Who's a Good Boy?

Welcome to Night Vale Episodes #4

by Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor, Jessica Hayworth (Illustrator)

From the authors of the New York Times bestselling novels It Devours! and Welcome to Night Vale and the creators of the #1 international podcast of the same name, comes a collection of episodes from Season Four of their hit podcast, featuring an introduction by the authors, a foreword by Jonny Sun, behind-the-scenes commentary, and original illustrations.

In June of 2012, the creators of Welcome to Night Vale began airing twice-monthly podcasts. Their hopes were that they could reach people outside their close circles. What they didn't know was that a year after the first show aired, the fanbase had far exceeded their expectations, launching the podcast into the #1 spot on iTunes. Over the years, its popularity has surged by mega proportions, hitting more than 100 million downloads, and Night Vale has expanded to a successful live multi-cast international touring stage show and two New York Times bestselling novels (Welcome to Night Vale and It Devours!), and a new podcast network Night Vale Presents.

Now with Who's a Good Boy? Season Four of the podcast is available in book form, offering a valuable reference guide to past episodes. Featuring a foreword by twitter personality and highly regarded author Jonny Sun, original introductions by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, fascinating behind-the-scenes commentary by cast members and supporters, and gorgeous illustrations by series artist Jessica Hayworth accompanying each episode, this book will thrill fans of the podcast and those new to the amazing universe of Night Vale.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Queer, Humor, LGBT

304 pages, Paperback

First published May 14, 2019

About the author

Joseph Fink is the creator of the Welcome to Night Vale and Alice Isn't Dead podcasts, and the author of the New York Times bestselling novels Welcome to Night Vale, It Devours!, and The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home (all written with Jeffrey Cranor) and Alice Isn’t Dead. He is also the author of the children’s novel, The Halloween Moon. He and his wife, Meg Bashwiner have written the memoir, The First Ten Years. They live together in the Hudson River Valley.

Reviews

[Stacee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love that two volumes get released at the same time. After finishing 3, I wanted more and this one delivered.

As with all of these books, I am living for the introductions and behind the scenes info we get. There have been mentions of hints placed in earlier episodes that pan out in these episodes and basically, I just want to hole up and binge listen from the beginning.

**Huge thanks to Harper Perennial for providing the arc free of charge**

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a massive fan of Welcome to Night Vale, I always enjoy when these books come out. I can go back the episodes I love in the written format, along with the introductions. Night Vale writers and actors give great tidbits before each episode, providing background information that we didn't get to hear by listening to the show. For anyone who's never listened, I suggest you go right now and give this marvelous gem of a podcast a go. It's certainly changed my life.

[daria · Rating 5 out of 5]

PROVERB: Candles lit, runes drawn upon the floor, sacrifice prepared. Everything is ready for the summoning. I begin the incantation: “Shakira, Shakira!"


This review is . . . unavailable, as so much of the reader is currently . . . unavailable. Down for maintenance. Wiped off the map. However you want to say it.


Anyway, who’s a good boy? Who’s the good boy? Who is it? No, seriously, who is it? Is it me???????????? Oh, the devil? You mean, the guy from the bible?

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I think The Great Glowing Coils of the Universe has the best overall storyline of the four books, this is a very close second. I'm rating it higher than the 2nd book because I do feel this one is stronger episode to episode with a majority of them being some of Night Vale's best work.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

That beagle tho

The Registry of Middle School Crushes is definitely one of my favorite Night Vale episodes.

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The necessity of the Night Vale companion books continues to grow as the series becomes increasingly baroque in its plotting and long-form plot arcs. The beagle puppy arc, which closes here, has been percolating since the beginning of season 3, and the plots of the novels are starting to impact the wider narrative too.

Luckily, reading Fink and Cranor's prose is a delight, even without the audio element. And the behind the scenes stories and testimonials from cast members are always highlights, sharing looks at the human, earthbound world behind these fanciful stories.

[Lucia Wolfie · Rating 5 out of 5]

When is the next one due?

[Jessica (aus.fangirl.reads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“What’s past is prologue. What’s future is epilogue. This right here is maybe chapter 4 or 5.”

I have been a fan the Welcome to Night Vale podcast for years and I’ll be totally honest, I can’t actually remember when I started listening to the podcast, I know it was still a relatively new thing but it was still well underway, so I’ll guess around 2013/2014.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Being the 4th volume of the scripts, I presume if you’re reading this review you know what these books are about, but if you just decided to read this review randomly allow me to give you a run down.

Who’s a Good Boy? consists of the scripts for episode 71 to 90, as well as the script for their live show The Investigators. Each episode is opened by a small introduction from either the creators, co-writers or the voice actors themselves, these are amazing as they give insight into what they thought of the episode or what inspired them when writing the episode or introducing new characters.

The scripts are made even better with the amazing artwork by Jessica Hayworth, each artwork fits the episode beautifully and they just make the whole script book amazing. Jessica has worked with the team at Welcome to Night Vale for a while, creating posters, t-shirts and even the cover of the books.

Her art fits perfectly with the strange town of Night Vale and I would highly recommend checking out some of Jessica’s work. Just Google Jessica Hayworth and her website will pop right up!

It is impossible for me to pick out a favourite episode script from this volume, I adore this story arc or season (I actually don’t know what to call it) so it’s too difficult for me to pick just one, and you can’t make me!!

Instead allow me to leave you with a quote that has stuck with me from reading this volume, it’s from the closing monologue in episode 81, if you are a podcast listener I’d recommend going back and listening to it, I did and I’m so happy I did. (the time stamp is 23:30)
The quote goes…

“Acceptance is not failure. Sometimes acceptance is just acceptance. Of course, one must be open to new dreams and new ambitions.”

I don’t know if it was just what I needed at the time, but this quote will stay with me for a while and I’m happy I can have a reference to go back and read it as many times as I need it going through life.
If you are a Welcome to Night Vale fan I would defiantly recommend getting the script books for your collections, they are beautiful to just look at or flip through and even better to just sit a read through.
Reading this book has re-sparked my love for the series and has given me a good restart and excuse to get back into it and try to get back up to date. I’m pretty sure all Welcome to Night Vale fans are never up to date, but I want to give it a try!

Rating- 5 Stars- Amazing! I loved it!

Happy reading everyone!
Jess xx

[Kike Ramos · Rating 4 out of 5]

English / Español

So these are the chapter scripts for the 4th season of Welcome to Night Vale. If you read my review of the last compendium, I said that the 3rd season almost made me quit the show. In this season, however, the things that I enjoyed about the show come back, especially at the end of the season. I will be honest, and when I listened to episode 89 I was genuinely scared. It was such a great episode, the atmosphere, Cecil Baldwin's narration, and sound effects were really effective. Sadly, that can't be replicated on the page, for a medium that is made to be audible, reading it just doesn't feel the same. Still, this is a better season than the previous one, still has some stuff that I think is pretty forgettable, but it has some good stuff too, especially the main arc/plot of this year.

____________________

Estos son los guiones para la cuarta temporada de Welcome to Night Vale. Si checaron mi review del compendio anterior, dije que la tercer temporada casi me hace abandonar el show. Sin embargo, en esta temporada las cosas que disfrutaba del show volvieron, sobre todo al final. Siendo honesto, al escuchar el capítulo 89 me sentí genuinamente asustado. Es un muy buen episodio con su atmósfera, la increíble narración de Cecil Baldwin y los efectivos efectos de sonido. Tristemente eso no puede ser replicado en la página, ya que fue algo creado para escucharse en un podcast y leerlo no se siente igual. Aún así, me parece que esta temporada es mejor que la anterior, sobre todo el arco general que guía la trama de todo el año, aunque aún tiene cosas que se olvidan facilmente.

[Emma (littledollreads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, I have read this book. I have been meaning to get to it for so long and I am so glad that I finally got it finished. This is one of my favorite pieces of fandom and I am glad it still resonates with me. I love all of the behinds the scenes information shared in these script books and all of the art. These episodes are not my favorites overall but they are still so great. I also feel like I appreciate them more for knowing some of the background information and the authorial intent behind some of the choices. It adds weight to the events and reminds me of just how smart the writers are. I definitely need to get back to listening to these and hopefully I can read the new book sometime soon as well.

[Simoné Eloff · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Tis the season to mark my current re-listen of one of my favourite podcasts as books read this year.

[julia ｡･:*˚:✧｡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is me. I am the Good Boy.

[Dev · Rating 3 out of 5]

once again these books have some interesting little tidbits in the episode introductions from various cast members but don't really add enough to the wtnv universe to merit more than 3 stars in my opinion. interesting to look back on the episodes in this way but i still feel that listening to them is the best way to take them in.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

In case it isn't clear, I love Welcome to Night Vale. I love the novels, I love the live shows, I love the podcast, and I love these script books, too. I always have trouble focusing on audio-only stories, so I find that having the scripts for podcasts such as Welcome to Night Vale really helps me follow the podcast and understand all that is going on within it. Add to these extremely useful scripts a bunch of illustrations and a whole lot of behind the scenes tidbits, and you've got a collection of published scripts that any Night Vale fan would love. This proved true for the first two volumes of script books and it absolutely proves true for this new set, too.

In Who's a Good Boy?, covering episode 71-90 of the podcast, Night Vale faces a threat so terrifying that there seems to be nothing they can do to defeat it: a terribly cute beagle puppy and his army of tall, faceless strangers who only stand and breathe. Hiram McDaniels faces trials for his crimes against Mayor Cardinal, Desert Bluffs and Night Vale become one city, and all of Night Vale is under threat from one cute puppy who may not be all that he seems.

This season is probably my second favorite season, after season two. The first few episodes of this season are mostly one-offs, leading up to the release of the first Night Vale novel and its accompanying tie-in episode (which was itself a great episode and also great promotion for the novel). But after that episode, the plotline for the season really kicks it into high gear with the introduction of the tall strangers who only stand and breathe and never seem to move, but somehow get closer than you thought they originally were. This concept alone is the stuff of nightmares. The way it's executed and resolved in the season continues to be creepy as hell. As usual, there are some experimental episodes like episode 73: Triptych, which gives Kevin (the radio host from Desert Bluffs and one of the main antagonists in season two) some much-needed backstory and character development; The April Monologues (which furthers the ongoing plotline in a really unique way that I loved); and Lost in the Mail (which primarily focuses on the relationship between a girl and her father who's gone off to fight in the Blood-Space War - a storyline that seems to have become important, again, during this latest season), but much of this season is really focused on advancing the plotline. More than any other season so far, this one really feels like a serial. Things happen in one episode that are often directly followed up in the next episode, and I love it.

This season deals with some of the fallout from Night Vale Community Radio's insanely high mortality rate for its interns as former interns Maureen and Chad team together to usher in this evil beagle and his deadly plans into existence. I wish more of the season had been dedicated to exploring the fallout of the deaths of all the interns, but I like that the concept was explored at all. Maureen's increased role in the season was also nice, giving her character some development served the show well as it gave another interesting female character to the audience and one who wasn't terribly fond of Cecil, at that. Additionally, this season leans more into horror than last season did. Last season dealt a lot with interpersonal drama and relationship woes between Cecil and Carlos. This season really feels like its goal is to scare the pants off of the audience, and it succeeds. The first part of the two-part finale, Who's A Good Boy?, is perhaps one of the creepiest and uncomfortable things I've ever listened to. It was the first time that Night Vale had really actually scared me. Kudos to Cecil Baldwin's acting in that episode and Fink and Cranor's writing.

