Episodios

  • 236 – Brian Keene & Living in the Splatter

    236 – Brian Keene & Living in the Splatter
    Apr 29 2025
    Brian Keene has written so many damn books! …and I had never read any of them. This absolute horror faux-pas (and my embarrassment) is the reason that it’s taken so long to get Brian on the show. But I set a week aside and read as many Keene books as I could and here we are… on a leisurely stroll through Brian’s life and career,both of which he has devoted to stories of really nasty s*** happening to undeserving people. We talk abouthis bleak coming-of-age novel, Ghoul, his story of a homicidal nightfrom hell, The Complex, and his sombre study of mortality and writing inthe 21st century, The End of the Road. And between all that we cover hope and nihilism, we ask if horror could help shore up the failing centre, and Brian talks me through all the great writers I missed when I wasn’t paying enough attention to horror. Enjoy! Other books mentioned: The Rising (2003), by Brian Keene Entombed (2011), by Brian Keene Ghoul (2007), by Brian Keene End of the Road (2020), by Brian Keene The Cellar (1980), by Richard Laymon The Beast House (1986), by Richard Laymon The Island (1995), by Richard Laymon A Writer’s Tale (1998), by Richard Laymon The Girl Next Door (1989), by Jack Ketchum Survivor (2002), by J.F. Gonzalez A Choir of Ill Children (2007) by Tom Piccirilli “Sticks” (1974), by Karl Edward Wagner “West Of Matamoros, South of Hell” (2017), by Brian Hodge (in Best Horror of the Year, Volume 10, edited by Ellen Datlow) The Day of the Door (2024), by Laurel Hightower The Better To Eat You With (2024), by Wesley Southard Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 19 m
  • 235 – Nat Cassidy & Emotional Doomsday Prepping

    235 – Nat Cassidy & Emotional Doomsday Prepping
    Apr 22 2025
    I’ve been looking forward to releasing this one… Nat Cassidy comes to Talk Scared about When the Wolf Comes Home, his new novel that I –and people like me – are already calling out as one of the Best Books of the Year™. It’s a shaggy, undisciplined, sprinting beast of a book that obeys no rules. You may think it’s a werewolf novel, and you may be right... but also very wrong. It’s a book about transformations of many kinds, about fatherhood and the very nature of fear itself. But it’s also funny, scary and sad as hell. You’ll love the damn thing, and this conversation. Enjoy! Other books mentioned: Mary: An Awakening of Terror (2022), by Nat Cassidy Nestlings (2023), by Nat Cassidy Play Nice (forthcoming, 2025), by Rachel Harrison Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 34 m
  • Off Book #8 – Kyle McConaghy & Dead Mail

    Off Book #8 – Kyle McConaghy & Dead Mail
    Apr 18 2025
    Back to the 80s this week for one of the most singular horror movies of the year – now streaming on Shudder. Dead Mail is an ode to the era, but there are no neon fonts or leg warmers (or Olivia Newton Johns) here. Instead we’re in the drear of the decade, for a story about a synth-obsessed man who keeps his business partner captive in his flock-wallpapered bathroom. The poor victim’s only hope is the investigative ‘Dead Mail’ department of his local post office. If that sounds mad… well, it is. And I’m joined by Kyle McConaghy, one half of the writing/directing duo behind the movie. We talk about scripting the crazy, about the hands-on reality of low-budget filmmaking, replicating 80s aesthetics, and a big bucket full of rubber rats. Enjoy! Dead Mail is streaming on Shudder from Friday 18th April Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    56 m
  • 234 – Katherine Arden & The Devil’s Train Timetable

