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personalmoshiakh · 3 months

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hey, so— i’ve been ~officially writing a web serial since 2021 (unofficially, since at least 2014). Updates are currently very irregular, but i’m definitely still working on it!

✨🧿 THE BITTER DROP 🧿✨

modern fantasy romance about gay/trans Eastern Bloc Jews, set in a secondary world counterpart of early Soviet communes

The lounge is nearly empty tonight; all the action is downstairs at the grinding workshop — in the basement discotheque; you if I’m to have any hope of pulling, that’s where I ought to go but … ekh, I’m foggy tonight, between the psychosis and the laudanum for the pain what likes to haunt nefilim and the horse pills they made me take at the Mamka — nu okay, I skipped tonight’s dose so I can drink but like, neuroleptics don’t let go that quick — and as the brainfog settles on my thoughts, it turns to hoarfrost and my will seizes up like a rusty hinge.

Lev/Lyubov Morgenshtern, a queeny bigender flamer who’d once been one of the Pale’s youngest-ever ordained rabbonim, has just returned to the Talons Ghetto sovyet — an autonomous workers-and-peasants commune of the kind that directly preceded the Soviet Union (and indeed the thing that the USSR named itself after).

Lev is fresh off a stint on a psych ward that’d followed a far longer stint living in the tzarist-held half of Svet Dmitrin with a bougie respectability-obsessed ex-boyfriend — he’s got nowhere to sleep, no assurance her old friends, Red Guard and civilian both, would want to see them and the only workable plan she’s got is to find someone willing and soft-hearted to take him home for the night …

… and what luck if their rescuer, a medical necromancer by the name of Anzu Menelikov (Nyura to friends and lovers) is a beautiful trans flamer from a prominent rabbinical family! who better to welcome Lyubov home than a fellow hothouse flower and dedicated scholar? and does it matter if Nyura did anything the White Guard might still bear a grudge about? after all, most of the old Ghetto walls are still safely intact, and it’s not like Reb Doktor Menelikov personally set the Winter Palace on fire, right?

i’d say if you liked the Baru Cormorant series, Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union and Gentlemen of the Road, Fallen London and its associated games, China Miéville’s oeuvre, and Disco Elysium, this’d probably be your thing!

content warnings

(under the cut)

reclaimed homophobic slurs

the narrator has a history of psychiatric institutionalisation

homophobia, transphobia, transmisogyny and antisemitism are environmental hazards in the setting, though by far not the focus

#the bitter drop #web serial #web fiction #web novel #fiction #tell your friends #and tell me if you read it tbh

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weaselandfriends · 5 months

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Web Fiction, Recently Read

Hello! I'm still early into writing the Pokémon story I discussed in a previous post. I've been writing and rewriting certain parts to better grasp some of the characters, so while I do have some completed chapters, I still consider the story in the planning phase. At the same time, I've recently read a few webfics, and thought I'd share some thoughts here.

1. Floornight by Nostalgebraist

Floornight is short but dense, and in terms of its plot, themes, and focus shares many similarities with Almost Nowhere, a later work by the same author that I read and discussed in a previous post.

This work is the Problem Sleuth to Almost Nowhere's Homestuck. At least, reading the two works back-to-back, that was the impression I struggled to shake. I would often encounter an idea in Floornight that I remembered being expanded on in much more detail in Almost Nowhere, and as such it became difficult for me to appreciate Floornight in its own right.

It's a comparison that reminds me of a quote from Roberto Bolaño's 2666:

Without turning, the pharmacist answered that he liked books like The Metamorphosis, Bartleby, A Simple Heart, A Christmas Carol. And then he said that he was reading Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's. Leaving aside the fact that A Simple Heart and A Christmas Carol were stories, not books, there was something revelatory about the taste of this bookish young pharmacist, who ... clearly and inarguably preferred minor works to major ones. He chose The Metamorphosis over The Trial, he chose Bartleby over Moby Dick, he chose A Simple Heart over Bouvard and Pecouchet, and A Christmas Carol over A Tale of Two Cities or The Pickwick Papers. What a sad paradox, thought Amalfitano. Now even bookish pharmacists are afraid to take on the great, imperfect, torrential works, books that blaze a path into the unknown. They choose the perfect exercises of the great masters. Or what amounts to the same thing: they want to watch the great masters spar, but they have no interest in real combat, when the great masters struggle against that something, that something that terrifies us all, that something that cows us and spurs us on, amid blood and mortal wounds and stench.

An unfair comparison? Certainly. Especially since longer works are not always commensurately ambitious, but instead simply bloated.

Almost Nowhere is ambitious, however, and pushes ideas touched on in Floornight to their limits, which makes reading Floornight afterward a less impressive experience than it otherwise might be. (Nostalgebraist's other work, The Northern Caves, is fundamentally dissimilar from both and thus not victim to the same comparisons.)

That's not to say I disliked Floornight. I was especially fond of the character Hermes Cept, who might be my favorite character in Nostalgebraist's canon. I love characters to whom the reader is introduced from the perspective of another character, giving the reader a certain first impression that is completely decimated when the character is given their own perspective later on. (A lot of Modern Cannibals hinges on this technique.) In Cept's case, what first appears to be an egotistical and incompetent celebrity scientist turns out to have significantly more depth and nuance than the first impression provides. Love it!

Nostalgebraist also shows off some serious writing chops during a certain battle scene near the story's climax. Another reader's longform review of Almost Nowhere comments that the story lets all its major events occur off screen, only to be known to the reader via the reactions of the characters, and to an extent Floornight is similar: Despite a Neon Genesis Evangelion-esque premise of soldiers fighting aliens, there are essentially zero scenes where soldiers fight aliens on screen. The climax changes that, though, and really makes me wonder why Nostalgebraist is so content to let things happen off screen, since he's so good at writing action when it happens.

I've now read all three of Nost's major published works, and there isn't a more exciting web fiction author today, at least that I know of. Can't wait to see where he goes next.

2. Worth the Candle by Alexander Wales

Floornight is a lean 70,000 words. Worth the Candle, an isekai LitRPG, is 1.6 million words.

I started reading this one years ago, but only made it to the second arc before giving up under the sheer immensity of it. The start was slow, and while it was improving steadily, I couldn't see myself wading through something of its size. Compared to Nostalgebraist, Wales' prose is more "serviceable" than exciting, so the value in reading is almost entirely from the plot, characters, and themes rather than the actual line-by-line reading experience. After finishing my own isekai story, Cleveland Quixotic, I decided to take a second stab at it.

Upon the reread, I was more amenable to a story that is simply a fun fantasy romp, and WtC has a strong sense of forward progression despite its length, which avoids the trap most long stories fall into of spinning their wheels without accomplishing anything.

As I got further into it, however, a strong metafictional element increasingly came into play. The conceit of the story is that the protagonist, a tabletop RPG fanatic in his previous life on Earth, has been put into a world eerily similar to the ones he created as a dungeon master. His actions seem to be guided or obstructed by a mysterious, unseen dungeon master with godlike powers, and the story often becomes more about trying to understand and play to the narrative that the dungeon master wants rather than simply brute forcing through challenges one after another.

At the same time, the protagonist's dead friend from Earth seems to have been transported to the world much earlier. Their narrative was Campbellian in nature, Hero's Journey incarnate, while the protagonist's is much more postmodern and subversive. This leads to some fascinating meditations on the develop of narrative over history; one of my favorite scenes is when a story-obsessed villain believes they can kill the protagonist despite his Chosen One status because it's a postmodern story and the protagonist dying unceremoniously wouldn't be out of place.

My absolute favorite part, however, is the climax. Without spoiling too much, it involves a long delve into a seemingly endless dungeon, where characters and abilities fall away one-by-one until what is left is only a bare, emotional finale. I love climaxes that involve some kind of literal and emotional ascent; I did something similar in Modern Cannibals and Cleveland Quixotic.

In general, it's difficult to finish something so long in such a satisfactory way, which only makes the ending more impressive. I was worried this story would Muv-Luv me. A year ago, I read the famous visual novel Muv-Luv, a sprawling work that begins as a comedy slice of life and ends as a futuristic science fiction war epic. My problem with Muv-Luv wasn't that it was bad; it even had many elements I adored. But its ending, while not terrible, was merely okay, and I ultimately felt like what I got wasn't worth the time investment I put into it. Worth the Candle's ending avoided that entirely, so I can wholeheartedly recommend it despite its length.

3. Cowboy Grak 5: Yet Another Fistful of Obols by Remy (gazemaize)

Lastly, this one is a fanfic of Worth the Candle, posted coincidentally one day after I finished reading. It's by Remy, the author of Chili and the Chocolate Factory: Fudge Revelation, one of the funniest stories I've ever read. With this fanfic of a webfic, Remy cements themselves as the comedy master of the webfic sphere. I can only hope they start posting stories with more regularity...

I can't say too much about this story without spoiling almost all of Worth the Candle, so I'll keep this brief. If you've already read WtC, then you should read this 100%.

Web fiction is exciting. People are able to write all kinds of insane stuff that would never survive the streamlined mainstream publishing industry of today. I hope to read some more unique webfics and see people continually push the boundaries of what can be done with a story. (Hopefully they're not all 1.6 million words though...)

#nostalgebraist #floornight #worth the candle #alexander wales #cowboy grak 5 #remy #webfic #web fiction

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deathkoala · 3 months

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I love when things take advantage of unique features of their medium!

#gif #the wandering inn #twi #web fiction

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d4t-webserial · 9 months

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D4T: Page 7 (Lu POV)

//cw: ableist slur and depiction of internalized ableism// go here for more info on d4t

After telling her about his detransition she proceeded to ask a handful of follow up questions (they were pretty incoherent, and he honestly didn’t know enough..), he did his best to answer them until she just told him “srry for so mny questions idk if u can rlly give me what i wnt…for answers i mean! i think i jst need some time to thnk” (so there’s still, a chance they stay friends, hahaha,,, he’s dying ;-;).