These script books feature some great illustrations from frequent Night Vale artist, Jessica Hayworth. Her art perfectly captures the surreal, cosmic horror that is frequently found in the Night Vale world. She sticks to the motto of never really showing what any of the main characters or locations look like, choosing instead to illustrated some of the horrors that get described in each episode. Every episode has at least one illustration from Hayworth - though, often, there end up being multiple illustrations per episode. Her illustrations, however, are not the only new material that can be found in these script books. Each episode features an introduction by someone involved with the making of that episode. Whether it's one of the main writers - Joseph Fink or Jeffrey Cranor, a guest writer, or an actor/performer, each episode features insight from someone involved in the creation of it and that insight is just as valuable to fans of the podcast as the scripts themselves will be. I always find it massively interesting hearing from the people who made a work of art what was going through their heads as they made it. Their opinions might not influence my interpretation of their art, but it is always nice to hear from them and these behind the scenes insights are every bit as good as you'd want them to be.

All in all, Who's a Good Boy? is a great addition to the growing library of Night Vale books. It's scary, interesting, emotional, absurdly funny, and full of good and unique storytelling. The scripts contained within this book showcase the massive amount of experimentation that happened within the fourth year of the podcast, allowing fans old and new access to this wonderful year's worth of stories while providing older fans with lots of new material to sink their teeth into. I love Night Vale and I love these script books and I hope that HarperCollins continues publishing them.

[Darnoc Leadburger · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I've never listened to the Night Vale podcast, I've read and thoroughly enjoyed its first three script books and first two novels, so I was obviously expecting to enjoy this book. And while it took me a few episodes to get into it, once I was into it I realized that this book has one of - if not the - best running arcs in the first ninety episodes of Night Vale, and I was genuinely disappointed when I couldn't finish it in the moment. That's a sign that it's done its job and sucked me in... the live show was also pretty clever. All in all, another good entry in the Welcome To Night Vale Lit-Verse.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't listened to WTNV in a few years but I can still hear Cecil going " WHO'S A GOOOOD BOOYYYYYYYYYYYY?? " so obviously that's burned into my brain forever. If you're a fan of the podcast these episode collections are definitely worth it, especially for the episode introductions.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

"They smell like compost and are all gray and they make you feel cold. They're really beautiful, but they'll devour your soul and turn you into one of them. Maureen says it's super painful when they do that , and the transformation is forever. That's why they can only stand and breathe and not really move because they're in so much pain for so long, trapped in immortal bodies."

Packed to the gills with awesomely special introductions and absolutely overflowing with behind the scenes information, Who's a Good Boy not only provides super cool insights about episodes that we've never had access to before, but it also stands as one of those books that, you never knew you needed, until you crack open the pages. As a long-time fan of the Night Vale podcast, it was an insanely interesting and valuable experience to dive deep into this book, to re-encounter these strange stories in print form, and to rediscover just why I love Night Vale so much. These stories actually work surprisingly well in print form, and I know the question on your lips might be, why is a companion novel even needed, when surely, you can just, listen to the episodes?

It's a fair question - and really, you'd almost be right in assuming that you could, really very easily, just listen to the podcast. But, the novel makes the episodes far easier to digest, over time, Night Vale has blossomed into this intense, insanely detailed, vibrant and spiraling thing that's entirely epic in its scale. The episodes now simmer over seasons and seem to get stranger and stranger, having access to these weird little vignette style tales in a novel is so much easier to navigate. Couple this with the awesome artwork that's strewn throughout the novel, and you have a winning combination. But, at the core of it, Who's a Good Boy is a way to rekindle that love we seemingly all have for Night Vale and its weirdness.

"Several dead animals have been found all about town. On sidewalks, in trees, in fields, animal corpses everywhere. This has happened before, listeners. Many of you remember the glowing cloud (all hail!) that passed through Night Vale years ago dropping dead animals on all of us."

Who's a Good Boy is so easily readable, both by those who adore the show, or those who have never listened to a single episode a day in their life. Be warned, however, this book is fucking strange. If you have no prior knowledge of Night Vale it's... Weird. It's the most unusual of novels and is presented in an equally unusual format. If you're truly discovering Night Vale for the very first time, boy, are you in for a ride. Out of all of the Night Vale books there are, this has to be one of the very best. In my opinion, Who's a Good Boy is filled with the very strongest episodes Night Vale has to offer, The Registry of Middle School Crushes is insanely captivating, and getting the entire beagle puppy arc here? It's outstanding. It almost doesn't even read like a companion novel, and instead, acts like a first class ticket to the most bizarre town you'll ever visit.

