Send us a text In the immortal words of Creed’s Scott Stapp, “can you take me HIIIGHER?” Yes, I can. Our guest this week is Nicholas Binge, author the new buzzy, horror-sci-fi novel, Ascension. It’s about a very weird, very big mountain that appears out of nowhere to lure the unwary upwards. Nothing good occurs, of course. Again…much like a Creed concert. This is where the comparison’s to terrible post-grunge rock ends (thankfully) cos Nick and I have much more fun making comparisons to the likes of Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker and H.P. Lovecraft… to the classic Gothic and Adventure stories that Nick mixes with his oh-so-modern science-fiction themes. Ascension is a treat for fans of both traditions. We also talk about the place of mountains in our literature, the shattering chaos of quantum mechanics, recontextualising neurodiverse characters and the occasional shoggoth! Enjoy! Ascension was published on April 25th by HarperVoyager and Riverhead Books. Other books mentioned in this episode include: Annihilation (2014), by Jeff VanderMeer The Lost World (1912), by Arthur Conan Doyle At the Mountains of Madness (1936), by H.P. Lovecraft House of Leaves (2000), by Mark Z. Danielewski Fever Dream (2014), by Samanta Schweblin Support Talking Scared on Patreon Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.