#Thomas Disch

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Patience

Thomas Disch: neil in the good omens game, is there a way to escape the dungeon without using the wizard's key? Neil Gaiman: ah! a very good question! Clive Barker: what? that's a terrible question Gaiman: ah but there are NO bad questions, clive Gaiman: curiosity is the rain that waters the seed of knowledge

Debbie Dadey: um excuse me sir neil gaiman but in Good Omens S2E42 aziraphale is shown performing the musubi dachi stance, but everyone knows that angels don't know karate Dadey:[pushing glasses up nose] i sure hope someone was fired for THAT blunder Gaiman: ah! a fine observation, thank you for sharing! Gaiman: so great to communicate with astute readers!

Gaiman: [putting gold star sticker on Dadey's forehead] i'm giving you a gold star for that Gaiman: in fact Gaiman: you all get gold stars! Koontz: oo! i want a gold star Gaiman: [putting gold star sticker on Koontz's forehead] and so you shall!

King: incredible! nothing flusters him! Poe: he's unflappable King: like the world's most patient kindergarten teacher Barker: no way, i don't buy it Barker: nobody's THAT patient Barker: i bet i could get him to snap Poe: clive

Barker: hey neil i've got a question Gaiman: yes? Barker: actually Barker:this is more of a comment than a question Gaiman: [sweating, veins in neck pulsing] ah yes, go on Poe: clive that's going too far

Neil Gaiman: you see dean Gaiman: you can see anything, do anything Gaiman: BE anything Gaiman: without ever leaving home! Dean Koontz: wowwww Gaiman: all you have to do is use your super power Koontz: my super power?? Gaiman: yes Gaiman: it's called Gaiman: IMAGINATION!!

Ray Bradbury: it was many years yonder when the open spaces were open and the blue skies were blue, and soda pop cost just a nickel and if you didn't have a nickel a smile would do, when you could see marshmallow dragons and candy corn castles in the clouds and you could do it all with the power of Dean Koontz: oh yeah imagination, i already know that Bradbury: and- what Koontz: yeah, neil gaiman told me Bradbury:

Ray Bradbury: listen neil i hear you've been going around extolling the power of imagination Neil Gaiman: ah imagination! the poor man's wealth, the prisoner's release- Bradbury: zip it bud Bradbury: there's ONE dream weaver in this town and that's me Bradbury: the limitless vista of a child's imagination ain't big enough for the both of us!!!

Bradbury: i have more child-like whimsy in my little finger, gaiman! Bradbury: and i will use it to paint a rainbow of nostalgic vibes that will have you crying! Bradbury: come at me, neil!! i'll make your childhood fuckin' magical!

Gaiman: wonderful, brilliant! just an excellent threat Gaiman: the craftsmanship of it was sublime, you should be very proud, ray Bradbury: Bradbury: are you Bradbury: are you being sarcastic? Poe: i don't think he knows how

Bradbury: you're so genuine, i can't stay mad at you Gaiman: perhaps, ray, there is room in the world of imagination for the both of us Gaiman: in fact, maybe there's room for ALL who seek to fly on the wings of a shared dream!

[theoszczepanski]

New Nightmares - Them

[stinkybreath]

hello

do you trust me to recommend you some books

I read ~170 this year and here’s reviews of my top ten, written for fb and crossposted under the cut in case you’re interested

1: Camp Concentration by Thomas Disch

-I know it’s not obvious from the way I conduct myself here, but I have a very large vocabulary. I was a kid who read the dictionary and also any thesaurus I had access to. So, that said, consider how much it means to me personally that this book taught me 30-50 new words. This isn’t a huge part of the reason I loved this book, but it is a very impressive fact about it that I think will grab the attention of people who might otherwise not read it. This book changed the way I read, the way I think about literature, and the way I evaluate what I have previously read. It’s offensive to me that I lived 30 years as an avid reader and culture sponge without hearing about this book. I cannot recommend it enough. I give it top spot on this list for a very good reason. I’d like to avoid spoiling any of the plot because while I called the twist easily, discovery of each point was so delightful that I want you to have that same experience.

2: Cockatiel x Chameleon by Bavitz

-You all have plenty of experience with me recommending works of fiction published online in formats that deter most readers. This is a normal Najwa activity. I know how it sounds and I know, therefore, that this plea will go more or less unheard, but I BEG you. Look past the fact this was published on AO3. This is one of the most remarkable books I’ve read, period. I mentioned in my worst of how much it bothers me that most writers can’t plausibly write about the internet. This book is the FUCKING ZENITH of writing about being online. It is the absolute peak and I will be shocked if I ever encounter another work that overtakes it. This is a book about people who are so strange they are barely human, but in ways that will be instantly familiar, intimately true, to those of us who grew up on the internet. There is violence and abuse and love and beauty and Chatroulette. There is art and gore and exploration of identity and apocalypse. There is fucking POSTING.

3: Serious Weakness by Porpentine

-Charity Heartscape Porpentine is one of our greatest living authors, opinions of snide Twitter users notwithstanding. I am an evangelist for her Twine game poetry because it is so singular and so affecting. Even a decade on, I can play through Their Angelical Understanding and feel freshly stabbed in the gut. Imagine the thrill I felt when she posted about her completed novel. I would (strongly) recommend this even to people who (somehow) bounced off her games, because her prose style is very distinct from the voice those are in (yet still recognizable). This is an incredibly violent, sick, stomach-turning, difficult, ugly, terrifying book. It’s also ultimately asking the reader a question about love and compassion. If you are sensitive to any trigger in written word about any violent action one person can do to another, skip this book, but if you feel like you have the strength, give her the nine bucks or whatever that she’s asking and devour it like I did. A hook for you: our protagonist has a chance meeting with an embodiment of pain. What follows includes torture, gender, climate disaster, and Columbine. Gorgeous. This book almost convinced me to start doing video essays so I could explain to people the incredible factors at play in it.

4: Negative Space by BR Yeager

-I have been trying to read this book for free for so long that I broke my streak and paid actual money for it. It was one of the better purchases I made all year. Thanks to finally reading some Stephen King this year I now have the requisite foundation to see how heavily his style inspired Yeager in this book, but I would die on the hill defending my position that Yeager does King better than King ever did. There is evil seeping out between the lines of this book. Have you ever had a nightmare that made you feel doomed the entire next day? Have you ever felt you were trapped in your shitty, dying home town? Have you ever been seduced by the excitement of activities that you know might actually kill you? Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and looked at your own dark reflection? Go back to the deepest point of your teenage depression here.

5: We Who Are About to by Joanna Russ

-One of the shortest entries on this list and so one of the easiest sells, but it is just as full of meaning as any other that made the cut. There is so much implied and unsaid about this protagonist. She feels whole, like this is the last chunk of chapters in a series centered on her, but she represents something universal. She is one member of a group from a crash-landed spaceship, a group small enough in numbers that there’s no way for humanity to last on this planet more than one more generation. Any attempts to do even that are so plainly cruel and self-deluding that she wants no part of them, but the others with her don’t see it the same way. Her story is womanhood under patriarchy, it is life and death, it is self-determination. Brutal. I read this at the airport and cried in public.

6: Carrie by Stephen King

-As much as I hate to say it, I gotta hand it to Uncle Steve (or really to Tabitha). This book very nearly justifies the rest of his career on its own. I thought had picked up most of it from cultural osmosis, but there was a truly shocking depth that I couldn’t have found without experiencing it firsthand. Maybe it’s funny to use this word here, but this book is humanist and compassionate and sincere in a way that King never finds again, particularly with the women he writes. Carrie is so vivid that I felt a protective instinct for her throughout the book even though I knew she was about to discover her own power. She reflects parts of me about as well as Lindqvist did in Little Star, which is the work of art that is THE most personal to me. A classic for a fucking reason.

7: The Doloriad by Missouri Williams

-This year, lots of the books that I read had strange echoes of each other. In this, I can pick out shades of Carrie, of Camp Concentration, of We Who Are About To, and even of Serious Weakness. Rarely if ever are these references by each author, but it has enriched my experience by having unofficial interlocking intertexts for all of them. This book has been very divisive with reviewers, and I understand why, because it is cruel and the prose is extremely stylistic. This is somewhat experimental and fully literary and sincerely philosophical. I get it. Not for everyone. But it was for me. A clan of inbreds at the end of the world with their eyes on their scapegoat, nonverbal and disabled Dolores. It shocked me and it challenged me and I loved it.

8: The Ice Cream Man and Other Stories by Sam Pink

-These short stories did the exact opposite of the thing that pissed me off about The Florida Project. These are about people who are varying degrees of sympathetic but the same degree of desperately, penny-scrapingly working poor. The easy pull quote is “unflinching,” because it turns an eye on very ugly parts of real life for so many of us. I think people who grew up middle class will find some voyeuristic, prurient pleasure in these stories, but they’re not written for you. They’re written for us, the people who have lived this way.

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman 9

-I don’t need to tell you how great this book is, because the whole of booktok has told you this all year. Instead, what I will say is that it is much stranger and less tidy than you’re imagining when you hear the blurb. It’s a short read and it is one of the few times I haven’t regretted following booktok’s advice.

Only Lovers Left Alive by Dave Wallis 10

-This barely squeaked onto this year’s best of, because I started it before 2022 ended and finished it early in the new year. As I read it, especially in the first 20% of the book, I was confused as to how it ended up on my TBR. But toward the end, and throughout the year as I’ve continued to think about it, I understand more instinctively than intellectually that this is a remarkable work. A short synopsis: in the 80s in the UK, there is an epidemic of suicide, but only by adults. The teens left behind forge their own path.

[lordsmaf]

Shit I have learned about Thomas M. Disch, author of The Brave Little Toaster, over the course of like a week long hyperfixation - Predominantly a science fiction author and poet - Born during a polio epidemic his mom chose to homeschool him. When he did go to school it was a Catholic school. This would result in him growing up hating everything Catholic and becomin an atheist for the rest of his life - At the age of 18, a penniless, friendless teenager, he attempted suicide by gas oven, but survived due to not having enough money to pay the gas bill - Befriended fellow sci-fi author Philip K. Dick (yes, THAT Philip K. Dick) and then had a very ugly falling out after Philip K. Dick snapped and wrote a letter to the FBI claiming Disch’s books had hidden messages in them. Thomas M. Disch would then retaliate by writing a story about how Philip K. Dick went to hell and also caused Hitler to win WWII and said about him “May he rot in hell, and may his royalties corrupt his heirs to the seventh generation“ - Made the 1986 computer game Amnesia which wasn’t very good. Critics complained about it feeling too much like a novel and the player character collapsing if he didn’t eat or sleep constantly - Was gay and after the death of his partner Charles Naylor he spiraled into a deep depression until he eventually killed himself on July 4th 2008 - the book cover to The Brave Little Toaster Goes To Mars is somehow more insane than the movie

[bobdobalina]

Near the end of his life [Thomas M. Disch] stopped submitting poetry to literary journals unless the journals asked for his contributions. He preferred to publish his poems in his LiveJournal account. In an interview just ten days before his death, Disch said, "I write poetry because I think it is the hardest thing I can do well. And so I simply enjoy the doing of it, as an equestrian enjoys spending time on a good horse. Poetry is my good horse."

[adaptationsdaily]

The Brave Little Toaster (1987) Directed by Jerry Rees

[70sscifiart]

Uncredited 1979 cover art for Thomas M Disch’s The Genocides

[yourdailyqueer]

Thomas M. Disch (deceased)

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Gay

DOB: 2 February 1940  

RIP: 4 July 2008

Ethnicity: White - American

Occupation: Writer, poet

[dischiantoaster]

The Brave Little Toaster tankōbon illustrations

These are the gorgeous illustrations from the Japanese hardcover of The Brave Little Toaster. The character designs are very similar to the original versions drawn by Karen Lee Schmidt for the English/French language publications. Even so, I think this the most beautiful the story has ever looked…There’s something wonderfully haunting and evocative about these illustrations; and the lack of anthropomorphic features on the Appliances adds something new! Probably the spookiest version of the Toaster and friends scaring the Junk Pirate. And hooray for more cute Swap Shop Kittens! Also, both Japanese editions feature a picture of the moment when the Radio spies a fox. (Interestingly, the new vacuum cleaner in the City Apartment is shown as an upright model, unlike its counterpart in the paperback bunko, and in the movie- both of which are canister vacuums with hoses! Or a hamburger bun on wheels, as Disch describes it in the book!)

