#Shriek: An Afterword

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

[mx-information]

If you like I Am In Eskew and The Silt Verses, why not try the Ambergris trilogy? We’ve got:

Mushrooms

Like so many mushrooms

A fucked up river full of fucked up squid

Tons of eldritch body horror

Unstable and obsessive artists tapping into unnatural forces in an attempt to communicate something that cannot be easily described in words

Magic-powered hell capitalism

Feuding historians

“I never lose my sense of the city’s incomparable splendor — it’s love of rituals, its passion for music, its infinite capacity for the beautiful cruelty.”

Names to rival even the great Chuck Harm

Awful cities that have something intrinsically yet indescribably wrong with them

Strange and unknown horrors that are omnipresent but uneasily ignored because to acknowledge them directly is too frightening to consider

Many, many characters who are sopping wet, pathetic, and/or unhinged in variously sad yet endearing ways

”it’s the silt, man! The silt!”

[crunchity-munchity]

How to get a girlfriend

1. Get her into Death Grips

2. Read the scariest and most devastating scene from a Jeff Vandermeer book to her

And that's it

[moonhoures]

Score

🕷️ kinktober — day 15: dry humping🕸️

pairing: minho (stray kids) + reader (afab/fem)

genre: non-idol!au, college!au, smut, fluff

warnings: 18+, minors do not interact, explicit smut, established relationship, football player!minho 🏈, dry humping, mild exhibitionism (sexual activity in a parked car), pet name ‘baby’ is used for both minho & reader, minho calls reader ‘princess’ once, minho cums in his jeans 🫣

word count: ~1.8k

synopsis: you reward your boyfriend for winning the homecoming game

a/n: saw this edit of minho in the super bowl mv and the thought of football player!minho would not leave my head so i felt called to write this

posted: october 15, 2023

kinktober masterlist

Friday nights were your favorite. That was partly because it was the last day of the school week, so you had the weekend to look forward to. And the other part was because Fridays in autumn were football nights. And that meant you got to sit at the very bottom of the bleachers to watch your boyfriend run back and forth on the football field for a couple hours. You hadn’t really been a fan of sports until you met Minho, but since he was the left tackle for the varsity team at your university, he begged you to go to his practices and games when you were free. Slowly you found yourself enjoying the sport and becoming his very own cheerleader, rooting him on from the sidelines where he would shoot you smiles and winks when he could.

Tonight was the homecoming game, and it was against the rival town’s team, so the pressure was on the home team big time. Minho had been stressing over this game for weeks, constantly putting in extra practice to prepare. You had texted him some words of encouragement and promised to treat him afterwords if he won—but honestly, you would treat him even if he lost. He had replied with a heartfelt emoji and told you where to meet him once the game was over.

It was a tense three hours, but eventually the scores were settled at 17-15. Your team had won, and just barely so. The second the winning touchdown had occurred the home side bleachers erupted in a roaring cheer, you included. Your eyes were already on Minho, easily finding his jersey number among the several guys on the field. He jumped up and down excitedly, slapping and congratulating his teammates as they celebrated their win. Your cheeks were consumed by warmth despite the chill in the air that was nipping at them.

You waited patiently where Minho had told you to meet him, just outside of the fence far enough away from the exit that you wouldn’t get swallowed up by the leaving crowd. You occupied yourself by trying to make out the stars among the pitch-black sky that were hard to see with the blinding field lights on. You were so busy looking up that you didn’t notice your boyfriend approaching until he was scooping you up in his arms and pressing a sweaty kiss to your cheek.

You let out a shriek of surprise, “Oh my God, put me down!” You giggled through your words, but he listened, setting you back down.

When his face came into view, a wide smile took up the bottom half of his face, his eyes scrunching up from it, “Did you see how much ass we kicked out there? I was getting so nervous towards the end, but we pulled through!”

“I had full faith in you,” you grinned, eyes twinkling as you took in his bulky figure, his uniform still on. His already-broad shoulders were exaggerated by the shoulder pads he wore, and the ends of his hair were dripping in sweat. Oddly enough, you found this version of him incredibly sexy, but you couldn’t bring yourself to act on any desires until he cleaned up.

“I’m gonna hit the showers, but you’ll wait for me, right? I wanted to take you to that new diner that opened last week. Chan said they’re open until midnight on Fridays,” Minho clutched onto his helmet at his side, a hopeful look on his face as he awaited your reply.

“Of course, if you wanna give me your keys, I’ll just go wait in the car. I need a heater after sitting in the cold.”

The football player was quick to agree, escorting you to the gym. He dipped into the locker room to grab his keys from his bag. He handed them off to you, but not without giving you a quick kiss. Then you two separated, him going back to the locker room and you going to his car. You instantly felt cozy with the heater on blast along with the heated seats (a luxury your own car didn’t have). Only twenty minutes passed with you scrolling through TikTok before Minho arrived, startling you when he pulled the passenger door open and climbed in.

“Alright, I’m squeaky clean now. Lay it on me,” your boyfriend leaned forward, lips puckering a bit, expecting a proper kiss from you.

You chuckled softly, leaning the rest of the way across the console to press a tender kiss to his lips. You could tell he had put on some of the chapstick you had been encouraging him to use; the weather recently had been making his lips chapped. The subtle taste of mint lingered on your mouth, and it was pleasant. In fact, it was enticing—that, plus the way his hand gently held the side of your neck.

The kiss deepened, the two of you becoming enthralled in each other like it was a reunion after months of being apart. You two had literally met up that morning for coffee before class, but that didn’t stop Minho from leaning even more over the console until he was practically in the driver’s seat with you. You felt his tongue running along the seams of your lips, begging for him to take it further than just a heated make out in the front seats of his Honda Civic.

You pulled away for a chance to breathe, and your heart thrummed at the sight of your boyfriend’s reddened, puffy lips and flushed cheeks, “We should start heading to the diner.”

He groaned softly, a small frown etching itself on his lips, “I was so close to getting you in the backseat. We can go tomorrow night?”

“Baby-“

“Come on, ________, I know you want to,” he loved to use that teasing tone and sly smirk on you to get what he wanted, mostly because he knew it worked. No matter how stern you tried to be, you always had a soft spot for him.

“I do, but . . . not in this parking lot,” you tried to reason with him, but his expression didn’t change. You had a feeling you were indeed going to do it in the parking lot.

“We don’t have to go all the way.” Determination could have been Minho’s middle name as far as you were concerned. It was a part of what made him so good at football. It was what got him a date with you during your first semester of college. And it was what got you to straddle him in the backseat of his Civic.

With you right where he wanted you, he smiled into another sweltering kiss, his hands on your hips. Unfortunately for your boyfriend, all of your clothes stayed on, but that didn’t stop him from getting you to thrust your groin against his. Though stuffed under his jeans and briefs, his cock was growing stiff under the stimulation your clothed cunt was giving him. After only a couple minutes, you could feel his erection poking against the fabric of your own jeans.

Minho communicated almost solely through noises, deep moans and heavy breaths sounding between your tangled lips. He let out a whine as you grinded your hips down on him, the friction making his cock even harder. If he had taken out like he wanted to, you would be able to see how red it was and how it throbbed, yearning to be in your pussy. But it was confined to the prison that was his underwear where a wet patch was already forming in the fabric over his tip.

Your own panties were becoming a little uncomfortable, your arousal basically soaking the gusset. The wet fabric was trapped between the sensitive skin of your folds and your rough denim. The sensation wasn’t nearly as fulfilling as it would be if it was his cock you were humping, but this would just have to do for now. You were already in motion, and you knew if you focused hard enough you would eventually cum. And with Minho’s hot breath on the shell of your ear, whispering encouraging words to you, you knew your release would find it’s way to you soon enough.

“Wish I wasn’t so fucking impatient,” he admitted through gritted teeth while his hands assisted your movements over his pelvis, “I should’ve taken you back to my house so we could do this the right way.”

“Yeah, well, you were the one who wanted it so bad,” you smiled down at him, “Now you have it.”

