Latest / Dubious Creatures Presents / The Dubious Book Club Podcast Ep 11 - House of Rayne Part 1

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The Dubious Book Club Podcast Ep 11 - House of Rayne Part 1 · Dubious Creatures Presents

0:00
Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Dubious Book Club
0:03
podcast. It is me, Aubrey, one of your
0:05
dubious creatures and other dubious creatures have joined
0:08
me. Say hi.
0:10
Hello. I will admit to nothing also.
0:18
Hi. So yes, we are back with another
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book of discussion. We are going to be discussing
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House of Reign by Harley Le Roux.
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This book has some content warnings, so I'll drop those
0:33
real quick before we get into things.
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The content warnings are graphic violence, mental trauma, queer
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phobia, religious trauma, death, slash grief, animal death,
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mental illness, slut shaming, and torture.
0:47
So yeah, this is actually the second Harley Le Roux book we
0:51
read in the book club. So what are people's thoughts
0:56
about it? So far she's been.
1:00
Freaking holding out on me. I'm having a great time.
1:06
I'm having. So.
1:07
Many time. Yeah, I, I finished it.
1:15
I finished the book. I didn't think I would.
1:18
I I got about, I got about like halfway through and there's this
1:27
one chapter like 23 or 24 where I was like positively
1:33
titillated. And it wasn't by one of the
1:35
graphic lesbian sex scenes. But probably we don't need to go
1:42
into why that specific scene was so fucking exciting for me
1:47
personally. I'm sure it isn't and indicative
1:51
of some blatant psychosis. Which bit was it that hooked
1:56
you? That's.
1:57
What? We finally get to see the Angel
2:03
and I was just like, Oh yeah, oh man.
2:07
So you're the secret monster fucker?
2:10
Monster appreciator. Don't know if necessarily I'd
2:13
want to have sex with it, but I for sure I'm going to be I for
2:17
sure I'm going to be observing it in the bushes with
2:19
binoculars. I mean, that's fair.
2:21
The Angel is certainly a hell of a preacher, but whatever.
2:23
We should, you know, start at the beginning of the book and
2:28
we'll get to the Angel. Actually.
2:31
So, you know, we, we start off with Reign's perspective in the
2:36
prologue. It's very foreshadowy and you
2:43
know, we don't truly understand what's going on.
2:46
Yeah, we we established a couple of things right out the get go,
2:51
which is a rain who is one of our I I say the word
2:57
deuteragonist a lot. It it literally just means it it
3:01
literally is just in reference it it's one of those words I use
3:04
to make myself smarter than I actually am.
3:07
It's actually it it literally just means the books POV is
3:11
shared between two different protagonists that that's it.
3:14
That's. We have Salem.
3:17
We have rain. Duteragonist.
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It's got dute in it. I'm a little fucked up on cold
3:26
medicine right now so. I love it strapping.
3:29
It's great. We have we have Salem and Rain.
3:35
Salem is very, very sad. One, you know it, Salem and Rain
3:46
are lesbians, as if you couldn't tell from the fact that their
3:50
names are Salem and Rain and they.
3:53
Get to be They get to be gay together, but.
3:56
Yes, Salem. Salem is canonically at least
4:01
by, if not some form of pan, because it is established that
4:05
her engagement was broken off and she's on a great big bike
4:11
ride to deal with it. Yeah, you know, like you do when
4:14
you get your heart ripped out of your chest, you find yourself
4:17
realize. It was a bike, like a bike bike.
4:21
For like several chapters. I thought it was like a
4:24
motorbike. And I was like, oh, yeah.
4:25
And it was like, oh, that you're really committed to this.
4:29
I mean, I wouldn't necessarily call Salem a bike.
4:34
She's a good time had by some. Speaking of which, the hey God I
4:42
love how we're only like 1 chapter after the fucking
4:45
foreboding horror movie mess that was an introduction to
4:50
Rain. Our introduction to Salem is
4:52
ostensibly like the opening of an R rated Hallmark movie.
4:57
Just like I just got my engagement broke off and on a
5:01
biking trip to find myself and the Oregon coast, I'm run into a
5:05
beautiful stranger who eats my pussy out in the bathroom of a
5:09
dive bar. Look, the book does honestly a
5:16
really good job of setting the two tones we're going to be
5:19
living with. One is absolute horror and the
5:25
other? Is.
5:27
Lesbian lex. Yeah, yeah, Salem.
5:31
Salem in his first half of the book is literally just in the
5:34
Hallmark movie. She just thinks she's in like,
5:35
kind of a slightly gothic Hallmark movie.
5:38
And you know Rain is eating the horror movie from the beginning.
5:47
Yeah, it gets even more lifetime ask when after that whole
5:55
debacle, because the whole reason she was there's a whole
6:00
reason she was biting up this way, is that she was heading to
6:03
Black Ridge Island because of this cozy air PNB bed and
6:12
breakfast type situation that she heard about.
6:16
And wouldn't you know it, guess who runs this bed and breakfast?
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Said person she just hooked up with.
6:28
Yep. And they're both incredibly.
6:30
Normal about it to begin with. You're so normal about it.
6:35
Yeah. And I will say the more the
6:40
further along we got into House of Rain, the more I was like,
6:45
this is this is not identical, but similar to the plot of
6:51
Midnight Mass. There's there's a little bit of
6:54
midnight. Mass in there.
6:56
But again, yeah, there's obviously a lot of inspirations,
6:58
but like the the strange isolated community of Catholics
7:04
on an island in the Pacific Northwest, which I mean, like,
7:09
look, one of two things happened on islands of the Pacific
7:13
Northwest. Either the Catholics move in or
7:16
somebody eats another guy and this.
7:19
Time for book #2 and. In this book we have both, so
7:24
yeah, you know to. Be to be fair, like early on,
7:28
like in in like chapter two or three, somebody drops just the
7:31
God and for a moment it was like, wait, is this connected to
7:35
the other books? Is this the same?
7:38
Is this an? Extended Universe, no.
7:41
No, I can't go back. It's just, it's just Netflix.
7:48
I do really like the variety of religiosity that's present on
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the island though. Yeah, yeah, it it makes at first
8:00
I was like, oh God, it's oh God, it's somebody's fucking working
8:04
through their church trauma. But like, no, it's not the book.
8:09
While the book definitely has a certain character that we're
8:13
going to get into shortly, that is a bitch and she's a God
8:20
bothering bitch, which is even even better.
8:24
The book is surprisingly restrained, and it's like no
8:28
organized religion is not the seat of a all mankind's ills.
8:35
Yeah. It's just very specific, which I
8:40
appreciate. I appreciate that because, like,
8:43
oh good. A fiction writer who doesn't
8:45
subscribe to the R slash atheism philosophy.
8:50
Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that. Personally though, I suspect it
8:55
will get her so blasted by neckbeards on the Internet.
9:01
I mean, I don't know how many neckbeards are reading this very
9:04
hardcore lesbian sex book. I don't think many neckbeards
9:07
have even seen a woman. This is true facts.
9:13
Anyway, it it you're going to have to take the tangent away
9:17
from me, is the thing. I'm not going to stop.
9:20
I'm I'm aware. So yeah, no, it's, it's very,
9:24
very early on. Like Salem is just enjoying her
9:29
vacation and getting to know Rain, and Rain is internally
9:34
freaking out because it's like 2 weeks before, you know, the
9:38
island shuts down for the winter.
9:40
And essentially they're haunted by something.
9:44
They refer to it as the Angel. Yes, and we have Chekhov's last
9:50
ferry off of the island, which is our handy little pepper.
9:55
But here's the thing that I also like about the situation,
9:58
because again, you know, all the whole Death Island thing, again,
10:03
it's a very classic trope, but what the book does very early on
10:07
is that it explains pretty succinctly why A, it's even by
10:14
conventional means, pretty hard to get off the island by
10:20
conventional means. Which is why, you know, the
10:24
characters can't just do the logical thing from day one
10:28
because the Pacific Northwest is God's Etch Sketch.
10:31
Every time he doesn't like what it looks like, he shakes it or
10:35
drowns it or sets it on fire. Or all three at the same time.
10:40
And the metaphor doesn't really work.
10:42
Why would you drown a natural sketch anyway?
10:49
And the other is that there is as a what's called a side effect
10:54
of Black Ridge's old deal. People who are from the island,
10:59
when they try to go to the mainland are afflicted by what I
11:05
can only describe as constant unearthly screaming that
11:10
literally that literally drives them insane unless they return
11:14
to the island, which is why people haven't just moved out in
11:17
droves. Yeah.
11:22
So again, props to the book for setting up why the situation is
11:30
the way it is from the get go and just closing those potential
11:34
plot holes because that's. Yeah, We can't just be like, why
11:37
didn't they just leave at the beginning?
11:38
The other we have to have a story.
11:41
That my my jokes. My my smart alecky jokes.
11:47
How am I supposed to disguise my nitpicking observations as an
11:52
excuse for humor now? You've met your match.
11:57
Good media. Yeah.
12:02
So yes, I appreciate that. Also, I know some members of the
12:08
audience are like here for the scissoring and there's plenty of
12:13
that, but believe me, there is plenty of that.
12:17
There really is. They really don't beat around
12:20
the Bush. In fact, I dare say they beat
12:22
the Bush a lot. OK also, oh sorry, finish your
12:28
thought and then I have a thought.
12:30
No, my thought was basically like, that was not the part that
12:32
was getting me all hot and bothered.
12:33
The part that was getting me all what bother was the fucking
12:36
monster. Because it is, Oh, it is a
12:40
proper monster. Oh, and it hits.
12:44
It hits all the tropes I love in a proper creature feature.
12:48
Oh man, I. Also I also like where we do
12:51
actually get to spend like a decent chunk at the beginning,
12:55
like we don't see it for quite a long time.
12:59
Exactly. Because you never just fucking
13:01
show it, you always build up to it.
13:03
You always foreshadow, you always drag it out in the
13:07
imaginations and the warnings of other people around there.
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And all the voices, the fucking voices.
13:14
I it's a very specific trait of monsters and fiction, but I
13:21
personally have always loved the fucking mimicry.
13:25
Yeah, but. It's a really good one that like
13:28
exists in a lot of folklore that a lot of monsters can do that,
13:32
but a lot of things that like go like kill people could do that.
13:35
So it's it is really cool to see it in there and like our first
13:39
like real supernatural thing that happens like to Salem is
13:44
the fucking ghost of the bath. See, This is why you can't be
13:49
caught and masturbating anywhere.
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Not even where you should be safe in your.
13:55
Because basically, the sequence of events up until this point is
14:01
Salem has arrived on near Creepy Island, gotten to the Balfour
14:07
Manor, which is Rain's ancestral home that she's converted into a
14:13
bed and breakfast because, well, to be blunt, because she doesn't
14:17
really know what the fuck to do with it.
14:19
And needs money. And needs money and it it
14:25
granted. And another thing is that like
14:27
again, it kind of subverts the usual trope of like no survival
14:33
instinct whatsoever in that she's not the only out of towner
14:39
to staying there. Like we meet a couple of other
14:42
like we meet a couple of seasonal hunters.
14:44
I believe their names are Martin and was it George I?
14:48
Think George. Yeah, we we meet our dead meat.
14:52
Yeah, I mean, they're they're waving death flags to begin
14:55
with. But like it again, I appreciate
14:58
I appreciate the book going out of its way to be like, no, this
15:03
is like Salem is not just it has a Salem does not just have a big
15:10
arrow above her head in universe that says protagonist like.
15:16
No, it's perfectly. Reasonable.
15:19
Yeah. And she reacts, I would say very
15:22
reasonably, to the supernatural things that happened to her in
15:27
that it's revealed a little bit later that she has a diagnosed
15:32
anxiety disorder and has since she was a teenager.
15:35
So when she's having weird visions and freaking out, she
15:41
has the immediate instinct to invalidate her own feelings
15:45
because that's what she's used to doing.
15:47
That's what people have been doing to her for years.
15:52
Because the alternative is acknowledging that a ghost just
15:55
caught her masturbating, and I don't think anybody wants to
15:58
confront that. To be fair, there's a ghost and
16:01
then her the ghost and then the girl she has a crush on.
16:05
Yeah, because like, both of them are basically, again, it's just
16:09
the end, then they were roommates trope.
16:12
But like again, we know what we're here for.
16:15
Yeah. Like, and, and literally.
16:22
And what's so funny about it is that after after the peeping
16:27
ghost and Salem's a very understandable freak out and
16:31
Rain rescuing her from that whole situation, she immediately
16:36
follows it up with maybe don't waste so much water while you're
16:41
living out your fantasies next time.
16:45
Which cracked me up something fierce.
16:48
Yeah, I mean, like she did rescue both Salem and Salem's
16:53
vibrator, so. Yeah, like Ray knows what's up.
17:00
Yeah. Yeah.
17:05
So I was, I was already pretty invested from the get go, if for
17:10
no other reason than it probably less, probably not for the
17:14
reasons the author may have initially intended.
17:18
But you know, that's just my freak.
17:21
What are you going to do? I was genuinely like, oh man,
17:25
someone's going to die because I.
17:31
Creatively. Yeah, because like, I'm that I'm
17:36
that fucking guy who's like, oh, man, I can't wait for things to
17:40
get splattered all across this scene, Juan.
17:45
The the author does a really good job with all of the sensory
17:50
descriptions of the aftermaths of all of these experiences.
17:56
So the smells of rotting things and the like feeling of cold,
18:03
it's a very sensory experience as you're going there.
18:07
It's like. What a lot of people don't.
18:10
OK, yes, I think it's a fair statement to say, yeah, corpses
18:13
smell bad. But specifically if the bowel
18:18
wall or the stomach gets perforated.
18:22
There's a reason why even, like, professionals have to work with,
18:25
like, essential labeling special tablets to deal with the
18:30
cadaverine scent because, like, it doesn't matter how tough you
18:34
think you are, you will vomit. Don't ask me how I know that.
18:41
We don't need to dwell on that part.
18:46
I I appreciate again, I, I appreciate the details because
18:52
again, not only am I getting my creature feature fixed, but it's
18:56
also just nice for someone to acknowledge that like, yeah, no,
19:02
but even the bodies are gross, especially even like animal
19:08
carcasses. Gross bad.
19:11
Like, bad enough when it's just roadkill, when you've got some
19:14
kind of greebly creature skulking around the woods
19:18
mutilating black bears for fun, Even worse.
19:24
Yeah. And one of the things that like,
19:27
comes from like what happens with the ghost in the bathtub is
19:31
that Rain moves Salem into a different room on the third
19:37
floor. They're like, literally like
19:41
right next to each other now. And.
19:45
Then, because Salem unintentionally broke the
19:48
bathtub, they have to go into town together.
19:54
And the charming town has some very interesting features like
20:02
curfew warnings and industrial grade floodlights.
20:07
And fucking bells on fences. Yeah, I do.
