By Bitter Karella
5
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The podcast currently has 23 episodes available.
Low-budget movie mogul Roger Corman sets out to produce a papier maché blockbuster adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale of psychological suspense. Loosely following the plot of the original, Poe is tasked with taking care of a Scottish castle belonging to a certain formerly popular children's author. But uh oh! His wacky pal Stephen King arrives... with his all-amateur band, the Rock Bottom Remainders, in tow! When an electrical blackout results in the Pals smashing a priceless collection of literary awards, it's a race to get the castle presentable again before the gender-critical reptilian returns!
Content notes: swearing, raised voices, sexual references, loud noises, discussion of transphobia, death including drowning.
CAST:
with
and special guest star
Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart is available in Volume 2 of his collected works on Project Gutenberg at https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2148/pg2148-images.html
A transcript of this episode can be found at https://midnight-pals.simplecast.com/episodes/s01e08-the-tale-of-the-tell-tale-heart/transcript
The Midnight Pals is the creation of Bitter Karella ©
Subscribe to Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Cast, Goodpods or wherever you find podcasts. If you enjoy the show, please consider leaving us a rating or review. For more information, see https://midnightpals.com
It's winter at the campfire, and that means one thing—snow-themed holiday special! The Midnight Pals are visited by Junji Ito, adorable catboy and terrifying master of fucked-up-face-filled manga horror, accompanied by original weeaboo Lafcadio Hearn. The pair narrate an ancient Japanese folktale of ripped samurai, distressed noblewomen, and seasonal ice-demons. Lafcadio helps Junji out by using his insightful perspective as a Greek-Irish academic to explain Japanese tradition and culture. HP Lovecraft nearly has an aneurysm.
Content notes: swearing, raised voices, sexual references, discussion of racism and appropriation, violence, death, references to guns.
CAST:
with
Script by Lou Sutcliffe, edited by Bitter Karella and Robin Johnson. The Japanese sensitivity reader was Minaro Kato-Hopkins, and the Irish accent and swearing coach was Liselle Nic Giollabháin.
Lafcadio Hearn's translation of the Japanese folktale "Yuki-Onna" (The Snow Woman) is included in his collection Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, which is available from Project Gutenberg at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1210
A transcript of this episode can be found at https://midnight-pals.simplecast.com/episodes/s01e07-the-tale-of-the-snow-woman/transcript
The Midnight Pals is the creation of Bitter Karella ©
Subscribe to Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Cast, Goodpods or wherever you find podcasts. If you enjoy the show, please consider leaving us a rating or review. For more information, see https://midnightpals.com
Clive Barker takes the stage and relates his cult classic of an eternal battle—gay monsters versus redneck cops. Cabal has always had unsettling dreams of becoming a gay monster, but his personal journey to gay monsterhood is obstructed by queer-gatekeeping monsters, Nazi sheriffs' departments, and unconvincing gimp-mask serial killer David Cronenberg. Frank Belknap Long teaches Dean Koontz to be a furry.
Content notes: swearing, raised voices, sexual content, violence, discussion of homophobic and transphobic propaganda techniques, homophobic and transphobic state violence, riots, guns and military weapons, death and killing, attempted genocide.
CAST:
with
Script by Bitter Karella, edited by Robin Johnson, inspired by Clive Barker’s 1990 cult film Nightbreed, an adaptation of his novella Cabal. Elements of copyrighted works are used for purposes of parody and comment.
A transcript of this episode can be found at https://midnight-pals.simplecast.com/episodes/s01e06-the-tale-of-the-nightbreed/transcript
The Midnight Pals is the creation of Bitter Karella ©
Subscribe to Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Cast, Goodpods or wherever you find podcasts. If you enjoy the show, please consider leaving us a rating or review. For more information, see https://midnightpals.com
Patricia Highsmith, crime writer, snail friend, and lovable weirdo known for her shabby trenchcoat, eccentric habits, and possibly imaginary wife, investigates a bizarre double murder. Two people who don't know each other, or if you will, "strangers", meet on a rail vehicle, or as it were, "train", and plan the perfect crime. What really happened with Mary Shelley and her polycule at Lake Geneva last summer?
