Talking Scared

Finally, we dare venture to the darkest land of all. Wales!

After years of avoiding the terror of the Valleys, Liam Higginson takes us to The Hill in the Dark Grove – his debut novel of isolation, folk-memory, and things unearthed from the soil of a mountain farm.

We talk about the link between folklore and nationalism, about marriage and madness (not linked) and why it’s always men who go barmy in these situations.

This is up there with my favourite books of the year.

Enjoy!



Other books mentioned:

The Shining (1977), by Stephen King

Incidents Around the House (2024), by Josh Malerman

The Salt King (2026), by Natasha Pulley

Small Gods (1992), by Terry Pratchett

Meet Me at the Surface (2024), by Jodie Matthews

Boss in the Wall: A Treatise on the House Devil (1998), by Avram Davison and Grania Davis

North Woods (2023), by Daniel Mason

Country People (2026), by Daniel Mason



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This may be my scariest episode ever!



We’ve covered non-fiction before, but rarely is the truth more frightening than the stories we tell. This week it just might be… cos Annie Jacobsen is here with Biological War: A Scenario.



It unveils a narrative of speculative reality, in which an engineered pathogen escapes a lab, and runs rampant through our civilisation. Cities fall, millions die, the lights go out.



I dared myself to read it. I dare you to listen to Annie tell us about her research, and the stuff she found that scares the hell out of her.



Enjoy (sort of!)



Other books mentioned:

Nuclear War: A Scenario (2024), by Annie Jacobsen

“A Modest Proposal” (1729), by Jonathan Swift

World War Z (2006), by Max Brooks

The Deluge (2023), by Stephen Markley

A Brief History of the Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters (2021), by Andrew H. Knoll



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Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com
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In our main Wolves of the Calla Deep Dive, we came within touching distance of the Dark Tower’s biggest secret yet. Chris doesn’t know
what to think, which is just where Nat and I want him.

So we stuck around to talk in full-spoiler terms about all the stuff Chris is yet to discover, and our own thoughts on books to come, on choice lines from Calla, and just what that reveal in the final pages really means for the nature of Roland’s world.



Enjoy. But for your father’s sake Do Not Listen if you haven’t read the entire Dark Tower saga!!



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Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com
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Hallelujah, come commala, we’re back together!



Finally, after stopping for side missions with Jack Sawyer, and a pair of stories of Roland’s younger days, we’re back in Midworld’s here-and-now to push on towards the Dark Tower. It’s time for Wolves of the Calla, a novel of old friends, new enemies…and a quite surprising amount of boobs.



This is also where certain things start to get REAL!! We’re on the precipice of great discovery and you can hear Chris Panatier try to deal with it.



Enjoy folken!



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Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com
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Time for a horrid history lesson.



Daniell Giles is the author of medieval gothic Mere (2025), and the brand-new Restoration horror-show, Gentle Things. In this episode she talks about the nightmare of research, the similarities between the 1660s and our own sh**ty decade, and how much we both love Sarah Waters.



But mostly it’s a guided tour of a dirty period in history, of murder, misogyny and… medicinal cannibalism!

Yes, it’s a thing, and it’s nasty.



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
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