294 – China Miéville & A Million Dreaming Words for Ghost

There are big books and big books. This week we cover a HUGE book. China Miéville is the guest. The award-winning author of Perdido Street Station, Embassytown, The City & the City, and other modern speculative classics – and he’s back with a book two decades in the making.   The Rouse is an epic of true proportions, a 1300-page saga of the twentieth century, rife with war, atrocity, tragedy, and a secret war fought with ghosts?? That’s the premise but it barely touches the sides of this ginormous undertaking.   This is not just a conversation, it’s a search for answers – in which we plumb the personal, political, and supernatural influences behind this story of shady military conspiracy and ghosts of many strange kinds.   I hope you enjoy, ‘cos I worked my ass off for this one!   Other books mentioned: King Rat (1999), by China Miéville The City & The City (2009), by China Miéville Ducks, Newburyport (2019), by Lucy Ellman Gravity’s Rainbow (1973), by Thomas Pyncheon Against the Day (2006), by Thomas Pyncheon House of Leaves (2000), by Mark Z. Danielewski “The Ash Tree” (1904), by M.R. James A Dark Corner (1971), by Celia Dale   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