Welcome to Night Vale the Novel

Authors Jeffrey Cranor (center) and Joseph Fink (right) at the Castro Theatre

Although I like to think I'm not a crazy Welcome to Night Vale fangirl, I have been to four events for the hit spooky-funny-quirky podcast. In January 2014 I attended a panel at Haight-Ashbury's Booksmith and then a live show at the Mission's Victoria Theatre (I wrote about both events here). Earlier this year I caught a second live show at the much bigger Fox Theatre in Oakland. And on 10/29/15, I attended another Booksmith event: the release of Welcome to Night Vale the novel, held at the Castro Theatre.

The book, written by the co-writers of the podcast, Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, has been rabidly anticipated by legions of fans and debuted at #4 on the New York Times bestsellers list. Having read it...I'm interested in what other fans think, mostly because I wasn't that into it. While I found the book entertaining, I didn't find it strong, deep, or lasting. Characterization and plotting issues took away from the enjoyment for me. Other reviewers, like speculative fiction stars Cory Doctorow and Amal El-Mohtar, have been effusive, so maybe there's something I'm missing. Maybe I'm like Cecil Palmer with Steve Carlsberg's scones. Or maybe I'm just Steve Carlsberg.

Fans line up for the 10/29/15 event

It's impossible to not compare the novel to the podcast, for better or worse. Not only are the tone and voice similar, but there are endless references to what's gone on in the fake newscast, and even segments of Cecil's reports. And while this dry, oddball humor often works well in the novel's prose, sometimes it falls short. This is especially true in the aforementioned news reports. Reading the transcripts makes you realize just how how much voice actor Cecil Baldwin brings to the material. Details that might have gotten laughs as asides on the podcast (the many rituals and oddities of the town) clutter up the pages here.

Despite the presence of Cecil's reports, the biggest change from the podcast is the lack of Cecil. His show is incorporated into the narrative, but he's not really present as a character. There are probably fans who are relieved by this, and fans who are deeply disappointed by this. Cecil's romance with scientist Carlos has been one of the most popular parts of the podcast, inspiring swoons and fan art galore, but it has also threatened to overpower the podcast at times, and some worry about the series devolving into pure fanservice. Cecil and Carlos are great, but Night Vale can and does excel even when they aren't in the picture (such as standout episodes "A Story About Them" and "The September Monologues," for example).

Like this, except they're an actual (fictional) couple

Fink and Cranor compromise here: Cecil and Carlos are not the protagonists, but how amazingly in love they are is mentioned about a billion times. It's not clear if this is an earnest attempt to appease fans or a self-parody. Carlos does get a cameo, as do other favorites like Cecil's sweet but hapless brother-in-law Steve, angelically protected Old Woman Josie, and intern-turned-mayor Dana Cardinal.

The main characters in the novel are two women we haven't seen much of before: Diane Crayton, single mom to a fifteen-year-old shape-shifting son, and Jackie Fierro, perpetually nineteen. Diane is unsure how to tell her son, Josh, about his absent father. Jackie doesn't know why she's perpetually nineteen. After a (or rather, the) man in a tan jacket gives them both notes reading "King City" and they both start seeing a blond man around town, their quests converge.

Diane, I felt, was the heart of the story. This wasn't surprising after hearing Jeffrey Cranor speak at the Castro event - he talked about how his own experience of being raised by a divorced mother helped him identify with the character of Diane. While this sort of personal history isn't a requirement, it is possibly why Diane feels so authentic. She's one of the most "normal" people we've seen in Night Vale: a PTA mom in a dull office job. But this normality alone isn't what makes her relatable - that comes from the specificity and depth Cranor gives her (although a collaboration, Cranor worked more on the "Diane" sections). The way she agonizes over what to write in a text, her mixed feelings about her secluded spot in the office, and her anxiety over meeting a colleague outside of work make her not just a stock "soccer mom," but a real woman we care about.

We get nearly none of that with Jackie. Her backstory is intriguing and typically Night Valean: a girl who has been nineteen for decades, watching her former classmates grow up and grow old. She can't remember her childhood or how she started working at the pawn shop she returns to everyday. But all we get of her character are a few signifiers. For example, she says "man" and "dude" a lot. Sometimes she's a retiring homebody and sometimes she acts in a way that seems intended to make the reader say, "What a badass." While plenty of people are sometimes homebodies and sometimes badasses, her personality shifts seem to have more to do with the needs of the plot than with her own complexity or growth. So much of how the plot progresses has to do with the bond Jackie and Diane develop, but that bond felt forced and artificial to me.

Fink spoke of being drawn to Jackie much like Cranor was drawn to Diane, but it's hard to say what he sees in her and wants to show us. This is especially frustrating when you consider the many characters of the podcast who became dear to listeners with just a handful of well chosen words. Why weren't the writers able to do in a novel what they can do in a few sentences? Would a voice actor have been able to bring to Jackie what Fink and Cranor couldn't? Maybe those listening to the audio book read by Baldwin will have a different impression.

Spoilers below Hiram!

Beyond the characterization issues, the plotting falls apart a bit at the end. Our protagonists finally get to King City, and there are some haunting and unsettling descriptions of the town, but we don't get much of a satisfying conclusion at our destination. The explanation for the ubiquitous "King City" notes was almost definitely thought of after the fact. We finally meet Troy, Josh's (and Jackie's) father, but we don't learn much about him, and why one of his children was thought to be needed by the city is unclear. Why is Jackie stuck at nineteen? Is it because of who her father is or just a Night Vale thing? These questions are answered with a shrug, but it's a shrug that feels unearned.

My biggest disappointment was the revelation of the identity of the man in the tan jacket. The mysterious character with his deerskin suitcase full of flies has haunted Night Vale since episode 14 in 2013, and he always seemed to be a part of one of the secrets behind the scenes, possibly with ties to former mayor Pamela Winchell. It turns out he's the mayor of King City but was forgotten because of Troy for some reason and needs to spend more time with his family? You deserved better, Evan Eric Elliott man in the tan jacket!


Image info:
Crappy photos: mine
South Park: from episode "Tweek X Craig," which is amazing
Welcome to Night Vale novel cover: official page
Hiram McDaniels: Night Vale Wikia

Night Vale in San Francisco

Welcome to Jan 21

I wasn't sure what "Night Vale" was when I first saw it mentioned on Tumblr and Twitter. Was it a TV show? A comic book? A game? When I found out it was a podcast, its popularity was only more confusing. Old-timey radio dramas are what the kids are into these days? I knew The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy had started as a radio show, but that was in the 70s, and Douglas Adams figured out other mediums pretty quickly. I love animator Leigh Lahav, but I found her "Night of the Raging Fangirls" short perplexing. Were people that obsessed with the relationship of two fake people they've never seen? (The fact that you don't "see" characters in books either had no effect on my logic.)




But I gave it a try (episodes are free) and played episodes while I was cleaning, while I was in the bath, and during my Muni commute...and quickly found myself completely caught up with over two dozen past episodes. (They're currently up to 39.)

"Welcome to Night Vale" is a spooky, off-kilter comedy in the form a radio newscast from the titular supernaturally afflicted town. Cecil Palmer (voiced by Cecil Baldwin) is our host, and often (but not always) the only voice we hear. We see Night Vale, an isolated desert town, through this proud resident. In some respects it's a typical American small town; it's made up of chain stores, fast food franchises, and optimistically named condo developments. But then there's the dog park no one is allowed to enter, the spires, the pier at the non-existent waterfront... Oh, and it's ruled (until recently!) by a sinister government of hooded figures, secret police, and mysterious mayor Pamela Winchell.

