61 – Cassandra Khaw and Stories to Tell Death

Talking Scared

I’m on holiday but I still give you goodies. ‘Cos that’s the kind of all-round good guy that I am.

And what a dark treat of a trick we have this week. The guest is Cassandra Khaw and their novella Nothing But Blackened Teeth will use it’s liquorice-stained smile to chew you up.

The book transports us to a crumbling mansion in Japan, where a hideous spectre haunts a group of utterly loathsome tourists. Honestly, you’ll want them dead for their taste in music alone!

Despite the slimness of the volume, Cass packs a lot into this book, just as we pack a lot into this conversation. As well as discussing the novella specifically, we also talk our fear and fondness for Ellen Datlow, the rich heritage of South East Asian ghost stories and the haunting house as colonised space.

She also gives perhaps the best ever answer to the question “what really scares you?” It is a life lesson.

Excuse my whining about my dog.

Enjoy

Nothing But Blackened Teeth was published on Tor Nightfire on 20th October

Books discussed on this episode include:

• Queen of the Cicadas (2021), by V. Castro
• When the Reckoning Comes (2021), by LaTanya McQueen
• The Only Good Indians (2020), by Stephen Graham Jones
• Sandman Slim (2009), by Richard Kadrey
• What Moves the Dead (coming 2022), by T. Kingfisher

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