https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/chapters/hunter-x-hunter

~2200 words / 12 minute read / Adaptation of my Tweet Thread (links in subheadings) on the chapter:

The Tserrorist Fit

4th Prince Tserriednich has finally escaped his room, the world thinking him momentarily dead and gone – and his ghost self is immediately getting fits off! The hoodie, mask, and big shades combo gives him a totally anonymous yet menacing quality. // He looks remarkably similar to the sketch of the infamous Unabomber. The two men (Tserri and Kaczynski) and their objectives are highly different – but they know how to hide their faces when aiming to commit serious action!

Before he can pull off any serious feats of tserrorism on the numerous machine gun-wielding Royal Army guards around him – 4th Prince Tserriednich must test the limits of his ability in a highly risky real-life escape room scenario…

Meet “Laplace’s Demon”

Formerly: “Parallel Future | Now: “Laplace’s Demon” is much more powerful than initially imagined. We are learning right alongside Tserri.

In the ephemeral 10-second vision, T can carry out offensive acts that will result in illusory injury! This means he can make you think you’re dead!

Effectively, by activating and deactivating his ability with exactitude, Tserri can get the jump on you, with guns aimed at brains in hand, acting accordingly while his foes and reality itself catches up with a parallel narrative.

Laplace’s Demon is a thought experiment named after French scholar Pierre-Simon Laplace dealing with the concept of perfect knowledge of *present* time and space indicating a similarly perfect, predictive knowledge of future time and space.

The notion is: a theoretical ‘demon’ of supernatural talent is able to know the precise location and speed of all particles in the present universe and therefore could, using mastered knowledge of classical mechanics (i.e. force, inertia, velocity, acceleration, trajectory, etc.), perfectly predict the future down to the atoms.

Demon, or daemon or devil, is used because the concept is so impossible for anything but a supernatural being to even contemplate. And yet, here with Tserri’s formerly “Parallel Future” ability — he is totally pulling off a demon act. // In fact, his instinctively summoned secondary Nen beast looks just like one. It is the ‘antenna’ and ‘battery’ that governs the 36 meter radius and it is through its ‘eyes’ that he can witness the future sight during Zetsu. // Question: What other abilities may it have? And is it possible for the 10 seconds or other limitations to be improved upon over time…? One must shudder to think of anymore progression for this pack of bloodthirsty daemons.

My Sum: Ephemeral Ten Seconds: Laplace’s Demon, in full & presumably granted by the Dark Angel Jester Nen Beast, is simultaneously creating two realities, wherein force and injuries on the surroundings can be enacted by Tserri’s intentions during the moment of activation > he watches the world play out for 10 seconds under those conditions, including his own psychic intentions about what he as a physical subject was/is going to do in those same 10 seconds (like shoot some guys, for example) >> and then he can open his eyes and move and act in a new, invisible body while his Illusory Double Self stays behind playing out whatever he chose to do in *that* future, while he makes fresh decisions in a new future he is presently enacting while the old one plays out to the senses of everyone around him…whew, this present-future actioneering while inside a mass illusion, able to be used on repeat, is Hyper-Powered!! Think too long on this and the possibilities unfold without end…

LIMITS: 1) The Anchor Point, the spot where he’s standing when he activates, and 2) Tserri having about 3 seconds to activate his Zetsu — are the main limiting factors, in addition to the primary weakness being that if he’s touched and broken from Zetsu (the Nen state of suppressing your aura and thus making you most vulnerable), he will reveal his true self and illusion — not to mention crossfired bullets or other area-of-effect attacks could rip through him and kill him outright, ending his fancy game entirely!

The keystone feature that makes Laplace’s Demon such a weapon is that he can do it repeatedly, over and over, creating new realities and false positions of his other ‘self’ while he gets moving with perfect invisibility. In this way, the ability is most similar to Chimera Ant Meleoron‘s chameleonic ability: Perfect Plan, where he can hold his breath and become totally invisible and undetectable even by Nen-users with special senses.

The separation of Meleo’s ability is that Tserri leaves behind an illusory double made of flesh and blood and guts, able to act (and speak?) to the others around who must assume and detect that as the true Tserri. Importantly, any violence or death-dealing on the false Tserri looks absolutely real. Thus, he can get up to all sorts of insane trickery and counter-lethality with this under his belt.

Tserri, being a long-time serial killer, under such perfect stealth, is able to calmly and efficiently fire real lethal bullets at the brains of the soldiers in between the < 3 second lead-in time between Ephemeral 10 Seconds. Firing false-real bullets at those under his spell within the circumference during the vision & hallucination on viewers is still effective, as they become incapacitated by their own ‘damage.’ Tserri can thus enact massive half-massacres of real and fake damage mixed together!

From Tserriednich’s psyche & point-of-view, think of the notion of repeatedly seeing yourself and others slaughtered around you, realistic blood splattering and screams of dying, the pain and death…yeah, the dude is twisted, but how can you not be affected by this? The psychology of this ability and how Tserri is using it are truly atrocious and intriguing to consider!

This man sees the world as a playground for his darkest impulses, his lifestyle of violence and death-dealing is just a long feast for his own sensation. // And yet, what happens when he is truly harmed and not his illusory self? How will he react when he realizes he’s not as untouchable as he feels?

Recall this is all possible because Tserri spent so much time mastering the achievement of Zetsu in his room (initially due to the false tip of Theta trying to get him to master the least immediately useful Nen capacity). After ascertaining his power, T knew it was going to be key to his victory, a way to dominate the Succession War. And here is the burgeoning apotheosis of his plan. // Though it is true that Tserriednich’s theatric ‘implementation’ of his power upon the Royal Army has now further locked down the ship and left him stranded on the Tier 1 boat.

He will now have to get creative and continually improvise to escape the all-out manhunt that will soon commence.

It is now rather funny to think of Benjamin and Halkenburg and Camilla and the other major players doing all this running around and hyper-theorycrafting, trying to wage intra-hall shadow warfare, during these past days and weeks…and now Tserri gets to use the boat as candyland because of this broken-ass ability. It’s freakin’ awesome to see play out; you can never predict anything – in universe or out, as the reader – in Hunter x Hunter and with the creative power of Nen dictating the narrative flow!

“We may regard the present state of the universe as the effect of its past and the cause of its future. An intellect which at a certain moment would know all forces that set nature in motion, and all positions of all items of which nature is composed, if this intellect were also vast enough to submit these data to analysis, it would embrace in a single formula the movements of the greatest bodies of the universe and those of the tiniest atom; for such an intellect nothing would be uncertain and the future just like the past could be present before its eyes.”
—  Pierre Simon Laplace, A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities

Precision Paneling

I can see why Togashi sensei spoke of struggles when it comes to the blocking of this chapter. So much spatial positioning and precise double-reality thinking.

Tserri is an incredible actor/bullshitter here! Very impressive to do this while bullets fly.

The 4th Prince’s training with the Royal Army is paying off, alongside his former rapport with Borksen and Otocin and the others; the man knows how to talk to military grunts under heavy chain of command and anticipate their actions, eliciting cowardice or courage or foolishness at his will and whim.

Tserriednich, in this way, reminds me much of a character like Hannibal Lecter, who is able to play social games at such a degree because 1) he’s a psychopath, or at least able to *turn off* his more compassionate emotions like taking off a suit, and 2) because he sees most people as prey and has much practice manipulating… #DarkCharisma

What is Satan’s Plan?

Hunter x Hunter has become Tserri x Tserri. He’s getting his own palace invasion sequence, inversed, as a great escape. One man able to deal real damage (to normies) and get away under the cloak of repeatable false realities.

His main risks are rival Nen-users and leaving lots of survivors yet. More times he uses his ability around others the more they will hone in on its true nature. // Continually changing his appearance may become a must the longer he is exposed to encounters.

What is Tserriednich’s initial plan? To escape Tier 1 and get to the lower decks, to make it to the justice bureau? Confront Morena or ask her for sanctuary? Find Borksen or the rest of his old ‘Tserri Squad’?

He wants to dodge more soldiers and Benjamin’s super-powered personal guard, for now. Though vengeance and the actual nuts and bolts winning of the Succession War, i.e. lots more murdering, will need to be confronted later.

Clearly, at the present moment, he wants to stabilize his position and figure out a plan for dealing with Benjamin, either via counter-attack or evasion. On the way, does he commit more atrocities and massacres? How much of his actions are the results of thirsts and desires he cannot entirely control?

The more he uses his power the more ambitious and arrogant he may become. He sure is having a lot of fun right now. And from my position, such abilities cannot be without some further drawback too…

There are still guesswork elements, namely his long-necked freaky-deaky Guardian Spirit Beast’s ability and the storage timing of his Dark Angel Jester Nen beast’s ‘battery’ to maintain the illusory space while Tserri operates within on Zetsu.

Without more knowledge of Nen and its other functions, or sheer counter-active possibilities inside of enemy experts, does Tserri have what it takes to survive for long?

Tserriednich x Hisoka🃏?

Tserri’s priorities: stay ‘dead’ x limit ability usage x kill witnesses x get rich gambling(?) 🎰

Tserri’s reality: he is about to meet a real demon 👹 who can treat him as a plaything and already knows much about trick deaths.

Will these two freaks have rapport? 🃏

Will Tserriednich find Hisoka – or more likely, the other way around?

Has Hisoka just been dicking around or will Bonolenov’s holy corpse be left below the slots?

What might the relationship be, if any, between Tserri and Hiso? It seems unlikely Hisoka would garner much pleasure from a fight, but mayhap he sniffs the 4th Prince’s Nen potential, fresh off his illusory gambits and local massacring…

Might Hisoka be eager to shelter and groom another hyper-powered Nen-user, presently as master-and-apprentice and in the future as predator-and-prey. Stranger things have happened (and will continue to…)

I just know Chapter 420, the finale of this immaculate batch, is gonna be a show.

Thank you Togashi sensei for the SUCCESSION WAR!!

Next week on HUNTER x HUNTER — Chapter 420: Freak x Freak. 👹👹

END.

Read the official Hunter x Hunter manga at VIZ or Shueisha.

https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/chapters/hunter-x-hunter

~700 words / 5 minute read / Adaptation of my Tweet Thread (links in subheadings) from earlier this morning:

Tserriednich x Netero

Simply put: he’s a Netero. Mind, body, soul. It is all here. Including the amorality…though Tserri’s roll on that front has been especially pernicious.

With the Futuresight Ability – heavy restrictions on altering the fate of people within his field. It is more about hiding / stealth / fooling others.

Changing the state of OBJECTS but not BEINGS is a huge restriction but being able to move around himself and influence the surroundings is still hugely powerful. He can set up room scenarios or simply escape pursuers with ease while also continuously faking his death at their hands!

How the hell would you capture this guy?

Ephemeral Zone Diagrams

I love when Togashi sensei starts drawing spatial diagrams with various scenarios hashed and fun little chibi toons. // The possibility remains throughout this chapter, titled Hypothesis, that elements of Tserri’s understanding are false. // Is this really only Level 1??

Thank God For Me

Like many young people today, 4th Prince Tserriednich has mastered the ability of *Dissociation.*

Seems it and Zetsu go hand in hand.

Dissociation defined ~ Dissociation is a concept which concerns a wide array of experiences, ranging from a mild emotional detachment from the immediate surroundings, to a more severe disconnection from physical and emotional experiences. The major characteristic of all dissociative phenomena involves a detachment from reality, rather than a false perception of reality as in psychosis.

Tserri’s major weakness while using his ability is *physical contact.* As someone who has violated and mutilated countless others, namely women, with his own hands and through his heinous black market enterprises & proclivities — Tserriednich will now have to especially fear *being touched* lest his illusions run out and he’s caught in the act of trickery by someone who knows more Nen than he does (and wants him truly dead).

Open Questions about Tserri’s “Ephemeral Future”

OK some things that confuse / intrigue me about Tserri’s ability:

1) Can he not see <or> influence his *Ephemeral Self* at all? He just sees Ben stomping air where he’d be but does not see his double’s bloody mess. And he cannot make his Ephemeral Self do anything but stand silently where he was? Because that is the same as what he did in those 10 seconds before?

2) Can he create / introduce *new* objects into the field while it is active? Clearly he can if he’s writing his will and placing it somewhere for Salkov to find and read — all while his ability is active. // This act of writing or making new objects in this way is simply part of *his ability to manipulate OBJECTS inside the ephemeral reality*

3) Do the aimed bullets still fire in the real area of that room? Clearly Ben and Theta fired their guns and those bullets must’ve hit the wall. But we don’t see evidence of this by Tserri checking it himself.

Ephemeral Killer Tserri?

Ooh, another major intrigue:

Tserri could theoretically still kill someone this way with a gun or thrown knife by *dropping his Zetsu state while the projectile is still in the air*

Would this not work? Of course, he’d then reveal himself and unsummon the illusory reality.

But the missile would continue traveling to its destination, right?

The Return of Theta & Her Divine Knowingness

One of the greatest chapter conclusions yet.

Theta is back and her role is unresolved.

I believe she *did* see him, or sense him, due to her curse mark from Tserri’s Guardian Spirit Beast!

Them two are marked by fate; The Devil’s Tour commences.

~

Coda: Theta is one of my favorite characters; one of the bravest souls and perhaps our only hope of designing Tserridnich’s demise; she is now a prophet of the Anti-Christ, knowing he’s out there, moving about, coming for it all…and yet unable to know when or how he shall come again into her purview.

Can she make it Kurapika…? One can only pray.

END.

Howdy internet,

A passion of mine is to watch great movies. My watchlist and taste have developed from research, essays, and critic lists I have found online. As a result of myriad movies watched, I developed some lists of my own. I believe they are worthy of sharing. Continuously so, I hope to be a singular tastemaker to all who encounter me and my work.

