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More devilish fun on Talking Scared this week when an old friend returns to talk about god, angels, demons and other things out there in the cold reaches of the universe.

Johnny Compton is the author of The Spite House, one of my most admired books from 2022. In his newest, Devils Kill Devils, he starts with a compelling question – “what if your Guardian Angel was a murderous threat” – and then heads off in grander directions.

We talk about how Johnny’s childhood religious confusion played a role in this book, what we both love about world-building and fan-theories, and our shared enthusiasm for the Alien universe. And Johnny gives my current favourite answer to the questions “what really freaked him out recently?”

Enjoy.

Other books mentioned:

The Spite House (2022), by Johnny Compton

Carrion Comfort (1989), by Dan Simmons

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Keith Rosson is our first guest to be personally recommended by Stephen King!

And the praise doesn’t stop there. Keith’s Fever House was one of the biggest hits of 2023, and now he’s back with the sequel, The Devil By Name, which takes the contained punk-rock fury of the first book in a whole different, nation-spanning direction.

This is an epic tale of occult magic, diabolical messages, punk rock, political machinations and, eventually, apocalypse. So there’s a lot to talk about. And I hope you enjoy the following. Especially the part where I crowbar Stevie Nicks into the conversation, because I’ve developed the world’s most belated obsession with her.

Enjoy.

Other books mentioned:

• Mercy of the Tide (2017), by Keith Rosson
• Spiral (1995), by Koji Suzuki
• The Stand (1990), by Stephen King
• Knockemstiff (2008), by Donald Ray Pollock
• The Low Desert: Gangster Stories (2021), by Tod Goldberg
• Controlled Burn: Stories of Prison, Crime, and Men (2005), by Scott Wolven

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Laird Barron is on the podcast. This feels like cause for celebration.

Not only is Laird Barron a phenomenal writer. Not only is it wonderful that he’s back to writing and talking about writing. Not only am I lucky to be able to speak to him…

We also talked about DOGS!

Granted, a cybernetic, immortal monster hound called Rex – but a dog nonetheless. That’s just one of the crazy concepts that make up the stories in Laird’s new collection, Not a Speck of Light… and I mean crazy. These stories involve evil fathers, strange invasions, billionaire bird-women and a disaster-addicted monster – and we talk about how Laird balances the bizarre and brutal, the cosmic and the cynical, the horrific and the hardboiled.

Plus a lot of info on a very exciting project he’s currently working hard on.

Let’s all just be happy, Laird Barron is back. He’s writing. And he’s Talking Scared.

Enjoy.

Join the Laird Barron Reddit Read-along

Other books mentioned:

• When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson (2021), edited by Ellen Datlow
• The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All (2013), by Laird Barron
• Blood Standard (2018), by Laird Barron
• The Fisherman (2016), by John Langan
• “On Skua Island” – in Mr Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters (2009), by John Langan
• The Children of Old Leech: A Tribute to the Carnivorous Cosmos of Laird Barron (2014), edited by Ross E. Lockhart and Jason Steele
• The Delicate Prey, and Other Stories (1950), by Paul Bowles
• The Sheltering Sky (1949), by Paul Bowles

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Are you a Weenie? Don’t be offended. I am.

Weenies are the curious-but-nervous. Those of us who love horror, but who never feel safe from its power to ruin our sleep (and a week of our life). If that’s you, or if you know someone who suffers from Weenie-ism, then Emily Hughes is here!

Emily’s new book, Horror For Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You’re Too Scared to Watch is a public service for the scared. It will save relationships, help ease you into horror and hopefully teach you a thing or two about fear along the way.

In this conversation, we talk about how Emily came to write this most particular of books, and how she chose which films made the grade. We also hear about her own relationship with horror, from the film that haunted her as a child all the way to her grown-up reintroduction to scary movies.

And I finally try to back up my dislike for Hereditary.

Enjoy.

Other books mentioned:

• Birdbox (2014), by Josh Malerman
• Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films (2022), by Nina Nesseth
• Tampa (2013), by Alissa Nutting
• Come Closer (2003), by Sara Gran
• The Family Plot (2016) by Cherie Priest
• Camp Damascus (2023), by Chuck Tingle
• Cuckoo (2024), by Gretchen Felker-Martin
• Manhunt (2022), by Gretchen Felker-Martin

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Anna Bogutskaya is one of the UK’s most prominent film critics, with a penchant for horror. She knows her scary onions. And in her new book, Feeding the Monster, she asks an important question (well, important to the likes of you and me) – Why does horror have a hold on us?

In concise but free-ranging essays, she looks at the prominent themes that sets the horror oft the last decade apart, peeling back the skin of the genre to see how it’s muscle flex and grip, and also give you tons of films to watch in the process.

We have a similarly freewheeling conversation in this episode, talking about everything from our primal horror movie experiences, to the meme-ification of monsters and why Mike Flanagan is both outlier and heart of the genre.

Also… Anna introduces me to the concept of Vecnussy, which may ruin Stranger Things for you, like it has for me.

Enjoy

Other books mentioned:

• Death of a Bookseller (2023), by Alice Slater
• Penance (2023), by Eliza Clark
• Danse Macabre (1981), by Stephen King
• Red Dragon (1981), by Thomas Harris
• Coup de Grace (2024), by Sofia Ajram

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Send in the clowns. Tell them not to forget their crossbows and chainsaws.

This week our guest is Adam Cesare, who’s Clown in a Cornfield trilogy reaches a climax (I won’t say end) in Book 3: The Church of Frendo. I read all three books in one mad rush and they confounded all of my horror-savvy, slasher-weary expectations. These books are a State of the Nation story for the ages – think George Orwell’s Animal Farm, but with fascist clowns rather than Bolshevik swine.

Adam and I have one of those very Talking Scared conversations. We get into the political and the personal, touching on his time as a teacher, the challenge of empathy, the role of guns in fiction and the rural/urban divide in America.

But also… clowns! Horrible face-painted bastards that they are.

Enjoy.

• The Indian Lake Trilogy (2021-2024), by Stephen Graham Jones
• “The Lottery” (1948), by Shirley Jackson
• Influencer (2024), by Adam Cesare
• Rest Stop (2024), by Nat Cassidy

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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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