Sally-Anne Martynreturns to Geek4, and this time we're talking about something I will never fully understand: she likes to be scared. On purpose.
Sally-Anne has spent years seeking out scare houses, haunted attractions and overnight ghost hunts. It started with her first scare attraction in Norfolk, Virginia, at eighteen, and has since taken her to the London Dungeon, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, and Newsham Park in Liverpool, a derelict Victorian orphanage that later became a psychiatric hospital. She tells me about the night a shadow came down the stairs and about a hotel phone that rang at midnight on the dot three nights running, in a room it wasn't connected to. We also talk about how chasing a controlled scare feeds her writing, why setting always comes first for her, and her dream of one day owning her own scare attraction (screamers not admitted).
We finish up talking about her new folk-horror novel, The Witch Elm, out October 9 from Boldwell Books. It tells two parellel stories: a young woman condemned as a witch centuries ago who died cursing her village, and the midwife who moves into Elm Tree Cottage in the present day and stirs it all up again. It's just in time for Halloween.
You can follow Sally-Anne on Instagram at @sallyannemartyn and on Facebook at sallyannemartynbooks. She often posts delightful pictures of her many animals.
You should also sign up for Sally-Anne’s SUBSTACK, Into the Shadows, for her regular newletters
18 Sept 2026
S4 E7: Sword & Sorcery & Oliver Brackenbury
Before Frodo left the Shire, Conan the Barbarian was cutting his way through Weird Tales. This week I'm digging into sword and sorcery with someone who lives and breathes it: Oliver Brackenbury, editor and publisher of New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine.
We start at the beginning — the 1930s pulp magazines where the subgenre was born, and its tangled family tree with pulp horror (turns out swords and eldritch dread have always run together). Then we get into what actually separates sword and sorcery from the fantasy you see dominating shelves and screens today. Why is Conan a different animal than Aragorn?
From there we talk about where the genre's headed: how sword and sorcery has cracked open to make room for new voices and traditions, like Sword and Soul. Oliver walks me through how he found his way into this world in the first place, and lays out his vision for where sword and sorcery goes from here .
Learn more about New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine at newedgeswordandsorcery.com, and find Oliver at oliverbrackenbury.com
26 Aug 2026
S4 E6: Maigret and me and Jack Jewers
Novelist and filmmaker Jack Jewers on Georges Simenon's Maigret novels and how they influenced him why they still define detective fiction; and on Seething Lane, his new Samuel Pepys mystery.
Who has been a guest on Geek 4
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Lauren Ashley
Daniel Kehlmann
Dr Adam Kotsko
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YouTube views
154,981
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
4 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
7 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 52 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
51
Social presence
0
YouTube
82
Engagement
51
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