#wtnv the novel rundown

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV quick rundown - The Novel -

This is the post about random facts we learnt about other (non-protag) citizens of NV! Basic Plot of the Novel is here. Diane, Josh and Jackie random facts here. NV/King City and MITTJ random facts here.

The history of the town of Night Vale is long and complicated, reaching back thousands of years to the earliest indigenous people in the desert. We will cover none of this here. […] It is a friendly desert community, where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful and mysterious lights past overhead while we all pretend to sleep. Welcome to Night Vale.

Old Woman Josie's house is a 'small tract house whose tract no longer stood' and she makes a moderate income selling items the Erikas have touched. It is a low bungalow, avocado green, with a neat lawn kept well watered in a dry climate 'at the expense of some other place'. The lawn is surrounded by a border of pebbles arranged into geometric patterns (perhaps meant to ward off evil). The fence between the lawn and the car lot is tall and chainlink. She has a metal gate and in her side yard there is an outdoor seating area made of rusted metal. There's rocking chairs with cushions whose fabric has faded nearly all the way white in the sun.

Josie walks with a cane and has long hair but also an 'olympic atheletes body' perched on an old womans' skeleton.

Josie has a cloth-wrapped bundle buried in her garden. She digs it up when she's talking to Jackie. She later reveals it's an idol to old gods she was using as 'lawn decorations' but it was 'too needy'.

Cecil considers it is job to hide dangerous knowledge from NV.

Citizens called Chris Brody and Stuart Robinson are mentioned.

Cecil conducted a 3 hours interview with himself, interrogating himself on his motivations, where he is in life, why he's not in a different place in life, whose fault that is and why he said that one embarassing thing once.

There is a woman called Sheila who sits in the Moonlite and takes notes on people as they enter. She touches a flamingo, causing her to reply her life over and over to the point of touching it, completely aware of the loop and powerless in it. She eventually breaks it by becoming an intern for Cecil, but later dies falling down a pit of the flamigos, splintering herself into many versions of herself even as the primary one hits the bottom and dies.

Laura, the waitress with branches coming out of her, also produces fruit which patrons take off and eat. However, she also bleeds from these branches including when harvested from.

When the Erika's appear and disappear or move there is a flash of blinding bright blackness, a darkness so radient it makes you feel like your heart will break. They also 'don't see gender' so have trouble telling humans gender. They are said to be made of bright black beams of light and when they shrug there is the flutter of hundreds of tiny wings. Where eyes might be on a human there is a shadowy glow that you can taste in the back of your mouth (tastes like strawberry candy covered in mud).

The Glow Cloud (all hail) opens a new roller rink downtown.

Intern Jodi accidentally or on purpose alphabatizes her self as part of the SSP's daily census of every item in NV, leaving most of the stations items un-alphabatised.

The NV PTA threatens to block the doors to the school with literal bodies they own if the school board won't prevent kids learning about dangerous topics like drug use and library science during recess. The school board responds that PTA funds should not be used to purchase so many bodies.

Cecil invites people to drop by his genius boyfriends lab if they want things explained (like clouds, which he explains earlier in the broadcast).

Scientists are 'pack animals' and Carlos is their leader in NV. His lab is on the outskirts of the 'science district' which is pretty rundown because scientists don't like gentrification. Several different kinds of scientist live together which sometimes results in public conflicts but mostly they get along. Carlos lab is clearly labelled with a simple illuminated yellow and black LAB sign and a handwritten 'we are open' sign in the front window.

Carlos describes Cecil as as overenthusiastic, consumed with his work and having very little understanding of science and he loves him a lot. Aside from Cecil and science, Carlos says there's nothing he loves more than helping people. He came to NV for what was supposed to be a short research fellowship with the community college. Scientists Nilanjana and Stan are mentioned.

Carlos says he never missed Cecil's show and that he's not been in NV nearly long enough. He also says it's unscientific for him to talk about his experiences in the otherworld/himself.

Steve Carlsberg is fond of invisible pie.

There is a guard outside of city hall but he's wearing a mask which blocks out all sound and sight.

The mayors receptionist is an elderly man who is nonverbal and communicates via gestures.

Dana openly wishes she weren't mayor and misses her intern days.

Cecil attended Earl's/Tourniquets dinner party and couldn't taste anything for weeks after which is apparently a good thing.

The TV news anchors are insectoid-like humanoid creatures called Tim and Trinh who can talk directly to Diane. There's also somebody called Ben who works at the tv station.

Cecil mentions that interns wear a tunic and have duties which include mimeographs, making coffee and editing his slash fics. He doesn't seem to remember that most of his interns die, insisting that most of them must have gone on to do good things.

According to Carlos, the four steps of scientific method are: find an object you want to know more about, hook that object up to a machine using wires and tubes, write things on a clipboard and then read the results that the machine prints.

Carlos says that the flamingos are not made of materials native to NV because plastic and metal stakes don't grow in the desert.

Carlos is part of Cecil's bowling league team.

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV quick rundown - The Novel -

This is the post talking about random facts we learnt about Diane, Josh and Jackie! Basic plot of the novel is here. NV/King City and MITTJ random facts here. NV citizens random facts here.

The history of the town of Night Vale is long and complicated, reaching back thousands of years to the earliest indigenous people in the desert. We will cover none of this here. […] It is a friendly desert community, where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful and mysterious lights past overhead while we all pretend to sleep. Welcome to Night Vale.

Diane is described as having a kind face, conservative clothing/makeup and a serious demeanor. Diane is mixed-race, but it's not specified how though it is stated that she was bullied as a child by others who were the same race as one parent but not the other. She's also been told she's dark enough to 'not need to tan' but also too pale to 'really look mixed race'.

Diane doesn't like invisible pie and believes in mountains.

Josh has human forms, but these like his others are somewhat contradictory. His human self is described as both tall/skinny and short, with chubby-cheeks. He wears glasses and has long teeth he hides when he smiles. Either way, Diane is always able to tell what is and isn't Josh. He apparently has 'dream forms' which are scary.

Diane's job was to work with databases which contain information on people in NV, such as all their personal details/life events. She is supposed to use that information to send them personalised mailings. Diane doesn't know what their company actually sells but her boss, Catharine, tells her that she's doing a good job. Sometimes she looks up information on people just to try and get to know them, since she doesn't have any friends*. Her office is in the server room, which is secluded and lonely because the company outsources it's IT help.

As well as 'Evan', Dawn and Catharine**, Diane also works with people called Piotr, Celia, Maya, Mortellus, Tina, Alan, Ricardo and several men all called Shaun who work in sales.

*Diane isn't sure if she is socially lazy or awkward but would rather Josh learn to be awkward from her than anything from Troy. She also lied to get her current job after working a low pay job at Big Rico's, teaching herself databases from scratch only after she got the job.

**Catharine is terrified of tarantulas (there's one in her office, which she later kills and pawns the body of), remembers all the ages she's ever been and has a clay paperweight from her daughter signed 'by your seed'. There's also a photo of a younger Catharine with a boy called Kim on her desk. It's unclear how Kim is related to Catharine though.

Diane's parents are not married because they felt they didn't need to fill out paperwork to get their love approved by a Smiling God. People have often asked her invasive questions about this.

Diane and Troy met when Diane was 18 and Troy was 17. She fell pregnant after they were together only 8 months. Troy left NV when Josh was 1, citing 'a military family' and 'mistakes' as his reason for leaving her. Josh is named after a retired army ranger uncle of Troy's.

*Diane drifted apart from her childhood friends due to age, changing circumstances, and the high rate of mysterious disappearances in NV. She lost her last friend, Cynthia Yin (met in 3rd grade music censorship class) in her mid-twenties.

Diane broke her arm at age 12 after being grappled by her mothers ficus, breaking free, falling down the stairs onto the emergency trap door and onto the basement rock-pile.

Diane has an 'American Express Uranium card'. It is made entirely out of enriched uranium and does not allow revolving credit. It's not accepted many places, but if somebody accepts it and survives you get double milege points.

During her time in KC, Diane feels she is both in KC and also many other places doing many other things. She can also see different versions of the KC citizens.

Jackie also has no friends, mostly because she was stuck in her routine and partially because all of her friends grew up and she didn't. Her last friend, Noelle Connolly, was 58 when the two of them stopped talking.

Jackie likes orange juice and listening to Cecil's show on her 'small portable' 2ft wide, 1 1/2 feet tall, 14lb radio with a pearl handle and sharply-angled open-beaked eagles carved into the upper corners.

She has apparently never felt fear (that she remembers) before getting the King City paper. She also according to her mother has the tendency to get hurt but not really feel it.

She owns a blue Mazda with double red stripes that she doesn't wash. It's transmission is just a bag of rocks attached by a string to the gear change which causes a lot of confusion when she takes it to a mechanics.

There was a 'NV Shakespeare in the pit' event where Jackie broke her leg falling into the pit but got a cool promotional pen that she loves.

Jackie's mother has a thick green lawn which frustrates her water conscious neighbours. She lives in the neighbourhood of Sand Pit, between the developments of Palm Frond Majesty and Weeping Miner. It's a neighbourhood of single family houses with small garand front yards and backyards that run steeply into hills unsuitable for planting. She comments that Jackie has always got 'straight to the point' and once got very upset that she had to have her birthday party the day before her birthday because her actual birthday was on a school day.

Jackie's 5th birthday party was in the fenced off birthday party area in Mission Grove Park. It had a pinata full of bees and Troy was there.

Jackie sometimes thinks about love and dating but not in a serious way. She thinks Carlos is handsome, not just because of his physical traits but also his demeanor and the beautiful things he does.

Jackie is able to mentally will the paper into flames (not that it matters, it just comes back).

In her pawn shop she has a tear that Diane pawned, a couple of the flamingos pawned by Josie (until she steals them back because of their danger), the man in the pinstripe suits Mercedes, the dead tarantula in a box donated by Catharine and a series of cute porcelain figures depicting young couples committing thought crimes and hiding the evidence.

When Jackie gets hurt, the hospital gives her painkillers which are just a bag of woodchips. Considering they also recommended that Diane place her burnt ear on aerated soil, so medicine isn't exactly great in NV.

Here's how pawning works by the way: First you wash your hands in one of the fonts of purified water whilst chanting. Second you present your item to Jackie who will always initially value it at $11 before offering something else, usually money, sometimes dreams, experiences or visions. Third, you will die but only for a short while then come back to claim the ticket for your item.

The ticket will include a random number, the light quality at the time, the general feeling of the weather outside and Jackie's thoughts at the time.

She also closes up whenever she simply feels it's time to do so, removing and hiding the doors of the pawn shop to deter thieves. It doesn't, as we know, since Josie walks in and takes the flamingos later on.

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV quick rundown - The Novel -

This is the post talking about randon Night Vale/King City and Man in the Tan Jacket facts!

Basic Plot of the Novel is here. Diane, Josh and Jackie random facts here. NV citizens random facts here.

The history of the town of Night Vale is long and complicated, reaching back thousands of years to the earliest indigenous people in the desert. We will cover none of this here. […] It is a friendly desert community, where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful and mysterious lights past overhead while we all pretend to sleep. Welcome to Night Vale.

In NV, pharmacists wear gas masks and hip waders.

Hearts in NV are made of straw and clay and grow at age 9 or at least that's what they're taught.

Manual transmission works like this: 1 - whisper a secret into the cup holder, 2 - grab the clutch (a splintered wooden stake driven into the dashboard), 3 - shake it till something happens whilst taping a series of code numbers into a keyboard on the steering wheel.

Not yielding to a hooded figure will cause a mandatory city-wide ennui.

Encrypted radio pulses announce the opening of 'Lenny's Bargain House of Garden Wares'. As well as the titular function the government will also be unloading failed machines, tests and dangerous substances. The shop is being built on the site where the government was previously doing said tests. If you go to the grand opening sale and find 8 government secrets you get an 'free' government kidnapping and personality reassignment.

To protect against identity theft, Cecil recommends changing your passwords often, wearing a mask in public, blacking out your door number with black spraypaint and 'never ending up on a database'.

The 'Absurd Bowl' and 'Knife Ball' are events that happen in NV.

The NV job market is apparently very scarce as the hooded figures do most of the jobs in NV.

Here is what else we know about the MITTJ. He has a belt which is a darker brown than his shoes. His hair is recently cut. His face is clean and smooth. His teeth are almost white and his left upper bicuspid is a little further forward than the others.

The Moonlite diner has mugs from different sources, some of which leave strange sounds or hum. It has cracked red stools which smell of rubber and sawdust. It's pies are described as 'ok' and some are invisible. Food is served by a grey hand which extends from under the table and should not be acknowledged.

Most people in NV have no idea what doctors do only that it's rumoured to be beneficial. The hospital in NV is built next to the abandoned mine. Hospital rooms are full of cameras and speakers asking you to ask your doctor invasive questions. It was closed years ago and is no longer run by any recognised medical professionals or beings that are or were ever alive.

There are several spy satellites scanning citizens brains and revealing their thoughts. For some reason, Cecil has access to some of these.

'No country for old men' is a kids film in NV. They also have a 'popular animated franchise' about trees with human organs inside who are being cut down until vengeful arboreal spirits eviscerate the loggers. Lee Marvin is in it.

NV is confirmed to be somewhere in SW california.

Childrens friends are assigned by City Council decree based on the numerology of each child's name.

Hot milk drawers are a thing, also all avocados in NV are fake.

Metallic trees that change size each day are considered the plants most suited for a desert climate.

The NV cinema has nightly screenings of John Frankenheimes 1973 'the Iceman Cometh'. Popcorn prices are linked to the coal market.

There is a 'Top Secret Censorship Board' run by a guy called Luis who judges each film based on the risk of being shown a forbidden idea or gesture.

Having a regular police was see as too dangerous as knowledge of them could somehow be used against NV. The previous police were renamed the 'Secret Police', driving dark red sedans with gold racing stripes, black 7-pointed stars with the words 'Secret Police' on the cars side. They also wear capes and have a blowgun belt.

When writing tickets, these officers are required to describe the nature of the sunlight at the time of the infraction in verse.

You can only petition a speeding ticket if you go to city hall, so most people just pay the ticket, even if they're given one when they're not in a car.

Some magazine articles in NV; "10 ways to redecorate your bloodstone circle", "How to lose weight without losing sight of your own mortality" and "A cake recipe that only people who hate our government will want to try so mail us your best pictures of making it and we will take you away."

Some doors in NV require you to bleed on them to open.

There is an annual Imaginary Corn Festival and Fun Fair. There is a costume contest sponsored by the NV daily journal (dress as the decline of the printed word) where winners will not be forced to sign up for a several subscriptions to the journal.

The NV version of a Greek Salad is fruit and pumice stones.

The NV tourism board has a brochure with the tagline 'A town full of hidden evils and the secretly malevolent' featuring a picture of a diverse group of townfolk smiling and looking at the camera in the windowless prison they will be kept in until enough tourists visit NV to buy their release.

Aside from known eateries, there's also apparently places called 'Shame' and 'Pieces O' Grass' and 'Missing Frog Salad Bar' (which serves orangemilk and salad' in NV.

NV knowledges says the only known book on European history was a pamphlet on Svitz which was burnt by the 'Book Cleansers' because they mistook the giraffe on the front for a handgun.

It is illegal in NV to not have some kind of tracking device on you at all times. Most people choose a mobile phone but some still wear bulky tracking collars.

Most planes in NV are private, propeller, secret military drones and government planes used to make chemtrails.

The world government all wear blue headphones and horn-rimmed glasses.

Flamingos in NV are creatures that have six legs and double beaks.

Most bath gel or greeting card stores in NV have a full staff of bleeding saleclerks.

NV city hall is topped with ancient volcanic stone towers.

There is a service called 'Lifelock' in NV where they just lock you up and destroy all records of you existing to 'protect you from identity theft, impersonation, assassination, assignations and memory removal'.

Larry Leroy finds these things out in the desert: a metallic sphere that fell from the sky and whistles softly as if bored, his double, the body of the main in the pinstripe suit and a new way of breathing. The main in the pinstripe suit btw, goes through an existential crisis during the novel, cumulating in him trying to touch the planet of awesome size and then, death.

KC is a small town of little over 10,000 people in Monterey County. It's newspaper is called the KC rustler. Citizens include Wanda Nieves and Ynez.

The post office in KC is a one-storey stucco building with no front door, a splintered parapet walls with missing letters on it's marquee and a tree that has grown through the broken sidewalk and into one of the many shattered windows.

There's a 'video store' which only contains tall shelves full of loose tapes, some labelled and some not. Some shelves are densely packed, others nearly empty. The labels are handwritten and some simply have rows of x's, j's, p's etc. The walls at the back are made of mud and are easily pulled away to reveal a different room behind it. There's a music store containing a woman on a chair who pulls a face at Jackie/Diane. A bait shop where the empty jars keep exploding and cutting the man working there. A phone shop where the salesclerk doesn't remember ever having a customer before.

The flies that the MITTJ sells form a protective cloud in front of him whenever he is threatened.

The copier in the KC city hall is endlessly printing, so that there's stacks of paper everywhere. The receptionist is typing on a computer which is actually just a carved block of wood painted to look like a computer.

KC has a Taco Bell which people would stop off at on their way to either a town called Greenfield of a state wildlife area.

Stay tuned next for the sound of a creaking spine and the soft collapse of paper onto itself.

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV quick rundown - The Novel -

This is the post talking about the Basic Plot! Diane, Josh and Jackie random facts here. NV/King City and MITTJ random facts here. NV citizens random facts here.

The history of the town of Night Vale is long and complicated, reaching back thousands of years to the earliest indigenous people in the desert. We will cover none of this here. [...] It is a friendly desert community, where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful and mysterious lights past overhead while we all pretend to sleep. Welcome to Night Vale.

Our main character POV's are split between Diane Crayton and Jackie Fierro.

Jackie has been 19 and stuck in the same routine for decades. The Man In The Tan Jacket/MITTJ gives her a slip of paper which reads 'King City' and cannot be put down or destroyed, nor does it allow her to write anything but 'King City', nor does it allow her to work as she normally did. She wants to get rid of it to return her life to normal.

Jackie's first tries to get a message to Cecil, but an intern takes the message and she's aware said intern may not last long enough to deliver the message. She has also begun to see low lights in the desert which occasionally look like buildings (this is later revealed to be a vision of King City).

Jackie goes to see Josie. Josie doesn't have much to say other than that the MITTJ is from a dangerous place, that she and many others also have slips of paper, that Jackie should stay away from the MITTJ and that the best information will be in the library.

Jackie decides to visit her mother instead of going to the library. This is distressing for her, because she has no memories of her mother, the house she grew up in, the garden she must have played in as a child, anything. Troy appears in the garden and Jackie tries to chase him too, but he gets away from her.

Jackie starts driving out of town but stops at Jerry's Tacos, where John Peters (you know, the farmer?) tells her that he thinks the MITTJ has something to do with Diane because he's around her a lot. Since Jackie has run into Diane a few times whilst they both chase Troy, she starts to believe Diane is involved with it all.

Jackie goes to see Carlos about the paper. Carlos advises her to go to King City to see what happens, but also shows her that it's physically impossible to get there because no roads actually seem to go there. He recommends seeing Dana, who knows about other worlds. Dana however, also recommends that Jackie go to King City.

Jackie decides to try and get some info on Diane, so goes to the rec centre where the PTA meet. Only Steve is there at first, and he tells her King City is dangerous and that he believes the one who is supposed to receive one of the papers hasn't yet. Diane walks in, the two women argue briefly again before Jackie leaves to start stalking Troy's again.

Meanwhile, there is a product recall on a number of products, including plastic lawn flamigos. It's later revealed that this because they (when touched) either transport you to another reality where you're gone forever or force you to relive your life beat for beat all over again, aware you're doing so but unable to actually stop it from happening.

Diane is trying to raise her shapeshifting son, Josh, alone. She doesn't want him to see his deadbeat dad. She is disturbed by the fact that a man called Evan from her office seems to have simply disappeared and only she remembers him.

Diane remembers that both Evan (MITTJ) and a woman called Dawn were off at the same time and didn't call in, provoking concern from their boss Catharine. Everyone else remembers that there was no Evan and Dawn called in sick properly. She gets called into Catharines office and advised to take some time off to relax and take care of her 'migraines' and also to learn to stop talking about Evan.

Diane starts to see Troy Walsh, Josh (and later revealed to be Jackie's) dad. Troy left town when Josh was 1. Diane decides to try and talk to him, since Josh is increasingly interested in meeting his father. Troy seems to have infinite jobs and runs away from her at all of them.

In her car, Diane finds a King City paper and a note between Josh and a friend, talking about meeting 'someone' (later revealed to be Troy). Josh initially lies to her and says it's about a boy he has interest in. In turn, Diane pretends she's going on dates with Dawn and not stalking Troy.

Diane stays back at work so she can snoop on other people's computers for information about Dawn/Evan, including her bosses computer. She finds no evidence of either of their absences, or Evan's existence at all. This gets her fired later.

Diane meets up with the MITTJ at the Moonlite. He tells her that he's not being malicious he's trying to solve a problem. This is the start of her running into Jackie chasing Troy.

Diane/Jackie seperately to go to the library for info. They meet there and decide to work together. They don't find a lot of information but they do find an ancient photo of Troy and two contradictory newspaper articles about King City. They are chased by librarians but escape.

They take the newspaper clippings to Leann Hart to ask her which one was real (is King City having problems or not? did it have a mayor or not?) but Leanna only says that they must both be equally real.

Josh steals Diane's car, crashing into and hospitalising Jackie and then disappears. Diane vists Jackie in hospital. She says that she needs Jackie's help to find the MITTJ. When the tv report on Josh being missing plays, Jackie is there to calm Diane down and encourage her call Josh. She does later try, but is unable to get through (her thumb bleeds and the phone burns her when she tries, which is NV code for a forbidden or unavailable number).

At home, Diane finds a paper where Josh has written 'King City'. Jackie tries to go back to working at her pawnshop but is unable. Diane tries to both get a bus, a lift from Steve and an plane to King City but they all fail.

Jackie goes to see her mother, Lucinda, again. Lucinda tells her that once upon a time she (Lucinda) owned the pawnshop. She wanted Jackie to help her sometimes, so showed her how things work. However, she then woke up and suddenly the pawnshop had been Jackie's for decades, Jackie didn't remember her and had also been 19 for decades. The photo of Jackie and Troy has aged to reflect her decades of being 19 because time doesn't work for him either.

Diane goes to see Jackie at the pawn shop. She explains that she thinks everything is all connected to King City so they should go there together. By this time, Jackie and Diane have started to care about and respect each other a lot.

The man in the pinstriped suit pawned his mercedes so they use that to try and get to King City. Just driving there doesn't work, so they steal a flamingo from Carlos' lab. Touching it whilst driving allows them to reach King City.

After wandering around for some time, Jackie sees and runs after Troy (finding instead, many Troys, none of which seem to know her and therefore useless at her finding out about herself or relating to him as her father). Diane goes to see the MITTJ, who says he must keep Josh to deal with Troy.

He explains that Troy came to town and was at first much beloved for being helpful. But then he started to multiple. As he did so, the town itself became weird. Including but not limited to the fact that nobody can leave and the fact that nobody remembers that he is mayor, so keep trying to replace him. Diane says she is sorry but still wants her son back.

Jackie also comes to City Hall, where she finds Josh behind one of the oddly named handle-less doors. They find Diane and Jackie suggests that she says instead of Josh because only one child of Troy needs to stay.

Instead of choosing who stays, Diane suggests they instead make Troy accountable. They force the Troys out of the bar Jackie found them in before and berate him for his self-serving helpfullness and laziness when it comes to being a father, telling him to return home. Even Josh says he only wants Troy in his life if Troy can be there 100%.

Everyone returns to NV, which causes KC to return to normal. Jackie and Diane still hang out. Jackie has decided to be 21. She still doesn't remember much, but is looking forward to her new future. She and Josh have become close too. Jackie has given Diane a part-time bookkeeping job at the pawn shop and is taking more breaks. Josh and Diane are connecting more.

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

I am currently making novel notes that I'll put together and post in parts. The parts will go as follows:

- Actual novel plot

- Random facts about Jackie Fierro

- Random facts about Diane & Josh Crayton

- Random facts about other citizens in NV including Cecil

- Random facts about NV itself

- Random facts about TMITTJ (if actually applicable)

That I'm hoping will just about cover it for those who can't/don't want to read the novel but want to know the lore, plot etc

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

In light of Cecilsweep excitement, my rundown of The Librarian live show will happen next week.

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

By the way when I said I wish the official site didn't say listen to any episode you want to start the show it really was purely because I think a lot of it works better listening to (or read!) in order.

Not because 'you're not a real fan of' or 'you clearly will never get it if'. Especially since I think most people will just go back and listen to the rest especially if they're waiting for newer episodes to come out.

Some people get into WTNV by reading the Novel or It Devours! first. Some get 'spoiled' by fandom but it piques their interest and they listen anyway. Heck, I'm making quick rundowns of lore and facts that are mostly intended as reminders for old fans and quick lookups but maybe new people prefer catching up that way. Maybe you can't listen so you read the transcripts instead. Maybe your first look into the show was a live show you took a chance on.

I really don't mind how people get into WTNV, it's not like I can boast that I remember or understand everything and I've been listening since episode 10 was the newest episode. It's a big long running show and that's how things work for big long running shows.

Just...if you do start at some random episode, I do encourage 'going back' to the Pilot in some way at some point and listening/reading all of the show. It'll really thread things together for you and that can be just as exciting as experiencing it from the start onwards :)

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV quick rundown - 145 - The Veterans

Featuring the voice of Mark Gagliardi as as John Peters (you know, the farmer?)!

Read the rest of my rundowns here, including live show and novel rundowns.

Fake it till you make it. Mic it till you like it. Book it till you look it. Welcome to Night Vale.

More Veterans from the Blood/Space War have arrived, landing in John Peters (you know, the farmer?) field. This includes John's brother, James Peters as well as Admiral Junior Blais, Sergeant Dan Christensen and his twin brother Drew. They say that the galaxy is under threat by the ruthless Polonian armies of Star System Lacaille 9352 and that's what they're fighting the war about.

The Polonian's are three times the size of humans with hundreds of sharp teeth up and down their boneless limbs. They have only one eye which gives them bad depth perception but it also shoots lazers. They have already completely destroyed the planet of a species which only speaks via dance - two members of which accompany the human veterans and are allies to them in the war.

There is an extremely lackluster attempt at supporting the financial, emotional and physical burden these veterans carry.

Senior Strategic Advisor Jameson Archibald at the Intergalactic Military Headquarters admits that he still has no idea what the Blood/Space war is about and lost all the money he kept getting from the government and not using in an intergalatic war in a faulty tech start up. Donations from the Bake Sale and Sheriff's Secret Police are received gratefully but since the Polonian's are so close he decides that it's probably too late. He then rolls up a $100 and eats it like a Snickers bar.

The Polonian ships are now visible in the sky. Harrison Kip sends Cecil and e-mail stating that in 1993 he found crashed ships that look exactly like the ones in the sky which had corpses of creatures matching the Polonian's in them whilst out on an unrelated exhibition. He was then reprogrammed to forget it but seeing them has recovered some of the memories and he feels he can recover the rest. However, he is then reprogrammed again and forgets it all. Cecil is then also reprogrammed for talking about it.

Luckily it seems the army of Polonian ships simply vanishes anyway. There one moment, gone the next.

Weather: “No Good Day” by Windows to Sky

Dan and Drew were born in 1912, both became tax accountants, had wives and children, donated to the Old NV opera house and were avid sports fans - even starting the first ever semi-pro Sand Hockey league. Dan passed away in 1994 due to liver cancer and Drew died of a heart attack a week later. Despite this both men when they return look to be in their late 20's and are entirely unable to reconnect with their middle-aged grandchildren or get jobs due to being legally dead.

Junior Blais, who is 50, says he was born in 2022 (this episode was written in 2019) to Oliver and Linda Blais both of who say they don't plan on having children making him either an accident or dramatic change of heart. He was badly wounded and has many 3rd degree burns that require grafts but clearance for them in NV involves getting clearance in Red Mesa and it's taking forever.

Jim Peters was honourable discharged from service and is decorated with many chevrons and medals. John Peters tells us that his brother used to play catch with him and show him where to get discounts on sweets and drinks. John is now 60 and was only 15 when his brother left, Jim is 22. John wants his brother to stay but Jim says that The General has a plan that will work and that they need him. John makes an attempt to make him stay but knows it won't work. Jim dons his space suit and leaves, already haggard with the horrors of war.

Meanwhile the NV Scorpions, the wheelchair basketball team that Janice is captain of, won their semi-final game against Cactus Park HS. They will playing Pine Cliff Saturday afternoon. City Council says that win or lose they will hold a parade next Tuesday for the team which will feature a celebrity appearance by Lee Marvin who is turning 30 that week.

A large chunk of the moon is destroyed by the Polonians but City Council just plans to buy a new one.

Reprogramming is done by men in camo-suits using some kind of metal hat full of wires and such.

Stay tuned next for simultaneous panic and relief as you realize all of your emails are gone.  Good night , Night Vale. Good night.

Proverb: Develop your chi. Really work that chi hard. Get six-pack chi. Totally swole with chi. Roll up those sleeves and welcome people to the chi show.

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV quick rundown - 143 - Pioneer Days

This episode was co-written by Brie Williams!

Read the rest of the episode/novel/live show rundowns here!

We are thirsty. We cannot see. We don't know what time it is. We are nearly here. Welcome to Night Vale.

'Pioneer Days' is just a cute name for the few days a year when the Public Utilities Department cuts off all services without warning and for no reason.

Despite it not really being a holiday it is treated like one and people are expected to dress up in old fashioned clothing (overalls and soft meat crowns) else be mocked for being a 'time traveller'.

It's generally unpopular, causing the PUD to try and make it 'more fun' this year by opening a interpretative boardwalk and interactive display in an expanse of desert miles from town.

This includes displays of the ancestral bones of those who won the raffle, an animatronic re-enactment of 'The Battle of the Scrublands' (in which the town founders mercilessly slaughtered benevolent giant anthropods that used to live there whilst claiming they had to die because they were ugly), the Historical Society is featuring slides of family vacations collected from garage sales with fake historical narratives, Earl Harlan making cherries jubilee which was a staple of the pioneer diet and involves lighting a whole goose on fire and an immersive experience in which you are blindfolded and dropped out in the desert to find your way home.

Cecil then goes into a story about a person and their daughter who whilst wandering that desert. They come across a dilapidated old homestead they recognise from a picture that the Historical Society says was a 'double exposure' as it features two children with chickens instead of heads. They let their daughter feed on a jar of pickled eggs on the table in there and then put her to sleep. Feeling unwelcome they pick up their child and wander back into the desert eventually ending up at the Pioneer day parade.

Weather: “Vines” by Super Boink

Traffic tells us about a person who was abandoned by their family when they were very young and grew up with only a snake for company - they are desperately trying to believe it was a dream and they'll wake up, young and with their family still there.

Some vintage cars in NV are made of skin and mud, others have spines.

Cecil reveals that he has been coming to work and basically pretending to broadcast during the Pioneer Days due to the power being out in the station and even if it weren't, everyone's radios have no power too.

Stay tuned next for whatever you think you hear. Goodnight, Night Vale. Goodnight.

Proverb: "The leading cause of death is having a body."

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV quick rundown - It Devours! - the other scientists

Click here for the plot points! Click here for facts about Nilanjana! Click here for facts about Darryl! Click here for facts about Night Vale and it's citizens (including Cecil and Carlos). Click here for facts about the Joyous Congregation and it's members! Click here for misc interesting facts I found!

Luisa and Mark are two of the many scientists who also work with Carlos. They both have stations either side of Nilanjana.

Luisa is doing an experiment which involves being visibly disappointed in potatoes to see if they respond to it in any way. She sees science as a gateway to fame and awards and insists that everyone should be doing science for this reason. She thinks Nils isn't living up to her full potential and that her pesiticide experiment sounds more like performance art. She uses harvested parts of Carlos' failed machine to make a potato garden she's sure she'll win awards for. She isn't interested in dating or 'friend dates', truly being interested only in her potatoes.

Mark is trying to make a machine that lets out a blinding flash followed by a startling bang but was getting the order wrong for weeks before he was helped by Jamillah, a Joyous Congregation member. He has a crush on Luisa. At the end of the story he's also added 'a puff of smoke' to the list of things his machine can do, utilising parts harvested from Carlos' failed machine.

Connie is a scientist who is briefly mentioned going with Nilanjana to the shop 'Watch Yourself' to tell the worker there (coincidentally, Darryl) that time doesn't work in NV. She disappeared investigating the plastic flamingos from the first novel. She was, at that point, Nilanjana's only friend basically until the very end of the books plot where Nils has bonded more with others.

The labs emergency station contains a roll of paper towels and nothing else.

The lab is in the science district, a rough industrial area. It's made dangerous by frequent feuds between rival groups of scientists.

All scientists wardrobes consist of mostly lab coats.

Scientists will often dare each other to knock on the door of the house which doesn't exist and then run away.

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV Quick rundown - 171 - Go to the Mirror?

Read the rest, including (most) live shows and novels here!

What makes you You? Welcome to Night Vale.

Every sentence in this episode is phrased as a question.

The episode details an incident in which Cecil looked into the mirror (deflecting it slightly by directing it at the listener) which gave him a crisis about his identity and the nature of identity and reality itself.

He also saw a small figure on his back in the mirror, one that was vaguely familiar. It crawled up to his neck and sat there mewling unhappily, a flickering happening behind it or possibly caused by it. It seemed harmless at first, then not so harmless.

His reflection seems to be showing a version of himself that is not like his current self, and a house that is not his current house, containing a table that he owned only as a child. Inside of the table's drawer is a book in an unknown language that his mother used to tell him to read until he understood it.

Cecil's fear and uncertainty about what he is seeing and actions done and not done as well as the actions of the creature reaches a crescendo in which he breaks the mirror. There are shards all about him on the floor but his mirror remains intact, except that he can see the corpse of himself as a child curled up on the floor inside of the reflection. He decides to sweep the glass and cover the mirror up again.

Weather: “Flower Lane” by Funbearable

Cecil's mother told him she was an oracle and assumedly that's why she could read the undecipherable book

It's unknown exactly when this happened but Cecil clearly has a lot of trouble properly recognising himself and spirals into uncertainty and paranoia about it when he looks at himself which cannot be accounted for by simply not looking at himself in a mirror.

Will you stay tuned next for a sound of a muffled crack, presented without context or commercial interruption? Could that be an egg, or a twig, or a leg? Narrative is everything, isn’t it? Won’t you have a good night, Night Vale? Won’t you have a good night?

Proverb: Call me old-fashioned but I believe dance is the only true language.

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV quick rundown - 162 - Alpha

Read the rest here!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Fear makes the heart grow louder. And death makes the heart grow flowers. Welcome to Night Vale.

This episode tells the story of a citizen called Amelia Anna Alfaro.

Amelia hit all of her milestones incredibly early, having already mastered a second language, engineering and software creation by age 10.

Her mother, Yvette, signs her up for any kind of class she can in hopes that Amelia will be so smart she won't hit the glass ceiling like Yvette herself. Everything Amelia takes on she is great at because everything is easy for her. This includes; every class she takes at college as a teen, martial arts, sharpshooting, writing (including in German), the piano, bird husbandry and Academic decathlon.

Amelia is however plagued by the voices she hears, dozens of them, never talking to her but talking and talking nonetheless. The only thing which soothes them is doing some kind of logic puzzle, which Yvette hates and insists she does something else when caught doing puzzles. She tries therapy and medication but these do not help.

She graduates valedictorian at age 19 from 'State' (she got accepted other places including the University of What It Is but chose to go to State to stay close to home) and became an air traffic controller.

She held this job for 20 years, gaining fame within it's community. She chose this job because doing it made the voices go quiet.

On June 15th, 2012, Delta Flight 18713 appears briefly on the radar, with a voice apparently saying Alpha and then it is gone. Amelia's voices all return but this time she starts trying to talk back (there is no response) even though this causes a negative reaction from those around her.

One day she hears that same voice say 'Alpha' again except this time she is sure it says 'Alfaro'. She then realises that this is the captain of the flight and the other voices are the passengers and they've been trying to find her all of her life. She has a brief conversation with the captain, who insists he is 'No Where' as if it is a place. She packs up all of her things and leaves, never to be seen again, but Cecil is sure she is trying to find the plane and that if anyone can it will be her.

Weather: “Skinchanger” by Skeptic

Steve Carlsberg also went to 'State'.

Amelia's first novel (written at age 12) was called "A Golden Age for Parachuting," in which an all-Jewish female parachute team wins Olympic Gold in 1936 Berlin, in front of Adolph Hitler. The German novel is about Magical Baseball Players called "One Last Swing for the Tuesday Boys/Dienstagsjungen".

The classes she took were; English 113: Sonnets are for Lovers, Structural Engineering 212: 'Buttress' is a Funny Word, and Meteorology 301: Clouds, Y'all. Am I right? - and she got all A's.

Stay tuned next for our new investment advice show "Billionaire Roulette." And as always, good night, Night Vale. Good night.

PROVERB: Love means never having to say you're a werewolf.

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV Quick Rundown - 76 - An Epilogue

In just a few days the whole story will be known. This is what happens after. Welcome to Night Vale.

This episode is an epilogue to the events in The Novel (see wtnv the novel rundown for that) and therefore does not completely go over them. Must be very confusing to those who didn't read it lol

A representative of the US Government, in association with the World Government, the Shadow Government, the Lizard People, and the Watchers From Behind the Stars acknowledges that they sold dangerous good under the guise of garden supplies but does not plan to actually help anyone negatively affected by them.

The Librarians are more active than usual and may have gained the ability to mentally influence people, including James Patterson (no relation to the famous local dairy farmer of the same name).

The Barista District has had a population influx as all the Troy's go there. But of course, Troy being Troy, he just continues to multiply and overwhealm everything and everyone again. This is solved by Carlos as pointed out in the Novel.

All you need to do to become a Community Radio intern is not run away when station management surrounds you outside your home shouting "THIS ONE IS NEXT! THIS ONE IS NEXT!" says Cecil, as Intern Danielle stopped coming into work following a job taking pictures of Khoshekh.

Weather: "Endless Dream" by God Is An Astronaut http://godisanastronaut.com

Carlos makes delicious fruit salad, which contains meat apparently.

Cecil tells us Josie's private opinion of the Man in the Tan Jacket, which he admits she didn't actually release to him as a statement and it was just something interesting she said whilst they were hanging out.

Cecil mentions how he's going bowling and mentions that he can vaguely see something that we know to be Josh Crayton trying out his new winged form.

Stay tuned in just a few days, or depending on where you are in time, any day you decide to get around to it, for a 401 page factual report about the events that led to this epilogue, available in hardcover, ebook, or audiobook from your favorite factual report retailer. In the meantime, from after the whole of what you haven’t yet read, good night, Night Vale. Good night. 

Proverb: 'Late capitalism' is such a sweetly optimistic phrase.

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

Wtnv quick rundown - 101 - Guidelines for Disposal

Co-written by Brie Williams.

Check out the other episodes, some live shows and the first novel rundowns here!