“And I’m definitely not complaining,” he spoke nothing but the truth. Sure, he would have preferred fucking you good in the comfort of his own bed, but he wouldn’t turn down the chance to make out with (and dry hump) you in the back of his car. In his opinion, he would be stupid to do so, “But maybe you could come back to my place, and I can treat you better there, yeah?”

“You better,“ you smiled at the way he laughed at that, then he was bringing your face down to his so he could kiss you again. When he got wound up like this, he had no care, no worry. He would make any noises, not thinking about how whiny or pathetic they sounded. He would let the saliva that got caught up between your lips fall out of the corners of his mouth messily. He would leave hickeys on your skin, acting like he didn’t mean to when really he loved the little bruise that showed the world you were taken. You were his.

“Oh my God, yes. Do that again,” he groaned, head falling back against the seat as he slipped his fingers through the belt loops on your jeans. Your clothed pussy was grinding down on his lap, each buck of your hips squeezing the top half of his cock against his pubic bone. The precum on his underwear was abundant, and he knew he wouldn’t last much longer. It felt too good. Moans fell from his lips repeatedly telling you to keep going, keep going, don’t stop. He was going to-

“Holy shit.”

Minho’s hands were tight on your waist, commanding you to stop. He had already made a mess of his boxers; he didn’t want to make another one. You frowned, and you didn’t have to a say word. He was already apologizing, looking up at you through half-lidded eyes.

“I know. I’m sorry, baby,” he breathed heavily, too lazy to lift his head up from the back of the seat. He reached up and wiped away a string of spit that was webbing from your mouth onto your cheek (residue from your multiple messy make-outs), “When we get back to mine, I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

“Well, consider this my treat to you for now, for winning tonight. But now you owe me.”

“Of course, princess. Now let’s get out of here, these jeans are getting more uncomfortable by the second.”

— taglist #1

@jaylaxies @xiaoting999 @kookthief @zaddywilk @pedriswrld @wonrangwoo @ikykleeknowww @odisdad @abby-grace @jungwonloveer @pinklemonadeflav @celestialplatinum @luvkpopp @nlklstan @kisses4denji @jenos-eye-smiles @a-l-i-y-a @channiesprincess @bekah931215 @heerinnie @fairygirl18 @cinnikoi @im-ur-calico-cat @unlikelysublimekryptonite @k-drizzle @iguanas-world

[inthefallofasparrow]

If more than one option applies to you, feel free to specify.

[laiqualaurelote]

(eisoj5 here, lol) dealer's choice about season of mists!!

dear @eisoj5! thank you for this ask! my dealer's choice fact about season of mists is that I actually made lists of all the titles on nearly every one of the themed shelves in Edwin's bookshop. I could go on about any one of them but I'm going to list one of my personal favourites, the Mushroom Shelf:

Black Mould by Ben Aaronovitch

Ghost Music by An Yu

The Girl with All the Gifts and The Boy on the Bridge by M. R. Carey

Close Encounters of the Fungal Kind by Richard Fortey

Deep Waters by William Hope Hodgson

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

The Way Through the Woods by Litt Woon Long

Fruiting Bodies, and Other Fungi by Brian Lumley

Severance by Ling Ma

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard

Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets

Rosewater by Tade Thompson

The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing

City of Saints and Madmen, Shriek: An Afterword, and Finch by Jeff VanderMeer (VanderMeer's Southern Reach quartet also appears on the Lighthouse Shelf)

(from the end-of-year Director's Cut game (ask me for additional lore or meta about any of my fics this year)

[cryptids-of-spielzeit]

Spielzeit Bestiary #1: The Blue Man

This cryptid was one of the first to be spotted, at least somewhat, by the townsfolk. One Porshia Graham, then age 16, was taking a stroll through the woods near Spielzeit, when she noticed something peculiar. Little patches of soft, blue hair were strewn about the twigs and leaves, and they made a trail. Ms. Graham followed suit, eventually finding the most damning piece of evidence of the existence of the Spielzeit Blue Man: a red ribbon, covered with the patches of blue hair and what seemed to be blood.

A few months later, local daredevil Malcolm "Jolt" Holt was taking another trip to one of Spielzeit's local caves, trying to find a swimming hole. Mr. Holt, while in the cave, reported seeing more of the blue hairs, but the trail didn't lead to a ribbon this time. Mr. Holt claims he came face to face with the Blue Man.

