Also and always: Jillian Sweeney, Kathy Fink, Ellen Flood, Leann Sweeney, Jack and Lydia Bashwiner, Carolyn Cranor, Rob Wilson, Kate Leth, Jessica Hayworth, Soren Melville, Holly and Jeffrey Rowland, Zack Parsons, Ashley Lierman, Russel Swensen, Glen David Gold, Marta Rainer, Andrew Morgan, Eleanor McGuinness, John Green, Hank Green, Andrew WK, John Darnielle, Dessa Darling, Aby Wolf, Jason Webley, Danny Schmidt, Carrie Elkin, Eliza Rickman, Mary Epworth, Will Twynham, Gabriel Royal, The New York Neo-Futurists, Freesound.org, Mike Mushkin, Ben Acker and Ben Blacker of The Thrilling Adventure Hour, the Booksmith in San Francisco, Mark Flanagan and Largo at the Coronet, and, of course, the delightful Night Vale fans.

Our agent Jodi Reamer, our editor Maya Ziv, and all the folks at Harper Perennial for making this book happen.

And finally, Ron Fink, who taught Joseph almost everything he knows about being a working artist.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

JOSEPH FINK created and cowrites the Welcome to Night Vale podcast. He is from California but doesn’t live there anymore.

JEFFREY CRANOR cowrites the Welcome to Night Vale podcast. He also cocreates theater and dance pieces with choreographer/wife Jillian Sweeney. They live in New York.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.

PRAISE FOR WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE

“Emotionally compelling and superbly realized. This seductive, hilarious book unfolds at the moment when certain quiet responsible people find they must risk everything on behalf of love, hope, and understanding. Not a single person who reads this book will be disappointed.”

— Deb Olin Unferth, author of Revolution and Vacation

“Welcome to Night Vale brings its eponymous desert town to vivid life. Those of us who have gotten to know Night Vale through Cecil Palmer’s biweekly radio broadcasts can finally see what it’s like to actually live there. It is as weird and surreal as I hoped it would be, and a surprisingly existential meditation on the nature of time, reality, and the Glow Cloud that watches over us. ALL HAIL THE GLOW CLOUD.”

— Wil Wheaton

“All hail the Glow Cloud as the weird and wonderful town of Night Vale brings itself to fine literature. Creators Fink and Cranor offer fans of their (oc)cult podcast Welcome to Night Vale a fantastic addition with a stand-alone tale of the mysterious desert town that also offers loyal listeners some interesting clues about the nature of the place. . . . The novel is definitely as addictive as its source material.”

— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Take Conan’s Hyboria, teleport it to the American Southwest, dress all the warriors in business casual and hide their swords under the floorboards—that’s Night Vale: absurd, magical, wholly engrossing, and always harboring some hidden menace.”

— John Darnielle, author of Wolf in White Van