Talking Scared

By Neil McRobert

What's Talking Scared about?

Conversations with the biggest names in horror fiction. A podcast for horror readers who want to know where their favourite stories came from . . . and what frightens the people who wrote them.

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Talking Scared episodes:

05.14.2024
193 – L.P. Hernandez & Kudos On the Cruelty
Send us a Text Message.A charming man approaches. With dark secrets to tell you. Yeah, that L.P. Hernandez. Author of the novella In the Valley of the Headless Men and the forthcoming collection, No Gods, Only Chaos. Both are great;...
05.06.2024
192 – Robert Ottone & Raising Kids in Langan Country
Send us a Text Message.Opinions are like assholes, they say. Everybody has one. The subtext of that, is that you shouldn’t show them to people. Well my guest and I don’t hold back on ours this week. Robert Ottone joins...
04.30.2024
191 – Chris Panatier & The Goo of Human Nature
Send us a Text Message.Ah the madhouse. The loony bin. The ASYLUM!! A classic horror location. One of my favourites, but problematic as hell in the wrong hands.Thankfully, I have the right author for the topic. Christ Panatier has the...
04.23.2024
190 – Kaaron Warren & The Un-Cosy House
Send us a Text Message.We all love a good spooky house. And most of us enjoy a terrifying home-invasion ordeal (or at least, I know I do). What happens when you put them together? Kaaron Warren’s The Underhistory is the...
04.16.2024
189 – The Black Girl Survives in This One, with Saraciea J. Fennell, Desiree S. Evans, Monica Brashears & Eden Royce
Send us a Text Message.I bite off a lot this week, in a five-way conversation with editors and contributors to the ever-so-of-the-moment anthology The Black Girl Survives in This One. That’s a promise right there on the title page, but...
04.09.2024
188 – Scarlett Thomas & Hot Gothic
Send us a Text Message.I’m in literary hero territory again … at least this time it’s sunny! My guest is Scarlett Thomas, the groundbreaking writer of PopCo, Oligarchy, The Seed Collectors and the (post)modern speculative classic, The End of Mr...
04.05.2024
187 – The Carrie 50th Anniversary Deep Dive, with Nat Cassidy & Ally Malinenko
Send us a Text Message.Carrie White turns 50 years old today! April 5th, 1974 – the day King’s debut came out, and the world of horror we know live in changed forever. To celebrate such an auspicious anniversary, there...
04.02.2024
186 – Stephen Graham Jones & The Last Stand of the Final Girls
Send us a Text Message.Alas, we come to the end! Stephen Graham Jones’s The Angel of Indian Lake brings the most important horror trilogy of the century to its conclusion. For one last time we return to Proofrock, Idaho –...
03.26.2024
185 – Cynthia Pelayo & A Mermaid in the Windy City
Send us a Text Message.Chi-Town!! We’re heading to the midwestern metropolis this week, for a conversation with Cina Pelayo – all about murder, mystery, history and strange things in the water. Her new novel, Forgotten Sisters is a heady, dreamlike...
03.19.2024
184 – Joshua Hull & It’s a Whole Hole Thing
Send us a Text Message.Never mind the floor is lava. This week the ground has teeth. Joshua Hull is our guest, to talk about his obsession with dangerous, weird holes. He wrote one into his hilarious, grisly horror movie, Glorious...
03.12.2024
183 – Gwendolyn Kiste & Working Through Your Ghosts
Send us a Text Message.Time to get liminal and haunted. Gwendolyn Kiste comes back to Talking Scared for another high-concept twist on the Gothic. In The Haunting of Velkwood, and entire street turns ghostly overnight. Yeah, I can’t explain...
03.05.2024
182 – Tim Lebbon & Running Towards What Scares You
Send us a Text Message.Sometimes you meet someone who just gets you. Like Tim Lebbon. A man who writes riotously good adventure-horror novels, and also likes running outrageous distances up big hills. What a pleasure it was to speak to...
02.27.2024
181 – Haunting Hill House, with Catriona Ward, Johnny Compton & Paul Tremblay
Send us a Text Message.Back from a too-short break, but ready to delve into the greatest haunted house of them all! Shirley Jackson’s Hill House. The place where the scary things walk alone. Thankfully, I am not alone. I’m joined...
01.30.2024
180 – Chuck Palahniuk & What Kind of Sex Do You Want?
Send us a Text Message.Yes I put sex in the title to make you download it. Did it work? It shouldn’t be necessary, ‘cos this week’s guest is an absolute literary icon. Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, Haunted, Lullaby,...
01.23.2024
179 – Ally Wilkes & The Ethics of Eating Your Friends
Send us a Text Message.Are you hungry? If so we have a chewy, salty, deeply flavoured feast for you this week. Ally Wilkes returns to Talking Scared to discuss the icebound horrors of her new novel, Where the Dead...
01.16.2024
178 – Jenny Kiefer & A Solid Foothold in Horror
