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Things are a bit fishy this week, as I’m joined by long-time friend-of-the-show Tim McGregor (@TimMcGregor1) to talk about the long history of fish-tailed women and why we find them so frightening … and sexy! 

Tim’s forthcoming novella, Lure, is a mermaid story with bite! No Ariel here; Sebastian the Crab is hiding. Instead it’s about the war of attrition between a brutal patriarchal settlement and the sea-she-creature who holds them to account.

(a little fitting for this week’s misogyny-a-thon in the Supreme Court)

 As well as mermaid lore, we also talk about Tim’s upbringing in the Ontarian wilds … and his father’s axe … as well as disagreeing on heroes and villains, and delving into Tim’s experiences on the periphery of one of the year’s biggest horror meltdowns.  

Enjoy! 

Lure is published on July 18th by Tenebrous Press

Other books discussed in this episode include:

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This week on Talking Scared it’s monsters all day, every day. 

To celebrate the release of Screams From the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous, we gather around the campfire with editor Ellen Datlow and three of her contributors – no less than Nathan Ballingrud, Chikodili Emelumadu and the great Joe R. Lansdale.

As a result, this is not your average Talking Scared episode. There is interruption, overlap, argument much good humour. 

Amidst the chaos we still manage a fascinating conversation about the creatures that lurk in the wilds and those who walk amongst us. We talk about what makes a monster, why we love them, and where they fit in our modern hyperconnected world.

(and they have the audacity to tell me that Bigfoot isn’t real!)

Enjoy!

Screams From the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous was published on June 7th by Tor Nightfire

Other books discussed in this episode include:

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We’re closing out our (very) loose trilogy of episodes devoted to sinister schools and magical children. This week it involves pentagrams and witch-burnings, which are always a good time.

Our guest, Stephen Lloyd, is better known for his comedy than his horror. He has spent a career crafting some of the biggest sitcoms of the century (some of which helped my marriage survive lockdown). Now, he has turned his pen to something much less wholesome, in his first novel, Friend of the Devil.

We talk about Satanism and D&D and the aftermath of Vietnam – all that stuff that made the 80s such a goddamn fun decade for so many. But we also look at how those tendrils reach into the present set of existential crises. Socio-political shi*tshows aside, Stephen discusses the difference between writing horror and writing comedy, he explains the inner workings   of a TV writer’s room – and how penning a novel in isolation is a whole other thing. 

I even ask him for advice on screenwriting, because my ill-conceived ambition knows no bounds…

Enjoy! 

Friend of the Devil was published on May 30th by G.P. Putnam

Other books discussed in this episode include:

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Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to [email protected] 

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This week we go to magic school, but there isn’t a f***ing owl or a talking hat in sight.

Instead, it’s a much more macabre affair, as J. M. Miro begins his trilogy of dark sorcery with Ordinary Monsters. 

J. M. goes by a different name in his other, more prosaic writing life, but here, with us, in the blood and the shadows he writes as his second self. Which is a long-winded and torturous way to say this is a pseudonym.

We talk about the creative and practical reasons behind that, as well as his tragic family history, his obsession with Victorian London, female detectives in history and how to write a compelling action scene.

And we manage to do all that without saying a single hateful or prejudiced thing. Imagine!

Enjoy!

Ordinary Monsters was published on June 7th by Bloomsbury and Flatiron Books 

Other books discussed in this episode include:

Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod

Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to [email protected] 

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This week we go behind the curtain to look at the inner workings of a bona-fide modern classic. 

Our guest is Scott Hawkins, whose debut novel, The Library At Mount Char delighted genre fans back in 2015. Now, to commemorate its first UK publication, Scott joins me for a conversation about its many madcap secrets.

We talk about everything from cosmic ethics to kidney stone –  he gives us a little until-now-unknown backstory on some of the most mysterious characters, and I take umbrage at how awfully he treats the poor, poor pooches that guard his goddamned library!!

This is a lovely conversation about the loveliest book you’ve ever read … that contains scenes of children being roasted alive.

Enjoy!

The Library At Mount Char was published in the UK on 10th May, by Titan Books

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod

Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to [email protected] 

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Here I come, ready or not!

Our guest this week is Kiersten White. She’s the award-winning author of numerous macabre YA fictions, but now she’s making her debut in adult fiction (not that kind!) with Hide – a tale of life-or-death hide-and-seek.

