Talking Scared

In Solace House, Will Maclean takes us back to the 90s for a drug-fuelled trip through some mindbending architecture. It’s a chance to get nostalgic for a more innocent time, when the clothes were baggy, the music was better, and you could spend a summer spent renovating an old asylum without needing to put in on TikTok.



It’s all fun and games until the existential terror kicks in and the fabric of reality comes unwoven.



Enjoy. This one was a good laugh.

The Apparition Phase (2020), by Will Maclean

And He Shall Appear (2025), by Kate van der Borgh

The Modern Antiquarian (1998), by Julian Cope

The Prisonhouse of Language (1972), by Fredric Jameson

The Human Evasion (1969), by Celia Green

Starmaker (1937), by Olaf Stapledon

A Short Stay in Hell (2009), by Steven L. Peck

“The Jaunt,” in Night Shift (1978), by Stephen King

The Divine Farce (2009), by Michael Graziano



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This episode needs no attempt at a witty introduction. Stephen King is back to talk about Other Worlds Than These – the concluding volume of The Talisman saga, begun with Peter Straub 45 years ago.



We keep it spoiler-free, but we talk about Jack Sawyer’s journey and how it entwines with The Dark Tower. We reflect on The Talisman and Black House, on Wolf and my heartbreak. We discuss Peter’s inspiration for the story and how King summoned him to bring it to a close. And we even get some hints of what’s cooking in Steve’s brain for future projects. It seems he’s never slowing down, no matter what he say.



I hope you enjoy this.



Other books mentioned:

Julia (1975), by Peter Straub

Ghost Story (1979), by Peter Straub

Redheaded Peckerwood (2010), by Christian Patterson

King Sorrow (2025), by Joe Hill

Sleeping Beauties (2017), by Stephen and Owen King

Trad Wife (2026), by Sarah Langan



Support Talking Scared on Patreon



Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch



Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com
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Leaning into absolute high geekery this week – with Kyle Winkler’s novel of how family game night can go badly wrong!



The Ship of Death is about a cursed (and I mean CURSED!) tabletop role-playing game and the unlucky couple who choose to play it. Or, as Kyle describes it “Dark Jumanji.”



It prompts a conversation about games in life and fiction. Epistolary structure and found-fiction. We discuss his relationship with the bizarre, his love for mysteries without answers, we consider who is really responsible for the world-building in a story, and we pay a lot of respect to cosmic horror influences beyond Lovecraft.



It’s was a delight to record. Hope you enjoy listening.



Other books mentioned:

Grasshands (2024), by Kyle Winkler

Boris Says the Words (2022), by Kyle Winkler

The Nothing That Is (2020), by Kyle Winkler

Borne (2017), by Jeff VanderMeer

Zothique (1970), by Clarke Ashton Smith

The Dying Earth (1950), by Jack Vance

Enduring Love (1997), by Ian McEwan

Negative Space (2020), by B.R. Yeager

True Crime (2020), by Samantha Kolesnik

The House Next Door (1978), by Anne River Siddons

My Dark Places (1996), by James Ellroy

Penpal (2012), by Dathan Auerbach

Mockingbird (1980), by Paul Tevis

The Blacktongue Thief (2021), by Christopher Buehlman



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Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch



Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com
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This week’s episode shows what a good haunted house can do.



Deena Helm is a mixed American-Palestinian author, who’s
debut novel, Our Cut of Salt, puts all the power of the Gothic to use in
framing the occupation and oppression of Palestine. It takes place before the ongoing genocide, but offer a chance to consider how horror fiction can play its part in framing that obscenity.



That all sounds heavy, and it rightfully is – but this book also has a frightening, tragic and murderous house at its core… so there’s (our kind) of fun to be had as well.



This is an important episode for the show. I hope you listen and enjoy.



Other books mentioned:



White is for Witching (2009), by Helen Oyeyemi

Tell Me I’m Worthless (2021), by Alison Rumfitt

Frankenstein in Baghdad (2013), by Ahmed Saadawi

Mornings in Jenin (2006), by Susan Abulhawa

Behind You is the Sea (2024), by Susan Muaddi Darraj

Gentle Things (2026), by Danielle Giles

Hungerstone (2025), by Kat Dunn



Support Talking Scared on Patreon



Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch



Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com
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Home is where the horror is this week, with Chris Panatier and Worry Box!



This latest offering from Panatier’s uniquely strange mind is a complete revision of the haunted house as we know it. It’s a house that means well, but understands little. Couple that with a family in flux and a child suffering intrusive thoughts, and you have a recipe for terrible, no-good disaster.



In short, it’s 400 pages of slowly tightening dread!

I hope you enjoy.



Other books mentioned:

The Redemption of Morgan Bright (2024), by Chris Panatier

This House isn’t Haunted but We Are (2025), by Stephen Howard

Our Cut of Salt (2026), by Deena Helm

Pet Semetary (1983), by Stephen King

The Library at Mount Char (2015), by Scott Hawkins

Gideon the Ninth (2019), by Tamsyn Muir

Gormenghast (1950), by Mervyn Peak

Angel Down (2025), by Daniel Kraus

Chimera Skin (2026), by Johnny Compton

The Butcher of Nazareth (2026), by David Scott Hay



Support Talking Scared on Patreon



Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch



Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices