It’s been a while! Health took a bit of a dip and I had to unfortunately take a break from books and reading, but what better way to pick things back up again with a not-meme book from an author that I know almost entirely from the memes, Chuck Tingle! Although I think his erotica might have been a bit easier on the brain… (Not an insult, my brain is just part of the health struggles)
We follow Misha, a horror writer whose television series is going to culminate in a finale where the two female leads are going to make their relationship explicit at last, and for them to be happy. Unfortunately, the studio demands that ending change to either a tragedy or make them straight. When Misha refuses, the monsters he created in the past begin appearing and coming for him.
As an author, the first chapter hit especially hard for me. Woven into the themes of limited queer representation in media is also this element of algorithm-based media and replacing humans with AIs that will be able to make the perfect media based on what will be the most profitable. I believe this was written before OpenAI and Deepseek, but their existence certainly made that part of the narrative resonate with me a hell of a lot more.
I did admittedly spend a lot of the story thinking that some elements could have been collapsed together or various elements could be tightened up right up until the end. A lot of things came together and, well, asexuality as a plot point is a favourite underutilized thing I love to see.
Overall it was just a really fun book. My expectations were probably too low going into it, and I think I would have loved it just as much if I were expecting a lot more. I don’t think the heavy-handedness of the narrative takes away from the story, and I just really enjoyed it. If it sounds remotely interesting to you, check it out!
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