Monster House Presents

It's actually quite unlike anything we've ever seen before.

A giant hairy creature, part ape, part mad.

In Larkness, a 24-mile long bottomless lake in the highlands of Scotland.

It's a creature known as the science show about monsters. I'm Blaster Talk. Welcome to Monster Talk, the science show about monsters.

I'm Blake Smith.

And I'm Karen Stolznor.

Hey there, Monster Talkers.

Last Wednesday, we recorded a roundup episode of Monster News and had some plans for talking about what's coming up soon and what we've been working on.

And then I got word that my friend, colleague and mentor, Joe Nicol, had passed away at the age of 80,

and had decided to record this remembrance in lieu of this week's plan content.

I'll release our original recording in the feed next week, but for now I just wanted to share some

thoughts about Joe's life. Joe had been sick for a while. He was suffering with the sorts of

ailments that accrue from 80 years of adventurous living and curiosity. And he knew something

in this collection of symptoms was probably going to be the thing that took him out, but he was

actively working on two follow-up volumes to the science of monsters. collection of symptoms was probably going to be the thing that took him out, but he was actively

working on two follow-up volumes to the science of monsters. I don't know if those projects will be

forthcoming or not. I still need to talk with his typist to find out where he was on those projects,

but if it's possible for me to help them become published, you'll hear about it here. If you've

listened to Monster Talk for a while,

you know what a friend Joe was to me and to the show. He really loved the work that Karen and I do here,

and he took an avuncular approach to trying to guide us to what he thought was our best future. He'd say

...