pluralstories | Entries tagged with time:2010s

Submitted by

thishouse. Thank you,

We

Bootstrap ourselves from mere insensate clutches of jelly and molecular interaction until We

Remember

We were on an adventure.

For many long spans of time we were Lante, once we had repaired Lante. Except that Those-of-We who had learnt what Lante was had to make such repairs so that what came out was less Lante and more We. But Those-of-We had experienced what it was to be Lante and could fill in the gaps. We were We and We were Lante and Lante was Lante and did not know it was also

We.

Blurb for Book 1: Avrana Kern spearheaded an exoplanet terraforming program with the goal of populating new Earth-like worlds with monkeys uplifted to human-like intelligence by a nanovirus. Her program was sabotaged by people who rejected her scientific ideals, and the conflict blossomed into nuclear war back on Earth. Avrana escapes the sabotage, and she uploads herself to a computer system while she waits for rescue. The monkeys died, but the virus lived on. Its host becomes a species of jumping spider, beginning their ascension toward a space-faring society. Thousands of years after the nuclear war, ark ships take off from Earth and seek terraformed planets to re-establish a home for humanity. The ark ship Gilgamesh discovers Kern's World, and its crew are determined to make a new home there.

Why is it worth your time?: Besides the unique and interesting plurality portrayed in these books, they're fantastic science fiction with an emphasis on worldbuilding and speculative evolution. Their greatest strength is their empathy toward atypical experiences of sentience and intelligence.

In Book 1, Avrana Kern is the primary plural character as the distinction between her, the computer system, and her uploaded version of herself blur together. In Book 2, Children of Ruin, Tchaikovsky adds sentient octopuses, and the octopuses' selves divided between their Crown, Guise, and Reach showcases a permanent co-fronting experience. Also introduced in Book 2 but explored further in Book 3, Children of Memory, is a naturally plural species that seeks to understand what it means to live as one and as many at the same time. In Book 3, there's also a sentient headspace-like world.

Plural/1+ Tags: setting-specific sci-fi stuff, enmity in Book 1, the naturally plural species is a scary antagonistic force in Book 2 at first, teamwork in Books 2 and 3

Content Warnings: nuclear war, extreme isolation, murder, lynching

Accessibility Notes: audiobooks available; pretty easy library book; Book 1 is available in English, French, German, Romanian, Portuguese, and Dutch; Book 2 is available in English, German, French, Romanian, and Dutch; and Book 3 is available in English, German, and Dutch

Misc. Notes (if any): Even though Book 2 has a "plurality is a scary monster" situation, the resolution is peaceful and empathetic, and the species is redeemed and explored further in Book 3.

lb_lee

Submitted by

packbat! Thanks,

packbat!

So out we went, and a few minutes later we were at the mall. It wasn’t a large mall by today’s standards, but it was fairly new, and though Cynthia wasn’t impressed with the selection of clothing, I was in hog heaven, since it was all new to me. I don’t know how many pieces of clothing I tried on that day. I was a little tired but still feeling enthusiastic when we stopped for lunch. I would have bought dozens of things, as much as I could possibly afford and maybe more, but Cynthia kept cautioning me not to spend so much of Scott’s money that he wouldn’t want to be me again. So I didn’t buy anything at first, until I’d tried on a bunch of stuff at several stores. Then after lunch I went back and bought my favorites: a flower-pattern peasant skirt, a solid green long-sleeved blouse, and matching shoes with a low heel. The skirt and blouse had no pockets, so I needed a purse as well. I wanted to buy a necklace or earrings too, but reluctantly decided I’d better not push my luck. Scott needed this stuff if he wanted to be me again, and the less money I spent, the more likely he was to want to be me again. Then, after he’d made a habit of it, I could buy the necklace and earrings.

Blurb: In 1970, a young college student is introduced by his roommate to jekyllase. Based on the recently rediscovered formula created and then thought lost by Dr. Henry Jekyll a century earlier, it's all the rage on campuses now: it will show you your inner, repressed self. What will that look like for Scott and his friends?

Why is it worth your time?: It's a cool story in a classic kind of speculative fiction style, and explores a lot of aspects of its specific fictional form of plurality through it - notably relationships within jekyll-hyde pairs, how the introduction of hydes changes jekylls' relationships with others, and the power dynamics and logistics of the drug-induced switching.

Plural/1+ Tags: enmity, friendship, teamwork, setting-specific, on purpose.

Content Warnings: alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use; homophobia; transphobia; attempted sexual assault; period language we wouldn't use today. Also, it's possible for a jekyll (jekyllase user) to use jekyllase to the point where the hyde (the alternate identity created by the drug) becomes their body's base form instead of transformed form and jekyllase would be needed to revive the original; the idea of doing this deliberately is discussed.

Accessibility Notes: online, screenreadable, free. The author has posted it to multiple archives, but the Scribblehub edition is our recommendation.

Misc. Notes (if any): The way it explores gender is probably not a clear match to plural gender issues, but it's definitely interesting. Also, while the story takes place in the 1970s, the framing device is that this account was published later (presumably around the mid 2010s when it was written), so things like the period-appropriate theories of gender and transness that the protagonists look up are given commentary from a more modern perspective.

lb_lee

"The ancestral visions persisted. One day I was flooded with grief and felt as if I was slipping from life. Frightened, I began calling out to my grandmother Lela--she was the one person who I believed could help me. The air filled with an electrical energy and a feeling of peace washed over me. My breathing calmed and I felt my grandmother's presence. My grandmother who had been deceased for eighteen years had rescued me.

"Yet, I still did not trust that my Ancestors really supported me. I believed that I had experienced a psychotic episode and feared that I would end up as one of the 'crazy' ones..."

Blurb: a group of writers "share short stories, poems, prayers, and personal accounts of Ancestor reverence--intimate glimpses of our experiences with the Ancestors, those descended from our bloodlines and some not related to us by blood, but whose lives continue to inspire us."

Why is it worth your time?: It covers a bunch of different writers of different backgrounds (though with a focus towards the Yoruba tradition of Ifá/Orisha), all interacting with their ancestors in different ways, through dreams, channeling, divination, and more! A very personal and interesting collection on the whole, but nonfictional stand-outs include "Erasing the Lines" by M'kali-Hashiki (about losing the ability to contact spirits, and struggling to regain it), "Responding to the Call of the Ancestors: Transforming Vinegar into Honey" by J. Phoenix Smith (about dealing with intense family trauma via ancestor veneration), and "License to Forgive," by Iyalorisa Ayokunle (about having to banish an ancestor from her altar). Also includes a 1990s short story by Nisi Shawl about the nuances ancestor worship when combined with the American legacy of slavery.

Plural Tags: abuse intermediate-focus (depends on the chapter), creator speaks from experience, the dead, family relationships, spiritual, voices, visions

Content Warnings: discussion of slavery's legacy, family trauma, complicated family relationships, fear of madness

Access Notes: This book looks to be out of print and a paper-only release. Though still obtainable, it's not easy to get, so I'm probably going to be feeding my copy through the library book-scanner for accessibility purposes. (This means, regrettably, that the obnoxious handwritten footnotes of the previous owner will be included.) Stay tuned!

Misc Notes: Full Table of Contents (with most spirited-relevant entries in bold, but the whole thing is worth a read):

"Introduction" by Luisah Teish and Sauda Burch
"Reaching Back To Reclaim Genius" by Awo Fanira
"The Breaking" by Xochipala Maes Valdez
"Remembrance: Mary 'Pula' Lucero" by Xochipala Maes Valdez
"Sparkle and Sheen" by Sauda Burch
"Erasing the Line" by M'kali-Hashiki
"Mourner's Kaddish" by D'vorah J. Grenn
"Remembrance: Douglas Johnson, Sr." by Jessical Johnson
"The Old Folks Say" by Luisa Teish
"Remembrance: Ralph P. Orduna" by Sauda Burch
"Turning to Face the Ancestors: A learning journey recovering heart and memory" by Gail Williams
"Remembrance: Samuel Williams, Jr." by Gail Williams
"The Cosmic Eye" by Uzuri Amini
"Remembrance: Aunt Emmalou" by Arnia Dobbins
"Let the Dead Bury the Dead" by Sauda Burch
"Remembrance: Family" by Gilbert Burch, Sr.
"Remembrance: Donald L. Williams" by Gail Williams
"Remembrance: Louise Merrill" by Amanda Bloom
"My African Odyssey 20 Years Later: the Ancestors of Goree Island" by Uzuri Amini
"Remembrance: Great-Aunt Nancy Collier" by Sauda Burch
"Remembrance: Sarangerel Odigan (1963-2006)" by Daniel Foor
"Ancestral Legacy: Excerpts from an interview with Andrea (Courage) Johnson" by Sauda Burch
"Remembrance: Marsha King", by Andrea Johnson
"Full Circle" by Iyanifa Fasina
"Remembrance: Rose Maes" by Conrad Maes
"Responding to the Call of the Ancestors: Transforming Vinegar into Honey" by J. Phoenix Smith
"Remembrance: My Brother Charles" by Rashidah Tutashinda
"Acnestral Spirits" by Uzuri Amini
"License to Forgive" by Iyalora Ayokunle
"Remembrance: Durinda 'Winta' Anderson" by Karinda Dobbins
"Remembrance: Great-Grandpa Pablo Valdez," by Xochipala Maes Valdez
"The Rainses'" by Nisi Shawl
"Remembrance: Grandpa Pete" by Rebecca Rodriguez
"Preservation" by Luisah Teish

lb_lee

Submitted by

beepbird! Thanks,

beepbird!

"“The formal definition of insanity,” I said, “is actually quite fluid. Two people can have the exact same condition, with the exact same severity, but one can be considered sane by the official standards while the other is considered insane.""

Blurb (taken from the back of my copy): Stephen Leeds, AKA 'Legion,' is a man whose unique mental condition allows him to generate a multitude of personae: hallucinatory entities with a wide variety of personal characteristics and a vast array of highly specialized skills. As the story begins, Leeds and his aspects are drawn into the search for the missing Balubal Razon, inventor of a camera whose astonishing properties could alter our understanding of human history and change the very structure of society.

Why is it worth your time?: Despite being framed as hallucinations, Leeds' aspects are treated as fully autonomous people who make their own decisions, sometimes surprising him. It's nice to see them treated as rounded characters of their own, let alone rounded characters with independent relationships with each other.

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse not mentioned, realitymashing, friendship, romantic, enmity, teamwork, nonswitching, visions, voices

Content Warnings: character death, gun violence, terrorism mentions, kidnapping(? Debatable about whether it counts, but they do get knocked out and wake up tied to a chair at one point), debate about wanting a "cure". This is also the first book of a series, which has a content warning in the comments.

Accessibility Notes: Physical book or ebook (legitimate or otherwise); audiobooks are available on audible, Amazon, Google Play, etc. I'd assume that it can be found at libraries given that I found it at a library sale. All text, so screen reading shouldn't be an issue for ebooks. This particular book of the series has also been translated into French and Spanish!

lb_lee

Recommended by

nevanna!

"I never signed a pact with the Devil in my own blood, and I don't have nipples in my ears... but I do consort with spirits, don't I? You said so yourself. Bear does follow me everywhere like a familiar. And I am possessed."

Blurb: Sometimes, when a person dies, their spirit goes looking for somewhere to hide. Some people have space within them, perfect for hiding. Makepeace is one of the latter.

Why is it worth your time?: This book is VERY good! The plot goes through so many twists and turns, and Makepeace grows from a nigh-feral girl to a strong young woman in her own right as she accumulates her ghosts and learns to deal with them.

Plural Tags: abuse low-focus, bodyhopping, closeting, cofronting, the dead, nonhumans (a bear), friendship, teamwork, enmity, possession, voices

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: Available in French, Spanish, ebook, and audiobook.

lb_lee

Submitted by

quailfence! Thank you,

quailfence!

"There is a radio in the distance. A radio of the world. Playing sound: Good morning, Elysium. Soon you will return to the world"

Blurb (from TVTropes): One miserable morning, you awaken from pain and darkness in a trashed motel room with the hangover to end all hangovers. You have no idea where, or even who, you are, but some details begin filling in as you explore: you are a police detective visiting Martinaise, harbor district of the city of Revachol, jewel of the Insulindian Isola, in the year '51 of the current century. Perhaps most importantly, you were sent here three days ago to deal with a lynched corpse, but instead went on a deranged bender of drug and alcohol abuse.

Now, you must resume the investigation with the aid of Lieutenant Kim Kitsuragi, a fellow detective from a rival precinct. But of course, it won't be as simple as it seems — the victim, a security contractor for a major international shipping company, stands at the center of a labor dispute involving the local dockworker's union, corrupt businessmen, communist agitators, and foreign interests, with blood on the streets looking more likely by the day. Everyone involved is eager to use you for their own ends — and of course, you're no titan of mental stability, what with the two dozen voices in your head vying for your attention...

Why is it worth your time: The aforementioned voices in your heads are your skills. As you get your skills higher, they become more talkative and interact more with you and each other. Overall the game places a lot of emphasis on crafting an identity and making your own choices. While the player character has a past and a personality that goes along with said personality, the main character's amnesia means that you can choose to follow that past or create your own identity. How you choose to shape your personality also affects your ability to connect with and learn about other characters and engage with sideplots, with certain dialogue checks being easier if you level up certain skills - though there is always a small chance (3%, to be precise) chance of success or failure.

Plural/1+ tags: abuse low-focus, people: the dead, people: copies (you can talk to the victim's corpse if you pass a check), people: nonhumans (you can also talk to your necktie in certain circumstances), voices, visions, otherworld (in the form of dreams), type: spiritual, type: medical(?), type: setting-specific (to elaborate: it's theorized in-game that the skills/voices are a result of some combination of an in-universe phenomenon known as The Pale and the player character's pre-existing mental problems, but it's ultimately left unclear as to exactly why this is happening), teamwork

Content Warning: It's a murder mystery where the player character is a cop who struggles with addiction to/withdrawal from alcohol and other substances. Other warnings are spoilers, see comments.

Note: due to the nature of the game, compiling a full and accurate content warnings list is rather difficult - I had to ask on Discord for help, and even then I still probably missed some things. Some of these things are unavoidable, while others can be avoided with varying amounts of difficulty

Accessibility notes: All dialogue/lines appear on-screen, and all dialogue and most narration is read out loud, though menus and such aren't. There exist let's plays/streams but I haven't seen any of them and the nature of the game, involving lost of little variations and branching choices, means that a completionist playthrough is basically impossible. Translated into Japanese, Spanish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, French, German, Russian, Polish, Turkish, and Arabic, though audio is only available in English. Available on Steam, Gog, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox X|S, and Switch

lb_lee

Submitted by

erinptah! Thank you,

erinptah!

-"Who'd want to put up with ten of us?" -"Well, if a guy didn't have many friends, it would make a great package deal."

Blurb: Adrian is a chirpy tech nerd on mental-health leave for his severe OCD. Grace is a shy street artist with PTSD and multiple personalities (we also meet G, Little, and Spike). After a meet-cute at their shared therapist's office, they strike up a friendship, which turns romantic as they work through some of their fears together.

Why is it worth your time?: A plural character gets to be the love interest in a sweet, funny romcom. Integration is mentioned but not pushed, and Adrian's care about "keeping track of which specific headmate he's talking to" is presented as one of the qualities that makes him Boyfriend Material. Does a nice job of balancing the dysfunction of the main characters: Adrian and Grace-and-company both have significant struggles, they both have moments of lashing out when their triggers get stepped on...then they apologize, and put in the care and effort to get closer anyway.

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse low-focus, people: children, relationships: teamwork, relationships: romance, type: medical, type: switching

Content Warnings: Reference to Grace's past CSA. Attempted assault towards the end from Grace's current boyfriend Sledge, triggering a brief non-graphic flashback. References to sex work (also non-graphic, and nothing bad happens to the sex-worker characters).

Accessibility Notes: Available on DVD, blu-ray, and streaming, including free with ads on Youtube. Closed captions included.

Misc. Notes (if any): The rare non-terrible fictional therapist! (She's mostly there so we can get exposition through the characters talking to her.)

lb_lee

Submitted by

matsushima!

Blurb: By the age of thirteen, Lily Bailey was convinced she was bad. She had killed someone with a thought, spread untold disease, and ogled the bodies of other children. Only by performing an exhausting series of secret routines could she make up for what she’d done. But no matter how intricate or repetitive, no act of penance was ever enough. (Goodreads)

Why is it worth your time?: Bailey writes about her OCD as a separate voice in her head that's been with her since birth. The other entity tells Bailey she is bad and She helps Lily to become good. Pre-treatment, Lily refers to herself in plural, referring to both herself and Her, her OCD, as one. (It is unclear if Lily is plural or not.)

Plural/1+ Tags: type: medical(?)

Content Warnings: Suicidal ideation, involuntary inpatient psychiatric treatment, fusing(?) or disappearance of headmates/voices

Accessibility Notes: Available at my public library(ies) in print and digital

Misc. Notes: I'm not 100% sure if this counts as a plural story but I thought it would be an interesting addition here.

lb_lee

Submitted by

acorn_squash! Thank you,

acorn_squash!

“Jay wants there to have been consequences, he thinks. It nags at him: the senselessness of it. That Poor Kid, he keeps thinking; he's thought it so often it needs capitals. A proper title. Twenty-something years and a grave so shallow he imagines Barnes can feel it when the wind comes through the cherry trees in Arlington. Or around that rock in the mountains, under that frozen river—or spread thinly between one and the other, a stretched-out restless haunting five thousand miles long. He doesn't know which is worse to contemplate. That Poor Kid. And then there's Jay, turning his back when it's convenient and plumbing memories when he feels like it, pawing over the corpse and checking its pockets for spare change. They'd wrestled, somehow, and he'd won.

“He knows it wasn't like that, not really. Wilson'd implied as much, when he'd suggested that Jay had been born from the remnants of Barnes's healing brain, like the muck in a chrysalis reforming into another creature. But one time Jakob told Jay the story of Ya'akov, his namesake, wrestling the angel in the desert and coming out with a different name, a different identity; as a people—and Jay hasn't been able to stop thinking of it as a battle ever since. Jay wonders what Ya'akov's family thought, when he came limping back and said: my name is Yisrael. Whether he'd felt new. Whether he'd felt that he'd left something, back there in the sands, in the place where his hip had been twisted.”

Blurb: A series of Captain America and the Winter Soldier fanfics exploring the Soldier’s time in HYDRA, his escape, and his recovery, as he slowly decides who he is and who he wants to be. Only the second CatWS fic ever to be nominated to this comm!

Why is it worth your time?: This is really, really good fanfiction. (I think the excerpt above speaks for itself.)

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse: high-focus, cofronting (very rarely), memory work, people: the dead, type: setting-specific, type: switching (exactly once and never again)

I chose the setting-specific tag because Jay was born (as far as we know) because of brain damage that was only survivable at all because of sci-fi tech.

Content Warnings: Extremely graphic torture and murder, including of children and animals. (You can safely assume that everything in these content warnings is extremely graphic, unless noted otherwise.) Auto-amputation. Abusive medical experimentation that borders on body horror. Suicide attempts and self-harm. Vomit. Starvation. Memory erasure. Drug addiction. Forced chemical castration (off-page, but it’s a plot point; Jay isn’t especially upset about it, but he didn’t choose it either). Mentions of death in childbirth. Mentions of rape, including rape of children.

There’s also consensual sex in some of the sequels. (You can skip them if that isn’t your thing.) “I know the afterglow” has rimming and penetrative anal sex. “open your houses and let in the night” has outdoor blowjobs and anal fingering.

Accessibility Notes: Free, online, screenreadable. The main fic has been translated into Russian; the sequels are only available in English. Whole thing has been backed up on Wayback Machine.

lb_lee

This was submitted by

beepbird! Thanks,

beepbird!

"...we are a different kind of real. It’s a kind of real that adults don’t understand, so they just assume we’re imaginary.”

Blurb: Budo is lucky as imaginary friends go. He's been alive for more than five years, which is positively ancient in the world of imaginary friends. But Budo feels his age, and thinks constantly of the day when eight-year-old Max Delaney will stop believing in him. When that happens, Budo will disappear.

Why is it worth your time?: The entire book is told by an imaginary friend, and he's largely treated as a real person by the narrative; he has his own opinions, hopes, and fears independent of the kid imagining him, and he has an interest in his own survival. The power dynamic of being an imaginary friend is a central theme of the story, which I haven't seen explored much before.

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse intermediate focus, children, imaginary friends, on purpose, neurodivergence [autism], friendship, nonswitching

Content Warnings: Kidnapping, ableism against an autistic child, bullying, claustophobia, death and existential horror of imaginary friends, threats of institutionalization, abuse, grooming, gun violence, cancer and terminal illness, panic attacks and anxiety

Accessibility Notes: Available for purchase; it's been fairly easy to find at libraries in my experience, and it can be found on archive.org for free (https://archive.org/details/memoirsofimagina0000dick). Audiobook versions are also available (https://www.audible.com/pd/Memoirs-of-an-Imaginary-Friend-Audiobook/B008X9YLAU).

Misc. Notes (if any): Unfortunately, the imaginary friend does not survive the narrative; fortunately, he gets an epilogue that still treats him as a person after the fact, which was touching.

lb_lee

Full title: Searching for Catherine Auger: The Forgotten Wife of the Wîhtikôw (Windigo)

"Whatever else happened during the course of her life, Catherine Auger was a woman who witnessed the foretold arrival of 'flesh eaters'; literally, in the form of her own husband, who proclaimed himself a cannibal, and metaphorically, in the form of people who symbolically consumed of the blood and body of a Jewish prophet each Sunday. She had beheld the arrival of cannibals."

Blurb: A scholarly history of the life story of Catherine Auger, a Métis woman in Alberta, Canada who in 1896 watched her husband lose himself to a wîhtikôw, which compelled him to devour his own children. She protected both them and herself, and witnessed his murder by the local medicine man.

Why is it worth your time?: This is possibly the most negative possible form of spirit possession, covered in scholarly detail by Carlson, who is an academic and a distant relation of Auger, but also a solid writer. The story is riveting and tragic. He uses sources ranging from oral history, witness journal entries, and government records about how an apocalyptic wîhtikôw prophecy, the Augers, and religious and racial tensions between Europeans, Métis, the Cree, and Salteaux, led to tragedy. Give it a shot; it's academic but very readable.

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, nonhumans (wîhtikôw, more commonly known as witiko/wendigo), enmity, spiritual

Content Warnings: Violence, threats of cannibalism of children and loved ones, murder, racism, apocalyptic religious prophecies and religious tension. Also a tragic ending for Felix Auger, AKA Napanin. Due to the academic style of writing, though, it's not as horrifying as you might think with those warnings.

Access Notes: This is a 20-page chapter in the anthology Recollecting: Lives of Aboriginal Women of the Canadian Northwest and Borderlands, edited by Sarah Carter and Patricia A. McCormack. The anthology is available on archive.org (well, if/when archive.org recovers from the mass attack on it), and also as a paperback and ebook.

Misc Notes: Nathan D. Carlson has previously written "Reviving Witiko (Windigo): An Ethnohistory of 'Cannibal Monsters' in the Athabasca District of Northern Alberta, 1878–1910" in Ethnohistory (2009) 56 (3): 355–394, which is available at https://read.dukeupress.edu/ethnohistory/article/56/3/355/8822/Reviving-Witiko-Windigo-An-Ethnohistory-of It is not a story, so does not qualify for this catalog, but if you want to learn more about the wîhtikôw, check that out too!

lb_lee

"We sometimes forget that the memories that ESV latches onto are always traumatic. This meant that patients who die have had their traumatic memories repeatedly multiplied by ESV until their brains can no longer function. Thus, it is into a memory of endless trauma that divers and their companions descend."

Blurb: A disabled veteran and the burnt-out King of Limbo are recruited to wade into the memories of patients with a sleeping disease, hoping to find its cause and cure. But something isn't right...

Why is it worth your time?: This is a really solid manga with good art, an interesting story, and robust characters. Sci-fi thriller with flavors of Paprika and Inception.

Plural Tags: abuse low focus, memory work, otherworld, dreamfolk, teamwork, setting-specific, visions, nonhumans (AI/robot animals)

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: Available in paperback and ebook, in English and its native Japanese.

Misc Notes: Six tankoubon volumes in Japan, three big ominbuses in English!

lb_lee

"In 1424, three saints
appeared to Jeanne in a vision.
Saint Michael, Saint Catherine,
and Saint Margaret came to her
as she walked alone in a field."

Blurb: In an alternate universe, Joan of Arc is called by the saints to fight for the English.

Why is it worth your time?: It's steampunk poetry about Joan of Arc learning alchemy and going to war. Give it a shot!

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, visions, voices, spiritual, nonswitching, nonhumans (the angel Saint Michael), the dead (other saints)

Content Warnings: None.

Access Notes: Free to read online, screenreadable.

Misc Notes: Two installments:
Listening to God (Listening to God back-up link)
The Voyage to Vaucouleurs (Voyage to Vaucouleurs back-up link)

lb_lee

This one is submitted by a friendly anon! Thank you, anon!

"I wanna say, that your value is much higher than your assessment. It shouldn't be measured in terms of data..."

Blurb: An android, subject to horrific experiments, finds himself part of a network of clones. He fights to set them free along with the other victims of experimentation, and succeeds--at the cost of his life. Those 7 clones find new life together with their human partner, but the threats to their existence are far from over...

Why is it worth your time?: Season 1 is a set-up for the bulk of the plural content in Season 2, "Eclipse of Sybil", in which the androids act as an external system connected via their own network. (Yes, the title is partly a reference to that Sybil, whose name was used for the computer term 'Sybil attack'.) Although they each have their own body, the way they cooperate, share memories, and talk about each other is nevertheless very plural. It's cool seeing what a system could look and act like on the outside.

A particular heartwarming scene: one member tells the system's partner how each of them have their own unique thoughts, but laments that they must be indistinguishable due to being the same model of android. The partner, upset, responds with, 'of course I can differentiate all of you!' Just like how a system might feel as though only the body is known to others, but a loved one can tell the difference between members.

Also, the artwork is gorgeous.

Plural Tags: nonswitching, switching, setting-specific, on purpose, teamwork, nonhumans [robots], enmity, memory work, bodyhopping, otherworld [cyberspace], copies, realitymashing

Content Warnings: abuse (adults and children), blood, death (dismemberment, decapitation, shooting, falling, fire, car accidents...), experimentation, gore (machine), graphic violence, strong language, suicide (attempts and one who chooses to shut down), trauma (flashbacks, anxiety attacks), hospital/surgery scene

Accessibility Notes: Lots of translations! The entirety can be read in Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, and Russian. Season 1 can also be read in German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, and Spanish.
There are plain text scripts in English, but they don't distinguish between who is speaking.

Available to read on Archive Of Our Own
Also available for free download by the creator (where all the translations can also be found)

Misc. Notes (if any): This is a Detroit: Become Human fan comic that goes off the rails with the artwork being a main draw (heh). Massive spoilers for the game, of course, but since most of the story is its own thing, it can (probably) be read without any knowledge of the source. Midjourney was used for a little of the art, which is clearly notated by page.

(Cataloger's note: oh jeez this is very large, I made a local copy of the English translation but don't have it in me to back up all the translations, sorry folks.)

lb_lee

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)

lb_lee

"Look at me! I am a person! I DESERVE A NUMBER!"

Blurb: Characters find themselves on a surreal, forever-extending train with ever-changing numbers printed on their hands. Each one has to deal with that in a different way.

Why is it worth your time?: All four seasons of this show are good, but each one is self-contained and have different themes; your mileage may vary on which of seasons 1-3 are "plural enough." In Season One, there's the multi robot One-One. Season Two deals with MT, a runaway mirror reflection determined to find her own personhood separate from the person she reflects. Season Three deals with Grace, who's spent years treating the train (and its denizens) as her own personal playground devoid of moral weight, and the way that eventually comes back to haunt her. (Season 4 involves two ex-best friends who get thrown on the train together and has no pluralish content.)

Plural Tags: abuse low-focus, cofronting, otherworld, copies, nonhumans (robots, mirror reflections), setting-specific

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: On account of being canceled by streaming services, this show can only be pirated. We encourage you to do so; it's very good! Subtitles should be available; I was able to watch with them.

lb_lee

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)

lb_lee

This is part of a series on Moon Knight submitted by

erinptah! Thank you,

erinptah! :D See her whole post with clips here!

“The inside of Marc Spector’s head is a picturesque, violent landscape touched by Egyptian mythology, Judaic folklore and fragments of his past. But it ain’t always a pretty place.”

Blurb: After dying and being resurrected (for the first time, but not the last) by the Egyptian god of the moon, mercenary Marc Spector sets out to atone for the harm he caused…by becoming a moon-themed superhero. That’s on top of being Steven Grant, rich CEO/investor in unspecified businesses. And being Jake Lockley, who ranges from “friendly, easygoing, regular guy” to “comedically murderous sociopath” depending on who’s writing this run.

LEGACY BLURB:

The action returns to the real world, for some more typical short-form Marvel adventures…except that now Jake and Steven get to be consistently present! (Along with an unusually-helpful Khonshu. Who doesn’t do any of his usual god-level things, so, this might actually be a Khonshu introject?) Sometimes they’re co-conscious in the physical world, sometimes they’re all interacting in headspace, sometimes there’s a psychic realm where they can manifest separately.

The run I get the most mad about, because it has that great setup with so much potential, and then sours it with things like “Jake gets character-assassinated into a wacky sociopath with a secret-baby plot.” Pushes things to the weirdest and most dramatic places possible, which at best means “this is the funniest Moon Knight scene I’ve ever read,” and at worst, “this is the edgiest edgelord cringe.” Drops lines like “Don’t eat that rabies-ridden dolphin meat” in total earnest.

Another reader said “Damn it Bemis, I really need you to stop writing actually good character moments I enjoy and tricking me into thinking for a brief moment this could be a run I liked, rather than one that makes me want to tear my hair out,” which pretty much sums it up.

Why is it worth your time?: Marvel Comics’ longest-running and most-successful attempt to portray a superhero with DID. (Some writers don’t actually attempt it — but we’re limiting this roundup to the runs where they remembered.)

“Most-successful” still means plenty of flaws, drawbacks, and general comic-book nonsense! But at its best, the writing is a heartfelt, complex, insightful, funny portrayal of A Troubled System Doing Their Best, which a lot of IRL plural readers have found relatable.

Plural tags: abuse intermediate-focus, cofronting, otherworld, nonhumans [gods], realitymashing, family, teamwork, type: medical, type: spiritual, switching

Content warnings: Extra violence and some fairly gruesome injuries. The system gets some retconned explicit childhood trauma, in the form of “little Marc’s favorite rabbi was secretly a Nazi serial killer.” The main present-day child character isn’t harmed in any major way, but does get kidnapped and/or threatened a lot.

Access Notes: Most of these are available in print collections of some sort, as well as digitally through Marvel. Nothing audio or screenreadable as far as I know.

lb_lee

This is part of a series on Moon Knight submitted by

erinptah! Thank you,

erinptah! :D See her whole post with clips here!

“I am Marc Spector. I am Steven Grant. I am Jake Lockley, and we are going to be okay. We are going to live with who we are. We are Moon Knight. And we never needed you.”

Blurb: After dying and being resurrected (for the first time, but not the last) by the Egyptian god of the moon, mercenary Marc Spector sets out to atone for the harm he caused…by becoming a moon-themed superhero. That’s on top of being Steven Grant, rich CEO/investor in unspecified businesses. And being Jake Lockley, who ranges from “friendly, easygoing, regular guy” to “comedically murderous sociopath” depending on who’s writing this run.

VOLUME 8 BLURB:

Marc wakes up in the mental hospital where he’s been living, lost in delusional fantasies of being a caped vigilante. Or has he? No, the whole thing is a setup by the goddess Ammit, to keep Khonshu’s Avatar trapped and helpless while she takes over the world. Or is it?

The trippy, twisty, reality-bending, beautifully-drawn run that redefined Moon Knight — this time, in a way readers actually liked. Marc flounders around in a world with multiple levels of reality, regularly slipping into different scenes from his past, trying to rescue a handful of people who might be his old friends or just his memories…and finally getting a substantial team-up with Jake and Steven.

Reimagined and expanded flashbacks finally establish that Steven and Jake didn’t just appear when Marc was an adult; they’ve been a system since childhood. The headmates spend a few issues split across different reality-sequences, with stunningly different art styles; but the plots keep blurring together, until they find their way into the same scene again. Sometimes we get gritty montages from Marc’s mercenary past; sometimes we get a sci-fi dream about fighting werewolves on the moon.

This isn’t a good place to start reading Moon Knight, because it’s dense with references to feelings and relationships that won’t land if you don’t have the context. And it’s confusing enough even with context! At least read some of the ’80s run first. But then, yeah, read this one.

Why is it worth your time?: Marvel Comics’ longest-running and most-successful attempt to portray a superhero with DID. (Some writers don’t actually attempt it — but we’re limiting this roundup to the runs where they remembered.)

“Most-successful” still means plenty of flaws, drawbacks, and general comic-book nonsense! But at its best, the writing is a heartfelt, complex, insightful, funny portrayal of A Troubled System Doing Their Best, which a lot of IRL plural readers have found relatable.