Send us a Text Message.The first new book coverage of 2024 – and it starts us off on suitably horrific footing. Jenny Kiefer’s debut novel, This Wretched Valley, has been getting a huge amount of early buzz in horror circles....
01.09.2024
177 – John Langan & Fishing For Mythologies
Send us a Text Message.To kick off a new year of Talking Scared, I’ve gone and hooked us a big guest, with a whopper of a story. John Langan is the author of The Fisherman. It’s one of the great...
12.30.2023
176 – The Best Horror Novels of 2023
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...
12.24.2023
175 – The Ghost Story Deep Dive, with Alan Baxter, Lauren Bolger & John Langan
Send us a Text Message.Dickens said that Christmas Eve was a time for ghost stories, and who am I to argue? It is my show though, so I get to pick the ghost story – and I picked Peter Straub’s...
12.19.2023
174 – State of the Horror Nation 2023, with Emily Hughes, Victor Lavalle & C.J. Leede
Send us a Text Message.And so we come to the end of another year in horror. Time to look back at the best that 2023 has had to offer, as determined by three of the best in the business.My trusted...
12.12.2023
173 – Michelle Paver & Long Nights of the Body & Soul
Send us a Text Message.We’re going up in the world this week – longitudinally and latitudinally, with the GOAT of endurance, adventure Gothic, Michelle Paver. Michelle joins me for a big conversation about her novels Dark Matter and Thin Air...
12.05.2023
172 – Gemma Amor & The Haunted Penis-Replacement Structure
Send us a Text Message.Last time Gemma Amor came on the show we had a good ol’ chinwag about our haunted brains. This time around we get to some other ghosts, in her new novel, The Folly. It’s a sharp...
11.28.2023
171 – C.S. Humble & Come For the Horror, Stay for the Horses
Send us a Text Message.We’ve had Cowboys versus Aliens but have you ever considered a threeway fight between gunslingers, vampires and weird cosmic cultists to an Elder God? If not why not? What do you even think about when...
11.21.2023
170 – Luke Dumas & The Ghosts That Time Forgot
Send us a Text Message.Sometimes two words can make a jaded horror reader sit up straight. Ghost is one, Dinosaur is another. Ghost. Dinosaur. Have you ever heard a more beautiful combination, a sweeter symphony of syllables. If “Ghost...
11.14.2023
169 – Tyler Jones & Journeys Without Maps
Send us a Text Message.Horror is about finding light in darkness. That’s the mission statement of this podcast, at least. And it’s never been truer than in this week’s episode. Tyler Jones re-joins us on Talking Scared to talk about...
11.07.2023
168 – Tananarive Due & Locked in With the Monsters
Send us a Text Message.History is haunted. Ghosts are injustice persevering. So many horror stories hinge on that idea, but for Tananarive Due it’s more personal than that. Her new novel, The Reformatory, is borne from the ghosts hidden in...
10.31.2023
167 – Nat Cassidy & A New York State of Death
Send us a Text Message.Sometimes when you’re doing something scary good company can be a blessing. Nat Cassidy is good company. And this week he talks me through the haunted hallways and avenues of his New York horror ode,...
10.24.2023
166 – Sam Rebelein & You Had Me At “Tongue-Monster!”
Send us a Text Message.Some stories are just too big for one podcast. Some stories should be too big for one book. Sam Rebelein’s Edenville is one such story. This 300-something page novel has more crammed into it than...
10.17.2023
165 – Josh Malerman & Ronald Malfi & The Rock N Roll Rhythm of the Novella
Send us a Text Message.Some stories are too short, some are too long, but some stories are just right. It’s the Goldilocks zone: the novella.What is the secret to crafting a longer story but not letting it run away from...
10.10.2023
164 – Out There Screaming Roundtable, with Nnedi Okorafor, Lesley Nneka Arimah & Maurice Broaddus
Send us a Text Message.This week is a special roundtable episode. An exciting, challenging and very very thought-provoking tour of contemporary Black horror, in the company of three writers at the bleeding edge. Nnedi Okorafor, Maurice Broaddus and Lesley...
10.03.2023
163 – Liz Hand & Visiting the Thing That Walks Alone
Send us a Text Message.Come home!! We have to come home!! The House is calling us. Yep, this week we are going back to the most haunted house of all. Hill House. Shirley Jackson’s classic bad place. And we’re going...
09.26.2023
162 – Chuck Wendig & American as Evil Apple Pie
Send us a Text Message.This week on Talking Scared we are joining hands with Chuck Wendig to take the fight to Big Fruit. They have been lying to us about apples all our lives. Chuck’s new novel, Black River Orchard...
09.19.2023
161 – Clay McLeod Chapman & The Chesapeake Softshell Shuffle
Send us a Text Message.Clay McLeod Chapman returns to Talking Scared to answer some serious questions, the first being what the holy f**k Clay?! Clay has never been a writer to shy away from a high concept challenge (haunted mushrooms,...
09.12.2023
