Talking Scared

Deep dives don’t go any deeper than lost Atlantis!



In this latest station of the Dark Tower readalong, we head back to the 1960s for Stephen King’s Hearts in Atlantis – a book closer to my heart than almost anything King has ever written. As such, this gets a little contentious and arguments ensue. I will not back down!!



We talk about how this capsule of the USA’s most turbulent decade links directly to the Dark Tower. We spot hints of Randall Flagg. We talk peace and love, cynicism and hope, and we celebrate one of King’s greatest ever pieces of character work. Chris meets Low Men for the first time (or is it!?) and Nat gives us his take on the anti-boomer despair at the fulcrum of this novel.



It’s a lot. Hence the 2.45 running time.



Hope you enjoy it.

Koko (1988), by Peter Straub

First Blood (1972), by David Morrell

From a Buick 8 (2002), by Stephen King

Matterhorn (2009), by Karl Marlantes

The Sorrow of War (1987), by Bảo Ninh



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You may know Jane Schoenbrun as the genius behind I Saw the TV Glow and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasm, but I’m telling you that you HAVE to check out their debut novel.



Public Access Afterworld is an epic of the inbetween. It’s
about a mysterious TV signal that reveals ruptures in reality, and how all of existence is so much stranger than we know. It’s an extension of Jane’s creative obsessions and their work to date, but also entirely it’s own insane thing.



Jane and I talk about the big themes. Media and reality, identity and transformation, horror and love. We give no spoilers, we just invite you in. Come join us between the static and the signal.



Enjoy – and thanks for listening.



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Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com
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The 300th author interview is here. And I’m delighted it’s with a debut author, about a truly wonderful book.



Dorian Ravenscroft’s The White North Has Thy Bones is a supreme slice of Polar Gothic and Queer Horror alike. It’s the story of a disastrous 1860 expedition to the Arctic, and the competing stories of brutality and survival told by the few who make it home. Despite all the bloodshed and … strange meat… it’s also, somehow, a moving love story.



We talk about all of those elements, as well as the weirder parts of Arctic naval history and just why the great frozen north is such a good backdrop for Queer stories. And I give my advice for how to survive being starvation
on the ice.



Enjoy – and thanks for listening.



The Terror (2007), by Dan Simmons

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (2025), by David Grann

Where the Dead Wait (2023), by Ally Wilkes

Coffin Moon (2025), by Keith Rosson

An Immaculate Deception (2026) by Isabela Livino



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Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com
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Happy Whalefall Weekend!



Brian Duffield’s incredible adaptation of Daniel Kraus’ novel is now in cinemas. I was lucky enough to see an early screening and even luckier to get time with Brian and Daniel to talk about how the hell they made something so audacious.



We talk daddy issues aplenty, whale stomach sets, practical FX and the toll they took on the star, Austin Abrams. And I get lost in my own rapture over a certain scene that almost made me feel a real, authentic human
emotion. Unbelievable.



Enjoy!



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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



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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