Talking Scared

We’re tiptoeing towards the sci-fi end of things this week, with Justin C. Key and The Hospital at the End of the World.

 

This is a techn-othriller about AI run amok in the medical establishment, and the junior doctor who must navigate a shadowy conspiracy, a fatal (and horrific) disease, all whilst making time for class at the sole
human-led teaching hospital left in the country.

 

It’s a lot. And a lot of fun – when it’s not ambushing me with one of my greatest medical phobias!!!

 

Justin and I talk about the real horrors of his medical school experience, what he’s learned about human connection from his work in psychiatry,
and we have that rare thing – a genuinely nuanced conversation about the role of AI in society.

 

Enjoy!

 

Other books mentioned: 


The World Wasn’t Ready for You (2023), by Justin C. Key


On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000), by Stephen King


Insomnia (1994), by Stephen King


Ender’s Game (1985), by Orson Scott Card


Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming (1994), by Stephen LaBerge and Howard Rheingold


The Curse of Hester Gardens (2026), by Tamika Thompson


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

 

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After our loose, freeform chat about the high strangeness of The Talisman, Nat stuck around to Palaver a little more behind Chris’ innocent back.

 

In this spoiler-filled 35 minutes (do not listen if you haven’t finished The Dark Tower) we get into some firmer connections between King’s magical worlds, we look at the order of books to come, weigh our saddest deaths in King stories…and even after all these hours we’re forced to ask, “what the f*ck is the Talisman anyway?

 

Enjoy.

 

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Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to [email protected]
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We’re on the road again with our Dark Tower journey, running through adjacent worlds, lighting out for the Territories.

 

Our latest side-quest takes us to The Talisman, the 1984 epic dark fantasy, co-authored by Stephen King and Peter Straub. It’s a wild, hallucinatory ride, that contains my favourite King character of them all!

 

Nat, Chris and I talk about that dude, as well as discussing where Jack Sawyer ranks in the league table of King’s childhood heroes. But mostly we try to pin down the connections between this mad story, and Roland’s great quest.

 

Do we succeed? Do we just make up all manner of wishful thinking nonsense? You decide.

 

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We're Southbound for monster-loving this week on Talking
Scared.

 Georgia writer, Yah Yah Schofield comes to discuss her Southern Gothic debut, On Sundays She Picked Flowers – a story of monsters, spirits, swamps, and generational trauma. There’s a very bad mama and a very haunted house.

 

Yah Yah and I talk about mother-daughter relationships, the difference between ghosts and haints, the influence of elders, and why the rules are different for Black ‘weird girls.’

 

Plus, in Yah Yah’s own words – we discuss tongue-kissing monsters.

 

Enjoy!

 

Other books mentioned:


The Haunting of Hill House (1959), by Shirley Jackson


Haints: American Ghosts, Millennial Passions and Contemporary Gothic Fictions (2011), by Arthur Redding


The Colour Purple (1982), by Alice Walker


Beloved (1987), by Toni Morrison


Sula (1978), by Toni Morrison


In the Dream House: A Memoir (2019), by Carmen Maria Machado


The Lamb (2025), by Lucy Rose


We Are Here to Hurt Each Other (2022), by Paula D. Ashe


Between Two Fires (2012), by Christopher Buehlman

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Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch

 

Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to [email protected]

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Imagine you’re back in high school – but worse! The shuffling idiots actually want to EAT you!

 

That’s the premise of Courtney Summers’ This is Not a Test, her 2012 zombie novel of teen despair amongst the undead, now reissued in a fresh ‘definitive’ version for 2026. When better than a time in which the mindless, greedy and brutal are running amok in the real world.

 

Courtney and I talk about zombies in 2012 and now, we discuss optimism versus despair, we track the challenges of writing a survival thriller with a suicidal protagonist, and she offers advice on rapid character building and writing teen dialogue.

 

It’s a good one.

 

Enjoy!

 

Other books mentioned:


The Project (2021), by Courtney Summers


Room To Dream (2018), by David Lynch and Kristine McKenna


The Stand (1990), by Stephen King

 

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]
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