About Us
Neil McRobert
Your Podcast host
Neil is a writer, podcaster and recovering academic. After completing a PhD in Contemporary Gothic Fiction (useful!) He fled the ivory halls to live a quiet life amidst the moors and dark satanic mills of northern England. Here he dwells, writing words, talking to famous writers and doting upon his dog. And yes, that is Stephen King’s front gate in the photo.
Want me to write for you? Get in touch.
Ted
Your Podcast mascot
The reason i’m a freelance podcaster (who could leave that face at home?). My own personal Cujo. He gets more likes than me on Instagram.
THINGS I HAVE WRITTEN
Look upon my works and despair…
- The Best Horror Books of 2024 – Esquire (ongoing)
- Why Carrie is Still Scary as Shit! – Esquire (April 2024)
- 11 Books That Scratch the 3-Body Itch – Vulture (March 2024)
- 12 Books to Read if You Can’t Move on From Night Country – Vulture (February 2024)
- The Best Horror Books of 2023 – Esquire (December 2023)
- My Macabre Weekend at StokerCon – Esquire (October 2023)
- The Scariest Sci-Fi Horror Movies for Halloween – New Scientist (Oct 2023)
- Shock of the New: Jordan Peele, Mariana Enriquez and More on the Horror Fiction Renaissance – Guardian (October 2023)
- The Long Tale (Tail?) of Dogs in Fiction – Esquire (August 2023)
- Whalefall Review – New Scientist (August 2023)
- Interview with Lauren Beukes – Elle (August 2023)
- Generation H: Meet the Writer’s Shaping Horror’s Next Golden Age – Esquire (July 2023)
Black Mirror Season 6: The Good, The Bad and The Existentially Harrowing – Elle (June 2023)
- The Deluge, review – Guardian (March 2023)
- How Black Filmmakers Reinvented the Horror Genre – Esquire (Feb 2023)
- The 22 Best Horror Books of 2022 – Esquire (Nov 2022)
- What to Read this Halloween and Beyond – Guardian (Oct 2022)
- Where to Start with Stephen King – Guardian (Aug 2022)
- The Fifty Best Horror Books of All Time Will Scare You Sh*tless – Esquire (May 2022)
- All 75 Stephen King Books, Ranked – Esquire (Sept 2022)
- The Final Girl Breaks Out –Slate (Sept 2021)
- Billy Summers, review – Guardian (August 2021)
- Project Fear: What Will Brexit Gothic Look Like? – Guardian (Feb 2019)
188 – Scarlett Thomas & Hot Gothic
Scarlett Thomas is one of my favourite writers. Her new novel, The Sleepwalkers, is a darkly playful tale of a vacation–and a marriage–gone horribly wrong.
187 – The Carrie 50th Anniversary Deep Dive, with Nat Cassidy & Ally Malinenko
Carrie White turns 50. Step up Nat Cassidy and Ally Malinenko – who understand King and that bitter, brutal world between childhood and adulthood.
186 – Stephen Graham Jones & The Last Stand of the Final Girls
Stephen Graham Jones brings the most important horror trilogy of the century to its conclusion. For one last time we return to Proofrock, Idaho –
185 – Cynthia Pelayo & A Mermaid in the Windy City
We’re heading to the midwestern metropolis this week, for a conversation with Cina Pelayo – all about murder, mystery, history and strange things in the
184 – Joshua Hull & It’s a Whole Hole Thing
Joshua Hull is here to talk about his obsession with dangerous, weird holes. Now he’s given a hole a whole personality in his debut novella, Mouth.
183 – Gwendolyn Kiste & Working Through Your Ghosts
Gwendolyn Kiste returns for another high-concept twist on the Gothic. In The Haunting of Velkwood an entire street turns ghostly overnight. Trauma and laughter ensues.
182 – Tim Lebbon & Running Towards What Scares You
Tim Lebbon writes riotously good adventure-horror novels. He also likes running outrageous distances up big hills. What a pleasure it was to speak to him.
181 – Haunting Hill House, with Catriona Ward, Johnny Compton & Paul Tremblay
Finally, i’m ready to delve into the greatest haunted house of them all! Shirley Jackson’s Hill House. The place where the scary things walk alone.
180 – Chuck Palahniuk & What Kind of Sex Do You Want?
Chuck Palahniuk – a writer who helped shape the nihilism and extremity of contemporary fiction. Who makes people faint with his short stories. He’s here.
