What Mad Universe?!?

In this newest episode of WMU?!? we take a look at one of Philip's Bete Noirs (literally), a series of French pulp novels from before WWI about adventurer-hero Leo St. Clair, the Nyctalope, and his Sci-Fi adventures. Written with all the care and elegance of a 7th grader with an essay due the next morning, these stories nevertheless reflect a lot of the classic pulp tropes and may even be a stage in the development of the superhero. Somewhere, Riddick is taking notes (in the dark)...

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Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross

Theme song by Jack Feerick

Additional music: "Drmtc" orchestral by HMNN

Used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 International License.

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

Phil's Patreon

What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter

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Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross

Theme song by Jack Feerick

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Let's go back, back, to a time when giants walked the Earth...probably doing something filthy. In this episode of What Mad Universe?!? we look at the oldest story yet to be featured on this podcast, a classic of literature contemporary with Don Quixote and Shakespeare, Francois Rabelais' novels about the giants Gargantua and Pantagruel. Lots and LOTS of urination jokes follow. The French, they're classy, right?

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

Adam's Patreon

What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter

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Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross

Theme song by Jack Feerick

Additional Music: "Call To Adventure" by Kevin MacLeod--Used under an Attribution 3.0 International License

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

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

Phil's Patreon

What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter

What Mad Universe on Facebook

Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross

Theme song by Jack Feerick

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

The news is weird and harsh these days, so why not escape with us to the enchanted land of Poictesme, setting for works of James Branch Cabell's satirical fantasy Jurgen. Though almost forgotten these days, Cabell was very popular for a while in the 1920s, causing a minor scandal with his "indecent" prose, and his work shows that fantasy took very different forms before the likes of J. R. R. Tolkien came along.

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

Phil's Patreon

What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter

What Mad Universe on Facebook

Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross

Theme song by Jack Feerick

Music: "Rhythmic Comedy" by alayan10

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

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

Phil's Patreon

What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter

What Mad Universe on Facebook

Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross

Theme song by Jack Feerick

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

A new era begins, with a new season of What Mad Universe?!? To kick this year's offerings off, we take a look at one of the foundational (ha ha) texts of science fiction, Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy. Empires will fall, mutants will rise, and psychology will be reduced to mathematical functions, somehow...

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

Phil's Patreon

What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter

What Mad Universe on Facebook

Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross

Theme song by Jack Feerick

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

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

Phil's Patreon

What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter

What Mad Universe on Facebook

Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross

Theme song by Jack Feerick

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

A new season of What Mad Universe?!? is on its way March 9th. We take a quick overview of some of the books we're planning to look at, from Rabelais to Burroughs to Star Trek spinoffs. It's a whole gamut!

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

Phil's Patreon

What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter

What Mad Universe on Facebook

Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross

Theme song by Jack Feerick

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

What Mad Universe?!? brings season one to a close with this extra-special episode about Richard Bachman, the pen name of the slightly more famous Stephen King. Strange to think of this horror maestro as having an even darker side, but it's on full display in these early stories, collectively known as the Bachman Books, in which placid suburbanites turn violent and the citizens of future dystopia take part in brutal competitions. This episode features special guest Zack Handlen, and we say goodbye to 2019. See you in a few months!

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

Adam's Patreon

What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter

What Mad Universe on Facebook

Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross

Theme song by Jack Feerick