When is a zombie not a zombie? I don’t have a punchline to that joke. But something…something … revenant! Brennan LaFaro’s The Denizens is about a small southern town with a very unusual relationship with death. What precisely is the nature of the corpses roaming the woods, and what do they want with the living. You’ll have to listen to find out. What is certain is that this book gives Brennan and I a launchpad for a conversation about writing action-horror scenes, the ethics of suffering and pain, what comes after death, and all the horrible little small towns that inspired his own. Enjoy! Other books mentioned: On Sundays She Picked Flowers (2026), by Yah Yah Schofield Pet Semetary (1983), by Stephen King Knockemstiff (2008), by Donald Ray Pollock The Devil All the Time (2011), by Donald Ray Pollock Donnybrook (2013), by Frank Bill The Complex (2016), by Brian Keene The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch (2015), by Daniel Kraus Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] 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.