It did have one essential problem however, which was that the strength of the podcast is in sketching individual vignettes that don't have to maintain much consistency between one episode and the next, whereas a novel is all about consistency.
Night Vale the podcast is about moments of X-Files/Twin Peaks/Lovecraftian parody - evil cults within the town's boy scouts divisions, shimmering sentient forests out in the desert, portals to netherworlds opening in the air above the all-night diner - and each moment is pushed to a horrific conclusion, and then the status quo reset in time for the next episode. As such, listeners can dip in and out with ease, with the added explanation that "time works strangely in Night Vale", which papers over any number of cracks in overarching narrative.
But a novel set in such a world does not have this luxury. It must lash all the vignettes, all the disparate and oftentimes contradictory ghost stories together into one coherent whole, and tell a story from the point of view of protagonists living in this place.
That is inherently tricky. The novel succeeds, just about, but it's hard to identify with characters for whom daily life is so disjointed and hallucinatory. Storms of tarantulas one morning, predatory packs of rabid librarians the next (run!).
Or, rather, in order to make you identify with the characters, which does happen, the authors end up shrinking their wild world, making it more consistent, yet also somehow smaller, less amusing, than how it exists in episodic form.
It all reminds me of this videogame based on The Simpsons my friend used to have on his PlayStation. The whole of Springfield was explorable in the game, you could go anywhere, see anything. But Springfield isn't a real place. It is elastic, its streets and locales stretch and shrink based on the requirements of each storyline, each joke. Docklands, shopping malls, zoos, waterparks, hydroelectric dams - they come and go as they're needed.
To map out, to tie down, actual street plans, to turn off from the end of the Simpsons' road, to go to Moe's Tavern, and then Bart and Lisa's school, and then Comic Book Guy's shop, it all starts to feel squashed, uninspired, wrong.
Springfield isn't a real town, it's a possibility space, a canvas blank enough for many disparate strokes of paint to be splashed upon it.
Night Vale is the same. The novel was fun, and the writers' skills at presenting existentially repulsive yet utterly hilarious tableaux comes through often. But the inherent strengths of the novel as a medium - character and consistency - are not the ideal fit for the Night Vale project.
But still, it was very readable, very funny, and at times quite touching. If you're a fan of the podcast, it takes a little away from the show, but gives much back as well. And if you're not a fan, then get listening!
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Music: Jerusalem, by Dan Bern. Some classic "weather" from an early episode of Night Vale. Nasally, rasping, wry acoustic fare. Good stuff.
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