Talking Scared

No need for a big intro this week. You know what this is about.   The year is over, and it’s time to offer my thoughts on the best books that made it bearable. Here’s my top-10 favourite horror novels of 2025.   I invite comment and debate. The polite kind. Don’t make me set Ted on you.   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 [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our sixth Let Us Palaver, Nat and I try to clean things up a bit after the dirty deep dive into Wizard & Glass.   We get spoilery, so this is for Tower Junkie’s only. It will make no sense to anyone else anyway – as we get deep into the metatextual elements of what is to come, who WE think put those red shoes in the road, and we begin to question which books we should read next.   Not a dirty joke in sight.   Enjoy.   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 [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a summer of diversion and detour, we’re back with the main Ka-Tet for Christmas. What better time for a tale of heartbreak, lost love, and cabin-bound masturbation.   Yes, we’re covering Wizard & Glass.   Some would call this the high point of the Dark Tower series (for me, it’s certainly up there) – and it gives us chance to talk in depth about how Roland became the man is he, and how love made us the men we are!   Yeah… if you’re ready for 2+ hours of middle-aged male nostalgia and dick jokes, this is the episode for you. Thankfully, it also offers literary analysis, Stephen King lore, and the greatest love of all, between a witch and her snake.   Enjoy.   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 [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It: Welcome to Derry has just reached its Season One conclusion and the theories are flying as to where the show will go next.   I have something like an answer for you. Maybe. Perhaps. Cos the creators, Andy and Barbara Muschietti, are on Talking Scared for a conversation about the show, the movies and how they work within King’s story.   They talk about their childhood relationship with the book, how they first came to adapt it, and know that there was more story to tell. We discuss some of the most shocking moments in the season, and they give some very tantalising details about what’s to come, and how deep into the wider, cosmic mythology they are going to delve.   I’ll just say… it sounds EXCITING!   Enjoy   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch   Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the now sixth annual State of the Horror Nation.   This is the mega-episode, in which I gather a darkly-inclined supergroup of horror fans and commentators—a horror cabinet, if you will—to cast their informed eyes and minds over the year’s best horror.   We talk trends, generation gaps, terrifying moments, and pick what they consider to be their favourite scary books of 2025.   I am just a bystander and the man with the edit button. Bringing the talent and the opinion are Emily Hughes, Anna Dupre and George Dunn. Together they present a tapestry of horror in red and black and other hideous colours.   Suffer your TBR piles.   Enjoy.   Books Picked   Angel Down (2025), by Daniel Kraus Black Flame (2025), by Gretchen Felker Martin Futility (2025), Nuzo Ozoh One Yellow Eye (2025), by Leigh Radford Play Nice (2025), by Rachel Harrison Spread Me (2025), by Sarah Gailey Veil (2025), by Jonathan Janz When the Wolf Comes Home (2025), by Nat Cassidy What Hunger (2025), by Catherine Dang   Books Anticipated   Cruelty Free (2026), by Caroline Glenn Daytide (2026), by Chris Panatier Femme Feral (2026), by Sam Bessinger For Human Use (2026), by Sarah G. Pierce Headlights (2026), by C.J. Leede Itch (2025), by Gemma Amor Japanese Gothic (2026), by Kylie Lee Baker Kiss Slay Replay (2026), by Rachel Harrison I Know a Place: Rest Stop and Other Dark Detours (2026), by Nat Cassidy Molka (2026), by Monika Kim Nothing Tastes as Good (2026), by Luke Dumas Nowhere Burning (2026), by Catriona Ward On Sunday’s She Picked Flowers (2026), by Yah Yah Schofield Our Cut of Salt (2026), by Deena Helm Persona (2026), by Aiofe Josie Clements The Children (2026), by Melissa Albert The Curse of Hester Gardens (2026), by Tamika Thompson The Fourth Wife (2026), by Linda Hamilton The Hive (2026), by Ronald Malfi The Last Story of Jamie Gunn (TBC), by Thomas Olde Heuvelt The Red Sacrament (2026), by Sara Hinkley Spoiled Milk (2026), by Avery Curran Trad Wife (2026), by Sarah Langan Worry Box (2026), by Chris Panatier Wretch (2026), by Eric LaRocca   Other Books Mentioned   Come Knocking (2025), by Mike Bockoven Old Soul (2025), by Susan Barker Rekt (2025), by Alex Gonzalez The Lamb (2025), by Lucy Rose The Starving Saints (2025), by Caitlin Starling Bat Eater, and Other Names for Cora Zeng (2025), by Kylie Lee Baker Greedy (2026) by Callie Kazumi The Eyes Are the Best Part (2024), by Monika Kim Wake Up and Open Your Eyes (2025), by Clay McLeod Chapman The Unworthy (2025), by Augustina Bazterrica     Support Talking Scared on Patreon Emily Hughes Patreon link is here   Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch   Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices