115 – Andy Davidson & Ornate Maps of Hell

Send us a text The last episode before Halloween and it’s suitably about my favourite book of the year: Andy Davidson’s The Hollow Kind Andy is the Stoker-nominated author of In the Valley of the Sun and The Boatman’s Daughter. The Hollow Kind is his third book and it packs a lot into its 400 pages. It’s as dense and weighty as an imploding paper star.  It’s a haunted house story (of sorts), a creature feature (of sorts) and a whole lot of Southern Gothic of many kinds. The prose is lush and wow, does Andy know a lot about the history of Georgia both human and natural. We talk about that, as well as the link between industry and horror, the allure of extreme violence, and the sheer delight of finding a map at the front of a book. Plus, we go a little deeper than usual into the nature and origins of the evil at the heart of the story. Enjoy and have a happy Halloween my horror-loving siblings! The Hollow Kind was released on October 11th by MCD  Other books mentioned in this episode include: The Boatman’s Daughter (2020), by Andy Davidson Convulsive (2022), by Joe Koch Absalom, Absalom! (1936), by William Faulkner Poachers (1999), by Tom Franklin Knockemstiff (2008), by Donald Ray Pollock Jo Koch interview with Andy at Southwest Review  Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices