Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals

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: Edgar Allan Poe —  RODRIGO BORGES Mary Shelley — REBECCA D'SOUZA Clive Barker — SISTER INDICA Dean Koontz — WREN MONTGOMERY Stephen King — JASON ROBINSON HP Lovecraft — ROBIN JOHNSON with Roger Corman — BITTER KARELLA Neil Gaiman/Dario Argento — DEXTER HOWARD David DeCoteau — BRAD BARNES Patricia Highsmith — KATE DAVOLI Lord Byron — JOEL A.S. BUTLER Percy Shelley — LOU SUTCLIFFE Secretary — MARNIE WARNER and special guest star HAILEY PIPER as She Who Must Not Be Named Hailey Piper is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth, A Light Most Hateful, The Worm and His Kings series, and other books of dark fiction. She is also the author of over one hundred short stories appearing in Pseudopod, Vastarien, Cast of Wonders, Cosmic Horror Monthly, and various other publications. She lives with her wife in Maryland, where their occult rituals are secret. Find Hailey at haileypiper.com. 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.htmlA transcript of this episode can be found at https://midnight-pals.simplecast.com/episodes/s01e08-the-tale-of-the-tell-tale-heart/transcriptThe 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: Edgar Allan Poe — RODRIGO BORGESMary Shelley — REBECCA D'SOUZAClive Barker — SISTER INDICADean Koontz — WREN MONTGOMERYStephen King — JASON ROBINSONHP Lovecraft/Lafcadio Hearn — ROBIN JOHNSONwith Junji Ito/Osamu Tezuka — TENEST TANGLord Fujiwara — JON GUTIERREZLady Minamoto — NICOLETTA GIUSEFFISnow-child — CHIBINaoko Takeuchi — LORETTA CHANGKouta Hirano — JOHN SERRANOScript 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/1210A transcript of this episode can be found at https://midnight-pals.simplecast.com/episodes/s01e07-the-tale-of-the-snow-woman/transcriptThe 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: Clive Barker—SISTER INDICA Edgar Allan Poe—RODRIGO BORGES Mary Shelley—REBECCA D'SOUZA Dean Koontz—WREN MONTGOMERY Stephen King—JASON ROBINSON HP Lovecraft—ROBIN JOHNSON with Cabal—JOHN SERRANO Lori—LORETTA CHANG Sheriff—DEXTER HOWARD Deputy/David Cronenberg—JOEL A.S. BUTLER Governor/Monster Gatekeeper—CASSIE VULPINE Frank Belknap Long—DAVID COURT 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/transcriptThe 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: Mary Shelley — REBECCA D'SOUZAEdgar Allan Poe — RODRIGO BORGESClive Barker — SISTER INDICAHP Lovecraft — ROBIN JOHNSONDean Koontz — WREN MONTGOMERYStephen King — JASON ROBINSONwith Patricia Highsmith — KATE DAVOLIJane Williams — HANNAH BROWNPercy Shelley — LOU SUTCLIFFEMrs Cleveland — JULIA DRAKEEdward Ellerker Williams — DAVID COURTTrain engineer — CANAVAN CONNOLLYHuman Guy — DEXTER HOWARDHuman Bruno — BRAD BARNESplus special guest stars HELEN ARNEY as Mary Wollstonecraft's ghostMIKE McSHANE as William Huskisson MPHelen 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.orgScript 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...  The story that the real Mary Shelley had sex on her mother's grave is often dismissed as myth, but happens to be surprisingly plausible—see this unrolled social media thread by the London Vagina Museum: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1588162489858117634.htmlShelley, despite centuries of historical gal-pal-ization, was certainly bisexual and probably did have an affair with Jane Williams, the widow of the man who drowned alongside Percy. See https://bi.org/en/articles/famous-bis-mary-shelleyWilliam Huskisson, member of parliament for Liverpool, was indeed killed by the first train locomotive, Stevenson's Rocket, during a technical demonstration. He'd probably have survived if he hadn't stopped halfway across the tracks to dither over whether to go left or right, which ought to be a lesson for all politicians. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Huskisson#DeathA transcript of this episode can be found at https://midnight-pals.simplecast.com/episodes/s01e05-the-tale-of-the-strangers-on-a-train/transcriptThe 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