Plural Stories

My phantom lover comes to me from out the lonely night
My eyes trace, through their tears his misty shape within the gloom

Blurb: A poem about yearning for one's phantom lover, banished to another plane of existence.

Why is it worth your time?: It's a neat short little poem from eighty years ago, and it's free to read! What've you got to lose?

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, otherworld, romantic relationships, visions

Content Warnings: none

Access Notes: Originally (and only) printed in Mutant vol. 1 #1 in October 1946. Technically a very faded copy has been digitized thanks to FANAC, but some of the words are illegible. I've taken the liberty of reconstructing those words and posting the full poem in the comments.

Misc Notes: Tigrina, AKA Lisa Ben AKA Edythe Eyde, was a lesbian. She wrote this poem before coming out!

Submitted by acorn_squash! Thank you, acorn_squash!

My parents always told me to never talk to strangers. But I have been living with one for most of my life.

Blurb: A transmasc cartoonist reflects on the way his relationship with the sometimes-cruel stranger in the mirror has changed over time.

Why is it worth your time? It’s a four-page comic with interesting panel composition, compelling use of colour, and a sweet, hopeful ending.

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse: intermediate focus (second page only), creator speaks from experience, relationships: enmity

Content Warnings: transphobia (second page only), dysphoria

Accessibility Notes: Included in the anthology The Out Side, which can be found in libraries, including as an ebook (through Hoopla). Not screenreadable, unfortunately.

"It's not irretrievably lost, you know. You can have it back."
"But--but--the life I've had--the things I've done--you can't just wipe them out, like wiping a slate clean!"
"No. But they can be integrated. Right now they dominate you. They can become only memories, part of the suffering you've known, but suffering from which you've learned, from which you have been tempered--like fine steel. Emotional health doesn't mean reshuffling your memories or selective amnesia. It means integration--wholeness. It means strength. It means becoming your own person."

Blurb: Doc Phoenix, a superpsychologist dream-diver, dives into the headspace of a corrupt politician who wants to change his ways... and maybe assassinate the good doctor afterward.

Why is it worth your time?: This is self-declared pulp, and it embraces that genre. Deep art it is not, but it is entertaining. Weird Heroes was a series with the self-proclaimed central message of "Respect life and enjoy it," and the idea of a hero who works to rescue people's minds from the inside out is a pretty great premise! If you just want a fun, humble psychological adventure, this is worth a shot.

Plural Tags: abuse low-focus, bodyhopping, otherworld, dreamfolk, visions

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: This short story was in the anthology Weird Heroes, vol. 2, edited by Byron Preiss at Pyramid Books. Unlike the sequel, this book has been digitized on Anna's Archive! Uncertain whether it is screenreadable.

Misc Notes: Got a book-length sequel, called the Oz Encounter (or Weird Heroes Vol. 5: Doc Phoenix: the Oz Encounter), which is also worth reading, though apparently that one has never been digitized! Obviously I should fix that.

(words by Martha Bonds, music by Marcia McCombe)

Do I know you?
Are you dreaming of tomorrow?
If so, it seems you're a starchild, just like me.
The night's alive,
And we travel 'cross the light years,
TV screens and books of dreams can set us free.

Blurb: A fan (filk) song about how fans find meaning, joy, and other worlds through Star Trek.

Why is it worth your time?: It's an old fandom song about finding home and new worlds in the fictional. Definitely worth a listen to, for any fiction folk around!

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse not mentioned, creator speaks from experience, otherworld, fictioneers

Content Warnings: None

Accessibility Notes: I will post the lyrics in the comments! Otherwise, it is only available in The Complete Omicron Ceti III Lyric Book (not screenreadable) and the record album Only Stars Can Last.

(Learned of this poem thanks to rybbot. Thanks, rybbot!)

For it isn't your Father, or Mother, or Wife,
Who judgement upon you must pass.
The feller whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the guy staring back from the glass.

Blurb: A poem about the importance of honesty and being able to make peace with yourself.

Why is it worth your time?: It's a good poem! Probably not intended to be plural, but hey, if it's about making friends with yourself, who's to say it ain't? It's free, online, and almost a hundred years old, what more could one want out of life?

