Inexpressibly marvellous to have your narration again. I especially like the crunch you gave to the real historical battle excerpts, exactly as intended.
Lol mummals the Sky 'demons' apparently personally I think they are actually just funny angels They're hilarious with their sense of humour The western Australia ones really do have a sense of humour The south Australian ones are the funniest ones of all They really do give me the giggles with their wonderful little tricks
Extra credit to Jules Hill, who did the foley for the SILENT STRUTTER signal noise you can hear in the background. A lot of work went in getting multiple elements right, and the sound profile correct.
What a wonderful story, had to listen twice to it to take it all in. I will never forget the name Tamlan Dipper now and I hope to find a Lot more of his stories. Thanks Ian, for this marvelous treat. And double thanks Tamlan Dipper for writing it. Amazing !!!
Pretty damn good, although inevitably some are a lot better than others. Godrons' certainly carving out an interesting niche for himself. Personally look forward keenly to seeing Van Melson being played by the late Bertrand Russell; at some point in the near future. And yes I'm quite aware that he's dead, I'm not a fool, but surely that should a mere inconvenience given the arcane resources of this channel ?
I agree, there's an obvious debt to previous authors, (how could there not be,) he's his own character and not at all a copy or a pastiche the others. He's also grown on me.
@@johnd4848 I don't want a sequel to It Happened on the Isle of Seacliffe but I love the style. I love Melsen too but would love another Diary of a Lovecraft character stream of consciousness thing with weird chants :)
@@tamlandipper29 eldritch similes from the dawn of time that man should not wot of unless he hungers for forbidden sugary secrets stolen from namby pamby gods with pronounceable names
Agreed. I really had to pause and appreciate that line. The writing in this is wholly superb, and several turns of phrase throughout have driven the mental hook ever deeper.
This post, like all of Tims, gets a preemptive +1! (Edit- after listening- I was right! Great work!) This author is (imo) always excellent; really nails cosmic horror/ Lovecraftian fiction, without being- heavy handed, derivative or sophomoric... SO: despite how generally jaded and sceptical that I am, yet, these stories gave ME the willies! More, please? 😅👍😁
I expected something quaint and predictable. I'm still only 90 minutes through; the codebreaking and links to a certain English mathematician blew my mind. We all "know" the general framework of Lovecraftian fiction, but this was more intelligent and absolutely realistic than possibly any other that I have read.
The use of historicism with the mythos is so smart and so well done. I don’t care about the monsters; I care about the people who have to deal with them.
@@tamlandipper29 And you did great! I have no idea how these navy ladies talked back in the day, but when I extrapolate from myself, I probably would have sounded like that back then. 😅
Thanks for the compliment. I've sketched out three more in the sequence, which should round it out. But finding the time to research always takes time.
@@tamlandipper29 you are doing a smashing job, thank you! I really loved In The Tomb of the White Barron, too. That historical sense of place makes those eldritch abominations gibber more...squamously? :) I wonder if listening to Fall of Civilizations or The Rest is History would do some research for you?
@@Wombats555 My fan status of those podcasts is already almost ...sacral. The recent FoC on the Monghols took me right back to Tomb of the White Baron!
@@tamlandipper29just listened and I think I caught something - 'nothing left this time'? Might this mean June's team is not the first to meet a terrible end while working on messages from the deep? How many more have been collateral casualties for 'Jasper's organisation?
As someone who has been around the mythos for many decades as well as been in and around surrounding communities such as Thelemites, Typhonians, Discordians and whatnot I have heard a ton of mythos stories (my old Lodge back when I was a more “mainstream“ Thelemite in the 20 10s was called Phoenix Lodge but back in the 80s it was split between 2 local “bodies“: Phoenix and The Church of The Starry Wisdom... and yes it is in Canada and yep my old Lodge is why in the Mythos it is said some Starry Wisdom activities still persist in Canada... our bad I suppose) this truly is one of the best modern additions I have come across in a while. Would love to see more from this author and similar styles. Thanks for all you do H.B (I mean you! Not the other one.. he‘s a bit of a dolt... the Thelemites reading this will either avidly agree or leave an angry comment because I dared insult their King... to the latter: it is all just in good fun. Praise Bob, Hail Eris, etc etc) L.V.X
@tamlandipper29 Yep but alas no longer... probably for the best. There is a lot of weird history around it. Starry Wisdom Oasis (Oasis is a small Lodge in this tradition) was a name created for a group which favoured the more Typhonian Order/Kenneth Grant (check those names out, nuts traditon and character) but it no longer exists. Phoenix Lodge does though. You can find a lot of data on the historical Starry Wisdom online at "Parareligion The O-T-O" phenomenon if you look up that plus "Starry Wisdom" you should find it all. The modern use of it comes a lot from Robert Anton Wilson's books and he was involved with (and jokingly declared himself and all people the "Outer Head" or leader in non-wack talk) of the tradition after members sent him and dozens of others modified Discordian Pope Cards... long story... but follow the breadcrumbs I've mentioned and you'll find quite the rabbit hole
Very nice read & story. First pass the read helped me fall asleep. Second sweep, at work, was even better. This channel excels at creating engaging content that doubles as a sleep aid. Closest I've ever come to appreciating ASMR since a toddler.
I had to play At The Mountains of Madness about 5-6 times to get the full story. Nothing like falling asleep with a shoggoth on your ass. And I've been doing it for 5-6 years now, I wonder what type of eldritch zoo my subconscious had turned into.
The cozy thing about cosmic horror is, that it's not real. There are many very real horrors on this world, and ancient alien gods are the least likely to happen to any of us. Therefor, it serves as a distraction.
Jasper Currant(sp?) Felt like it was a significant name drop. A quick search shows there's a Jasper in the expanded mythos which is actually an alias of someone working for British military intelligence but also secretly working for the founder of the esoteric order of Dagon. Same one?
@tamlandipper29 Awesome! Also, great story BTW. I really enjoyed the characterization of the different wrens and the interplay between them. I think favorite bit may have been them getting the info on RongoRongo on the sly. Looking forward to checking out the others.
@@miarencrowsdaughter6434 It Happened on the Isle of Seacliffe might be favourite of Ian Gordon's writing. Is the Drachinifel from Warhammer Fantasy's Castle Drachenfel or this convergent references?
Holy hot damn, this was good - almost felt like a Lovecraftian retelling/reframing of Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Nothing short of a stunning work; my favourite from Tamlan Dipper so far. Fingers crossed for a sequel! 🤞
Encouraged by comments like yours I have been talking to Ian about completing the sequence with three more, to round out a collection. My intention is to jump back to Shanghai 1930 to see more about how [redacted] gets to this position by 1943.
Something I found out recently was that there is a theory that the idea of code talkers was first tried in WW1. But I haven't had time to chase it up. You may know more?
Melissa sat next to her friend Brian looking out the window of the Starbucks as she sipped her hot Very Vente soy pumpkin habanero spice Brazilian bean decaf latte with brown sugar, light oat milk and coconut swirl. As she watched, a fat tuxedo cat raced past with a little yellow jacked with the word *"You"* emblazoned on the side. The cat was followed closely by a German Shepard with a similar jacket emblazoned *"FOOL!"* (She knew it had to be a German Shepard because of the pickelhaube it wore) The German Shepard in turn followed by a smiling Samoyed with *"Warren"* on its jacket, a yapping little Chihuahua with *"is"* and a ponderous Mastiff struggling to keep up with *"DEAD!"* Melissa turned to Brian as he rolled his eyes. She arched her eyebrow and said, _"He really IS running out of ideas, isn't he?"_
I have to say that it's got to be Charlize Theron for Professor Gina Poole. She has the charisma to do the lighthearted bits, and Monster proved her chops to portray a descent into madness. But who for Chief Bates?
We met Jasper Courhant as a Police Special Branch sergeant in Shanghai in Porcelain Blood. If you check out that story you may draw your own conclusions about his offer.
@@jainab1522 My current plan is to jump back to Shanghai 1930 and look at how [redacted] gets to the back end of this story. But I am afraid researching this has to take second priority to other commitments. I estimate piling in this summer.
@@tamlandipper29 OOpsie, thats a confirmed, "no" -Now I think I might go check out, "Porcelain Blood" -another Cthulu mythos story by the same author I ran across whilst satisfying my curiosity. Sounds interesting.
The United Kingdom culture is still dominated by the second world war. The late nineteenth lends itself to horror. The older stories plunged those waters. It's nice to see someone apply horror to the second world war. Not that post-war British writers didn't stir that soup. It's a shame post-war fiction is under copyright.
There is a degree of tension in using WW2, because the whole zeitgeist was the antithesis of gothic decay. The House of Usher would probably have been taken over by the War Office, and used to train commandos. Clearly in this case I've leaned into it, a bit like On the Beach, which looks at man-made atomic age horror. Although the Chestertonian theme isn't abandoned. To be human is inherently a rebellion against a vast uncaring cosmos.
A Robinson is a reference to William Heath Robinson, a popular cartoonist who drew what we would see as Wallace & Gromit style contraptions. There is one specific machine now at Bletchley called a Heath Robinson, but the term could equally apply to any clever device. Hence June is implying Professor Clark is very clever, but possibly too clever for her own good. It's also a veiled hint to a lack of humanity...
@@tamlandipper29 It's really cool you're both so detail-oriented about your influences and references in the end notes, and also here to help explain things you clearly put a lot of thought into. Both this and Porcelain Blood are some of the freshest and best thought-out new mythos stories I've come across, so hats off.
@@tamlandipper29 wow! Would most English understand the reference. Is it a used reference or turn of phrase? Thanks for helping. It struck me as interesting
@Driven2Beers THAT'S what he's been trying to tell us all along! He is warning us to clear the decks before he lets off a ripsnorter! Very conscientious
@@Wombats555 "Stumbled" reminds me of walking to the local Taco Bell with my dorm mates back in my college days in the late 90s. Talk about Cthulhu farts!
As in the shownotes, a robinson was slang at Bletchley (and wider society to a degree) for any over complicated and clever Wallace and Gromit style machine. Bletchley pioneered the use of mechanical and electronic systems for infomation processing - possibly influenced by the use of automation aboard Royal Navy ships for fire control.
Not unreasonably, the USA didn't always trust us with everything, due to (now proven) communist sympathisers running loose. But more importantly, by not doing a direct link I leave other writers more freedom of action to look at the possibility.
@@obsidiancurse429 Yep, we were awesome like that - though I actually knew about the polish and British bomba program and knew about Turning and his role. It is a fascinating history. I miss based America.
@@SeanMendicino-n3d I have a lot of love for you chaps. Hence some of the fighting scenes in the story. I'll never understand why Hollywood feels the need to steal credit from allies, when the USN and USMC have plenty of heroism to go around. The Drachinifel channel has more examples than I could list here!
This one goes on the "listen repeatedly" list. The historical links, the linguistic and anthropological backgrounds. Truly Lovecraft brought into the 21st century. EDIT: now that I just finished it: will there be more? Without spoiling it, this was a heck of an open ending!
Exactly so. As I said in the intro, I have meant to write about this for some time, having met a very shy old lady who was at Bletchley in the war. She'd never told a soul, but I was reading the Michael Howard history of British Military Intelligence and I think she knew I was safe to talk to. Naturally I expressed my gratitude and respect, and elicited as much as I could get. She had all sorts of stories, and a keen sense of humour, which I've tried to reference in this narrative.
While the overarching story of the cipher and the slow unraveling of the mystery was well crafted, the story unfortunately reeks of 2024 'girl boss' feminism and vulgarity and general anti-christ jabs. The author isn't fooling anyone into believing that "Christian" woman with the dog bit wasn't for any other reason than to make a dig at the 'sToOpId IgNoRaNt ChRiStIaN'. I don't care if you have a single case of the use of the f-word from the 1800's, that's not how ladies spoke in the 40's, and just because some women worked on the enigma code, this does not lend nearly sufficient credence to this whole 'only-the-wAmEnZ can solve the mystery' premise. But to the author's credit, whether by accident or by intention (almost certainly the former), the feminists in these kinds of stories almost always reveal how depraved they are. At the end when Alice asked if June 'told them to stop fighting' only to find out she hadn't, that solidified June's true objective. Proving her worth as the 'girl boss' was evidently more important to her than literally saving the world or at least doing her part. Apparently, they already had cracked the message in December, yet June was only willing to deliver a decode in January despite the story making it a point to recount the continued ongoing naval battles. June was more concerned with her 'girl boss' reputation, her *pride,* than delivering the dire warning as soon as possible to the higher ups regardless of how would be received. She probably reasoned to herself that the higher ups wouldn't believe her team anyway because of mIsOgYnY, so she opted to deliver a decoded message weeks later that could at least be construed as being Japanese naval intelligence conveniently with no explanation of the general consensus from her team of the true meaning of the message. Hey, the world might end by February, but at least the asshole male brass will have to acknowledge her, amirite?
The Tamlan Dipper playlist: ruclips.net/p/PLeNNKRLWxwoNaL-ICie-t7zj44pcczzhM
Inexpressibly marvellous to have your narration again. I especially like the crunch you gave to the real historical battle excerpts, exactly as intended.
The mammuls 😅😅
Lol mummals the Sky 'demons' apparently personally I think they are actually just funny angels
They're hilarious with their sense of humour
The western Australia ones really do have a sense of humour
The south Australian ones are the funniest ones of all
They really do give me the giggles with their wonderful little tricks
Extra credit to Jules Hill, who did the foley for the SILENT STRUTTER signal noise you can hear in the background. A lot of work went in getting multiple elements right, and the sound profile correct.
@@tamlandipper29 You are doing the Outer Gods' work, my friends 🙏 Thank you!
Loving your writing, thank you!
I wasn't clear earlier. Jules did a lot of the noise just using voice (with a low pass filter). Amazing skils.
@tamlandipper29 sure, sure we know you summoned Cthulhu and fed him baked beans but we'll go with your cover story *wink* *wink*
@@Wombats555Aye, he's a sucker for them beans all right 🐙
What a wonderful story, had to listen twice to it to take it all in.
I will never forget the name Tamlan Dipper now and I hope to find a Lot more of his stories. Thanks Ian, for this marvelous treat. And double thanks Tamlan Dipper for writing it. Amazing !!!
Hello, Roland. Glad you checked it out after our exchange earlier!
@@tamlandipper29 thanks for your kind reaction.
I very much hope thete is a sequel to this!!! Thanks for the absorbing story!
FANTASTIC.!! 👍 👍 👍
Thank you very much indeed.!!
Great writing and presentation. Thank you and thank you to the author.
May God bless you once again and again and your team sir ❤❤❤ and respect as always from Croatia-Europe 🙏🙏🙏😇😇😇
Hello Croatia! Much respect back.
This is outstanding story. Made a day of Christmas decorating, cleaning, and doing dishes thoroughly enjoyable.
Thank you to both Ian and Tamlan!
Thanks, Andrew. I'd have replied sooner, but you reminded me about the cleaning.
So excited for this one, I love Dipper.
Thanks again for what you do. I am currently hooked on your Van Melson work. Absolutely brilliant!
Pretty damn good, although inevitably some are a lot better than others.
Godrons' certainly carving out an interesting niche for himself.
Personally look forward keenly to seeing Van Melson being played by the late Bertrand Russell; at some point in the near future.
And yes I'm quite aware that he's dead, I'm not a fool, but surely that should a mere inconvenience given the arcane resources of this channel ?
I'm also a fan of van Melsen. Although the investigator is written as reassuringly long in the tooth, both the mysteries and cryptids feel fresh.
I agree, there's an obvious debt to previous authors, (how could there not be,) he's his own character and not at all a copy or a pastiche the others.
He's also grown on me.
@@johnd4848 I don't want a sequel to It Happened on the Isle of Seacliffe but I love the style. I love Melsen too but would love another Diary of a Lovecraft character stream of consciousness thing with weird chants :)
Oh, wow. Tamlan Dipper. Always a treat!
This was AMAZING! Possibly the best mythos story I've ever heard!
Crikey! Thanks, Joshua.
Agreed! Very tense
Have you listened to “Porcelain Blood!?”
Loved In The Tomb... By Tamlan can't wait to listen to this!
Another banger from Tamlan Dipper!
Been waiting so long for this one. With Ian, my favorite contemporary!
I always enjoy more mythos. They are my favorite
THANK YOU IAN AND TAM BRILLIANT. BLESSINGS TO YOU AND YOURS 💎MAY THE RIVER ALWAYS PROVIDE 🦐🐟
Excellent story! Thank You ...🙀
2 hours?! I just ate a large meal! I'll listen again after I wake up.
Awesome! and the mythos goes on.
I’ve officially watched every video on this channel 🎉
@@AnroMcFlannighan I must be close I started before COVID and listen almost every night. Eldritch lullabies!
I must be on loop 9 or 10. Been here since the beginning. Ian's kept me company at night for nearly a decade.
@@BeastlyEwok we are going to accidentally call him Dad one of these days :)
Lose 10d6 Sanity.
Epic opening. "Spoon full of honey on a dead tongue"
Maple syrup?
@@tamlandipper29 eldritch similes from the dawn of time that man should not wot of unless he hungers for forbidden sugary secrets stolen from namby pamby gods with pronounceable names
Agreed. I really had to pause and appreciate that line. The writing in this is wholly superb, and several turns of phrase throughout have driven the mental hook ever deeper.
Exactly so, my marsupial chum. @@Wombats555
Late start on the video today! Skipping the popcorn…
(thank you for the video!)
The residents of Innsmouth would like to know your location 🐙.
Gonna enjoy this story. Appreciate it!
Hehe, the US knew and neglected to tell anyone
This post, like all of Tims, gets a preemptive +1! (Edit- after listening- I was right! Great work!)
This author is (imo) always excellent; really nails cosmic horror/ Lovecraftian fiction, without being- heavy handed, derivative or sophomoric... SO: despite how generally jaded and sceptical that I am, yet, these stories gave ME the willies!
More, please? 😅👍😁
I expected something quaint and predictable. I'm still only 90 minutes through; the codebreaking and links to a certain English mathematician blew my mind. We all "know" the general framework of Lovecraftian fiction, but this was more intelligent and absolutely realistic than possibly any other that I have read.
@JohnGauntSega32 bingo. Well put.
@@JohnGauntSega32 Humbling compliment. Thank you. Big stack of research went in. Check my endnotes in the video description for a few key elements.
@@JohnGauntSega32 He is amazing! Go check out his other stories. The one in the tomb is still sticking in my mind. Those shadows...
Many thanks as always Ian😊
The use of historicism with the mythos is so smart and so well done. I don’t care about the monsters; I care about the people who have to deal with them.
Very well written
Dipper is a master of the opening line. Thanks; this is going to be good!
Exquisite. Simply magnificent.
Thanks @mortefleur . It was a stretch to shift from first person subjective to an ensemble, so it's great to know I managed to do it well.
Great story
That was ...very cool.
Looking forward to both re-listening and further work from thia author.
Thanks.
I like this a lot. Well done.
Thqnk you for this. It was really good!
Really loved that one. World War Cthulhu stories are always inspiring.
The way you said " Agnes we've been fucked" made me laugh so hard
I did research with women sailors to get this language accurate. :)
@@tamlandipper29 And you did great!
I have no idea how these navy ladies talked back in the day, but when I extrapolate from myself, I probably would have sounded like that back then. 😅
I had a few laugh out loud moments in this one.
Really enjoyed this one. The knitting of wartime urgency & the horror of Cthulhu. Original & outstanding. More in this vein would be appreciated. 👍
@@apborick5796
I wholeheartedly agree 💯
Truely an amazing blend 🪖+🐙
I really hope Tamlan turns this into a series! 🙏
Thanks for the compliment. I've sketched out three more in the sequence, which should round it out. But finding the time to research always takes time.
@@tamlandipper29 you are doing a smashing job, thank you! I really loved In The Tomb of the White Barron, too.
That historical sense of place makes those eldritch abominations gibber more...squamously? :)
I wonder if listening to Fall of Civilizations or The Rest is History would do some research for you?
@@Wombats555 My fan status of those podcasts is already almost ...sacral. The recent FoC on the Monghols took me right back to Tomb of the White Baron!
@@tamlandipper29just listened and I think I caught something - 'nothing left this time'? Might this mean June's team is not the first to meet a terrible end while working on messages from the deep? How many more have been collateral casualties for 'Jasper's organisation?
Many thanks
Welcome back Mr Dipper
As someone who has been around the mythos for many decades as well as been in and around surrounding communities such as Thelemites, Typhonians, Discordians and whatnot I have heard a ton of mythos stories (my old Lodge back when I was a more “mainstream“ Thelemite in the 20 10s was called Phoenix Lodge but back in the 80s it was split between 2 local “bodies“: Phoenix and The Church of The Starry Wisdom... and yes it is in Canada and yep my old Lodge is why in the Mythos it is said some Starry Wisdom activities still persist in Canada... our bad I suppose) this truly is one of the best modern additions I have come across in a while. Would love to see more from this author and similar styles. Thanks for all you do H.B (I mean you! Not the other one.. he‘s a bit of a dolt... the Thelemites reading this will either avidly agree or leave an angry comment because I dared insult their King... to the latter: it is all just in good fun. Praise Bob, Hail Eris, etc etc)
L.V.X
So there is an actual cult by the same name?