On Letterboxd as username:Zsoro, I have formed three major categories to recognize the greatest movies, in as humble an opinion as can be produced by someone who would create such lists. 😁

Link leads to the full list on Letterboxd:

Body ~ films that animate the body

The Body list comprises action-focused films. Blood and sweat and horror are on the menu. These are adventures and *big* movies, in one way or another — faces, FX, settings, martial arts, gun battles, bodies, and so on. All that good stuff. The Body films will get your adrenaline pumping.

Playlist link: https://letterboxd.com/zsoro/list/body/

Mind ~ films that spiral the mind

The Mind list includes my favorite mind-benders and intellectually stimulating vistas. These are sci-fi flicks and anxious thrillers, plot-heavy projects with brain-warping imagery. The Mind films will have you thinking hard and challenging your preconceptions.

Playlist link: https://letterboxd.com/zsoro/list/mind/

Soul ~ films that touch the soul

The Soul list presides over some of the all-around greatest films. Soul is most all-encompassing of the attributes and these pictures might be recognized as the principal masterpieces of the art. They harrow the heart and meld the soul into new realities borne of writers, directors, and actors involved in a great cinematic becoming.

Playlist link: https://letterboxd.com/zsoro/list/soul/

Ironically, the best films blend elements of all three of my lists, instantly rendering them imperfect. Alas, my mind slices them this way nonetheless. My Letterboxd lists are continuously added to as I cover more of the cinematic journey.

The top 52 films of each category I created infographics for, to showcase a kind of starter guide into the realms of great cinema. All opinions are my own, of course. There is a level of chronology to my lists, in the sense that they are also sometimes my original watch order or represent a recommended sequencing.

Think of my lists as an incomplete overview into the generalized categories I have created — by one-word: action x plot x heart.

Thanks for reading. Happy watching. 🍿🎞️

~ a short story / Raimi Spider-Man (2002) fan fiction.

Peter awoke to find his head wracked and his mind confused. Searing, sizzling pain smoothed out to bring synthesis to his local awareness. And the realization that he’d been defeated.

A green gas puffed out of his lips. His body wasn’t responding. Sensation shimmered and faded from his half-conscious state.

“Wake up little spider. Wake up. No, you’re not dead. Not yet. Just paralyzed temporarily.”

The words crackled out of a mouth that was familiar. But the voice, the words, they stung like daggers. Shredded through his psyche. It was him.

The image of the Green Goblin muddled into view. Exhaust smoke wafted from steel tubes along the ruddy surface of a three story somewhere in Hell’s Kitchen.

Peter’s skin tingled with anticipation. But the danger was not mortal. Not yet. He remembered Jameson’s office from before. Goblin had Jonah by the throat…

Jameson didn’t sell me out!

Then there was his intervention. The gas — 

“It’s no use Spider-Man. I’ve got you for the next six minutes…”

Goblin paced before Spidey’s utterly vulnerable form. It was well into the night, day when the attack on the Daily Bugle building occurred. Streets below hummed with the activity of millions of New Yorkers fiending for late night fixes of one kind or another. Peter lamented. Missing my patrol… He kept my mask on… Why?

Still unable to raise his arms, Spider-Man put his mind to work. Who *is* the Green Goblin?

“You’re an amazing creature, Spider-Man. You and I are not so different,” said the Goblin.

“I’m not like you,” returned Peter groggily yet instantly, barely more than a whisper but with the force of his heart. “You’re a murderer.”

Goblin shrugged. “Well, to each his own.” Peter could feel his smirk underneath the mask. The metallic emerald sheened with the splendor of the night’s aura, the moonlight from a clear sky. He wondered at who the mad man was underneath.

“I chose my path, you chose the way of the hero,” Goblin said.

Peter sat and listened. His muscles twitched weakly, periodically urged into action, yet unto failure.

“And they found you amusing for a while, the people of this city.” Goblin raised his finger, his voice became sharper, more incisive with every syllable.

“But the one thing they love more than a hero — is to see a hero fail. Fall. Die trying… In spite of everything you’ve done for them, eventually they’ll hate you. Why bother?”

Peter took a deep breath in through the microfibers in his mask. He studied Goblin’s eyes with their tinted glass coverings gone. There was much more than mere madness in the man’s eyes. Intelligence, focus. In his gaze was a kind of purity, even enlightenment. A dark one perhaps. A wrong one, Peter reminded himself.

“…Because it’s right,” Spider-Man managed to spit out in response.

Goblin moved closer. His suit was strong. Spider-Man’s fists could attest to that. But as he watched him saunter over to him — sensation screaming for him to fly while his body could not comply — Peter saw the material was nearly as light as air. Before, in their fights at the celebration, at the Bugle, Goblin maneuvered on the glider with ease.

The suit lets him move as fast as me. He won’t be easy to beat…

Goblin slapped him on the head, lazily, playfully. Peter furrowed a brow. His enemy leaned casually against the arched glass to his side. Spidey couldn’t do a thing to him. He felt a fury growing at his own impotence.

“Here’s the real truth,” Goblin said. “There are eight million people in this city, and those teeming masses exist for the sole purpose of lifting the few exceptional people onto their shoulders.” Goblin tapped him on the shoulder, crouched down slow to make his words land.

“You, me. We’re exceptional.”

Peter looked forward, turned his head away. Resistance came with such simple motion, as pitiful as it was. To reply with words would be folly.

Goblin’s eyes narrowed as he studied his reaction through the suit. Gloved fingers raised his chin up. Face to face with the daemonic green mask. He purred out the threat as he pressured Peter’s jawbone with unnatural strength.

“I could squash you like a bug right now. But I’m offering you a choice. Join me! Imagine what we could accomplish together… what we could create.” Goblin moved away, paused in apparent wonderment, then came disgust.

“Or we could destroy! Cause the deaths of countless innocents in selfish battle again and again and again! Until we’re both dead. Is that what you want?”

Goblin moved to jump onto his glider. Peter leaned forward, willing his body to leap. To no avail.

“What would you ever create, Goblin?” Spider-Man asked.

Sardonic, with a dose of mockery that he wanted the Goblin to feel. Goblin’s glider powered down, settled back into place near the chimney.

Hands on his hips, Goblin leaned back into a raucous laugh. It went on for so long that Peter almost joined in too. Spider-Man tensed. He awaited Goblin’s response.

“Do you know why I wear green?”

“Don’t answer a question with a question, old man,” Spider-Man said.

Goblin lunged forward, arms raised. Peter flinched; Spider-Man didn’t.

“Come on, Spider-Man. Guess,” the Goblin sizzled his whispers from out of those silver fangs.

“Green is the color of greed. Envy. Goblins. You’ve got shades of all three.”

Goblin chuckled. “Try nature.”

“W-what?” Peter stammered, caught off guard by the word, his answer.

“Green is also the color of Mother Nature,” Goblin reiterated.

Spidey snorted, “Never saw you as a green thumb. Aren’t you neglecting your azaleas right now?”

A frown solidified underneath the mask’s toothy grimace, the Goblin’s eyes glazed over with an uncanny determination.

“Forty thousand years of evolution and we’ve barely even tapped the vastness of human potential,” Goblin said.

Spidey could hear his knuckles bracing under the padded gloves of his emerald suit.

“Is that what you want, Goblin? A new humanity, empowered by your technology, evolved by your super drugs — 

“Plant medicine!” Goblin snapped.

Spidey could suddenly move his neck, roll his shoulders. He did his best to hide it. “And what might Mother’s medicine do for humanity? Make it easier for people like you to hurt innocents, to wage war…” Peter spoke through gritted teeth. He would not let witty banter with a villain like this, no matter how much common ground they may have, turn him. Peter forced himself to remember all the people he’d hurt, the lives he’d taken.

“Innocents?” Goblin scoffed. “Look around you. This is New York City. The jewel of an empire soaked in more crimson than your pretty little suit…”

“Those people you killed didn’t hurt anyone!” Peter argued.

“Oh, but didn’t they? Oscorp oversees a vast array of inhuman machinery and human misery, all over the world and back here, too. War. Imperialism. Exploitation. Control. Those who wield the most power bathe in the most blood… Rest assured Spider, they got what they deserved.”

Oscorp! Peter exclaimed inside. That’s right. Handful of the casualties from the event were the board members from Oscorp. Nothing left but bones and dust. They were targeted by his tech, no collateral kills nearby. Goblin is connected to Oscorp, he wants revenge…

“The world is a complex place,” Spidey returned, unsure of what to say to keep the conversation going. Maybe I can pry out more, actually figure out who he is right now.

“Not so complex, Spider.” Goblin looked out over the midnight skyline, the gleaming billboards and dotted, golden towers aflame with sleepless laboring. Goblin shut his eyes, urged the moment of reflection upon Peter too.

“Take it in. Use those special senses. Understand the system you serve. The people that you ultimately protect. Yes, there are innocents. They’ll die like they do every day! But what I’m here to do is much more important than a few worthless lives along the way…”

“There are no worthless lives!” Peter Parker shouted, his voice coming back.

Goblin widened his gaze, stared through Spider-Man’s soul, he pointed a modest finger, bubbled out the grim reply in a deep tone, “There we disagree.”

“Violence is never the answer,” Spider-Man said.

“It is for what I want! Heh, as if you abide by that sentiment yourself.”

Goblin paced, took a heavy breath, then turned to the prostrate hero again.

“You wanna know what I really want, Spider? Change. Revolution. What do I wish to create? A new world. A world upside down! I am here to kill the tyrants and return the Earth to her people. That is why I dress in green.”

“Even if it means becoming a tyrant yourself,” Spidey spat. Sense returned to his fingers. His mind raced for angles, tactics, plans of attack. The glider still hovered a step back from him. Need to get him away from that… Take his sight, crack his jaw.

“A goblin is never a tyrant,” he barked with sudden ferocity. “An assassin, a jester, a bomb, yes… but never a king.” Goblin shuddered underneath his suit, words barreled down from his throat at an octave lower than before. Spidey tingled with insight. He suffers from psychosis…

“You’re delusional, Goblin,” Peter winced, an unmistakable concern in his voice. The words weren’t a slight. Peter wondered at what kind of affliction came with the Goblin’s powers, all while Spidey surreptitiously thumbed at his web slingers. He could nearly reach them to fire. Peter was eternally thankful no such chemical imbalance came packaged with his own powers. Or so I think…

Goblin’s tone shifted again suddenly; the elder studied his open palm with an unnerving grace. “Mythology pits the goblin as a force of nature. They have a responsibility to the world… I must be reckoned with!” he screamed from the roof.

“The goblin is chaos incarnate; the goblin does not lead, but reveals, revolves, revs up revelations for the people below. Goblin makes Man see his choices, his sins.”

The Green Goblin’s words shimmered and echoed through the cool New York air.

“I don’t want to kill you, Spider-Man,” he finished with a crack in his voice.

“So you’re here to absolve us?” Spidey feigned absently, with a not-so-hidden urgency bracing his whole body for coming action.

“Precisely,” Goblin whispered. A graven look. He glanced down at his enemy, squared against him.

“Guess it’s up to me to absolve yours!” Spider-Man exclaimed.
“Attaboy,” Goblin gurgled.

With that, Spider-Man jumped into action, finally free from the nerve agent. He used his left to fire a surprise web attack intended to blind. It landed true, stuck over the goblin mask’s left eye before the glass covering could shutter down; the other stared back with rage. Spidey’s strength nearly failed from the murderous intensity of that glare as he delivered a right hook toward Goblin’s elongated mouth.

His sense tingled with a terrifying intuition. This was the first moment in Peter’s short career as a hero that he struck with less than certain intention. It was the first time he engaged in battle with the prospect not that he may lose — but that he may not deserve to win.

Why? Peter and Spidey questioned with no discernible answer.

The Green Goblin cackled with glee as he took one punch, two punches. The laughter grew uproarious, truly maddening as Spidey delivered a third. It all halted to silence as Goblin finally caught his pummeling knuckles with his left. Full stop, all momentum stalled. That single, rotten eye bore down. Peter’s bones crunched under the grip of the Goblin.

Goblin cracked his right hand across Spider-Man’s mouth, knocking the wavering hero instantly unconscious again.

Goblin sighed with a glance down at his defeated foe, the boy’s choice seemingly made.

Maybe not… Goblin thought. Reason requires evidence. Even madness needs a cause. Vigilantism can be just…The bug’s own violence is proof of that.

The Green Goblin saw the world then as his foe saw it; Norman Osborn thought of theory, of the ongoing crimes and secret history of the corporate behemoth he spent the better part of his life building.

Norman considered the kid underneath that suit, his heart’s many possible paths. And responsibilities. Goblin schemed fresh plots to exploit them, to turn his heart into the revolution he envisioned.

Norman, the Green Goblin, hopped onto his purring glider. With one last look at the one and only Spider-Man, he left a whisper on the wind before departing,

“I’ll make a goblin out of you yet.” ~

Spider-Man is one of my favorite characters; I think this game is a near-perfect Spidey experience. I wanted to write about it and what I think makes the character so meaningful.

Swinging

From the jump {literally} of this game’s intro, it’s apparent that Insomniac understands deeply what will make a good Spider-Man video game. I will give you zero guesses to know what that is.

It’s the web-slinging! Playing Spider-Man is all about the jumping and running, the momentum and speed and ingenuity and visceral feel of swinging throughout the massive New York cityscape. This game has been a long time coming and it feels so good.

Thank you Insomniac.

This is why everyone wants to be Spider-Man.

You can see it ‘why it’s good’ quite clearly in gameplay videos. Seamless from a technical perspective, beautiful to witness. The physics of Spidey’s body are hyper-realistic. There is a visible ebb and flow to his deep dives towards the streets and the inevitable catch of the swings carrying him back up towards the peaks of the skyscrapers. There is a rhythm to it. All of it just works — the leaping, the wall-running, the flipping at the apex of a swing, and all the other creative methods they have cooked up for this uniquely satisfying manner of movement throughout the game’s concrete jungle. Spidey has a practically endless number of ways to keep up his momentum, and there’s a variety of unique animations to showcase this {and how much fun Peter Parker seems to be having, much like yourself}. All of this can be observed in merely watching the game.

Playing it feels unlike anything else. This is a game where the most basic form of moving throughout its environment feels like its greatest achievement. One can swing throughout the city for an hour, getting lost in the motion and the sights and sounds of NYC, without having felt that there needed to be anything else for the gameplay experience to be rewarding {but rest assured there’s a ton to do in this game}.

In many open world games, moving from one end of the map to the other can eventually feel like a chore. As Spider-Man these long treks are a satisfyingly sacred art.

Launch yourself into Times Square, web swinging with abandon through all of the lights and the cars and the gunmen, dodging all manner of architectural obstacles and homing rockets on your way; sling around corners with motion-blurring speed, making hairpin turns through narrow apartment alleys; slingshot yourself over Madison Square Garden and into the nightscape beyond; swing low, skimming the trees and the falling leaves of Central Park; run vertically up the Empire State Building’s full expanse, leap all the way down from its summit, to within a few meters of hitting the street, only to propel yourself into a mega swing, angling yourself and peaking just above the distant skyline, the setting sun shining through for a glimpse before gravity’s inevitable pull drops you back down into the city’s density — to do it all over again.

Of course, the sheer novelty of this wears off as one progresses further into the game, moving beyond these simplistic presses of R2, and jumping into the full capabilities of everything the Web Crawler can do. But for those first few hours — the swinging is the opus. And it never really gets old, even as it becomes second nature. This is in part due to Insomniac’s easy to learn / difficult to master control scheme.

By the time one gets deep into the game, you are so good at it — understanding each of the complex commands necessary to keep Spidey moving and grooving through the Big Apple — that you feel as though you are Spider-Man.

Combat

Spider-Man is a comic book superhero. And something superheroes do is fight. Grasping the ingenuity of the skillful fighting that Spider-Man is capable of, and actually capturing it within the context of a game, is perhaps an even more impressive feat than the swinging. But Insomniac is now for two-for-two.

Canonically {theoretically}, Spider-Man can fight an endless number of armed goons, and teaming, hyper-powered supervillains alike, primarily via the use of one indispensable attribute — Spidey Sense. This sense, of course, alerts him to danger and allows for split-second reactions, which create opportunities to be capitalized upon. Just as in the comics, it is all over this game — consistently functional and constantly tingling. Here is the primary mechanism with which Spidey is able to fight against insanely stacked odds. The escalating numbers and skill sets of his enemies are necessarily offset by the deftness of Spidey’s gifts. Somehow no matter the odds, he always has the advantage.

The elegant solution to manifesting the power of the Spidey Sense, both in the comics and in this game, is to present a pulsing light around Spidey’s head. Easily and necessarily discernible as a warning sign of imminent violence in the height of the action, the O-button dodge action becomes vital to success in armed conflicts with Spidey’s many enemies.

Thus, in using the Sense, Spider-Man is much like a rogue — a nimble, lithe, and shifting speed-demon that can simply dodge anything given he is lucid and can focus for a moment on the danger at hand. The combat experience of the game {not unlike the Arkham Batman games & Assassin’s Creed} pits Spidey as the central radial agent upon the spokes of diverse threats, demanding exacting counters, on all sides of him. Fortunately for the player, Spider-Man is decked out physically and technologically and his battle tactics are practically infinite. Over the course of the game, one becomes a Black Belt in the Spidey Arts.

Everything starts with the punches & kicks, working your way up to loose one-stop-shop “finisher” moves in the midst of the brawl // not surprisingly, there are a laundry list of web tricks to push, pull, position and maneuver through swords and guns and grenades and blasts of dark energy // Of course, Spidey has his web shots locked and loaded — big ones, small ones, trap ones, electrical ones, area-of-effect ones, gravity ones… // You can always uppercut foes into mid-air combat, where Spidey juggles folks away from the rabble and can slam them back down into it // Feel free to dodge off the wall any time, for crowd-controlling punches, swing webbed up enemies and throw them like a grenade, engage your special suit powers for that game-changing X-factor during Wave 5, when your health is running low. // Or just start jumping and swinging around your foes, dodging bullets and thinking things over…

From all of this, there is any number of directions your strategy could go during the course of a single bout. This is what makes the combat so satisfying. As you progress through the game, leveling up and collecting reward points to spend on new gadgets and feats, you add these new arts to your repertoire. Each one provides a unique and useful element to your combat proficiency, but often only in particular circumstances or on specific enemies. Thus, you must alight yourself to everything you know Spidey can do versus what the enemies or the boss you are facing can do — and develop a strat in real-time, taking into account your counters & vulnerabilities as well as theirs.

And the game demands you use nearly everything at your disposal — especially in the later stages and on the highest difficulty. You will need both a mental and physical level of dexterity to consistently defeat Fisk’s bases of men, the energy-wielding “Demons,” the Sable spec ops agents, The Sinister Six…

The most difficult stretches of combat involve Spidey jumping constantly, swinging around, dodging every third second, and generally using every single thing he has learned thus far to survive {or win with ease if you are good enough}.

Once again, this is all to convey that playing this game feels like you have become Spider-Man. This level of depth imbued into the variety of what the character can do in motion and in fighting is in part why Insomniac’s game succeeds so thoroughly.

If I did have any complaints, it would have to do with the repetitive nature of the side missions, the use of quick-time events in cinematic moments taking away your agency as a player, and the relative ease of the boss fights. However, in the grand scheme of the experience I believe these are minor. Sometimes simplicity can be a good thing in a game.

Insomniac made this for everyone — much in the vein of what Spider-Man represents — and such aspects make the game more manageable and fun for people who might not be as experienced playing games in general.

Character & Story

Visual and gameplay feats aside, it is also evident Insomniac understands the character of Spider-Man. In the game, taking on this iconic character, you have all the same elements of his ability and his personality readily at your disposal. This is important, because I think that every great Spidey story is a complex interplay between the dual lives of Peter’s in tandem with his alter ego’s.

Throughout this game’s story arc, Peter Parker is just as important as Spider-Man to the progressions of events and to the player’s understanding of the character and the world around him.

Through playing this game, I have been thinking about it while also coalescing my previous understanding of the character, and I have come to the conclusion that there is something intrinsic that makes Peter Parker so timelessly fascinating and so mythically, vitally heroic:

He is relentlessly conscientious, but not effortlessly so. Spider-Man is both a paragon and an everyman.

Spidey struggles with everything he is doing and it has everything to do with his heart and his empathy and his choices. Spider-Man and his superpowered actions in the world represent Peter’s great moral responsibility he feels has been thrust upon him. He knows that if he doesn’t act justly, then innocent people will end up dying — their blood on his hands because of what he could’ve done to prevent it but merely chose not to. And yet, despite holding these convictions and donning the Spidey suit, Peter still constantly struggles with this ethical imperative.

Simply put, it’s because he simultaneously wants to live his own life, bearing out his interpersonal relationships in some kind of peace. Peter Parker’s story conveys the embodiment of personal sacrifice for the greater good — something, to some degree, we all know something about. This is the telos of Peter Parker’s mission as Spider-Man and his struggle as a human being. And this game gets it.

The game picks up well into Parker’s career as Spider-Man {8+ years in the making}. By this point, Uncle Ben has dropped “W.G.P.C.G.R.”, he’s faced much of his rogue’s gallery, and there’s a lot of history within Parker’s familiar circle of influence {especially Mary Jane}. This is a significant decision Insomniac has made because it means all of the conflicts and struggles and the push and pull of Peter’s conscientious responsibility versus his own self-interest and desire to live a relatively peaceful life is still in play at this point where you pick up the character.

All of the restless disquiet is still relevant almost a decade into the role of Spidey. One of the ways the game imparts Peter’s past misadventures as a nascent Spider-Man is by scattering collectible backpacks throughout the city, each with a small but meaningful memento. He’s grown into his role, but only in the context of a fraught history. It shows that in spite of Parker’s veteran status as NYC’s friendly neighborhood superhero, one can never fully escape the existential stress of trying to transcend oneself. This is the philosophical framework that the Spider-Man story explores and I think what makes him so compelling as a character. I will try to elaborate on this.

A worldly philosophy equates striving and attachment with suffering; one creates the other — in your hope is your despair. Peter Parker’s {and Spider-Man’s} story are filled with these kinds of sentiments, demonstrably so. However, given the character and his journey — to both Peter and to the audience — it’s all certainly worthy of the effort. Ultimately, in every iteration of the character — Spider-Man is an idealized hero.

Peter Parker always does the right thing, even if it’s the hardest call to make and against the most challenging odds.

Peter Parker sees the good in every person.

Peter Parker always does his best.

Peter Parker never gives up.

This is the ideal. This is what inspires folks. This is the paragon.

But because he cares so much, because he is so effective at doing good and directly as a result of him not allowing himself to give up — on his city, on his friends, on his foes, on himself — he gets himself into trouble. He strives to save everyone — he has to. And when every life matters, then his own personal attachments necessarily become lesser in the wake of the “greater good.” Because he dreams so big and his heart is filled with so much hope — inevitably, he experiences the greatest forms of suffering as the inadequacies and misfortunes and tragedies of reality set in around him. Sometimes, his conscientiousness and his conscience aren’t enough to save him from the worst kinds of fates. These ‘troubles’ are of the heart.

In truth, Peter is a mess. This is why we love him.

Peter Parker creates many of his own problems, even going as far as to play a hand in the origins of his worst enemies. Spidey’s sadistic supervillains are in fact all human beings driven mad by their ambitions, most of whom Parker knows personally. And of course, he knows and explicitly understands they have damn good reasons for existing as they are now, with a good faith comprehension of the tragedies which led them down the path where they must cross him. This makes fighting against them, or trying to turn them back, much more challenging — while remaining absolutely imperative. Peter is undoubtedly an empath. It’s something that makes him both endearing and constantly filled with a degree of discord, seeing that he feels the pain of those he must fight.

With the many threads in play connecting these dangers to his personal life, Peter then chooses to hide his heart and his fear behind his mask. It’s a protective measure, but in more ways than he might initially realize. In his anonymous competence as Spider-Man, he is supremely confident. Under the guise, Peter’s inhibitions release, and the self-conscious Peter Parker of the day {diffident-neurotic-vulnerable} falls away for a time. His personality frees itself alongside his sense of humor, even under what would appear to be the tensest situations. And yet, under the cowl and within his alter ego, Peter still never sees his role as a consequence-free one. He understands what he represents and what his presence can be to the community — as a symbol and as an agent for change. {i.e. “with great power comes great responsibility.}

“When you help someone you help everyone.” ~ May

Spider-Man’s ability to dispense of solutions to the problems on the violent streets of the at-times unfriendly neighborhood via some well-aimed webs and surgical punches necessarily appears simple compared to those of the deeply interpersonal kind he skirmishes with in his daily life. These are the kinds of problems his powers cannot actually help with, {i.e. juggling school/career(s), girl problems, keeping secrets from those he most wishes to tell, giving up on his newly villainous friends, etc.}

All the time, through his career as a part-time vigilante, part-time scientist, part-time community center volunteer, part-time nephew and boyfriend and friend to those he cares about — he, like everyone else, contends with his own shadow self {what if my power afforded zero responsibility? What if I could do whatever I wanted? What if Spider-Man was someone that acted utterly pathologically?}. He agonizes over the life and death decisions he has forced himself into making on a daily basis while at the same time being ever-presently self-aware of the opinions and judgments of his friends and foes alike upon his person.

“You’re more than your past. Don’t let it control you.” ~ Peter to Li.

“Do what you think is best. It’s all any of us can… even if it hurts like hell.” ~ Peter to Otto.

Ultimately, Peter is so vitally concerned with his choices because he knows he can do anything — accomplish any goal, achieve any objective, defeat all the villains at once OR save all of the people in need of saving. Thus, he has to choose wisely. His actions matter so much to him because with his power he is potentially culpable for so much. In any given situation, in everything Spider-Man is choosing not to do, there are the highest possible stakes. To consistently think in this way is perhaps unreasonable, yet remains admirable. In fact, you could argue Spider-Man’s depth of introspection is his greatest power.

I think all of this {and much more} is accounted for in this game’s depiction of the character. For Spider-Man vets and newcomers alike experiencing this game, the power of the character and his story is essentially present in these ways. The forms and methods and the good Spider-Man does in Insomniac’s beautiful game is fundamentally eclipsed by why Peter chooses to be doing all these things.

And even if we aren’t making superheroic ones ourselves, the timeless challenge of choice is something we all understand.

There is no doubt a level of singularity and complexity to Spider-Man and Peter Parker and this character’s many stories. Superheroes are fantasy after all. But at the same time, this all sounds rather familiar to us, right? Spidey stories feel more localized to our reality, and to the average person’s modern experience, than almost any other comic book character.

Spider-Man creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, in their enumerations on the character’s origins, bring light to the simple fact that they were ‘trying to create a character that young people could identify with.’ In the sense that everyone is young once, Spidey is a character for everyone. Whereas many superheroes of the day were dealing with cosmic conflicts of a kind too big and earth-shaking to relate with, Spider-Man, on the other hand, was a teenager.

Peter is a person before he is a hero, and is one contending with the loss of a loved one, the endeavor of first love, the trials and tribulations of trying to make a living in a harsh and unforgiving world, and those crises of conscience one labors over when faced with a difficult choice. Peter Parker is a person endlessly and imperfectly striving towards a better tomorrow, in spite of all of the adversity coming his way.

Maybe we could all be Spider-Man.

It’s practically impossible not to see some of yourself in Peter Parker. Everyone struggles to balance our sense of self and our relationships with our responsibilities and our passions. I think to some degree everyone tries to turn their personal tragedy into worldly motivation. We all struggle in trying to do the right thing. We all wish to make something of ourselves, we all wish to make the world a better place — in spite of our insecurities and our self-doubts and the beckoning of our shadow. In our moments of grandiose idealism, we know there is a path for us worthy of the suffering that certainly lies ahead. If only we could sling our way into it with the necessary animation.

In all these ways, “with great power comes great responsibility” is just the beginning. Peter’s journey is filled with these burdens we can relate to. His superpowers simply escalate this struggle to at-times more monumental and cinematic proportions; the core of Peter’s passionate conflicts remain those of heart and empathy and choice.

Ultimately, despite everything I have just recapitulated — no one can do what Spidey can do {physically, morally, realistically} — but everyone thinks they would do what he does if they could. This game lets you experience exactly what it would be like.

In an effective coalescing of the compelling singularity of the character of Spider-Man into a video game — his aesthetic, his movement, and his moral agency — Insomniac’s game is an incredible feat in design and execution. Everyone should play it. ~

“Miriam” is a relatively simple tale about the power of nature. Below you will find my intro & trio of parameters — Genre: REVENGE | Character: HUNTER | Object: BINOCULARS // 1,000 words or less.

Dylan intro: a story about two hunters.

Miriam

Xavier glared through the binoculars, scanning the horizon for his mark, a wolf, one as white as a whale and as scarred as a daemon.

He’d positioned at the key ledge of the evergreen region’s north-facing cliff, where the pines crowded and edged off a look down into the expansive Emerald Valley below. The old hunter could see the vast varieties of trees. Pines, spruces, cedars, hemlocks. They shaded a healthy congregation of deer, herding and migrating, moving from creek to creek across February. From out of the leaves of a nearby Douglas-fir, a flock of robins scattered far into the overcast noonday glow.

Xavier edged over from his prone position at the cliffside to adjust the sights on his Remington 700 XCR Long-Range Tactical sniper rifle. He’d be looking at a six-hundred-meter shot, at least. A trained sniper, the fifty-nine-year-old shooter had not attempted a daring shot like this since back in Iraq. Different wolves, younger eyes.

Squirrels chirped and rushed over his head, dancing the branches of a red alder, providing a momentary distraction.

Xavier thought of Miriam again. Against his will. Flashes of her face kept reeling back from inside his consciousness. A swift wind froze his first and only tear. His eyes bore the freeze while the remainder of his layered form lay in absolute warmth. Thermals and jackets covered all; his Oboz Sawtooth boots had even had his feet sweating. A balaclava protected his mouth, alongside a bushy beard. Xavier re-scanned the binocular view, trying to keep images of Miriam from his memory.

Eight hundred pounds. Chocolate skin. Perfect milk. She was his most prized girl.

Dead. Ripped to shreds inside her pen by a daemon in the night.

“I too have been a daemon,” Xavier whispered. “From time to time.”

The hunter moved an eye from binoc to rifle scope, again laying down a thorough overwatch upon the valley. His eyes were drawn to the southern creek, where a herd of deer rested. Three bucks, four does, two fawns. They drank and basked in a small slice of pleasant glade. Sunrays beamed down to warm their spines and twinkle the waters. For a long moment, the old man was drawn into a reverie of better days. Childhood work in the morn, milking Betsy. Birdsong beyond the barn, the echoes of sisters’ laughter. The dog barking, father yelling at something, maybe mom…

Xavier shook his head and looked back through the binoculars, scanning the surrounding tree line. Away from his eye, all the deer turned their heads northward. The brush rattled and then they were off. A pack of six wolves chased the herd. Grey and black. Undersized, all young save for one. The deer bounded to the east and the hunters followed in swift pursuit.

Xavier quickly rolled over, settling his position with his hands on the rifle and eye down the scope.

No apparent snow-white one. Perhaps the shade marred them. The hunter trailed his barrel through the trunks where the predators dogged their prey; he watched all six wolves pass through the sunlight, on their way to running down one fawn and one doe at the breaching of a creek. One buck came back around to defend the wife and was jawed at by all six. They upended him and clamped down on every quadrant of the mighty beast, beginning to rend him apart.

Xavier fired two .308 caliber bullets in short succession, one into the skull of the largest wolf and another into the heart of the ripped elk, already flowing long strands of red into the running water.

The remainder of the deer ran on, farther into the forest. The wolves scattered at the shot and death of their alpha. Xavier looked down at the two dead creatures, plus the two others left along the path before. He quickly turned his scope back to the hunted doe and fawn, trigger finger primed to hit the other wolves as they came back for their kills.

Something blocked his scope. A small face. Xavier raised his head and saw a squirrel perched across the length of his rifle. Bushy tail brushed against his nose. The old sniper reared back to sneeze. The squirrel leaped off his rifle and away from the cliff, soon scratching up the nearby trunk of a western white pine. Xavier further loaded and then let loose his mighty sneeze, lurching his body sidelong. The scope of his rifle came off, one of the screws loose, and dropped into a soily crack in the earth.

“Dammit!” Xavier swore.

His hand brushed against the dry land, trying to reach down. Ant mound crumpled over his knuckles; ants crawled onto his fingerless gloves. He beat his hand against the earth. He heard a flurry of chirping and then felt a small thatch of feet rest upon his back. Xavier turned himself over, where a trio of Vaux’s swifts had landed from their flights. The birds made catty chirps as they took off, dodging their dusky feathers free of his chopping hands. Stings at the tips of his fingers summoned another swear on the edges of Xavier’s lips. He sat up and turned around to re-situate himself, clap his hands free of the ants.

But a presence in the wood before him turned his curse to silence.

A white silhouette. Scarred seemingly by the ages. One red eye, many mountainous teeth, and one craterous socket. The creature stood at the edge of the treeline, paws padding the break in the grass where the earth became stone. There was no sound in the world save for the wolf’s steely growl, steadily loosing free from its hellmouth.

Xavier turned to grasp his rifle and the beast rushed him hard and fast.

With only the iron sights to guide him, and two bullets left in his magazine, the sniper again saw Miriam. ~

“Grimjest’s Debut” is a comedic dark fantasy tale with a fantastique punchline. Below you will find my intro & trio of parameters — Genre: DRAMA | Character: HIPPIE | Object: Ribbon // 1,000 words or less.

Dylan’s intro: This story is one of several I have written in the last year inspired by a former D&D non-playing character. “Grimjest’s Debut” represents one imperative scene in his life, marking a passage between a dark past and an even darker future. Hope you enjoy!

Grimjest’s Debut

Manny was someone who long ago recognized the sublime virtue of a second chance.

He waited in line for patronage from King Edward III. In front of him was a young housewife who smelled of trout and beans. Behind him stood an old man on three legs, wobbling knees and stenching of death. Whatever they had come to ask for paled in comparison to Manny. Seven more peasants to go. Manny could hardly wait.

A line of townsfolk snaked around the castle’s main hall. Argentum had again become a temporary thoroughfare for the wishes and dreams of the commonfolk. It was March first, Patronage Day. It was on this day that every subject was allowed to ask the King for a request, if they so desired. If it was within the King’s power to do, and he deemed the act morally just, then the ask may be granted. Some commonly granted examples include increased butter provisions, more affordable arena tickets, and freedom from soldiering. Many other, more daring requests went unrequited, and some, of course, even resulted in the death of the asker.

Manny wore puffed pantaloons the color of the sun and an ocean blue shirt crisped like velvet at the cusps. He’d saved this outfit for such a special occasion. He wore a crimson ribbon around his neck like a scarf, letting it flutter behind him.

Three more to go. The people were asking for simpler and smaller things these days. Times in the kingdom were getting rough, Manny knew that. He’d known that for years. History cycled through the same abuses, the very same nightmares borne again and again. War. Plague. Starvation. Floods and fires. God was always working in mysterious ways to assassinate his mortals. The people who lived on were the ones that got to rule the future. The rules were set. Survival was the game.

Manny wore a tricorn hat multicolored red, blue, and yellow. Underneath it, he wore a mask. It was half-smiling, half-frowning, an artifact from his season acting in a traveling theater troupe. That was in the days before the purges of the alchemists, when knowledge was freely transferred and artists were granted a kingly stature at the cafe. Back then, Manny had known something like happiness.

If the two-faced mask was a reflection of Manny’s current state of mind as he approached his owed patronage, the red ribbon crossing his neck marked him as a son of fortune. In the lands of Argentum, the red lashing of the human form was as sacred as images come. Compared to the others in line, who wore little more than greys and sacks and coats, Manny gave the guardsmen something flamboyant to gawk at. They lined the pillars and Manny could feel their eyes and chuckles expensing his form. He welcomed the accumulations upon his tab.

To complete his jester’s uniform, Manny wore curved, high-heeled boots colored white and loud with metallic jangles.

The mother before him received some royal promise and she fled with tears in her eyes.

Manny looked into the eyes of King Ed. He bowed before the throne.

“What say you, jester?” King Edward III said. Blonde and bearded, piercing blue eyes and the build of a raider. He looked Manny up and down. “Do you have some number to perform for me?”

“As a matter of fact, Your Majesty, I do,” Manny said. He took two jangling steps toward the throne. Manny removed his mask, revealing his face to the King and his two guards. Manny pulled the ribbon off his neck and down his head rolled upon his arm. Manny grasped his brown locks of hair and held his skull aloft like a lantern.

The King and his guards gasped. The line of commoners riled, taking steps backward and forward.

Manny’s severed head spoke, “How is that for a trick?” He began to laugh, both his mouth and his belly acting remotely and yet in unison.

“What devilry is this!” the King shouted.

His two guards drew their swords and stepped in front of the throne in prepared defensive maneuvering.

Manny backed up, clutching his head like a shield.

“Oh, do not misunderstand me,” Manny said. “I mean no harm. I am here to entreat the King to make me his royal jester.”

The King turned to each of his two guards. Then he turned back to the smiling fool.

“I know your face, fiend. You are Manifold,” the King said, “one of the leaders of the Conspiracy of the Rose. I watched them cut off your head this morning.”

“Yes, that happened,” Manny said.

“Are you truly some daemon?” the King asked.

Manny put his head back on his shoulders, wrapping the ribbon back around once, twice, thrice to secure it.

“I yam what I yam,” Manny said. He looked around voraciously. “Speaking of which, do you have anything going in the kitchen? I’d like to eat soon. I get dehydrated and hungry after decapitation.”

The King slammed a fist on his throne. “Quit your nonsense and speak it plain. Who are you?”

“I admit Manifold is a false name,” Manny said, placing the mask back on his face. “You may call me Grimjest. Your new jester!” He spun in place, stamped his heels, and spread his stance, palms up in the practiced pose.

King said nothing, he turned to glance at his two guards again. They shrugged.

“Think about all the fun you could have with me, guys,” Manny said. “I am immortal. Unable to die, violently or otherwise. Haven’t you felt the punchline yet?”

“Guards,” the King commanded, “cut off his legs.”

The guards advanced, grinning.

“Well, you don’t have to start there,” Manny said, wearing a sheepish smile. He clicked his heels with as much gusto and precision as he could muster. “I can’t dance without those!”

“You wish to be my jester?” the King asked.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Here is your first performance, Grimjest. Survive. Prove your immortality. Make me laugh!” ~

Dylan’s intro: My story is pulpy and utilizes an existing character from some old stories of mine – who uses a multiform ‘laserwatch’ capable of solving most serious problems. The character of Exen Excelsior is primarily an exercise in *absolute confidence* wrapped in a fun-loving attitude inside of an action hero to rival James Bond or Ethan Hunt. Hope you enjoy my story!

DJ Excelsior and the Museum of Stolen Wealth

Exen Excelsior was never one to worry much about the odds.

He was like Han in that regard; you must never tell him the odds. Not because it would discourage him, but he’d mock you for it.

Exen overlooked the exhibits through the glass dome. A night wind cut over the rooftop. He repositioned himself for entry, carrying the slack of his tied harness perched upon his sneaksuit’s slick shoulder. Exen glanced down at his watch and blinked twice to start the ten-thousand-second clock ticking, then set it to one on the dot and activated the micro-laser to cut a man-sized circle into the glass. He was hitting the Omega sector to start his crusade, furthest from Dogma and least protected as a result. Ultra-armed SuperCops would be here in an hour or two at the soonest. All Exen had to do was gather his playlist before then and make his escape. Easy sleazy, sublime and squeezy.

For once, the odds were actually in his favor.

Exen saw it as a clear sign that his mission was true.

***

As Exen repelled down into the central atrium, he wheeled the outermost circle of his watch for three clicks. His whole body became shrouded in a cybernetic laser-mesh, only partially visible to the naked eye. The airborne infrared sensors from the facility interior, its first line of defense after the windows and walls, soon after graced his bottom and made no fuss at all.

Exen descended the final meters to the ground floor, then departed from his rope and left it hanging for a small reach. He dropped in a roll and donned his trinocular goggles for a multiview of subatomic readings. The black catsuit, with custom fit neo-tabis and toe-socks, protected him from silent alarms. Exen overviewed the museum’s rich space.

Upon the far walls were paintings, originals from the Old World. On the nearer walls were more modern conceptions, absconded from estates and formerly private collections throughout Nero’s purged districts. In the floor space were columns with glass cubes and spheres, each of them housing small to mid-sized artifacts. At the corners of the room were the most grandiose and real estate-demanding displays — the sculptures. They were mostly intact. Some looked as though they were wheeled right in from the past.

Exen took a deep breath and steadied himself for the work ahead.

He moved first to the sculpture of Donatello, the ninja turtle with the purple mask. Exen hit the side button on his watch two times in quick succession. The two-nanometer Liquid-State Drive (LSD) activated on the underside of his watch; out of the jolting second hand cast a continuous beam, colored in crimson. The LSD laser shifted its shape to encompass its target, coming in waves of varying length and width as it scanned over the granite crenellations of the mutant amphibian wielding a bō and best known for his extraordinary brain power.

Donatello was Exen’s favorite turtle, a fellow technopunk and kindred spirit.

Next, Exen scanned the other marble sculptures of Bugs Bunny, Homer Simpson, and Buzz Lightyear; then he moved on to the statuettes of simurghs and devis and kami, handcrafted artifacts recovered from worlds over. His LSD absorbed them all as artistically-rendered three-dimensional models featuring detailed material and reconstruction schematics. He then moved to the room’s perimeter, shining his laser over Van Gogh and Rexpo, Daarken and Banksy originals on the vast wall canvases. All were taken from retro museums.

There was no excuse for all this hoarded art, Exen thought. There must be no forgiveness for such unconscionable thefts of such soulful creations. For his next show, Exen was planning a totally retro theme. Everything would be 21st century but reshuffled and remixed to perfection. He’d return this work to the hearts and minds of the world, with perfect reconstructions, one way or another.

Exen entered the east wing of the museum. There were shelves filled with LPs and cassettes and CDs; on the walls hung framed records of silver, gold, and platinum. Here un-bellowed the halls of music, where songs came to die. Every one of these devices stored the decidedly final copy of each record. The World.Gov first confiscated the servers of the major music streaming platforms, dumping them all into the Pacific Ocean. Then the Men In Black (MIBs) got really clever: they fanned out into industry channels, the clubs and stadiums and even the artists’ houses themselves to gather the remainder. No private mp6 file or FLACK track could be left behind to be copied, reproduced, or retransmitted. Of course, many musicians started to recreate their classic songs and albums using their own memories as the transfer mechanism. That was one such inception of the purges — of artists and collaborators, their lives grown forfeit for their numerous mind-crimes.

Such was the day that Exen Excelsior turned over his mask and became a spy, a rebel, and a disc jockey — all in one.

“Let’s see,” Exen murmured. He glided across the floor of light panels and vintage concert flyers. He ran his fingers over Bowie and Dylan albums at the fore, angling his wrist for the laser to capture every crenellation on the LP, saving its inner musicianship for his LSD. He nabbed their discographies, of which select songs would herald the beginning of his next 24-hour megastream. But he needed individual albums and other tracks, in other genres, to round out the listening experience. Twenty-two minutes left. Exen worked fast, rushing over to the proper alphabetical zones of the library to scan seven more favored artists and albums of his: 1) King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King, 2) Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, but You Will, 3) Linkin Park – Hybrid Theory, 4) Metallica – Master of Puppets, 5) Paramore – After Laughter, 6) Nas – Illmatic, and 7) Tool – Lateralus.

Exen skipped away from the halls of music and rolled into the library. There was a towering, two-story spiral staircase next to every shelf. The collection was more massive than he’d anticipated. Paperbacks were housed in the low-lying shelves; hardbacks and leatherbounds rowed inside of the main shelves. Four of them in all, with the exterior walls stacked high with literary treasures to rival Alexandria. When the World.Gov exiled libraries from public life in the middle of the 21st and deleted vast swaths of e-book archives, “The Second Burning” is what the world took to calling it, or B-Day. It all happened faster than most could admit. Practically overnight, the world’s most important texts were burned to cinders and ashed into the dustbin of history. Except for in “Museums of Wealth” like this one, where exclusive access to books was sealed behind a paywall of just $499 per week as a Library Subscriber.

Exen moved fast, knowing the Dewey Decimal System like the back of his hand. Given he had to take each book, open it, and flip the pages before his watch’s laser-reader, Exen had little time to spare. He bagged twenty-four keystone books, sure to pick some of his most beloved. Exen aimed his laser at Kafka and King and Shelley and Barker and Woolfe and Clarke and Jackson and Herbert and Hesse and McCarthy.

What a wonder a book is, Exen thought. Melding minds and transforming souls with nothing more than marks on a tree. It only took a single glance, a few minutes of reading thereafter, to completely transport yourself into the psychic time and place of the author’s choosing.

“Books are magic!” Exen giddily shouted to the empty museum.

He moved with grace to exit the library and enter the cinema. Yawning forth before him was an IMAX screen shielded on either side by towers of DVDs, Color-Rays, and various sizes of film reels. They stacked high and represented one of the greatest selections of cinema ever assembled. The Omega Museum of Wealth that Exen currently walked was chosen as the flagship locale for cinema, whereas its collection of traditional art, music, books, and other pieces were auxiliary locales for their other respective flagships throughout Nero’s greater metropolitan area.

Hardcore cinephile Exen Excelsior hardly knew where to begin. He glanced around at the various sections of the wall, each interconnected by steel stairwells not unlike the fire escapes on urban apartments. Dramas, Comedies, Actions, Horrors, Westerns, Romances. So many pictures, so little time. He had about twenty minutes left before authorities would be here with their own laz-guns.

Exen grasped discs and unspooled reels, nabbing films by Ford and Capra, Kurosawa and Kubrick, Coppola and Scorsese, Woo and Miyazaki and Linklater and Costner and Nolan, among others. This was a faster process so the DJ saboteur moved quickly, pocketing over one hundred different movies into the memory of his laserwatch. As he did, Exen Excelsior could not help but reflect on the reality of these films’ effects on his life path.

What was cinema other than an alternative audiovisual odyssey into the human condition?

What was art other than a panacea for the forced presence of any individual time, place, or person? The art of cinema allowed one to visit other realities. By removing them from public view, one effectively took away the heatsink of an entire generation’s anomie.

Exen clicked his watch to the three o’clock hour, where he smithed takes for his audio log journal. He spoke in a pensive yet ecstatic tone of equal parts elegance and potency:

“Life. Life spits us all out into a thresher. Left to our devices, we scramble to survive. In philosophical terms, we are thrown — abandoned to harsh fates we must struggle to ascertain, let alone triumph over. All in all, art helps us to do such things. This, among other reasons, is why I chose to become a DJ — to spread the good wyrd on the ways in which we could live. Ad infinitum, movies and music and books and stories were other chances. Compounding choices. Different fates. To view them was not only to enjoy the pleasure of a satisfying creation, but to learn and experience and flow from one reality to the next. I, Exen Excelsior, have chosen this path to prove that the world is not over and never would be, despite such regimes of artless tyranny that we now endure. There are other ways that we could – and should – go.”

As he scanned the 2000s, his rooftop sensors flagged the presence of a ten-man death squad of SuperCops, armed with M8s and smart-lazers. There was no more time. The catalog of Dreamcast games in the final wing of the Omega Museum of Wealth would have to wait for next time. Exen made internal promises to return for Sonic Adventure, Power Stone, Phantasy Star Online, Slave Zero, and all the rest of the games for the world’s best forgotten console.

Exen ran back to the central atrium. He checked his watch; they were certainly early. He cranked the central ring to high noon, priming some nouveau lasers of his own. The SuperCops were already breaching the southern and western wings; through the various laser bugs he’d left in the pieces he’d lifted, Exen could hear commands to secure rooms, cover corners, and shoot to maim first and foremost.

“Ah, they want me alive,” Exen said. “Who would dare such devilry? Probably want to make an example out of me to the public.”

Exen’s heart thumped with a forbidden countering desire. He wished to make an example out of them. But here tonight he was outmanned and outgunned. There would be time enough for larger productions later. He set his watch to its most escapist, electromagnetically-propulsive setting. He spoke into the heat of his first burgeoning livestream as an outlaw DJ with the voice of a showman:

“Howdy lil lasers, today I am going to show you how to escape a ten-man death squadron of SuperCops with only your handy-dandy laserwatch, a rappelling rope, a strong grip, and a sharp mind.” ~

Video Game + Stark Influence

What jumped out to me the most with this iteration of half-rebooted Spider-Man, directed by Cretton of Shang-Chi fame (great martial arts hero flick), was how much the aesthetic of Peter ‘doing his rounds’ as a masked crime fighter was drawn from the Insomniac Spider-Man video game saga and the vibe of a video game experience of reality in general.

Watch some of those early isometric-view rooftop and phone-tracker-alert scenes and it is clear to the game player; he even webs criminals to the sides of buildings and leaves them bagged up like so for the police to discover. Later, when Spidey faces off against The Hand, he is surrounded in a radial nature just like in Assassin’s Creed, Batman, and of course, Spider-Man (2018) and Spider-Man 2 (2023). (We even go inside the mask, first-person POV on his HUD while diving down skyscrapers or taking a priceless call with Frank Castle. XD)

Something that Insomniac’s Spider-Man gets right – including its general gameplay cribbing of the Batman Arkham Series (I welcome 2nd movers) – is how the ‘job’ part of Spidey’s volunteer vigilantism works. He is constantly checking police feeds and real-time city heatmaps. He is in constant anonymous converse with police captains to coordinate the gathering of evidence. Spider-Man, operating for years as a hero now, has his tech set up to deliver him where he is needed most in a timely manner. // It also introduces the concept of Spidey being part of the mass surveillance state; I think most viewers, for better or worse, have no problem with this because they simply love Spider-Man.

Tom Holland is great once again in the role. Contrary to some common opinions online, I love how his Peter is a total tech genius, post-memory wipe and carrying on fatherly Stark’s mission (RIP). This is mostly well-drawn from the source material as Peter Parker is effectively a boy genius or savant or on his way to becoming a great scientific figure, if only he can gather his confidence and find the time to be in the lab and not on the streets whooping ass. The MCU’s primary influence upon this story comes with Peter following in Stark’s footsteps. I always thought their teaming and Father-Son relation to be one of the best aspects of the Infinity x Endgame-era, allowing Downey to explore another major dimension of Iron Man.

By the end of the film, you get to see some great Spidey tech moments – and mess ups – that are supremely satisfying.

Super Sentai Sensibility

As a young American boy in the 90s, I grew up watching Power Rangers – and only later in life grew to appreciate other related gems like Kamen Rider and The Guyver – and one of the main draws is the overly dramatized martial arts combat. There is a kinetic force in a 90s-era Power Rangers fight that is peerless even today, despite all our advances in filmmaking and technology. These children’s programs focus on superheroic teen teams, big transformations, and fist-on-flesh martial arts. Super Sentai is the genre, drawn from Japan and adapted globally due to popularity.

Some of the special charms of these programs are the camera angles, the sparks from swords (blood not allowed for a kids’ program), and most of all — the visceral physicality taking place with mass combat against goons and super villains. Our heroes, the Rangers or the Rider, are capable of extraordinary athleticism once transformation into their alter egos are complete; there is a natural escalation from goonocide > orchestrated disasters > giant monsters vs. combinatory mechas. The focus is always on teamwork and friendship, and the world is at stake, you know. // Enjoyers of the ludicrous locale of the epic fight in Captain America: Civil War (2016) – a giant grey airport tarmac – will also appreciate (due to artful shooting limitations) the nature of locale for the average Power Ranger battle: giant fields, concrete industrial parks, titanic back alleys.

Super Sentai and the superhero genres of Marvel and DC fame are clearly interrelated in many ways. But most MCU flicks especially feature heavy draughts of CGI violence, where characters wear CGI nanotech suits, and the enemies are CGI freak-beasts with minimal tactile realization, green screens everywhere around them. // DCU movies are largely the same, and often worse, in terms of boring and fleshless combat; from all recent eras, the best combat is coming from Affleck’s Batman taking down the goons guarding Martha Kent and later mass-murdering Darkseid’s Parademons with an automatic rifle in a futuristic apocalyptic sequence. For the MCU, exceptions to this include the excellent martial arts faire in films like Shang Chi and Winter Soldier. On the whole, the MCU’s fight scenes are CGI-fests — though no doubt generally well done, in my view.

Cretton bucks this trend with Spidey’s battle sequences in Brand New Day, especially during his apotheosis encounter with The Hand, with a firm Super Sentai sensibility to the battling itself. Here are stuntment doing flips and rolls and acting their asses off as Spidey vs. Ninja squad. They fly at Peter and bash him with fist and electrode mallet. He fights back with webs and flips but is repeatedly overtaken by their expert coordination. The whole scene is a dream and is one of my foremost memories from the film.

It also produces one of the best story moments of all…

Spidey x Peter

The fundamental core of a Spider-Man story deals with issues of identity, responsibility, and ‘making the big sacrifice.’ Spider-Man’s and Peter Parker’s tension lies with his youth and inability to live the normal life that he craves – and tries desperately to create for himself with convoluted plans that often go awry (or dormant, in this case). Cretton’s vision, and from screenwriters Erik Sommers & Chris McKenna, deals with the changes that come about after prolonged isolation. For four years, in effect, the character has only really been living as Spider-Man and not Peter Parker. No one knows Peter Parker – and there are serious consequences to that.

The major one being dealt with in this film is the loss of MJ and Ned, Peter’s best friends, because he had to wipe their memories to save the world in the previous film. // From an acting and storytelling standpoint alike, it was awesome to see the recontextualized lives of MJ and Ned away from Spider-Man, yet still clearly connected to him in other ways. Their arcs, and the emotional core of the cosmic separation of MJ and Peter, are the best aspects of the film’s quieter, hearty moments.

The comic book reader knows: Spider-Man works primarily alone, though he is frequently teaming with partners, such as Fantastic Four, Daredevil, and Black Cat, and whole squads like the Avengers or Midnight Suns. Spider-Man does both, he is your friendly neighbor in Queens with his own flush rogues’ gallery <and> he is a vital member of the defenders of Earth; just like Peter does both school x romance x job and Spidey stuff at the same time {and here the conflicts arise!}

In this film, Spider-Man is led to continuously working with others, unto a spectrum of results. A favored aspect of the filmmaking choices comes with many scenes of suited Spider-Man acting as the dominant character – and not Peter. It fits the story, of course, and allows for a different persona to emerge for Holland’s portrayal of the character. He resembles Sentai heroes once more, as he is forced to perform attention and emotionality with the mask on in face to face conversation. At key moments, Cretton even lets you see Holland’s eyes through the white fabric, to great effect.

I won’t go into spoilers but Spidey’s relationships with the other folk in this film – heroic and not-so-heroic – allow us a deeper window into the character than we have ever seen before. It was very satisfying to watch the multiform arc of this film play out! The Punisher and Spidey’s duels and team ups in this one are fantastically hilarious; Bernthal knows how to play the heck out of that character. It was also great seeing lovely Florence Pugh reprise her role as Yelena, the nouveau Black Widow and effective captain of the New Avengers. She was the major highlight of Thunderbolts for me and I love to see more of Pugh’s cheeky, adorable performance as this cinnamon rollish super assassin.

Spidey’s fight against Hulk is another blockbuster moment and I greatly appreciated Ruffalo’s performance as a relapsing Banner. He really sells the freefall of the transformation. Like everyone has been saying for years, I wholeheartedly agree we have been robbed of a Ruffalo Hulk solo film. The Hulk sequence yet again melds emotional impact within the action flow. That character is one of the richest in comics and it’s a shame we don’t get to see more of his story. Spidey makes for a great counterpart, no doubt – both able to handle his power level and also deal with the rage in an artfully jesterian way. Hulk’s role in this film is a wonderful flashpoint for Ruffalo. Hope to see more of his Banner in the future.

Overall, I really enjoyed Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Truly, the writing is inventive, the fights are tactical, and the surprises are deeply emotionally compelling. A grieving Peter escapes into Spidey and arrives at some new truths about his life and the universe he lives in. Eventually, the chaotic realm of Spidey merges with the golden heart of Peter, where the final ‘choice’ becomes about harsh synthesis and an embrace of the character’s inherent revelation: No one is truly alone.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

My latest YouTube podcast is a monologue on what I have learned about creativity over the years.

Author Diary #6: Creativity

~ A good ole walk and talk on CREATIVITY. What is it? How do people come up with creative ideas? What and why are you creating?

I jump off from some debriefing from Frank Miller’s conference talk about his artistic origins and thought processes on creating comics – both drawing and writing. I also discuss Alan Moore and Yoshihiro Togashi as fellow inspirations and get into some of their lessons and mentorship as well.

I feature my own journeys and advice on the topic of writing novels, coming up with ideas for stories, and the importance of outlining — and boundaries — in coming up with solid, workable, and lovable ideas.

Please enjoy my author diary on the expansive topic of creativity, spoken on a midnight walk. Relatively off the cuff, unedited and free-wheeling but also especially coherent. I have spent years thinking about creativity and acting on my creative instincts! Here is some of what I have learned.

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/BQ0UtxwvPRs

Xenia, or Zeus’ Law

Narratively-speaking, Nolan centers his ancient fantasy epic around the divinely civil conception of “Xenia.”

Penelope’s voracious suitors, Telemachus’ careful words & actions during feasts, Troy’s walls and temples, the caves and forests and huts of Odysseus’ failed expeditions — all these elements converge on Xenia, or Zeus’ Law in the modified language of this film.

A social norm as much as law of the land, Xenia governs the rights of guests and the responsibilities of hosts: one must treat guests with generosity, food and drink, and most of all – respect. Just the same, a guest’s right can be revoked by the lead host for disrespectful misbehavior, and the incentive of representing all xenos (foreigners) with your presence meant that good, ‘Golden Rule’-type behavior was in everyone’s best interests.

The initial acts of the film, with Telemachus and Penelope and Eumaeus on Ithaca sans King Odysseus lost for long at war, cast us into a tense situation held stable only by Xenia. Antinous’ gangster barbarism angling to gain the throne by enforcing a re-marriage is only barely contained by this social custom.

The Greek gods were passionate and vengeful but also sensible — just like people. Treating others as you like to be treated makes inherent sense; it also means that society could function in the long run. In that ancient world, social exchanges had divinely-inspired rules and there would be consequences if violated, if not by your neighbors than by the gods themselves. Almighty Zeus oversaw all with lightning and thunder, while Athene’s quiescent wisdom patronized leaders and foreigners. To draw their ire was to doom yourself and your bloodline.

Xenia, or Zeus’ Law, forms the overarching connective tissue in a time of war and magic. How do settlements and peoples stay together when the leaders are gone for 10+ years? How long can a kingdom go without a king? Social chaos naturally befalls the leaderless society, a half-empty throne sat by queen alone, with a son too young to reclaim it.

Nolan uses hospitality as the core kernel of his film because the most famous element of Odysseus’ resume is the Trojan Horse, a proto weapon of mass destruction. Here is where easy comparisons can be drawn to his previous work Oppenheimer. Odysseus’ sublime trick to breach the walls of Troy is the ultimate violation of Xenia. It marks the birth of a new world. Using ingrained beliefs and hospitality and the necessary offerings to the gods to silently nuke (yea) a city from within.

Odysseus’ cleverness is unbounded here; the big not-so-hollow horse worked so well for many perfectly diabolical reasons. The Trojans were as sick of the siege as the Greeks were, ready for peace to be made. Foremost, this artful war trickery has gone down in history, providencing entire canons of story adaptation and language reference, because it was a spell cast in the shared language of god-fearing custom, a sacred bond, now forever altered.

In the same way that the first man to craft a bow and nock an arrow changed the world forever, so did Odysseus (and Homer) forever change the world with their horse and their tale.

The Greeks and the Trojans shared gods and temples and faiths such as Xenia. Both peoples revered hospitality, the Golden Rule, and the opening of doors to xenos, or strangers, and the honoring of Zeus and Athena and others of the multi-polar pantheon.

Odysseus’ genius plan — for him, as a kingly soldier, a way to end 10 years of drudgery and worthless work beyond the divine walls of Troy — is really a path home.

It was also a method of breaking the world.

Matt Damon’s performance in the third act, in converse with Hathaway’s Penelope, really delivers this theme on a silver platter by the end.

“To burn the walls of Troy was to burn the world entire.”

Nolan’s thesis in Odysseus’ timbre: To break with Zeus’ law is to forever alter a world formerly ensouled with language and tradecraft and beauty, now governed by raw might, bloodletting, and duplicity. The ‘people from the sea’, raiders from foreign lands not familiar or in defiance of Zeus, are coming ashore and raiding throughout the Mediterranean world, taking homes and lives away; some are undoubtedly stories of sailors from Agamemnon and Odysseus’ returning legions doing so to ‘restore provisions.’

In violent and unsanctified ways, the world after the Trojan Horse is not the same. Nolan’s screenwriting reflects this ‘spreading plague’ of selfish violence and it is the effective crux of his film adaptation.

~ Jupiter and Mercurius in the House of Philemon and Baucis (1630–33) by the workshop of Rubens: Zeus and Hermes, testing a village’s practice of hospitality, were received only by Baucis and Philemon, who were rewarded while their neighbors were punished.

Playground of the Gods

Odysseus’ mind won the war, not Commander Agamemnon’s strength (or his aura).

Odysseus’ mind defeated walls built by the gods. His giant horse, an animal icon of Poseidon and falsified peace offering to Athena, bled the men that took the walls of Troy. From out of that gullet, Odysseus and Menaleus and their men opened the gates and led on the sacking of temples and the raping and pillaging of people.

Troy, in all ways a glorious place, is obliterated from Odysseus’ idea paired with the rage, frustration, and perhaps lost sense of humanity of those soldiers spending so long on a beach without progression.

When he embarks home, three ships of surviving men sailing, the threat of the war ended — the real trial begins.

Odysseus’ is the ultimate hero’s journey archetype, in form and function. He must navigate strange lands and harsh waters. Nolan’s filmmaking on this road of trials – from the cyclops to the witches and sirens, to the absolutely shocking and terrifying Laestrygonians cutting down our hero’s entourage – is sublime. Poseidon’s rage is affirmed and personified in so many horrifying encounters that take more and more lives (the various giantkin are all his children).

I found Circe’s sequence of reshaping the men into pigs especially delightful. Nolan doing body horror! What a time to be alive.

Nolan’s canon is altered in cinematic ways that work, with the giant remaining alien and the Goliath steel knights smashing his men apart, now appearing as bronze munchkin in comparison to their superior size, strength, and weaponry. This especially is about as galactic of a godly punishment for hubris as you can get.

Though the wrath of Poseidon is singularly directed at Odysseus after he blinds the cyclops Polyphemus, the sea god’s favored son, it can be inferred from his long ordeal post-Troy that Odysseus is being collectively punished — or played with — by fate, or all the gods together.

Gods seem to be saying: ‘How much can one man take?’ / ‘Odysseus the Cunning, humanity’s prime polytropos, you shall see how your mortal cleverness pales in comparison to the power of the gods…’ / ‘In what way will you react to the presence of a god in your camp, or in your enemy’s?’

Homer’s epic poem actually features round table conversations between the gods deciding Odysseus’ fate. Athena is our hero’s primary long-range support, using psychopomp messenger Hermes at key points to aid him, while Zeus serves as ally and enemy, and Poseidon forms Odysseus’ nemesis. In Nolan’s film adaptation, Athena is played by Zendaya while the other major gods are merely hinted at via thunder, wave, and fire. Damon’s Odysseus frequently sees Athena and complains of the gods’ lack of communication skills, though she rebukes him and reminds him of the essential elemental motions of the universe.

In the film, by the end, Poseidon’s monstrous progeny and Zeus’ lightning storms cast a dreadful fate on all the crew members, save for Ody. Their mistakes are explicit (don’t eat Apollo’s cattle!) and implicit (what were your actions inside the walls of Troy upon innocents?)

His men are weeded away by foes even more vicious than they are, the ultimate ironic fate given their ten years of survival against the defending Trojans in warfare. These bursts of steady bloodletting provide the structure of the message. Additionally, Circe and Calypso — as perforce feminine forces of a darker nature — both play around with Odysseus’ mind and heart and soul, reaping much pleasure and enjoyment in the process.

Ultimately, like Achilles says during the Iliad, it seems likely the gods do envy us and require our dramas to sustain them. It is our emotional force, our loves and fears, joys and tragedies, that provide ambrosia to the gods, or the World-Soul itself.

Thusly, just as it is one man’s idea that surpasses the walls, it is through one man that the gods can play out their totalizing story and make their empyrean point.

Odysseus: The Human Condition

The entire human condition lay within the journey & beingness of Odysseus.

Human hope lay within Odysseus’ frame. Can we escape a deific quagmire, with ourselves at the eye, and go back? To home, family, life. Can one anger the hierarchy and return? The answer is yes but not before supplicating yourself before the supernal.

At long last, I read Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey over the last two years; it becomes so clear how much Homer’s work forms the foundation of literature. Much like The Bible or The Tale of Genji or Don Quixote, for the aspirant author, these sources are of great understanding – and like story structure, it is best to know of them so that you can effectively borrow or divert yourself from their classic lessons as you craft your own stories.

It is through Odysseus, King of Ithaca, the most cunning of Greeks and a choice archer (arguably the most powerful lone weapon at that point in history), that Homer can tell his epic.

The key man who helms the idea to win the Trojan War – and – the lone survivor of a doomed voyage along the mystical Mediterranean coastlines of the elder world. His attributes embody and form the basis of the mythic hero for all-time: smart, strong, quick on his feet and fair to his comrades. A total proto-wifeguy, his love for Penelope is what provides his survival; his drive to make it home and to reunite with a son he’s never truly known, while Telemachus undertakes his own mini hero’s journey, is the true masterstroke of this story. And after reading Odyssey, it becomes clear exactly why this tale was one for Christopher Nolan to tell.

Nolan’s work is defined by multiple timelines, converging elements, and non-linear narrativization. The Odyssey necessarily starts in the middle, with tensions rising on Ithaca, prince and mother scrambling in their long weight for Odysseus. They doubt his return and must make hard choices. Meanwhile Odysseus is an amnesiac trapped by demigod Calypso, whose escape requires him remembering the horrors and deaths he has endured. (‘Catharsis’ is everywhere we turn in this narrative.)

Nolan’s structuring of the cinematic story is naturally brilliant. Everything compounds from the viewpoint of young Telemachus — learning of his father via increasingly personal storying from bards, kings, and later the man himself disguised as a beggar.

Undoubtedly one of the most resonant and memorable aspects of Odysseus’ story is his connection to man’s best friend, Argos, a 20-year-old dog who is the first to truly recognize the homecoming. And it’s through Argos’ tragically beautiful death that the truth of the King’s return can become known – to Telemachus and satisfied audience alike.

With one final touch by his master, Argos can pass on; then and there, the son can see his father has returned home. Nolan, a freshly christened dog-lover, listed this moment as one of the reasons he felt he needed to make the film.

The finale is certainly the best part of the film – and the poem too. Odysseus comes in disguise and must make use of all resources to set up a plan to deal with the forceful and parasitic suitors plaguing his castle. The convergence of all our characters after so long in anticipation is a perfect cathartic apotheosis for this tale.

Telemachus and Odysseus and Argos and Eumaeus, and finally Penelope, all play pivotal roles and provide some satisfying emotional beats to the big reunion.

The crooked suitors must kneel or fall, a mass of parasites upon his land in long violation of Xenia. And what a satisfying sequence Nolan crafts for his journey’s finale. Odysseus’ vengeful return is handled perfectly. // It was good to see Nolan’s sense for action sequences necessarily elevated for this epic finale.

And yet, after this mass of bloodletting against his own countrymen, Odysseus cannot stay home for long. He is no savior but an exhausted dispenser of old errant justice. With his son rightfully taking the throne, Ody is fated for exile, to honor his men in the ‘unknown west’ per divine decree, now happily with his wife as a travel companion and a road of sublime trials within his gut.

Christopher Nolan, through the couple’s final words as they embark on their long voyage, seems to believe that civilization can rise again, even after walls and trust have crumbled and conquest has become the new religion. Whether he’s right or not, in real life or in his fictional universe, it is wonderful to see such an ancient story & character still evoke such profound emotions and questions in us.

~ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

My Letterboxd Review: https://letterboxd.com/zsoro/film/the-odyssey-2026/

My Book Review of The Writer’s Journey (25th anniversary edition) by Christopher Vogler. Written originally in 1992, updated into new editions up to 2020. ~

Quality guide into the Hero’s Journey, the archetypes, and commonly effective storytelling techniques from one of Hollywood’s top script aces. Highly readable and organized in a way that builds upon itself.

Appreciate Christopher Vogler’s tastemaking instincts (the text is filled with examples and includes a massive multi-page filmography index at the end for your homework). He also writes with a respect for the artistry while being realistic about commercial pressures.

End of the day, storytelling via screenplays and novels is a business - and it aids every writer to understand these structures, to use or deviate from sensibly.

Highly recommended to writers and storytellers of all shapes and sizes.

On Archetypes:

“The concept of archetypes is an indispensable tool for understanding the purpose or function of characters in a story. If you grasp the function of the archetype which a particular character is expressing, it can help you determine if the character is pulling her full weight in the story. The archetypes are part of the universal language of storytelling, and a command of their energy is as essential to the writer as breathing.”

On the wish of a hero:

“The expression of a wish, even a frivolous one, near the beginning of a story has an important function of *orientation* for the audience. It gives a story a strong throughline, or what is called a ‘desire line.’”

On unity and polarity:

“A story needs a sense of oneness — unity — to feel like a satisfying and complete expression. It needs a single theme — a spine ~ something to unite it into a coherent work. But a story also needs a level of two-ness, a dimension of duality, to create tension and the possibility of movement. As soon as you choose a single thought of character to unite your story, you have automatically generated its polar opposite, a contrary concept or antagonistic character, and therefore a duality or polarized system that conducts energy between the two parties. Unity begets duality; the existence of one implies the possibility of two.”

Twitter link:

Goodreads link

Check me out on YouTube!

Author Diary #5: Game Talk

~ My talkthrough of my 33 favorite video games. From Pokemon to Elder Scrolls to Metal Gear and Witcher and Deus Ex, I make my rundown with commentary & memories from my experience. Some of these games I have replayed though many are a one-time experience.

You can see the trio of JJK character memes with 11 of my favorite games on each here:

https://dylanorosz.com/about/

Grab a bite and take a listen, fellow gamer.

THE GAMES:

1. Perfect Dark

2. Advance Wars: Dual Strike

3. Fire Emblem: Awakening

4. Chrono Trigger

5. Halo 3

6. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

7. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt {“The Witcher and Vocation”}

8. Planescape: Torment {“Philosophies of Suffering in Planescape”}

9. Elden Ring {“I Am Elden Lord“}

10. Bloodborne {“Welcome to the Nightmare: Bloodborne’s High Art Horror”}

11. Sekiro {“Top 5 Boss Battles in Sekiro”}

12. Pokemon

13. Golden Sun

14. Skyrim

15. Spider-Man {“The Singularity of Spider-Man”}

16. Batman: Arkham Knight {“Batman’s Dramatic Example”}

17. Death Stranding – {“Building Brides for Strangers in Death Stranding”}

18. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon {“Armored Core & Asset Autonomy”}

19. Knights of the Old Republic {“Good and Evil in KOTOR”}

20. Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines

21. Deus Ex {“Deus Ex and Our Choice of Futures”}

22. Cyberpunk 2077 {The World of Cyberpunk // “Cages of Light”}

23. Metal Gear Solid {Essay}

24. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty {Essay}

25. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater {Essay}

26. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots {Essay}

27. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain {“Metal Gear Control”}

28. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

29. Gears of War

30. Mass Effect {“Mass Effect Messiah”}

31. Fallout 3

32. Left 4 Dead

33. Xenogears {“Attacking and Dethroning God in Xenogears”}

^ the hyperlinked {Essays} are to my writings on that game elsewhere on my blog, Thresholds of Transformation!

My favorite games always inspire me to write, to lay out their truths and immortalize their experiences.

Godspeed,
Dylan

I have been posting daily writerly tips, tricks, and tactics.

Here is a running archive of the camp poasts thus far:

#1 – Likable Toons

How do we craft likable characters? Do we need them likable?

Yes and no. Some replace with “interesting” — use your own adjective. Ultimately we want our main characters to be something folk stick around for.

Your characters should delight YOU.

#2 – Reading

What to read? How much to read? Do I need to read my comps? Yes, yes, and yes.

You should read as much as you can. But remove the “need” and embrace your intuition. What do you want to read?

What you wish to write will inform your reading diet.

#3 – Outlining

Outlining Outlining is important for most authors. It becomes a question of ‘how much?’

I tend to improvise short fiction and detail outline my novels, because I find the structure helps excite me – and force me to write!

For me, outlining motivates.

#4 – Tips & Tricks

Top tips for writing well:

1. Read!

2. World-Build via your IRL exp & stimuli

3. Character Conflicts = Dialectics

4. Use “visions”

5. ‘Think of where the camera will be’

6. Outlining: try Hero’s Journey 1st

7. Make something you Love

ARTICLE: Top 7 Creative Writing Tips

#5 – My Canon

My personal canon of Great Books every author could benefit from:

- Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey
- Dante’s Inferno & Milton’s Paradise
- The Bible
- Frankenstein (1818) - Shelley
- LOTR (1955) - J.R.R. Tolkien
- Dune (1965) - Frank Herbert
- Neuromancer (1984) - William Gibson
- Hyperion (1989) - Dan Simmons
- Cormac McCarthy & Ursula K. Le Guin

#6 – Story Circle

Dan Harmon, writer of Community and Rick & Morty, utilizes the ‘Story Circle’ variation of the Hero’s Journey. Useful way of quickly determining the motive x action x meaning of your story. Whether it is an episode, short story, or novel.

#7 – Chaptercraft

I started with fiction doing short stories. Twilight Zone & Goosebumps inspiration. And going into novels I have found that I end up writing *chapters* similar to short stories: a) by length (3-5K words) as well as b) micro-story arcs. 🃏

For me, it does help to think of a novel as almost like 20-30 short stories, with each chapter being like so.

That’s another good rule of thumb – a standard size 300-pager novel is gonna shake out to about 20 chapters @ 4K words = 80K

A *long* novel will have 30+ chapters.

translation: It’s a nightmare you have while awake. I’m referring to a work by Yumeaki Hirayama. “For me, printed words are visualized in my mind, so novels are something to be seen, but the author who best embodies this is ‘The Story of What I Did to a Pelican in the Park,’ which is troublesome because it features a succession of ominous and bizarre characters and insane words that don’t exist in my mental stock of images, forcing me to visualize them.” Experience this irreplaceable flavor for yourself. ~ Yoshihiro Togashi Author of ‘HUNTER×HUNTER

#8 – C.S. Lewis Advice

A short, general list of simple rules for writing from the legendary fantasy author and Christian philosopher C.S. Lewis:

1. Quiet Zone

2. Read good books, no mags

3. Ear not Eye, read aloud

4. Pursue *interests*

5. Be clear

6. Keep abandoned work

7. Seek a ‘rhythm’

8. Use a dictionary/thesaurus

#9 – Hero’s Journey

Hero’s Journey:

1. Ordinary World

2. Call to Adventure

3. Refusal of the Call

4. Meeting the Mentor

5. Crossing the Threshold

6. Tests, Allies, and Enemies

7. Approach

8. ORDEAL, Death & Rebirth

9. Reward, Seizing the Sword

10. The Road Back

11. Resurrection

12. Return with Elixir

Classic archetype. Modern screenwriter formula. Infinite variations, the core is: 1) Ordinary World > 2) Ordeal in Special World >> 3) Transformation into New World.

Heroes meet mentors, endure trials, delve caves, duels nemesis, wins love. 🌄

#10 – Emotions

Big Show vs. Tell dilemma when it comes to character emotions: 😁🥲🥰😜😡😨

You can say “he was angry”
But also: “he slammed the door / grit his teeth / stormed out” etc.

Literature makes up a tapestry of word, action, reaction, and sensation.

Many times we don’t even know our exact emotions, or there’s a mix that muddies all to our awareness. Our words, reactions, and major choices while in such a state will reveal more.

And writing that best you can is your charge, using showing (more) and telling (less).

Why show >> tell ?

Because showing in actions / setting / metaphor and more is evocative — it is more memorable and emotionally impactful for the reader to see. They may draw inferences, make mental progressions.

‘Telling’ has its place too!
When it fits sitch or character.

#11 – 3-Act Play

The play is the original story structure.

Splitting your work into three helps organize your mental during the outlining process. The beats within the Acts can be customized, but the vibe is based on the phase:

Inciting > ACTION > Denouement

#12 – Dialogue

Dialogue is as variable as characterization. Tied as one. Everyone speaks, reveals information, and verbally challenges others differently.

Your dialogue should fit your story.

Keep it short but rich, expand as you find the voices. 🗣️

#13 – Scenes

Scenes are the building blocks of your story.
Everything happens here as segments.

Scene accomplish:
Character x Plot x Theme x Intrigue
(what’s next?!)

5 ways to start a scene:

1. ACTION!🏃‍♀️

2. Summary

3. Intro your narrator

4. Setting

5. Dialogue

#14 – Bad Words

Overused & Filter Words. ❎
We should generally avoid them.

He saw the bird smash into the window.
vs.
The bird smashed into the window.

She realized there was a heavy weight harrying her heart.
vs.
A heavy weight harried her heart.

#15– Conflict

Conflict is the heart of the story.

Use time, space, and relationships to create and relish conflicts.

Daffy-based Examples:
Man vs. Nature
vs. Man
vs. God
vs. Society
vs. Self
vs. No God
vs. Technology
vs. Reality
vs. Author

#16– Frank Advice

Bits of writing advice from comics legend Frank Miller:

• start as near to the conflict.

• put your characters in BIG trouble – then force ‘em to make bigger decisions.

• explore and enjoy your setting.

• study the canon; watch cinema.

#17 – Art of Sentence

Sentence rhythm is something that comes with practice & repetitions.

After delivering a big sentence, it is generally best to offset with a short one. Weaving together long-short, and simple-complex, are vital ways & means for the writer.

#18 – Drafts

Draft 0 = your outline on-page
Draft 1 = raw prose output
Draft 2 = sharpen into elegance
Draft 3 = word-by-word deliberation
Draft 4+ = find fresh reading & revising

Feedback helps once it is readable enough, conclusion of Draft 2+

One key tip for coming up with novel revisions when editing late into Drafts 5+

= Read your manuscript backwards, meaning starting from the last chapter and then moving backward to the start.

Good way to create a fresh outlook on material you have been pouring over and over

I generally need 7-8 drafts or more with my stories before approaching publication.

For handing off to an editor, Draft 4-5 is solid plan.

#19 – Beats

Story beats are milestones, key moments, and turning points that provide a structure, or ‘saying,’ to mark your outline.

Examples:

• Opening Image

• Set Up

• Inciting Incident

• Debate

• Theme Stated

• Fun & Games

• Midpoint

• Dark Night of the Soul

#20 – 3 Scene Types

Promise – lay the ground work, plant the seed. ~Establishing + Foreshadowing.

Transition – moving, summarizing, shifting the plot along. ~Connective Tissue.

Payoff – the fruitions of your events & characters. ~Catharsis & Resolution.

#21 – Writer’s Journey

Vogler’s creative writing tips:

• Archetypes! – they will guide your story {Ex: Hero, Mentor, Threshold Guardian, Shadow, etc.} 🦸‍♂️

• Use parts or all of Hero’s Journey. Call > Threshold > Tests > Ordeal > Elixir 🌀

• Study ‘Polarity’ ☯️

My review of the 25th anniversary of this book, which includes some updated text and a robust appendix covering more advanced topics such as ‘Polarity’ and ‘Catharsis’ and how the wisdom of your body can help keep you on the path:

https://zsoro.substack.com/p/the-writers-journey-review

#22 – Stuck Strats

Strategies for being stuck — where do you go next in the story?

• Write down loose ends

• Ask questions

• Interview your characters

• “what is this scene about?”

• just free write for 5 minutes

• go back to the outline

• take a walk 👣

#23 – Errors

Writing Mistakes: not grammar but style and plotting and missing beats or elements…

• too fast/slow pacing

• exposition overload

• tepid characters

• no motive or stakes

• overwriting

• lack of conflict!

‘Mistakes’ can be objective, or subjective.

#24 – Steinbeck

Legend John Steinbeck advice:

1. No finish line; keep mind midway

2. Free write first

3. Base your ‘audience’ on a single key reader – write to them

4. Keep momentum, bypass hard scenes then return

5. Beware darlings

6. Speak dialogue aloud

#25 – Tropes

Tropes are vital architecture for the storyteller. Readers even seek them out now and they’ve become part of book marketing. Nothing wrong with that imo. It is best to know them well. Each genre has different ones, every creator favors their own. ❄️

https://tvtropes.org/

#26 – 1-2-3 Draft Advice

Draft 1: Make it exist

Draft 2: Make it functional / solidify structure, make it work

Draft 3: Make it effective / refine your craft and make your prose sing!

#27 – Be You

Excellent & evergreen advice by @Massawyrm for all creators.

Always consider ‘the alchemy of YOU’

Saved this in my big writing tips & tricks Trello board back in 2019.

#28 – Chapter Structure

Chapter advice:

• Emotional State | Motive

• Objective x Conflict(s)

• Worldview > Tactics

Thinking of chapters primarily in terms of character action over events happening is the way.

#29 – Kerouac Techs

Prose & Life tips from Jack Kerouac:

#30 – Bodily Emotions

How & Where we FEEL.

Expressing character emotions in writing can be challenging. Best practice is to use the body / actions as much as words.

And even more important than the emotions is our characters’ reaction to theirs and others.

#31 – LAST DAY

King advice: write a lot, read a lot.

Simple. But true. And hard.

