I think that you equated Smurfette with Pandora at one point, but I think you must have meant Helen, what with the "banging" theme. It's probably just the names getting muddled rather than any actual conflation. Helen of Troy is, of course, at least partly divine (depending on the account), heightening the similarity with Machen's Helen.

Continuing the banging theme, I'm fairly sure that your suggestion that Raymond has had sex with Mary is correct and intended. When Clarke first sees her we get the line "“She was so beautiful that [he] did not wonder at what the doctor had written to him". I can't see what other reading makes sense, other than he wrote that he'd had sex with a seventeen year old girl. He really was an awful prick.

I see what you mean - and there are similarities there too for sure. But I did mean Pandora, her story being that she was sent by the gods to cause trouble among men. Smurfette's is the same, created by Gargamel to sow dissent among Smurfs.

We're totally talking about the Smurfs online.

Conflating? I didn't think so - maybe it was unclear. Helen inadvertently caused many men to die in the Trojan War since as suitors they had promised to rise to the aid of whomever won her hand (kind of like Lucy in Dracula). So, because of this and her legendary beauty, it seemed an appropriate name for Machen to choose.

On a separate note, the characterization of Helen reminded me of Pandora, who in myth was the first woman and brought misery to men. I wouldn't say that the character of Helen in Greek myth has much to do with Pandora, but both characters have aspects that apply to Machen's Helen. That's all I was driving at.

On the off-topic stuff - I really wasn't critiquing past generations in any real way - I don't believe we can judge another time or culture by our own - but just talking extemporaneously about thoughts I had while reading, however dumb. Apologies that it went on too long.

Julie - if you listen to the episode you'll find we didn't dismiss the feminist perspective at all.

Thanks for the kind words. As far as discussion or criticism goes - whatever you guys like to chat about is fine! I check in to the forums once in a while but it's your space to have your voices heard.

That said, the anthology is already completed and off to print, so please don't give me any great ideas because I can't steal them and make them my own, and don't want to regret that:)

Really appreciate anybody who took the time to listen. We'll be back in snooty lit-crit mode next week.

Paying for content is just simply not for everybody, and we understand. We knew that we'd lose some audience by going to this format. Obviously we'd like to keep everybody but we've also been on the other side of this kind of switch. We get it.

Other posters on this thread have hit on our reasoning. We actually have tried other models - donations (both when the listener feels compelled and when prompted by "ransom" drives) and sponsorships, which have been sufficient to cover basic expenses. Kickstarter is fine for folks funding one-off projects, but isn't a good fit when recurring and predictable revenue is required. And all of these models require additional resources. Sponsorships require solicitation and fee negotiations as well as tracking the efficacy of the ad for the sponsor (and surrendering a bit of editorial control), and the ransom drives require us to contribute more than just the show in order to attract donors, which ultimately leaves us less time for the show itself.

We're trying to offer the squarest deal we can and be open about the fact that we're not business geniuses. Please know we're approaching this with great humility and don't feel entitled to anything. We simply love the show and want to continue. But aside from server and design and production, there are a lot of intangible costs that make it difficult to continue for free. Obviously time spent away from family and friends as well as the pressure of doing this on top of full-time and freelance work commitments. It's worth mentioning that although we started during a lull in our careers, we have since both refused work that would've paid a heck of a lot more for a heck of a lot less effort, and can't continue to make that sacrifice without being able to justify it in a real-world way.

I really appreciate the support I've read here, as well as the openness of those who are jumping ship. There really have been only a few wholly negative reactions, and for that we're thankful.

All that said - if this doesn't work out, I'm going to drown a kitten each day of 2013. If you don't contribute, then I guess we all know that's cool with you.

p.s. Puppies on the weekends.

Thanks for your patience, guys. We're trying to get a mirror set up for the story readings in order to improve download times.

I'm sure it'll lighten up over the weekend.

Chad

As of this week, WE ARE THERE!

Thanks so much!!!!
C

That's the best thing I've ever seen.

Hey y'all-

We're 2/3 of the way there. My guess is that with reaching the ransom and production time (I have no idea how long it'll take), we'll have the Call of Cthulhu reading as a Halloween season treat.

No worries if you can't give! Believe me, neither Chris nor I are strangers to wallet full of moths. We're very grateful to those that can help out, but we love everybody who listens (those that have signed the oath anyway).

In part two when Chad said the line about "getting gods who give you good stuff" it reminded me of this song-

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Good call! That opening sample was on my mind when I said that - my band opened for Electric Hellfire Club a lot in the 90s and we toured around the Midwest with them occasionally - the lead singer Thomas Thorne actually produced our first demo (on their second album we get a special thanks - Pitch Black Manor). Ha - never would've thought in a MILLION years that somebody would catch the reference.

I know I've used one of the tracks that Thomas produced at the end of one of our episodes, can't remember which now...

-Chad

The topic of Hyperborea came up in Ep.4 and I believe Chad was suggesting that Howard's Conan stories were set in the Hyberborean Age. It was actually called the Hyborian Age. Hyperborea, iirc, was a country in the Conan stories, though.

Another one out of the park. Great stuff so far. And I.N.J. is a great guest

I've been kicking myself for that one - especially since I'm now reading some Conan - I'll be bringing it up on the show:)

Chad

Man!  This is MY favorite of HPL's stories...so chocked full of geological/paleontological goodness! 

It's funny, but in this episode, Chris says that geology students should read this story...well, actually, I'm a geologist, and I have my undergrads read "At the Mountains of Madness" in my Historical Geology course.  The course is taught in the Fall (usually), and I generally give them the story as a fun assignment over Halloween; we have a pretty neat discussion afterwords, and I usually use it as a lead-in to a discussion of nifty concepts and geological uses of ichnofossils (= tracks, trails, burrows, etc of organisms preserved in the stratigraphic record).  Some of the geology is wrong, even at the time when Lovecraft was writing, but still!  Neat stuff!  And heck, he even has some Wegener and "Continental Drift" thrown in there, when the whole idea was generally rejected by American geologists!  It's great!

Looking forward to more of the story!

That is straight up awesome.

Holy hell that cat is cute. If you wanted something cat-related I guess it could be Atal, but I'd say go for Wilmarth. There's nothing funnier than giving an animal high status, especially when they shit in a box.

You guys are blowing my mind.

Hey y'all - we'll be up with Medusa's Coil next week. Aside from the time it would take us, I don't know if the audience could handle an hour and a half release (plus the bandwidth would be a problem).

We're hoping to give folks a week to just absorb the readings, like we did with the Haunter reading.

Although I sat down to read Medusa's Coil last weekend, and... oh boy...

Well, we'll talk about it next week.

Chad