Humans are space orcs:

Running from the monsters in the dark:

The crew had settled down in the crew quarters and human-Mary was standing by the lights. After she turned them off, Mary quickly dashed towards her bunk and dove under the covers.

“Go Mary go! It’s gonna get ya!” Human-Jack jeered.

Mary smacked him with a pillow in retaliation. “Shut up, everyone runs from the monster.”

“Monsters? Is there an intruder on the ship?” Cariph (a Small Furred species from the planet Orion) was getting ready to hit the emergency alarm.

“What? Oh no, no. Cariph there are no intruders. It’s just a…a myth or superstition.” Mary looked to the other humans for help, and Jack took over the explanation.

“Basically when humans are little, we all believed that there are monsters that can only get you in the dark. When you turn off the light, you have to run as fast as you can to get to your bed because it can protect you.”

“How can a bed protect you from a living being?” Cariph wondered.

“Well I mean those are the rules, the monsters can’t touch you once you are under the covers. And besides the monsters aren’t real, we just get a feeling that something is there, waiting in the dark to get us.”

“But wait… you said only small humans experience this, so why did Mary run?”

“Well… uh adult humans can get the feeling too. That something is there watching and waiting for you to let your guard down. You can tell yourself that it isn’t real, that it isn’t there, but your hair will still stand up, and your deeper consciousness is saying ‘something is there, something is there. Run.’”. The room descended into an eerie quiet as the rest of the crew digested this terrifying belief of humans.

“Well thanks man, I totally didn’t need to sleep tonight.” Human-Casey grumbled at Jack, causing the rest of the humans to laugh.

“Do you need a nightlight, Casey?”

“You know what, sure.”

“Oh I got some fairy lights” Mary offered. Her and Casey proceed to put these “fairy lights” up around the crew beds. After the room was alight with the small twinkling lights that according to Casey “protect us because the monsters cannot be touched by light, less they disappear.” The humans all went to sleep. The rest of the crew was left wondering why all the humans had the same experience. They wondered if something really was waiting in the dark, and the humans merely convinced themselves that it was fake. After all what would willingly hunt humans?

(Author’s note: Hope anyone who sees this enjoys!)

Me and who

In a 1984 study of anti-homosexual attitudes, the investigators broke heterosexuals' fears of gay and lesbian sexuality into three topic areas: (1) Homosexuality as a threat to the individual - that someone you know (or you yourself) might be homosexual. (2) Homosexuality as a threat to others - homosexuals have been frequently linked in the media to child molestation, rape, and violence. (3) Homosexuality as a threat to the community and other components of culture - homosexuals supposedly represent the destruction of the procreative nuclear family, traditional gender roles, and (to use a buzz phrase) "family values." In short, for many people in our shared English-language culture, homosexuality is a monstrous condition.

Monsters In The Closet (Harry M Benshoff, 1997)

Sunnyland // Mayday Parade

“While during the classical period [1931-1936] monsters were primarily evil characters who sinned against God, Mankind, and the Natural Order, now [in the 1940s] they were ‘tragic’ figures who, with the proper care, might be cured of their ‘unnatural lusts.’ The films made at Universal Studios, while ostensibly continuing the monster sagas of the 1930s, reflect a growing interest in psychiatry as a tool for correcting social deviance, but ultimately suggest that their monstrous contagions are beyond medical intervention. Those made at RKO under Val Lewton reflect a growing awareness of homosexuality, homosexual communities, and the dynamics of homosexual oppression as it was played out in society and the military. Indicative of these shifts towards an increasingly complex understanding of the monster, there was also less focus on a happy heterosexualized closure for the films—many eschewed the ‘normal’ couple altogether and instead focused solely on their queer protagonists, suggesting, as will the horror films of later decades, that it is the monster queer whom the audience really comes to see and identify with, and not the heterosexualized heroes and heroines.”

Benshoff, Harry. Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film. Chapter 2, "Shock Treatment: Curing the Monster Queer During World War II"

Facing the demons

30 Days of Literary Pride 2023 - June 6

Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film - Harry M. Benshoff

am i almost 17 years old? yes

but does that mean that i can sleep with my closet door open in the dark? absolutely not

Emma, Yesterday, you asked me to move in with you, but I refused to give any concrete reason. You asked me why, but I simply continued to refuse. Let me explain.

Have you ever had that feeling? The one where you think there's someone watching you? It feels like something prickling your back, tickling it, but not pleasurably. Because I have. And it's not fun. 

I really shouldn't be writing this. He might find out. Might come for me, like He has, the others. But I am. Because soon it won't matter. But someone else should know the truth.

The secret.

I got that feeling first on the highway in the car at night when I was twelve. I looked out the window to see what was causing this strange feeling, what had so easily spiked my interest, to see two eyes, two glistening jewels in the night sky, pupil-less and red as blood.

I told my parents. I screamed and shouted, but all to no acclaim. They said it was just my imagination. That my thoughts ran too wild. That I'm too proactive for my own good. 

Little did they know, little did they know. 

That night, as I lay awake, curled up in my bed, staring out of the window onto the meadows beyond, I saw those eyes again. Those cold, unforgiving eyes. Those eyes that shouldn't have conveyed anything yet said so much. Those eyes that I was ghastly afraid of. They stood out amidst the storm that billowed around them, a violent red between the gravel grey.

I screamed out in fear, my howls echoing through my room, and then through the house. I heard my mother's footsteps coming from down the hall to check on me. And that's when I saw the eyes move. 

What were only eyes at first, became a black, furry face, with a slit for a mouth, and an empty space where its nose should have been. As it moved across my lawn, its feet ruffled the leaves, creating an eerie, unnerving sound.

I screamed even louder. I howled, I wailed, I sobbed. I didn't know what else to do. My body had shut down and refused to move no matter what my brain tried to make it do.

My room door slammed open and my head whipped towards the door. It was my mum!  I tried coaxing myself into thinking everything was fine. Okay, now everything will be fine. Don't worry Tim, nothing's going to happen. Mummy's here.

Little did I know how far from the truth that was.

The One Who Follows · 1/3

Support me on Ko-fi 💜

It's been a while! Reading some books while considering my upcoming return to undergrad.

The books:

The 2000s Made Me Gay - Grace Perry

Monsters in The Closet - Harry M Benschoff

Under the Whispering Door - TJ Klune

Abhorsen - Garth Nix

Overall, a really nice mix of fantasy, academic texts, and memoir!

Hope you've been reading something interesting lately too!

The Last Something That Meant Anything // Mayday Parade

Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the horror film by Harry M. Benshoff

A happy colorful monster

Have you heard of My Pet Monster? It's a cartoon from 1986, which had one season (also apparently there's a live movie). You can stream it if you like. But for the purposes of this story, the most important fact is that the star was a very colorful smily, monster. And in January of last year, one of the cuddly plush versions was discovered in the back of a closet (so I guess he was a moonlighting as a closet monster?).

In any case, his original person found him, and wanted to gift him to his own daughters, but this monster had clearly had a rough time in the closet. Here is one of his diagnosis photos:

You can see the wound on his chest, and that his teeth are coming out. His feet and hands were vinyl, and had gotten that sticky feel that old vinyl sometimes gets.... and he needed a bath!

It took almost a year, but in December, the monster's family wrote again. Could we schedule treatment and an appointment for him?

Of course! The hospital was pretty full at the beginning of the year (not uncommon) so we scheduled his appointment for early March.

He arrived and the first step was a spa. He's quite large, so he got the large pink tub. :-)

Next he got restuffed, with a heart of original stuffing included ... who knows where his magic is stored, so it's important to keep at least a bit of original stuffing!

For his feet and hands, I can't replicate the printed nails on vinyl, but we didn't really want to do vinyl again anyway for the feel. So his person and I agreed to recover his feet and hands in new black velvet and then give him new nails from felt in the same teal as the originals. Here he is showing off his manicure and pedicure:

And here he is all better... even his fabric surrounding his tusks has been reglued:

and so he flew home to Colorado!

The Last Something That Meant Anything // Mayday Parade

@onebluebookworm you were right, this was very much worth a read.