[bracketsoffear]

Eater of Wasps (Trevor Baxendale) "Synopsis: "The TARDIS lands in the sleepy English village of Marpling, as calm and peaceful as any other village in the 1930s. Or so it would seem at first glance. But the village is about to get a rude awakening.

The Doctor and his friends discover they aren't the only time-travellers in the area: a crack commando team is also prowling the Wiltshire countryside, charged with the task of recovering an appallingly dangerous artefact from the far future — and they have orders to destroy the entire area, should anything go wrong.

And then there are the wasps… mutant killers bringing terror and death in equal measure. What is their purpose? How can they be stopped? And who will be their next victim?

In the race to stop the horror that has been unleashed, the Doctor must outwit both the temporal hit squad, who want him out of the way, and the local police — who want him for murder. "

Why it's Corruption: Look at the cover. Look at the author. This book is so full of body horror it's incredible. There's a dude filled with mutant killer wasps, who is slowly turning into a GIANT mutant killer wasp that is also filling OTHER people with mutant killer wasps. And there's also a whole bunch of family drama and toxic love vis-a-vis possessing people with wasps to make them your 'children'. Also, the Doctor uses fire extinguishers to destroy the possessed wasps, a la Jane Prentiss!"

The Roaches (Thomas M. Disch) "Marcia Kenwell has an obsessive fear of cockroaches. She routinely scours her apartment with roach-kill, disinfectant, and cleaner. Ever since she moved to the city she has been unable to rid herself of the pesky bugs. She was warned about them by her aunt and her mother had a phobia to all bugs, but Marcia first encounters them at one of her first jobs and it has been a never-ending battle since then. She desperately seeks a new place to live especially after the neighbors move in next door. The two men and one woman (unclear who is related and who is a lover) are loud, foreign, and dirty as Marcia sees it. Their presence brings in more roaches and this deeply angers Marcia. One day, she encounters some roaches in her apartment and without thinking, she verbally commands them to leave. In an instant, all the roaches leave the apartment. She slowly finds she has the ability to command the roaches. In a frenzy of anger, she directs them all into her neighbor's apartment. She hears yelling and screaming and then tells them to disperse. When the landlady comes the neighbor's room, she sees the mess and demands they leave. Back in her room, Marcia opens a cupboard and all the roaches flood out onto her. Instead of repulse, she feels utter love and invites all of New York's cockroaches to visit her."

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Thomas M. Disch - Echo Round His Bones - Compact - 1966

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Love on a Battlefield

Stephen King: guys did you hear there’s a  video game campfire too? Mary Shelley:  that sounds like some nerd shit King: no no there are lots of cool people there King: hideo kojima, sid meier, bob bates   King: the 2 guys from andromeda Shelley: [cracking knuckles in anticipation]

Hideo Kojima: IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 19XX, MERCENERY GASEOUS SNAKE IS BROUGHT OUT OF RETIREMENT TO FIGHT THE REMNANTS OF THE WOLFDOG UNIT... Kojima: INCLUDING... Kojima: ROPE CHOKER, POISON EATER, TORPEDO LAUNCHER , AXE GRINDER, BOMB DETONATOR, AND DIPPY DOG

Kojima: do you think that love can bloom on a battlefield? Kojima: Kojima: yes... Kojima: even on a battlefield... Ken Williams: hey my girlfriend roberta and I saw you from across the bar and we’re really digging your vibe Williams: Can we buy you a drink?

Kojima: the villainous traitor bad boy has kidnapped dr good scientist and forced him to help build the ultimate weapon of mass destruction... Kojima: the metal gear... Kojima: it’s like a tank... Kojima: but it can move... Kojima: Kojima: But wait... Kojima: not with treads... Kojima: with legs...