20:19
I do love the way that the townspeople are just like.
20:22
Really. Clearly trying to make sure that
20:25
the visitors don't hatch on, but they are still just so, so
20:32
terrified. Yeah.
20:34
Well, again, it's it, it kind of makes sense because again, we've
20:39
established very early on they can't leave.
20:43
They clearly want to, but they can't.
20:46
It's kind of sort of established that the Angel is asleep for
20:51
like spring, summer and fall and then wakes up in the winter to
20:56
kill. But this something's different
21:01
this time because it's has woken up early.
21:06
God damn global warming. I was thinking it.
21:13
God damn global warming at awakening the nightmarish
21:17
monsters in the FARC gardens of the earth ahead of schedule.
21:20
God damn it. Early on, we're told that a
21:24
teenager teenage girl is missing.
21:27
As we all know, nothing bad ever happens to straight teenagers
21:30
and these sort of stories. That they're always so safe.
21:34
They're always so, they're always so safe and so fine.
21:38
Yeah. Yeah, we also meet Andy and
21:43
Rebecca. Andy is ostensibly he's a friend
21:47
of the Balfour family and he's the local handyman, and Rebecca
21:50
is his adorable daughter, who nothing bad will happen to with
21:55
over the course of this novel. Definitely.
22:00
Seahawks going to be fine. Who will live?
22:06
Oh fuck, I almost forgot the fucking star of the show, Loki.
22:10
Yes, best boy. Loki, Yeah, Rain has Rain has
22:15
this big Husky dog. I mean, if we don't actually get
22:19
what Bray he is he Loki, he's. A wolf dog one.
22:23
Of those big cuddly wolf dogs. Hound of the Baskervilles.
22:27
Yeah, he is a certified good boy and I can confirm whether a few
22:32
close calls Loki will live some other wildlife on the island,
22:38
not so much, but Loki Willis. Loki is the important part.
22:45
Anyway, yeah, and again, we get this chapter also.
22:50
Well, these chapters rather give us some insight into Black Ridge
22:54
as a community and this kind of unspoken, the unspoken ways in
23:02
which the entire Township has had to adapt around almost 20
23:09
years of perpetual supernatural terror again.
23:15
We we re meet a couple of characters that we saw sort of
23:20
briefly at the beginning that are parishioners at the church.
23:25
Yeah, and I, I do. Like clear phobic.
23:29
Yeah, I I do like however, like I I do appreciate, however, that
23:33
that they are a minority and that they, they are the crazies
23:39
who for some rate, because I, I understand that people do tend
23:43
to do this. They tend to mythologize the
23:46
source of their suffering, especially if they're from a
23:48
religious background. But there are also plenty of
23:52
other perfectly religious people, including including
23:57
Rain's Uncle Gerard, who we'll get into eventually, who are
24:01
also like, no, that's dumb, stop doing that.
24:06
And I, I appreciate that because.
24:08
Discharge is doing his best. Yeah, because I well, I
24:13
recognize that as a thing. I also don't.
24:16
The all-encompassing monster cult thing has never really made
24:22
much sense to me in a vacuum. I get how it can work if you're
24:28
trying to tell a specific story, Midnight Mass, which is a very
24:37
good story about about the trap of religious radicalism, among
24:42
other things. But that's clearly not the story
24:46
precisely that the author is trying to tell, and I appreciate
24:49
how we don't get into the weeds of that particular trope.
24:52
There's just Ruth and Ruth is a bitch.
24:56
Yep, and you know, has a fun conversation with Salem while
25:01
Rain is off talking to her cousin.
25:03
Being like we need to reactivate the trail cameras.
25:05
Things are bad. Things are very, very bad.
25:07
Foreshadowing. Foreshadowing.
25:08
Foreshadowing. Yeah, but it's OK.
25:14
Ruth has solidified herself as that one character who you're
25:17
just counting the minutes until she dies horribly, and I
25:21
appreciate that as well. Yeah, she's got that that
25:31
particular smile and the the voice actress I just want to
25:35
give a little bit of props to. So, so good.
25:37
In the audio book format, you can feel the uncanny smile that
25:43
Ruth has when talking about the horrors, and it's something.
25:52
Yeah, but yeah, basically we learned.
25:59
We learned a bit about South Rain, you know, because what are
26:06
what are Butch monster hunting lesbians to do in the offseasons
26:11
but go to the mainland and, you know, eat straight pussy?
26:17
Perfectly acceptable behavior, you ask me?
26:20
I think she's run out of pussy on the island.
26:23
Yeah. Totally so man.
26:27
Problem is the Angel keeps killing all the free range pussy
26:30
here so. But yeah but you know Salem is
26:42
the only one who it granted unintentionally rain has brought
26:49
back. Guess you could say.
26:52
Technically, she does even. Yeah, like unintentionally.
26:56
She really didn't want. To too.
27:00
Yeah, and it's just like, oh, that now these bitches are hella
27:04
gay. Good for them.
27:05
Because like, again, it's trope. Well, it's a good trope.
27:08
Like, I don't begrudge the book. It's obvious tropes.
27:12
It's made very clear that Rain has some deeply seated
27:18
inferiority complex and imposter syndrome stuff which wraps
27:25
neatly into the back story of not just the Balfours but the
27:29
stalled islands. Fucked up deals.
27:31
OK it where the fuck was this world building in her soul to
27:36
take? Like, I know that what that book
27:37
was about, but like, holy shit, you've been holding out on us.
27:40
Building world building is really good.
27:41
This is also like there's like 6th book.
27:45
So it's like definitely, it's like you can see the the way the
27:48
authors had proved from reading like, like what was her like
27:51
first or second book to like her. 6th Yeah, it reads like
27:55
somebody's had practice. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
28:00
Yeah. And yeah, so, but good, good
28:06
world building. I approve.
28:09
And then shortly after that, Salem and Rain start banging
28:13
again. Yeah, there's a lot of there are
28:18
still entire chapters devoted to just the I'm running out of
28:23
funny ways to say sex. I knew this would happen
28:27
eventually. Over the course of this, over
28:30
the course of this podcast. I'm running out.
28:36
I'm running out of ways to infantilize.
28:38
Guys. Help.
28:41
I I want to call out the fantastic way that consent is
28:45
treated between this couple. I had a couple of moments where
28:52
I was nearly teary eyed, such as directly after the the encounter
29:00
with Ruth and Salem is very, very shaken accidentally, like
29:04
bumps into rain and rain who is very on edge because as we have
29:10
mentioned, things are very, very bad accidentally.
29:16
It doesn't recognize that it's Salem initially and puts a knife
29:19
to her throat. First of all, sexy.
29:21
Second of all. Yeah, it was.
29:24
Unfortunately, it was like, Oh no, that's hot.
29:27
Who among us, who among us hasn't been threatened by the
29:32
one night stand with a sharp object?
29:36
If only. Is it just me?
29:38
It should. Happen more.
29:41
OK, moving on. But no, directly after that rain
29:49
has just such a genuine moment of no, any pain that you
29:54
experience needs to be consented to.
29:58
And you didn't consent to this. And I am so sorry.
30:02
And it's just like you could have, you could have just played
30:07
this for the like cool, sexy, hot, dangerous woman.
30:10
But you didn't. You took the moment to step back
30:13
and say no. In the context of a positive
30:17
like consensual kink relationship.
30:20
This is what it actually looks like.
30:22
Yeah, the just the kink, the kink dynamics of this book are
30:25
so fucking good. And it wraps very neatly into
30:29
God damn fucking hell. Why is the right?
30:32
Why is the writing so good? It's.