"....it was about 9-10 feet tall, ape-like. It had piercing black eyes, and big, red lips with tons of sharp teeth. It had long, long arms and legs, and from how it walked, if you could even call it that, it was pretty much weightless. But that sound it made...God, I've done and heard some crazy things, but that shriek, it sounded like it was coming from the Reaper itself."

Afterwords, authorities in town inspected the cave in which Mr. Holt had his run in. Per the record of local Ranger Angelo Floro, "There were no patches of blue hair, nor were there any traces of blood. Rest assured, there is nothing strange in this cave, maybe Mr. Holt saw a weird rock formation. As for the sound, most likely a bat."

Locals still claim to see a tall, lanky, hairy, blue ape-like creature near the caves. Only question is...do you believe?

[c-53]

Shriek: an Afterword is really good but my main complaint is how droning it is. I think once per chapter I’m like ‘ok Jeff, reel this one in’. Also how often the phrase flesh necklace/necklace of flesh is used.

Janice’s fixation on hating Mary is really tiring as well but it is funny when Duncan’s page comments are like ‘she’s literally normal and nice and was trying to be your friend whats your fucking problem’

[librarycards]

Book recs!! Hello! A lot of books I like have already been sent in. Here are a few that might not have been!

Shriek: an Afterword by Jeff VanderMeer (you don't need to read the preceeding novel this book absolutely can stand alone) (everybody seems to love his more recent stuff but this is the only novel of his I've really fallen in love without outside his Southern Reach trilogy)

Triton by Samuel R Delaney (<- if you read one book off this list let it be this one, it's such a hidden gem)

The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin (<- this is my all time favorite book series I think)

The City & The City by China Mieville (or really anything by him that you haven't read yet. He's one of my favorite authors and you seem familiar w him already!

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut (<- you probably have already read that one but it feels like an obligatory rec)

i'm assuming the other anon in my inbox is from you and will answer it next. i cosign all of these and have read the last 3; i have read City of Saints and Madmen (first in the trilogy Shriek is in.

I agree that VanderMeer's early stuff is waaaay better, and you should check out Veniss Underground. it's basically what would happen if he and Miéville had insane gay sex.

I love Delany but haven't read Triton specifically. but all of chip's work that i haven't yet read is on my tbr.

tl;dr thank you, and congrats on having correct™ book opinions!

[caliumcyanide]

Every time Dazai smiles in the entirety of the light novels (the official translations) Part 1.

Don't ask me why I did this. I wanted an excuse to read all them again, ok? I'm deathly afraid of the manga, but ln are my comfort space. With as much context as I can provide, behold the smiles and giggles of the one and only: Osamu Dazai.

Volume 1: "Osamu Dazai's entrance exam."

Prologue:

“Wait. Seriously? Wow, thanks.” He smiles bashfully, even though there’s nothing to blush about.”

“Well then, I think it’s about time we end this so I can go buy that book. We just need to slow him down, right?” Dazai breaks into a smile.

Chapter I:

“Oh, Kunikida! Good morning! Take a look at this! It’s incredible!” I’m suddenly greeted by a grinning Dazai on the threshold.”

“Good afternoon.” A man smiles from ear to ear as he enters the room.”

“I really hope we can get along, Kunikida.” Our new hire gives me a toothy smile, perhaps oblivious of my internal apprehension.”

“Ah-ha-ha. I kid. We’re going to investigate a haunted mansion, right?” His smiling face and casual demeanor cause me to scowl.

"He's a good kid" Dazai says with a grin as he looks up at the night sky.

“Thought so.” Dazai smiles, taking note of my expression.”

“You’re a real romanticist, you know that?” Dazai’s snickering comes out sounding like a sigh.”

Dazai’s sudden shrieking from up ahead causes my heart to skip a beat. He turns around, staring at me with his mouth opened wide. Then, after getting a good look at me, he slowly but surely begins to grin.

Chapter 2:

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I simply did what any gentleman would. Besides, I’m used to getting asked for things from people I’ve just met,” he replies with a smile.

“What a beautiful, misfortunate woman,” Dazai says with a smirk.

“Your treat?” Dazai asks, beaming with joy.”

Interlude:

“I mean, I’m not good at this electronic stuff.” He smiles faintly, his fingertips nimbly tapping the keyboard.

“…But I guess this isn’t something I can let others do.” He chuckles to himself in the dim car.

Chapter 3:

“So she’s available, Kunikida.” Dazai grins, gently elbowing me in the side.

I look at Dazai at my side. He’s smiling gleefully.

“Heh-heh.” Dazai smirks.

“So, Mr. Spy, what do you want in return for this information?” Dazai chimes in with a chuckle.

“Yeah, right. I dunno about Kunikida here, but I’m just a bit more cynical than that,” he replies with a grin.

“Looks like I couldn’t fool you. Too bad it’s just an ordinary fountain pen.” Dazai cheerfully grins.

“Shoot me.” He grins mirthfully from ear to ear. There’s tranquility in his smile.

His peaceful smile never once wavers. “Shoot me,” he says.

“I knew you would use that to shoot me, Kunikida.” Dazai grins, still on his back.”

Grinning, Dazai stands behind him with the bottle of liquor cracked in half in hand.

“…That hurt, y’know.” Dazai stands, and his lips curl upward—a fierce grin—as fresh blood drips down his cheek.”

“Wearing an unwavering smile, Dazai continues to close the distance.”

Afterword:

“DAZAI: “Hey, Atsushi. Just finishing up work for the day?” Dazai smiles cheerfully.

ATSUSHI: “D-did you…try to drown yourself again?” Atsushi makes a face.”

A total of 13 smiles, 9 grins, 2 smirks, 2 chuckles, 1 "beaming episode", and one snicker, that sounded like a sigh.

To be continued in the next one...

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2024: October Wrap-Up.

Gr8 news: I am no longer very far behind on my NaNo prep reading!! I had to drop JUST LIKE HOME (reread) and HOUSE OF LEAVES, but I got through the rest of my Haunted House and/or Aliens and/or Parasite/Fungus TBR. Here they all are!

Photos and/or reviews linked:

SHRIEK - ★★★★ I think SHRIEK Is my favorite volume of the Ambergris trilogy, taken as a whole--the one-way conversation Duncan was having with Janice was a really neat narrative choice, and then the reveal in the Afterword's Afterword was, in true VanderMeer fashion, mind-blowing.

FINCH - ★★★★ I was actually surprised by how much I liked this one. It helped me figure out a LOT about what kinds of power dynamics I enjoy in borderline-dystopian fiction, and what intrigues me most about limited agency. It wrapped the story up almost too neatly, for a VanderMeer, but I did still have a good time and blitzed through it quickly. Given this one and SHRIEK, I'm counting the Whole Series as a Four-Star read--I'd like to reread it someday, now that I know what's going on.

LEECH - ★★★★★ (reread) STILL ONE OF MY ALL-TIME FAVES, OFFICIALLY!! It's very gothic and heavy and fucked up, but it does FASCINATING things with POV, and worldbuilding, and storytelling frameworks. PLEASE check the content warnings, but if none of those are hard no's for you, definitely pick this one up. I suspect anyone for whom Animorphs was a Formative Influence will adore this (but so far my sample size is really only 1)--please prove me right.

A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES - ★★★½ This was fun! Not my favorite Kingfisher (that award still goes to HOLLOW PLACES), but I had a good time--I laughed, I squealed over vultures, I blasted through pages to get to the end.

STARLING HOUSE - ★★★★ Alix E. Harrow always manages to write exactly my catnip, somehow. Maybe it's the ADHD, but I'm constantly finding connections to my own writing projects in her work, and STARLING HOUSE was no exception! I liked that this one was more modern, and the sibling dynamic was precious, and I love weird sentient houses where space is more of a suggestion than a hard and fast rule. I'll probably reread this one for Driscoll purposes!

WOODWORM - ★★★½ So much rage in such a tiny volume, and I was Absolutely Here For It. I don't tend to read much lit fic, but I do try to read a lot in translation, and I thought this one did very cool stuff with Spanish--the prose felt natural in English, but I loved the linguistic details the translators left in Spanish and how much depth that added. I feel like this one might be a good fit for Carmen Maria Machado fans, too.

HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE - ★★★ Call this a low 3, from me. It was Fine, I guess. I liked what he did with the act structure (labeling parts as stages of grief was very cool), and I liked the family dynamics and history, but a lot of the humor didn't land for me (I got a few sensible chuckles, but a bunch of it wasn't funny), and the "oh this author is A Man, huh" moments made me roll my eyes (seriously: Who thinks about their ~breasts~ when an angry taxidermied squirrel is clawing down your shirt?? No One With Breasts, Mr. Dude). This book did at least teach me that I'm not really interested in gore (it's just boring, unlike body horror, my beloved). I might still pick up HORRORSTOR, but I probably won't look into most of his other stuff, if this one is indicative of his general style. Meh.

THE ART OF EXCESS - No rating (didn't read the whole thing). At the end of ALWAYS COMING HOME, Richard Powers mentioned this book as the reason he finally committed to ALWAYS, so I was curious what this Tom Leclair dude had to say about it back in 1989. I had a heck of a time tracking down a copy (it's very out of print, and my local library had to source it from the Library of Congress for me), but I didn't want to buy it to read just the preface/intro/epilogue, because I haven't read any of the other texts he analyzes. Leclair's style was very readable, and I was intrigued by his framework, but I found some of his conclusions eye-rolly, given his sample size. I posted this one because I think Library of Congress books are fun, but I didn't add it to my Goodreads.

BLACK TIDE - ★★★½ This one had me rolling my eyes in the first couple chapters, and I was afraid I wasn't going to like it, but once Fucked Up Shit Started Happening, the momentum really picked up and didn't stop--I blitzed through it way past my bedtime on a school night. It was fucked up and weird and tense and bloody pull-no-punches horror, but it ALSO made me laugh, and I loved our two fuck-ups surviving the apocalypse together. NOTE: Dogs (and Gulls) Are Not Safe, and the cast is small enough that it matters a lot :( if you can't stomach animal harm/death, skip this.

A HALF-BUILT GARDEN - 81/338 pages read; will report back. Enjoying it so far! Glad I put it on my NaNo prep reading list, though not quite for the reasons I planned--the reflections on motherhood as well as parenting outside the binary have been interesting, so far (and that's relevant for my own haunted house endeavors!). A much gentler ride than BLACK TIDE, and the immersive tech reminds me of Murderbot's world, just Earthbound.

Overall! Fabulous month for reading! Anytime I think "wow I need A Break™ from writing or life," this is the type of reading I mean--where I can spend a couple weeks annihilating books within a day to Refill the Words Reservoir.

Under the Cut: A Note About ~*★Stars★*~

Historically, I have been Very Bad™ about assigning things Star Ratings, because it's so Vibes Heavy for me and therefore Contingent Upon my Whims. I am refining this as I figure out my wrap up posts (epiphany of last month: I don't like that stars are Odd, because that makes three the midpoint and things are rarely so truly mid for me)(I have hacked my way around this with a ½). Here is, generally, how I conceptualize stars:

★ - This was Bad. I would actively recommend that you do NOT read this one, no redeeming qualities whatsoever, not worth the slog. Save Yourself, It's Too Late For Me. Book goes in the garbage (donate bin).

★★ - This was Not Good. I would not recommend it, but it wasn't a total waste or wash--something in here held my interest/kept my attention/sparked some joy. I will not be rereading this ever. Save Yourself (Or Join Me In Suffering, That Seems Like A Cool Bonding Activity).

★★★ - This was Good/Fine/Okay/Meh. I don't care about this enough to recommend it one way or another. Perfectly serviceable book, held my interest, I probably enjoyed myself (or at least didn't actively loathe the reading). I don't have especially strong feelings. You probably don't need to save yourself from this one--if it sounds like your jam, give it a shot! Just didn't resonate with me particularly powerfully. I probably won't reread this unless I'm after something in particular.

★★★½ - I liked this! I'll probably recommend it if I know it matches someone's vibes or specific requests, but I didn't commit to a star rating on Goodreads. More likely to reread, but not guaranteed.

★★★★ - I really enjoyed this!! I would recommend it (sometimes with caveats about content warnings or such--I tend to like weird fucked up funny shit, and I don't have many hard readerly NO's). Not a perfect book for me by any means, but Very Good. This is something I would reread! Join me!!

★★★★★ - I LOVED THE SHIT OUT OF THIS, IT REWIRED MY BRAIN, WILL RECOMMEND TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE AT THE SLIGHTEST PROVOCATION (content warning caveats still apply--see 4-star disclaimer). Excellent book, I'll reread it regularly, I'll buy copies for all my friends, I'll try to convince all of Booklr to read it, PLEASE join me!!

[a-bee-wizard]

Im reading Shriek: An Afterword and hmm. Im ruminating.

[sleepingwithinkink2-0]

"What strange creatures we are, I thought as I stood there. We live, we love, we die with such random joy and grief, excitement and boredom, each mind as individual as a fingerprint, and just as enigmatic. We make up stories to understand ourselves and to tell ourselves they are true, when in fact they only represent an individual impression of one individual fingerprint, no matter how universal we attempt to make them." -

Ambergris book 2 Shriek: An Afterword

(I'm really enjoying this story, this adventure...I like how the author describes the city of Ambergris.. How, throughout the whole book, you get glimpses of the city, here and there... page by page till eventually you can see the city come to life from the pages.. The mystery, that lurks just beyond what you can see... Hidden in the fungi that seems to consume this city... You can almost smell the rot, the sweetness ... The shade of green , that the city seems to illuminate .I love the way he describes things in detail.. My copy is littered with sticky notes to go back to and highlight....There's this one scene I don't think I'll ever forget.. Of the main character, helping remove mushroom spores of every color and shape that grew on her brother's skin. She opens a window to let the musky smell out and the street lamp below , captures the spores of mushrooms floating out the window, just right.. that they looked like little spirited...The way he describes the scene is just epic.. Every time I open the book to start from my spot I go back and read that scene again. )

07.14.24

[teratocrat]

hi paris! do you have some reading recs for the girls

HEY i took more than a day to answer this lol sorry. anyway uhhh my reading rec for the girls is Yoon Ha Lee's short story collection Conservation of Shadows. it's good and i wish people talked more about Lee's work outside of the machinery of empire stuff.

also uhhhh Jeff VanderMeer wrote a whole lot of books before he ever wrote the Southern Reach books and i think that his Ambergris cycle (City of Saints and Madmen - Shriek: An Afterword - Finch) is fucking awesome. i read those books in reverse of publication order and i would recommend that to anyone who doesn't balk at the concept

other than that idk, i think Ancillary Justice was a good book but people have almost certainly read all the Imperial Radch stuff if theyre following me. i havent read Translation State yet im waiting for it to be available in paperback. ive been really digging Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun but that's kind of hard to recommend to people for various reasons, and ive also been really digging M John Harrison's Viriconium books which have many of the same caveats and are perhaps even rougher.

uhhhhhhh...... i read Left Hand of Darkness again every two or three years? im probably due for that again. why not read along with me, dear readers who are girls. even those of you who are not girls.

[storekn1fe]

the fact that the shriek: an afterword movie is basically lost because of the death of flash makes me so sad.

[heptarchate]

Returning to the specifics of our argument against this document: your insipid stupidity is evident from the first word of the first sentence of the first paragraph of your acknowledgments page, ‘The,’ and from there the sense of simple-minded, pitiable absence of thought pervades all of the first paragraph until, by the roaring crescendo of imbecility leading up to the last word of the first paragraph, ‘again,’ any possible authority the reader might have granted the author has been completely undermined by your inability to in any way convey even an unoriginal thought. And yet in comparison to the dull-witted pedantry of the second paragraph, the first paragraph positively shines with genius and degenerate brilliance. Perhaps at this point in our little chat, I should repeat that I don’t very much like this book.

Shriek: An Afterword by Jeff Vandermeer