Overdue

Ep 746 - Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock, by Maud Woolf

March 16, 2026

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  • The episode of *Overdue*, Ep 746 - Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock, by Maud Woolf, is framed around the episode title, featuring a discussion where one host (Andrew) is temporarily replaced by a clone, referencing the show notes' theme of thirteen clones. 
  • The novel *Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock* centers on a celebrity, Lula Bell Rock, who creates thirteen 'portraits' (clones) to perform tasks, tasking the newest, thirteenth portrait (referred to as 13) with killing all the others, ostensibly as a PR stunt for an upcoming film. 
  • The author, Maud Woolf, structured the novel around the 13 Major Arcana tarot cards, using the Death card (the 13th card) as inspiration for the protagonist's mission, though she later acknowledged the structure didn't perfectly map to all characters. 
  • The relationships between the main clone character and the other thirteen Lulabelles felt underdeveloped and two-dimensional, though interactions between the secondary clones were more interesting. 
  • The worldbuilding regarding the society that created the portrait technology (like Bubble City) was intentionally sparse, which the hosts felt was a delicate balance that could have been broken by over-explanation. 
  • The discussion touched upon the 'born sexy yesterday' trope, noting its prevalence in female characters but mentioning the Netflix film *Hot Frosty* as a rare male example. 

Segments

Sponsor Read: Cozy Earth
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(00:00:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Cozy Earth offers bamboo pajama sets and blankets with a 100-night sleep trial and a 10-year warranty.
  • Summary: Cozy Earth promotes their bamboo sleepwear and throws, emphasizing comfort and indulgence. The products come with a risk-free 100-night sleep trial and a 10-year warranty. Listeners can use the code Overdue for up to 20% off.
Sponsor Read: Mint Mobile
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(00:01:29)
  • Key Takeaway: Mint Mobile offers wireless plans starting at $15 a month, requiring an upfront payment for the first three months.
  • Summary: Mint Mobile is presented as an affordable alternative to major wireless carriers, offering plans starting at $15 per month. Customers bring their own phone and number, with no long-term contracts required. The introductory offer requires a $45 upfront payment for a three-month, five-gigabyte plan.
Podcast Introduction and Clone Gag
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(00:02:57)
  • Key Takeaway: The hosts of Overdue acknowledge their tendency to spoil books and introduce the episode’s theme by joking about having thirteen clones present.
  • Summary: The show opens with a disclaimer that hosts Craig and Andrew will spoil story beats, noting that listeners should have read the book by now. Andrew introduces a clone of himself, explaining the premise of thirteen versions of the podcast, tying into the episode’s subject matter.
Introducing Maud Woolf’s Novel
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(00:04:54)
  • Key Takeaway: Andrew read Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf, a debut novel found on a list highlighting nominees for the Arthur C. Clarke Award.
  • Summary: The book being discussed is Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf, which was shortlisted for the UK’s Arthur C. Clarke Award. Andrew discovered the book via an online list focusing on high-concept science fiction that doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Author Background and Jobs
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(00:05:40)
  • Key Takeaway: Maud Woolf is a Scottish speculative writer who earned her creative writing master’s at the University of Glasgow and has held varied jobs including bookseller and tour guide at a German dollhouse museum.
  • Summary: Maud Woolf is a Scottish speculative writer focusing on horror and science fiction, whose short story ‘The Stranding’ was featured in the best of Metaphorosis 2020. Her past employment includes working as a waitress, sign holder, and tour guide at a dollhouse museum.
Tarot Card Structural Influence
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(00:09:59)
  • Key Takeaway: Woolf used the classic Celtic spread tarot card structure to overcome writer’s block, dedicating each of the novel’s thirteen chapters to a different card.
  • Summary: Woolf utilized tarot cards as both inspiration and structure for her debut novel, working backward from the Death card (the 13th card in the major arcana). This framework provided a clear skeleton for the thirteen chapters, corresponding to the thirteen clones.
Novel Premise: Portraits and Clones
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(00:12:06)
  • Key Takeaway: The novel is set in a world where the wealthy can create ‘portraits’ (licensed automata resembling them), and the plot centers on the 13th portrait being tasked with eliminating the previous twelve.
  • Summary: The story involves Lula Bell Rock, a movie star, using portraits to handle her obligations, and the newest portrait’s sole mission is to decommission the others, framed as a PR stunt for her upcoming film adaptation of Medea.
Clone History and Dostoevsky
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(00:16:38)
  • Key Takeaway: The term ‘clone’ originated in 1903 from agricultural science to describe asexual reproduction, later entering science fiction before gaining real-world prominence with Dolly the sheep in the 1990s.
  • Summary: The word ‘clone’ derives from the Greek word for ‘cutting’ (Klon), used by a plant scientist in 1903 for asexual propagation. Dostoevsky’s 1846 novella The Double explores themes of an identical counterpart, though the term ‘clone’ was not used.
Protagonist’s Identity and Memories
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(00:21:20)
  • Key Takeaway: The protagonist, 13, is a fresh clone who experiences memories in two distinct qualities: vivid color for recent events and sepia tone for inherited, emotionless memories spanning thirty years.
  • Summary: The opening scene reveals 13 is a new portrait being instructed by Lula Bell Rock to kill the others, while her memories are partitioned. The inherited memories of her ‘parents’ are factual but lack emotional resonance, contrasting with her immediate, colored experiences.
Portrait Rights and Mitosis Company
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(00:23:55)
  • Key Takeaway: Portraits are legally considered property belonging to their creator, meaning Lula Bell Rock is authorized to have one portrait eliminate the others, but killing another person’s portrait is illegal destruction of property.
  • Summary: A company named Mitosis handles cloning logistics, dealing with unauthorized portraits and legal issues surrounding inheritance, which led to a law requiring portraits to be decommissioned upon the original’s death. The Viking, a character later revealed to be named Craig, advises 13 on the rules before sending her off.
Exploring Clone Individuality
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(00:30:14)
  • Key Takeaway: The novel explores clone individuality through programmed functions, such as the ‘artist’ clone tasked with testing hobbies to discover Lula Bell’s hidden talents, and the ’tax reasons’ clone who trained in martial arts while waiting for a task.
  • Summary: Clones are differentiated by their initial programming; for example, the artist clone’s failures in hobbies suggest Lula Bell Prime made the correct life choices. The clone programmed only ’to exist’ developed unexpected skills, highlighting how unassigned time shapes their divergence.
13’s Hesitation and Attachment
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(00:51:27)
  • Key Takeaway: Protagonist 13 experiences a rejection of her mission’s compulsion when she develops an attachment to the ‘artist’ clone, delaying the termination.
  • Summary: Thirteen struggles to kill the artist clone after witnessing her attempts at hobbies and sharing experiences, leading to a romantic involvement. This attachment causes 13 to postpone the artist’s termination, indicating a deviation from her core programming.
The Final Twist Revealed
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(00:54:09)
  • Key Takeaway: The ultimate twist reveals that Lula Bell Prime, who initiated the purge, is herself the first portrait, and the ‘real’ Lula Bell Rock is a sick, dying human whose material was used for the portraits a decade prior.
  • Summary: Lula Bell Prime is revealed to be the first portrait, attempting to trick everyone to avoid decommissioning upon the real Lula Bell Rock’s death, as dictated by law. The agent is implicated in maintaining the illusion for business interests, while the real Lula Bell is found dying in a hospital.
Resolution and Thematic Conclusion
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(00:58:44)
  • Key Takeaway: Thirteen and the artist choose not to become the remaining Lula Bell Rock, opting instead to leave the established persona to the first portrait and pursue their own lives together, satisfying their programming via a symbolic gesture.
  • Summary: Thirteen and the artist decide to leave the celebrity persona to the remaining portrait, choosing to live as ’lesbian clones’ instead. They satisfy the underlying compulsion of their programming by pointing finger guns at each other and saying ‘bang,’ achieving a ‘happily for now’ ending.
Listener Feedback on Pacing
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(01:02:50)
  • Key Takeaway: Three-star reviews suggest that while the premise was diverting and the action snappy, many listeners desired deeper emotional exploration of cloning’s implications beyond the protagonist’s perspective, finding some other portraits two-dimensional.
  • Summary: Reviewers noted the book felt like it could work well as a film, comparing it to Orphan Black due to its snappy dialogue and action. However, criticism focused on the lack of emotional depth regarding the other twelve portraits, whose interactions were often brief or one-note.
Clone Relationships Critique
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(01:04:04)
  • Key Takeaway: Interactions between secondary clones were more interesting than the primary clone’s dynamics with the Lulabelles.
  • Summary: Relationships between the main clone and the thirteen Lulabelles were criticized for feeling two-dimensional. Glimpses of other clones interacting proved infinitely more interesting. The narrative confinement to the main character’s perspective was necessary for the specific ending achieved by the author, Maud Woolf.
Worldbuilding Scope
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(01:05:25)
  • Key Takeaway: The setting of Bubble City featured significant verticality, reminiscent of Futurama, but broader societal context remained vague.
  • Summary: The hosts questioned the depth of the world surrounding the portrait technology, noting that Microsoft and Google still exist in this future. The story focuses on the impact of cloning on the individual rather than detailing how the technology upended the entire city. The main antagonist is a second-tier celebrity, not a top-tier figure like George Clooney.
Reviewer Commentary
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(01:08:03)
  • Key Takeaway: A Goodreads reviewer named ‘The Captain’ employed a sustained pirate persona in their review of Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock, by Maud Woolf.
  • Summary: The hosts read excerpts from external reviews, including one from ‘The Captain’ that used pirate vernacular throughout. A Publishers Weekly review described the book as a “noir-ish romp.” Another review highlighted the moral complexity arising from some clones’ ambivalence toward their own existence.
Born Sexy Yesterday Trope
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(01:09:39)
  • Key Takeaway: The ‘born sexy yesterday’ trope describes an adult woman who is a blank slate baby, exemplified by characters like Leeloo from The Fifth Element and Amy Adams in Enchanted.
  • Summary: The trope describes characters who are physically adult women but possess the innocence and inexperience of a baby. This concept was introduced via a video essay by Pop Culture Detective. The hosts concluded the trope did not apply as interestingly to the characters in Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock, by Maud Woolf.
Episode Wrap-up and Next Book
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(01:11:58)
  • Key Takeaway: The hosts plan to release thirteen different versions of the podcast featuring their clones, and the next book is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Ultimate Collection, Volume 1.
  • Summary: The hosts announced the release of thirteen clone-recorded versions of the episode, encouraging listeners to submit their own clone fiction. The next book to be covered is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Ultimate Collection, Volume 1 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The hosts noted the original TMNT material began as an underground comic.
Sponsor Read
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(01:15:37)
  • Key Takeaway: Yostin Campbell offers heating, cooling, generator, and plumbing services, with HVAC upgrades starting at $149 a month.
  • Summary: Yostin Campbell provides services across heating, cooling, generators, and plumbing. High-efficiency heating and cooling system upgrades are available starting at $149 per month, including repairs, maintenance, and filters. They can be reached at 800-640-9678 or YostinCampbell.com.