Talking Scared

Horror’s reigning Queen of Extreme returns to the show!

 

CJ Leede is the author of Maeve Fly and American Rapture, and if you’re abreast of contemporary horror you’ve heard of her twisted take on Americana.

 

She’s back to talk about her third novel, Headlights, in which people are waking up from fugue-like states, to find themselves draped in the flayed skins of other people. What’s going on? Who’s doing it? Is it human or supernatural? Does it have anything at all to do with Stephen King’s The
Shining? And where does the songwriting magic of John Denver come into
things?

 

CJ answers these and many other similarly weird questions. There’s so much to cover, we barely even talk about the act of skinning someone
alive.

 

Enjoy.

 

Other books mentioned:


The Shining (1977), by Stephen King


Doctor Sleep (2013), by Stephen King


How to Disappear Completely (2027), by Liz Kerin

 

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Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com
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Melissa Albert’s novel may be called The Children, but it’s certainly not for kids.

 

This is a story about the dark creativity behind bright make-believe,
about the pretty lies of childhood and the brutal truths of growing up. It’s
about writers and writing and as you’ll hear me point out, it does for fantasy
fiction what Stephen King’s Misery did for Gothic romance.

 

And by god do we talk about all of that. As well as celebrating a character that I believe to be one of the best “bad-mothers” in recent fiction (and the secret hero of the book!)

 

But maybe that’s just me. I’m twisted.

 

Enjoy.

 

Other books mentioned:


The Hazel Wood (2018), by Melissa Albert


The Magicians (2009), by Lev Grossman


Daytide (2026), by Chris Panatier


When You Reach Me (2009) by Rebecca Stead


Fangirl (2013), by Rainbow Rowell


This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me (2026), by Ilona Andrews

 

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

Off to Old Dublin Town to have creepy tales pumped direct
into our earholes this week. I’m joined by Peter Dunne, the writer and director of Petrified — Ireland’s premier horror drama podcast.

 

It’s a horror show with a vein of Irish humour, but it’s not afraid to get really nasty when the chance arises. Across dozens of episodes, Peter and the team have offered serial killing parents, haunted lighthouses, doomed housing estates and possessed call centres. And now and then they
shatter the fourth wall to curse the audience!

 

And despite being surely the busiest man in podcasting, Peter talks to me all about it.

 

Enjoy!

 

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

Disgust, despair and belly laughs on the show this week – with Neena Viel and her new novel, I’ll Watch Your Baby.

 

It’s a dense, troubling tale of child theft, social horror and demons, with plenty of putrid feet to give you a summertime ick! But if the book is a sickener, the author is a delight. Neena makes me do a proper full-on guffaw (has anyone EVER guffawed?), whilst we talk about urban-vs-rural horror,
reprehensible acts and problematic protagonists, and the abiding lie of the Welfare Queen trope.

 

Enjoy. Laugh. Even learn (up to you!)

 

Other books mentioned:


Listen to Your Sister (2025), by Neena Viel


The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth (2019), by Josh Levin


On Sundays She Picked Flowers (2026), by Yah Yah Schofield


The Night Pool (2026), by Lauren Lee Smith

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

A little more chat as the last of the starkblast fades.

 

In this bonus Palaver episode, Nat and I stick around to dissect Chris’s disproportionate love for The Wind Through the Keyhole. We talk about
what, if any conclusions can be drawn from this book, and then we get onto King’s intersections with Lovecraft and Tolkien – and some deep cut Dark Tower references elsewhere in the canon.

 

Enjoy. But Do Not Listen if you haven’t read the entire Dark Tower saga!!

 

Support Talking Scared on Patreon

 

Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch

 

Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices