Cultiples, by LB Lee (history prose, 2017-2019)

[lb_lee]

It is very tacky to recommend one's own work, so this is the only listing we will make for it.

"I am nineteen, and I have just joined the plural communities of Livejournal. I find myself talking to a man named Neo, a metaphysical multiple—in other words, he is one of many within his body, and he sees his origins as being spiritual or mystical in nature. He is from the Matrix, and when I mention that I have heard of him, he replies, 'Heard of, eh? Slanderous rumors and cult tidings I hope...'

Blurb: Three histories of three plural cult leaders, who ran abusive, mindbreaking authoritarian groups. Cultiples #1 follows Tristan, who will be in prison until 2030 due to kidnapping, branding, and sexually assaulting two teenage sisters who he convinced were really their roleplaying characters. #2 follows Draven, who's been running fictionkin soulbonding cults since the mid-90s, the most successful of which was Neo's Matrix cult, leaving a string of poverty and domestic violence charges behind. And #3 follows the harassment campaigns Panopticon embarked on from 2015-2018, using the Gallifreyan Tradition Society (their Doctor Who religious/cultural reconstruction group) as their attack dogs

Why is it worth your time?: Other people have covered plural cults, but mostly from a voyeuristic, mock-the-freaks perspective. As far as I know, Cultiples is the only one to examine it from a plural perspective. We made this series to warn people about the dingy underbelly of plural community.

Plural Tags: plural community, metaphysical plurality, fictivity, soulbonding, fictionkin, (all in the worst possible sense, sadly). Abuse high-focus

Content Warnings: Contain spoilers; in the comments below.

Accessibility Notes: Available only as ebooks now. Please pirate this series. It is on archive.org and libgen, and that is on purpose.

You can buy my work here.

Hikaru no Go, by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata (supernatural sports manga, 1998-2003)

[lb_lee]

Recced by Janusz of talewisefellowship !

"Sai... I guess the one and only way to see you... is for me to play go. Sai, is it... is it all right for me to play?"

Blurb: When average 6th grader Shindō Hikaru finds an old Go board in his grandfather's warehouse, he is possessed by the spirit of Fujiwara no Sai, a master Go player who lived about a thousand years ago, and from that moment his life changed forever. Although Hikaru originally had no interest in the old board game, through spending time with Sai he gradually comes to appreciate the game and Sai becomes his guardian mentor and teaches the game to him. Thanks to Sai's actions, Hikaru manages to catch the attention of a young go prodigy his own age, Tōya Akira. The two develop a mutual interest in each other and Hikaru dedicates himself to studying the game so that he may become a player worthy of Akira.

Why is it worth your time?:
Because only Hikaru can see and hear Sai and they talk to each other in his head, the way the two live together is very similar to the experiences of many plural systems, especially the "host and soulbond" type. The story portrays their relationship and their struggles in a very human way that a lot of systems might find relatable. It was this story that first motivated me to get in touch with my system.

Also the gay subtext between Hikaru and Akira is so strong it might as well just be considered text. Since it's early 2000's Shōnen Jump there is no official confirmation of the nature of their feelings for each other, but I wouldn't consider it queerbaiting either; it is what it is.

Plural Tags: Spirit possession, the dead

Content Warnings: Contains spoilers, in comments below

Accessibility Notes: Available in English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and French, as comics and anime, digital and analog. Quoth Janusz, "Unfortunately the anime doesn't cover the entire manga and the english voice acting is not very good, so if you listen to the dub I recommend listening to the original Japanese voice acting to get a sense of how everyone actually sounds." Also, apparently it got remade into a Chinese live-action remake a while back! No clue if it's any good though.

Cache, by Nikolai Kingsley (sci-fi prose, 1994)

[lb_lee]

"I know what you're thinking. Multiple Personality was once thought of as a psychological disorder. The same used to be thought of homosexuality, you know... but when properly developed, Multiples can be more perceptive, in that we can take different, even opposing viewpoints of the same situation. We discuss problems internally, so we have the advantage of group interaction within one person. Anyway, this is beside the point..."

Blurb: A short story about a multiple, two singlets, and an alien going treasure hunting in space, only to find a mysterious object they can't identify.

Why is it worth your time?: It's all right. And though it doesn't get a lot of narrative attention, we found the multiple's relationship to her alien foster father heartwarming. Who doesn't secretly wish for a sci-fi name badge that changes to say who is fronting?

Plural Tags: switching, abuse low-focus

Content Warnings: very mild, but contain spoilers; in comments below.

Accessibility Notes: short, free to read online, though the hard sci-fi makes it at times dense or challenging to read if you're brainfogged.

Misc. Notes: Originally posted on talk.bizarre, on Usenet.

Read it here!