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, friendship

Content Warnings: None

Access Notes: Free, online, and screenreadable at https://www.theguyintheglass.com/gig.htm thanks to Wimbrow's children! Back-up link here: https://web.archive.org/web/19990428030413/https://www.theguyintheglass.com/gig.htm

Misc Notes: Wimbrow's kids list the context and copyright information of this poem here: https://web.archive.org/web/19991008172354/http://www.theguyintheglass.com/copyright.htm

"You, too, are tainted with the Vampire strain
The same blood surges through us both, like wine.
No wonder that our thoughts and moods combine
And merge beyond the common, earthly plane."

Blurb: One vampire joins with another to walk together through ebon nights.

Why is it worth your time?: It's an old vampire poem from a prominent lesbian about embracing difference together. It's short and free; give it a shot! The lesbianism is all subtextual, due to the time period (and Tigrina herself was closeted at the time), but if you're looking for it, it's there!

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse not mentioned, identityblending, nonhumans (vampires), intimate relationships

Content Warnings: None.

Accessibility Notes: Unless you can track down an old copy of Acolyte #10, the only place to get this poem in print is in the anthology Sisters of Tomorrow: The First Women of Science Fiction, edited by Yaszek and Sharp and published by Wesleyan University Press. Some kindly soul has digitized it on archive.org, but the OCR is so poor that I'm just posting the poem in its entirety in the comments for accessibility's sake. Back-up link (with flawed but better OCR) at fanac.com.

Misc. Notes (if any): Tigrina was one of the pseudonyms of prominent lesbian Edythe Eyde, AKA Lisa Ben, who created Vice Versa, the first queer magazine (that we know of) in the USA in the '40s. If you want the outright lesbian stuff (though nothing relevant for this catalog), check Vice Versa out here!

We dream of us. Complete and secure within ourself, requiring nothing, but desiring everything.

Blurb: A dream of merging into a greater hivemind.

Why is it worth your time?: It's short, beautiful, and surreal. Plus it's free!

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, dreamfolk, creator speaks from experience, identityblending, intimate relationships

Content Warnings: loss of identity

Access Notes: free to read, screenreadable, online

Misc Notes: Read online here! Back-up link here.

Here is a child trapped inside the body

Blurb: A child within a young woman's body fantasizes about escaping sex.

Why is it worth your time?: Short, painful, poignant.

Plural Tags: creator speaks from experience, children,

Content Warnings: possible sexual violence? The poem is ambiguous

Access Notes: Available in the collection The River in Me: Collected Poems. Sister Dang Nghiem has a lot of poems about dealing with pain in the past, embracing her past selves, and talking to them. The book itself is worth a read! Available in paperback and ebook. This poem is also short enough that I'll just post it in the comments as well.

I wonder if you really send
Those dreams of you that come and go!
I like to say, "She thought of me,
And I have known it." Is it so?

Blurb: A poem where one woman pines for the loss of another, but is still able to be with her in dreams.

Why is it worth your time?: Similar in tone and content to Shakespeare's 27, a poem of those who visit us in dreams. It's free, short, and publicly online, what have you got to lose?

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, dreamfolk

Content Warnings: None.

Access Notes: Screenreadable and freely available to read online, courtesy of the Atlantic! I've also backed it up on the Wayback Machine and reposted the poem in its entirety in the comments, since it should be in the public domain.

Misc Notes: Sarah Orne Jewett had many passionate friendships with women, which marriage tended to strain. This poem perhaps recognizes that.

"Each vehicular AI derives its own sense of satisfaction from establishing a routine. I've found that my persona and speech are influenced by my pilots in a way that is... enjoyable to me, for lack of a better word."

Blurb: A cyborg pilot and a giant hexapod robot tank go searching for their lost cyborg boyfriend together and get busy!

Why is it worth your time?: The art and story are glorious, but there's also a fascinating interplay of bodysharing; Morelos pilots Gam and can somewhat control his movements, while Gam borrows Morelos's prosthetic arms. The way they trustingly share each other's bodies is unique and beautiful!

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, bodyhopping (for lack of a better word), cofronting, identityblending, nonhumans (robot/AI), intimate relationships, teamwork, setting-specific

Content Warnings: Explicit gay robosex. It's porn, it's what you're here for.

Access Notes: Not screenreadable, available as a print floppy comic from Jon Cairns, or in the Iron Circus anthology Smut Peddler:Sex Machine, which is available both on paper and as an ebook.