Hello again, internet people who may or may not be reading this!
It’s Thursday. The Thursday before a long weekend (in the U.S. at least). And even if you’re not facing down a three-day weekend, you are facing down a Friday. I hope that means something good for you.
Today, I’ll be reviewing and rating my Welcome to Night Vale book collection from best to least best (not worst, that seems too strong a word since I think all the books are pretty damn good).
First, a quick prelude…
What is Welcome to Night Vale?
TL;DR: WTNV is about a weird town in the desert told via radio news broadcasts.
And if you’re interested in a little more detail…
Welcome to Night Vale is a podcast about a strange town in the desert, where the Hooded Figures remind you that dogs are not allowed in the dog park (no one is, actually), librarians are as like to eat you as they are to recommend a good book, and the phrase “who’s a good boy?” strikes fear into the hearts of its citizens (or maybe that’s just me, that arc fucked me up).
The podcast is co-written by creators Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink, and voiced by a plethora of talented and entertaining people, some of whom are regulars and many of whom are special guests who appear for an episode or two to bring joy to our lives before disappearing mysteriously back into the voice-acting ether.
The show is mainly narrated by Cecil Palmer, the town’s radio news broadcaster. He is a dork. He is in love with the local scientist, Carlos. These are the most important things to know.
Every episode has a break to check the weather. The weather is always interesting songs sung by independent artists, and has only once in my memory been a song actually referencing weather of any kind.
Sometimes, they break to check the traffic too. It’s not music, but it’s equally as not-traffic-y. (EDIT: I’m catching up now, and my memory was faulty, the traffic checks do indeed mention cars and things akin to actual traffic warnings—oops!)
The genre’s kind of horror with a dollop of humor, a healthy helping of romance, and as the story progresses, plenty of well-baked adventure.
The podcast began in 2012, blew up in 2014, and has become a full-on cultural phenomenon with a wide fandom, live shows of unique episodes, spin-off podcasts in the same vein, and of course, books.
#0 – The Welcome to Night Vale Episode Books
I’m starting with these books because they almost don’t count, but it would be a crime not to include them. These are the transcript books, the podcast itself written down. These include:
- Mostly Void, Partially Stars
- The Great Glowing Coils of the Universe
- The Buying of Lot 37
- Who’s a Good Boy?
All covers were designed by Milan Bozic.
I only own the first two (behind on the podcast in two forms, it seems) but all four are beautifully designed with art by Jessica Hayworth, the artist and illustrator behind many of Night Vale’s most notable pieces.
Each book includes a foreword by fans such as Cory Doctrow, Maureen Johnson, Dessa, and Jonny Sun.
Inside, some episodes are prefaced with a little intro by the voice actors or authors which gives a little extra insight into their thoughts on the episode. And just to make sure you’re getting the full creepy effect of the words, every few pages is another Jessica Hayworth original illustration that really brings each story home.
If you’re interested in the world of Night Vale but not big on podcasts, I can’t recommend these books enough.
#4 – The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home
I talked about this one yesterday (along with four other books I somehow devoured in a single week), but that was just a review of the book in and of itself. How does it stand up as a Night Vale novel?
It, uh… it kind of doesn’t.
What I mean is that it’s a good book, but it doesn’t feel like a proper Night Vale story. Now, part of that can be chalked up to the fact that it doesn’t take place in Night Vale, but neither does Alice Isn’t Dead, and that felt more Night Vale than this does.
For context, the Faceless Old Woman who secretly lives in your home is a recurring character in Welcome to Night Vale voiced by the lovely Mara Wilson. She, well, secretly lives in your home and, seemingly for shits and giggles, messes with your stuff.
She’s always been a very ethereal character. We’ve never known what she looks like, or really properly what her motivations are.
And, of course, we never knew where she came from.
But now we do.
It’s not what I expected, and it’s not really information I needed, but it was a great story.
The novel follows two timelines: one the story of the Faceless Old Woman pestering a Night Vale citizen named Craig, and the other the story of a young woman losing everything and dedicating her life to revenge.
The former is a Night Vale tale.
The latter is a swashbuckling adventure of loss and love, of adventure and death, and the struggle to define oneself by something as illusive as revenge, in the end concluding that you simply can’t, or you lose any real semblance of self at all.
If these were two different books, I would not question it.
If you took out the bits about Craig, slapped another cover on this book, and handed it to me again, I’d still read it. I loved the setting, the preludes that simply described the scene via smell and taste, the intrigue, and really any story with a gang of criminals portraying a do-or-die found family is going to get and keep my attention.
But that means the majority of the book was not the spooky, funny Night Vale story I was craving.
It’s a great book, but it’s at the bottom of this list because as part of the Night Vale lineup, it falls just a little short of the mark for me.
#3 – Alice Isn’t Dead
This is not a Night Vale novel. It’s written by Joseph Fink alone, and based on his podcast Alice Isn’t Dead which does not take place or even touch on Night Vale.
However, I still consider it to be part of the Night Vale lineup.
This isn’t just because it’s written by one of Night Vale’s creators, but because it also has a Night Vale feel. It’s creepy—“who’s a good boy?” levels of terrifying, in fact—and it deserves a spot on this list.
Alice Isn’t Dead is a podcast told via recordings of a girl named Keisha. Keisha is looking for her wife, Alice, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances, by which I mean she up and left one day with no explanation, no word, no trace.
In the podcast, the recordings are often directed at Alice. “I know you’re out there. Listening.” We follow Keisha as she drives her delivery truck down empty highways, making deliveries at mysterious places she’s not supposed to ask about.
If you weren’t wary of those huge trucks on the road before, this podcast is practically guaranteed to make you wonder just a little more about what they’re hiding.
The book starts much the same: Alice is gone. Keisha thinks she’s dead, even holds a funeral and mourns the life they once had.
And then she sees Alice on TV, just a glimpse, in the middle of something mysterious.
Keisha digs through everything Alice left behind and follows the clues Alice never meant her to follow (or did she?) to discover the mysterious and terrifying world her wife was once a part of. She takes a job with a mysterious shipping company called Praxis, discovers and is stalked by an equally mysterious group called Thistle, and ultimately must decide between letting the mystery—and Alice—go, returning to her old, normal life, or giving up the rest of her life in search of the truth neither side wants her to find.
I loved this book.
It’s a horror story, but there’s something comforting about the way Keisha deals with that horror. She’s terrified but faces it anyway. She knows she’s not safe anywhere but still pauses in that existential dread to help a friend. And her narration, her reflection on everything she’s learned, feels real and raw and relatable.
However.
I did not like the ending.
I’m not opposed to books taking a big concept and making it into something more manageable and entertaining—that’s largely what the first two Night Vale novels did, as I’ll talk about in a moment.
But the way this story explains itself at the end felt a little shoe-horned, like it wasn’t a conclusion we’d been lead to naturally.
Or maybe it just hit a little too close to home. Maybe I know a Thistle or two and didn’t like being called out for it, or for not doing enough about it, or being told there’s not much I CAN do about it.
I don’t know. It’s been a few years. Maybe it’s time to reread with fresh eyes.
Anyway, excellent book, brilliant addition to the Night Vale list, absolutely recommend for fans of suspense, mystery, and horror.
#2 – It Devours!
THIS is a Night Vale novel. It takes place in and around Night Vale and follows two of its citizens in particular, Nilanjana and Darryl, as they piece together yet another mystery about why Night Vale is falling apart.
It does that periodically. You know, normal desert town stuff.
Nilanjana is a researcher working in the lab of Carlos the Scientist, dreamy significant other to the town’s radio broadcaster, Cecil Palmer (spoiler: they get married and it’s real cute, if you’re not in it for anything else, join the fandom for these two dorks).
Ahem.
Nilanjana and Carlos have something important in common: they are outsiders, people who came to Night Vale from Elsewhere and have been integrated into the population, with only the occasional greeting of “Interloper!” from friendly locals.
But Carlos has been in Night Vale longer and has adapted better to the strange goings-on in the town.
Nilanjana isn’t quite there yet.
So when Carlos asks her to look into the latest strange going-on, the rumblings akin to earthquakes in the town’s desert wastes, she goes into it with a logical mindset and a scientific outlook.
Not the best plan.
In the course of her research she meets Darryl, a member of the Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God, a cult religious group who worship The Smiling God and believe that, at the height of spiritual enlightenment, they will be devoured joyfully by said god.
For obvious reasons, the two clash. And for obvious reasons, they fall in love.
For somewhat less obvious reasons, they are forced to help each other decipher what the rumbling in the desert wastes really is (spoiler: it’s not earthquakes) and how to stop it destroying the town all together.
The book explores the gap between science and religion, and how sometimes bridging that gap is what it takes to solve a terrifying mystery.
Moreover, it examines why defining yourself wholly by one without even considering the other can be dangerous to both yourself and those around you. Not always in the “we need to take a plate of teeth into the desert or we’re all gonna die” kind of way, but something close to that.
This book is just about as Night Vale as it gets with a mystery, intriguing characters, and equal parts spook and romance. It only narrowly misses grabbing the top spot, but…
#1 – Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel
This was always going to be the best when ranking novels from the Night Vale universe. It was the first, the original, the measuring stick to which all others are and will be compared.
Also, it’s just a really good book.
The story follows three main characters: Jackie, Diane, and Diane’s son Josh.
Jackie is 19. She has been 19 for a very long time and will, presumably, always be 19. She runs the town’s pawnshop, which is full of wonderful and dangerous items that can be sold and purchased, but probably should not be.
Jackie swears by her routine and is at the very least content with where she is and will always be in life… until, of course, that routine is broken by a man with a deerskin suitcase.
Thursdays, amirite?
Diane is a mother, which is tough enough. But she’s also a single mother separated from her husband who left suddenly and without proper closure.
She manages… until the man with the deerskin suitcase shows up.
Now, she’s seeing her ex-husband everywhere—literally, there are tens of him around town, working in construction, hanging out at the bar, driving down the highway that leads both from and to Night Vale. He. Are. Everywhere.
And Josh? Josh is nowhere.
Being a teenager is also tough enough without the mystery of an estranged father to drag you down. But when the man with the deerskin suitcase crosses the path of this young shapeshifter, Josh thinks he might finally get the answers about his father he’s been craving.
He leaves Night Vale in search of the truth, disappearing without a trace.
Jackie and Diane both end up on the trail of the man with the deerskin suitcase, Diane in search of Josh and Jackie in search of a way to restore her lost routine. All three characters find that they are headed in the same direction: KING CITY.
In Jackie, we explore the feeling of being in a rut, of not being able to or not wanting to move on or progress in our lives. The feeling that there’s nothing else to be done, so we just won’t do it. And how stagnating that feeling can be.
In Diane, we explore the trials of motherhood, raising a child on your own, so difficult to relate to and without any context or instructions on how to do it right. We also explore the difficulty in moving on from a long relationship, especially one that left so many questions when it ended.
In Josh, we explore how difficult it can be to define oneself when all normal definitions just don’t seem to fit. When it’s nearly impossible to relate to anyone else, even those closest to you, and how important solid relationships can be when trying to figure out who you are.
And in all three, we explore just how fucking wacky Night Vale is (and how important it is that what happens in Night Vale stays in Night Vale).
The book ends the same way the show tends to end: with the problems not 100% fixed, the questions not 100% answered, but everything heading in a hopeful direction.
Being so near the source material, this book is quintessentially Night Vale, translating the creepy, mysterious, funny, beautiful things that make the podcast so amazing into pages of enrapturing prose in a way that feels like coming home.
All Hail the Glow Cloud
It’s been such a long time since I’ve listened to or read anything about Night Vale. It’s not as widespread as it used to be, but it’s super comforting to know the universe is still growing and expanding, and that if I could take the time, it would be easy to slip right back in.
Standing on the edge of a nice, long weekend, I think I might just take that time.
Are you taking any time off, this weekend or any time soon? What are you planning on doing with that time? “Absolutely nothing” is a 100% valid answer, by the way.
Thanks for reading and have a great long, regular, and/or spooky weekend!
Meg Dailey 