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Vampires, finally! After years of recording a horror podcast, I’ve finally recorded a conversation about the first thing you all probably think of if I said “horror monster.” Actually, at this very moment, maybe you’d name a Floridian politician but you get my drift…

I’m delighted to be joined by Jacqueline Holland, to talk about her new novel of bloodsucking and cursed immortality, The God of Endings. As with so many books featured on this show, it’s an offbeat look at an old trope, with a vampire that has no problem with garlic and who is not at all horny! She’s also a pre-school teacher in the 80s. That’s REALLY hardcore!

Jacqueline and I talk about horror imposter-syndrome, the history of New England vampires, monstrous mothers, the terror of living forever, and how she has always been…in her own words… a dark weirdo.

Enjoy!

The God of Endings was published by on February 7th by Flatiron Books

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

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This week I take a road trip with Matt Ruff, into the more monstrous corners of the universe. Sure, some of them are alien planets… but some are here on earth, with the racists! 

Matt is best known as the author of 2016’s Lovecraft Country. He never planned to write a sequel, yet here it is. The Destroyer of Worlds picks up several years later, when Atticus, Letetia, Montrose and Hipolyta et al are still battling malign forces both human and otherworldly.

I went into it nervously, thinking surely a white author can’t pull of a story about Black characters in Jim Crow America without really sh***ing the bed. I was wrong! 

Matt and I debate the responsibility and potential pitfalls of the project, and what his books get right that other ventriloquised stories get wrong. But we also talk about monsters and comic horror and the terror and joy of a wide-open universe. And of course, Lovecraft. Though, not kindly. 

Enjoy!

The Destroyer of Worlds was published by on February 21st by HarperCollins 

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I like my ghosts like I like my podcasts – weird and slightly furious. 

Thankfully, this week delivers on both counts – with Johnny Compton’s The Spite House delivering more ghosts than you think you could fit into 250-pages … and none of them are anything less than fuming! 

Johnny talks us through the odd, off-kilter history of spite houses, we trace the legacy of the American haunted house novel, discuss ghost lore and dismiss orbs. We talk about complex father figures and I have my smuggest ever moment of being accidentally right about something.  

It’s a blast. Johnny is a joy to talk to and his book gives great ghostliness.

Enjoy!

The Spite House was published by on February 7th by Tor Nightfire.

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It’s a Valentine’s day episode and what better to celebrate today than a conversation about cruelty, brutal folklore, political terror and black magic? Don’t tell me I don’t understand my audience.

I’m beyond delighted to welcome Mariana Enriquez to the show to talk about her massive novel, Our Share of Night. It features all of the above ingredients, in a 700+ page roam through decades of Argentinian history, demonic misconduct.

This ranks amongst the most unstructured conversations I’ve had on this show. I just say some words and then let Mariana let rip. But to give you a taster – we cover her current boredom with the short story, the double standard of harming kids in fiction, houses that eat people, Freddie Krueger and Heathclife and why horror is inevitable in Argentinian fiction

Enjoy!

Our Share of Night was published by Granta in the UK in October, 2022 and in the US on 7th February, 2023 by Hogarth

Other books mentioned in this episode:

READ: Smithsonian article about Chiloe and the imbunche

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Are you ready for another bloody confrontation? Same rules, different setting (actually still my attic bedroom) and more gore?

Stephen Graham Jones AKA Professor Slasher, returns to Talking Scared to discuss Don’t Fear the Reaper, the sequel to his zeitgeist-blasting slasher-ode, My Heart is a Chainsaw. Reaper takes us back to Proofrock, Idaho for a freezing night of rage and bloodshed, with returning favourites and a whole new killer who reads like the distillation of American carnage.

That all sounds suitably epic. Hopefully this conversation matches. Stephen and I talk about favourite slasher sequels, minority monsters in fiction, getting to know Jade Daniels even better, and the importance of writing yourself into a corner.

This is an episode a lot of you have been waiting for. Enjoy. And watch out for hook-handed men.

Enjoy! 

Don’t Fear the Reaper was published by Saga and Titan Books on 7th February, 2023 

Other books mentioned in this episode:

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It’s not even the end of January and we’re already dealing with the second apocalypse of the year.

