Line #5 Blog/MidnightPals


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5	[[quoteright:960:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/midnight_pals_3000px2x.jpg]]
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7	A humorous RealPersonFic FlashFiction series published since April 2019 through the Website/{{Twitter}} account [[https://twitter.com/midnight_pals @midnight_pals]], whose author is pseudonymously known as Bitter Karella. It's about various horror authors, living and dead, who call themselves the Midnight Society and gather around a campfire to trade stories.
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9	Authors featured include: Creator/StephenKing, Creator/HPLovecraft, Creator/DeanKoontz, Creator/MaryShelley, Creator/EdgarAllanPoe, Creator/CliveBarker, and many more.
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11	Aside from Twitter, the series is also posted on [[https://www.tumblr.com/bitterkarella Tumblr]], [[https://staging.bsky.app/profile/midnightpals.bsky.social Bluesky]], [[https://www.patreon.com/bitterkarella Patreon]], [[https://sfba.social/@bitterkarella Mastodon]], and [[https://bitterkarella.substack.com/ Substack]]. The official website is [[https://www.midnightpals.com here]]. Three [[https://bitterkarella.itch.io ebook collections]] have been released. There is also an [[https://midnight-pals.simplecast.com audio podcast adaptation]] which is published under the same title as the collections, ''Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals''.
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13	!! These tropes are submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society:
14	* AntiquatedLinguistics: Neil Gaiman's VerbalTic is this combined with SesquipedalianLoquaciousness.
15	-->'''Gaiman:''' With magic, I shall find a venturesome maid to pet the mind dolphins of my fantasmaquarium!
16	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: J.K. Rowling, being an unspecified large species of reptile, is a little shaky on the finer details of the human body.
17	-->'''Rowling:''' [snapping fingers, c-minor instrumentation begins in background] the thingsss that make a young lady's cloaca saaaalivate
18	* BerserkButton: Do not include in your stories anything hurting dogs if you don't want to anger Koontz.
19	** That said, Koontz gets in trouble with both Lovecraft and Poe for making any mean jokes about cats.
20	** And regarding Mary Shelley: Just don't. Seriously. Just don't. Okay?
21	* BeYourself: Averted regarding Lovecraft.
22	-->'''King:''' ok so under no circumstances should you be yourself\
23	'''King:''' I don't think I can stress that enough
24	* BloodKnight: Mary Shelley.
25	-->'''Lee:''' mary what really turns you on\
26	'''Mary Shelley:''' punchin nerds\
27	'''Lee:''' no I mean like in a man\
28	'''Shelley:''' the only “men” I need are right here [kissing fists]
29	** Half the time Shelley appears, she's flicking open her switchblade.
30	* BoomerangBigot: Patricia Highsmith has shades of this, being "a lesbian who did not very much enjoy the company of other women."
31	-->'''Highsmith:''' you seen Sonia [Greene]? dumb bitch has a great set of tits
32	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Any of the guest storytellers, who come in with their own... eccentricities that are exaggerated by the stories they read to the group. Specific mention to Neil Gaiman and Ray Bradbury.
33	* CreatorProvincialism
34	-->'''Dennis Etchison:''' this is a story about California\
35	'''Stephen King:''' where's that? Maine?
36	* DeadpanSnarker: Clive Barker. Oh so much.
37	* DirtyCommunists: George Romero.
38	-->'''Romero:''' Only the solidarity of the working class will defeat these rats!
39	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything
40	-->'''Lee:''' what really turns girls on\
41	'''Ursula Vernon:''' waking at dawn to do your chores\
42	'''Lee:''' lol I’d like to do YOUR chores\
43	'''Vernon:''' milking the cows\
44	'''Lee:''' lol I’d like to milk YOUR cows\
45	'''Vernon:''' planting the corn in yonder fertile valley\
46	'''Lee:'''\
47	'''Vernon:''' ahem planting the\
48	'''Lee:''' I got nothin
49	* [[AnimalLover Dog Lover]]: Dean Koontz, as per RealLife.
50	* DoubleStandard
51	-->'''Rowling:''' when i ussse my ungodly wealth to intimidate critics, that'sss good\
52	'''Rowling:''' when random people tweet image macros @ me that put the transs pride colorss on the ssorting hat\
53	'''Rowling:''' that'ssss violence
54	* EveryoneHasStandards When reacting to Joyce's blistered poison ivy foot...
55	-->'''King:''' well haha i guess uh it's no big deal for us right guys?\
56	'''King:''' i mean we are horror afficianados right?\
57	'''Junji Ito:''' no this is gross\
58	'''David Cronenberg:''' cover that shit up, jesus
59	* FairForItsDay: InUniverse, August Derleth attempts to defend HP Lovecraft this way.
60	-->'''Derleth:''' HOWARD IS ONLY AS ANTISEMITIC AS AN AVERAGE MAN OF HIS TIME!
61	* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Stephen King's response to being told Joyce Carol Oates' [[https://twitter.com/midnight_pals/status/1572627779879075842 theory of genre differences]]:
62	-->'''Oates:''' so to understand the difference between sci fi and fantasy
63	-->'''Oates:''' the important thing to know is that time is cubic
64	-->'''Oates:''' so everyday contains four simultaneous days
65	-->'''King:''' whoa
66	-->'''King:''' whoa guys i think i understand this
67	-->'''Poe:''' no you don't steve
68	-->'''King:''' no no she's right! i get it! horror IS tangent but detective is co-sign! it all makes sense
69	-->'''Poe:''' no it doesn't steve
70	-->'''King:''' i can see it ALL
71	-->'''King:''' the music of the sphere is HUMMING
72	-->'''King:''' oh
73	-->'''King:''' my
74	-->'''King:''' god
75	-->'''King:''' i can see through t i m e
76	-->'''Poe:''' steve your nose is bleeding
77	* HenPeckedHusband: Percy Shelley - "yes dear" - to Mary.[[note]]But it's okay, because she's totally turned on by his getting rusticated for contumacy.[[/note]]
78	* TheHyena: Something is definitely [[https://twitter.com/midnight_pals/status/1296335429097029632 off]] about Roald Dahl.
79	* HypocriticalHeartwarming: Joe Hill toward his dad, Stephen King.
80	-->Hendrix: dude your dad is so lame\
81	'''Hill:''' YOU TAKE THAT BACK!\
82	'''Hendrix:''' you say it all the time!\
83	'''Hill:''' THAT’S DIFFERENT\
84	'''Hill:''' I’M ALLOWED TO SAY IT\
85	'''Hill:''' I LOVE MY LAME DAD!!
86	* NeverLiveItDown: Tracey Baptiste.
87	-->'''King:''' but uh let me ask you something\
88	'''King:''' this minecraft thing that all the kids are into\
89	'''Baptiste:'''\
90	'''Baptiste:''' I only wrote one minecraft book
91	** Lovecraft keeps getting called out - especially by Barker - for a lot of the racism displayed in his works.
92	* OccidentalOtaku: Lafcadio Hearn, in spades.
93	-->'''Hearn:''' [chuckling smugly while humping dakimakura] that's a kind of yūrei for you gaijin
94	* PictorialLetterSubstitution: On the cover of the [[https://bitterkarella.itch.io/submitted-for-the-approval-of-the-midnight-pals first collection]], the "L" in "Pals" is a combined skeleton foot and scythe, and the "i"s in "Midnight" are dotted with skulls.
95	* ThePollyanna: King tends to be the most optimistic about listening to a new arrival's story submission, and tries to play nice with everybody.
96	* RealLifeWritesThePlot A highly exaggerated version, obviously.
97	* SeasonalRot: InUniverse, Clive Barker contends that Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild is an example of this.
98	-->'''Barker:''' [to JK Rowling] hm interesting and just to be clear you wrote this?\
99	'''Barker:''' like this is official? Not some random kid's fan fic that you found online?
100	* ShoutOut: Joyce Carol Oates' [[https://twitter.com/midnight_pals/status/1572627779879075842 theory of the differences in genre between SF, fantasy, horror, and detective fiction]] resembles the notorious crackpot conspiracy theory website [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Cube Time Cube]].
101	* SitcomArchNemesis: Elon Musk to Stephen King. Whenever King tries to introduce a new story, Musk will pop out and try to start an argument related to any RealLife tiff Musk attempts on Twitter.[[note]]This is based on the fight Musk and King got into over paying for verified accounts.[[/note]]
102	* SmurfettePrinciple: Mary Shelley is the only female character in the main cast. The society originated with just the five guys - Poe, Lovecraft, King, Koontz, and Barker - but Mary got promoted up to make the group a sextet. Also, she has the switchblade and nobody can tell her otherwise.
103	* TagalongKid: How Koontz behaves around the others: a little too eager to impress everybody - especially King - and otherwise acting like a five-year-old.
104	* TeamMom: Poe, who either has to keep the group focused on listening to a story-teller, or trying to get Barker to settle down and stop needling either Lovecraft or Koontz.
105	* WholePlotReference: The Midnight Society gathering around a campfire to tell scary stories is a reference to the group of the same name from ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'', right down to the phrase they introduce their stories with, "Submitted for the approval of The Midnight Society, I call this [story name]".

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