Midnight Pals

Twitter
Name:	The Midnight Society
Date(s):	2019-now
Type:	flashfiction Twitter and Tumblr account
Fandom:	horror fandom, RPF
Scope:
URL:	on Twitter, on Tumblr, podcast
Other:
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Midnight Pals (also known as The Midnight Society) is a blog on Twitter and Tumblr with humorous RPF flashfiction about famous horror writers by bitterkarella.

A typical Midnight Pals story is a Twitter thread about horror authors telling each other scary stories (usually based on their own) around a campfire. It's location is The Woods.

Midnight Pals started on Twitter in 2019. Since 2022, after Elon Musk bought Twitter, it's also published on bitterkarella's Tumblr.

A podcast with longer stories has been released in October 2023. Midnight Pals threads have also been published as illustrated books.

Characters

• Clive Barker
• Edgar Poe
• Stephen King
• H.P. Lovecraft
• Dean Koontz
• Mary Shelley
• Neil Gaiman
• Edward Lee
• and many others

While keeping the focus on horror writers, Midnight Pals cast of characters also includes authors of other genres, particularly fantasy (who have their own "Unicorn Fuck Club" in-story), and even non-writers like Elon Musk. It prominently features the character of J.K. Rowling, whose transphobia is frequently made fun of.

Reviews

Midnight Society is the only good reason to be on Twitter. Every horror and SFF fan should read it.

The thing that strikes me the most about Midnight Society is its erudition and its tendency to shy away from the easy joke. For me, as a Lovecraft fan, this is most obvious in its jokes about Lovecraft. A lot of people know that Lovecraft is racist but are unfamiliar with the details and just sort of round him off to their stereotype of what the 1920s were like. On one hand, this is very fair, there is no reason for most people to be familiar with the exact shape of Lovecraft’s prejudices; you can say “he’s an absurd racist, yes even for a man of his time” and move on. On the other hand, I think it really improves the work that Midnight Society Lovecraft is racist in the exact way that actual Lovecraft was actually racist. As someone who has read some of the letters, it rings absolutely true. Plus you get to make jokes about Lovecraft’s paralyzing fear of Italians and deep suspicion of foreign food.

Bitter Karella has some deep cuts in which horror writers she makes fun of. Victor LaValle! Your reading list will triple if you’re a regular reader.

My one criticism is that I wish there were fewer Rowling jokes. Bitter Karella is transfeminine so I get it, and the jokes are consistently hilarious. But I think I’d enjoy it more if a smaller percentage of the jokes were about people who want to deny me necessary medical care, especially since Rowling isn’t a horror writer.

See Also

• Midnight Pals page on TV Tropes.