Talking Scared

This Valentine’s week, come for a walk up on t’moors with me and Agatha Andrews.

 

I’ve invited Agatha, my friend and sister-in-Gothic, host of She Wore Black podcast, for a conversation about Wuthering Heights.

It’s known as “the greatest love story ever told,” but that’s such nonsense. Instead we talk about mania and melancholy, hate and power, cannibalism
and necrophilia… and we also look ahead to the Hollywood adaptation with bated (but amused) breath.

 

Enjoy!

 

Other books mentioned:

 


David Copperfield (1850), by Charles Dickens


The Brontës (1994), by Juliet Barker


The Gabriel Hounds (1964), by Mary Stewart


East of Eden (1952), by John Steinbeck


The Vampyre (1819), by John Polidori


The Favourites (2025), by Layne Fargo

 

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Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to [email protected]
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A bit of chaos on the show for the weekend. We start with one guest and end with two. And there’s a dude with an alligator’s head running amok!

 

Mama Came Callin’ is the slasher/cryptid/mystery/noir graphic novel written by Ezra Claytan Daniel and illustrated by Camilla Sucre. It’s set in the swamps of Florida, amongst murky waters and dirtier histories.

 

The three of us (eventually) talk about the horrendous racist truth underpinning the story, we discuss how two creatives can bring their distinctive skills to a singular vision. We hear about the joy and hustle of a multidisciplinary career, and Ezra gives us some insight into the writing room for the TV show Severance.

 

Enjoy

 

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 [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re tiptoeing towards the sci-fi end of things this week, with Justin C. Key and The Hospital at the End of the World.

 

This is a techn-othriller about AI run amok in the medical establishment, and the junior doctor who must navigate a shadowy conspiracy, a fatal (and horrific) disease, all whilst making time for class at the sole
human-led teaching hospital left in the country.

 

It’s a lot. And a lot of fun – when it’s not ambushing me with one of my greatest medical phobias!!!

 

Justin and I talk about the real horrors of his medical school experience, what he’s learned about human connection from his work in psychiatry,
and we have that rare thing – a genuinely nuanced conversation about the role of AI in society.

 

Enjoy!

 

Other books mentioned: 


The World Wasn’t Ready for You (2023), by Justin C. Key


On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000), by Stephen King


Insomnia (1994), by Stephen King


Ender’s Game (1985), by Orson Scott Card


Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming (1994), by Stephen LaBerge and Howard Rheingold


The Curse of Hester Gardens (2026), by Tamika Thompson


Nuclear War: A Scenario (2024), by Annie Jacobson

 

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 [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After our loose, freeform chat about the high strangeness of The Talisman, Nat stuck around to Palaver a little more behind Chris’ innocent back.

 

In this spoiler-filled 35 minutes (do not listen if you haven’t finished The Dark Tower) we get into some firmer connections between King’s magical worlds, we look at the order of books to come, weigh our saddest deaths in King stories…and even after all these hours we’re forced to ask, “what the f*ck is the Talisman anyway?

 

Enjoy.

 

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 [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re on the road again with our Dark Tower journey, running through adjacent worlds, lighting out for the Territories.

 

Our latest side-quest takes us to The Talisman, the 1984 epic dark fantasy, co-authored by Stephen King and Peter Straub. It’s a wild, hallucinatory ride, that contains my favourite King character of them all!

 

Nat, Chris and I talk about that dude, as well as discussing where Jack Sawyer ranks in the league table of King’s childhood heroes. But mostly we try to pin down the connections between this mad story, and Roland’s great quest.

 

Do we succeed? Do we just make up all manner of wishful thinking nonsense? You decide.

 

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 [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices