279 – Sarah Langan & The Mask Eats the Face

About this episode

Neil McRobert interviews Sarah Langan about her novel and the trad wife phenomenon in horror literature.

Trad wives are taking over horror in 2026 – but I predict none will be more frightening and more gorgeously WEIRD than Sarah Langan’s novel. It’s the tale of a young woman in the dying era of journalism and the YouTube influencer who offers her hope, and much worse things…. I absolutely loved it. Sarah and I talk about the trad wife phenomenon, where it comes from, what it means, and how it’s all really based in cold hard capitalism. We talk about literary influences, about sustaining extreme weirdness in fiction, and why establishing character properly is so important. And we even recall the time we bonded over the gift of a mutant duck! Enjoy! Other books mentioned: Pet Sematary (1983), by Stephen King Trad Wife (2026), by Saratoga Schafer Yesteryear (2026), by Caro Claire Burke “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892), by Charlotte Perkins Gilman The King in Yellow (1985), Robert W. Chambers Rosemary’s Baby (1967), by Ira Levin The Ceremonies (1984), by T. E. D. Klein Room (2010), by Emma Donaghue Station Eleven (2014), by Hilary St. John Mandel Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or…

People in this episode

Host: Neil McRobert

Guest: Sarah Langan

Topics covered

• horror literature
• trad wives
• capitalism
• weird fiction
• literary influences

Keywords

• Sarah Langan
• trad wives
• horror
• weird fiction
• literary influences

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Mask Eats the Face, Pet Sematary, Trad Wife, Yesteryear, The Yellow Wallpaper, The King in Yellow, Rosemary’s Baby, The Ceremonies, Room, Station Eleven

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