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Study 109 - The Valley of Spiders (Patreon)

Published:
2024-10-10 14:00:04
Imported:
2024-10
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Arachnophobes beware! We're traveling to The Valley of Spiders by H.G. Wells!

Special thanks to reader Levi Nunez! Get into AGAINST THE CULT OF THE HIPPIE COMMUNE before it's too late!

Next up: Feedback, CREEPYPASTA, and The Emissary by Ray Bradbury

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Comments

Bret Kramer

The title made you think of “Kingdom of the Spiders”; it made me think “The Valley of Gwangi”.

Jeremey Guttilla

Figure British empire late 19th century, could be Africa, India, or Australia

Allison Albright

I get that the spiders are biting these guys and killing them with venom, but the part of my brain that's kind of arachnophobic insists that the spiders are just crawling on them horribly until they die from it somehow - which I think is the essential fear behind arachnophobia (for me at least). There's something creepy - what if it touches you? Also I would definitely read a story in which giant, man eating spiders were defeated in an epic game of HORSE.

Ethan Cordray

I didn't find this story very satisfying, because the ending doesn't really pay off either the monster element of the social criticism themes. In the end, the spiders just kinda quit being dangerous and weird, and the evil lord just kinda goes back to being an evil lord, having been neither punished nor educated by the ordeal. I wish there'd been a final scene of thousands of spider balls up high in the sky, drifting inexorably toward the lord's mansion like a relentless symbol of nature's vengeance. Or something like that. As it is, it just doesn't seem to land that punch that Wells get in his best works.

Erik Jordan Phillips

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the 2002 film Eight Legged Freaks Featuring David Arquette and this help scratch that itch, though Spider are a criminally underrated Halloween Staple. They’ve had so much good PR since that guy Stan Lee Turned them Super Hero.

KateSherrod

I would play a module of any game that was titled "Spider Spaceship." And its sequel "When the Silk Hits the Fan." (We all gotta duck)

Michael Cunliffe

I think there’s a very subtle shift in this that might have been more obvious to readers of the time. The ‘Lord’ is addressed using traditional feudal language and has the attitude of the English upper class - he is owed and deserves respect. The Industrial Revolution and horrors of the Great War challenged this through both the establishment of a new wealth generation and the wholesale slaughter of the working class by largely upper class command marching them towards mechanised fire in trench warfare. The spiders allow the social order to break down and as you say, allows us all to see how paper-thin that feudal, class authority is. It is only the obedience of the lower class that allows it. What does the lord learn from this? Like a spider it would be better to build a web and trap people. People are no longer dependent on feudal land, but they are dependent on employment. You can dismiss a lord’s importance, but you have to bow down to your boss if there are no other jobs to go to. It has become common today talk about ‘wage slaves’ and the hold that employers like Amazon have over their employees, but I feel like Wells is writing at a time when these ‘webs’ were a newer tactic for those with money and power to secure that for the future. This horror has just shown the Lord it is time to change tactics and I think Wells is drawing attention to that. Or maybe I am reading *way* too much into it 🤣

Steve

I think the spiders are just doing what's natural, the lord is unnatural, and prepared to kill needlessly to maintain his unnatural dominance. Wells was a Fabian, and stood for the Labour Party, so progressive in many ways.

Long time hater

Regarding the speculation that the story could be set in Australia, as someone who lives there, I can confirm the presence of colonial atrocities, and spiders, LOTS of both!

Philip Cowan

For me, this is one of the occasions when I enjoyed the show more than the story - but enjoyed the story more after I listened to the show, so thanks Chad and Chris for another fun half hour. My takeaway was the illusion of power the elite has over us. Some ‘truth to power’, combined with class solidarity (the little guy with the white horse should have bided his time) can bring the illusion crashing down. The story ends: “Spiders,” he muttered over and over again. “Spiders! Well, well.... The next time I must spin a web.” I think this is the web of deceit he is referring to. Wells’ readers would have been familiar with the lines by Sir Walter Scott: ‘Oh what a tangled web we weave When first we practice to deceive,’ In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a dig here at Scott and his historical novels about nobles, lords and kings, but I am not a patriotic enough Scot to have ever read any.

Jim Cannon

Time wise it appears to be in some kind of "mythic past," inasmuch as the two Americans reading it saw it as some kind of Western (the mythic past for the US) despite the clear presence of swords (which indicate a more English style mythic past). Given the author's nation of origin, I think we can safely assume some feudal English setting. A "desert" is just unspoiled wilderness, after all, it didn't became a barren, sandy environment in definition until relatively recently. Puts me in mind of Le Mort de Arthur, where the knights are always riding through empty wilderness, but I imagine its full of farms and villages occupied entirely by peasants - i.e. not "real" people.

Patrick J McManus

SIDEBAR: I would love a month of Patton Oswalt. Maybe October could be dedicated to Patton's favourite Weird authors... or influential stories in the genre. You could call it "The BOOK-tober Country." Or... something better. You can workshop it.

HRPrice

I feel like the lord was drawing a comparison between himself and the shipwrecked spiders at the end. Without his entourage, he’s as fragile and exposed as the spiders scurrying across bare rock. Rather than do the thing that looks impressive but leaves you vulnerable, build a web. Stay secure at the center. That’s what he’s decided.

Our old pal Brendan Gardiner

Someday I’ll have something perceptive and insightful to add here like everyone else seems to do. For now, let me just say how good a laugh I had when Chad said the word “dandelion” and my mind raced ahead of him mid-word with anticipation of the name Dandelo.

Moonflight Dancer

Silver Bridle coasts on the winds of social expectation, pulling the levers on the inside of the web with the rest of his arachnid aristocrats. But you gotta hit the ground eventually and once you do, you're just as fragile as everybody else.

Anne Ominous

Respectfully disagree that Silver Bridal got away with something here. He (presumably) returns to his starting place minus 2 henchmen, 2 horses AND without his quarry - spanked but certainly NOT humbled. I imagine a skeptical reception when he gets home that impacts his ability to govern. OR he gets new henchmen, new horses, new bridal (of course) and rules with a much more iron fist because he sees how quickly things can go sideways. Nevermind. He probably got away with it. Talked myself in to the second ending