It’s a fantastic premise to begin with. Think The Hunger Games meets Squid Game, or any other kind of game but nastier and with more socio-political heft.

Yeah, that’s right. Once again on Talking Scared the guest and I deconstruct society, in particular the capitalist nightmare that is at the core of Kiersten’s novel. 

We talk about economic inequality horror, American fairytales, the conflict between boomers and millennials, and the difference between mazes and labyrinths. I even ask some good questions about craft.

We laugh a lot, but be warned, there is a burning rage behind this book.

Enjoy!

Hide is published on May 24th by Penguin and Del Rey

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Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to [email protected]  

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This week’s episode couldn’t have come at a more pertinent time. As women’s reproductive rights come under assault in the US, as Roe V Wade gets rolled back and fat, sweaty men in suits make rules they will never have to obey – I’m joined by a writer who wrote a book about the cult of having babies.

Anne Heltzel is the author of Just Like Mother, a contemporary Gothic techno-thriller about fertility, pressure, choice and cults. Okay, the real-world context may be heavy, but the book is a blast. It’s both a surface-level thriller and a deep indictment of the way that modern life has got us all under pressure and running just to keep up.

Anne and I talk about the creepiness of dolls, whether we give too much importance to twists, our shared experiences of feeling off-course in our twenties, and how everything, anything can be a cult if you just tweak it hard enough.

Enjoy!

Just Like Mother is published on May 17th by Tor Nightfire 

Other books mentioned in this episode include: 

You can download your free copy of Ash by Dan Soule from Amazon in your region until May 19th.  

Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod

Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to [email protected] 

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Do think kids’ drawings are creepy? They are, right? All big smiles and suns with eyes and weird flowers the size of people… and the dead girls in the background.

Right? 

Our guest this week has built a whole horror story around these little paper nightmares.  Hidden Pictures is a novel that blends text and image in ways that I’ve never seen done before, or never as well. It’s a story of childhood imagination, suburban murder and summer terror. Think Gone Girl with Crayola ghosts.

Jason and I talk about lots of things – the rise of 1% horror; the relationship between image and text, and how to adapt an experimental book for audio. We get into the fairy tale details that I missed, and ask kid’s imaginary friends are just so damn freaky. 

Trust me, you’ll never look at your little cherub’s artistic offerings the same way ever again.

Enjoy

Hidden Pictures is published on May 10th by Flatiron Books and Sphere.

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

My article in Esquire on ‘The 50 Best Horror Novels of All Time’

Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod 

Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to [email protected] 

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It’s a week of deep-dives, haunted-houses and academic horror-stories this week on Talking Scared.

Our guest is Isabel Cañas. And she’s having the busiest week known to (wo)mankind. Not only is she defending her doctoral thesis on Medieval Turkish Poetry, she also has the small matter of her debut novel – a sweetly sinister piece of Latin Gothic called The Hacienda 

We talk about everything that could possibly have influenced the novel. From the creepy house she once lived in, to her worldwide travels and her academic studies. It also plays a part – but nothing more so than a childhood spent reading. 

As well as diving deep into what made Isabel who she is, we also talk about Latinx horror generally, about mixing Catholicism with something even stranger, how she will never be frightened by the same things as Stephen King, and why it’s so important to keep the literary door ajar once you’ve kicked it open. 

It was a pleasure to speak to Isabel. I can’t believe she found the time. 

Enjoy 

The Hacienda is published on May 3rd by Berkley 

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod

Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to [email protected] 

Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store.

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This week Alma Katsu brings her brand of immaculate historical horror to Talking Scared.

After the The Hunger upped the ante on the Donner Party, and The Deep gave us a sinking feeling about the Titanic, Alma is back with The Fervor – a book too dark to write a pun about.

It’s a tale of haunting and conspiracy during   the years of Japanese internment in the US. Spanning multiple states, and multiple POV’s, it weaves a story of anger, prejudice and hate that seems all too familiar today.

We talk a lot about the history of internment and anti-asian prejudice in the US, about Alma’s heritage and career, and the unique perspective it gives her on the topic. But don’t worry, just as it’s all about to get worryingly serious –the spider demons pop in to lighten the mood!

Enjoy!

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

The Fervor is published on April 26th, by G.P. Putnam. It will be released in the UK in October, by Titan. 

Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod

Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to [email protected] 

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