Talking Scared

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

Send us a text … and we’re back! Just in time for this seasonal tradition. The State of the Horror Nation 2024 – our expert-led review of the best that the year had to offer in terms of horror writing and pen-and-ink nightmares.   I’m joined, as ever by my stalwart co-host for this gig, Emily Hughes, author of Horror For Weenies (go check her mammoth 2025 anticipated horror book list at ReadJumpScares.com)   Our special correspondents are Anna Dupre, reviewer and interviewer at Anna Rose Reads, and Stephani Gagnon of the landmark, can’t-be-beaten horror podcast, Books In the Freezer   They pick their books of 2024, and we talk about the things that have defined the year, whilst also looking forward to what’s next.   Enjoy!   Anna's Essay on IT    https://filmfreakcentral.net/2024/10/terrifier-3-2024/   Books Picked   The Eyes Are the Best Part (2024), by Monika Kim Cuckoo (2024), by Gretchen Felker-Martin American Rapture (2024), by C.J. Leede Woodworm (2024), by Layla MartinezHorror Movie (2024) by Paul Tremblay  Night’s Edge (2024), by Liz Kerin So Thirsty (2024),  by Rachel Harrison Model Home (2024), by Rivers Solomon I Was a Teenage Slasher (2024), by Stephen Graham Jones     Books Anticipated   Victorian Psycho (2025), by Virginia Feito The Poorly Made (2025), by Sam Rebelein The Unworthy (2025), by Augustina Bazterrica The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (2025), by Stephen Graham Jones Bat Eater (2025), by Kylie Lee Baker Sick Houses: Haunted Homes and the Architecture of Dread (2025), by Leila Taylor The Haunting of Room 904 (2025), by Erika T. Wurth 8114 (2025),by Joshua Hull When the Wolf Comes Home (2025), by Nat Cassidy Senseless (2025), by Ronald Malfi King Sorrow (2025), by Joe Hill And He Shall Appear (2025), by Kate van der Borgh Nowhere Burning (2025), by Catriona Ward Girl in the Creek (2025), by Wendy Wagner The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre (2025), by Philip Fracassi The End of the World As We Know It: Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand  (2025), edited by Brian Keene and Christopher Golden Old Soul (2025), by Susan Barker rekt (2025), by Alex Gonzalez Wake Up and Open Your Eyes (2025), by Clay McLeod Chapman 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