312: Comedy Horror, with Evan Dorkin
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re and we’re putting on our ponchos. They look a bit silly, but that works for us here. The important thing is that they’ll keep some of the gore off our clothes. Comedy horror can be a messy business, especially once you bring gardening equipment into play. We’re not sure whether to laugh or cry, so we’ll probably just scream. Main Topic: Comedy Horror This episode sees us delve into the bloody world of comedy horror, trying to pin down what makes the two genres work so well together, looking at some examples from media, and trying to work out how to perform...
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311: RPGs and Fiction, with Evan Dorkin
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
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310: Something Wicked This Way Comes, with Cuppycup
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
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309: Theme Parks and Horror, with Cuppycup
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re learning about protein spills. What sounded like an innocent sexual innuendo has turned out to be more scatological than any of us would have liked. The unpleasant realities of theme parks are well hidden behind twee language and cute costumes. Happily, once we strip them away, we can find some good horror inspiration. Although we do wish it all smelled a bit better. Main Topic: Theme Parks and Horror This episode, we visit the topic of theme parks, amusement parks, funfairs and the like, looking for Call of Cthulhu inspiration. As with so many things rooted...
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308: The Appeal of Vampires, With Josephine McAdam
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
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307: Horror For the Nervous, with Josephine McAdam
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re hiding behind the sofa. Sure, the monsters, masked killers, and mutants can probably find us back here, but it still feels safer for some reason. Fear is rarely a rational thing, so why should our response to it be? Main Topic: Horror For the Nervous This episode came about when Scott was playing The Between with Josephine McAdam over on and she mentioned that she rarely watches or reads horror media because she finds it upsetting. Given how many horror projects Josephine has been involved with, this seemed like something worth exploring, so we...
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306: Quatermass and the Pit
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re digging up the past. Some of this excavation is purely physical, burrowing into the clay under London in search of the usual skulls and spaceships. The rest, however, is more atavistic in nature, uncovering the strange, alien memories buried within our minds. On reflection, we probably shouldn’t have used pickaxes for both jobs. Main Topic: Quatermass and the Pit This episode is our long-overdue exploration of the strange world of Professor Bernard Quatermass, and especially the 1967 film adaptation of Quatermass and the Pit. While we’ve mentioned Nigel...
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305: How to be an Investigator
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re blundering. That’s not to say that we don’t have a clue, but we’re not quite sure what to do with the handful we’ve managed to find. We’ve tried pinning them to a board and running strings between them, but the result is more abstract art than anything functional. Maybe we’ll just keep punching NPCs until one of them finally tells us what’s going on. Main Topic: How to be an Investigator This episode is our attempt to sharpen our own skills as investigators, or at least hope that others can learn from our mistakes. Scott and guest host Seth Skorkowsky...
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304: Haunted Landscapes
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re digging deep. While you might expect to find ghosts in these haunted landscapes, mostly we’re unearthing history. Oh, and carcinogens. On balance, ghosts seem like the healthier option. Main Topic: Haunted Landscapes Building on last episode’s discussion of Lovecraftian horror and detective fiction explored in Heather Miller’s , we’re delving into another part of the book, which lays out the idea of haunted landscapes. The landscapes in question are haunted by the past rather than ghosts, with layers of history transforming their geography and meaning. We...
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303: Call of Cthulhu and Detective Fiction
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re sifting through evidence. Being a good detective requires a keen eye for detail, an analytical mind, and a thorough knowledge of the genre. But that happens when you find yourself in a different genre than you were expecting? Is your uncanny ability to piece together disparate clues really an asset when it leads you to horrifying revelations? Maybe this new dark age thing we’ve heard about isn’t so bad after all. Main Topic: Call of Cthulhu and Detective Fiction This episode delves into the complex relationship between detective fiction and Lovecraftian horror....
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We’re back and we’re catching up with our sleep. You think we’d be trying harder to escape, given that we’ve been tied up and lowered into the abysmal depths under the pyramids. But, no, we’re just going to nod off for a while and hope our dreams offer some useful clues. It’s how Harry Houdini himself would have handled the situation, at least when he was being written by HP Lovecraft. Now, let’s drift off again and see if we can find a way out of this labyrinth!
Main Topic: Under the Pyramids
Following last episode’s exploration of the life of Harry Houdini, we thought we’d follow up with a look at his collaboration with HP Lovecraft — “Under the Pyramids”, also known as “Imprisoned With the Pharaohs”. We spend a little more time than usual discussing the origins of the story, partly because they offer insight into the unlikely relationship between the two men, but mostly because they’re just so damn weird.
The story itself may be a minor one in Lovecraft’s canon, but we still find gaming inspiration. But, mostly, we delight in the phrase “corpse gurgle”. And why shouldn’t we?
Links
Things we mention in this episode include:
- Strange NPCs: Harry Houdini
- A Dreamer and a Visionary: HP Lovecraft in His Time by ST Joshi
- I Am Providence: The Life and Times of HP Lovecraft by ST Joshi
- Lord of a Visible World: An Autobiography in Letters by HP Lovecraft, ST Joshi, and David E Schultz
- Weird Tales
- Houdini in Weird Tales
- Frank Belknap Long
- “The Mound” by HP Lovecraft for Zealia Bishop
- Sonia Greene
- “Hypnos” by HP Lovecraft
- “The Loved Dead” by HP Lovecraft and CM Eddy Jr
- The Cancer of Superstition by HP Lovecraft and CM Eddy Jr for Harry Houdini
- Spiritualism
- Masks of Nyarlathotep
- The Great Pyramid of Giza
- Khephren the Great
- The Great Sphinx of Giza
- Nitocris
- “The Outsider” by HP Lovecraft
- The Queen’s Enemies by Lord Dunsany
- “The Vengeance of Nitocris” by Tennessee Williams
- Natron
- Subterranean spaces in Lovecraft
- Late Night With the Devil (2023)
- Pschent
- “We All Stand Together” by Paul McCartney and the Frog Chorus
- “The Call of Cthulhu” by HP Lovecraft
- Azathoth
- The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by HP Lovecraft
- “Herbert West — Reanimator” by HP Lovecraft
- Ryan George
- Robert Bloch
- Osiris
- The soul and the Ancient Egyptian afterlife
- The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by HP Lovecraft
- Cities of the Red Night by William S Burroughs
- The Place of Dead Roads by William S Burroughs
- The Western Lands by William S Burroughs
- The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
- “The Nameless City” by HP Lovecraft
- Mysteries of the Worm by Robert Bloch
News
Matt and Paul at Necronomicon
Matt and Paul will be attending the NecronomiCon convention in Providence this month. Please do say hi if you spot them in the wild!
