Send us a Text Message. Another year done. We squeaked through without another plague or a nuclear apocalypse (don’t tempt fate Neil!!) and along the way, oh the stories we read!    The only thing left to do after mopping away the chalk pentagrams, is to run you through my very favourite books of the year. The so-called Best Horror Novels of 2023, as chosen by me. Ten of them to be precise, cos humans are obsessed with round numbers. Mwaha, in fact I talk about thirteen!!   Thanks again for listening and supporting the show. You give my addled rants a semblance of purpose, and it’s appreciated.   Onward into 2024 and its multitude of horrors!!!   Enjoy.   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Visit the Talking Scared site   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the Show.

176 – The Best Horror Novels of 2023

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Send us a Text Message. Elle Nash’s Deliver Me ruined my week. In the best possible way.   This book, about a woman so desperate for a child that she does truly terrible, no-good things, contains some of the bleakest, most brutal scenes I’ve read in a while. And it’s not even really being treated as a horror novel.    Elle and I talk about that.   We also talk about the hot-button topics of the novel, the patriarchy, the toxic Christianity, the… insect erotica! But we also discuss her wandering heart and the empathy and provocation that drives her work.   It’s a lovely, laid back conversation about a challenging book.   Enjoy   Other books mentioned:   Geek Love (1989), by Katherine Dunn Violent Faculties (2024), by Charlene Elsby Frisk (1991), by Dennis Cooper   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the Show.

197 – Elle Nash & Insects in the Ozarks

Send us a Text Message. Todd Keisling can write the hell out of a short story. So well, in fact, that they may convince you to resist a bully, stop going to church, or tell your boss to f**k off!    Cold, Black and Infinite is full of liminal tales of the between-places. Cosmic “Otherness” that defies religion or belief. Corporate soul-hells that take everything you have…and more.   Weird then, that they are so fun.   Todd and I talk about all of that connective tissue between his stories. Plus, we map The Southland, this “pocket cosmos” of weird Appalachia that is destined to be the stage for the next era in his career.   It’s a blast. And this conversation is the anti-corporate, anti-fundamentalism, anti-bully screed you’ve been waiting for.   Enjoy.   Cold, Black and Infinite was released September 2023, By Cemetery Dance    Other books mentioned:Ugly Little Things: Collected Horrors (2017), by Todd KeislingThe Final Reconciliation (2018), by Todd KeislingDevil’s Creek (20200, by Todd KeislingIn the Lake of the Woods (1994), by Tim O’BrienThe Raw Shark Texts (2007), by Steven Hall‘Salem’s Lot (1975), by Stephen KingThe Bad Book (2021), ed. by John D. Taff (contains “Gethsemane”)The Cheese Monkeys: A Novel in Two Semesters (2002), by Chip KiddThe Ceremonies (1984), by T. E. D. Klein  Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the Show.

196 – Todd Keisling & The Eras Tour: Horror Version

Send us a Text Message. Something new for me this week. A bold venture into uncharted territory.    The graphic novel!!   As is proper, I’ve started with one of the best. Emil Ferris joins me to talk through the creation of her landmark epic, My Favourite Thing is Monsters. Volume 1 came out in 2017 to rapturous acclaim, and now, Volume 2 picks up exactly where that story of cute werewolves and cherished monsters let off. This is an EVENT!!   Emil talks me through this alternative form of storytelling. She tells me about the laborious process behind the books, and how it saved her life (literally). Most of all though, we talk creativity, and how art and monsters are the things that will preserve humanity.   Enjoy.   My Favourite Thing is Monsters is released May 28thth from Fantagraphics    Other books mentioned:   Maus (1986), by Art Spiegelman The Talisman (1984), by Stephen King and Peter Straub The Shape of Water (2018), by Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus Whalefall (2023), by Daniel Kraus   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the Show.

195 – Emil Ferris & The Patron Saints of our Imperfection

Send us a Text Message. Believe it or not, there is more to life than just books. Very little, granted… but there is more.   Talking Scared: Off Book is a chance for this show to spread its wings a little. To fly further, wider, deeper into the world of horror and come back carrying different kinds of guests in our bloody beak!    (ok, I may have stretched that metaphor too far).   Basically, I’ll be talking, now and then, to other kinds of horror creatives. Filmmakers, actors, musicians, podcasters, designers, comic book artists, whoever the hell takes my fancy. I hope you’ll enjoy it.    This first episode features Phil Nobile Jr. Editor-in-Chief of Fangoria, and a man with his finger on the bloody pulse of the genre. We talk about films, journalism, how to market horror and, yes, of course, a few books.   This is a good episode for the hopeful journalist.   Enjoy!   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the Show.

Off Book #1 – Phil Nobile Jr. & Fangoria

Send us a Text Message. We return to Australia for the second time in a month, to find that (once again), home invasion isn’t the worst thing to happen on a typical day.   Alan Baxter’s Blood Covenant is a violent, thrilling story of a threeway battle between an innocent family, a nasty criminal gang of bogans (see, I’m learning!) and an otherworldly force that is even worse! Think, what if The Strangers took place in the Overlook Hotel.   It’s a hugely enjoyable book that prompts a conversation about the influence of 70s and 80s paperback classics, the overlap of horror and crime in Australian fiction, some extreme horror movies and a whole long celebration of unpretentious storytelling.   Enjoy!   Blood Covenant is released May 24th from Cemetary Dance    Other books mentioned:   The Gulp (2021), by Alan Baxter Hidden City (2018), by Alan Baxter  The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia’s Founding (1986), by Robert Hughes “Devil” by Glen Hirshberg, in Screams From the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous (2022), edited by Ellen Datlow The Fog (1975), by James Herbert The Hunted (2021), by Gabriel Bergmoser Terra Nullius (2017), by Claire G. Coleman Dirty Heads (2021), by Aaron Dries   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the Show.

176 – The Best Horror Novels of 2023

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