What Mad Universe?!?

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Producer/Engineer: Alex Ross Never Sleeps Network

Theme song by Jack Feerick

Jules Verne: writer of 20,000 Leagues Beneath The Sea and Around The World in 80 Days. One of the fathers of science fiction, author of over 60 novels, the second most frequently translated author after William Shakespeare, and a massive influence on the 20th Century. But no, this show isn't about him. Instead, it's about another, altogether forgotten book from Verne's time, The Adventures of Saturnin Farandoul, a work that also prefigures modern culture in being a work of fanfiction based on Verne's characters. Whimsical, delightful and weird, Saturnin Farandoul sometimes feels like a modern "steampunk" book rather than an actual work of 19th century science fiction. It's worthy of renewed attention, and so Phil and Adam are here to bring it to you!

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Producer/Engineer: Alex Ross Never Sleeps Network

Theme song by Jack Feerick

Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early!

Phil's Patreon

Adam's Twitter

What Mad Universe on Facebook

Producer/Engineer: Alex Ross Never Sleeps Network

Theme song by Jack Feerick

"It is the colour of a bleached skull, his flesh; and the long hair which flows below his shoulders is milk-white. From the tapering, beautiful head stare two slanting eyes, crimson and moody, and from the loose sleeves of his yellow gown emerge two slender hands, also the colour of bone.”

One of the strangest and most influential pulp heroes of the 20th century, Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone has impacted not just literature but movies, animation, games, music, and even the practice of magic. In this episode we look back on his weird but wide-ranging legacy.

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Producer/Engineer: Alex Ross Never Sleeps Network

Theme song by Jack Feerick

Other backing music: "Lost In Space" by JupiterWave on Looperman

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Producer/Engineer: Alex Ross Never Sleeps Network

Theme song by Jack Feerick

The man of tomorrow, the ubermensch. The perfection of the human form into something godlike, beyond mere mortality. Since the Enlightenment this dream has taken the place of the myth of the demigod or chosen one...and eventually, it saw its realization in the superhero genre. But before Clark Kent ever stepped into a phone booth, there was a story that gave rise to the superhero, and turned it on its head.

In this chapter we look at Philip Wylie's Gladiator, a book that's at once ground zero for the superhero and a strange path not taken for pop culture.

Producer/Engineer: Alex Ross Never Sleeps Network

Theme song by Jack Feerick

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Strange things haunt the mountains. Up these hills and down these hollows walks a man with a silver-stringed guitar, singin' the old songs, and doing what justice he can in a frightening world.

In this episode we look at the "Silver John" stories by Manly Wade Wellman, about a humble rover who battles the evils of the backwoods with music in his heart...

Producer/Engineer: Alex Ross Never Sleeps Network

Theme song by Jack Feerick

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The dead who walk, the drinkers of blood, the shunners of daylight, the ultimate monster--vampires! They've lurked and slithered around the dark edges of popular fiction for over two centuries. And the idea of what exactly a vampire is has shifted shape more than the creatures themselves...

In this episode, Phil digs up (heee hee heeeee!) a very strange 19th century French novel, one that embodies and intersects with many trends in pulp and genre fiction of the time, yet whose concept of the vampire is completely unlike anything else before or since...

Producer/Engineer: Alex Ross Never Sleeps Network

Theme song by Jack Feerick

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Born a savage in a primordial country...risen to become king of an antediluvian empire...a warrior king battling against wizards, monsters, and the corruption of civilization. No, it's not who you're thinking of!

In this episode we pour over the tales of Robert E. Howard's other barbarian hero, Kull the Conqueror, and consider the twin tropes of lost prehistoric realms and savage barbarian heroes.

Producer/Engineer: Alex Ross Never Sleeps Network

Theme song by Jack Feerick.

Adventure! Excitement! Lurid chills and thoughtful thrills! The history of genre is a weird and slippery one that ranges from trash to highbrow art (and neither is always in the place you’d expect to find it!) WHAT MAD UNIVERSE?!? is a podcast where Adam Prosser and Philip Rice, two “informed novices”, sit down and try to trace the threads of history through SF and fantasy, pinpointing the possible origins of familiar tropes and flagging firsts in books both classic and obscure.

This “prologue” episode was recorded well into season 2 as a more helpful introduction to new listeners, providing an overview for the show and our thoughts, plus introducing a few characters we’ll be meeting along the way. The original first episode, a proof-of-concept in which we examined the book from which we got our name, Frederic Brown’s What Mad Universe, is now available on our Patreons…it’s fun, but we consider it ephemera, a warm up to the real show.

Anyway, strap yourself into the spaceship, look out for cosmic rays, and let’s blast off…into the future!

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Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross

Theme song by Jack Feerick

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