Holy smokes. Your stories are heartbreakingly, tragically sad, funny and beautiful all at once. Every word feels carefully thought out and crafted with your unparalleled sense for empathy, humor, and truthfulness. I love the manner in which your words build up the foreboding feelings of dread, fear, and suspense. Towards the ending I cried at least three times while reading, and to me crying while reading is one of the highest form of compliments in my book. Laughter or tears to me meant that your words got to the heart of some universal feelings. Your brilliant and inspiring collages are unmatched. I feel quite lucky to have found your beautiful, empathic, and brilliant stories here. It’s quite a gift you’ve got with the written word. Thank you for taking the time to share your powerful storytelling skills with us readers.
crying while reading is the absolute highest praise to me, and I totally didn't expect this one to provoke that kind of reaction so wow, this means quite a bit to me. this whole comment is wildly kind, I hope you know how much I appreciate it. the depth with which you read my work is so so cool to me. thank you, Jessica, truly.
Alright, James. I'm pretty sure this is one of the best pieces of fiction I've read on this site. About a quarter way in I was like "Oh damn, James has really gotten good." Then about half way I was like "I need to step up my writing. This is great." But at the end--the end!--I threw my hat on the ground and shouted "The boy done it! He actually done it!"
This is fantastic. I'll admit, the turn was well written, not very telegraphed. It didn't take me by COMPLETE surprise, but the simple explanation of the state of Vic by the end of the story reminded me of imagery that I would find in a film by Cronenberg's son. (In fact, there's a sort of Cronenberg-esque thread weaving through the entire narrative. I would label this as surrealist body horror.) I fucking loved it, in short.
Thank you, Emil! I’ve been a little surprised by the number of people who found the ending totally surprising. I really wasn’t going for shock factor with this one, just a satisfying play of events to a strange, but inevitable conclusion. The Cronenberg comparison is apt (and very appreciated) I’ve been on a big Cronenberg kick for a bit now. Your feedback is always great, thank you Editor!!!
goddamn this is gorgeous and terrifying. your characters, their dialogue, everything pitch perfect. I love this. compelled to check the tracking on my copy of mars in retrograde…
I couldn't love this anymore!!! So good, so fun!!! What a story!! And I've seen Mannequin Pussy twice they are the dankest band right now!!! Really great story.
"little foray into horror" my ass. a slight whip crack at a vaguely unfamiliar genre and incidentally perfecting it in one fell swoop. you have such an impressive talent of balance and ultimate control within your writing that is spotlighted so masterfully here- I feel like a lot of issues within this realm always stem from an overindulgence of sorts, at least when I'm the one with the pen.
you've trimmed all the fat, you've rendered and cured and my god what feast to start the day with.
this story reminded me so so much of my favourite collection of short horror stories, "Jagannath" by Karin Tidbeck, that I will simply have to unearth and force upon you soon. To say a job well done does not say enough. Thank you for the much needed reminder of why I love horror literature so much.
this is the only opinion on horror lit that matters to me.... and for the record, if anyone is allowed to overindulge, it should be you. I look forward to that overindulgence. thank you thank you, and I will be hounding you for that collection at some point
this one speaks to the narcissistic impulse to detonate a stable and loving relationship rather than put in the work to keep it fresh. because of course no mere mortal lover could ever measure up to glorious ME <3
I'm thrilled at this interpretation!! I think a lot of people have sided with the narrator in believing Vic is just an asshole but I believe there's plenty of evidence that the narrator is not so great himself, and yes, even a bit of a narcissist! There's a lot of miscommunication between these two and I think much of it stems from the narrator refusing to say what he's thinking.
that's how i read it! :) like vic is annoying as any lover becomes annoying when they graduate from a mysterious and exciting sometimes-treat to the guy that lives in your house. and to be fair we don't know if vic would respond well to correction. but we DO know that the narrator would rather stew in the righteous high of being wronged than tell his boyfriend how to finger him!
what a twist and what a great idea and so well crafted. dialogue right on the nose. tension and emotion built so well between the two ... such dismissiveness and annoyingness from Vic... I wanted to punch him myself. had to immediatley read this again because i was so taken by surprise by the ending... i actually thought Vic had torn up the results and there was going to be a "we are who we are not where we're from" reconciliation thing... but no... a ffrench clone autoerotic murder from literally nowhere. Genuine FUUUUUCK noooooo! out loud moment.
Holy smokes. Your stories are heartbreakingly, tragically sad, funny and beautiful all at once. Every word feels carefully thought out and crafted with your unparalleled sense for empathy, humor, and truthfulness. I love the manner in which your words build up the foreboding feelings of dread, fear, and suspense. Towards the ending I cried at least three times while reading, and to me crying while reading is one of the highest form of compliments in my book. Laughter or tears to me meant that your words got to the heart of some universal feelings. Your brilliant and inspiring collages are unmatched. I feel quite lucky to have found your beautiful, empathic, and brilliant stories here. It’s quite a gift you’ve got with the written word. Thank you for taking the time to share your powerful storytelling skills with us readers.
crying while reading is the absolute highest praise to me, and I totally didn't expect this one to provoke that kind of reaction so wow, this means quite a bit to me. this whole comment is wildly kind, I hope you know how much I appreciate it. the depth with which you read my work is so so cool to me. thank you, Jessica, truly.
Alright, James. I'm pretty sure this is one of the best pieces of fiction I've read on this site. About a quarter way in I was like "Oh damn, James has really gotten good." Then about half way I was like "I need to step up my writing. This is great." But at the end--the end!--I threw my hat on the ground and shouted "The boy done it! He actually done it!"
Sean!!!! I do not take your praise lightly, yeeesh. Thank you very much. It's not the last you'll see of jw dabbling in a bit of horror(:
the subtly and power of this horror is sublime. unleashed in the very last lines. excellent excellent work.
Even without the horror element this would rule the school. The kissing at the end was the ultimate. There isn't a better ending.
110%
What a beauty. This’ns got teeth
thank you, Keith!! hope it didn’t bite too hard
This is fantastic. I'll admit, the turn was well written, not very telegraphed. It didn't take me by COMPLETE surprise, but the simple explanation of the state of Vic by the end of the story reminded me of imagery that I would find in a film by Cronenberg's son. (In fact, there's a sort of Cronenberg-esque thread weaving through the entire narrative. I would label this as surrealist body horror.) I fucking loved it, in short.
Thank you, Emil! I’ve been a little surprised by the number of people who found the ending totally surprising. I really wasn’t going for shock factor with this one, just a satisfying play of events to a strange, but inevitable conclusion. The Cronenberg comparison is apt (and very appreciated) I’ve been on a big Cronenberg kick for a bit now. Your feedback is always great, thank you Editor!!!
goddamn this is gorgeous and terrifying. your characters, their dialogue, everything pitch perfect. I love this. compelled to check the tracking on my copy of mars in retrograde…
Is it getting closer? Does it seem to be breathing? Are the pages speaking or is that your own voice caught in your throat?
thanks, EJ, appreciate ya!!(:
Unique take on a horror story
I couldn't love this anymore!!! So good, so fun!!! What a story!! And I've seen Mannequin Pussy twice they are the dankest band right now!!! Really great story.
"little foray into horror" my ass. a slight whip crack at a vaguely unfamiliar genre and incidentally perfecting it in one fell swoop. you have such an impressive talent of balance and ultimate control within your writing that is spotlighted so masterfully here- I feel like a lot of issues within this realm always stem from an overindulgence of sorts, at least when I'm the one with the pen.
you've trimmed all the fat, you've rendered and cured and my god what feast to start the day with.
this story reminded me so so much of my favourite collection of short horror stories, "Jagannath" by Karin Tidbeck, that I will simply have to unearth and force upon you soon. To say a job well done does not say enough. Thank you for the much needed reminder of why I love horror literature so much.
this is the only opinion on horror lit that matters to me.... and for the record, if anyone is allowed to overindulge, it should be you. I look forward to that overindulgence. thank you thank you, and I will be hounding you for that collection at some point
Oh this is was so fucking delicious!! Thoroughly enjoyed
this one speaks to the narcissistic impulse to detonate a stable and loving relationship rather than put in the work to keep it fresh. because of course no mere mortal lover could ever measure up to glorious ME <3
I'm thrilled at this interpretation!! I think a lot of people have sided with the narrator in believing Vic is just an asshole but I believe there's plenty of evidence that the narrator is not so great himself, and yes, even a bit of a narcissist! There's a lot of miscommunication between these two and I think much of it stems from the narrator refusing to say what he's thinking.
that's how i read it! :) like vic is annoying as any lover becomes annoying when they graduate from a mysterious and exciting sometimes-treat to the guy that lives in your house. and to be fair we don't know if vic would respond well to correction. but we DO know that the narrator would rather stew in the righteous high of being wronged than tell his boyfriend how to finger him!
good god (in a good way)
Bloody brilliant!
This is superb!
what a twist and what a great idea and so well crafted. dialogue right on the nose. tension and emotion built so well between the two ... such dismissiveness and annoyingness from Vic... I wanted to punch him myself. had to immediatley read this again because i was so taken by surprise by the ending... i actually thought Vic had torn up the results and there was going to be a "we are who we are not where we're from" reconciliation thing... but no... a ffrench clone autoerotic murder from literally nowhere. Genuine FUUUUUCK noooooo! out loud moment.
huge round of applause.
ffrench
it's like 'normal' French but more perverted
yeah fucked french
I was going to say the narrator should embrace his French side but maybe not quite in that way
Great grand guignol stuff jw, yer a right nasty one after all...
A little bit of self love never hurt nobody…well, except for that other guy. Thanks, Murph(:
Oooooooooh this is good. Chouette même !