You are swimming distance from a shore you cannot see. If you choose the wrong direction, you will drown. If you do not make a decision, you will drown. Welcome to Night Vale.

It is Mandatory Annual Spring Cleaning Day in NV. There is a new landfill facility in the Barista District and Cecil has received instructions from the sanitation department on how to dispose of things correctly. The instructions came via a pneumatic tube he found under the floorboards of his office, under layers of cement bricks, chains and padlocks.

The new landfill does not accept items that take up physical space like the old landfill it's replacing did. You can only bring things like ideas, memories, emotions etc.

There is a recycling part which also takes anything non-physical that isn't useful to you but could be made useful later/by others.

There is a sealed chamber for you to speak messages, e-mail contents and missed calls into and then walk away.

You can throw out a whole year, but only one per resident, and Cecil advises being careful in your selection. A bad year may be the start of an era of terror, not the peak and all years contain positive things that have unforeseen consequences later on that you might not want to lose it.

There's an area for dumping things that you aren't yet sure if you regret (like crushes on platonic friends). He goes into quite a specific situation with that example.

Cecil tells us an in depth story about a theoretical person/'you' who saw a blackhole opening in the sky about a beach one day which changed them forever. They feel they're being followed by a grey car everywhere. They often return to their childhood home and sleep on the sofa there and are preparing for the demolition of said house. They punched a hole in their bedroom wall after that day at the beach and covered it with a Duran Duran poster. Mice began to nest and reproduce in the wall, causing them to have to bail out handfuls of baby mice so often it caused their grades to drop. One day, instead of mice, there was a miniture black hole like the one at the beach.

Cecil goes on to describe more details of this persons life and things they can and can't bring (fever dreams must be taken to the facility in Pine Cliffs) to the new landfill.

Weather: "Letters" by Lera Lynn

There is a lost and found segment this episode. In the drainage ditch on Drainage Ditch Road someone found a phone with no contacts on it but a series of strange photos that could possibly identify it to the owner. There's also a series of cardboard boxes scattered around the empty field near the abandoned missile silo. Those who enter are transported into a maze where they must correctly pull a series of levers and dials in order to escape. One escapee smugly refuses to give any hints. (Lucinda Fierro calls to correct some of the terms Cecil uses during this).

Old Woman Josie is once more in hospital, suffering from more infections from her broken hip last year. Doctors are optimistic though.

Cecil tells us that there is a passageway in his basement that links to an identical basement that has the same things as his in it (such as burning woodsmoke flavour La Croix and old family photos of his) and through the door to the other house he can hear the sound of his own voice.

Stay tuned next for a 12-hour binaural meditation track of a rainstick being used to tenderize meat. Happy purging, Night Vale. And goodnight.

Proverb: There’s no harm in trying. Really depends on what you’re trying. Either way, give it a go. It’s probably fine.

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

I've now made my Quick Rundowns a little easier to find! For all - #wtnv quick rundown (and then scroll to the start) For a particular episode - #wtnv ep {episode number} For live shows - #wtnv {name of live show} For the books (when I do them) - #wtnv the novel rundown #wtnv it devours! rundown

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV quick rundown - 72 - Well of night

Oof the novel took a while, but we're back!

Kill it with kindness. And if that fails, kill it with sharps sticks or knives. Welcome to Night Vale.

Cecil was kept awake all night by a group of people chanting something he can't really remember at first. Carlos had no such problem, as he's apparently able to sleep through anything.

Turns out the chanting was coming from people who, looking into a light which comes from a new 'old' well that suddenly appeared, lose their hair and eyes and start chanting 'Well of Night' whilst ritualistically dancing. Cecil can't tell the difference between ritual dancing and calisthenics.

Turns out that people's eyes cover with skin and their hair literally retreats into the skull when affected, as more and more people are, including Cecil. He goes to look into the well so he can 'see everything' chanting 'Well of Night, Well of Life' over and over.

He is welcomed into the circle of chanting, bald and eyeless people, despite his worries that he was out of practice as it's been years since he was unwillingly inducted into a cult. Someone draws blood from his neck and everyone cheers. They chant and dance together, then someone turns into a bird-like furry creature, which they follow down into the well. Cecil enjoyed his time with them, feeling a sense of love and acceptance, but he woke up with his hair and eyes back in his studio without any rhyme or reason. The 'old' well disappears, leaving only a fleshy lump in the sand.

Weather: "Children of God" by Andrew Jackson Jihad http://andrewjacksonjihad.com

Today Cecil was wearing cat ears, a black plastic poncho and orange galoshes (or they could be yellow and not his own orange galoshes, he can't tell because the lighting in the studio is weird).

The staff of Dark Owl Records are holding a seánce to reach the ghost of Taylor Swift. They'll be lighting candles and holding hands and playing Swift's newest album, 1879, which was named after the year she was born into a human body for the 15th time. Michelle wants to ask her what kind of music was good back then so she can find music nobody else is into any more. Also to trash talk Emile Berliner, Swift's ex, because he totally stole her idea for the grammophone.

The NV Community Players are holding auditions for their production of David Mamet's 'Oleanna'. Director Shaundra Richardson plans to remove all of the words and stage directions, instead having a stage full of actors juggling and/or eating things like candles, fruit and rodents. 

'Saturday is already over before it's even begun. Where does the time go? That's not even a metaphor. This coming Saturday ended weeks ago, and no one knows where it went or why.'

Deb is advertising for Joann's Fabrics, which apparently sells back to school supplies. Uniforms, falconry supplies, that kind of thing. She is irritated by Cecil everytime he tries to join in. A mysterious voice joins in the promotion, scaring Deb away.

Stay tuned next for less of what you once were but more of what you think you are. Good night, Night Vale. Good night.

Proverb: When someone says "I'm a dog person," I always reply "Yeah? Well, I'm a lizard person." And then I peel off my face.