Plural Stories

"What can I do when it feels like the whole universe is out to get me?"

"First, I would decide if it is a worthy opponent. If not, I prefer to laugh."

Blurb: "Conan the Barbarian versus my mundane problems!" Conan accompanies Kahn throughout their life, dispensing life advice and giving new perspectives on modern life.

Why is it worth your time?: It's a nice little comic about a cartoonist and their barbarian friend, a nice slice of WHY people enjoy the company of their favorite fictional barbarians. Plus, it's up for free online! Give it a shot!

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, creator speaks from experience, fictioneers, friendship

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: Posted up online for free reading! Not screenreadable, out of print, but also available in ebook as pay-what-you-want, should you want to pay a humble cartoonist!

Misc Notes: For funsies, compare and contrast with Andy of Astraea's web page about how Robert E. Howard claimed that Conan seemed to write himself!

"Whenever you meet people who think they are reincarnated, they were always Somebody in a past life, like Ruth--THE Ruth in the Bible--or Mary Magdalene's mother, or one of Napoleon Bonaparte's generals. No one is ever a third world villager who died of malnutrition at age seven. [...] A friend of mine said I was probably Alexander the Great, because of my near-fanatic interest in him. I said no way in hell."

Blurb: An American female reincarnation of Hephaistion gets to see Alexander the Great, the love of her lives, again, and recounts the experience to the Loch Ness monster afterward.

Why is it worth your time?: Queer genderfucking reincarnation short story.

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, the dead, romantic relationship, spiritual, visions

Content Warnings: death, drinking alchohol

Access Notes: This story is in an out-of-print small press anthology, Memories and Visions: Women's Fantasy & Science Fiction, edited by Susanna J. Sturgis. Used copies can still be scraped up; it is also available in bootleg screenreadable digital form on archive.org. The whole anthology contains many spirited, many-selved stories and is worth checking out!

Misc: Notes: I think this author might be dead, seeing as her website has been taken over by a sketchy lawyer company for some reason. So I feel pretty okay saying that she speaks from experience; she mentions having a Navajo "spirit guide" who was deeply disappointed in her rugmaking skills.

"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

"The way I do things does not have to emulate your way of doing things. These are not mistakes but my own understanding and way of learning finally being seen."

Blurb: A short eight-page comic about two headmates cooking a meal together.

Why is it worth your time?: It's a short, poetic moment of learning and acceptance. Also, how Neon Crypt shows reality layers through color is pleasing.

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, cofronting, creator speaks from experience, nonhumans (toy tree snake thing?), teamwork switching

Content Warnings: None.

Access Notes: Free, nonscreenreadable. Read it here!

Thanks to beepbird for telling us about this!

"She and her and us and we
All of us love all of you
And that's all we know how to do"

Blurb: A plural love song by an all plural therian band.

Why is it worth your time?: It's cute, bouncy, and fun!

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, creator speaks from experience, romantic

Content Warnings: None

Access Notes: Available for pay what you want on bandcamp! Lyrics now available in the comments below! (Thanks, synecdoches!)

Submitted by erinptah! Thank you, erinptah!

"Okay, everyone -- I'd like to have your attention, please. Tonight is a big night, and I want this to go well. Please remember, Jeremy is a great guy, and he loves me."

Blurb: A cute, sweet story about a system getting one of their members through her Valentine's Day date, and ultimately coming out as plural to a confused-but-supportive partner.

Why is it worth your time?: The director's mother has DID, and they co-wrote this short film to be a 101-level primer on "what that means for someone's day-to-day experience." So it's nothing too complicated -- but it's well-made! Works as a story, not just a day-in-the-life walkthrough.

Uses multiple actors and clever camera work to show different headmates switching and interacting. And it does a nice job of keeping things simple enough for an intro, without totally erasing the nuances. (I liked the way it only gives the viewer 4 headmates to keep track of, but refers to the system being much larger.)

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse intermediate-focus, creator speaks from experience, people: children, people: fictioneers, relationships: family, type: medical, type: switching

Content Warnings: From the site: "The full version contains a scene of intimacy and a flashback to childhood sexual abuse." A redacted version is available with that part cut.

Accessibility Notes: Available for free online. Includes a transcript, and subtitle options in English + multiple translations. Also backed up on YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wYhN39SiWuI&pp=ygUVcGV0YWxzIG9mIGEgcm9zZSBmaWxt

Submitted by erinptah! Thank you, erinptah!

"As B, I felt very grateful to you for treating me as if I were a "real" person and allowing me to express my own personality. With every one else I had to pretend to be A, and my feeling of gratitude and the fact that you asked for my co-operation -- put me on my honor as it were -- was the underlying motive in telling you so much."

Blurb: An account of the various phases of dissociated personality, written by the patient, after recovery and restoration of memory for all the different phases. Such an account could only be given by a person who has had the experience, and who has the introspective and literary capacity to describe them.

Why is it worth your time?: Possibly the earliest medical-multi memoir! Clear and engaging writing, it makes for a quick, fun read. A reader from the 2020s can regularly recognize "hey, if they were around today they'd call that [term that hadn't been coined in 1909]." The first half is written by an integrated "C" who can remember the experiences of both "A" and "B", though those two struggled with severe amnesia barriers for a long time. The second half is by B, who recounts her own experiences, including co-consciousness (in that word!) with both A and C.

The first half is formatted as a series of letters to their psychiatrist, who requested that they write it all up for a scientific journal. The psychiatrist contributes some prefaces and footnotes, but he largely gets out of the way and lets the system tell their story. When he brings in his own perspective, it's usually to say "this is how my observations corroborate the experience my patient has described."

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse not mentioned, cofronting, creator speaks from experience, fusion/integration, relationships: teamwork, type: median, type: medical

Content Warnings: none. The authors talk about difficult experiences in very general terms (e.g. a "shock" of "an intensely emotional nature"), but say plainly that they aren't interested in going into detail.

Accessibility Notes: Digitized on archive.org. Text version was auto-generated from the scanned pages, so it has some errors, but is overall readable/searchable.

Misc. Notes (if any): Fusion/integration was a therapeutic goal for this system, and they were relieved and satisfied with the results. The "median" tag seems appropriate for both their early experiences (where they describe a "B complex", which was identifiably separate, but hadn't yet "flowered" into "a distinct personality"), and their post-integration ones (where B experiences herself as still existing, just fully co-conscious with C).

"We're a system of creatures just trying to get by in this messy modern world!"

Blurb: An autobiographical comic about alterhumanity, trauma, and memes.

Why is it worth your time?: It's fun and short, give it a shot!

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, closeting, cofronting, creator speaks from experience, nonhumans (robots, wolves, dogs, horses, shapeshifters all at varying levels of anthropomorphism), friendship

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: This comic is fully alt-texted and screenreadable, yay! Free to read online at https://gze.neocities.org/comics

Misc Notes: Archive.org is in hell right now, so backing it up there may have to wait. LB has made local copies of the 17 strips at time of post though.

"We are Many - More than an Army. We count on it - Strength in Numbers."

Blurb: A stained glass work of the inner people of an MPD/DID multiple reaching towards the sun.

Why is it worth your time?: It's a beautiful, powerful piece, free to view.

I discovered Judy Castelli on page 44 of Eye to Eye: Portraits of Lesbians. Her photograph from 1978 (fifteen years before she finally got diagnosed) called her an "artist, singer and songwriter," quoted her as saying, "My official diagnosis is paranoid schizophrenia," and showed her image reflected in a mirror, surrounded by paintings of people with multiple faces. Naturally, I smelled multi, and I was right: once diagnosed, she went public, published a book based on these journals and a DID journaling kit (the password is "hope"), released a CD album (including her '70s single, "Crazy Lady"), sculpted in stone and stained glass, and became a lay founder of and board member of The NYSSMP&D (New York Society for the Study of Multiple Personality and Dissociation.) What an amazing life, and yet I had never heard of her until that photo book!

Plural Tags: plural creator, abuse not mentioned, children, teamwork, otherworld, medical

Content Warnings: None.

Access Notes: Archived online. Image is not screenreadable, so here is my description right here: a striving stained glass piece of many figures, big and small, in pink, gold, and green, joining together and carrying each other to form a single greater silhouette reaching joyously towards the sun, a vibrant magenta sky behind them.

Misc Notes: See it free here!

"We are our own mother.

We hold you and rock you, Children.  We speak softly~ words of love and comfort.

What you did not get, we will  try to give you now.

We will be for you what was never yours.  
If we do not have it,  we will find for you.
You will have what you need.~ 
needed then~need now.

We are willing.  You will not be deprived this time."

Blurb: Art and text taken from the journals of a multiple, right as she got diagnosed and decided that she would get to know herselves and love herselves unconditionally.

Why is it worth your time?: I discovered Judy Castelli on page 44 of Eye to Eye: Portraits of Lesbians. Her photograph from 1978 (fifteen years before she finally got diagnosed) called her an "artist, singer and songwriter," quoted her as saying, "My official diagnosis is paranoid schizophrenia," and showed her image reflected in a mirror, surrounded by paintings of people with multiple faces. Naturally, I smelled multi, and I was right: once diagnosed, she went public, published a book based on these journals and a DID journaling kit (the password is "hope"), released a CD album (including her '70s single, "Crazy Lady"), sculpted in stone and stained glass, and became a lay founder of and board member of The NYSSMP&D (New York Society for the Study of Multiple Personality and Dissociation.) What an amazing life, and yet I had never heard of her until that photo book!

But anyway, her journals are clear and simple, her art simple and clear, and it's free to read. What have you got to lose?

Plural Tags: abuse intermediate focus, memory work, children, nonhumans (the angel Gabriel), family and teamwork relationships, medical, voices

Content Warnings: Non-graphic discussion of child abuse, depression, self-harm and suicidal urges, all with content warning on "Born of Despair and Loneliness." I didn't find it a hard read. Also, this is from a medical MPD/DID perspective, so the terms "alters," "parts," and so on are used. There is also some Christianity.

Access Notes: Roughly twenty short installments, which far as I can tell can be read in any order. Not useable alt text, unfortunately, but miraculously, the whole thing with the sole exception of the image of Gabriel and Mashed Potato Mountain, has been saved by the Wayback Machine, which is the only way to view it online now. It also apparently inspired a book, Looking Inside: Life Lessons from a Multiple Personality in Pictures and Words, which is still available in ebook and print forms.

Start reading it here!

Misc Notes: Though all the installments were archived (even the images, except for the one on Gabriel's page and the one on Mashed Potato Mountain), there's just enough link rot to make going through a little tricky, so here are all the entries (in order of click-through):
1. I Am Lost
16. It is All There Is.
2. The Leap
3. In My Heart
14. Born of Despair and Loneliness
8. Spring
9. Long Way to Go
11. It Is a Sad Time
12. Silence No More
17. This child can never be held enough.
18. I am Gabriel
19. The Bigness of Knowing
20. A Simple Thing
21. Mashed Potato Mountain
22. End

There are also some installments that seem to not be on the click-through, which nonetheless exist, so here are those:
4. Out of Chaos
5. Family
6. From Hardship to the Stars
7. And a Little Child Shall Lead Them
10. Where am I going?
13. The Rhythm of My Life
15. I Will Not Survive the Night (a conversation inside)

See also: her art gallery (mostly stained glass), which is also very multi!