Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals

by BitterKarella

You all remember the only-remembered-by-90s-kids Nickelodeon TV series "Are You Afraid of the Dark," about a group of kids gathered around a campfire to tell scary stories? What if the world's best horror writers and creators gathered around the campfire to tell their own spooky tales? From H.P. Lovecraft to Stephen King, the @midnight_pals Twitter account brings together your favorite terrifying authors and Dreamweaver to spin the world's spookiest campfire yarns...sort of. "Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals" collects the very best @midnight_pals tweets with bonus content in one grand grimoire, so you can enjoy the thrilling, chilling, hilarious tales of the Midnight Society with your own cult or coven.

Genres: Horror, Humor

99 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2020

About the author

Bitter Karella is a genderfluid goblin, best known as the creator of the Hugo-nominated microfiction comedy account @Midnight_Pals which asks what if all your favorite horror writers were to gather around the campfire and tell scary stories like in the classic Nickelodeon series “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” @Midnight Pals has had three successfully crowdfunded collections and is currently being adapted as an audio podcast.

Karella writes gonzo psycho-sexual body horror with a grotesquely humorous edge. His short story “Low Tide Jenny,” originally published in Seize the Press magazine, was a winner of the Brave New Weird award for best new weird fiction of 2022 by Tenebrous Press. His work has also appeared in Bag of Bones’ “Step into the Light,” Tenebrous Press’ “Your Body is Not Your Body,” Ghoulish Books’ “Bound in Flesh,” and From Beyond Press’ “The World Belongs to Us.” She’s the author and artist of three graphic novels, including a comic adaptation of the Malleus Maleficarum, and co-host of the podcast “A Special Presentation, or Alf Will Not be Seen Tonight” about comic strips adapted into TV specials. When not writing, he also dabbles in text game design.

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rather enjoy this collection of roasts of the horror genre, as it’s clear they’re coming from a place within the community that has a deep affection for the content. Add to that snappy jokes and excellent timing and characterization, and you’ve got something really special. I had read much of the general content on Twitter already, but several vignettes I had read before made me laugh out loud, which I hold as a mark of exceptional quality.

[Nicole (bookwyrm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like the @midnight_pals Twitter account, then this book is for you. It's a collection of the Twitter posts in book form. I found the book—like the Twitter posts—highly amusing.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the more successful tweets->book efforts I've read, this broadbrush roast of creators of horror, dark fantasy, and adjacent (sometimes even not-so-adjacent) art imagines a sort of cosmic salon where they all drift in and out, cracking wise (or not-so-wise) about one another's work.

The voices have the feel of caricature more than pastiche – most of them get a small handful of defining traits. Bitter Karalla has obvious affection for horror – no one who doesn't will even have heard of some of the folks who show up to the Midnight Pals – but isn't afraid to call them out, whether its for retreading others' (or their own) material, being weird about female characters and/or sex, or racism, whether deliberate (Lovecraft, duh) or accidental (King and his magical/tragical Black supporting characters).

It made me laugh out loud a bunch, wince a few times, and I often found it hard to put down.

[John Bruni · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're not familiar with Bitter Karella's Midnight Pals, she takes famous horror authors (and sometimes fantasy authors for the rival group, Unicorn F*ck Club) and has them tell their stories to each other around a campfire a la Are You Afraid of the Dark? And it is funny as all hell. They're all authors we love, but at the same time they have their flaws, and Karella isn't one to let them off the hook. Each time HPL gets nervous over Italians, it makes me laugh. I seem to recall one exchange talking about his cat, who shall remain, uh, dare I say it? Unnamable. She pokes fun at Stephen King's disgust with fat people and his constant use of greasers as villains. And then there's adorable li'l Dean Koontz, who just can't get enough stories involving dogs. Just so long as the dog survives, that is. I also have to give Karella credit: aside from Harlan Ellison, she's the only other person I know who seems to recall who Edogawa Ranpo was.

You can get almost all of the book for free on Ex, which is where Karella posts these dialogue snippets, but the book contains extras that you can't get anywhere else. I think my favorite is the Scholastic Book Club order form parody. Long story short (too late), if you love horror fiction (and in some cases movies, as Carpenter, Zombie, Craven, Romero, etc. all show up, too), then you need this book.

[rixx · Rating 2 out of 5]

Midnight Society is a Twitter account (https://twitter.com/midnight_pals) that I really and honestly enjoy reading, so when the recent Kickstarter came out, I backed it and got both the new and the old book – but I shouldn't have bothered. It's not that the production quality is bad (it's A4 print-on-demand, you get what you expect), it's that there was no care taken with the presentation at all.

The account lives through its Twitter threads, and yet, each Tweet is just printed in a two-column layout, with generic separators, without making it clear where one narrative starts or ends. Disappointing. Reading the old threads on Twitter is better, and that's saying something.

[Spencer Koelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Addictive as potato chips, and twice as salty, this loving sendup of notable horror authors is a sheer delight. The comedy ranges from insightful meta-commentary and obscure in-jokes to humor as broad and dumb as a two-by-four. My personal favorite is the take on Dario Argento. Rest assured, this author is pretty consistent about punching up, even when they take a swing at the low-hanging fruit.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recent Reads: Submitted For The Approval Of The Midnight Pals. The first collection of Bitter Karella's horror-lampooning tweets shows of a love for genre fiction that's not above some well-targeted barbs. Also points for making Richard Scarry a gothic fiction writer. Hilarious!

[Joshua Begley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this several times, and I follow Midnight Pals on Bluesky. I can't say enough about just how damn smart and funny this is. Bitter Karella knows more and cares more about horror than anyone else on this planet.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was brilliant! I can't wait for more. This was one of the most enjoyable books I've read in sometime. I wish I could give it 10 stars. So much fun!

[Mira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny stuff, but they got Bram Stoker all wrong. The joke should have been that he gets boners for his own characters!

[Chris Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

really funny

[Alana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super fun and absolutely worth it for the bonus material and not missing things thanks to the mess that is the Twitter algorithm.

[CJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re a fan of the horror genre, this hilarious little parody will be right up your alley. The format (brief conversations in tweet form) allow for a surprising amount of funny characterization. I stumbled on the author’s work on Twitter, and was lucky enough to become a supporter of the book. Highly recommend for anyone who likes comedy with their horror.

[Nick Zinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A humorous look at famous horror authors through the prism of Are You Afraid of the Dark. All the great writers(as children) sitting around a campfire telling their kind of stories. Insightful, wacky, weird, accurate, and fun to read how they'd deal with each other yet while trying to craft a spooky story. The results are amazing and I can't wait for more.