But actually tho what the fuck just happened? Lu was so confused… did Alice just ask him out, or ask him to ask her out… why? He’s so… subpar, how long had she liked him??? Her little brother always called him her “boyfriend” to tease her, but he thought the joke was cause of how… mediocre he was. He knew she would say stupid things to make him flustered but, but wasn’t that to get a reaction out of him (plus she teased all her friends). She always did sit close to him when they hung out (but like she’s a girl, girls hug and cuddle and hold each other's hands all the time… right?). Wasn’t there that guy she liked??? Was she playing a prank on him?... no she would say that’s cringe and lame probably… so she likes him. He still can’t begin to process that but, luckily he won’t have too! Since she now knows about how absolutely disgusting his body is she’ll stop having feelings real quick (yay problem solved ;~;)... this sucks, if she had just never liked him it wouldn’t have hurt this much, was she gonna grow cold… like… nvm, he didn’t want to think about that, he didn’t want to think at all actually… she was his only friend (unless you counted his roommate Tanner… he seems nice… they rarely talked tho.) why did he have to like her so much, why did she have to like him back! If she was just not interested he could repress and hide away his feelings as tho they didn’t exist, but instead she ripped his heart out of his chest and now that she knew… she would throw it away. In this moment he wished more than anything he could be a feather floating thru the wind not needing to feel emotions or have thoughts, just going where the universe takes him.

Alice was somewhat more distant than before, but Lu was surprised how much she kept in contact. They didn’t really talk about what happened, which was comforting. He didn’t need to worry about what to say or do to keep her in his life, it was as tho they had an unspoken agreement to not acknowledge it. One day she asks to hangout at his, it was just after a big test so his roommate was out at a party…

trashbag_minister (Lu): “sure thing”

Tranny Mona Lisa (Alice): “yay!”

Tranny Mona Lisa (Alice): “when wll u get here btw”

trashbag_minister (Lu): “around 20 minutes”

Tranny Mona Lisa (Alice): “❤️❤️❤️❤️”

She just sent him hearts, he thinks his brain is about to explode… did she used to send hearts?... he thinks so… maybe, but like it had to mean someth- no… no no no. He wasn’t going to do this, he was going to be normal. She’s his friend.

When he picked her up she waved to him and got in, the car ride was quiet, but that was normal (he was so bad at talking and driving). But when they got out she was a bit quieter than usual, she barely said a word until they got to his dorm. When they did she hesitantly started talking about her life as they often did, but it felt strange, like she was padding for time. After a couple of minutes of this he asked…

Lu: “Is there something you wanna talk about?”

Alice: “...”

she seems more nervous than he’s ever seen her

Alice: “yeah…”

(oh god, dear god, please let it be no big deal)

she is fiddling with the seam of her shirt ever so slightly

Alice: “I don't super know what your detransition means to you…”

Alice: “... i mean, i tried to learn, but there aren’t many… resources or anything”

Alice: “anyway i don’t know what it means, but i still like *you*”

he lets out a deep breath

(thank jesus)

Lu: “Cool…”

Alice: “...”

Alice: “Do you… like me too?”

(shit)

Lu: “Oh… you meant like *like like*.”

Alice glares at him like he just said the stupidest thing in the world

Alice: “Yeah no fucking duh, also who says ‘like like’ past the age of ten”

Lu: “i don’t umm…”

Alice pulls back and once again becomes more timid

Alice: “Do you not? It’s okay if you don’t i… just thought you did…”

Lu: “No i d-do- i do, i just…”

Alice both looks affirmed and confused

Lu: “You shouldn’t,,n’t l-like me.”

Alice: “Why???”

Lu: “Be-be-be-cau-cause you can do better-ter…”

Alice: “That’s retarded!”

Lu: “L-Lys! You can’t sssay that!”

Alice: “Jesus fucking christ Lu, i… i just *fucking confessed to you*, and you respond with the dumbest shit i’ve ever heard, i can respond however the fuck i god damn want!”

Lu: “go-ju-Alice! I- it’s- god like you- you- you could- could have any s-s-ssself respecting man you want, you sh-shouldn’t se–se-set-t-tle for… *me*”

Alice: “I’m not settling, i *like* you, you’re smart and caring and sweet, why wouldn’t i like you.”

Lu: “Why *w-would* you! I’m a fu-fu-fu shit fuck god damn it! I’m a- I’m a fucking pathetic little shit preten-pretending to be a man, i-i-i can b-b-b-barely even s-sb-sp-speak, i…"

she rests a hand on him and looks in his eyes, he didn’t realize he was crying

Alice: “Are you okay?”

Lu: “...ye i just, it’s nothing, my brain is stupid sometimes”

Alice: “That's okay, i’m sorry for getting you worked up."

she smiles up at him

Alice: “I’m just… if you like me and i like you there isn’t any real reason not to date right?”

Lu: “But it’s more,, complicated than that-t”

Alice’s jaw clenches for a second but she takes a somewhat forced breath to relax

Alice: “Why? Why does it have to be?”

Lu: “Because of all the s–st-stuff i said.”

Alice: “But i don’t care about any of that.”

he pulls away from her

Lu: “I don’t even have a f-f-d-di-dick Alice… how would that- how would that even work”

she looks somewhat surprised at that, but responds quickly anyways

Alice: “Tons of people make that work.”

Lu: “But you shouldn’t- you shoulnt have too, your boy-boyfriend should be a real man not a tr-tr-trans girl in denial”

Alice: “You could be my girlfriend then, we don’t hav-”

Lu: “I don’t want to be your girlfriend!”

Alice: “...”

she looks down at her lap where her hands are gripping hard into her pants

Alice: “ok”

they sit like that awkwardly, tensely until…

Alice: “I want to go home”

Lu: “ok… can i go to the bathroom first”

Alice: “of course”

Lu walks into the bathroom, and sits on the floor. What was he doing? She was like the girl of his dreams, and more importantly, his best friend. Was he really gonna throw that all away because of… fuck, he entirely forgot what his point was. He was so scared. For almost a year now, ever since he detransitioned he just… accepted he would never be in a relationship again. But then Alice came in with her unending confidence and had the gall to just… like him, as he is… she didn’t care, not about his body, not about his brain, not about anything… god damn it. He walks out of the bathroom and sits next to Alice, when he approaches she seems to wipe something from her face…

Lu: “What’s wrong?”

(why did he say that jesus christ)

she looks at him like he asked her if she preferred drinking water or vegetable oil

Alice: “...nothing”

Lu: “mhm?”

she looks at the floor

before she could ask him to take her home he put his arm around her

she rests her head on his shoulder

(good sign… here goes nothing)

Lu: “You don’t have to say you’re fine.”

she looks up at him

Alice: “*I am fine*”

(she very obviously isn’t)

Lu spends some time trying to find the right words

(god damn it he is so bad at this)

he holds her cheek

Lu: “Look as your boyfriend, you should- you should tell me when you aren’t ok.”

Alice: “You’re my boyfriend?”

Lu: “I mean, even if i think you have bad taste, who would i be to deny the most b-b-gorgeous woman i-i’ve ever laid eyes on”

(that was the cringiest thing he’s ever said)

but she’s blushing very hard

Alice: “... i… you think i…”

she attempts to compose herself

Alice: “I don’t have bad taste, you’re very…”

Lu: “The point is you should tell me why you feel bad.”

she rolls her eyes but smiles

Alice: “I actually feel alot better now.”

(now Lu wasn’t so autistic that he didn’t *know* it was because of him before, but man did it feel good to hear her pretty much say she felt *better* because of him)

riding that high he kisses her once softly on the lips

Lu: “I hope that means you don’t have to go home right now, cause i,, i really wanna,, be with you a bit longer”

she responds by grabbing onto his shirt and nuzzling further into him

Lu can’t stop the massive smile on his face, as he hugs her tight. Nor does he want to, as he thinks about how lucky he is to be here.

#d4t #webnovel #web fiction #webfiction #web serial #webserial #romance #queer #trans #transgender #detrans #lu #lu d4t #lu d4twebnovel #d4t-webserial

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thundamoo · 9 months

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Why are there so many litrpgs!? It's a question that I hear asked a lot in webfic spaces: why does every story have a system, why is every story number-go-up, why is every story about stats and skills and words in brackets? And if you have ever wondered this, I have the answer for you. It's because writing a litrpg is easy. And this—and I need you to pay attention real close on this one—is fucking awesome. Even the first chapter of a book is a ton of work, notably far more work than any other individual chapter. Because to write the first chapter of the book, you don't just have to put two to six thousand words down on a page, you have to have a complete enough idea to even start. You need a world, you need characters, you need a plot, you need a story arc, you need every single organ that turns the story into a functioning body that can have any chapters, at all. And litrpgs are popular because they streamline this process. People who don't have backgrounds as writers and worldbuilders can just use the template, making a generic world with a magic system that more or less does anything the writer wants it to and doesn't need to be explained to the audience. That is the essence of the "generic litrpg" that swarms so many webfic sites: other ideas absorbed into the tumbling, churning waters of a new author's mind and deposited in slightly different ways, ready-made for deployment into a full story. Which is, frankly, a fantastic way to start writing. The swarm of off-the-shelf litrpgs is the product of literal hundreds of people who wouldn't have otherwise decided to become a writer trying their hand at it using an accessible starting point. Yeah, that means more mediocre stories that you might not want to read, but more importantly it means more stories period, and some of those stories WILL be great!

Lowering the barrier for entry into creative writing means that we get more authors and more books. Who cares if they aren't all great Some of them will be, and they wouldn't exist otherwise, and I don't see how that isn't enough.

#writing #web fiction #litrpg #plus like its okay if a story is bad #that doesnt hurt you because you can just stop reading it #you know you can just not read it right

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makapatag · 1 year

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PRINCESS MURDERS THE HERO is an ongoing web epic set in GUBAT BANWA, the Realms of War, rooted in SEAsian culture and wuxia. Witness the Hero- Murdering-Princess as she strides across the Sword Isles to achieve the enlightenment of violence.

PMTH started off as a Zelink AU in Fantasy SEAsia that eventually spiraled out of control, inspired by reincarnation, Pigafetta's accounts of Borneo, and the story of Padmasambhava.

If you're into written slick martial arts fight scenes (I practice FMA irl!) and deep SEAsian inspired aesthetics and cultures (kratons! masjids! trishulas and giant buddha statues! stilt houses and longhouses and excessive gold jewelry to hold all that merit!) check it out!

It's like if POPPY WAR was SEAsian and steeped in Maharadia Lawana, Aginid, Darangen, Nagarakertagama, and then blended with a Zelink frother and spiced with a healthy dose of BLACK LEOPARD, RED WOLF and LIONS OF AL-RASSAN in a cup of LEGEND OF CONDOR HEROES

Book 1 is just about to finish, we're near its climax. Book 2 begins in a few more months-ish, though I don't plan to keep it waiting for too long as I've had a pretty long hiatus to finish Gubat Banwa from this.

Also working on a character page for this already, still WIP but it's getting there.

If you don't do The Reading then perhaps you want to do The Listening, there's an audiobook of the first Arc!

youtube

Finally a great review from Kyle Tam!

#princess murders the hero #pmth #gubat banwa #writing #web fiction #web original #web serial #webnovel #southeast asian #martial arts #Youtube

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antics-pedantic · 2 months

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Rewrote and reposted this. First foray into space sci-fi with a dash of sitcom!

#web fiction #quick on it

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valentinedagger · 22 days

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welcome back from break, we've got a new POV character this week

#web serial #webnovel #web novel #web fiction #stardust serial #stardate #certified dagger original

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charaznablescanontoyota · 8 months

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hey tumblr do you like mysteries

do you like mysteries ON A BOAT

do you like mysteries on a boat and also all the main pov characters are in the middle of breaking up, messily, while taking on assumed identities and also people are getting murdered around them

i have good news

chapter 20 of @prairiesongserial the gay web novel i write with my wife is finishing imminently and it is a murder mystery where all of the above things happen. you can read it right now if you want to catch up and try to solve the mystery yourself before the parlor scene drops

you will probably want to read the "previously on" summary first or like actually go back and read book 2 at some point but i'm not your mom

#writers on tumblr #web fiction #murder mystery

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atnaterra · 2 years

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There is a saying: “All mushrooms are edible, but some only once.” In Atnaterra, there was a footnote consideration for the wor cup mushroom, which could be eaten exactly four times before causing death. Entire culinary cultures have emerged centered around the occasions and intervals at which the wor cup should be eaten. The Silrindranake tribe, a tribe of humans in northern Atnaterra, ate the wor cup on their wedding nights. Third marriages were notoriously lucky in Silrindranake society.

Keep reading Atnaterra, a free satirical fantasy web fiction.

#fantasy #fantasy books #lgbtq fantasy #fantasy writing #web fiction #lgbt books #atnaterra

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indigosabyss · 7 days

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So... my follower count on tumblr has basically doubled since I last mentioned this, so I want to remind you guys that I also write original fiction. Most of it I've been saving and refining, but I've also been updating one webserial on RoyalRoad since last June. It has twenty two chapters left till completion, so I would recommend you check it out if it interests you.

In essence, it's a multiperson post-apocalyptic Gamer story, with multidimensional aspects and strong themes of colonization and the generational trauma left by it, with underlying queer themes.

Not my best work, since I was - and still am - a bit too strapped for cash to waste time perfecting the concept. I just wanted to get it out there. And I hope someone enjoys it.

#web fiction #web serial #post apocalyptic

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popcultureoverdosed · 3 months

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The Curse of Saki Sanobashi

I'm writing this journal entry to document my experience with a certain film. I'm probably already dead if anyone is reading this, but please read on. I hate Saki Sanobashi and what it has done to my life. Most importantly, I hate the depraved bastards who made it.

Until recently, I've been an average college girl with only one notable quality: I love searching for lost media. Most people get a thrill from watching a good horror movie and I'm no different with lost media. There's just something about the elusive nature of it that makes the hunt so fascinating. There's a countless amount of entertainment that vanishes from the public eye for whatever reason and many remain completely forgotten. That never sat well with me. Maybe it's the history buff in me, but I believe every form of content should be preserved. It's scary to think that something that brings you joy could one day be forever lost to time.

Saki Sanobashi is a name that's been plaguing me for the last few years now. Every lost media enthusiast worth their salt has at least heard of it if they haven't already joined the hunt. I'm one of the several archivists who plunged headfirst into this monstrosity of a goose chase. I, like many others, got hooked on its tragic premise of a bunch of schoolgirls trapped in a bathroom where death is the only way out. The morbid curiosity in all of us compelled us to search high and low for this elusive anime.

That was years ago.

Now? Saki remains a distant memory in the minds of once optimistic researchers. Dead end after dead end had led to the entire thing being labeled as some elaborate hoax. Even I began losing faith in the search despite all the time I invested in it. It was disheartening knowing that one of the most fascinating lost media searches of all time could be fake. I would've quit entirely had it not been for that one fateful afternoon.

It was a typically brutal winter in Toronto which meant that a snowstorm would be picking up before the day was over. I thought it best to go to my favorite comic and stock up on my favorite books before the storm trapped me at home with my girlfriend. Marque Noir was different from other comic shops in that there exists a secret section of the store only a select few know about. Because I've been a loyal customer for a few years, the owner trusted in showing me the back room. I was hesitant at first to enter a secluded room alone with a man due to being a woman, but I figured he wouldn't try anything with customers still in the store.

What I saw in that room was the stuff of wonder. Several shelves were stocked with underground comics so obscure even the most hardcore archivists probably didn't know about them. The type of comics you can't even find on the internet. It was heaven on earth for a lost media obsessed girl like me. The original post mentioned Saki being an anime, but I was desperate for any type of media out there. What's fascinating is that there were also movies stocked with the comics. The cover art on each DVD case was incredibly low quality, to the point that I assumed the store owner hand-made them himself. There were no ISBNs or distributor info anywhere to be found so my theory seemed fairly likely all things considered.

I filled my bag with as many items as I could afford( which isn't a lot for a broke college student) and excitedly swiped my card at the counter. The store owner gave me the weirdest of grins as I made my purchase. He seemed amused but almost in a mocking sort of way. He hardly ever emotes in the first place so that smile really caught me off guard.

I left the store and boarded the closest train to drop me off at the dorms. Though Halloween comes in the autumn, I feel like winter is the most ideal season to indulge in horror. The cold weather is like a reflection of the spine chilling fear I get whenever I read a good comic. I stepped inside my dorm room and immediately began browsing through my latest collection. They all looked so good I didn't know where to begin. As I rummaged through the pile of DVDs, I noticed something that threw me for a loop.

One DVD case was completely blank. The cover was pitch black and so was the back. There wasn't even anything on the spine. I couldn't imagine myself buying something like this so how it ended up with me was a mystery. Still, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't the least bit intrigued by it. There could've been literally anything on that disc and the only way to find out was to start the movie.

I waited for my girlfriend to return from campus before starting the movie. Emily's a cute brunette, but she has zero tolerance for horror. She always shrieks her head off whenever I play my movies in the living room. All that blood and gore drives her crazy. She greeted me with a kiss on the lips and then paused when she saw the devious smirk on my face. She already knew what I had in store for her. Emily, of course, protested but I pleaded with her to watch the movie with me. Seeing her scream like a child over on screen murder was sometimes more enjoyable than the movie itself. She remained firm in her stance against it but eventually broke down after enough of my begging. It feels good having things my way.

I quickly inserted the DVD into an old game station and stared at the screen with anticipation for what was about to start. After several seconds of a blank screen, some Japanese text appeared with an English subtitle that read " Requiem of the lost girls." The title naturally left me curious so I watched on with excitement.

The scene then faded back to black and what I saw after that made my blood freeze solid.

Three schoolgirls in a bathroom.

All of them had miserable looks of utter despair.

The scene was unmistakable. It was a scenario I ran over in my head countless times. It was Saki Sanobashi, the anime searched years for! Having the legendary film before me after all this time was almost too good to be true. And to think it came from my favorite comic shop. I've been shopping for years now and never even had a hint something like Saki would be there.

Emily was confused as to why I was so excited so I told her we just discovered the holy grail of lost media. The gravity of the situation was unsurprisingly lost on her but she smiled anyway for my sake. We watched the movie unfold just like the legend went. The girls remained trapped in the bathroom and lamented their misfortune all the while. As the film progressed, the agony in their expressions became increasingly visceral. Their eyes looked so hollow, their skin was so pale. Emily clutched into my hand with a hint of anxiety in her eyes.

The tone of the video was much more somber than I expected. Seeing the girls take turns telling the others about their hopes and dreams, trying desperately to alleviate their situation, felt oddly melancholic. I was growing attached to these characters to the point I hoped they'd find a way despite that going against the lore. We eventually reached the part where the girls realized there truly was no way out of their situation...except for death.

Their deaths were just as horrid as I expected them to be. One girl goaded one of the others into drowning her in the sink and another clawed at her own neck with visceral detail. The most painful part of it all was the bloodcurdling scream the last girl emitted as she bashed her head against the wall. It was far more realistic than it had any right to be.

Despite all the fear, my heart raced with excitement. I had to write a blog post to let everyone know about my discovery! The internet would go wild once I told them the good news. I quickly went to my Tumblr to start writing, but the site wouldn't load. I tried other social media sites but nothing was working.

I tried stepping outside in the hall to get better reception but the door wouldn't budge. The knob didn't move at all no matter how hard I pulled. My girlfriend and I were both freaking out at this point. We tried opening windows, calling 911, and banging on doors, all of which were in vain. We were somehow completely severed from the outside world. I wondered how the hell was any of this possible when the image of the movie flashed into my mind.

We were trapped just like the girls in Saki Sanobashi. Was the film cursed? That seemed to be the only explanation. I should've trusted my gut instincts and never let that guy lead me to the backroom. I knew there was something off about him and now I fell into his trap. So far we've spent two weeks in this hellhole of an apartment. Food has long since run out and any sense of hope is dead. It pains me to see Emily's body as pale as winter, her eyes devoid of life. Neither of us can last much longer. I'm writing this document as a warning to anyone searching for Saki Sanobashi.

Stay the hell away from it. It is a cursed film that dooms its viewers the suffer the same fate as the girls in the bathroom. I imagine the curse will be lifted once we die and our belongings will be collected by our loved ones. Hopefully, they will see this document and spread the news. Or maybe they'll brush this off as the crazed rantings of a lunatic.

I honestly don't know anymore. All I can say is to stay safe and never attempt to watch this damned movie.

#saki sanobashi #horror #short story #Fiction #Lost media #Anime #Lesbian protagonist #missing episodes #creative writing #web fiction #literature

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lizzieonka · 7 months

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I would love to get a part-time job, but my schedule this semester really does not allow it. I have classes from 8am to 7pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while on Wednesdays and Fridays I just have one class in the afternoon. No classes on Mondays.

And all the part-time jobs I find that are suitable for me require working certain number of hours each working day and uuuh… I can’t tell them I’m only available on MWF, can I?

Anyways, please help this poor college student out by availing my editing/beta-reading service

Or if you don’t need this service, just reblog or share it with a friend who might need it. Thanks!

#editing #proofreading #beta reading #book editing #writeblr #writers #writing #fiction #fanfiction #web novel #web fiction #alpha reading #fanfic #editor #proofreader #beta reader #alpha reader #miyamiwu.src #scheduled

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lshark-cs · 1 month

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Iron God Chapter 40 [Channei]

CW: Mentioned transmisogyny, graphic violence

----

It was abnormally warm out the day Channei began her investigation. Not warm enough to remove a layer, but enough that the townspeople stirred a little more than usual. She passed by a house where Rizval was perched up on the roof replacing shingles. She waved up at them. "Hello!"

Rizval looked down and squinted. "Do I know you?"

Channei chuckled. Of course Rizval wouldn't recognize her in this form. She was a full head taller, her hair was black instead of blond, and her voice had changed entirely. She tried not to draw too much more attention as she passed by Rizval. As much as she wanted to greet them, she had a much more important job to focus on.

The Square Exchange would be a good place to start, she reasoned. She'd been to the weekly barter market many times before and picked up many delightful treasures, but today was different. She wasn't seeking anyone's wares. Only their words when they thought no Styzian was listening.

She joined a crowd that seemed to be heading that way. No one seemed to notice her. She was only another person, and unlike anywhere else, not everyone in the Wash knew each other. A new face was no cause for suspicion. She was virtually invisible.

That was, until tiny hands grabbed her sleeve.

Channei looked down and saw a toddler had ambushed her from his mother's hip. Her eyebrows rose. "Well hello, little one."

"Miss, I'm so sorry." The mother detached her child from Channei and hurried ahead. The disguised Styzian listened as she started talking to a man, probably her husband. "Our son needs to learn some manners."

"Give him to Styzia, then." The man chuckled. "They'll have him straightened out in no time at all."

Several other people laughed. Channei feigned a giggle to blend in.

"Was that Rizval fixing your cousin's roof?"

Channei's eyes darted to that conversation.

"Well yes. Take free help where you can, pal. Hey, do you have something I can give the hoof trimmer?"

She lost interest at the change of subject.

The square was abuzz with people exchanging their goods and services. At least one stand had to have food, she reasoned, and she was ravenous all of a sudden. With nothing to trade, she'd have to steal or beg. Obviously, a human would have a hard time getting away with theft or pleading, so as soon as she saw a dog in the market crowd, she ducked into a stall full of coats and shapeshifted under the cover of fabric.

Now a floppy-eared dog with a brown brindled coat, Channei trotted from the stall and sniffed around. When she picked up the scent of roasting meat, she headed in that direction. It only took one pleading puppy-eyed look to get thrown a handful of scraps. It wasn't the best meat she'd ever had, but it was enough to take the edge off, and she'd certainly eaten far more questionable things.

As she ate, a boy no older than twelve approached the stall, followed by a pack of what had to be his younger siblings. A young girl broke away from them and ran to pet Channei. "Puppy!"

Channei surrendered to the child's affection. She nuzzled into the girl's hands and wagged her tail.

"Wren, don't pet strange dogs." Her brother came and tried to pull her away.

"No worries. Otter's a good girl. She comes by my stall every day hoping for leftovers." The butcher came out and patted Channei's head. She played the part and listened. "Are you all the kids from Felltree?"

"Yeah." Wren came back to pet Channei again. "Miss Peck wanted us to ask people if they've seen Styzians anywhere."

Channei's ear twitched.

The butcher cocked his head. "What for?"

"Ma's obsessed with them for some reason." The oldest boy rolled his eyes. "Some man came along blabbing about justice, saying all these big things about how they're going to stop Styzia stealing children, all that. And she ate it up."

The butcher chuckled. "From what I hear, so did the town council. Suppose there's no harm in keeping my eyes open, but so far, I've not seen anyone."

"Thank you anyway." The boy bowed his head. "Sorry if we bothered you. Come on." He beckoned his siblings and they all ran after him.

Channei stalked them from a distance, hoping they wouldn't notice. She followed them out of the market, down a winding street, and watched them all disappear into one of the larger houses. She couldn't think of what to do next, so she flopped to the ground and let her aching joints rest.

She hadn't practiced the form of a dog in a long time, so it was no wonder she was tired. Some forms came so naturally she barely had to think about them. Others left her fatigued to the point of pain.

Half-awake, Channei remembered the first time she had given herself a girl's body. She'd only been a child. Someone – supposedly her father – had seen her transform and beaten her within inches of her life. Still, she remembered the day as the best in her entire life. It was the first day she'd been her true self.

Coming to Styzia had been frightening at first, then freeing. So unbelievably freeing. No one ever called her a boy at Styzia. Not even Xigon, who knew her origin. Whatever they asked of her seemed a small price to pay for a loving family.

When the aching became too much to tolerate, Channei hid herself under the house's front porch and reverted back to the shape she loved most. Human again, she rolled onto her back and stretched her slender arms. Her brand scars itched under her sleeves. She hoped she wouldn't have to add any more soon, but also knew it wasn't out of the question.

She'd gone to visit Xigon right before leaving. Channei had never seen him so visibly unwell. He'd given her two perplexing things. First, he'd given her clearance to use lethal force at her own discretion. Second, he'd given her a dagger. Not just any dagger, either.

Channei pulled the weapon from its sheath. The blade was narrow and came to a very sharp point. Respite, they called it. It was carried at every second ascension ceremony, though not as openly as the sword. Everyone knew what it was for and hoped they didn't have to see it used.

Master Qila claimed the ceremonial sword was a gift from the Iron God himself, and as such, she didn't want to see it used to deliver death. Should the ritual fail, Respite was there to end their new sibling's agony.

She remembered Master Xigon leaving Kolo's ceremony with Respite clutched tight in his hand. Then he'd come back with blood on the blade, blood all over him, and Azvalath carrying the slaughtered vermin. It had taken everything for her not to smile. Maybe she'd smiled a little anyway.

The dark joy hadn't lasted. Now a strange grief and dread lingered like a bad taste in her mouth. She'd been one of only four at his burial. They'd laid him to rest somewhere silent, marked only by a small stone inscribed with Xigon's prayer – may you and all the world be safe now.

Channei tried to push those thoughts from her head. When she couldn't, she seethed. He was dead. Why was he still hanging over all their heads like an oppressive shadow?

Footsteps on the front porch above made her eyes snap back open. Still somewhat drowsy, she forced herself to be quiet and listen.

"Simple. We get up there and kill the rats' nest," said a woman's voice. "I'll send my fledgelings up if need be. Those monsters would probably still hesitate to kill children."

"But they're not our enemies, Peck," A young man's voice insisted. "It's their masters we should be concerned with."

"Staffen, you don't understand. We have to get rid of all of them," said Peck. "To ensure no child ever becomes their slave again. And to ensure no more of our communities are exterminated."

Channei clenched her teeth together and choked back a snarl. This woman couldn't be allowed to keep dripping her poison. She knew she had to intervene. As soon as the moment came, she would –

More footsteps. Familiar ones, this time.

"Rizval!" Staffen sounded much happier all of a sudden. "What do you have for us?"

"Hey!" Rizval's tone was excited. "My task list is all done. Do you need anything else?"

Channei changed her shape to a rat and slipped out from under the porch. She tunneled under the snow and poked her head up to see what was happening. Rizval held a sheet of parchment out to Staffen. Peck shifted, looking uneasy. Then she went inside and slammed the door behind her.

Staffen cocked his head. "Any new craft projects lately?"

"I...I made this scarf. Well, I mean, I made the fabric. Lalek helped me sew it." Rizval untied their scarf and showed it to the young councilman.

"It looks very good on you," said Staffen.

"Thanks." Rizval glowed with the praise. Channei glowed a little too. She knew how much they loved others recognizing their talent. Then Rizval put the scarf back on. "Do you want me to make you one next?"

Staffen chuckled. "I'm all right, but thank you."

Someone opened the upstairs window. One shutter banged against the wall, startling Channei. She emerged fully from the snow. When she saw what was on the other side of the window, she reverted to her default form and yelled to warn Rizval a second too late.

The moment they turned to look at her, an arrow ripped through their back.

Up in the window, the child, a girl who couldn't have been older than ten, called to someone else inside. "One down, Ma!"

Staffen stared in abject horror, then fainted on the spot.

"Rizval!" Channei screamed her comrade's name and ran to catch them. She and Rizval both tumbled off the porch and into the snow. Rizval's shaky hands latched onto Channei. "What happened? I..."

Channei grabbed Rizval and ran for both their lives.

She took them as far away as she could, then ducked down by an unattended cart and propped them up against the wheel. Their blood was all over her and still spreading rapidly across their coat. A razor-sharp broadhead jutted from just below their collarbone, and from the spurting bright red blood, Channei knew an artery was severed. She pressed her hands firmly around the protruding shaft to slow the bleeding.

"Stop...that hurts." Their face was rapidly draining of color. "Channei, what's happening?"

"They want us dead. They want us all dead." Her heart was racing so fast she thought she might faint. She looked around and spotted some shocked bystanders across the street. "Help us! Don't just stand there. Someone get help!"

When they ran off, Channei turned her attention back to Rizval. "Help is on the way. Stay awake. Please."

Rizval brushed cold fingers against her cheek. Their eyes rolled.

"You bastard! I said stay awake!" Channei shook Rizval, startling them back to clarity for a second.

"Don't..." Rizval's eyelids fluttered. Their breaths came fast and shallow. "Don't yell at me, fuzzball."

Hearing Rizval's nickname for her made Channei finally break down in tears. She leaned her head against her wounded comrade's shoulder and hugged them tight. An unfamiliar hand patted her on the back. "Back up, dear."

Channei looked up to see two vaguely familiar women. One with black and white hair, another with a coat covered in patches of moss and lichen. The one in the patchy coat knelt with Rizval and examined the wound before turning to her companion. "Magpie, we've got work to do."

Channei sobbed. "Who are you?"

"Name's Ami." She adjusted her hat. "Call me what you will. Big bad Ami, bane of your existence, your guardian angel, whatever. At your service."

Channei raised an eyebrow. She recognized both of them now. Her mouth opened but no words came out.

"By any name, I'm not having any of you shits die on my watch." She rummaged through her pack to find a greenish salve. "Not when you could do me a big favor."

"Hold on." Channei reached to try and stop her. "What's your big idea here?"

She pushed Channei's hand away and started applying the salve to Rizval's wound. They jerked in sudden pain. "Calm down, pal. It stings, but it'll stop the bleeding." Ami spoke softly to Rizval and ignored Channei. "I'm going to pick you up now. Just relax."

Ami lifted Rizval into her arms as if they were a small child. Rizval whimpered Channei's name before finally losing consciousness.

"Let's go." It was an order, not a question. "And — fuzzball, was it? — don't you even think about causing any more of a scene."

#creative writing #original work #dark fantasy #fantasy #my writing #writing #web fiction #web novel #iron god #writer #original writing #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writerscommunity #writers #writers and poets

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