"The writing is on the wall. It's not written in English. It's not really even written. Clawed, more like. The claw marks are on the wall."

[Barrita · Rating 4 out of 5]

La calidad del podcast y de los libros no ha disminuido con el tiempo, lo cual se agradece mucho. Aunque ahora hay tantas líneas narrativas que hay que prestar un poco más de atención a los detalles, se sigue manteniendo el sentido del humor, los detalles de suspenso y horror, la nostalgia o sentido de asombro hacia la naturaleza y el universo.

Conforme avanza la historia, creo que se genera más impacto en algunas cosas porque ya conocemos a los personajes y nos importan, pero también cualquier detalle que se salga de su personalización puede ser inmediatamente detectado. En una historia donde siempre ocurren cosas extrañas e inusuales, es un tanto obvio que los personajes a veces reaccionan de maneras poco convencionales y en momentos siento que el tono habitual se pierde o se afloja. Sin embargo, creo que no afecta la experiencia en general y sigo pensando que la combinación particular del universo de Night Vale es una de mis favoritas en los últimos años.

No puedo creer que ya lleve más de 5 años escuchando este podcast y que aunque vuelva a escuchar los episodios me siguen llegando, me hacen reír, me generan escalofríos. Entiendo bien que muchas de las citas parecen ser Fake Deep pero al tomarlas en serio resulta que también funcionan. Creo que eso es lo que más me gusta: aunque en la superficie se entienda que todo es ficción y que se puede tomar con humor, también hay verdades que resuenan detrás de la sátira. Es una perfecta combinación de parecer tomarse demasiado en serio pero realmente no tomarse en serio a si mismo, pero funcionar de todas formas si se toma en serio.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trigger Warnings for specific episodes can be found on the Night Vale Wiki

This volume kind of crept on me. For a while it felt a bit more serial, more 'monster of the week' of sorts and didn't seem to have an overarching plot. Carlos wasn't in it nearly as much and that was a bit disappointing. But I feel like there was more of a message to this volume than previous ones. These episodes were written in 2016 and you can see a lot of the anger Fink and Cranor felt at the state of the world. Fink even says as much in the intro to episode 83. Night Vale had its own refugee crisis that mirrored so many ongoing refugee crises. There was a lot of discussion about law and justice and the death penalty and the innocent people who get hurt along the way. The finale also veered away from humor and straight into horror. You can tell this was so heavily influenced by the events of 2016 and I find that deeply interesting. I really hope they continue to make these books because I'd love to read the aftermath of episode 90. Or maybe I'll just have to get back to listening to the podcast. Either way, it's been deeply enjoyable to read this series.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who's a Good Boy? are the Welcome to Night Vale scripts from season 4 of the podcast. After a lull in action the last book, this season really packed a punch. There were so many great plots this run! The title arc is so chilling and only encompasses the last two scripts collected here...but with nuggets leading up to the big reveal throughout the course of the season.

All our favorites return...with Cecil at the microphone giving the updates on the odd town of Night Vale we see former intern now Mayor Dana Cardinal adapt to her new role and have to make some hefty decisions. A bit of funky stuff brewing at Dark Owl Records (when isn't it?). Also an epilogue to the Man in the Tan Jacket, and my favorite episode...the unraveling of Kevin...what a heartbreaking and chilling episode that was! And the Trial of Hyrim McDaniels who is literally a five-headed dragon.

Even without Cecil's voice, the show stands up on its own. The stories within are all chilling. The world continues to grow and expand and by this season we've gotten into the rhythm and come to expect the oddities. But it just feels so fresh! Definitely a must read for fans.

[Kiara · Rating 4 out of 5]

While not as emotionally gripping as past Night Vale podcast collections, I still found this book to be engaging, funny, and poignant in equal measure. Honestly, I think I just love the world of Night Vale so much that even when the story isn't great, I find myself invested. The characters I have come to love are still awesome, and new characters get more development and time to shine. The relationship between the City Council and Station Management, wasn't what I wanted, but it was what I needed. Hiram McDaniel's trial was heartrending, and I loved how Chad and other past interns tied into the story. The climax of the season wasn't as thrilling as past finales of Night Vale, but it was interesting nonetheless. I can't wait for the next collection of printed episodes comes out- I know I'll devour them no matter what.

[Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor. The book has 278 pages. The genre is fiction and the book is part of an ongoing series. My guess for reading level would be teens.

This book is about the strange town of Night Vale. In Night Vale, many people act like life is normal. Which for them it is. Life in Night Vale is like, protesting for the disbelief of mountains. Many people have jobs too! Like Cecil Palmer who is the host of the radio station. He tells all the Night Vale citizens about what goes on in Night Vale. Throughout the story, people see a dog, which gives them nightmares, everyone loves the dog.

I liked the cover, because as I said before, I really like Night Vale, and adding a cover seems cool. This is the fourth book in an ongoing series, I would rate this book a 5 because it’s hard to imagine a better book.

[K. Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

PLEASE KEEP ROLLING OUT THESE SCRIPT BOOKS!!!
Welcome to Night Vale is a super cool, weird, well-written podcast that I have to consume via these books of podcast scripts. I have issues processing auditory input I guess (thanks, ADHD). This book is a continuation of the series, holding all of the scripts of Year 4 with introductions to each episode and, as a bonus, the script of a live show. Wonderful.
Now, please release more ASAP!!!! I'm still five years behind the current podcast episodes!!!!!! 3

Recommended for: Is there anyone else who has auditory-processing issues when listening to podcasts?? No?

[Jaclyn Brett Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kate Leth describes the town of Night Vale as "if Stephen King and Neil Gaiman started a game of SIMS and then just left it running forever,” which only begins to encompass the wonderful weirdness of these community-radio broadcasts. For a standalone starter of strangeness, check out “Through the Narrow Place,” containing the existential horror of a local marathon, a sponsorship by “the gut feeling you did something wrong but can’t remember what”, and an advice segment for the mother struggling to support her teenage son’s metamorphosis into a bear.

[Sam Sharpe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been holding off reading this book for 5 years. Because I knew that, once I finish it, that would be the end of the Night Vale novels for me. We’ve had no news of another instalment since The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home, and knowing this compendium of episodes was the last book I had to catch up on made it even harder to pick up.

I think that, because I’ve put this on a pedestal for so long, I’ve set myself up for disappointment. Or maybe, Night Vale, I might’ve outgrown you?

[Drucilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, not much to say. I did like the illustrations more in this volume than than the previous one and it was nice to get some behind-the-scenes info about the Welcome to Night Vale novel since this episode collection covers the time when the book came out. It was interesting to see how Fink and Cranor approached the book and integrated it with the podcast.

[Marc Diepstraten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fourth bundle of the Night Vale chronicles. More of what's expected, most stories are quite good, but jt seems there is less of a mix of different characters and storylines, and almost all centred around Cecil. A bit more variety would suit me more. However the format remains strong. If you're into the absurd or the silly than look no further.

[Ellyn → Allonsythornraxx · Rating 4 out of 5]

04/04/2021
3.5 ⭐
This was fantastic and the last two episodes were exactly the type of spooky that I love. There are no more Episodes Collections out at the moment but I'll definitely be moving ahead with the podcast. This was so much fun and I'll definitely be buying a copy sometime in the future!

[Amélie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the evolution Cecil's interactions with Steve... and I love learning more about different residents of Night Vale. The Desert Bluff plot was very interesting and I can't wait to see where it'll lead!

[Cheyenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was not prepared for the bits about the inevitability of death and how we rely on stories to help life make sense...OOF. But this is why I love this weird little world - because despite all its eccentricities, it is a world much like our own, full of people just trying to figure stuff out.