Talking Scared

280 – Neena Viel & Go Heinous or Go Home

Talking Scared

Show Notes

Disgust, despair and belly laughs on the show this week – with Neena Viel and her new novel, I’ll Watch Your Baby.

It’s a dense, troubling tale of child theft, social horror and demons, with plenty of putrid feet to give you a summertime ick! But if the book is a sickener, the author is a delight. Neena makes me do a proper full-on guffaw (has anyone EVER guffawed?), whilst we talk about urban-vs-rural horror, reprehensible acts and problematic protagonists, and the abiding lie of the Welfare Queen trope.

Enjoy. Laugh. Even learn (up to you!)

Other books mentioned:

Listen to Your Sister (2025), by Neena Viel

The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth (2019), by Josh Levin

On Sundays She Picked Flowers (2026), by Yah Yah Schofield

The Night Pool (2026), by Lauren Lee Smith

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