It’s grim up North. But thankfully, it’s also weird. Deliciously, darkly, disturbingly weird! This week we are celebrating the Northern Weird Project – six novellas published by Wild Hunt Books (including one by yours truly!). In this first roundtable, I’ve gathered two of the writers and the genius behind the project, Ariell Cacciola, to talk about Northern literary culture in the North, haunted landscapes, isolated oddness, and the North/South divide. Gemma Fairclough brings The Retreat, her story of creepy wellness culture in the Lake District, and Katherine Clements has written a psycho-geographic haunting of the Yorkshire moors in Turbine 34. Yet whilst displaying the diversity of northern weirdness, these two novellas are twinned and entwined in fascinating ways. Enjoy – there’s more coming all week. Other books mentioned: Bear Season (2024), by Gemma Fairclough The Coffin Path (2018), by Katherine Clements Every Day is Mother’s Day (1985), by Hilary Mantel Beyond Black (2005), by Hilary Mantel A Place of Greater Safety (1992), by Hilary Mantel Dark Matter (2010), by Michelle Paver The Night Ocean (2017), by Paul LaFarge Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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