211 – Laird Barron & Cosmic Background Radiation

Send us a text Laird Barron is on the podcast. This feels like cause for celebration.    Not only is Laird Barron a phenomenal writer. Not only is it wonderful that he’s back to writing and talking about writing. Not only am I lucky to be able to speak to him…   We also talked about DOGS!    Granted, a cybernetic, immortal monster hound called Rex – but a dog nonetheless. That’s just one of the crazy concepts that make up the stories in Laird’s new collection, Not a Speck of Light… and I mean crazy. These stories involve evil fathers, strange invasions, billionaire bird-women and a disaster-addicted monster – and we talk about how Laird balances the bizarre and brutal, the cosmic and the cynical, the horrific and the hardboiled.   Plus a lot of info on a very exciting project he’s currently working hard on.   Let’s all just be happy, Laird Barron is back. He’s writing. And he’s Talking Scared.   Enjoy.  Join the Laird Barron Reddit Read-along   Other books mentioned: When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson (2021), edited by Ellen Datlow The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All (2013), by Laird Barron Blood Standard (2018), by Laird Barron The Fisherman (2016), by John Langan “On Skua Island” – in Mr Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters (2009), by John Langan The Children of Old Leech: A Tribute to the Carnivorous Cosmos of Laird Barron (2014), edited by Ross E. Lockhart and Jason Steele The Delicate Prey, and Other Stories (1950), by Paul Bowles The Sheltering Sky (1949), by Paul Bowles   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