Talking Scared30 Maalis 2021

32 - Clay McLeod Chapman and the Clenching Fist of Satan!

Send us a text Does your child draw pentagrams? Have you noticed the neighbours hanging their robes over the washing line? Worst of all, have they started listening to …. HEAVY METAL?? You may be experiencing a satanic panic. Worry not, our guest, Clay McLeod Chapman can diagnose this for you. Clay’s new novel, Whisper Down the Lane is both a homage to the horror of the 80s, and an exploration of how that decade's battle with truth, memory and Satan(!!) lives on today. His story riffs on the very real scandal at the McMartin Preschool, as well as the wider hysteria that led to people being sacked, vilified and even imprisoned based upon absolute bulls*t. As you’ll hear, it’s a darker tale than I had imagined, but it’s also jam-packed with references, easter-eggs and allusions to the horror that made the decade. Along the way Clay talks to me about how the satanic panic never really went away, how it ties into our very modern sense of ‘truth’ and he tells me why he never wants his kids to read his stories. On my part, I tell him the world is ok and other unconscionably optimistic things! Oh, and I’m convinced that Clay orchestrated Lil Nas X’s ’Satan Shoes’ to help him sell more copies. Enjoy! Whisper Down the Lane is published by Quirk Books on April 6th 2021. Other books we discussed this week include: Rosemary’s Baby (1967), by Ira Levin Geek Love (1989), by Katherine Dunn Nothing But Blackened Teeth (2021), by Cassandra Khaw Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com. Thanks to Adrian Flounders for graphic design. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(346)

291 – Natasha Pulley & No Priests Were Harmed in the Making of this Podcast

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...

18 Elo 1h 29min

Off Book #23 – Are We Doomed? A Cheerful Guide to Apocalypse, with Ben Bradford

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...

14 Elo 1h 15min

290 – Liam Higginson & Awful Things in Lonely Farmhouses

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, fo...

11 Elo 1h 14min

289 – Annie Jacobsen & Be Afraid… Be Very Afraid

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 wi...

4 Elo 1h 14min

Let Us Palaver #10 – Wolves of the Calla Debrief

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 st...

31 Heinä 41min

The Dark Tower Deep Dive #10 – Wolves of the Calla

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 ...

28 Heinä 2h 30min

288 – Danielle Giles & A Spoonful of Skulldust (Makes the Medicine Go Down)

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 nightmar...

21 Heinä 1h 11min

287 – Megan Bontrager & The Cave of Cosmic Narcissism

I hope you have your headtorch this week – cos we’re going to some deep, dark places. Megan Bontrager’s debut novel, The Sea Hides its Dead, is a story of a mysterious cave, an unprepared expediti...

14 Heinä 1h 15min