Cecil and Kevin perform more from The Nudge, by Night Vale co-creator Joseph Fink

August 31, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Joseph Fink, co-creator of Welcome to Night Vale and creator of Alice Isn’t Dead, introduces the opening of his horror novel The Nudge, published September 1st. The excerpt is performed as an audiobook sample by Cecil Baldwin and Kevin Arfree, the voices of Night Vale’s narrator and its various characters. Fink describes the novel as horror in the tradition of Stephen King and Shirley Jackson, and the audio performance captures a tense, intimate conversation between a grieving traveler and a hotel clerk whose establishment has a strange history.

The story begins with a man who has driven for hours without keeping track of time. He arrives at a hotel that seems larger inside than it looks from the outside, and he immediately starts talking. His monologue is restless, apologetic, and confessional. He is thinking about his wife, Sharon, whom he has been with for twenty years. He tells the clerk that talking about her makes her feel present. The clerk, played by Cecil Baldwin, listens with a quiet, unsettling patience, occasionally offering a dry observation or a warning about a curled rug. The traveler trips anyway, which he says is exactly the kind of thing that would happen to him.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Introduction by Joseph Fink** - The author introduces his novel *The Nudge*, a horror novel releasing September 1st, performed by Cecil Baldwin and Kevin Arfree.
2 (01:35) **Opening of the excerpt: A traveler arrives at a hotel** - A man checks into a hotel and begins a conversation with the desk clerk, revealing he has been driving for a long time.
3 (02:26) **The traveler begins to tell his story about Sharon** - The traveler admits he hasn't traveled in years and explains his wife, Sharon, always wanted a vacation; now he's on one alone.
4 (03:58) **The traveler asks to tell the story of meeting Sharon** - He says talking about her makes her feel present, and the clerk agrees to listen.
5 (04:24) **The story of meeting Sharon at college graduation** - The traveler describes meeting Sharon on the last day of college at a small liberal arts school in Ohio.
6 (05:55) **Sharon's enigmatic response and the two-year separation** - Sharon was not feeling the same way yet, but she was "feeling horny," though she didn't invite him home.
7 (07:11) **The two years of searching and the philosophy of life** - The traveler searched for her for two years, walking around town studying faces, but never found her.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Joseph Fink Cecil Baldwin

Show Notes

Please consider preordering wherever you buy books. Preorders make a HUGE difference for authors.

If you're in LA, please come join us on September 1st a the launch event at Vroman's in Pasadena with Mara Wilson. https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-09-01/joseph-fink

For more information, to preorder, and to see the book tour schedule, please check out: https://podiumentertainment.com/c/thenudge

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