Welcome to Nightvale: A Novel

And now for something completely different…

Ah, the familiar words uttered by Monty Python before a hilarious skit about rock climbing a sidewalk!

That is a great example of absurdist humor.

From listening to Steve Martin albums, and Robin Williams, to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, I have loved the brain tickling feeling of being surprised at how expectations can be warped into a bizarre bit of humor.

So, after binge reading some new modernists and their deformations of normal (read, Sherwood Nation), I was looking for something new to read.

It could have been a re-read of Proust or Joyce, and I was caught up on Pynchon, and had that conspiracy vide thing ringing. So to my surprise I stumbled across a book in the local library entitled, Welcome to Nightvale: A Novel.

I read the first page (I always skip the meta text just to get the “feel” of the writing style before reading the hype and praises), and found myself laughing out loud in the “quiet place”!

What the heck was I reading???

I couldn’t stop and burned through 100 pages in a few hours before I had to leave. I kept chuckling about various phrases and how they were turned around: “her heart beat in her chest, which is where it mostly beat, but it beats in other places too…”

A new world opened up. A desert town, the familiar inhabitants, the weird glow cloud, black helicopters, the mysterious secret government agents, and the not so secret Secret Police, all exist in this place in the desert where conspiracy is just history, and everyone knows that mountains do not exist!!

The book centers on a mom, her shape shifting teenage son, the pawnshop owner, and a mysterious man with a tan briefcase who nobody can remember anything about.

There is investigation, a chase scene in the local library, a dimensional shift, UFOs, and the ever present Arby’s sign, found throughout the story.

The history of the town, founded by lizard kings, run by unseen aliens, and a mayor who only issues emergency press releases, begins to unfold into a believable place, all moderated by the local radio announcer Cecil.

I had lucked out!

It seems that this tale started as a podcast. So each month another chapter of the town of Nightvale is told. The podcast took off and the show went live and on tour.

After that, the idea of a novel started (above). But the podcast episodes have also been serialized. And all of the podcasts are available to download.

As authors Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor explain, “you do not have to listen to the podcasts to read the novel”.

Podcast: Welcome to Nightvale
Podcasts in book form:
Mostly Void, Partially Stars, Welcome to Nightvale, Episodes vol 1
The Great Glowing Coils of the Universe, Episodes vol 2
The Buying of Lot 37, Episodes vol 3
Who’s a Good Boy? Episodes vol 4

Novels:
Welcome to Nightvale
It Devours!
The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home

Authors: Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor

Also available: Cranor, Alice Ain’t Dead

TEOT’s suggestion: Read the novels in order. You can mix in the podcast books while reading them. Give either a podcast or the audio book version a listen!

ALL HAIL THE GLOW CLOUD!!!



PS - I am almost done with It Devours! And am starting The Buying of Lot 37. It is that good!!

Happy reading!!

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

The Nightvale podcast kept me sane and laughing all through my last multi-day road trip!

Its worth every second I spent listening.

I will be looking for the printed material... I can't wait.

Fink and Cranor get a huge thumbs up from me!

a reply to: Maxmars

Yay! A fellow Nightvalean!!

The audio book is a hoot! I was a bit late to scene but have enjoyed spending quiet time with a book again as well as the spoken word!

You might enjoy the episode intros as a “behind the scenes” expose. It is also well done and sets the episode in time in relation to the author’s state of mind, popularity of the podcasts, and the writing of the novels.

Cranor has one out, solo, Alice Isn’t Dead, worth checking out!

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

Thanks for the reccos! They sound like really fun books.

Hopefully it's not like Terry Pratchett. I read one of the Discworld books featuring witches and it was neither that funny nor captivating.

a reply to: chris_stibrany

They have been out long enough to find at the library. So at least you don’t have to purchase it!

Let us know if you take the plunge!

a

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF
They don't have Welcome to Nightvale, but they have It Devours!
I will put a hold

There are several used copies on eBay for a meager asking price.