The first of a two-part special with the Scaredy Boys, my brothers-in-cowardice from Down Under. Damo, Tom and Sean are famously and unashamedly terrified of horror movies, and started a podcast to face their fears. Since 2020 they’ve been watching and analysing a horror movie every week – so now they’ve probably seen more than most of us.

I got them onto Talking Scared to discuss their insane project, their changing attitudes to horror, and ask them some specific questions about what they’ve learned to love and fear along the way.

Episode Two is out next Friday, or available right now for Patreon subscribers

Enjoy!

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I dunno if this week’s episode is a dystopian nightmare or just a realist thriller.

Naomi Krtizer, multi-award winning author of sci-fi and horror, join me for a conversation about her new novella, Obstetrix. It follows the struggles of doctor, kidnapped by a cult to work as their in-house OBGYN. What follows is a balance between personal survival and the obligation to the women in her care.

Naomi and I talk about the state of healthcare and reproductive rights in America, which is never not a serious conversation. But we try to lighten the mood with some chat about the respite of reading (and re-reading), and the working definition of cults.

Enjoy.

Other books mentioned:

• “Monster” (2020), by Naomi Kritzer
• American War (2017), Omar El Akkad
• The Midnight Shift (2025), by Cheon Seon-Ran
• Nestlings (2023), by Nat Cassidy
• The God of Endings (2023), by Jacqueline Holland

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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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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

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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!

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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

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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!!

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Whilst the wind and world howls outside, we can all hunker indoors for the latest Dark Tower Deep Dive into King’s 2012 novel-of-stories, The Wind Through the Keyhole.

To some, this could be an inessential pitstop, a mere nostalgic coda, written long after the climax of the main saga. To others it’s a testament to Stephen King’s raw storytelling chops, which shed a little more purpling light on Roland’s failing, fading world.

You’ll have to listen to find out where we each stand. But I promise there will be talk of story structure, and Billy Bumblers, and certain Randall Flagg. And you’ll also hear how Chris Panatier has been trolling kind old uncle Stevie on social media. Boo Hiss!!

Enjoy folks!

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Trad wives are taking over horror in 2026 – but I predict none will be more frightening and more gorgeously WEIRD than Sarah Langan’s novel.

It’s the tale of a young woman in the dying era of journalism and the YouTube influencer who offers her hope, and much worse things…. I absolutely loved it.

Sarah and I talk about the trad wife phenomenon, where it comes from, what it means, and how it’s all really based in cold hard capitalism. We talk about literary influences, about sustaining extreme weirdness in fiction, and why establishing character properly is so important.

And we even recall the time we bonded over the gift of a mutant duck!

Enjoy!

Other books mentioned:

• Pet Sematary (1983), by Stephen King
• Trad Wife (2026), by Saratoga Schafer
• Yesteryear (2026), by Caro Claire Burke
• “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892), by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• The King in Yellow (1985), Robert W. Chambers
• Rosemary’s Baby (1967), by Ira Levin
• The Ceremonies (1984), by T. E. D. Klein
• Room (2010), by Emma Donaghue
• Station Eleven (2014), by Hilary St. John Mandel

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Kaelyn Moore returns to talk scared, straight from the helm of Heart Starts Pounding – her mega podcast of mysteries, murder and the macabre.

She watches a lot of dark documentaries for research. I asked her to come talk about a few that recently inspired her (or disturbed her). We cover serial killers, cursed objects and a relationship that will give you serious ICK!

But of course, this being Talking Scared, we also spin off into a conversation about ethics, belief and the justice system.

** I apologise to you as well as Kaelyn for my terrible suggestion of a documentary to watch. Hopefully my anger and self-loathing is funny.

Enjoy

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This week is full of muck and murk and mushrooms. We flit amongst the trees, we bed on moss, we howl at the moon.

Daisy Pearce is entering her bog witch era!

The author takes us to her native Cornwall, for a story of haunting and imprisonment, small town baggage and creepy houses in the woods. We talk about the oppressive landscape and the mythical texture of the place. We ask whether anyone in a small town can ever really leave high school behind… and we really look at the fine art of trepanation AKA – having a hole drilled in your head (and what it would feel like!)

Enjoy!

Other books mentioned:

• Something in the Walls (2025), by Daisy Pearce
• Water Shall Refuse Them (2019), by Lucy McKnight Hardy
• A Head Full of Ghosts (2015), by Paul Tremblay
• Itch (2025), by Gemma Amor
• The Man From the Train : The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery (2017), by Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James
• A Simple Plan (1993), by Scott Smith
• From Hell (1999), by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell

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