Free Daily Podcast Summary
Talking Scared: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Neil McRobert
Conversations with the biggest names in horror fiction. A podcast for horror readers who want to know where their favourite stories came from . . . and what frightens the people who wrote them.
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 2 weeks ago1h 18m
300 – Dorian Ravenscroft & Finding Love in a Hopeless Place
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 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 3 weeks ago55 min
Off Book #24 – Whalefall, with Brian Duffield & Daniel Kraus
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! Support Talking Scared and get become a Patreon subscriber. Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 3 weeks ago1h 24m
299 – Will Maclean & Uneasy Islands in Time
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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Oct 6, 20261h 0m
298 – Stephen King & The Final Turn of the Big Combination
This episode needs no attempt at a witty introduction. Stephen King is back to talk about Other Worlds Than These – the concluding volume of The Talisman saga, begun with Peter Straub 45 years ago. We keep it spoiler-free, but we talk about Jack Sawyer’s journey and how it entwines with The Dark Tower. We reflect on The Talisman and Black House, on Wolf and my heartbreak. We discuss Peter’s inspiration for the story and how King summoned him to bring it to a close. And we even get some hints of what’s cooking in Steve’s brain for future projects. It seems he’s never slowing down, no matter what he say. I hope you enjoy this. Other books mentioned: Julia (1975), by Peter Straub Ghost Story (1979), by Peter Straub Redheaded Peckerwood (2010), by Christian Patterson King Sorrow (2025), by Joe Hill Sleeping Beauties (2017), by Stephen and Owen King Trad Wife (2026), by Sarah Langan 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Sep 29, 20261h 28m
297 – Kyle Winkler & Roll For Your “F**K You” Stats
Leaning into absolute high geekery this week – with Kyle Winkler’s novel of how family game night can go badly wrong! The Ship of Death is about a cursed (and I mean CURSED!) tabletop role-playing game and the unlucky couple who choose to play it. Or, as Kyle describes it “Dark Jumanji.” It prompts a conversation about games in life and fiction. Epistolary structure and found-fiction. We discuss his relationship with the bizarre, his love for mysteries without answers, we consider who is really responsible for the world-building in a story, and we pay a lot of respect to cosmic horror influences beyond Lovecraft. It’s was a delight to record. Hope you enjoy listening. Other books mentioned: Grasshands (2024), by Kyle Winkler Boris Says the Words (2022), by Kyle Winkler The Nothing That Is (2020), by Kyle Winkler Borne (2017), by Jeff VanderMeer Zothique (1970), by Clarke Ashton Smith The Dying Earth (1950), by Jack Vance Enduring Love (1997), by Ian McEwan Negative Space (2020), by B.R. Yeager True Crime (2020), by Samantha Kolesnik The House Next Door (1978), by Anne River Siddons My Dark Places (1996), by James Ellroy Penpal (2012), by Dathan Auerbach Mockingbird (1980), by Paul Tevis The Blacktongue Thief (2021), by Christopher Buehlman 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Sep 22, 20261h 13m
296 – Deena Helm & Horror Says Free Palestine
This week’s episode shows what a good haunted house can do. Deena Helm is a mixed American-Palestinian author, who’s debut novel, Our Cut of Salt, puts all the power of the Gothic to use in framing the occupation and oppression of Palestine. It takes place before the ongoing genocide, but offer a chance to consider how horror fiction can play its part in framing that obscenity. That all sounds heavy, and it rightfully is – but this book also has a frightening, tragic and murderous house at its core… so there’s (our kind) of fun to be had as well. This is an important episode for the show. I hope you listen and enjoy. Other books mentioned: White is for Witching (2009), by Helen Oyeyemi Tell Me I’m Worthless (2021), by Alison Rumfitt Frankenstein in Baghdad (2013), by Ahmed Saadawi Mornings in Jenin (2006), by Susan Abulhawa Behind You is the Sea (2024), by Susan Muaddi Darraj Gentle Things (2026), by Danielle Giles Hungerstone (2025), by Kat Dunn 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Sep 15, 20261h 32m
295 – Chris Panatier & If These Walls Could Talk
Home is where the horror is this week, with Chris Panatier and Worry Box! This latest offering from Panatier’s uniquely strange mind is a complete revision of the haunted house as we know it. It’s a house that means well, but understands little. Couple that with a family in flux and a child suffering intrusive thoughts, and you have a recipe for terrible, no-good disaster. In short, it’s 400 pages of slowly tightening dread! I hope you enjoy. Other books mentioned: The Redemption of Morgan Bright (2024), by Chris Panatier This House isn’t Haunted but We Are (2025), by Stephen Howard Our Cut of Salt (2026), by Deena Helm Pet Semetary (1983), by Stephen King The Library at Mount Char (2015), by Scott Hawkins Gideon the Ninth (2019), by Tamsyn Muir Gormenghast (1950), by Mervyn Peak Angel Down (2025), by Daniel Kraus Chimera Skin (2026), by Johnny Compton The Butcher of Nazareth (2026), by David Scott Hay 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Sep 8, 20261h 49m
294 – China Miéville & A Million Dreaming Words for Ghost
There are big books and big books. This week we cover a HUGE book. China Miéville is the guest. The award-winning author of Perdido Street Station, Embassytown, The City & the City, and other modern speculative classics – and he’s back with a book two decades in the making. The Rouse is an epic of true proportions, a 1300-page saga of the twentieth century, rife with war, atrocity, tragedy, and a secret war fought with ghosts?? That’s the premise but it barely touches the sides of this ginormous undertaking. This is not just a conversation, it’s a search for answers – in which we plumb the personal, political, and supernatural influences behind this story of shady military conspiracy and ghosts of many strange kinds. I hope you enjoy, ‘cos I worked my ass off for this one! Other books mentioned: King Rat (1999), by China Miéville The City & The City (2009), by China Miéville Ducks, Newburyport (2019), by Lucy Ellman Gravity’s Rainbow (1973), by Thomas Pyncheon Against the Day (2006), by Thomas Pyncheon House of Leaves (2000), by Mark Z. Danielewski “The Ash Tree” (1904), by M.R. James A Dark Corner (1971), by Celia Dale 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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About Talking Scared
Conversations with the biggest names in horror fiction. A podcast for horror readers who want to know where their favourite stories came from . . . and what frightens the people who wrote them.
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