160 – Isabel Cañas & Many Types of Bloodsucker
Send us a Text Message.I’m back, partially rested and with some romance lingering in my soul. Good timing, cos this week’s episode focuses on the heart as well as the blood that it pumps. Isabel Cañas returns to the...
09.05.2023
159 – Alexander James & An Encounter in the Woods
Send us a Text Message.Why do we keep heading back to the woods? WHY?? Nothing good ever happens there.Alexander James would argue otherwise, but he’s clearly made of sterner stuff than me. In his debut novel, The Woodkin, Alex parlays...
08.29.2023
158 – Catriona Ward & Rewriting the American Gothic (Like, Literally)
Send us a Text Message.If you thought The Last House on Needless Street was tricksy, just wait until you hear about Looking Glass Sound. This is Cat’s ode to the Maine of Stephen King, the enigmatic narrators of Shirley Jackson...
08.22.2023
157 – Josh Winning & The World Through Blood-Tinted Glasses
Send us a Text Message.We’re off to La La Land this week, to talk cursed films, 90s horror nostalgia and Winona Ryder(!!) Our guest is Josh Winning – who has parlayed his years of writing from and about film sets...
08.15.2023
156 – Sadie Hartmann & The Books of Our Horrid Hearts
Send us a Text Message.Sorry not sorry this week. Yes I’m going to destroy your wallet and your bookshelves…but you LOVE IT!!Our guest is Sadie Hartmann, AKA Mother Horror to the likes of us. One of the most influential horror...
08.08.2023
155 – Stephen King & Writing From the Nerve Endings
Send us a Text Message.Our guest this week is Stephen King.That’s it. That’s the intro.Stephen King. The architect of modern horror and the creative north star of my life, and many of yours. He’s on the show, talking about his...
08.01.2023
154 – Alex Woodroe & The Sweet Science of Folk Horror
Send us a Text Message.We’re off on a Goth pilgrimage this week folks, to the motherland, Transylvania, to talk folk-horror and more with Alex Woodroe.Alex is a Romanian writer of dark fictions, the Editor in Chief of Tenebrous Press, and...
07.25.2023
153 – Chuck Tingle & Riding the Lonesome Train
Send us a Text Message.This week we’re joined by the man, the myth, the mystery that is Chuck Tingle. Who knows the truth of this enigmatic figure? What visage lies beneath the pink bag that forever encases his face? Does...
07.18.2023
152 – Andrew Michael Hurley & Our Green, Unpleasant Land
Send us a Text Message.This week I’m recording very close to home with Andrew Michael Hurley. Andrew burst onto the folk-horror scene with subtle aplomb (can one burst subtly?) back in 2014, with The Loney. That slice of weirdness was...
07.11.2023
151 – Verity Holloway & The Onion Skin of Trauma
Send us a Text Message.War, what is it good for? Absolutely noth…. well actually, it is quite good for horror stories.Our guest this week doesn’t plumb the usual horrors-of-war route, though. Verity Holloway’s The Others of Edenwell is a supremely...
07.04.2023
150 – Danielle Trussoni & Puzzling All Over the World
Send us a Text Message.This week Danielle Trussoni arrives at Talking Scared in a rush. She has a meeting to get to, and we have LOTS of things to talk about in less than an hour. Her new novel, The...
06.30.2023
149 – Clowns at Midnight – The Big IT Deep-Dive (Part Two), with Ally Malinenko & Nat Cassidy
Send us a Text Message.Thrust your fists against the post and still insist you see the… …oh hello. You came back. Thank Gan. We have a monster to defeat this week. Yes, this is the second part of the Talking...
06.26.2023
148 – Feral Childhoods – The Big IT Deep-Dive (Part One), with Ally Malinenko & Nat Cassidy
Send us a Text Message.Come get a balloon, bring your slingshot, let’s float…it’s here!!!Yes, finally we’re off to Derry, to do battle with that goddamn clown. But as everyone knows, we can’t fight Pennywise alone. That’s why I’m taking my...
06.13.2023
147 – Mike Flanagan & Lighting Up the Darkness
Send us a Text Message.I’ve rarely been more excited about an episode – for you to hear it or, indeed, about its very contents.We’re joined this week by Mike Flanagan. Yes, that Mike Flanagan. The genius loci of modern visual...
06.06.2023
146 – Paula. D. Ashe & A Bizarre & Bitter Reprieve
Send us a Text Message. If horror is indeed a broad church, then our guest this week is preaching from the darkest of pulpits. Paula D. Ashe is the author of We Are Here To Hurt Each Other – a...
05.30.2023
145 – Sarah Gailey & The Scariest Place in the House
Send us a Text Message.What if the house that shaped you was a broken, haunted place?That’s one of many questions we explore this week, in the company of Sarah Gailey. Their 2022 hit, Just Like Home is out in paperback...
05.23.2023
144 – Nicholas Binge & the Spookiest of Entanglements
Send us a Text Message.In the immortal words of Creed’s Scott Stapp, “can you take me HIIIGHER?”Yes, I can.Our guest this week is Nicholas Binge, author the new buzzy, horror-sci-fi novel, Ascension. It’s about a very weird, very big mountain...

