#i don't read enough lovecraftian stuff to give you anything for malevolent

[clonerightsagenda]

Was thinking about SFF books that remind me of podcasts I like so I started making a list:

Alice isn't Dead: Ghostroads series. Has a similar haunted Americana vibe with the main character frequenting roadways and diners, and the immortal Bobby Cross pursuing her could easily come out of an Alice episode.

Arden: Penance is a fake true crime book that also critiques true crime, explores toxic wlw relationships, and is distressingly online. (This is the book that oneshotted me with the phrase 'vriska did nothing wrong' immortalized in print.)

Wolf 359: The Immortality Thief features a hapless dumbass who keeps almost dying in space and a tough as nails female officer keeping herself alive on a floating deathtrap, and everyone gets dragged into dilemmas of morality and redemption. Sean would be on team what's wrong with handcuffs.

The Pasithea Powder: Really anything from the microgenre referred to as lesbian space atrocities is at home here, although Harrow the Ninth has the requisite memory fuckery. While they're not *that* similar, the toxic WLW relationship of The Luminous Dead (caver at the mercy of her obsessed handler) made me similarly invested.

Greater Boston: I already made my case for Discworld, particularly the Ankh-Morpork books. I never finished the duology but iirc The City We Became has a similar weird fiction, anti-corporate vibe very grounded in a specific place's nature.

The Silt Verses: Struggling with this one a bit, but Machineries of Empire is another grisly exploration of the mass sacrifice we accept to maintain our way of life. Lighter fare, but The Raven Tower asks, 'what if you were a god's blorbo, and also trans?'

Ars Paradoxica: The Lady Astronaut series is also an alt history starting in the mid 1900s that emphasizes the experiences of marginalized people working in the sciences during that time. No time travel, but space travel.

Hi Nay: Trail of Lightning's author wrote it in response to so many urban fantasy books having a 'magic Native American' side character, which reminds me of Hi Nay's origins. Also, C.L. Polk's Kingston Cycle hits the 'circle of horrible upper class magicians' note, along with multiple queer romances.

Woe.Begone: A Fractured Infinity features a man who gets access to a spacetime-altering device created by his alternate self and starts hopping realities and destroying worlds to keep his boyfriend safe. Reminded me of Mike and Edgar, although I stopped keeping up with w.bg.

[cookinguptales]

I will say that I've been lying down quite a bit the past few days just because uh. Strong dislocation risk.

So, to please tumblr, I've started listening to Malevolent. Podcasts are an okay way to stay sane when you can't move much, lmao.

Thoughts so far under a cut, because to my knowledge, only two of you care about this lmao.

So far... I'll admit my feelings are mixed. I'm a couple episodes into the second season, I think, and... well, I still don't care much for cosmic horror or creature features. I'll admit it's just kind of a style of horror that I find a little boring. Every time they start describing the new monster or Lovecraftian cult or cosmic horror, I'll admit that my eyes glaze over a bit.

So uh. With the caveat that the actual plot is not doing that much for me at all, I'm not like... okay, if I were on my own I probably would've tuned out by now. lmao. But I'm not, so I'm pulling steadily through. I don't hate it or anything. That said, it does struggle from some of the same pitfalls as other indie horror podcasts, and I do think it's worsened a bit by the creator trying to do everything himself here.

I especially wish that he had not decided to do every voice himself, because as someone with hearing difficulties, it makes it really hellish to figure out what's going on sometimes. lmao. I usually rely on really distinct voices to tell people apart in podcasts, and I mean. That's not a thing here. Moreover, because he often tries to disguise his voice with accents or digital effects... well, that does not always make the voicework easy to understand. I've had to rely kind of heavily on the transcripts, so thank god they're there.

While I think he does have writing strengths and weaknesses (it's... not always easy to keep track of what's going on) I am interested to see where the characters go. I'm not... quite sure I follow the logic for why John gained selfhood while Arthur was in a coma, but I'm willing to just go with it. I do kind of wish that we were working with a somewhat expanded timeline, though... I think at times it's like "HE'S GROWN ACCUSTOMED TO HIS FACE..." and I'm like "sir, it's been like 48 hours." But. You know. Again, I'll just go with it.

I am intrigued by the idea of writing a pairing inhabiting the same body (and......... it would not be the first time, if I'm being entirely honest) and I think that's kind of what's got me holding on lmao. I do also like the concept of a creature struggling against his old self in a very literal way. That sort of bid for earned humanity is always interesting to me, though I'll admit I haven't listened to enough of s2 to have thoughts on how it's playing out.

So every time I'm like "oh... okay... they're being chased by a monster again..." I just tell myself "yes, but you might get to write something very weird and fucked up" and that does help.

To be clear, I'm not saying the style of horror here is necessarily a bad thing. It gives old radio serial vibes sometimes, like they're gonna have to fight the eldritch ghost pirates with Little Orphan Annie or something, and I'm sure some people enjoy that very much. It's just a style of horror that I tend to bounce off of even in other types of media. (Like I am still firmly of the opinion that The Descent was scarier before the monsters showed up.) I suppose I just feel more strongly affected by horror that's more like... just kind of unsettling and uncanny and spooky. The monster-y action stuff does less for me personally. Like.. I'm not worried about Shub-Niggurath showing up in my apartment, frankly. I'm just like "yeah but that's not real."

Spooky, uncanny, very personal horror that is just disquietingly close enough to a reality that can't quite be explained is more my style, I think. I'm realizing that as I listen to this podcast.

Other things I've thought to myself while listening to this podcast:

SHUB-NIGGURATH IS A GIRL. It was even in that book they read out loud in the first episode. But John and Arthur keep calling her "he" and I'm like "that's sexist, women can be unfathomable eldritch beasts TOO. god forbid women do ANYTHING."

me, halfway through the second episode of s2: sir are you going to make us wander through the entirety of dante's inferno or just the seventh circle? because that was a very long book?? we've already done the violet/blood-red lake, self-harm woods, the burning plain, and the cliff, and I'm a little worried about that allusion to ice at the bottom! I don't want to go all the way down, lmao.

the first time they mentioned the king in yellow I immediately imagined the man in the yellow hat and I am so sorry but I still keep thinking of him. and also occasionally this man. it kind of... makes him less scary...

it's truly embarrassing how much it drove me crazy until I remembered that song at the beginning of episode 10 was "stardust" lmao. which... I suppose is probably some kind of cosmic horror pun...

I know that I was supposed to be really horrified when John took control over Arthur's hand but literally all I thought was "oh, I'm sure the fandom has made good use of that."

like I was in marvel comics fandom for years before the movies came out, I am well acquainted with monsterfucking fic.

look I'm not here to criticize you, john, but your other half seems to be running a really inefficient cult here.

how did you guys not notice the wraith following you for like six episodes. that one really seemed to come out of nowhere. like... did she hitchhike with them?? go in the caves with them?? swim behind the boat?? or was she just like psychically watching them and then teleported???? I am literally so confused about the wraith thing. I get that they wanted Arthur's kindness towards a "monster" to save him later, I get the themes and motifs here, and I get that they needed a deus ex machina, but I'm so confused about the actual mechanics of that save. it didn't help that I thought that "free her" meant like... free her spirit so she wouldn't be a wraith anymore and she could move on or something. so I had a very confusing moment like "wait, that thing is still alive??" lmao

so... anyway, yeah, I'm just kinda. hangin' on. haha. I'm here for the monsterfucking more than I am for the monster fighting, being honest with you. the monster mash more than the monster bash, if you will. but I am willing to be patient with the parts of the podcast that don't do as much for me to get more character work. hopeful on that point.