What Mad Universe?!?
by Adam Prosser and Philip Rice
Action! Excitement! Horror! Romance! Thrills and Chills! Swords and Sorcery! Rockets and Rayguns! Hosts Adam Prosser and Philip Rice take a journey through the history of SF, Fantasy, horror, and pulp fiction. Every 2 weeks one of us, alternating back and forth, selects a book or book series from the late 18th century up to the present to look back on, discuss, and examine. Some of them have left an indelible mark on pop culture; some of them are forgotten echoes of what might have been...all of them are weird and fascinating.(If you like our work, please support us on Patreon! Adam is at https://patreon.com/user?u=404623 and Phil is at https://www.patreon.com/Spearhafoc .
Episodes
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S5E143 -Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Three: Blood of the Evil-Doer!
Philip's retrospective through the works of Anne Rice continues, and at this point even Anne Rice herself seems to be getting a little tired of things, as she snarks at the audience via Lestat and starts to twist the formula out of shape. Apparently things get REALLY weird in the last few books,...
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S5E142 -Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Two: The Lady Bird!
Superheroes have their origins in a dozen different places and eras, some well known, some less so (at least here in North America). Pre-WWI French pulp has actually been a surprisingly fertile ground for early proto-superheroes--or what some might call full-blown superheroes, long before the era...
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S5E141 -Chapter One Hundred and Forty-One: Down, Down to Goblin Town!
There's a world going on underground, but the nature of its inhabitants has been hotly debated since humans started telling stories around the campfire. One of the first modern writers to portray the world of goblins as we know them today is George MacDonald, author of The Princess and the…
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S5E140 -Chapter One Hundred and Forty: Hell to Pay!
In this episode, Philip looks at the Dr. Satan stories by Paul Ernst, which in many ways typify pulp of its era by hitting as many of the tropes as possible (including the idea of a villain taking center stage) while still being imaginative and fun. I never cared for that Doctor Satan... Support…
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S5E139 -Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Nine: Children of Darkness!
We return once more to the dark and soulful world of Anne Rice with a look at another grouping of her novels including The Vampire Armand, which seems to be the last stretch of her classical vampire "continuity" before things get REALLY weird. Stay tuned, creatures of the night! Support us on...
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S5E138 -Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Eight: You Walk Into A Tavern...!
Roll for initiative, listeners, because you're about to have an encounter with adventure! Yes, it's time to talk about the intersection of role-playing games, specifically the classic model Dungeons and Dragons, and literature, in the form of TSR's first big experiment in prose publishing, the...
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S5E137 -Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Seven: Project Arkham!
The Cthulhu Mythos, a concept that outlived (and was born after) the death of HP Lovecraft, is the subject of our latest episode--specifically Strange Eons, a loving tribute to Lovecraft's work by Robert Bloch, author of psycho and actual personal friend of Lovecraft's in his youth. Bloch's love...
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S5E133 -Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Six: For Generations Yet Voiceless!
As a wise man once said, we are all concerned about the future, because that is where we are going to spend the rest of our lives. Kim Stanley Robinson certainly is, and his magnum opus The Ministry For The Future tackles the biggest threat to the future: looming climate change, and the things…
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S5E132 -Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Five: The Well-Made Knight!
When times are dark and evil stalks the land, it means it's time for a knight in shining armour to ride to the rescue! What what happens when it's the 20th century and knights in armour are hard to come by? You build one, of course! The 1970s kid's adventure Sir MacHinery has a robot taking on…
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S5E10 -Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Four: Footnotes*!
In which we bring our look at the works of Terry Pratchett to a close... *you see because Terry Pratchett famously utilizes footnotes for both jokes and to expand upon the lore. Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! [Adams Patreon](https://patreon.com/phantasmictales) [Phils...
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Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Three: Sympathy for the Devil!
Halloween is spooky season, and what's spookier than...THE DEVIL?!? Yes, Phil continues his journey through the interconnected universe of Anne Rice with a look at two of her most cosmic books, ones that eventually delve into theology and the problem of evil. A must-listen entry for Demon Lovers...
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Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Two: The Kingdom of the Sorceror!