Content notes: swearing, violence, murder, death including by train and drowning.
CAST:
with
plus special guest stars
Helen Arney is a science presenter and musical comedienne who has appeared in TV, radio and theatre across the world with her unique mix of stand-up, songs and science. For more information, see helenarney.com.
Mike McShane, veteran of Whose Line is it Anyway?, kindly agreed to record a cameo scream in support of Waverley Care, who provide help to people living with HIV and hepatitis in Scotland. Donations can be made at https://waverleycare.org
Script by Robin Johnson, edited by Bitter Karella, inspired by Patricia Highsmith's novel Strangers on a Train and its film adaptation by Alfred Hitchcock. Elements from copyrighted works are used for purposes of parody and comment.
This episode takes many liberties with history, the Midnight Pals characters are not necessarily representative of the real-life authors with whom they share names (except when they are), and Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals should on no account be regarded as a historical source... but...
A transcript of this episode can be found at https://midnight-pals.simplecast.com/episodes/s01e05-the-tale-of-the-strangers-on-a-train/transcript
The Midnight Pals is the creation of Bitter Karella ©
Subscribe to Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Cast, or wherever you find podcasts. If you enjoy the show, please consider leaving us a rating or review. For more information, see https://midnightpals.com
Arthur Conan Doyle stumbles upon the Midnight Pals' storytelling circle and reluctantly agrees to bring beloved supersleuth Sherlock Holmes back for one last, final, final case. A locked-room murder mystery turns to metafictional highjinks as the Pals are embroiled in the world of Holmes's adventures, sort of like when the holodeck malfunctions on Star Trek.
Content notes: swearing, raised voices, drug references, portrayal of psychologically abusive relationships, threats of violence, guns, discussion of death, loss, grieving and murder.
CAST
with
Script by Robin Johnson, edited by Bitter Karella, based on the Sherlock Holmes stories of Arthur Conan Doyle. Production and music by Robin Johnson. Daisy McNamara was an audio consultant.
Most of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories (as well as his Professor Challenger ones) are in the public domain and can be found on Project Gutenberg at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/69
A transcript of this episode can be found at https://midnight-pals.simplecast.com/episodes/s01e04-the-tale-of-sherlock-holmes/transcript
The Midnight Pals is the creation of Bitter Karella ©
Subscribe to Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Cast, or wherever you find podcasts. If you enjoy the show, please consider leaving us a rating or review. For more information, see https://midnightpals.com
Neurotic closet-dweller Bram Stoker visits the campfire to tell his iconic vampire story. In Transylvania, hot twink Jon "Jonathan" Harker shacks up with a rich older man who wants to consume his bodily fluids. Meanwhile in England, notorious strumpet Lucy Westenra attempts to ensnare her innocent friend Mina into the dangerous and disgusting world of sex. A cautionary tale about the perils of horniness, as Bram attempts to prove once and for all that vampires are in no way sexy. Mary Shelley invites Anne Rice and Stephenie Meyer just to stir the pot.
Content notes: swearing, raised voices, violence, death, guns, gory sounds, Victorian institutionalisation of mental health patients, strong sexual content.
CAST
with
Script by Bitter Karella, edited by Robin Johnson, based loosely on Dracula by Bram Stoker. Production by Robin Johnson. Music by Alex Rancourt, Robin Johnson and Lou Sutcliffe.
Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula is the codifying example of the vampire story in popular culture. The book is in the public domain and can be found on Project Gutenberg at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/345
Stoker's completely normal letter to Walt Whitman, written on Valentine's Day of 1876, can be read at https://www.themarginalian.org/2019/01/09/bram-stoker-walt-whitman-letter/
A transcript of this episode can be found at https://midnight-pals.simplecast.com/episodes/s01e03-the-tale-of-dracula/transcript
The Midnight Pals is the creation of Bitter Karella ©
Subscribe to Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Cast, or wherever you find podcasts. For more information, see https://midnightpals.com
A new candidate for the Midnight Society, insufferable San Francisco hipster Robert Louis Stevenson, attempts to impress the Pals with the story of Henry Jekyll, a Victorian psychiatrist. On the steamship home from a business trip, Jekyll's seemingly chance meeting with a certain Edward Hyde will change his perception of reality forever. In a twist so unexpected that nobody even knows it's a twist, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde turn out to be the same person! An adrenaline-fueled social satire of mischief, mayhem and soup.
