91 – Jason Rekulak and Pencil Crayon Jump Scares

Do think kids’ drawings are creepy? They are, right? All big smiles and suns with eyes and weird flowers the size of people… and the dead girls in the background.

Right? 

Our guest this week has built a whole horror story around these little paper nightmares.  Hidden Pictures is a novel that blends text and image in ways that I’ve never seen done before, or never as well. It’s a story of childhood imagination, suburban murder and summer terror. Think Gone Girl with Crayola ghosts.

Jason and I talk about lots of things – the rise of 1% horror; the relationship between image and text, and how to adapt an experimental book for audio. We get into the fairy tale details that I missed, and ask kid’s imaginary friends are just so damn freaky. 

Trust me, you’ll never look at your little cherub’s artistic offerings the same way ever again.

Enjoy

Hidden Pictures is published on May 10th by Flatiron Books and Sphere.

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

• The Impossible Fortress (2017), by Jason Rekulak 
• A Kiss Before Dying (1953), Ira Levin
• Horrorstör (2014), by Grady Hendrix
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009), by Seth Grahame-Smith
• Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children (2011), by Ransom Rigg

My article in Esquire on ‘The 50 Best Horror Novels of All Time’

Support Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPod 

Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com 

Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store.