The towering names of Weird Pulp Fiction: HP Lovecraft, Robert E Howard and...Clark Ashton Smith, the perpetual Larry to their Curly and Moe, ever overshadowed by his two contemporaries a century later. But Smith, of course, deserves a look on his own merits. In this episode we're joined by our...
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Chapter 132 Promo
Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adams Patreon Phils Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky Philips Bluesky Adams Bluesky What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick (c)...
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S5E131 -Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-One: The Grave of All Hope!
Well that's a grim title for a goofy episode...but it is part of our Discworld series, after all, and in particular it's our episode on the books Pratchett wrote about Death, the Grim Reaper, the End of Things. He's a nice guy when you get to know him, really! We're once again joined by James…
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S5E130 -Chapter One Hundred and Thirty: The Power Of God In The Great Bear!
Sometimes a bear is just a bear. And sometimes the bear is the avatar of the ineffable divine, serving as a sign that it's time to reconquer your lost empire. The trick is knowing which is which. We attempt to solve this conundrum in the latest WMU?!? on Richard Adams' Shardik, a fantasy…
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Chapter 130 Promo
Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adams Patreon Phils Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky Philips Bluesky Adams Bluesky What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick (c)...
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Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Nine: The 13th Witch!
The next in our new series on the supernatural universe of Anne Rice tackles the very strange Mayfair Witches series, where things get...uncomfortable. But hey--it is horror! Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adams Patreon Phils Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky...
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S5E128 -Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Eight: The Demon-Haunted World!
The second episode we've done this season confirming a flat world is VERY different from Terry Pratchett, as we delve into the deserve-to-be-better known works of Tanith Lee, which are recently getting more attention for unfortunate reasons (she was a clear influence on a certain famed fantasy...
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Chapter 128 Promo
Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adams Patreon Phils Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky Philips Bluesky Adams Bluesky What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick (c)...
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S5E127 -Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Seven: Hail to the Chief!
On this episode we confront another wildly unlikely Sci-Fi scenario: a fascist takeover of the United States! I mean, what a crazy idea! Author Sinclair Lewis knew it would never happen, that's why it's called It Can't Happen Here! But in these enlightened and stable times we live in, it's...
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Chapter 127 Promo
Adams Patreon Philips Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky Philips Bluesky Adams Bluesky What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack Feerick (c) 2025 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its…
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S5E126 -Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Six: Cruel and Unusual Geography!
The second episode of the new season of What Mad Universe?!? is another return to Terry Pratchett's Discworld. We're once again joined by James Reilly-English to focus on Rhincewind, the wizards of Unseen University, and Pratchett's logically illogical metaphysics of the Discworld itself. Adams...
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Chapter 126 Promo
Adams Patreon Philips Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philips Bluesky Philips Twitter Adams Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on Instagram What Mad Universe RSS Feed Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross Theme song by Jack...
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S5E125 -Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Five: The Savage Garden!
What Mad Universe?!? has returned from the grave! In this episode, we look at one of the lynchpins of modern pop culture--the interconnected horny goth supernatural universe of Anne Rice, the world that launched a thousand ships and may be the origin point for a huge chunk of internet culture!…
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S4E124 -Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Four: The Century of the Anchovy!
Once again we come to a great historical turning point, acolytes of adventure, with the arrival of our fourth season finale! We're once again discussing Terry Pratchett with our friend James "Ing" Reilly-English, and this time it's the "Industrial Revolution" books about how technological and...
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S4E123 -Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Three: The Gods And Man's Desire!
Episode Notes Oh, for a simpler time, when men were men, women were women, and everyone had PTSD from World War One. We hearken back to that time with The Ship Of Ishtar, by A. Merritt, a pulp fantasy (exactly 100 years old this year!) that may have influenced the likes of Robert E. Howard and...
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S4E122 -Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Two: Land Under Wave!
Who needs that Harry Potter jerk?!? Terry Pratchett dipped his toe into the "YA series about a kid learning magic" pool a few years later in his Discworld series about teen witch Tiffany Aching. We're joined once again by pal Ing to dissect this series, which includes Pratchett's final novel....
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S4E121 -Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-One: Seeds of Destruction!
Pulp genre fiction has produced some monumental successes (from a financial POV), and today we're tackling probably the second-biggest after Stephen King: Michael Crichton. His career as a novelist of the Campbell "hard Sci-fi" school got started in properly in 1969 with the first novel released...
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S4E120 -Chapter One Hundred and Twenty: Stand and Deliver!
Episode Notes Historical adventures with swashbuckling, alternate identities, and criminals with a heart of gold seem to have been inescapable in early 20th century pulp, and Georgette Heyer's "The Masqueraders" is a fine example of the form. This one adds another common trope: cross-dressing!...
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S4E119 -Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen: Red Moonrise!
We've talked before about how plainly world events have informed the subtext (and sometimes the regular-text) of classic SF, and The Moon Maid, a late-career offering from Edgar Rice Burroughs, proves that in spades. The politics that engulfed the world in the mid-1920s are on full display here…
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S4E118 -Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen: The Wonder Children!
Continuing from last week's theme of "advanced mutants walk amongst us", we're looking at an entirely different take on a similar premise, one that's entirely more sympathetic to the supposedly non-human subjects. In Wilmar Shiras' "Children of the Atom", the super-intelligent kids are more...
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S4E117 -Chapter One Hundred and Seventeen: The Life of the Mind!
They're everywhere! They're better than you! They can tinker with your brain! They'll inherit the Earth! And trying to stop them makes you into a monster! It's a common assortment of tropes from SF, with a subtext touching on everything from a Freudian fear of your children to even darker,...
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S4E116 -Chapter One Hundred and Sixteen: Where Everybody Knows Your Name!
Sometimes you just want to take a break from it all and find solace in some booze...and more importantly, good company. Of course, it doesn't help if your watering hole is constantly being invaded by aliens, vampires, talking dogs, and fairies...or does it? It certainly keeps things interesting....
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S4E115 -Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen: Whot's All This Then?
We're back for another look at Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, this time focusing on The Watch series. It's a social satire and police procedural in a fantasy setting, which means it has dragons, dwarves, trolls, and police who actually serve the public trust...you know, a fantasy. Support us...
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S4E114 -Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen: A Fool And His Money!
It's interesting to consider which characters fall into obscurity and which remain relevant. Johnston McCulley's most famous creation, Zorro, is of course still a household word. His other creations, Thubway Tham and The Crimson Clown, have been completely forgotten, even though they were nearly…
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S4E113 -Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen: Get a Life!
Fandom! The word sends chills up the spine of anyone who's spent any time in Fantasy and Science Fiction spaces...for a pretty wide variety of reasons. But what if fandom turns...to murder? Actually, that seems pretty plausible. Sharyn McCrumb explored this very idea in the murder mystery Bimbos…
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S4E112 -Chapter One Hundred and Twelve: Sharna Pax and Get the Poal!
Langwitch, its syurly a confuzement! Whut wud Inlish luk liek inna thousand yeers? These are the questions asked by Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban, a post-apocalyptic meditation on culture, storytelling, religion, and language. It's a tricky read but a fulfilling one. Support us on Patreon and...
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S4E111 -Chapter One Hundred and Eleven: In Cold Blood!
This is the story of Edwardian-era European explorers traveling to the north pole in an airship, only to find a strange land unknown to mankind, and populated by an alien yet advanced race of intelligent non-human beings. The encounter holds up a mirror to western society, colonialism, and the…
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S4E110 -Chapter One Hundred and Ten: Culture War!
In the best of all possible worlds, this podcast would always be on time...but we're not there yet, are we. You know what comes close, though? The Culture, the star-spanning utopia depicted in Iain M. Banks's novels such as Consider Phlebas and The Player of Games. In this episode, Philip and I...
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S4E109 -Chapter One Hundred and Nine: Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On!
This week, wayfarers, we go WAY back, to 1666, and the first European work of feminist Science Fiction--in fact, one of the first works of Science Fiction as we know it--Margaret Cavendish's The Blazing World, a travelogue, pontification, and philosophical potboiler. Adam's Patreon Phil's...
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S4E108 -Chapter One Hundred and Eight: The Maiden, The Mother, The Other One!
We aten't dead! In fact we're back in 2024 for a new chapter in a series...a series within a series, you might say...on Terry Pratchett's Discworld! In this one we're joined by pal Ing to talk about the Granny Weatherwax books and witchcraft vs. wizardry. (Update: I'm really sorry, the wrong…
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Chapter One Hundred and Seven: The Harrowing of Hell!
'Tis darkening days, fair ones, and as we approach the end of the year of our lord 2023, What Mad Universe?!? has been, we confess, erratic of late. But take heed! We return with a look at an obscure but excellent fantasy series from the early 20th century, the Neustrian Cycle by Leslile…
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Chapter 107 Promo
Support us on Patreon and listen to the show a week early! Adam's Patreon Phil's Patreon What Mad Universe?!? on Bluesky What Mad Universe?!? on Twitter Philip's Bluesky Philip's Twitter Adam's Bluesky Adam's Twitter What Mad Universe on Facebook What Mad Universe on...
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S4E106 -Chapter One Hundred and Six: The Soldier of Light!
As we all know by now, the WWII period saw the blossoming of ASTOUNDING magazine, which set the pace for the so-called "Golden Age" of Science Fiction, launching the careers of storied names such as Asimov and Heinlein. They also hosted a short series of satirical space westerns about a...
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S4E105 -Episode One Hundred and Five: The Cyclone Country!
Swashbuckling adventures in far-flung lands to the east! Geopolitical intrigue! The manly code of the warrior! Dan Tyler Moore's The Terrible Game taps into several veins of pulp action that span several eras...as well as being the source material for one later, hilariously bad movie. Support us…
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S4E104 -Chapter One Hundred and Four: Knower of the Many Worlds!
As Philip points out, if we had a nickel for every time we talked about a book where Buddha fights Jesus in a Sci-Fi setting, we'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, right? The subject this time is Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny, and the subject is…
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S4E103 -Chapter One Hundred and Three: Life on Mars!
Sorry about the long delay there, folks, some real world chaos combined with a LOT of pages that had to be read for this episode led to an unplanned couple of week's break. We're back now, looking at Kim Stanley Robinsons' seminal trilogy, Red Mars/Green Mars/Blue Mars, one of the most in-depth...
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S4E102 -Chapter One Hundred and Two: One Thing After Another!
We've talked about John W Campbell as an editor on this show a few times, which isn't surprising since he oversaw an entire era of 20th century SF. Now we dive in directly to his own best known writing, the novella Who Goes There?, the basis for John Carpenter's The Thing (as well as the 50s…
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S4E101 -Chapter One Hundred and One: Second Star To The Right, and Straight On Until Morning!
The newest What Mad Universe?!? looks at one of the earliest progenitors of the space opera, a 19th century French obscurity that delves deeply into world-building, poetry, and, unfortunately, racism. It's STAR, OR, PSI CASSOPEIA by C. I. DeFontenay. We read it before it was cool! Support us on...
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S4E100 -Chapter One Hundred: Empire of Bronze!
One hundred episodes! I'm not sure we ever believed it would happen, but it has, thanks to you, acolytes of adventure! A heartfelt tip of our space helmets to all of you, and we hope you enjoy this special 100th episode spectacular! And what better subject for this illustrious episode than a book...
About this show
Action! Excitement! Horror! Romance! Thrills and Chills! Swords and Sorcery! Rockets and Rayguns! Hosts Adam Prosser and Philip Rice take a journey through the history of SF, Fantasy, horror, and pulp fiction. Every 2 weeks one of us, alternating back and forth, selects a book or book series from the late 18th century up to the present to look back on, discuss, and examine. Some of them have left an indelible mark on pop culture; some of them are forgotten echoes of what might have been...all of them are weird and fascinating.(If you like our work, please support us on Patreon! Adam is at https://patreon.com/user?u=404623 and Phil is at https://www.patreon.com/Spearhafoc .
Hosted by
Adam Prosser and Philip Rice