179 – Ally Wilkes & The Ethics of Eating Your Friends
Ally Wilkes returns to Talking Scared to discuss the icebound horrors of Where the Dead Wait. It’s a tale of Arctic exploration gone wrong, haunting, human suffering
178 – Jenny Kiefer & A Solid Foothold in Horror
This Wretched Valley brings the famous Dyatlov Pass Mystery to the Kentucky woods. We talk about wilderness, adventure, brutality and bookshops!
177 – John Langan & Fishing For Mythologies
In this special episode, we talk at length about The Fisherman – about the classic books and legends that inspired the building of a whole new
188 – Scarlett Thomas & Hot Gothic
Scarlett Thomas is one of my favourite writers. Her new novel, The Sleepwalkers, is a darkly playful tale of a vacation–and a marriage–gone horribly wrong.
187 – The Carrie 50th Anniversary Deep Dive, with Nat Cassidy & Ally Malinenko
Carrie White turns 50. Step up Nat Cassidy and Ally Malinenko – who understand King and that bitter, brutal world between childhood and adulthood.
186 – Stephen Graham Jones & The Last Stand of the Final Girls
Stephen Graham Jones brings the most important horror trilogy of the century to its conclusion. For one last time we return to Proofrock, Idaho –
185 – Cynthia Pelayo & A Mermaid in the Windy City
We’re heading to the midwestern metropolis this week, for a conversation with Cina Pelayo – all about murder, mystery, history and strange things in the
184 – Joshua Hull & It’s a Whole Hole Thing
Joshua Hull is here to talk about his obsession with dangerous, weird holes. Now he’s given a hole a whole personality in his debut novella, Mouth.
183 – Gwendolyn Kiste & Working Through Your Ghosts
Gwendolyn Kiste returns for another high-concept twist on the Gothic. In The Haunting of Velkwood an entire street turns ghostly overnight. Trauma and laughter ensues.
182 – Tim Lebbon & Running Towards What Scares You
Tim Lebbon writes riotously good adventure-horror novels. He also likes running outrageous distances up big hills. What a pleasure it was to speak to him.
181 – Haunting Hill House, with Catriona Ward, Johnny Compton & Paul Tremblay
Finally, i’m ready to delve into the greatest haunted house of them all! Shirley Jackson’s Hill House. The place where the scary things walk alone.
180 – Chuck Palahniuk & What Kind of Sex Do You Want?
Chuck Palahniuk – a writer who helped shape the nihilism and extremity of contemporary fiction. Who makes people faint with his short stories. He’s here.
179 – Ally Wilkes & The Ethics of Eating Your Friends
Ally Wilkes returns to Talking Scared to discuss the icebound horrors of Where the Dead Wait. It’s a tale of Arctic exploration gone wrong, haunting, human suffering
178 – Jenny Kiefer & A Solid Foothold in Horror
This Wretched Valley brings the famous Dyatlov Pass Mystery to the Kentucky woods. We talk about wilderness, adventure, brutality and bookshops!
177 – John Langan & Fishing For Mythologies
In this special episode, we talk at length about The Fisherman – about the classic books and legends that inspired the building of a whole new
176 – The Best Horror Novels of 2023
Another year over. The only thing left is to run through my very favourite books of the year. The Best Horror Novels of 2023,
175 – The Ghost Story Deep Dive, with Alan Baxter, Lauren Bolger & John Langan
We celebrate this Christmas Eve with a Ghost Story – Peter Straub’s classic novel of the supernatural. And I bring friends to help…
174 – State of the Horror Nation 2023, with Emily Hughes, Victor Lavalle & C.J. Leede
And so we come to the end of another year. Time to look back at the best that 2023 offered, as determined by three of
173 – Michelle Paver & Long Nights of the Body & Soul
We’re going up in the world this week – longitudinally and latitudinally, with the GOAT of adventure Gothic, Michelle Paver.
172 – Gemma Amor & The Haunted Penis-Replacement Structure
The Folly is a coastal tale of haunting and cursed architecture. Cornwall’s answer to The Shining. We talk possession, Covid and awkward families.
171 – C.S. Humble & Come For the Horror, Stay for the Horses
We’ve had Cowboys versus Aliens but have you ever considered a 3-way fight between gunslingers, vampires and cosmic cultists to an Elder God? C.S. Humble has
A Special Thanks to my Patrons
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