#the cipher

[greensapphic]

Brainrot coffee shop doodles

[jessaerys]

kills me that more people don't know about the cipher by kathe koja and its absolutely beautiful depiction of grimmy lowlife squalor and the nightmare of aimlessness. and also what if there was an impossible hole in the ground and it wanted you, you, you and not the horrible gremlin girl you want, but she wants the hole, and you want her, and nobody can get what they want. nicholas thecipher has what johnny truant wants. which is pathetic male poet swag

[flameswallower]

Little fan art for Kathe Koja's The Cipher, which is one of my favorite novels. Written and set in early 90s Detroit, it's a story about a man and a woman on the social fringes who come together because of a strange hole in a neglected store room at the man's apartment complex. Even though their relationship is usually terrible and unsatisfying to both parties, neither can quit it, and neither can quit fucking around with that damn hole. Is it a vehicle for transcendence? A source of artistic inspiration? A portal to hell? Kind of all those things?

The main characters are cis in the novel, but for various reasons I've come to imagine them as trans, and I think turning it into a t4t toxic relationship would be one of the only major changes I'd make if I were somehow responsible for creating a TV/movie/comic book adapatation.

[reaperquinnandkayaquinn-blog]

Gravity falls au idea here

What if bill had a bigger family, like many siblings and he’s one of the middle children? What if there were more survivors of his home world but he doesn’t know that? What if one his siblings saved their family by using their own powers and a deal with the axolotl? What if this made them have similar abilities to bill but end up in different realities? Spread across the multiverse are the cipher family, meeting versions of the pines. 

[libraryofbaxobab]

April 27, 2024:

This became a cult classic for its griminess, every time it's brought up people highlight the squalor, the filth. And I also think that atmosphere is its strong point. However, that's not enough for me here.

The title doesn't make sense to me. There's not really a puzzle for the reader to put together or follow along with. And this edition is full of weird typos (random periods in the middle of sentences, word substitutions of similar-looking words, etc) that made me think maybe there was some secret puzzle! But no, as far as anyone can tell, those are just mistakes from it being digitized from the 1991 print copy. Disappointing.

I'm frustrated by the lack of exploration here. Even the body horror is just kind of... there but not emphasized. It's a character study of people who suck, but people who suck in ways I don't think are fun.

4.5/10 #WhatsKenyaReading

[vanchovvy]

ok i lied heres the actual humanoidization

[rottennessofhersoul]

"Because in the end we are what we are, we want what we want, whether we know it or not. Whether we care to resist or not, or whether in the end it’s worth resistance after all."

The Cipher, Kathe Koja

[stained-glass-cicada]

God I fucking knew the moment that I heard that Luca's session wasnt meant to be recorded that the cypher was doing something to the wax and I knew that something would happen during Phillipa's session but the fucking vile observer In the ardent?? I- god Mr. Media that absolute piece of shit he creeps me out so much and he must have brought the vile observer there to corner her and force her to take him up on a deal

[bangbangwhoa]

books I’ve read in 2023 📖 no. 112

The Cipher by Isabella Maldonado

“I've given up on hope," she said quietly, then lifted her chin. "From now on, I fight."

[roughentumble]

for any witcher fams out there that would love to hear more of yen's voice-- anya chalotra is in a podcast!

[considersparrows]

Cover art for The Cipher by Kathe Koja

[jessaerys]

everyone please read the cipher by kathe koja. nakota/shrike/jane would do numbers on here like. that is a vriska if i ever saw one

[awitchatdinner]

I love this. Gripping, different, amazing. I love it.

[roxasbooth]

[itsscaredycat]

so ok yeah fine i watched gravity falls again and read the book of bill