@tamlandipper29 Yep but alas no longer... probably for the best. There is a lot of weird history around it. Starry Wisdom Oasis (Oasis is a small Lodge in this tradition) was a name created for a group which favoured the more Typhonian Order/Kenneth Grant (check those names out, nuts traditon and character) but it no longer exists. Phoenix Lodge does though. You can find a lot of data on the historical Starry Wisdom online at "Parareligion The O-T-O" phenomenon if you look up that plus "Starry Wisdom" you should find it all. The modern use of it comes a lot from Robert Anton Wilson's books and he was involved with (and jokingly declared himself and all people the "Outer Head" or leader in non-wack talk) of the tradition after members sent him and dozens of others modified Discordian Pope Cards... long story... but follow the breadcrumbs I've mentioned and you'll find quite the rabbit hole
Where is our God, the Crawling Chaos? My bets: Elon Musk
@@tamlandipper29 huh... did you see what I wrote to you? its gone
So much fun!
Absolutely breathtaking
Thanks, bud. Very toothsome compliment.
19:58 I accept this as a sign this is a crossover with Alice in Wonderland.
I really hope there's more where this came from. Such a buildup story needs a series ❤
Very nice read & story. First pass the read helped me fall asleep. Second sweep, at work, was even better.
This channel excels at creating engaging content that doubles as a sleep aid. Closest I've ever come to appreciating ASMR since a toddler.
I also enjoy mind bending abominations to relax. It's Ian's expert narration.
I had to play At The Mountains of Madness about 5-6 times to get the full story. Nothing like falling asleep with a shoggoth on your ass.
And I've been doing it for 5-6 years now, I wonder what type of eldritch zoo my subconscious had turned into.
The cozy thing about cosmic horror is, that it's not real. There are many very real horrors on this world, and ancient alien gods are the least likely to happen to any of us. Therefor, it serves as a distraction.
Jasper Currant(sp?) Felt like it was a significant name drop. A quick search shows there's a Jasper in the expanded mythos which is actually an alias of someone working for British military intelligence but also secretly working for the founder of the esoteric order of Dagon. Same one?
Author here: not the same Jasper. Check out Porcelain Blood.
@tamlandipper29 Awesome! Also, great story BTW. I really enjoyed the characterization of the different wrens and the interplay between them. I think favorite bit may have been them getting the info on RongoRongo on the sly. Looking forward to checking out the others.
The free Polish cruiser Drachinifel...? Unexpected crossover between my two favourite RUclips channels? Fantastic.
Did you catch that John Dee was told to dive 'off the island of Seacliffe'?
@@miarencrowsdaughter6434 You get the prize for spotting this! Great story by Ian.
My compliments to Mr Drach. And please do invite him to listen.
@@miarencrowsdaughter6434 It Happened on the Isle of Seacliffe might be favourite of Ian Gordon's writing. Is the Drachinifel from Warhammer Fantasy's Castle Drachenfel or this convergent references?
@@Wombats555 Drachinifel is a naval history RUclips chap.
Holy hot damn, this was good - almost felt like a Lovecraftian retelling/reframing of Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Nothing short of a stunning work; my favourite from Tamlan Dipper so far. Fingers crossed for a sequel! 🤞
Encouraged by comments like yours I have been talking to Ian about completing the sequence with three more, to round out a collection. My intention is to jump back to Shanghai 1930 to see more about how [redacted] gets to this position by 1943.
@@tamlandipper29 wooohooo!
thank you!
That was a hell of a ride! Also, happy 2025, everyone!
We're back.
I love a good cross-genre tale.
Wow, so these Japanese got their very own “Navajo” code talkers! This is awesome
Something I found out recently was that there is a theory that the idea of code talkers was first tried in WW1. But I haven't had time to chase it up. You may know more?
Melissa sat next to her friend Brian looking out the window of the Starbucks as she sipped her hot Very Vente soy pumpkin habanero spice Brazilian bean decaf latte with brown sugar, light oat milk and coconut swirl. As she watched, a fat tuxedo cat raced past with a little yellow jacked with the word *"You"* emblazoned on the side. The cat was followed closely by a German Shepard with a similar jacket emblazoned *"FOOL!"* (She knew it had to be a German Shepard because of the pickelhaube it wore) The German Shepard in turn followed by a smiling Samoyed with *"Warren"* on its jacket, a yapping little Chihuahua with *"is"* and a ponderous Mastiff struggling to keep up with *"DEAD!"* Melissa turned to Brian as he rolled his eyes. She arched her eyebrow and said, _"He really IS running out of ideas, isn't he?"_
Dog code, eh?
Oh WOW. Great post. I'm almost speechless (and that's saying a lot.)
Cheers 😬
Very clever
Good one 👍
Needs more words.
oh yeah this should be good
Supplemental question: who would you cast in any of the key roles?
I have to say that it's got to be Charlize Theron for Professor Gina Poole. She has the charisma to do the lighthearted bits, and Monster proved her chops to portray a descent into madness. But who for Chief Bates?
I loved this. I looked for references to Jasper Corant but couldn't find any. Can anyone educate me on this character?
Really glad you enjoyed it. We first meet Jasper Courhant in Shanghai 1928, in Porcelain Blood. Also available from Horrorbabble right here.
That was really quite excellent but I feel I am meant to know who the scarred chap at the end was? What am I missing?
We met Jasper Courhant as a Police Special Branch sergeant in Shanghai in Porcelain Blood. If you check out that story you may draw your own conclusions about his offer.
Thank you, gives me an excuse to re-listen, another great story from what I remember 👍
Finally got around to listening to this one and it's really left me wanting more! Please tell me there's a follow up?
Successor planned, but not written. I do have two previous stories on Horrorbabble if you like.
@tamlandipper29 I've listened to both! This one just really feels like the start of something more!
@@jainab1522 My current plan is to jump back to Shanghai 1930 and look at how [redacted] gets to the back end of this story. But I am afraid researching this has to take second priority to other commitments. I estimate piling in this summer.
Ok, as a general rule, HorrorBabble gives us the good stuff. But this one was really something special. Huge kudos to everyone involved.
❤😊
Bravo
Is Tamlan Dipper by any chance a pseudonym? It seems like it could be.
Utterly ludicrous name, I agree.
@@tamlandipper29 👏🤣
@@tamlandipper29 OOpsie, thats a confirmed, "no" -Now I think I might go check out, "Porcelain Blood" -another Cthulu mythos story by the same author I ran across whilst satisfying my curiosity. Sounds interesting.
@@codelicious6590No offence taken. Hope you enjoy Porcelain Blood, and try Tomb of the White Baron.
@@codelicious6590 you know it could be an old Innsmouth family name ... Gillman, Fisher, Dipper ...
The United Kingdom culture is still dominated by the second world war. The late nineteenth lends itself to horror. The older stories plunged those waters. It's nice to see someone apply horror to the second world war. Not that post-war British writers didn't stir that soup. It's a shame post-war fiction is under copyright.
There is a degree of tension in using WW2, because the whole zeitgeist was the antithesis of gothic decay. The House of Usher would probably have been taken over by the War Office, and used to train commandos.
Clearly in this case I've leaned into it, a bit like On the Beach, which looks at man-made atomic age horror. Although the Chestertonian theme isn't abandoned. To be human is inherently a rebellion against a vast uncaring cosmos.
“Or I’ll have u declared a Robinson, & locked up in a safe!” Anyone know what this means? Enjoying this! Little different, but different is good! ❓🎄🕯️
A Robinson is a reference to William Heath Robinson, a popular cartoonist who drew what we would see as Wallace & Gromit style contraptions. There is one specific machine now at Bletchley called a Heath Robinson, but the term could equally apply to any clever device. Hence June is implying Professor Clark is very clever, but possibly too clever for her own good. It's also a veiled hint to a lack of humanity...
@@tamlandipper29 It's really cool you're both so detail-oriented about your influences and references in the end notes, and also here to help explain things you clearly put a lot of thought into. Both this and Porcelain Blood are some of the freshest and best thought-out new mythos stories I've come across, so hats off.
@@tamlandipper29 wow! Would most English understand the reference. Is it a used reference or turn of phrase? Thanks for helping. It struck me as interesting
@@Bbergster They would at the time. But these days I'd be surprised if one in a hundred got it.
🐙
15 minutes in I'm calling it now
Its Cthulhu farting.
Ia! Ia!
Cthulhu fartagn!
@Driven2Beers THAT'S what he's been trying to tell us all along! He is warning us to clear the decks before he lets off a ripsnorter! Very conscientious
@@Wombats555 Imagine the trail of bubbles he left while sliding greasily into the water. Talk about about the stench of a thousand open graves! 😱
@@Driven2Beers a mountain walked or stumbled...
@@Wombats555 "Stumbled" reminds me of walking to the local Taco Bell with my dorm mates back in my college days in the late 90s. Talk about Cthulhu farts!
1:39:41 Gina's monologue is absolutely terrifying. That's when it all went to hell
I hope it wasn't too jarring. I did try to set the pieces up before she goes off the rails, especially with her background.
@ Oh, I didn't notice you're the author! I don't think it was. It was perfect to me.
What is “a Robinson”?
As in the shownotes, a robinson was slang at Bletchley (and wider society to a degree) for any over complicated and clever Wallace and Gromit style machine. Bletchley pioneered the use of mechanical and electronic systems for infomation processing - possibly influenced by the use of automation aboard Royal Navy ships for fire control.
😃
Little do they know, the Americans already knew about the horror and didn't tell them. That's how we roll boys! USA!
Not unreasonably, the USA didn't always trust us with everything, due to (now proven) communist sympathisers running loose. But more importantly, by not doing a direct link I leave other writers more freedom of action to look at the possibility.
@@SeanMendicino-n3d yeah and make movies about you solving Enigma even though it was a Polish dude :) Reality lol!
More like the British told you and you edited that bit out in the movie, as usual 🤣
@@obsidiancurse429 Yep, we were awesome like that - though I actually knew about the polish and British bomba program and knew about Turning and his role. It is a fascinating history. I miss based America.
@@SeanMendicino-n3d I have a lot of love for you chaps. Hence some of the fighting scenes in the story. I'll never understand why Hollywood feels the need to steal credit from allies, when the USN and USMC have plenty of heroism to go around. The Drachinifel channel has more examples than I could list here!
So is she going to work with Hellboy?
This one goes on the "listen repeatedly" list. The historical links, the linguistic and anthropological backgrounds. Truly Lovecraft brought into the 21st century. EDIT: now that I just finished it: will there be more? Without spoiling it, this was a heck of an open ending!
30:00
I just noticed that you comment regularly with a random time. If I ask you to make toast will you attempt to destroy the World?
Jasper doesn’t seem very good at his job
The enigma code comes to mine .and thanks to the women code breakers .
Exactly so. As I said in the intro, I have meant to write about this for some time, having met a very shy old lady who was at Bletchley in the war. She'd never told a soul, but I was reading the Michael Howard history of British Military Intelligence and I think she knew I was safe to talk to. Naturally I expressed my gratitude and respect, and elicited as much as I could get. She had all sorts of stories, and a keen sense of humour, which I've tried to reference in this narrative.
@tamlandipper29 thanks u for message how interesting. I smile at the condense milk .respect well deserved. You convade it well in story .
Even Cthulhu can’t escape woke
Lovecraft for feminists. Gotta love it, eh?😅
While the overarching story of the cipher and the slow unraveling of the mystery was well crafted, the story unfortunately reeks of 2024 'girl boss' feminism and vulgarity and general anti-christ jabs. The author isn't fooling anyone into believing that "Christian" woman with the dog bit wasn't for any other reason than to make a dig at the 'sToOpId IgNoRaNt ChRiStIaN'. I don't care if you have a single case of the use of the f-word from the 1800's, that's not how ladies spoke in the 40's, and just because some women worked on the enigma code, this does not lend nearly sufficient credence to this whole 'only-the-wAmEnZ can solve the mystery' premise.
But to the author's credit, whether by accident or by intention (almost certainly the former), the feminists in these kinds of stories almost always reveal how depraved they are. At the end when Alice asked if June 'told them to stop fighting' only to find out she hadn't, that solidified June's true objective. Proving her worth as the 'girl boss' was evidently more important to her than literally saving the world or at least doing her part. Apparently, they already had cracked the message in December, yet June was only willing to deliver a decode in January despite the story making it a point to recount the continued ongoing naval battles.
June was more concerned with her 'girl boss' reputation, her *pride,* than delivering the dire warning as soon as possible to the higher ups regardless of how would be received. She probably reasoned to herself that the higher ups wouldn't believe her team anyway because of mIsOgYnY, so she opted to deliver a decoded message weeks later that could at least be construed as being Japanese naval intelligence conveniently with no explanation of the general consensus from her team of the true meaning of the message. Hey, the world might end by February, but at least the asshole male brass will have to acknowledge her, amirite?
disappointing.........stick w/ older/wiser content, please...................
You fool! Warren is…wait, why is Warren at the bottom of the ocean?!!
Job Vacancy:
Shopkeeper. (Vanishing Shop.)
Applicants must have at least 300 years of retail experience and be willing to travel.
Please reach out to Wayne June if you can, can you imagine the memes?
I'd rather not say the rest of it
I mean, if it was real