent and the sensitivity to ensure that his novel, The Redemption of Morgan Bright can engage with the tropes without perpetuating them. He brings something as old-as-time but very new to asylum horror, and the results are dizzying, terrifying, awful.

We talk about the perils of research for an empathetic horror writer, we discuss some hideous medical practices from the past, and we look hard at the desecration of rights that we all grew up assuming were here to stay. 

Plus, the way to make friends in the horror community...

Enjoy!

The Redemption of Morgan Bright was published on April 23rd by Angry Robot Books

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We all love a good spooky house. And most of us enjoy a terrifying home-invasion ordeal (or at least, I know I do).

What happens when you put them together? Kaaron Warren’s The Underhistory is the answer, but it’s nothing at all like what you’d expect.

This new novel by the award-winning Australian writer is a story of memory, of rooms and architecture, of violence and misogyny, and of a very unusual old lady. We talk about all of that and more. It’s a great conversation, one in which we go hunting for the secrets of her book together.

Enjoy!

The Underhistory was published on April 11th by Viper

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I bite off a lot this week, in a five-way conversation with editors and contributors to the ever-so-of-the-moment anthology The Black Girl Survives in This One. That’s a promise right there on the title page, but as you will find out, survival is not always the same thing as living happily ever after. 

Saraciea J. Fennell, Desiree S. Evans, Monica Brashears & Eden Royce talk to me about the vision (and necessity) of the project and where their stories came from? We discuss the role of urban and family legend, authentic dialogue, writing for younger readers and how horror’s treatment of Black writers and characters has changed. 

Enjoy!

The Black Girl Survives in This One was published on April 2nd by Flatiron Books

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I’m in literary hero territory again … at least this time it’s sunny!

My guest is Scarlett Thomas, the groundbreaking writer of PopCo, Oligarchy, The Seed Collectors and the (post)modern speculative classic, The End of Mr Y. She’s one of my favourite writers, who has never seen five or six separate genres she can’t mash together.

This time around we are talking “Hot Gothic” in The Sleepwalkers, a darkly playful tale of a vacation–and a marriage–gone horribly wrong. 

We cover accidentally arriving at a structure, the many ways to build characters from scratch, the dark consequences of sex and desire taken too far – and we agree on how hotels are just inherently creepy.

Great book. Great guest. 

Enjoy!

The Sleepwalkers was published on April 9th by Simon and Schuster

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Carrie White turns 50 years old today!

April 5th, 1974 – the day King’s debut came out, and the world of horror we know live in changed forever. 

To celebrate such an auspicious anniversary, there are only two people I could invite to this party. Step up Nat Cassidy and Ally Malinenko – writers who understand King and that bitter, brutal world between childhood and adulthood.

We talk about empathy and monsters, about the horror of high school, the abject and the menstruation taboo and about how we are all living in Margaret White’s America now…

Raise a glass to the prom queen of horror. She can light her own candles.

Enjoy!

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Alas, we come to the end!

Stephen Graham Jones’s The Angel of Indian Lake brings the most important horror trilogy of the century to its conclusion. For one last time we return to Proofrock, Idaho – to watch Jade Daniels do battle with monsters in the wood and the demons in her head. 

SGJ also comes back to Talking Scared to finish our adjacent trilogy of conversations about these books. We talk about slashers and final girls for sure, but as ever with Stephen, these are windows onto something more profound – and he gives us his insight into how horror, justice, violence and luck operate in fiction.

This all sounds very profound. It is. But in the coolest way possible. The man is a rock star….

… but I STILL manage to freak him out with a ghost story.

Enjoy – it’s been a ride!

The Angel of Indian Lake was published on March 26thth by Saga Press and Titan Books

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Chi-Town!!

We’re heading to the midwestern metropolis this week, for a conversation with Cina Pelayo – all about murder, mystery, history and strange things in the water.

Her new novel, Forgotten Sisters is a heady, dreamlike concoction of Chicago lore and much older horrors. It features a pair of very wyrd sisters and a house by a river that holds nothing good. 

As well as all of that, we talk about Cina’s personal journey with the paranormal, mermaid sightings, writing law enforcement, and wrestling with weird voices in fiction. 

Oh, and the abject horror of social media!!

Enjoy!

Forgotten Sisters was published on March 19th by Thomas & Mercer

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Never mind the floor is lava. This week the ground has teeth.

Joshua Hull is our guest, to talk about his obsession with dangerous, weird holes. He wrote one into his hilarious, grisly horror movie, Glorious (on Shudder) and now he’s given a hole a whole personality in his debut novella, Mouth. 

It’s a grindhouse, b-movie celebrations, with larger than life characters, grisly death, and the most lovable monster of the year. 

We talk about writing endearing creature features, about forgotten American serial killers, about the difference between writing for books and writing screenplays and, yes, about HOLES!

Enjoy!

Mouth was published on March 15th by Tenebrous Press

Other books mentioned:

The Day of the Door (2024), by Laurel Hightower

Frankenstein (1818), by Mary Shelley

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Time to get liminal and haunted. 

Gwendolyn Kiste comes back to Talking Scared for another high-concept twist on the Gothic. In The Haunting of Velkwood, and entire street turns ghostly overnight. Yeah, I can’t explain that any more clearly, we’ll leave it to Gwendolyn.

Despite this being a book centered on trauma and angst, we do a whole lot of laughing. Amongst the chuckles we also sneak in conversation about the many meanings of the word haunted, child-free horror fiction televisual references, and just what makes the American suburbs so damn creepy!

Enjoy!

The Haunting of Velkwood was published on March 5th by Saga Press

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Sometimes you meet someone who just gets you.

Like Tim Lebbon. A man who writes riotously good adventure-horror novels, and also likes running outrageous distances up big hills. What a pleasure it was to speak to him.

The main topic of conversation is his new novel eco-horror novel, Among the Living. A story of ancient buried history and ‘intelligent’ infection, it blends the paranoia of The Thing with the ragtag group heroism and intensity of Aliens. In short, it’s good!

Tim and I talk about eco-horror, about the biological menaces facing mankind in the future, we discuss how writing action helps with writing character, and I tell him why this book freaked me out so much.

Oh, and we do spend some time talking about running up big hills. But we try and keep it relevant to the horror and the writing… Give me a break, how often do I meet a soul-brother like this?

Enjoy!

Among the Living was published on February 6th by Titan Books

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