Content notes: swearing, discussion of colonialism and colonial violence, mention of death, murder and cannibalism, guns, explosions, themes of mental illness and dissociative identity.
CAST
with
Script by Robin Johnson, edited by Bitter Karella, based (very) loosely on The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson. Production and music by Robin Johnson. The sensitivity reader was Rebecca D'Souza, and Daisy McNamara was an audio consultant.
Stevenson's original novella is in the public domain, and can be found on Project Gutenberg at https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/43
A transcript of this episode can be found at https://midnight-pals.simplecast.com/episodes/s01e02-the-tale-of-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/transcript
The Midnight Pals is the creation of Bitter Karella ©
Subscribe to Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Cast, or wherever you find podcasts. For more information, see https://midnightpals.com
Mary Shelley tells her Midnight Pals a chilling tale about a brilliant young researcher, Victor, whose arrogance leads him to pursue a deadly ambition. The experiment has been attempted by generations of mad scientists, but never successfully accomplished: the creation of a Frankenstein! Stephen King gets pedantic about terminology.
Content notes: swearing, raised voices, violence, gore, death including the murder of a child, mention of strangulation.
CAST
with
Episode written and produced by Robin Johnson, loosely based on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and its various adaptations. Script edited by Bitter Karella. Music by Robin Johnson. Daisy McNamara was an audio consultant. Material based on existing works is used for parody and comment.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is often cited as the first science fiction novel and is certainly one of the most important and influential horror novels ever written. Shelley wrote it at the age of 18 (THAT'S LESS THAN 19) as part of a ghost-story writing competition with her pals. It has been adapted to stage and screen countless times, perhaps most notably in James Whale's 1931 film adaptation starring Boris Karloff as the trope-codifying flat-headed monster. The original novel is in the public domain and can be found on Project Gutenberg at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41445
A transcript of this episode can be found at https://midnight-pals.simplecast.com/episodes/s01e01-the-tale-of-the-frankenstein/transcript
The Midnight Pals is the creation of Bitter Karella ©
Subscribe to Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Cast, or wherever you find podcasts. For more information, see https://midnightpals.com
It's Bram Stoker's turn at the campfire and he's brought a new story, "The Tale of The—" oh dear, we might have to do something about that title.
Content notes: Discussion of racism; human and animal death; discussion of violence and torture.
Season 1 Premiere: Our first full episode, The Tale of the Frankenstein, will release on our podcast feed on Tuesday 31st October— but there will also be a special early streamed premiere and open hangout with the cast and crew on Sunday 29th October at 5PM GMT / 1PM Eastern / 10AM Pacific. Join us on Rodrigo "Poe" Borges's twitch channel at https://www.twitch.tv/TheCommanderRod
CAST:
Script, production and music by Robin Johnson, loosely adapted from The Sq**w by Bram Stoker. The Midnight Pals is created by Bitter Karella. All characters are fictitious, especially the real ones.
About the story: Bram Stoker's unfortunately named short story The Sq**w was included in his posthumously published short story collection Dracula's Guest, which can be found on Project Gutenberg at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10150 (CN for explicit racism, torture, gore, and killing of humans and animals.) In adaptations it has been variously renamed Dungeon of Horror, Cat's Cradle and The Torture Tower.
HP Lovecraft's childhood cat was named either what you're thinking, or something worse.
Find the Midnight Pals at midnightpals.com on bluesky at @midnightpals.bsky.social or on twitter at @midnight_pals. Subscribe to Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals now at https://midnight-pals.simplecast.com or via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast site/app of choice.
A transcript of this teaser is available at https://midnight-pals.simplecast.com/episodes/teaser-12-bram-stoker/transcript
The podcast currently has 23 episodes available.
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