18 - Gabriel Bergmoser and It's Only a Joke Mate!

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Merry Christmas and/or time-off-work-week! For all of you currently freezing your asses off in cold climes, this week’s episode may make you feel a little too warm under the collar. Our guest is Gabriel Bergmoser, an author who exploded onto the horror scene in early 2020 with The Hunted, a pulpy, violent, visceral hell ride through the Australian wilderness in the company of very human prey and predators. 

Considering the amount of people hanging from hooks and suffering violent deaths in his fiction, Gabriel proves to be a thoroughly charming guest. We talk at length about the problem of masculinity down under (and, as it turns out, everywhere else!). Gabe’s thesis includes anecdotes from Australian history and the time that he was personally chased down the street by a kid with a nail-studded cricket bat.

The Hunted is an EXCEPTIONAL horror novel. It flaunts its genre credentials, allowing us to get back to the blood and guts basics of the genre. At the same time, though, it’s got a lot to say about a lot of things. You’ll read it in one night and still think about it months later.

The Hunted was published in May by Faber and Faber

Oh, and a listener asked me to finally flesh out the list of my top-ten horror novels of all time. You don’t have to ask me twice, so at the end of this episode you’ll get some extra bonus content (whether you want it or not) whilst I indulge myself in banging on about books I love. I get quite pretentious in parts.

Red Dragon (1981), by Thomas Harris

The Golden Age (1985), by Louis Nowra

Soon (2017), by Lois Murphy

A Head Full of Ghosts (2015), by Paul Tremblay

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

Lunar Park (2005), by Bret Easton Ellis

The Terror (2007), by Dan Simmons

Beloved (1987), by Toni Morrison

Ghost Story (1971), by Peter Straub

The Little Stranger (2009), by Sarah Waters

Swan Song (1987), by Robert R. McCammon

The Stand (1978), by Stephen Kind

House of Leaves (2000), by Mark Z. Danielewski

IT (1986), by Stephen King

Come talk books with us on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected].

Thanks to Terry Smith Audio for sound editing and Adrian Flounders for graphic design.

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