This one is written by CJ Tudor, whose new novel, The Drift, moves her out of the crime chillers she is best-known for, into a whole other world of horror.

It’s a series of locked room mysteries, occurring in the hideous aftermath of global pandemic. And if you are a little sick of global pandemics (who isn’t?) then at least this one has rage zombies and lots of murder.

CJ and I talk about many things, from genre expectations, to failed novels, grief to TV adaptation – but the pandemic is a dominant theme. We talk about about some personal loss, so if that would be a trigger for you, go in pre-warned.

But mostly, it’s a lovely chat with “Britain’s answer to Stephen King.”

Enjoy!

The Drift was published by Penguin on Jan 19th in the UK and Jan 31st in the US. 

Other books mentioned in this episode:

The Burning Girls (2021), by C.J. Tudor

The Chalk Man (2018), by C.J. Tudor

Sign Here (2022), by Claudia Lux

To contribute to Laird Barron’s GoFundMe, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/laird-barron-hospital-costs-medication-costs.

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When it comes to stress, they say selling a house is up there with divorce and death. Now imagine that house is haunted… by demonic puppets. 

Yeah – that’s the premise of Grady Hendrix’s brand-new horror novel, How to Sell a Haunted House. It combines Grady’s trademark humour, genre-knowledge and playfulness, with a genuinely frightening story about homes, and all the things they contain, both comforting and downright nasty.

Grady and I dive into the economics of haunting, the value of earnestness in a world of irony, and we discover the difference between marionettes and hand puppets … which is more frightening that you would expect.

It’s a fun conversation, about a joyfully creepy book.  

Enjoy!

How To Sell A Haunted House was published by Berkley on Jan 17th 2003. 

Other books mentioned in this episode: 

To donate to the fundraiser for Laird Barron, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/laird-barron-hospital-costs-medication-costs, and thanks SO much.

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…AAAND WE’RE BACK! 

I hope you’re slipping into 2023 like it’s a warm bath, but either way this week’s episode will be a cold, sharp system shock. 

The guest is Stephen Markley; the book is The Deluge – a 900-page beast of ecological and societal disintegration, and the best book I have read in decades. Imagine The Stand was based on rigorous scientific research and was, y’know, about to happen to us all for real. 

Yeah! This is a scary one, even if it would never be listed in the horror part of the bookshop.

Stephen and I talk about (re)considering apocalyptic fiction, choosing characters, how real events outpaced the writing of the book, and how the climate crisis forces us to ask some uncomfortable questions about social issues.  

Like the book I question, this episode is heavy and challenging and frightening, but maybe… just maybe… it will give you some hope.

Enjoy!

The Deluge was published by Simon & Schuster on Jan 10th 2003.

Other books mentioned in this episode:

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The year is almost over. What is left to do except offer you my last-minute ranking of the best books I’ve read and enjoyed in 2022.

I will warn you – I am poorly and my voice sounds like ten miles of bad gravel. This sounds like the Reba McIntyre book club. I am HUSKY!!

Hang around for the afterword when my voice finally gives out as I labour over a long and elaborate thank-you for listening and supporting the show this year. At times 2022 has felt like a waking nightmare, but here in Spookybooklandia, we’ve kept things ironically nice.  

Love to you all.

Happy New Year. Here’s to the next.

Books mentioned:

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It’s that time of year again. A time to reflect, to look back over a tumultuous twelve months, and to talk about the horror books that helped us survive them.

2022 has been a helluva year for the good kind of horror. Far too much for one man to cover. So I’ve drafted in some highly qualified friends – Emily Hughes and Janelle Janson. They have their fingers right on the arterial spurt of the genre – and they have each read far more than me.

Together we deliver this year's State of the Horror Nation – talking about big issues in horror, the key books we’ve adored…and the dozens and dozens of titles we’re looking forward to in 2023.

We raise a glass to a late and beloved horror icon, we make some new year’s resolutions, and Janelle and Emily get a bit squeaky about their big horror crush. Bet you can guess who (it’s not me!)

Thanks for all your support this year.

Books picked:

 Books anticipated: 

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