[at Midnight Society] Hideo Kojima: I have an idea for a new video game... Kojima: About you! Stephen King: oh wow a game about us? that sounds pretty ok! Poe: yeah I’d be curious about this Kojima: the game is called ‘the association of Fire Story friends’ Kojima: a hideo kojima game... Kojima: written by hideo kojima... Kojima: produced by hideo kojima... Kojima: directed by hideo kojima... Kojima: catering by hideo kojima...

 Kojima: The fire story friend association members names are... Kojima: Bird Scare.. Poe: Kojima: Clown daddy... King: Kojima: Knife Stabber... Mary Shelley: Kojima: Little Friend... Dean Koontz: Kojima: Cat Bitch... Clive Barker: Kojima: and Silly Racist... Lovecraft: Lovecraft: w-which one is me

Kojima: SUBMITTED FOR THE APPROVAL OF THE MIDNIGHT SOCIETY I CALL THIS THE TALE OF THE STORY FRIENDS... Kojima: IT IS A GAME WHERE THE GOAL IS NOT TO FIGHT... Mary Shelley: what the hell is this shit Thomas Disch: sh let him cook Disch: mr kojima in level 5 is there a way to escape the dungeon w/o the wizard‘s key? Shelley: shut UP nerd

Kojima: In this game, you play as clown daddy... Kojima: bird scare has given him an assignment... Kojima: he must tell a story without anyone hearing King: wow! incredible! King: hideo, once again you’ve redefined a genre!

Kojima: this story is also about how war is bad... King: whats the theme tho Kojima: Kojima: uh, its that war is bad... King: Koontz: Poe: Lovecraft: Barker: Kojima: perhaps this three hour cutscene will explain better...

Kojima: now this next story will be my last ever... Kojima: for real this time... King: aw really? Kojima: yes... King: King: really?

[disneyboot]

[fffartonceaweek]

Sean McTiernan's SF podcast (is great) :

SFUltra is a show about a guy who hated science fiction until 2022 convincing himself he actually loves it, one book at a time. It is going pretty well so far. It gets published every two weeks.

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

RSS

.

SFULTRA #10 - Ice - Anna Kavan

special 2 eps: Motorman / The Age Of Sinatra - David Ohle

SFULTRA #9 - We Who Are About To… - Joanna Russ

SFULTRA #8 - I, Vampire - Jody Scott

SFULTRA #7 - Babel-17 - Samuel R Delany

SFULTRA #6 - The Dispossessed - Ursula K Le Guin

SFULTRA #5 - Camp Concentration - Thomas M Disch

SFULTRA #4 - Rogue Moon - Algis Budrys

SFULTRA #3 - Electric Forest - Tanith Lee

SFULTRA #2 - Doloriad - Missouri Williams

SFULTRA #1 - High Rise - JG Ballard

SFULTRA #0 - Why Science Fiction?

Patreon :

Perfect Taste Forever is a recommendation podcast about everything that isn't science fiction. It often features miniseries on a specific topic, such as:

Decoy Octopus - the concept of roleplaying

Fuck You - underrated gay novelists

Murder House Sold - true crime

.

.

His previous shows have included lengthy examinations of horror (Hundreds Of Dead Bodies), thrillers (All Units), found footage horror (Hundreds of Pixelated Dead Bodies), whatever I felt like (The Wonder Of It All and Calling All Units) and even old time radio (Kiss Your Ass Goodbye).

As co-host : Live At The Death Factory (Scum Cinema), Bodega Box Office (rap movies) and Self Pity (self pity).

.

.

All Units feed :

[nem0c]

His nephew, Lottie’s youngest, was watching the war on the TV. It was unusual for Boz to sleep so late. US guerillas were burning down a fishing village somewhere. The camera followed the path of the flames along the string of empty fishing boats, then held for a long time on the empty blue of the water. Then a slow zoom back that took in all the boats together. The horizon warped and flickered through a haze of flame. Gorgeous. Was it a re-run? Boz seemed to think he’d seen the long shot before.

Thomas M. Disch, 334, Emancipation (1971)