I’ve never read a Christopher Pike book in my life. But boy, I know a lot about his body of work! I started listening to Teen Creeps over the summer and I haven’t really stopped since. When I finally finished the backlog of over a year’s worth of episodes, I just started right back at the beginning!
I love this podcast for a whole host of reasons; firstly, I never read teen YA pulp as a teen, I skipped right over it and terrified myself with some Stephen King so it’s nice to actually experience that. One of my Hallowreadathon reads is probably going to be the only R. L. Stein book I own; a never-returned-to-the-school-library copy of The New Year’s Party, because I’m starting to feel like I missed out. Although, I never had to read about a perfume bottle that possesses you with some sort of evil twin from ancient Egypt. So- you win some, you lose some.
The hosts are great. Kelly Nugent and Lindsay Katai are the kind of people you want in your earholes, on your Twitter feed and just generally around the internet. They don’t just talk about the books. They go off on tangents, prompted by the plot or characters, about their past, feminism, love, depression, politics, relationships, racism, a little bit of everything! There are times when they will say something like; I can’t believe I’m about to say this then share something super personal that totally resonates, or I’m crying laughing.
Teen YA pulp from the 90’s can be a real mix of the good and the bad. There are teenage clichés, a lot of rape culture and so much incest. And Kelly and Lindsay don’t shy away from critiquing the books they read. Which led to my favourite sentence from the podcast ever (not including all Kelly’s creepy baby talk):
“There is that story out there, there is that story somewhere, but that needs to come from someone who has experienced it.”
I started listening to this podcast because I love listening to people talk about books they’re passionate about even if I’ve not read them. But what I got was so much more. It’s like listening to two people become best friends over hours of conversation, like eavesdropping but you’re welcomed in to listen. Kelly and Lindsay are my favourite hosts of all the podcasts I listen to, and Teen Creeps is my go-to when I’m having a hard time and need to laugh.
So check Teen Creeps out! Start at the beginning, or if a lot of swearing endears you- try the episode with Jackie Johnson. It’s my top pick episode with a guest. You can listen on iTunes, they have a website and a Twitter. And keep it creepy.
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