Action! Excitement! Horror! Romance! Thrills and Chills! Swords and Sorcery! Rockets and Rayguns!
Hosts Adam Prosser and Philip Rice take a journey through the history of SF, Fantasy, horror, and pulp fiction.
Every 2 weeks one of us, alternating back and forth, selects a book or book series from the late 18th century up to the present to look back on, discuss, and examine. Some of them have left an indelible mark on pop culture; some of them are forgotten echoes of what might have been...all of them are weird and fascinating.
(If you like our work, please support us on Patreon! Adam is at https://patreon.com/user?u=404623 and Phil is at https://www.patreon.com/Spearhafoc .
S5E143 -Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Three: Blood of the Evil-Doer!
Philip's retrospective through the works of Anne Rice continues, and at this point even Anne Rice herself seems to be getting a little tired of things, as she snarks at the audience via Lestat and starts to twist the formula out of shape. Apparently things get REALLY weird in the last few books, but we'll get there, we'll get there...
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Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross
Theme song by Jack Feerick
(c) 2026 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators.
Used under a [Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License.](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/))
15 Jul 2026
S5E142 -Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Two: The Lady Bird!
Superheroes have their origins in a dozen different places and eras, some well known, some less so (at least here in North America). Pre-WWI French pulp has actually been a surprisingly fertile ground for early proto-superheroes--or what some might call full-blown superheroes, long before the era they're usually associated with. L'Oiselle (The Bird), an early pulp story about a female daredevil with a flying suit, is certainly a strong contender for one of the first superheroes, so let's dig in and take a look!
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(c) 2026 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators.
Used under a [Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License.](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/))
1 Jul 2026
S5E141 -Chapter One Hundred and Forty-One: Down, Down to Goblin Town!
There's a world going on underground, but the nature of its inhabitants has been hotly debated since humans started telling stories around the campfire. One of the first modern writers to portray the world of goblins as we know them today is George MacDonald, author of The Princess and the Goblin, which we look at with this latest episode. Beware of long-limbed cats...
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Engineer/Producer: Alex Ross
Theme song by Jack Feerick
Additional music: "The March of the Dwarves" by Edvard Grieg
(c) 2026 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators.
Used under a [Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 International License.](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/))
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
6 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 43 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
53
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
81
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Guest appearances
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Questions about What Mad Universe?!?
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Adam Prosser and Philip Rice host the show. Published by Adam Prosser and Philip Rice.
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The show publishes bi-weekly, based on its RSS feed.
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