303: Call of Cthulhu and Detective Fiction
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
Release Date: 12/30/2024
326: We Are the Horror, with Ericka Skirpan
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re scaring ourselves. Main Topic: We Are the Horror Most tabletop horror games revolve around the struggle between the player characters and one or more external antagonists. The concept of a “Big Bad Evil Guy” is at the heart of most of our gaming experiences. But what happens when we take all that away? How might games work when the horror comes from the interactions between the PCs? And what are some of the possible pitfalls of this approach? Our Guest Host We are delighted to welcome Ericka Skirpan back as our guest host for this episode! Ericka is a LARP...
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325: Using LARP Techniques at the Table, with Ericka Skirpan
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re acting out. Main Topic: Using LARP Techniques at the Table Live action and tabletop roleplaying share common roots and many similarities, but they are also quite separate hobbies. Each has evolved in its own ways, developing a unique variety of forms and tools. So what can the world of tabletop roleplaying, particularly Call of Cthulhu, learn from LARP? What are some of the different types of LARP? Which LARP techniques lend themselves best to tabletop play, and how can they be adapted? Our Guest Host We are delighted to welcome Ericka Skirpan as our guest host...
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324: The White People, with Jared Logan
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re enjoying a night out under the hill. While the rest of you are clubbing, we’re trying a different kind of dancing. There’s even a singalong, plus some arts and crafts. Sure, some people might say this is all witchcraft, but we promise you it’s no more sinister than a children’s game. The white people have tried to offer their opinion, but our Aklo is a bit rusty. Maybe the nymphs can help translate, assuming we ever figure out what they actually are. Meanwhile, we’ll just enjoy another goblet of what may be the best wine we’ll ever taste. Main Topic: The...
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323: The Joy of Gore, with Jared Logan
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re bloody. Honestly, that’s the least of it. Most of this gore is blood, but we’re sure there are strips of skin, shards of bone, and maybe the occasional kidney mixed in with all this mess. The plastic ponchos were supposed to help, but at this stage they’re more like stencils than protective clothing. No one ever warned us that podcasting could be this wet and sticky. Maybe we should just focus on getting some of these teeth out of our hair for now. Main Topic: The Joy of Gore While not all horror involves gore, it is an essential part of the genre. Whether...
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322: 28 Days Later, with Maverick Hanze
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re raging. While this virus plays a part, we’re more angry about the sequels to 28 Days Later. The first follow-up, in particular, is enough to make you chew someone’s face off. Happily, the original film still has as much bite as ever. Now if only we could convince it to let go of our leg. Main Topic: 28 Days Later Following last episode’s look at , we’re delving into a classic of the genre. Sure, the folks behind 28 Days Later have said that it’s not a zombie film, but we’re ignoring that. This has all the hallmarks of a zombie...
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321: Zombies, with Maverick Haenze
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re hungry for brains. Sure, that whole that whole thing about zombies eating brains was made up by Dan O’Bannon in 1985, but that doesn’t make them any less tasty. And just because we’re chowing down on some grey matter doesn’t mean that we’re keen on any of that other new-fangled nonsense. Zombies shouldn’t run around or hold conversations, and they definitely shouldn’t be love interests. Shambling and moaning was good enough for those who came before us, and it’s good enough for us. Main Topic: Zombies Given how prevalent zombies are in horror media and...
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320: The Broadsword, with Andy Goodman
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re checking the vents. They’re long overdue a service, but that doesn’t mean they should be talking about eating people’s kidneys. Maybe we could dismiss it as a load of hot air, but they don’t even provide that most days. We would ask the building supervisor to sort them out, but he’s either been eaten by the vents or tumbled through the alien portal in the basement. That portal is a safety hazard, and if it did swallow him that’s his own fault for not slapping some Polyfilla in there sooner. The cosmic nightmares of living at the Broadsword Hotel are bad...
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319: Roll Your Own Mythos, with Andy Goodman
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re hunting for the biggest cigarette paper known to man. Well, ideally known to the gods too. If we’re going to fit an entire pantheon inside, this thing needs to be truly cyclopean, and maybe even non-Euclidean. An extra dimension or two wouldn’t hurt either. And we haven’t even started working out how to light up the damn thing! Main Topic: Roll Your Own Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos didn’t really start out as a cohesive entity. It has become increasingly codified by generations of fans, starting with August Derleth, but this can be an impediment to creativity....
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318: Metafiction and Horror, with Eleanor Hingley
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re discussing metafiction and horror. More importantly, we’re getting the title of the episode in the first paragraph for SEO purposes. Main Topic: Metafiction and Horror Metafiction turns up in every genre from literary fiction to SF, breaking fourth walls, playing with storytelling conventions, and embedding fictional narratives within fictional narratives. Our focus here, however, is on the connection between metafiction and horror, whether this is self-aware slasher films or horror novelists who write about horror novelists. We look at various definitions of...