30:35
Good. But it wraps very it wraps very
30:38
well into Salem's old back story specifically.
30:42
I mean it was one of the contributing factors of why she
30:44
broke off. Or rather, Colin the fucker
30:49
broke off engagement because like, she wanted to get freaky
30:53
and Colin was a guy about it. He instead decided to cheat on
31:00
her about it. Yeah.
31:01
Yeah, because I'm not a lot of Collins in my life.
31:10
Yeah. Milquetoast motherfuckers.
31:15
Seriously, 1000 years of venereal disease.
31:18
Pongi, Colin. There's a difference between
31:22
telling your partner hey BDSM is not my thing and cheating on
31:29
your partner about it. Not really cheating on your
31:32
partner about it but making you feel bad about your freak is
31:36
like OK straight to the penis explosion chamber.
31:40
Yeah, yeah, I know the there's there's a gulf between saying,
31:47
hey, that's not my thing, I don't want to do that, and hey,
31:52
you're awful for liking that thing and fuck you, I'm going to
31:56
go cheat on you about it. Yeah, fortunately we don't dwell
32:02
on Colin. Like Colin doesn't actually
32:03
appear in the book because he doesn't really need to.
32:08
We don't really dwell on Colin because, again, it's not really
32:12
the point. I'm trying very hard not to make
32:19
gross noises on the recording. You're good very, very shortly
32:31
after what I can I I I liked the scene in the woods.
32:36
In terms of my ranking so far if the lesbian sex scenes, I
32:39
thought that was a good one and. Give it 4 crack timings out of
32:47
five. Salem goes riding because, as
32:54
we've established, actual bike, specifically a mountain.
32:57
Bike mountain biking y'all. I miss a lot.
33:02
Not a lot of opportunities for that in Hong Kong.
33:06
Yeah. God, there are some word to the
33:11
wise for those of you doing biking trips.
33:17
Generally speaking, don't go to Hong Kong for biking trips.
33:20
Yes, it's a lovely city, just not for biking.
33:26
But more to the point, we're going biking the Pacific
33:29
Northwest. Plan accordingly.
33:33
Bring water you fuckers. Always bring water.
33:37
I, I don't know why I have to say this constantly, but bring
33:42
water you mother fuckers. You will get dehydrated.
33:46
I don't care how fucking misty it is in the scenic forestry.
33:53
Also, dress appropriately and be prepared to get a lot of mud
33:58
worked into places where mud reasonably shouldn't be.
34:06
OK, tangent over as you were. Yeah.
34:10
But yeah, shortly after like everything that's in the yeah,
34:14
she goes right at mountain bike riding and finds bones and she's
34:18
like, those are probably animal bones.
34:20
And we the reader going those are probably human bones.
34:23
Yeah, those are. We know, we know.
34:26
She's like, it's probably a big animal.
34:28
And I'm like, bitch. In fairness, unless it's an
34:35
actual human skull, it can be kind of difficult to tell.
34:39
Yeah. And she has already.
34:42
We we've established from the hunters that there are bears in
34:46
the woods. So so again, there is again what
34:51
I like about Salem specifically. So Salem is a good example of
34:57
the I think I mentioned this before, and Dagmouth, but the
35:02
main character should not initially know what genre of
35:06
story they're in. Yeah.
35:08
Like Salem, absolutely. Just not about what genre of
35:11
story she's. Like, because a reasonable
35:14
person would not immediately would not immediately jump to
35:17
oh, I'm in a horror movie. Yeah, yeah.
35:22
It's just like, that's probably a bear, and it goes on her merry
35:27
way. And at the time, some creature
35:30
in the forest was discounted as probably a bear.
35:34
The bears are pretty chilly all. Mm hmm.
35:38
So long as you don't mess with them, they'll.
35:40
Like, they're dangerous. They're dangerous, don't get me
35:43
wrong, but the Bears don't go out of their way to cause
35:46
mayhem, generally. Yeah, they're here for your
35:51
snacks. Hippopotamuses on the other
35:55
hand, those those are Satan's land tanks.
36:01
I know Mudang has us all fooled, but.
36:05
Mudang is just small. Mudang already has violence in
36:09
her heart, and we've seen it. But I want you to imagine that.
36:13
But about sized up to about 11 and with the watermelon crushing
36:18
jaws that offer no mercy or compassion.
36:22
That is what Pablo Escobar unleashed upon Colombia.
36:26
Yep, and territorial to boot. Yeah, and surprisingly fast on
36:31
land. Look, what I'm saying is that I
36:33
would be if there was a rampage hippopotamus on Black Ridge.
36:40
We've been much more scared. Exactly what is wrong with me?
36:48
Everything has perspective and I appreciate that about you,
36:52
Sawyer. I'm not doing well.
36:58
So bone is ignored for what we the audience know it is, and
37:05
then some more people go missing.
37:12
Yeah. And oh, man, we're getting so
37:16
close. Yeah.
37:18
We we also in this time get the like the actual like negotiation
37:24
of BDSM rolls between Rain and Salem.
37:31
Yeah, but I don't care because I'm edging to something very
37:36
different in the backyard. But no, our hunters, who were
37:43
waving death flags. On a different ride through the
37:47
woods, Salem comes across one of them, Martin.
37:52
And Martin is not OK. He keeps repeating the question
37:59
of whether or not she's seen George, who's the other hunter.
38:04
And she's like, no, I'm going to get back on my bike and maybe
38:10
see about getting help. And also it happens to turn dark
38:17
very quickly. And it's this point in the in
38:21
the narrative to your audience that I am positively frothing.
38:28
Yeah. My body is so fucking ready for
38:30
this. They they edges with the
38:32
monster, not the sex. I know.
38:34
Well here's the thing. That's how you introduce a
38:37
proper fucking monster. You don't just come out the gate
38:41
with it, you show. You show it in layers.
38:47
The first layer is always the impact on what it has around it.
38:56
Yeah. But then, oh man.
39:07
Yeah. And then?
39:08
She. She.
39:09
Doesn't need to get. All the way down the mountain.
39:13
Yep, and gets a little bit turned around in the process and
39:19
comes to the house from like a different non entrance sort of
39:24
back area and sees a stone building that looks real old.
39:30
And then she's like huh, what's that?
39:32
Oh, it's boarded up and there's some weird claws on the glass on
39:36
the inside. I'm going to Nope the fuck out
39:38
of that because I'm a reasonable human.
39:41
Let me in, Let me in. Yeah.
39:46
This. I'm going to be.
39:47
I'm going to be real. This monster would probably have
39:50
to take out a restraining order on me.
39:54
I I again, I don't necessarily think of myself as a monster
39:59
fucker. It's more like I read a book
40:05
called The Resurrectionist when I was a kid that was the most
40:13
creaturist of features and that that did things to my brain
40:17
chemistry. That probably explained a lot in
40:21
my present moment. I like monsters.
40:26
I just think they're neat. You are you are in good company.
40:31
I didn't necessarily say I want to fuck them.
40:36
That's just. Me, that's I understand, that's
40:39
the impulse for some people and I don't condone it.
40:43
Me personally though, it's more like I am respectfully jerking
40:49
off in the corner to the monsters you understand?
40:55
That's. What's going to be immortalized
40:57
forever? That is, I already found our
41:02
clip for this week work for this episode.
41:07
Oh, lovely. Mind me doing this, It's going
41:09
to be on the Internet forever. It's really what I want to leave
41:13
behind. Is this going to be the last
41:14
thing people know of me when I'm dead and gone?
41:18
Will I'm masturbating to monsters in the corner be the
41:20
only thing that people remember about me?
41:23
Is this what my life has become? To continue, I'm just having a
41:28
brief existential crisis. Yeah, she sees a spooky cabin,
41:33
runs back, gets high, encounters rain and yeah.
41:40
Yeah. Sex.
41:42
Sex. Yeah, unfortunate.
41:46
Again, they're good sex scenes, but a like, we're not going to
41:50
go into exhaustive detail. That's what the book is for.
41:53
Yes. Read the.
41:54
Read the scenes, Read the. Book and like again, like you
41:58
know the score by now, like. We got some brat play, we got
42:04
some, you know, some other stuff.
42:07
It's good stuff. It's good stuff.
42:10
It's good stuff like it's no notes again, that's.
42:18
There's not a lot to elaborate on.
42:20
Yeah, like you know it. There are some other like scenes
42:24
later on where I, I, I feel like I might have things to say, good
42:29
things to say, like I like how they handle certain things.
42:31
But the scene especially was like, this is a very good
42:33
establishing of kink dynamics. And they they put a really good
42:40
emphasis on the amount of trust that's being given honestly,
42:43
both ways. And I do appreciate that in this
42:47
book, sort of in contrast to her soul to take is that we get sex
42:53
scenes from the perspective of both of the partners.
42:56
We get from the top and from the bottom.
42:59
And I think that's neat. In fairness, that was because
43:04
Leon, over the course of the narrative, was less of a
43:08
character and more of a dildo with limbs.
43:13
He had the chapters with any world building.
43:17
That was interesting though. That's what.
43:21
Kills me anyways, we don't need to dwell.
43:26
I'll come up to distracting. Interesting is a stretch.
43:32
We also, after the greenhouse and everything, we learn a
43:35
little bit more about Rain's mom.
43:40
She was murdered in the. Lighthouse.
43:42
And her dad was. Her dad was.
43:46
Yeah. The parish priest also got
43:51
angeled. It's made pretty clear.
43:56
It's not clear yet at this point in the book and I haven't read
43:59
the whole book, so this is me. Just sort of my predictions.
44:03
It's kind of implied in a way. It's not a conferred until
44:08
later. You know, I'm I'm going to let
44:10
you. I really don't want to spoil it,
44:11
so I'm not going to elaborate anymore.
44:14
My my prediction slash understanding, which if I'm
44:20
correct it's a good good writing, is that dad and was not
44:26
necessarily Angel fied or summoned the Angel.
44:30
But I think dad became Angel and continued to terrorize his
44:34
family and the entire island for what is arguably his sin of
44:40
neglect towards his family. And maybe he also learned with
44:42
the mom. Again, we don't know, I think.
44:47
That. Would be a good sort of carry
44:53
through of of the monster and the themes present of
44:58
generational trauma and stuff like that.
45:01
I will say this reason why. It is called the Angel and the
45:05
reason why that is the local name for it is because the
45:09
local. Folklore has.
45:10
It that when Marion Balfour, that's the mom's name, was
45:17
murdered, Picard Balfour, that's the dad basically.
45:25
I know I. Heard Picard, and I was.
45:27
Like, oh, no, Picard, captain. Well, how could you, Captain?
45:32
Don't make it. So like I I never want to say.
45:37
Certain names are like off limits, but you got to know what
45:39
you're doing when you pick a name.
45:42
Yeah, that. Admittedly.
45:45
I'm. Just again, now I'm just
45:46
imagining. An evil Jean so.
45:50
Look cutest I guess. There was definitely an episode.
45:54
Of an evil twin, yeah. Anyway.
45:58
Dimension exists all right. That you mean the BDSM?
46:03
Dimension. Everybody.
46:09
Everybody's more. Honestly it ranges between evil
46:12
or just horny because we know. No one in Star Trek proper.
46:16
Has ever actually been horny. They had them.
46:19
Create a whole evil dimension. Just to get around the sensors.
46:24
Anyway that. Hey, if that pisses you off,
46:27
Trek fans, good. We don't have the 4th be
46:32
sucking. With you.
46:34
So we can't get a, we can't get a *.
46:35
Trek rant. Anyway, what I was?
46:40
Trying to say is that. Jean Luc Basically Jesus so hard
46:46
that he summoned a fucking avenging Angel upon the
46:50
inhabitants of Black Ridge. And in.
46:55
Typical Catholic, then. Typical Catholic fashion.
46:59
They just decided, well, guess we're going to have to grin and
47:01
bear it. Yeah, pretty much.
47:05
In fairness, it's. The townsfolk aren't
47:08
collectively insane. There have been multiple
47:11
attempts to try and trap or kill the thing, but none of them have
47:14
been particularly successful. Yeah.
47:18
So they're they're currently just focusing.
47:19
On keeping everybody safe and alive, which after.
47:24
Two decades of trying to cash and kill the thing and not
47:28
succeeding, I feel like that's a reasonable place to end up at.
47:33
Yeah. Where it's like, OK.
47:34
Yeah, you, you can't do anything because I mean, there's probably
47:36
like 5 or 6 years in the beginning with nobody believed
47:38
it existed and you know, just put their, the experiences up to
47:42
other things. And then when you know trail
47:45
cams and photos. Yeah, it The thing is, it's also
47:54
made pretty. Clear that conventional attempts
47:56
to try and kill the thing just flat out haven't really worked.
48:00
Yeah, they blew off a. Blew off an arm and the next
48:03
season it was back. Yeah.
48:08
But come on, please stop. Just let me have.
48:12
It just let me get to the scene. Fucking begging you I'm.
48:16
Fucking begging you man. Yeah.
48:21
There's there's, there's a lot more.
48:23
Just a relationship building between Salem and Rain.
48:29
It's it's really good. It you feel very realistic like
48:36
the. Relationship progresses in a
48:37
very realistic way, especially for two weeks, yeah.
48:41
And I, I feel like because we're able to get both perspectives,
48:46
Rain doesn't come off as unnecessarily edgy for saying,
48:51
you know, I, I heard people, I, you deserve better than me,
48:56
etcetera, etcetera. Like you get you get her
49:00
perspective of, you know, literally if you fucking
49:03
gaslight. Also, she's been.
49:05
Fucking gaslight. Like her entire fucking life.
49:13
So. Yeah, the.
49:15
Thing is like. I think part of the reason.
49:19
That works is because Rain has a support system.
49:23
Yeah, yes. She has Andy and.
49:26
She has Rebecca and she has her uncle Gerard who all clearly
49:31
care about her and are 110% like no, your dad was a fucking Dick.
49:40
And her captain goes. To.
49:43
The fire watchtower indeed her. Oh shit.
49:46
I completely forgot about her cousin.
49:49
In fairness, he doesn't get a lot of screen time.
49:51
He gets like maybe two. Yeah, I will say if I have one
49:56
critique of the book, it's that certain characters are mentioned
50:00
constantly but don't actually get a lot of screen time.
50:05
Like the sheriff, for example, who kind of is barely keeping
50:10
everybody, everything and everybody together by like the
50:12
skin of his teeth constantly is maybe shows up in person like
50:15
once, which is a shame. But I I understand again, you
50:21
know, the the book has a focus and it's clearly not on the
50:24
intricate dynamics of law enforcement on Blackridge
50:28
Island. We know that's all you want.
50:32
Yes, that's. All yes, that is.
50:33
All I want that I crave A detailed breakdown of the
50:37
jurisdictional authority of the Blackridge Sheriff's Department.
50:41
You got me. Because like, what are they
50:44
doing? Why is the FBI not showing up
50:46
for so many goddamn murders on this island, right?
50:52
Yeah, I. I didn't.
50:54
Say, I don't know, they mentioned that like, they tried
50:58
and it got people sent to a psychiatric hospital where they
51:04
they naturally went insane because of the Black Ridge
51:06
curse. Yeah.
51:10
So I mean again it I'm. Not saying that everything is
51:13
necessarily foolproof, but for the sake of.
51:16
Versamilitude. I'm kind.
51:18
Of like, OK, you know what? Fair.
51:20
It would be a little dull if the federal government got involved.
51:24
No, it's just me being an exile. Saying in the background being
51:26
like God. Mulder would love this.
51:31
I'm right there with you. Buddy, you got us so many
51:34
cigarettes, I feel like I'm going to need them in a minute,
51:40
but it's Halloween. Oh yeah, fuck, it's.
51:43
Halloween it's. Halloween.
51:44
And they have. Their cute little Halloween
51:47
festival, which of course has the local teenagers telling
51:50
ghost stories, which is totally a normal thing to do.
51:53
Which is how we learn a bit about the.
51:55
Angel, why? Why it's called that?
51:57
All that stuff I just mentioned. Yeah, and.
52:03
Salem is an axolotl and. Dresses right up as a black cat,
52:07
yes. She makes those cardboard ears
52:14
and hot goes them to barrettes and it's super cute.
52:18
It's it's cute, Yeah. It is very cute.
52:23
It's it's it's, it's a cute scene that is with a massive
52:29
fucking cloud of foreshadowing hanging over a little bit
52:32
because, yeah, after. After the the the you know the
52:36
teens are told go tell scary stories somewhere else, Rain
52:42
hears a. Voice in the.
52:43
Woods, you should follow it. That's the.
52:48
Natural thing to do with the voices in the woods.
52:52
And I understand rain. Rain does not understand she's
52:54
in a horror movie yet. No, no, she.
52:57
Doesn't she? Salem doesn't understand.
52:59
Rain is fully aware that she Rain is fully aware of the fact
53:05
that she is. She is.
53:09
Some form of final. Girl, exactly.
53:12
Whereas Salem. Is like, Oh no, it's the voice
53:15
of the hiker that I saw be potentially lost in the woods
53:18
and I haven't seen him in a little bit and he's screaming
53:21
for help. Well, I'd be a real bad person
53:24
if I didn't try to help somebody who was screaming for help.
53:27
And I've never lived in. Appalachian, my entire.
53:29
Life. Yeah, there's a.
53:32
Well, it's, I think it sounds like one of the teenagers to her
53:35
first, because this is the, this is the, this is the fake out.
53:40
Yeah, this is. Again, I really fucking like
53:45
this trope. I wouldn't say it's the most
53:49
original trope. In the world, but I personally
53:51
just can't get enough of it. Yeah, because.
53:57
Mimics the various. Voices that it's heard in order
54:02
to slowly lure Salem deeper into the woods.
54:09
Yeah. And then, so it's the.
54:10
Fake out with the teenager and Salem was like wow that was
54:15
really creepy. But it is Halloween, so I guess
54:19
I'm. Leaving in the morning.
54:20
And then that doesn't happen, no.
54:26
Now is the oh. No, it's those hunters.
54:30
I guess I really should help them just in case.
54:33
And would you like, would you like to take it from here,
54:37
Sawyer? OK, OK, restrain yourself so.
54:59
We up until this point. Don't know much about the Angel
55:07
physically. We got the briefest of hints as
55:13
to what its actual physical appearance is like in the
55:16
literal opening chapter, but when we get to when?
55:24
When Salem literally stumbles upon it.
55:31
It is. It is some straight up
55:35
Guillermo. Del Toro shit.
55:39
It is this gangly. Pale 6 limbed, eyeless thing
55:50
that even when it is fully visible, continues to utilize
55:58
these stolen voices, almost as if to taunt whatever it's
56:03
stalking. It doesn't physically speak,
56:14
which I appreciate personally because.
56:16
I, I don't know, I felt like especially with these kind of
56:18
monsters, nothing, nothing really kind of foils the fear
56:23
factor for me than having it monologue because.
56:30
It's not meant to be a character, it's meant to.
56:32
Be an entity. It's meant to be a threat and
56:39
well on on some level, I. Knew.
56:42
Like, OK, we're we're only halfway to the book there.
56:45
There's a good chance that nothing permanently bad is going
56:49
to happen to Salem. I think the effect honestly
56:55
might have been a. Little ruined for me personally,
56:58
not any fold of the author. I just don't think the author
57:02
was counting on somebody, so just going yes during an obvious
57:10
horror scene. But that's just my freak.
57:16
If I was a horror writer. And I heard somebody had that
57:18
reaction. I would be so flattered.
57:21
Yeah, like. No, this was this was genuinely
57:27
a great horror scene. To the point where any
57:33
semblance. Of horror was actually lost on
57:36
me because unfortunately I am just so perpetually down
57:40
abominable for this kind. Of stuff.
57:45
Because it also steals. Her voice, and it also has no.
57:50
Eyes. But it looks at her, yeah.
57:54
It is such a we. Don't get any confirmation.
58:02
Throughout the book about what it is exactly.
58:07
I don't want it and. Again.
58:09
But I again. That's a good thing.
58:11
Mm. Hmm.
58:13
Because nothing ultimately is. Scarier than the unknown.
58:18
And again, the book is. Very restrained in a lot of
58:23
aspects. It makes it very clear the
58:26
themes of like gothic and occult or throughout but it doesn't
58:31
specifically confirm or deny anything.
58:34
Especially when it comes to stuff surrounding the Angel,
58:37
which again, I'm not going to spoil because.
58:41
I really don't want to. Spoil the other half of the book
58:42
for you guys. And that's part of what makes
58:47
it. Terrifying.
58:48
We don't really know what it is. We don't really know where it's
58:51
from or what niche, if any, it occupies.
58:57
And some greater supernatural landscape.
59:01
And that is objectively a good thing.
59:03
In this kind of story, the. Less you know about it.
59:07
The more your own fevered imagination goes into OverDrive,
59:13
that's good horror, yeah. And one thing that.
59:21
Cause 'cause this book also reminded me a lot of T
59:24
Kingfishers What Moves the Dead, which is a novella that's sort
59:29
of a modern interpretation of the House of Usher.
59:35
You do kind. Of.
59:37
In that get a confirmation of what the the creepy thing was
59:44
all along. And.
59:47
And even when we see it in in both of them, there's still just
59:52
abject horror at the reality of what The thing is.
59:57
Yeah. There's a way to?
1:00:03
Yeah, I guess. The main thing is that.
1:00:06
I would definitely say in terms of what kind.
1:00:09
Of horror, House of Rain is, I would definitely say it's more
1:00:14
gothic horror. Than a cold it's.
1:00:19
Very Gothic. Horror there's.
1:00:23
Always. Underlying themes of.
1:00:25
Loss and trauma and how the real monster was man all along.
1:00:30
Because, you know, that's what you're here for.
1:00:33
And then the actual monster, if there is an actual monster in
1:00:37
these sort of books, generally speaking, doesn't necessarily
1:00:40
have to be the focus in the sense that we don't need to know
1:00:44
that many specifics about its actual origins and whatnot to
1:00:50
make it scary. Meanwhile you got examples of a
1:00:55
cult horror Which. Occult horror is hard to pull.
1:01:00
Off mainly because it requires an understanding of beyond
1:01:07
surface level folklore, which I'm I'm not saying it's.
1:01:18
Impossible by any. Means there's lots of.
1:01:20
There's lots of good examples, both contemporary and otherwise,
1:01:25
of a that and if. My brain was a little less
1:01:29
fevered. I might even say some specifics,
1:01:33
but I'm fucking drawing a blank right now for some reason.
1:01:39
They recently released. A trailer for of an adaptation
1:01:44
by this author from this author. Rather, it's called The Devil
1:01:47
and Silver starring Dan Stevens. But I read a different.
1:01:50
I read a different. Yeah, on.
1:01:53
The Terror, but I read a different short story by that
1:01:55
author that's a good example of a cold horror I'm trying my
1:01:58
fucking best to remember. Also if you check chat I've.
1:02:03
Been scrolling through Harley's socials because I was like, she
1:02:09
really, she put up art and commissioned art that had the
1:02:12
Angel in it. So I was like, what did the what
1:02:14
did the Angel click? That looks real fucked up.
1:02:18
Oh yeah, that's great. Victor Lavelle.
1:02:23
That's it. Victor Lavelle.
1:02:25
Victor Lavelle wrote a little bit more normal.
1:02:28
Skull than than I would have anticipated.
1:02:32
Yeah, I was. I was picturing something a bit
1:02:33
more. Slender Man, to be perfectly
1:02:35
honest, but you know, that's just that's just me, but yeah,
1:02:38
Victor Lavelle wrote a story called The Changeling, which I
1:02:44
think is a. Very good example of a cult.
1:02:46
Horror. Because that's.
1:02:51
Spoiling the changeling because. It's a good it's a good story
1:02:54
and you should read it. Basically, it is.
1:02:59
It's a very. It, it's what it says on the
1:03:02
tin. It's a story about, you know,
1:03:04
fucking child kidnapping and whatnot.
1:03:10
And fairies that are a bit less you.
1:03:12
Know fucking twee and the actual horror that surrounds the
1:03:19
Changeling myth. And what that means like more on
1:03:25
a cultural? Basis but anyway, yeah, so like
1:03:28
I would say that there are definitely elements of that a
1:03:33
cold horror in the House of rain, but it's.
1:03:39
It's definitely more gothic. Generally speaking, and that's
1:03:44
fine. Yeah, it it, it, it, it has a.
1:03:46
Lot of very classic gothic horror tropes in it.
1:03:50
Like it? Really.
1:03:51
It really doesn't. The Angel doesn't need to be
1:03:54
more fleshed out. It it just as A and it.
1:04:00
Exists yet as a monster. I appreciate its simplicity.
1:04:08
I mean, it's it's. It's very interesting like
1:04:11
because like if you go back to I feel like explaining the monster
1:04:16
is a very recent phenomenon in things like if you go back like
1:04:20
10/15/20 years of read books that have like the gothic horror
1:04:24
has a monster. A lot of times monster just
1:04:26
fucking exists there. There is no like this is where
1:04:30
the monster came from. This is its back story.
1:04:33
This is all of it. It's just a fucking monster, and
1:04:37
yet it has. Symbolism in the.
1:04:38
Story but you. Know well, that's mainly.
1:04:41
Because our modern. Culture is fucking obsessed with
1:04:44
lore. I should.
1:04:46
Know I'm part of the problem. Be less obsessed with lore
1:04:49
people. Sometimes I think it's a thing
1:04:53
like look, sometimes. I mean like.
1:04:56
Fuck. My brain.
1:04:58
I've got so many thoughts. I don't know.
1:05:03
The thing about monsters in fiction generally is that the
1:05:06
best monsters are allegories. Yeah, and you know your classic
1:05:13
like your. Classic Frank like your.
1:05:16
Classic Frankenstein, the Modern Prometheus.
1:05:20
If you're pretentious a lot of the times you know again, the
1:05:25
monster just shows up. It doesn't really need an
1:05:28
elaborate back story because it is an allegory.
1:05:31
In this case we get. Like a back story, but not a a
1:05:36
full explanation. Yeah.
1:05:38
So I think, I think it it strikes that balance really
1:05:41
well. Yeah.
1:05:43
And. After surviving the encounter
1:05:47
with the Angel, Salem makes her way back to Rain, and Rain has a
1:05:52
bit of an understandable freak out because.
1:05:56
She was supposed to be. Gone.
1:05:58
She was supposed to be on Chekhov's Ferry and was not, but
1:06:04
unfortunately, checkoffs of ice in the.
1:06:06
Woods won out. Sure did.
1:06:11
Oh God, I'm fucking. Dying over here.
1:06:14
I'm sorry. Yeah, it's.
1:06:17
Fine, you thirsted too hard. Over a monster.
1:06:21
I did and now God is punishing. Me for my God is punishing me
1:06:27
for my weird hyper fixation like all autistic people so.
1:06:32
This is kind of like. The big moment where like rain
1:06:35
comes clean to Salem. Like, yeah, what you saw wasn't
1:06:39
an hallucination. That was a fucking monster.
1:06:43
Yeah. No, it's.
1:06:44
Real. It's out there.
1:06:46
It's it's climbing through your windows.
1:06:49
Yeah. And.
1:06:51
Sorry, girlie, you're stuck with it for months.
1:06:56
Yeah. You're stuck here until.
1:06:58
Winter, it's done. Yeah, it's and I appreciate that
1:07:07
she just fucking. Says it to be honest, yeah.
1:07:13
Like it it? It again there there are other
1:07:18
tropes in this sort of fiction where people are just so
1:07:23
incredibly sometimes comically in denial because like I can't
1:07:27
handle the truth or I need to protect you from the truth.
1:07:30
It's like that is that's. One of those troops trope.
1:07:35
Trap. Fuck my brain.
1:07:40
I feel like I'm rapidly losing my ability to speak English as
1:07:43
the podcast wears on. One of the tropes.
1:07:51
It is pure Hollywood because it's meant purely.
1:07:53
To drag out the narrative until the third act.
1:07:59
But that's not it's a dumb trope, yeah.
1:08:04
No, I, I appreciate that. Rain isn't I'll protect you from
1:08:07
the information. Once the information is out,
1:08:10
she's like it's no, you need all the.
1:08:13
Yeah, you need all the information because this is
1:08:16
fucking dangerous and you know, Yeah, no, the.
1:08:20
Multi. Limbed skull faced horror does
1:08:23
not give a shit whether you believe in it or not.
1:08:28
Yeah, best to be believe in you're in a.
1:08:30
Horror Story, yeah. Yep.
1:08:36
It. Is the refreshing, to say the
1:08:39
least. Yeah, and there's.
1:08:42
There's like a little bit. Where you know Salem goes and
1:08:47
it's just like can I contact the Coast Guard?
1:08:50
Can I get a helicopter and rain and just like now about those
1:08:55
neighbor work people have tried that before Yep and then.
1:08:59
Like a a a dutiful audio HD person.
1:09:02
She googles it anyways. Yeah, yeah.
1:09:07
The main thing, in all fairness, I know.
1:09:11
Again, trying really fucking hard to follow the.
1:09:16
Advice of Alfred Hitchcock. And that the police can't show
1:09:19
up because that would be dull. The police on.
1:09:25
The island are busy. Yeah.
1:09:28
The. The weather out in like,
1:09:30
especially like the Puget Sound region can get gnarly.
1:09:35
Yeah, Speaking of somebody. Who lived in the Pacific?
1:09:38
Northwest for like a year and a half and this island sounds like
1:09:42
it's. Pretty.
1:09:43
Far offshore? Yeah, like it.
1:09:46
Take a full theory to get to it. It is rough y'all.
1:09:50
There's a reason why there were so many.
1:09:52
There's a reason why there's a place of the Oregon Coast that's
1:09:55
literally called the graveyard of ships.
1:09:58
Yeah. It's right outside of Astoria.
1:10:01
Fun fact, which is part of the reason why Goonies was set
1:10:05
there, yeah. Yeah, but yes, there's.
1:10:11
That and then this the I think it's the that would be the last
1:10:15
chapter we cover involves the scene on the the fur rug.
1:10:23
Is in my opinion. One of those.
1:10:28
Yeah. No, it just it's one.
1:10:30
Of the sex scenes, that I think is worth highlighting in that
1:10:36
Salem has a little bit of a panic moment in the middle of
1:10:43
their encounter and Rain notices, takes a step back and
1:10:50
basically says no Salem, I need you to actually communicate with
1:10:54
me, not what you think I want to hear.
1:11:00
I unfortunately relate to Salem. Too much.
1:11:04
Oh my God, same. I relate.
1:11:06
A bit to rain in the. Scene I'm usually the one having
1:11:10
the panic. Attack.
1:11:12
You know that scene in like Airplane?
1:11:14
Where, like, it's just a succession of people beating the
1:11:16
shit out of this one woman who's having a, yeah, perfectly
1:11:21
reasonable crash out. Yeah, I sometimes feel like the
1:11:24
succession of people. But yeah, it's it is a really.
1:11:31
Good scene that I feel like like it treats it like correct.
1:11:36
And it's like this is what you should do when your partner is
1:11:39
like having a panic attack in the middle of the scene.
1:11:41
You fucking stop. It's like.
1:11:44
OK, I'm too. Emotionally deadened to really
1:11:46
be affected by outside stimulus anymore.
1:11:48
But you are clearly going knocking fucks, so I'm just
1:11:52
going to hold you down physically, emotionally,
1:11:56
spiritually and we're just. Going to your soul returns to
1:12:01
your body. And I I think it's it.
1:12:06
Is it is like great, the great seemed very hot, but also it's
1:12:11
just having that and I've read many books where the other.
1:12:18
Partner would not have stopped. No.
1:12:21
They would have tried to. Fuck the anxiety demons right
1:12:24
out of them. Exactly.
1:12:26
Whereas in this case. Like they both take the.
1:12:31
Time take. The step back and get back into
1:12:34
it at their pace and crucially. It feels like there's never.
1:12:39
Like an expectation that they do get back into it, you know?
1:12:46
It's a good model of how to handle that.
1:12:48
Situation. And God just the the.
1:12:55
Description of salem's intrusive thoughts in the moment as well
1:12:59
and the way that again, like she gaslights herself and ignores
1:13:02
her own thoughts and needs is just really real it's.
1:13:07
So fucking real. Trying.
1:13:12
Very. Hard not to be the guy in the.
1:13:13
Podcast who just says yeah repeatedly.
1:13:18
Try. I'm really fucking trying here.
1:13:20
Man, I don't really have much to add.
1:13:23
You're good. And I'm still trying to think
1:13:26
I'm still. Because I'm gonna be so real.
1:13:30
Most of these sex scenes, I'm sitting in the background
1:13:32
thinking, OK, so it has four shoulder blades.
1:13:35
So does it articulate one on top of one another, or is it spread
1:13:38
up? Yeah, I'm.
1:13:42
Yeah, I'm fantasizing about something else.
1:13:44
Yeah. We know you're here for a.
1:13:45
Monster I can't I can't wait for like I have.
1:13:51
I have a differently just I have a monster fucker month planned
1:13:54
and I'm very interested to see your opinions on those.
1:13:58
It depends. Oh, this one I'm going to.
1:14:03
There won't be anything that resembles a human in this month
1:14:06
is that much like there is good Dick and there's.
1:14:09
Bad Dick. There's good monster and there's
1:14:11
bad monster. Yeah, that's fair.
1:14:15
But yeah, no. And then it kind of comes to
1:14:17
like the the next scene is them going to the the cabin to check
1:14:22
it out. But I feel like we will get into
1:14:24
that next time because it's pretty much where like we're
1:14:27
around half the book. Yeah, we're we're about.
1:14:29
I haven't. Gotten to the cabin yet?
1:14:33
Book, all told is about. 400 ish pages long.
1:14:37
We're about at the 200 mark here.
1:14:39
Yeah, it'll take. I'm so.
1:14:44
Excited for the rest. I am so.
1:14:46
Fucking ready. I cannot wait to get into the
1:14:50
rest of this book. Yeah.
1:14:53
I I've I've read the the next couple.
1:14:55
Of chapters I oh God yeah no, it's just the.
1:15:00
Train is loose. The train does.
1:15:01
Not go back on the tracks. There is there is a thing loose
1:15:10
and for. Once it's not just the author.
1:15:12
'S libido. I am on team thing.
1:15:18
All the way. I know I shouldn't be actively
1:15:20
rooting for it, but. God help me if we're going to.
1:15:25
Be we're going to be acknowledging the fucking freaks
1:15:29
in the room. I want this freak flag firmly
1:15:32
planted. I.
1:15:34
Am team Greebly. All the way, yeah.
1:15:41
So what are people's? Vibes for it, like what are you,
1:15:45
what are you thinking? What is your current rating of
1:15:48
the book I have? Finished my cigarettes.
1:15:54
I'm so far giving it a 5 out of five.
1:15:56
It does everything that I want. Well, I I struggle to nitpick
1:16:03
and I'm a nitpicker. I.
1:16:06
Definitely would say 5. Out of five I, I will save my
1:16:10
final writing. Until the end, because I feel
1:16:11
like that's only fair. But like thus far, I.
1:16:17
Am excited for all the wrong reasons.
1:16:20
No, it's fair as long as you're excited.
1:16:22
And having a good time, that's what matters.
1:16:24
It might be having too much of A.
1:16:25
Good time. It may the fact that I read this
1:16:29
book while I was actively dealing with excruciating pain
1:16:34
through a haze of a through haze and.
1:16:37
Medication might have. Had a little bit to do with it,
1:16:40
I won't lie. Well, I understand, yeah.
1:16:44
It's really weird. You ever have some really weird?
1:16:49
Dreams after, like, reading something and you just know
1:16:53
that, like, this probably wouldn't have happened if not
1:16:56
for some choices I made during consciousness.
1:17:00
Probably, yeah. Having a fantastic.
1:17:02
Time for our own reasons, yeah. Yeah, folks, if you wanted.
1:17:10
Confirmation of what sort of deviant I deviant card I'm
1:17:14
holding to get included in these proceedings.
1:17:18
There you go. I apologize for nothing.
1:17:23
Yeah, we'll be back in. A couple of weeks to discuss the
1:17:27
second-half of the book and our general thoughts on it and what
1:17:32
we think and probably get into more monster discussion.
1:17:38
Can't wait, because we'll finally.
1:17:41
Actually get like better looks at the monster and a bit more
1:17:44
into the monster. So I'm I'm looking forward to
1:17:46
like really dissecting this thing.
1:17:49
I'm normal. I'm I'm.
1:17:50
Normal about this? We're so normal.
1:17:53
We're so, so normal. On the podcast.
1:17:57
Called dubious creatures. I am.
1:17:59
I'm normal. At that guys, I run VTM for a
1:18:02
living and I am so fucking normal about monsters we are
1:18:07
also normal about. Monsters.
1:18:09
So we'll see you all in two weeks.
1:18:13
See ya. Bye.