Talking Scared

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



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James Tynion IV is a modern master of the horror comic. He’s the maniac behind so many contemporary classic series, but perhaps none are such
pop-culture behemoths as Something is Killing the Children.

I mean… with a title like that, how could it fail?

With the new omnibus collection out right now, and an in-world novel (co-authored with Kiersten White) coming in October, I thought now was a good time to get James on the show and talk monsters, masks, mythology and the most baddass hero in graphic novels.



Enjoy!



Other books mentioned:

The Woods (2014-2017), by James Tynion IV

Memetic (2014-2015), by James Tynion IV

Hide (2022), by Kiersten White

At the Mountains of Madness (2019), by Gau Tenabe

Monster (1994-2001), by Naoki Urusawa



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Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com
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Wendig is here!! The man my wife refers to as “Chuck Apples”
(as opposed to “Chuck Fight Club) is back to talk about his most fun, yet
nastiest book to date. The Calamities is what would happen if The Godfather
had cenobites, if Logan Roy had made a pact with monsters, it prompts me to ask the questions “who’s your favourite demon Chuck?”



That kinda book.



Chuck tells us how the study of demonology has underpinned almost his entire writing career. We discuss the increasingly tight links between his novels, the influence of D&D structure, and the challenge of making the reader care about some of the worst-behaved characters in the world.



And I drop the C-bomb for the first time on air. That damn baby deserves it.



Enjoy!



Other books mentioned:

Staircase in the Woods (2024), by Chuck Wendig

Daytide (2026), by Chris Panatier

The Three Body Problem (2008), by Cixin Liu

Books of Blood (1984-88), by Clive Barker

Cabal (1988), by Clive Barker

Pandemonium: A Visual History of Demonology (2021), by Ed Simon

Blacktail (2026), by Scott Hawkins



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Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com
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No one let the Pope listen to this week’s episode.



Our guest is Natasha Pulley, genre-defying author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, The Bedlam Stacks, The Kingdoms, and now, in the The Salt King she pits the Vatican and Catholic Doctrine against something much, much older, lurking in the salt mines of the world.



It leads us to a conversation about faith of many kinds, about reality-adjacent fiction, the horrid truth of Sodom and Gomorrah, dark representations of the Catholic Church, and the challenge of fusing folk horror and global apocalypse.



There are also some holy dick pics.



Enjoy!



Other books mentioned:

Gentle Things (2026), by Danielle Giles

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2024), by Susanna Clarke

The Hill in the Dark Grove (2026), by Liam Higginson

The Name of the Rose (1980), by Umberto Eco

Foundation (1951), by Isaac Asimov

A Canticle for Liebowitz (1959), by Walter M. Miller Jr

Father Alberto and the Flying Girl (2026), by Timothy X Atack



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Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch



Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com

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Happy Friday! Let’s talk about the end of the world.



Our guest is Ben Bradford, creator and host of Are We Doomed? – the new hit podcast examining the existential risks facing humanity.

“Dammit Neil”, I hear you say “Are we not suffering enough.” To you I
reply … sure, Ben and I make talk nukes and rogue AI, climate change and supervolcanoes, but believe me, you’ll feel more optimistic at the end of this episode!



Somehow, the general answer to Are We Doomed seems to be “no, not if we don’t want to be.” So have faith, listen, and have a great weekend.



Enjoy!



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Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch



Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com
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