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317: Small Town Horror, with Eleanor Hingley
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re keeping to ourselves. You really can’t be too careful. The outside world is full of dangerous ideas and strange people. Some of them don’t even play Call of Cthulhu. Sure, they might find our ways odd too, especially if they hear the singing in our early episodes. Still, the real small town horror is always other people. Main Topic: Small Town Horror This is a local episode for local people. We explore small town settings and why they work so well for horror. Isolated, insular communities are a mainstay of horror, usually populated by sinister locals who shun...
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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. The two genres are closely related, both in their literary origins and their broad tropes. But, as our guest host argues, they serve almost opposing purposes. We explore how detective fiction works, and what this can teach us about running Call of Cthulhu.
Our Guest Host
Regular listeners will know that Paul has left the Good Friends. Matt and Scott are inviting interesting people we know to join us as guest hosts, bringing fresh perspectives and expertise to our discussions.
We are delighted to have Heather Miller join us for this episode. Heather is a Lovecraftian scholar who has presented a number of papers at Necronomicon Providence and has recently published a book for Hippocampus Press — Ripples From Carcosa — which explores the relationship between Lovecraft and True Detective.
Heather’s other papers include “Melville and the Lovecraftian Gaze”, which examines the connection between Lovecraft’s investigators and the cosmic horror of Moby-Dick, and “Toward a Definition of Lovecraftpunk”.
You can find Heather’s blog at notesonhplovecraft.blogspot.com, where, amongst other things, she discusses some of the research that went into her book.
Links
Things we mention in this episode include:
- Ripples From Carcosa by Oscar Rios
- True Detective
- Edgar Allan Poe and detective fiction
- Masks of Nyarlathotep
- Palimpsest
- Dirk Gently
- “Shada”
- Walker in the Wastes
- “Music From a Darkened Room”
- At Your Door
- Violence and the Sacred by René Girard
- “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” by HP Lovecraft
- “The Shadow Out of Time” by HP Lovecraft
- The Shadow Out of Tim by The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets
- Ain’t Slayed Nobody
- The Final Revelation
- Into the Darkness
- “Dead Man’s Stomp” from the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set
- Rules of Prey by John Sanford
- Inspector Rebus series by Ian Rankin
- Curtain by Agatha Christie
- Tom Ripley series by Patricia Highsmith
- Mimesis
- Chinatown (1974)
- Oedipus Rex
- Occult detectives
- Harry D’Amour
- Dylan Dog
- Harry Dresden
- Thomas Carnacki
- John Silence
- The Two-Headed Serpent
- The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
- “The Horror at Red Hook” by HP Lovecraft
- Detective Tales
- “The Call of Cthulhu” by HP Lovecraft
- “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt” by Edgar Allan Poe
- I Am Providence by ST Joshi
- “The Shunned House” by HP Lovecraft
- The Wench is Dead by Colin Dexter
- “Midnight Sunrise” from World War Cthulhu: London
- “In My Time of Dying” from Supernatural
- “Killed by Death” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Pishtaco
- Nero Wolfe
- “Full Fathom Five”
- Vaesen
News
Just One More Thing
Often, we find ourselves with more to say than will fit into our normal episodes. This may be because we’ve done a bunch of research that didn’t fit into the flow of the conversation, or simply because something occurred to us later. We’ve decided to try putting some of this to use in the form of bonus episodes for our Patreon Backers.
The first episode of Just One More Thing will hit the Good Friends Patreon early in the New Year. In it, Matt and Scott discuss some of the things they couldn’t quite fit into episodes 301 and 302, exploring a few other historical settings that appeal to us and offering some more thoughts about Carnival of Souls.
Please do let us know what you think of this approach. We’d love to hear your feedback.
Scott on Miskatonic Playhouse
Scott recently joined our good friends at the Miskatonic Playhouse for a guest spot, playing Sherlock Holmes in their current Cthulhu by Gaslight game, “Mr Whisper”. Expect some keen investigation, some even more unfortunate dice rolls, and a good helping of body horror.
Scott on Pretending to be People
Speaking of guest spots, Scott also joined our good friends at Pretending to be People as a player in their most recent mini-arc, “Jackfruit Frog Island”. This is a Pulp Cthulhu prequel to their main campaign arc, taking place in the 1890s, and it goes from 0 to 100 almost instantly.
Carnacki the Ghost-Finder Readings
If you were unable to attend the live readings of our 2024 Christmas ghost stories, they are now available on the main Good Friends podcast feed. These two tales of William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki the Ghost-Finder — “The Searcher of the End House” and “The Horse of the Invisible” — were once again directed by our good friend Mike Perceval-Maxwell of Mr Spike’s Bedtime Stories.
We would like to thank all our readers for bringing these stories to life: Camille Brouard, John Casey, Sarah Dovey, Anthony Lee-Dudley, Brian Murphy, T A Newman, Nic Rosenberg, and Sue Savage.