    234 – Katherine Arden & The Devil’s Train Timetable
    Apr 15 2025
    In the week that the world changed, we’re talking about the last time things got this crazy. Katherine Arden is the author of The Warm Hands of Ghosts — a novel set in the trenches of the First World War and on the borderline between horror and fantasy. It’s a Faustian pact made in No-Man’s Land, where our memories are the price we pay for keeping ourselves alive. In this episode we talk a lot about history, about inflection points and moments of no-return. We talk about how systems of power can seem so complex that they lead only to ruin – but we also talk devils and fairies and angels and brave, brave nurses with scarred hands. It’s a joy of a conversation, about the most hideous time to be alive. Enjoy! Other books mentioned: The Bear and the Nightingale (2017), by Katherine Arden The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (2025), by Stephen Graham Jones Wasteland: The Great War and the Origin of Modern Horror (2018), by W. Scott Pool Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004), by Susanna Clarke The Master and the Margarita (1940), by Mikhail Bulgakov Lud in the Mist (1926), by Hope Mirrlees Ghosts Have Warm Hands: A Memoir of the Great War (1968), by Will R. Bird Between Two Fires (2012), by Christopher Buehlman Ghost Eaters (2022), by Clay McLeod Chapman Wake Up and Open Your Eyes (2025), by Clay McLeod Chapman Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 20 m
  • 233 – Tariq Ashkanani & Bloodstained Hands Across the Ocean

    233 – Tariq Ashkanani & Bloodstained Hands Across the Ocean
    Apr 8 2025
    This week we go from Edinburgh, Scotland to Nashville, Tennessee, in the company of crime author Tariq Ashkanani. Tariq’s The Midnight King is a tricky, quasi-metafictional murder mystery about cursed manuscripts, familial secrets and the most heinous murders. It’s also a love letter to the kind of occult-tinged American crime epics that both he and I grew up loving. We talk about the challenge of writing about serial killing without exploitation, about the unstable boundary between crime and horror fiction, about the allure of Hannibal Lecter and the pressure of a good twist. But mostly we just pay homage to the messy, bloodsoaked myth of America that inspired us so much over the years. Enjoy! Other books mentioned: Welcome to Cooper (2021), by Tariq Ashkanani Red Dragon (1981), by Thomas Harris Galveston (2010), by Nic Pizzolatto The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper (2019), by Hallie Rubenhold The Devil All the Time (2011), by Donald Ray Pollock Uzumaki (2000), by Junji Ito Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 15 m
  • 232 – Punk Goes Horror, with William Sterling, Wendy Dalrymple & Brian McAauley

    232 – Punk Goes Horror, with William Sterling, Wendy Dalrymple & Brian McAauley
    Apr 1 2025
    Time to throw ourselves around. We’re covering Punk Goes Horror. The anthology of stories inspired by punk and alternative rock songs came out just a few weeks back. It brings together a mosh-pit full of authors, both new and established, to transmute their favourite songs into nasty little stories. I invited the anthology editor, William Sterling, and two of his contributors, Wendy Dalrymple and Brian McCauley, to talk about punk, and horror and the affinity between the two. We get into our favourite ever gig experiences, the creepy assumptions behind certain emo-songs, and why punk (and music generally) is such an important light in dark times. Enjoy! Other books mentioned: Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk (2024), by Kathleen Hanna Victorian Psycho (2025), by Virginia Feito Blood on her Tongue (2025), by Johanna van Veen Credenza (2025), by Wendy Dalrymple Breathe in, Bleed Out (2025), by Brian McCauley Poisoned Soup for the Macabre, Depraved and Insane: An Anthology of Nostalgic Terrors (2025), edited by Wendy Dalrymple and Grace R. Reynolds Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 5 m
  • Let Us Palaver #2 — The Drawing of the Three Debrief

    Let Us Palaver #2 — The Drawing of the Three Debrief
    Mar 28 2025
    The second Let Us Palaver minisode – in which Nat Cassidy dig into the things we couldn't say about The Drawing of the Three, and give MAJOR SPOILERS about whole Dark Tower series. We're really start to wonder if Chris is punking us. Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    32 m
  • The Dark Tower Deep Dive #2 – The Drawing of the Three

    The Dark Tower Deep Dive #2 – The Drawing of the Three
    Mar 25 2025
    The Ka-tet picks up exactly where we left off: on the beaches of Midworld, with Roland Deschain. (If none of that makes any sense to you, go listen to episode one of the Dark Tower Deep Dive immediately) Nat Cassidy, Chris Panatier and I gather for a long, philosophical, expletive-littered conversation about Book 2: The Drawing of the Three. We get further into the character of Roland and his quest, and spend some time with the gaggle of oddballs he meets along his scenic tour of the coast. The seafood is particularly tasty! It’s good to be talking Tower again. Enjoy. Nnedi Okorafor's article on Odetta/Detta Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    2 h y 15 m
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