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Episode 538 - Vengeance by Proxy (Patreon)

Published:
2021-03-05 02:33:31
Imported:
2026-06
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We are joined by writer Jamie Brittain as we kick off March is for Draculas with the John Wyndham story Vengeance by Proxy!

Special thanks to reader Greig Johnson!

Next up: The Man Upstairs by Ray Bradbury

Comments

Moonflight Dancer

Always nice to have Jamie on the show! As well, following the Lynchian nature of the story, I wonder if Barry Gifford, who co-wrote Lost Highway with Lynch read this story. The film is about a murderer jumping into another person's body, ruining his life and then escaping into the night to repeat the process.

Anthony Crowley

Yay! Candide started on a droll footing, but was a bit irksome by the end. Back to the good shit, blood sucking fiends and graveyard ghouls!

Mandy Reznor (She/It)

God. All I can think is how nightmarish the dysphoria from bodyswapping is. No wonder the guy is so lassaiz faire about throwing his stolen bodies away.

Sweatin' to the Great Oldies

I'm not at all sure if the title is apt. Is it really vengeance by proxy if the vengeance is being carried out directly by someone inhabiting another body?

Lord Rancid

Not that Jamie really needs an extra "This Is Dracula!" point given that ending, but I think you guys missed that the protagonist was communicating with the locals through what little German he had, much like Harker was forced to do at the start of Dracula.

Paul Meagher (Ma-her)

A story about mind transfer, and not one mention of 'The Shadow out of Time?'

Rafe Ball

I’d say this story is ‘Draculas-adjacent’. I would see it as a take on Dracula itself though - it’s notable that Vengeance by Proxy is referred to as Wyndham’s take on Dracula, not Wyndham’s vampire story. To my mind, it’s like if someone made a film about a radioactivity-spawned mutant virus named GD(Zi)LL-A that emerged after atomic bomb testing and ravaged Japan - you’d know it was a take on Godzilla, but it’s not a monster movie. Vengeance by Proxy definitely ‘vampirises’ the Dracula text; you mentioned the pastiche of Dracula’s epistolary form, the Eastern European setting and antagonist, the superstitious (but correct) locals and the Van Helsing-lite. Jamie commented on the British Imperial fears present in this story, like the Victorian fin de siècle fear of ‘reverse colonisation’ in Dracula - in Vengeance by Proxy you have the Vlanec literally colonising the bodies of others, and like Dracula turning decent men and women of England into what he was (a dying/soon to be executed criminal). Interesting that you mention the communist threat, Chris – I think you can see some similar themes around the ‘hidden enemies among us’ in both this and next week’s tale. Whilst both Vengeance by Proxy and The Man Upstairs are too early to be inspired by the ‘red scare’ as both were written during WWII, certainly concerns around foreign invaders and spies were rife at that time, and the early signs of what would become McCarthyism had already begun to show – 1940 saw the American Communist Party reach its peak membership, and the introduction of the Alien Registration Act (1940) requiring the Federal registration of all foreign nationals, so I think it’s a fair parallel. It’s especially serendipitous that Chad had just watched Invasion of the Body Snatchers, given that it is probably the most famous sci-fi red scare allegory (though depending on your viewpoint it could represent the insidious spread of communism, the mass hysteria of McCarthyism, or both). When it comes to the eternal battle of vampire vs automobile though, I prefer E.F. Benson’s ‘Mrs. Amworth’.

Peter Mellett

Triple-X corps made me chuckle. It's 30 corps :-)

Matt Willing

A more obviously vampiric Wyndham tale is his short story “Close Behind Him”, in which we learn the inadvisability of burgling a black magician. You can find it in “The Essential John Wyndham: The Pulp Fiction Collection” which is available as a Kindle book from Amazon—there are 19 other short stories too.

Hanbil

His gibbon name?

Peter Larsen

I have a friend whose parents emigrated from Croatia, then went back after she was an adult. Every time she goes to visits them, she comes back with a new personality, so Wyndham got some particulars right but missed the crucial bit. She gets to argue with herself in different languages, so that's kind of cool.

Bob the Cultist

Great story. Glad to be back to the wierd.

