Plural Stories

Submitted by acorn_squash!

“We tend gardens in our hearts for others, even if they might never see the flowers.”

Blurb: “A story about feelings, told in the language of dreams.”

Why is it worth your time?: It’s a comic about psychopomps and emotional gardens that’s full of love. (The creator’s talked more about their psychopomps here.)

Plural Tags: creator speaks from experience, abuse not mentioned, otherworld, dreamfolk, imaginary friends, nonhumans [psychopomps, vultureperson], friendship

Content Warnings: None

Access Notes: Not screenreadable, sorry!

Read for free here! (Back-up link here)

Submitted by erinptah!

“Just take a seat anywhere you like, there’s a dear. Oh! By chance, did you see someone leaving just now? We had another applicant here a moment ago, sweet girl. But she seems to have run off. Didn’t even wait for her tea, poor thing.”

“Um…” Elaine is clearly calculating the manifold reasons that might propel one into premature flight. But there is no whiff of gingerbread as of yet.

Blurb: What happens when you mix one drunk fairy godmother with a multitude of blue cocktails, add a stubborn barmaid with a unique taste in adventures, and filter it all through a sarcastic narrator who can't seem to keep themselves out of the story? Elaine is on a quest to rescue a dragon egg, through a world of "every fairy tale is real, but not quite the way you were told..."

Why is it worth your time?: Funny and charming. The character voices are well-rendered and entertaining. Some of the jokes will be predictable if you've read other fairy-tale parodies, but others are still refreshing. And "what if the Seven Dwarves were one dwarf system with seven alters?" is a really solid twist.

Plural Tags: creator: bodyshares, abuse: not mentioned, cofronting, people: children, relationships: family, relationships: teamwork

Content Warnings: as per the original fairy tale, the Seven Dwarves have Snow White in a glass coffin, and it's ambiguous whether she's dead or not

Accessibility Notes: Available online, plain text, screenreadable

Misc. Notes (if any): The Seven Dwarves only feature in chapters 6-7, but Elaine's quest is episodic enough that you can read that adventure as a standalone piece and enjoy it. Given the plural co-creator, I figured I'd err on the side of reccing it!

(The novel is a WIP, and the video says the dwarf system is slated to reappear eventually...but as of this writing, it hasn't updated in A While.)

Found this via a video on the Gianu System's channel, a chat with the other two (singlet) members of their writing collective, where the novel came up. (Link is to that specific section of the video.) The IRL system was very involved in working out how to write the fantasy system in a way that would make them happy to read, and sounds really proud of the result.

Read free online:

• Meanwhile at the Withershins Inn (novel)
• "6. A Multiplicity of Dwarves" (back-up link)
• and "7. People in Glass Coffins" (back-up link)

"This isn't really a story about voices. Or it is, but not in the way you think. It's really about what it's like to breathe life into a character, and whether that character can breathe life back into you."

Blurb: "Mel Blanc was known as 'the man of 1,000 voices,' but the actual number may have been closer to 1,500. Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety, Barney Rubble -- all Mel. And in 1961, when a car crash left him in a coma, these characters may have saved him. Sean [the host], Noel [Blanc, Mel's son], Dr. Conway [Mel's neurosurgeon at the time] and NYU brain scientist Orrin Devinsky weigh over what it might mean to be rescued by a figment of your own imagination, and whether one self can win out over another in a moment of crisis."

Why is it worth your time?: It's good! An interesting exploration of the neurological nature of the characters Mel Blanc portrayed, and their beneficial effects while he was in a coma. It's about 20 minutes long, free to listen, and worth the time, I daresay.

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, fictioneers, voices (though not in the usual way this tag is meant!)

Content Warnings: calm, straightforward descriptions of a car accident and Mel Blanc's death.

Access Notes: Not textually transcribed. Free to listen online. Listen to it here!