In a six-minute mini-episode, Patricia Highsmith tells the Midnight Pals her story of the (maybe not so) Talented Mr Ripley, and then the real Charles Dickens himself drops in at the campfire.

Content notes: swearing, discussion of internalized homophobia, violence and discussion of murder, stalking. 

CAST: 

• Clive Barker — DAVID AULT 
• Edgar Allan Poe — RODRIGO BORGES 
• Mary Shelley — REBECCA D'SOUZA 
• HP Lovecraft — ROBIN JOHNSON 
• Dean Koontz — WREN MONTGOMERY 
• Stephen King — JASON ROBINSON 

with 

• Patricia Highsmith — KATE DAVOLI 
• "Charles Dickens" — BRAD BARNES 

Script, audio production and music by Robin Johnson. The Midnight Pals created by Bitter Karella ©

A transcript of this episode is available at https://midnight-pals.simplecast.com/episodes/the-tale-of-the-talented-mr-ripley/transcript 

Patricia Highsmith's novel The Talented Mr Ripley (1955) is a psychological thriller dripping with the sort of blatant homoeroticism that gets described as "gay undertones". It and its several sequels have been adapted for screen multiple times, including the 1999 movie in which Matt Damon and Jude Law play chess in the bath, and the 2024 Netflix miniseries in which Andrew Scott walks up and down stairs. 

Hans Christian Andersen was Charles Dickens' worst fanboy ever. In one episode, he invited himself to the Dickens' home, overstayed by several weeks, and reportedly cried when finally made to leave. 

Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals is a work of social and literary satire. All characters are fictitious, especially the real ones; any elements of work not in the public domain are used for the purpose of parody and comment, and no challenge is intended to the ownership or validity of any intellectual property. 

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