chat

8197 readers

368 users here now

Chat is a text only community for casual conversation, please keep shitposting to the absolute minimum. This is intended to be a separate space from c/chapotraphouse or the daily megathread. Chat does this by being a long-form community where topics will remain from day to day unlike the megathread, and it is distinct from c/chapotraphouse in that we ask you to engage in this community in a genuine way. Please keep shitposting, bits, and irony to a minimum.

As with all communities posts need to abide by the code of conduct, additionally moderators will remove any posts or comments deemed to be inappropriate.

Thank you and happy chatting!

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

EmmaGoldman@hexbear.net

Quimby@hexbear.net

ZoomeristLeninist@hexbear.net

SexUnderSocialism@hexbear.net

InsidiousTrackers@hexbear.net

Sulvor@hexbear.net

I discovered a new phobia while listening to "Children of Ruin" today (hexbear.net)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by WorkingClassCorpse@hexbear.net to c/chat@hexbear.net

8 comments fedilink hide all child comments

My ADHD demands a low-level background stimulation in order for me to focus, so I will listen to audiobooks as I work, and oh-boy did my book interrupt my focus today.

I'm only halfway through so I don't think it could be considered a spoiler, but:

!spoiler spoiler there's a part where one of the characters is unexpectedly stabbed by a tentacle while studying a seemingly harmless alien species (not the kind of shokushu zeme i'm into personally) and is infected with a foreign organic organism. The guy almost dies from it, but they discover that the organism found a way into his brain and has literally replaced his corpus callosum. The next chapter from his perspective slowly starts replacing first-person pronouns with 'we' and 'us', and then he has a tense confrontation with his crew member that end with him/them sticking a syringe through his tear duct and into his brain, and attempting to inject the crew mate with the parasite!<

There's no reason for me to share this except it has clearly disturbed me and when I tried telling my partner about it they weren't thrilled with my trauma dump.

I guess let this be a warning about this book: the first one of the series is pretty chill but this one really sneaks up to you with the body horror.

My curiosity is pulling me back in wish me luck

Edit: oh my god it gets worse, but it's over now

Carry on

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] WorkingClassCorpse@hexbear.net 2 points 3 months ago

I'm not sure i've gotten far enough to appreciate the octopi just yet.

My fear of the slime mold reminds me a lot of my revulsion for the Alien movies with the Xenomorphs and face huggers. Which makes sense, because the intent of those aliens was to horrify via a kind of sexual violation. It forces a spawn into an unwilling host and compels them to carry something not-of-them. But the slime mold is scarier to me, because it isn't just a physical violation but a cognitive/psychological one. It brings self-determination into question (at least more than human nature already does). How much of your thoughts are yours? How much of your subjective experience is yours? Do you have any choice in resisting the alien, or could you even decide to resist at all?

That's why I think Kern and Meshner's storyline strikes me as very similar, but it's still absent that slight physical component of the slime mold physically living in the host brain. That, to me, is just beyond-the-pail terrifying.

I've just gotten to the part where the portiads are about to meet the slime molds and I'm just as anxious as I was the first time lol. It definitely reminds me of Alien, now that the setting is an actual derelict space station. Wish me luck