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Episode 599 - Brenda (Patreon)

Published:
2022-06-09 14:13:05
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Learn how to adopt your very own muck-monster - it's Brenda by Margaret St. Clair!

This story is included in The Folio Book of Horror Stories, edited by Ramsey Campbell.

Special thanks to our reader, Nicole Knudsen of the Godfrey Audio Guide!

Next up: The Bus by Shirley Jackson

Comments

Mandy Reznor (She/It)

So I just started the episode, and the setup passage of the young girl in a WASPish family near a quarry tickled my memory. It turns out my intuition was right—this WAS adapted by Rod Serling's Night Gallery. That adaptation always stuck with me, so I look forward to hearing what you gents thought of the tale.

Jason Thompson

Ok, now *this* is a good sympathetic monster story. (Because the monster is essentially unknown/unknowable and the sympathy comes from the feelings the protagonist projects onto it)

HRPrice

BRENDA! I perked up the minute you mentioned this story in the interview, because it’s one of my favorite Night Gallery shorts. It stuck with me because at the end, I felt like I could almost- almost understand where Brenda was coming from. That there was one piece jigsaw piece that would make the image clear, but I couldn’t get it to click into place. Like I could feel the emotion but not parse it. It’s such a rare, weird feeling, I was actually afraid the story would defuse it by explaining Brenda more clearly. I’m glad to know it was deeply intentional and works in both. In the Night Gallery adaptation, Brenda actively bullies the other kids, immediately before asking them to be her friend and revealing how desperately lonely she is. She releases the monster specifically so it can cause trouble, and delights in the panic it causes. She is horrified by its capture and possible death. I can’t help but think that Brenda is waiting to be born a monster, able to rampage freely. But then, I was a socially anxious kid who got really into monsters, so maybe that’s me projecting. …Any day now. Gonna be reborn a werewolf.

Ethan Cordray

I think the "integrating the repressed elements of the self" metaphor probably is intended by the author, as this process of encountering the "Shadow" is a major part of Jungian psychology, which was already popular and well-known when this story was published. I like to think of this as a supervillain origin story -- someday, when Brenda's peers start being mean to her again, her fragile popularity goes away and she's back to feeling like an unloved kid, she's gonna come back and free the mud man, and then they'll HAVE THEIR REVENGE on all these jerks! I'll be cheering for 'em, that's for sure!

Jeff C. Carter

Get ready for some competition, because I’m launching an Eric St, Clair podcast called ‘Bear Studies of Bear Stories.’

Sanjay Mathew

The Shadow People is well worth a read. Very evocative of the same pre-tech boom Bay Area Weird milieu of Shea or Leiber's Our lady of Darkness

hilde

is there a margaret st claire anthology?

Illegal_Structures

Great episode, as always, boys! Btw, the Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horrors XI features a vignette about a dolphin revolt against the people of Springfield. I’m not saying it’s a straight-up adaptation of the St. Claire story, as it also features allusions to Jaws, The Birds and other animal horror films; but still, what are the odds of dolphin-war lightning sticking twice??

Jim Cannon

Margaret St. Clair is another Appendix N author! Her novels The Shadow People and Sign of the Labrys are mentioned in the first edition D&D Dungeon Master's Guide as being important inspirational reading for the running of D&D games, and called out by Gygax as influencing the development of the game. I haven't had any luck finding her stuff, but the radar is always on the look-out.

David Halstead

Growing up with Asperger's syndrome, I constantly got treated like there was something wrong with me. Other kids, and even adults, acted nervous around me because I behaved differently from what they expected. Attempts to make friends or to be part of groups of other kids often ended in abuse. I had two concussions from getting beat up before I got to high school. These "normal" and "healthy" kids with socially accepted traits were the ones attacking me. Says something about our cultural values. How people respond to things they don't understand and what it's like to be apart from society are themes frequently found in horror. I think that's why horror stories that are conscious of social issues, especially from women, minorities, and oppressed people, are so strong, and why reactions to them can be so intense.

Jeremy Impson

Folks I can confirm that the Godfrey Audio Guide is a great podcast. Check it out and if you are so motivated, come join us in Nicole's Patreon.

Amy Cueto

In the U.S. what streaming service has Night Gallery. I can’t seem to find it.

Stacy Schumacher

There's so much social conditioning girls go through that I can see exactly laid out in this story. My interpretation of the ending is that Brenda has passed from her initial self, which she recognizes isn't fully able to interact with society on its terms, to a self that is more readily able to interact with her peers. In that moment, her actions aren't necessarily forced or an act, but something she's been taught is necessary. However, she recognizes that this isn't the final step in her self-development and she will perhaps be 'born' at a later time, in a different state. Brenda might be waiting for that point in the future where she can go back to a more authentic version of herself, without the need for the approval of her peers in the form they are conditioned to give it. Her telling the slime-man that someday they'll both be 'born' could be an assumption that will happen, or could be an action by the author to make the reader think, 'that won't happen, that slime-man is stuck under those rocks, and the same will happen to Brenda'.

Scott McCrate

A great garbage monster story is "Nadleman's god" in T.E.D. Klein's Dark Gods collection. In fact, Dark Gods would be an excellent month of episodes!

Andrew Brown

The story is fine - but what I want to know is what Chad and Chris think of the resurgence of Kate Bush!!!!!

Justin Kolodziej

I didn't write it down at the time, because I never would have believed that I would want to reference, but I believe I have been listening to this show since 2010. I've listened to those Silver Age episodes enough that If they were cassettes I'm sure I would have fond memories of sitting up late trying to reel the tape in with a #2 pencil. After finally becoming a supporter on Patreon I've gone back and listened to every episode (excluding comments shows) with a lot of repeats along the way. I just finished this episode and in so doing finally caught up with new releases. Thanks for keeping me company. I'm looking forward to doing it again. Maybe I'll listen to the comments shows this time. See you in the future.

Sweatin' to the Great Oldies

This was an absolute delight! Two half-baked thoughts: 1) I think most of us have felt like a slime monster from time to time. No matter what we look like. It sure can feel like everybody sees us as monstrous. And slimy. 2) Perhaps being so deprived of healthy touch, Brenda is drawn to the unhealthy. Her childhood experiences may prevent her from ever having the sort of caring relationship she deserves. Instead, she may feel that she is the sort of person who deserves only the slime men. Their touch may not be exactly what she craves, but it fulfills some very sad expectations. Or maybe it's about licking toads..?

Thomas Paynter

If I'm not mistaken, Ramsey Campbell wrote a horror story in which the protagonist tours a castle while listening to a *self-guided audio tour*! And thus we come full circle--Campbell recommends a story that causes Chad and Chris to mention a podcast about horror that's in the form of an audio tour which causes me to leave this comment about a Campbell horror story in the form of an audio tour which I myself listened to as an audiobook. What cold, inhuman intellect could have planned such a thing and what is its ultimate design?

Joshua Weiss

This feels like a weird coming of age story to me, but I've been away from college to too long to offer a real analysis. That said: 1) The night after the swamp-man stole the roast chicken, Brenda "slipped into her parents' bedroom...and unlatched the window screens." Was she trying to get her parents killed? 2) Folio Society books being far outside my budget, especially considering shipping to Japan, I read this story in "The Best of Margaret St Clair," which includes some pretty wild stories from the late 40's to 1981 (the last in the collection). There is easily enough good material for an entire month's worth of episodes, or at least one part of a "Women of SF" month.