What's Talking Scared about?

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Talking Scared episodes:

193 – L.P. Hernandez & Kudos On the Cruelty

192 – Robert Ottone & Raising Kids in Langan Country

191 – Chris Panatier & The Goo of Human Nature

190 – Kaaron Warren & The Un-Cosy House

189 – The Black Girl Survives in This One, with Saraciea J. Fennell, Desiree S. Evans, Monica Brashears & Eden Royce

188 – Scarlett Thomas & Hot Gothic

187 – The Carrie 50th Anniversary Deep Dive, with Nat Cassidy & Ally Malinenko

186 – Stephen Graham Jones & The Last Stand of the Final Girls

185 – Cynthia Pelayo & A Mermaid in the Windy City

184 – Joshua Hull & It’s a Whole Hole Thing

183 – Gwendolyn Kiste & Working Through Your Ghosts

182 – Tim Lebbon & Running Towards What Scares You

181 – Haunting Hill House, with Catriona Ward, Johnny Compton & Paul Tremblay

180 – Chuck Palahniuk & What Kind of Sex Do You Want?

179 – Ally Wilkes & The Ethics of Eating Your Friends

178 – Jenny Kiefer & A Solid Foothold in Horror

177 – John Langan & Fishing For Mythologies

176 – The Best Horror Novels of 2023

175 – The Ghost Story Deep Dive, with Alan Baxter, Lauren Bolger & John Langan

174 – State of the Horror Nation 2023, with Emily Hughes, Victor Lavalle & C.J. Leede

173 – Michelle Paver & Long Nights of the Body & Soul

172 – Gemma Amor & The Haunted Penis-Replacement Structure

171 – C.S. Humble & Come For the Horror, Stay for the Horses

170 – Luke Dumas & The Ghosts That Time Forgot

169 – Tyler Jones & Journeys Without Maps

168 – Tananarive Due & Locked in With the Monsters

167 – Nat Cassidy & A New York State of Death

166 – Sam Rebelein & You Had Me At “Tongue-Monster!”

165 – Josh Malerman & Ronald Malfi & The Rock N Roll Rhythm of the Novella

164 – Out There Screaming Roundtable, with Nnedi Okorafor, Lesley Nneka Arimah & Maurice Broaddus

163 – Liz Hand & Visiting the Thing That Walks Alone

162 – Chuck Wendig & American as Evil Apple Pie

161 – Clay McLeod Chapman & The Chesapeake Softshell Shuffle

160 – Isabel Cañas & Many Types of Bloodsucker

159 – Alexander James & An Encounter in the Woods

158 – Catriona Ward & Rewriting the American Gothic (Like, Literally)

157 – Josh Winning & The World Through Blood-Tinted Glasses

156 – Sadie Hartmann & The Books of Our Horrid Hearts

155 – Stephen King & Writing From the Nerve Endings

154 – Alex Woodroe & The Sweet Science of Folk Horror

153 – Chuck Tingle & Riding the Lonesome Train

152 – Andrew Michael Hurley & Our Green, Unpleasant Land

151 – Verity Holloway & The Onion Skin of Trauma

150 – Danielle Trussoni & Puzzling All Over the World

149 – Clowns at Midnight – The Big IT Deep-Dive (Part Two), with Ally Malinenko & Nat Cassidy

148 – Feral Childhoods – The Big IT Deep-Dive (Part One), with Ally Malinenko & Nat Cassidy

147 – Mike Flanagan & Lighting Up the Darkness

146 – Paula. D. Ashe & A Bizarre & Bitter Reprieve

145 – Sarah Gailey & The Scariest Place in the House

144 – Nicholas Binge & the Spookiest of Entanglements