Oct 20, 2026 · 43 min · 12 segments
Brett sits down with author Will Maclean to discuss his American debut, 'Solace House'. They talk about reading snobbery, his past writing in comedy, horror narratives, writing sympathetic characters…
Will MacleanGuest
Brett BennerHost
There's a public library in Seacombe and it's still there, amazingly, which is enormously influential on me as a kid because I just read a lot.
And I read sort of everything that came my way sort of indiscriminately, which you later learn is the wrong approach.
And it's the first time because I'm first generation of my family to go to university.
So, you know, the sort of books you are expected to have read if you study English literature.
So I had this kind of ramshackle knowledge of a lot of things, but not, you know, there are massive gaps in my reading, I think.
And there still are, which I try to plug every year by reading something I should have read ages ago.
Yeah, because my canon when I was young would have been strictly Stephen King and maybe V.C. Andrews smattered in.
And it's sort of like, you know, I was one of those kids, if I liked one book by someone, I'd read everything they read, which I think is a very... because that's what I read for six months.
But I don't like people using books as a kind of intimidatory thing that like, you know, you're doing it wrong.
I was lucky enough to have really good tutors at university and they sort of flew the flag for the value of the things that they taught.
But I don't like that thing where people are kind of snobbish about what people are reading.
There's a public library in Seacombe and it's still there, amazingly, which is enormously influential on me as a kid because I just read a lot.
And I read sort of everything that came my way sort of indiscriminately, which you later learn is the wrong approach.
And it's the first time because I'm first generation of my family to go to university.
So, you know, the sort of books you are expected to have read if you study English literature.
So I had this kind of ramshackle knowledge of a lot of things, but not, you know, there are massive gaps in my reading, I think.
And there still are, which I try to plug every year by reading something I should have read ages ago.
Yeah, because my canon when I was young would have been strictly Stephen King and maybe V.C. Andrews smattered in.
And it's sort of like, you know, I was one of those kids, if I liked one book by someone, I'd read everything they read, which I think is a very... because that's what I read for six months.
But I don't like people using books as a kind of intimidatory thing that like, you know, you're doing it wrong.
I was lucky enough to have really good tutors at university and they sort of flew the flag for the value of the things that they taught.
But I don't like that thing where people are kind of snobbish about what people are reading.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.