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Episode 497 - To Arkham and the Stars (Patreon)

Published:
2020-04-23 16:34:53
Edited:
2024-12-12 19:02:13
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Wrapping up the month with a wistful Fritz Leiber piece - To Arkham and the Stars!

Special thanks to our reader - Andrew Leman of Voluminous!

Next up: a revisit of The Colour Out of Space!

Comments

Moonflight Dancer

Given his creating of "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser", Leiber's contrast between dragons and eldritch aberrations in that highlighted passage is particularly interesting. For those not in the know, those stories were already somewhat of a subversion of the Sword and Sorcery genre. Just like how in this story all these Lovecraftian investigators are revealed to be old men reminiscing over a bottle of hooch, the heroes of Fafhrd and Mouser are closer to humanity than mythology, contractors worn down by cynicism rather than irresistible forces of nature like Conan.

G. Gorgo

I agree that it's a goofy story, but the part about Lovecraft surviving and getting to explore the universe (albeit as a brain in a jar) nevertheless gave me a fit of Emotions.

Mandy Reznor (She/It)

Oh! I've actually heard of the Dusseldorf Monster before! He was one of the inspirations for Peter Lorre's child-murdering sadist character in Fritz Lang's film, M. Also, Colin Wilson has written at least one rather good Mythos tale, which I'd actually recommend for the podcast: "The Return of the Lloigor." It revisits the prehistoric horror of Mu with Wilson's own spin, while cheekily interlacing it with the fact that theosophical movements surrounding it are publicly-derided bunk.

Peter Larsen

Oh, cool! I’m so stoked for your “Hypnos” and “The White Tree” re-reads!

Allison Albright

It's interesting that you guys went with the weaponization of Henry Higgins. I was imagining Eliza Doolittle singing about the rain in Spain with such perfect diction that it caused the brains of the enemy to liquefy and dribble out their ears.

Peter Larsen

The rain in Spain induces pain in the brain?

Joshua Weiss

In my head, when the news of Peter Kurten`s execution came out, some guy somewhere stood up and declared "Now I am the King of the Sexual Perverts!" and then disappeared.

Richard Horsman

All I know about Peter Kurten is that Whitehouse dedicated an album to him, and it sounds pretty much like what you'd expect an album dedicated to a sex murderer would sound like (also I kind of like it, uh oh). Also in re the nameless narrator: I assumed it was supposed to be Lieber. If Lovecraft and his writing exists in the world of this story, than Lieber must too, since they were correspondents.

Sweatin' to the Great Oldies

I feel like I was just at a party of folks exchanging in-jokes that I can recognize as jokes, but any laughing I'd do would sound forced. Because it would be.

Devin Morse

As soon as your coverage finished, I went "...but what was the actual story?"

Forrest Rush

Wow was that a list of people, places and things. Schoolhouse Rock! Lovecraft Version

Tomas Rawlings

Got to note the short story, A Colder War' by Charles Stross. Its an example of the 'what would happen if the military weaponised the Cthulhu Mythos'. It's actually also one of the best Mythos contemporary short stories imho. It's free online: http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm

Erin G.

I really liked The Mind Parasites when I read it first as a teenager. The best thing that I found out about it over time was that Wilson wrote it to win a fight with August Derleth.

Ellen

I really liked everything, of course, but loved the music at the end! Is that yours Chad?

Red Sauce

The assertion that "sexual-sadistic fantasies" are a normal part of being a man frankly disturbed me. I don't know what that was supposed to mean in context, but I don't like it. That said, Lovecraft did record a sadistic fantasy about Frank Belknap Long in a letter to James F. Morton. (If I can find that passage, I'll write it up.) What would Leiber's version of Wilmarth say to that?

Devin Trim

Was very interesting to hear Carl Jung get mentioned in the context of the mythos universe. I know Chad has mentioned Jung before, but I believe this is the first instance of one of the show’s authors doing so.

Devin Trim

And agreed, Lieber’s assertion for the normality of sadistic sexual fantasies surprised me too. Mr. Lieber, could we perhaps peek into your brain and your bedroom for a moment? It’s for the advancement of the literary arts....we’re sure you understand.

Sanjay Mathew

Somehow the whole sexual-sadistic fantasies as normal just seems very 60s and 70s to me. I have no academic reading to back this up but there's something about the construction of American masculinity in the postwar-to-Watergate era that seems to tie into that. I think Watergate ends it with the ultimate controlling father figure of the Presidency undermined. Or I might just be blithering. Just a seat of the pants musing.

Stewart

I liked the end of this because it spoke to the sense of wonder I always took away from Lovecraft's tales. Despite all the horror and madness and space monsters, there was always something so intriguing to me about the vastness and mystery of the Mythos. After reading Whisperer I definitely spent time wondering if it would really be so bad to be a brain in a cylinder, with all the sights of the cosmos spread out before you. As far as militarization of the Mythos goes, I quite liked Austin Grossman's Crooked. Admittedly, the actual militarization part is more in the background, but Richard Nixon fighting battles against cosmic horrors was just too delightfully bonkers a concept to resist.

Christopher Wiley

I also agree you should check out “A Colder War” by Charles Stross as an example of alternate history and weaponizing the mythos.

Wesley Burger

Not a single mention of Batman or the Joker in an episode talking about going to Arkham. Disappointed. 4/5 stars.

Brad McClain

I like to read this story through the lens of this being a support group for Mythos survivors who get together and with coffee by the door, everyone is drinking hard liquor and sharing experiences with the only people who could possibly understand what they've been through. Then at the end, they visit the first of their closed group to pass away knowing that eventually there will be no more survivors.

John Burkhart

I have to say, this one really hit home for me. I mean all of us have spent some time in Arkham over the years. It was so nice to come back and just visit for a while. This is the first story that I've read that brought back the feeling of 13 year old me discovering Lovecraft for the first time. Leiber didn't write this story for Lovecraft, he wrote it for us.

Josh Miller

Best episode yet! Keep up the good work😉

Shadavid

Colin Wilson..jn my mid to late teens I read 'The Strength to Dream' and 'The Outsider' I have the faint (and faintly embarrassing) memory of having some sense 'The Outsider' was going to reveal a Great Truth about life. I remember mounting excitement and subsequent disappointment.