Talking Scared

It’s a collegial week on Talking Scared. ‘Cos I’m talking dark, occult academia with someone very local to me.   Kate van der Borgh’s debut, And He Shall Appear is basically a sinister version of my own life. It’s about a young working class lad, like me, who goes to a prestigious university, like me… but there ours paths diverge, as he meets a fellow student who perhaps has diabolical powers.   It’s a twisted, obscure, psychological study of unreliable memory, inescapable guilt, and the haunting of not-knowing oneself. Kate and I talk about all of that, as well as the class divide, northern accents, the terror of infinity, favourite ghosts stories, and memories of underrage drinking in the same bars.   The book is great. I’m delighted to help celebrate it.   Enjoy.   The Sense of an Ending (2011), by Julian Barnes The Little Stranger (2009), by Sarah Waters The Pallbearer’s Club (2022), by Paul Tremblay We Were Villains (2017), by M. L. Rio The Secret History (1992), by Donna Tartt “All Souls,” in The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton (1973), by Edith Wharton   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back and Happy New Year. 2025 looms ahead. Frightening. Uncertain. Crazy!!   Our first guest of the year has written the book that best captures this mad future we’re living in. Clay McLeod Chapman returns to Talking Scared, to talk about Wake Up And Open Your Eyes – his new novel of mass demonic possession, transmitted through poisonous media, and the destruction of families and communities.   It’s… disturbing.   It’s also gross as hell. Deliciously so. And we talk about that urge for the the ick! As well as his motivations in writing this book, his anxiety over releasing it, and the sadness that underlies our political echo chambers.   It’s a hell of a way to kick off a wild, weird year.   What Kind of Mother (2023), by Clay McLeod Chapman Ghost Eaters (2022), by Clay McLeod Chapman The Deluge (2022), by Stephen Markley Come Closer (2003), by Sara Gran The Stand (1990), by Stephen King Found: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories (2022), ed by, Andrew Cull and Gabino Iglesias American Rapture (2024), by CJ Leede Feast While You Can (2024), by by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text How else to end 2024 than with an entirely subjective list of the best things I’ve read over the year?   How many of you will guess the number one spot? I bet none of you will guess the number two?    Let me know your thoughts – what you loved, and what you think I missed   Enjoy!   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected]    Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text It’s that time of year again. When I celebrate the winter solstice by getting some horror authors to come and talk in deep, emotional detail about a scary book that we like.   This time the Christmas Special Deep Dive kicks the tires and looks under the hood of Stephen King’s most underrated novel: From a Buick 8. My friends on this weird-ass-road trip are Ally Malinenko and Nat Cassidy. I asked them to do it for a coupla reasons. 1) They are lovely 2) hey really get King, and 3) they can speak to this book’s focus on grief and loss.   And oh boy do we talk grief, loss, afterlives and everything else. Turns out it’s not just a book about a car after all.   Don’t worry though, Ally is charming, Nat is snarky and together we’ll make you laugh.    And Christmas is supposed to be tinged with melancholy isn’t it…   Enjoy!   Other Books Mentioned   Matterhorn (2009), by Karl Marlantes Hearts in Atlantis (1999), by Stephen King The Colorado Kid (2005), by Stephen King “The Night Flyer” and “Popsy,” in Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993), by Stephen King Nestlings (2023), by Nat Cassidy This Appearing House (2022), by Ally Malinenko   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected]    Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices