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Literary or genre fiction? Dumb question.

This week’s guest showcases just how dumb! With her debut collection of stories, Mystery Lights showing that horror is literary and literary is horror. These tales of the American desert are full of hauntings, monsters, killers, and other oddities, yet they take a non-typical approach to the strangeness. They care more about the human in the mix than the weird thing in the corner.

I loved them – and they proved that every time I think I know my own reading tastes, I find an exception to the rule.

Lena and I talk about her literary allegiance to the desert, about the literary establishment’s appetite for strange things, about women treating women poorly, and about how she writes stories that don’t need to “click.”

Enjoy.

• The Shining (1977), by Stephen King
• “Lamb to the Slaughter,” (1953), by Roald Dahl
• The Garden (2024), by Claire Beams

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This week’s guest on Talking Scared: Off Book scares children.

I mean… that’s not his main job or intent (I don’t think) but he does it anyway. Trevor Henderson is the internet’s favourite horror artist. He creates digital nightmares that have become the fuel for a new generation of nightmares. Trust me, in the few moments that Gen Z aren’t being terrified by climate change or the slide into global racism… it’s Trevor’s “Cartoon Dog” or “Long Horse” – or his iconic Sirenhead – who are capering through their minds.

But his pictures are just the start of it. He works in movies, in video games, in podcasting and he’s even written a book. He’s horror’s renaissance man, and he joins me to talk about it – from how he started, to the secrets of great monster design.

And then we spend the end of the show just talking about some awesome movies you may not have seen or heard of.

This is a fun episode. Trevor is at the beating heart of horror.

Enjoy!

Movies mentioned:

• The Ritual (2017)
• Arcadian (2024)
• Horror in the High Desert (2021)
• Horror in the High Desert 2: Minerva (2023)
• Late Night With the Devil (2024)
• History of the Occult (2020)
• Fake Documentary Q (YouTube Channel)
• StopMotion (2024)
• The Cat With Hands (2001)
• Infested (2024)
• Loop Track (2023)
• Savageland (2015)
• The Tunnel (2011)

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Finally, Gabino Iglesias is on the show.

I tried, and failed, to get him for his break-out Stoker-winning smash, The Devil Takes You Home. Now he’s here to talk about his brand new barrio-noir, House of Bone and Rain. It’s an amalgamation of brutal street violence and Lovecraftian otherness – all taking place in the sweltering eye of a Puerto Rican hurricane.

Gabino and I talk about the parts of the book that reflect his own life and youth. We talk about his rapid rise, and follow-up nerves. We talk about reclaiming Lovecraft. But mostly, we talk about violence – the horror of it, the reality, the sheer awful immediacy, and how the real thing is nothing like the stuff on a movie screen.

It’s a good chat, about the right kind of manhood.

Enjoy.

The Devil Takes You Home (2022) by Gabino Iglesias

Hungry Darkness (2015) by Gabino Iglesias

Zero Saints (2015), by Gabino Iglesias

The Ballad of Black Tom (2016), by Victor LaValle

Woodworm (2021), by Layla Martinez

Lost Man’s Lane (2024), by Scott Carson

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