Through friendly Cecil we "meet" Night Vale's inhabitants, which include Cecil's crush-turned-boyfriend Carlos, a heroic scientist and Night Vale newcomer determined to solve the town's mysteries; Josie, an elderly lady watched over by angels; Koscheck, the floating cat who lives in the radio station's men's bathroom; Hiram McDaniels, an ex-con and mayoral candidate who is also a five-headed dragon; Dana, an intrepid intern currently on an other-dimensional journey; and fearless child revolutionary and summer reading program champion Tamika Flynn. And many, many more.

Cecil and Carlos's romantic Arby's parking lot outing as depicted on an official t-shirt.

Night Vale came to San Francisco as part of its live show tour, and I managed, without murder (but not without a lot of F5 hitting and bloodstone circles), to score tickets for the 1/21 show. And a bonus was added: Cecil Baldwin, writers Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, and credits/proverb reader Meg Bashwiner did a free panel and Q&A at Booksmith in the Haight on 1/19.

Baldwin, Fink and Cranor (or possibly vice-versa?), and Bashwiner at Booksmith.

I won't recount the whole history of "Welcome to Night Vale," which the panelists discussed (they met as members of New York theater group Neo-Futurists), but I was impressed with their commitment to the show. It's clear from hearing Fink and Cranor speak that keeping the writing excellent is important to them. When asked about their favorite episodes, standouts "A Story About You," a haunting episode told in second-person, and "The Sandstorm," a two-part episode where we get a full broadcast from Desert Bluffs, Night Vale's neighbor and rival, were both mentioned.

I also liked their answer to a very good question that came up regarding the Night Vale book that will be coming out in 2015. When asked if it will be illustrated, Cranor and Fink said they would push against that, as they value fans' interpretations of how the characters look. Since we're given little description, fans have made their own art of the characters, celebrating Night Vale's premise as a diverse community. How characters look, the writers said, belongs to the fans.

My headcanon Pamela Winchell is Laura Fraser as Lydia in Breaking Bad.

So after lots of waiting, tonight was the live show. It was held in the Mission District's Victoria Theatre, a 1908 venue. And it was packed. This shouldn't have been a surprise, seeing as the show sold out within minutes (they had to add a second), but seeing all 491 seats filled with happy Night Vale fans really put the show's popularity in perspective. And I don't think a single fan left disappointed.

The opening act, Night Vale "weather" alum Jason Webley, was well picked. A charismatic, Jack Sparrowish hipster, his instruments included an accordion and a bottle of coins. Everyone goes into a theater just wanting the main act to start, but Webley's lively foot-stomping and songs about Orpheus and giraffe ranchers got the crowd laughing and ready for even more fun.

You know your podcast is beloved when the person who reads the credits (Meg Bashwiner again) comes out onstage and is greeted with applause and screams. And then Cecil Baldwin stepped up to the mic, and the audience got even louder. Even as a Night Vale fan, I was floored by Baldwin. Although backed by Fink and Cranor's clever writing, he has to carry the podcast himself, and for the live show, this means standing up onstage alone most of the time, sans props. His stage presence was perfect. He was engaging, expressive, and had great timing. Being able to witness his vocal range in person was enlightening. I learned during Sunday's panel that Baldwin read the creepy verse parts of "The Woman from Italy" himself (I had thought it was a different reader), and this episode gave him a variety of voices to play with.

He was joined a few times by guest stars, which was a wonderful bonus. I wasn't going to spoil it for those who haven't seen or heard it yet (a recording will also be available later), but since pictures are on Twitter, I might as well. Recent fan favorite Tamika Flynn made an appearance with Flor De Liz Perez, who silenced the ecstatic crowd with the poise and assurance her character should have. The audience also went justifiably crazy for Dylan Marron, who was nervous but adorable as Carlos.

If I'm gushing...well, the show deserved it. They did an amazing job.

I'm sure Kevin is just as beloved in Desert Bluffs.