Andrew Brown

A couple of thoughts... People in the real world really would react like the “main”character. Hey, someone acts weird first thought - “Mind swap!”. We tend to forget the real world and all it’s distractions would seriously impede our ability to see the “weird”. The other quick thought - why do people from the UK and the US have so much self loathing. I’ve been around the world and I just don’t see the reason for it.....

Zane Graves

During Dorian Grey I misread the joke about Chad being replaced as Chad being murdered, but come on now. Jamie suggesting a body snatcher story? HIGHLY SUS. Chad, my vow stands:. I shall have knowing comments AT THE READY during meet and greet events. Chris: don't worry, I'll continue to support the pod at this membership level or higher.

Sean McGivern

Eh, 2 Drac 2 Draculous is fine I guess, but everyone knows the series doesn't really get good until Drac Five.

Christine M

Amazing sound engineering, Chad - I could really hear the eye-roll!

Steve

John Wyndham's books are often on the school syllabus in England which is why they turn up in their libraries, even in Dionne Warwickshire.

Steve

I think a large part of the fear of Eastern Europe is anti-Semitism.

Stewart

I'm glad March has become the fittingly eternal month for Draculas - I love me a good vampire story. This one did have a sketchy Eastern European of uncertain but unnaturally elongated age menacing an English couple with his hypnotic powers, so the court will rule him somewhere between a 1/2 Dracula and a 2/3rds Dracula. I look forward to seeing what other Draculas arise to keep us company

Stewart

Speaking of Draculas, and the Cold War has anyone read The Historian? That's easily my favorite Cold War iteration of Dracula

Phil Jensen

I've been re-watching the 1970's "classic" television series "The Night Stalker" - and just watched the episode "The Vampire"! Maybe one of next year's Bonus Content contenders? It has a truly bizarre follow up episode "The Werewolf", which takes place on a cruise ship... Love Boat vibes, anyone?

Gary Dowell

John Wyndham also wrote a *great* apocalyptic sci-fi novel called "The Kraken Wakes" that's been adapted in audio form a few times over the decades. Highly recommended; it especially has a certain resonance these days...

Falconhoof

The threat posed by draculas and alien bobysnatchers is probably the most credible argument I've heard in favour of Brexit. Make of that what you will.

Eldritch Golem (JPM)

I'd love for you guys to cover more Wyndham in the future including some his novels. Good contenders include The Day of the Triffids (1951), The Kraken Wakes (1953), and The Midwich Cuckoos (1957). Though I also still want you guys to cover H.G. Wells's The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896) and The War of the Worlds (1898) first.

Grackles

HI! I just had to comment on something unrelated to this particular episode but which I think Lovecraft fans would enjoy. It's the Boston Harbor Horror podcast. I wish you gents would mention it on your show as well, if you like it, it would be wonderful to get them some more subscribers so they could put out more content. Great storytelling, I really loved it, and listened to the whole thing in 24 hours.

Thomas Paynter

If you haven't picked all of your stories for the March of the Draculas, you might look at Robert Aickman's 'Pages from a Young Girl's Journal'. Robert Aickman's fiction is truly weird--this story maybe less than most but it would be a great start. And it has several elements your guest identified as key to a Dracula story: an Englishman (girl in this case of course) traveling abroad, epistolary format.

David Halstead

This made me think of The Hidden (1987). The movie stars Kyle MacLachlan as an FBI agent tracking down a body swapping alien parasite. Interesting for Twin Peaks fans.

Peter Larsen

My take away was definitely "never stop to help anyone; they may be a vampire." Maybe just throw gasoline on them as you speed by.

Magicthize

Spurred on by Jamie Brittain's convincing rhetoric I began to wonder which others are long-overlooked Dracula stories. To my shock and delight it's a lot more than you might think! It was really surprising to find I had somehow missed it in many a famous tome, usually staring me in the face on the final page just to really drive the point home. Here, for example, in the final lines of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath:: *The eyes and faces all turned themselves towards me, and guiding myself by them, as by a magical thread, I stepped into the room and said "By the way, my real name's Dracula."* Really adds an extra layer now that I know it's there.

Bandersnatch65

Am I the only one wondering what happened to Miss Sadlowe?

Ben Moule

Somewhere someone just shouted 'I'm the king of the rods!'