Plural tags: abuse low-focus, cofronting, fusion/integration, memory work, otherworld, realitymashing, relationships: family, relationships: teamwork, type: medical, type: spiritual, type: switching

Content warnings: Medical abuse and general poor treatment in the hospital scenes (which might be due to them being run by evil gods, but then again, it might not). Abuse and manipulation from Khonshu. A potentially distressing “Marc gets rid of Jake and Steven” sequence partway through; it’s a fakeout, they’ll be back.

Access Notes: Most of these are available in print collections of some sort, as well as digitally through Marvel. Nothing audio or screenreadable as far as I know.

lb_lee

This is part of a series on Moon Knight submitted by

erinptah! Thank you,

erinptah! :D See her whole post with clips here!

“There’s nothing wrong with a good old-fashioned team-up.”

Blurb: After dying and being resurrected (for the first time, but not the last) by the Egyptian god of the moon, mercenary Marc Spector sets out to atone for the harm he caused…by becoming a moon-themed superhero. That’s on top of being Steven Grant, rich CEO/investor in unspecified businesses. And being Jake Lockley, who ranges from “friendly, easygoing, regular guy” to “comedically murderous sociopath” depending on who’s writing this run.

VOLUME 6 BLURB:

Marc breaks out of his unhealthy cycles by doing something completely different with his life: moving to Hollywood and producing a TV series! Instead of pushing Duchamp and Marlene to un-cut him off yet again, he works on some new connections: an ex-SHIELD agent for a pilot/gadget guy, and fellow quasi-Avenger Echo for a co-vigilante/love interest.

He also meets new headmates — specifically, introjects of Spider-Man, Captain America, and Wolverine. (Marc used to do friendly team-ups with Spidey back when he lived in NYC, and was briefly recruited to the Secret Avengers under Cap. He, uh, has never met Wolverine? Just roll with it.)

Together they sort out a single over-arching plot in the LA underworld. Also, that TV show somehow gets made in the background, even though Marc basically never goes to work.

(…I’m calling this run “nonswitching” because I don’t think any of the introjects actually use the body, in spite of Marc trying to physically imitate their weapons and fighting styles. I think they just hang around, giving advice and being chatty.)

Why is it worth your time?: Marvel Comics’ longest-running and most-successful attempt to portray a superhero with DID. (Some writers don’t actually attempt it — but we’re limiting this roundup to the runs where they remembered.)

“Most-successful” still means plenty of flaws, drawbacks, and general comic-book nonsense! But at its best, the writing is a heartfelt, complex, insightful, funny portrayal of A Troubled System Doing Their Best, which a lot of IRL plural readers have found relatable.

Plural tags: abuse not mentioned, cofronting, identityblending, people: copies, type: nonswitching, voices

Content warnings: Character death, specifically that Echo gets fridged (future comics will completely ignore this), and Inner Wolverine gets turned into The Murderous Headmate at the end. Some general “it’s the ’10s, we should be better than this” sexism in how Echo gets written.

Access Notes: Most of these are available in print collections of some sort, as well as digitally through Marvel. Nothing audio or screenreadable as far as I know.

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Style: Neutral Good for Practicality by timeasmymeasure

Plural Stories

Entries tagged with time:2010s

Children of Time series by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Science fiction book series, 2015-)

Listening to Jekyllase by Trismegistus Shandy (sci-fi slice-of-life short novel, 2019, 2023-2024)

Festival of the Bones II: What Is Remembered Lives, by Ile Orunmila Oshun (prose, 2010)

Legion by Brandon Sanderson (mystery book, 2011)

A Skinful of Shadows, by Frances Hardinge (fantasy novel, 2017)

Disco Elysium by ZA/UM (mystery video game, 2019)

What If It Works? by Romi Trower (romantic-comedy film, 2017)

Because We Are Bad: OCD and a Girl Lost in Thought, by Lily Bailey (memoir book, 2016)

quiet americans by magdaliny (superhero fanfiction, 2017–2018)

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks (contemporary book, 2012)

Searching for Catherine Auger: The Forgotten Wife of the Wîhtikôw by Nathan Carlson (history, 2011)

King in Limbo, by Ai Tanaka (sci-fi combo, 2017)

The Arc of Joan, by Elizabeth Barrette (steampunk poetry, 2012)

Byzantine Generals by SunsetAgain (sci-fi digital comic, 2018-2023)

Gardens, by M. Tillery (autobio/personal comic, 2019)

Infinity Train, seasons 1-3?, by Owen Daniels (sci-fi cartoon, 2019-2021)

Meanwhile at the Withershins Hotel, by the Insubordinate Pen (fantasy novel, 2019)

Moon Knight: Legacy #188-200, by Max Bemis, Jacen Burro, Paul Davidson (superhero comic, 2017)

Moon Knight, vol. 8 #1-14, by Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood (superhero comics, 2016)

Moon Knight, vol. 6, by Brian Michael Bendis amd Alex Maleev (superhero comic, 2011)

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