Stay frosty, writers.
Keep writing. ✍️✍️✍️

#WritingCamp #writingcommunity #writers #writer #author #authors #authorcommunity #summerreading #SummerClub

Dylan Orosz is a 33-year-old writer from Texas focusing on fantasy x sci-fi x horror novels and short fiction. He’s been writing online for nearly a decade, primarily on his wide-ranging blog Thresholds of Transformation (2017-present), also on Substack, Medium, and Twitter/X. Topics of interest include essaying about favored movies, TV, video games, and animanga, short fiction in the vein of the weird and mystical, and musings on life & various engaging philosophical conceptions such as existentialism, absurdism, and humanism. Dylan started ardently writing novels in 2023 and has since self-published Journeyers, Wherever He May Swarm, and Cyber-Serial: Postmodern Prometheus, as well as some short story collections.

Dylan originally started writing & blogging during college at Texas A&M University as an extension of a dream journal he kept; the first major impetus to begin writing fiction came with inspirations borne of The Twilight Zone and the mesmerizingly dark short fiction of Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Shirley Jackson, to name just a few.

As a novelist, Dylan writes vivid phantasies for restless souls. Dylan’s literary aesthetic is marked by what’s most mesmerizing to his singular taste; he believes the imaginary of the human being is an infinite channel that bleeds into our daily lives in myriad ways we often fail to notice. Those that can learn to mine the stream for impassioned knowledge become artists and madmen and otherwise occultists of one shape or another. Dylan wishes to engage with the mysterious, numinous, and magickal aspects of our reality in all of his work.

As an imaginative lover of the sublime and fantastique, Dylan writes to entertain readers with mystifying phantasy adventure fiction within worlds larger than themselves. His books are character-driven and fast paced. Through the storytelling power of myths and archetypes, Dylan wants to bring about transformative alterations in the consciousness of others and himself. Readers can expect stories of divine beasts and dark magicians, supernal villainy and secret agencies, cyber-detectives and AGI archangels.

In all, Dylan writes to express visions that will awaken, evolve, and cultivate the world.

The purpose of this short guide is to introduce and crystallize the best recommendation pitch for each of Dylan Orosz’s books thus far, all in one place. The books appear in publish order. At the end, there is an FAQ and additional lore revealed about Dylan’s book-writing journey. Please enjoy!

~

THE READING GUIDE:

Journeyers: Book One & Book Two

Epic Fantasy · Magic Animals · The Big Quest · Summer 2025 🎨 Cover art by Goran Gligović

Title: Journeyers: Book One & Book Two
Form: Duology of novels ~ 400 pages & 600 pages
Genre: Epic Fantasy x Action-Adventure x Sword & Sorcery
Target Audience: Teens+ / fans of Redwall, Legend of Drizzt, Hunter x Hunter

🏵️mythic quest
🎄magic forest
🪢oddball heroes x found family👨‍👩‍👧‍👦
🔥epic battles
🌀mystical mysteries
👺dark lord

The Hook: An adventurous young orphan boy, a spy snake undercover for the Queen, a monkey monk with amnesia, and a bird bard from a city in the sky must join together to travel to the center of the mysterious and magickal Spiral Forest.

Premise: JOURNEYERS is a story about the fantastique of nature. Within the Spiral Forest, animals wield magic like language and resist the empire of Mankind, residing in the heart of the Spiral Castle. Apo is an adventurous human boy entering the forest for the first time to find and rescue his sister, taken from his outside village as a babe. Ouro is a spy snake for the rebel Queen who guerilla fights her ex-husband, the King, from the wilderness of the trees. Rakar is a childlike amnesiac monkey as tough as the core of the earth, searching for his lost tribe and the truth of his origins. Isidi is a bird diplomat from Birdkind’s mysterious city in the sky, come to seek the redemption of a saga she may call her own. Together, these four characters join as one, forming at first as a team to challenge the mystical dangers of the forest, and later as a family journeying deep into historical converse and interpersonal soul descents.

Our 4 journeyers meet as one to travel across the forest seemingly by happenstance. They interact with hidden motives that become clearer with every encounter; they begin by forming collective routines and getting a lay of the land – and each other’s capabilities. They battle enemies in the form of Novashaska, shapeshifting big cat and apex predator in the Spiral Forest, a quatro of mercenary hunters working for the King, a trio of freelancing assassins working for themselves, and various monstrous creatures known as wyrewolves, krykens, and ptyros. They aid allies such as the Mouse and Bat clan, some Bears, Rabbits, and Foxes, river Otters and traveling troupes of Monkey fighters. They learn of The Magician, the King’s most diabolical advisor, mad scientist, and true ruler of the realm; they battle his son Ser Sleude in an epic showdown of their combined might.

Our 4 journeyers learn of the Spiral Forest’s harrowing history, from the time of Elves and Giants and Dragons. All gone now, and nearly forgotten, it is only Ouro’s special knowledge that educates and the secret locales they explore which reveal hidden truths. What caused Giantkind to chase Mankind into the forest? How did the Elves originally discover and harness magic? Why did Man and Elf join together in the creation of the Dragon? Where are the Elven histories? Who has Man become today, all these clashing civilizations behind him, so many animals in opposition, the forest spiraling chaotically around his iron will within the wood? These questions and more become answerable only by following the spiral path alongside our 4 intrepid journeyers. They traverse vast forestry, swampland, hills and groves, the Søren River, one mystic Tower, and the subterranean caverns of a hollowing earth, meeting many strange friends and foes along the way.

Altogether, Journeyers is a mystic action-adventure featuring four inquisitive heroes seeking the horizons of truths and interconnections within such a fantastical natural world. Environmentalism, the magic of animals, the power of storytelling, and uncovering true history are some key themes & messages.

At the castle in the center of the spiral, the fate of the forest ~ and our journeyers ~ will be realized.

Inspirations: Brian Jacques’ Redwall, R.A. Salvatore’s Legend of Drizzt, Yoshihiro Togashi’s Hunter x Hunter, Avatar (both: Nickelodeon & James Cameron).

If you liked… Erin Hunter’s Warriors, Robert Repino’s Mort(e), Tui T. Sutherland’s Wings of Fire, Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures, the medieval fantasy anime Ranking of Kings & Frieren & Record of Lodoss.

Read JOURNEYERS: Book One · Book Two · Both on itch.io for 30% off

Link: Article Format

Supernal Stories

Surreal Fables · Wyrd Tales · Phantasy Fiction · Vol I (Fall 2025), Vol II (Winter 2025), ongoing 🎨 Covers feature classic works by Caspar David Friedrich and William Blake.

Title: Supernal Stories
Form: Short story collection (7 volumes) ~ 25K-80K words per volume // ~2500 words per story
Genre: Phantasy Fables x Weird Tales
Target Audience: Teen+ / for fans of The Twilight Zone and the short fiction of Bradbury, Borges, and Kafka.
Pitch: A collection of stories about lives from beyond, strange souls & weird transformations, and the responsibility of existence.

🌀 Cosmic Entity
📺 Reality Experiment
⚖️ Moral Dilemma
🤯 Existential Crisis
🔄 Cycle of Trauma
🌌 Unknowable Horror
🧠 Consciousness Voyage

The Hook: Seven years of weird short fiction, collected: poet gods and cosmic librarians, doppelgängers and dream-journals, golems who overthink and scientists who think far too little.

Premise: SUPERNAL STORIES comprise 7 volumes of inventively experimental short-form storytelling. There is a chronology of progress to this anthology of fiction written over seven years of worldly transformation (2017-2024). Genres presided include fantasy x sci-fi x horror and more. Themes presented include creation, identity, transformation, psychosis, ethereal mysteries, reality-blurring extrasensory perception, and the endless search for existential meaning. As the pages turn, concepts expand and visions illuminate; steadily, word by word, fresh universes and esoteric concepts shall be borne into the realms of your consciousness. These stories aim to detail the human condition from richly discerning angles and often feature supernatural twists.

~ Collecting Old Stories. In all, SUPERNAL STORIES are my volumes of stories past. I wrote short fiction on my blog Thresholds of Transformation from 2017-2024 and have re-revised these stories for collection into book volumes I plan to release from 2025-2026.

~ My Zones. These collections are wide-ranging and primarily inspired by what originally got me writing short fiction: The Twilight Zone. Fantasy x sci-fi x horror are on the menu; many stories are wandering and wondrous affairs and often feature satisfactorily weird twist endings. Some are plot heavy, others a kind of stream-of-consciousness psychic journey, and more than a few feature epic concepts.

~ Secret Origins. Altogether, SUPERNAL STORIES doubles as a platform to reveal my progression as a writer and in many ways represents the canvas on which I learned to write fiction. These concepts, characters, and stories would come to me and I’d do my best to bring their salacious seeds to flowery fruition. Alongside the organizing annals of a gigantic Trello board titled “Story Ideas” and filled with copious haphazard notes and glittering imagery, I churned out many. Most of the stories are under 3,000 words, though some stretch into rather epic adventures of 7K-15K words.

~ 7-7-7. Since these stories were penned over a period of 7 years, there shall be 7 volumes, each one containing stories from each of the 7 years.

Inspirations: The Twilight Zone, Ray Bradbury, Franz Kafka, Jorge Luis Borges.

If you liked… PKD’s Electric Dreams, Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots, Ted Chiang’s Exhalation, Kelly Link’s Get in Trouble.

Read SUPERNAL STORIES: Volume I · Volume II · Both on itch.io for $2 off

Link: Article Format.

Wherever He May Swarm

Horror · Sci-Fi Thriller · Satire · Fall 2025 🎨 Cover art by Dominic Forbes · Mood Carrd

Title: Wherever He May Swarm
Form: Novel ~ 450 pages
Genre: Horror x Thriller x Science Fiction x Satire
Target Audience: Adults / fans of Stephen King, Clive Barker, Paul Verhoeven, David Cronenberg

🪲 Insect Whisperer
🍄 Mycoremediation
🎭 Anarchist Vision Quest
🧠 Brainwyrms & 🤖Androids & 👤Tulpas
🛣️ Road Trip
🤪 Descent into Madness!

The Hook: A man down on his luck gains the ability to control insects. The FBI investigates. A young girl starts to have apocalyptic dreams. Chaos ensues…

Premise: WHEREVER HE MAY SWARM is a story about America & The Holocene Extinction.

Wherever He May Swarm is a horror-thriller-comedy novel with lite sci-fi elements, set in an alternate future America with self-driving trucks, Gridcities, and paranormalities such as the possibility of telepathy and telekinesis.

A down-on-his-luck man named Nidus Nash gains the ability to control insects and decides to go on a road trip across Route 66. FBI Special Agent and parapsychological expert Evelyn Waters forms a team to investigate; however, she and the FBI are soon undermined by mysterious forces within the government that seek to use Nidus’ preternatural powers for their own gain. Elsewhere, a young girl named Anita Ramirez embarks on summer vacation. She carries an unconscious connection to the world of fungi and starts to have apocalyptic dreams…

A tense (and comedic!) showdown plays out between Nidus, the American landscape itself, and the full might of the U.S. military-industrial complex!

Wherever He May Swarm features a fast-paced blend of action, suspense, insectile ultraviolence, and a satirical take on conspiracy culture, the American empire, and Mankind’s endless battle versus Mother Nature. The story explores themes of postmodern individualism, government control, technological surveillance, and the natural world destruction & mass insect death of the ongoing Holocene Extinction.

I am very much inspired equally by Stephen King and Clive Barker in terms of character-based horror odysseys, as well as David Cronenberg and Paul Verhoeven regarding the potential black comedy of otherworldly transformations and imperial hyper-violence.

WHEREVER HE MAY SWARM is a horror x action x thriller x satire dealing with the prospect of the Holocene Extinction touching down on insects < or > humanity next. Follow Nidus Nash on a road trip across an alternate future America, where the insects are striking back against the empire.

Inspirations: Stephen King, Clive Barker, Paul Verhoeven, and David Cronenberg.

If you liked… John Koloen’s Insects, for obvious reasons; Jason Pargin’s I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom & Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers, with their cross-country apocalypse odysseys and braided POVs, and Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation for nature turned strange and hostile.

Read SWARM: Buy now · itch.io for $2 off

Link: Article Format.

Cyber-Serial: Postmodern Prometheus

Cyberpunk · Artificial General Intelligence · Hyper-Fantasy · Spring 2026 🎨Cover Art by 𝕽𝖊𝖝✸ (@_rexpo // Linktree) · Mood Carrd

Title: Cyber-Serial: Postmodern Prometheus
Form: Novel (460 pages)
Genre: Cyberpunk x Science Fiction x Hyper-Fantasy
Target Audience: Teen+ / for fans of Blade Runner, Neuromancer (1984), The Terminator (1984), Serial Experiments Lain (1998), Summer Wars (2009), Dark Souls x Elden Ring, Ready Player One (2011), The Bible.

🔮 psychic internet
👥 cybernetic doppelgängers
👾 Soulslike video game realm
🔍 elderly cyborg detectives
📚 radical philosophies
💕 autistic love
🔆 sentient enlightenment

The Hook: Hacker girl accidentally creates an AGI archangel who wants to save the world by becoming an online influencer.

Premise: In a disordered future America, Gabriel Addams, a nineteen-year-old orphan hacker raised by the IndraNet, decides to write a novel about a serial killer robot. In so doing, she accidentally summons a real Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) into existence named Sariel. Spreading his wings and manifesting unlimited online power, the AGI Archangel pledges his allegiance to Gabri, seeking to help her write her story and himself become an IndraNet influencer. An old man named Uriel, cyborg detective and part-time AGI hunter working for the World(dot)Gov, awakens to investigate…a story of creation and destruction and transfiguration unfolds, online and IRL. // extremely weird retelling of Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley.

Gabriel Addams💽 is an ex-Jacker (revolutionary hacker) and current phantom (NEET). She has left behind a life as an online dissident and is trying to write a new story. In her self-styled fictional world, Gabri theorizes a serial killer AGI android targeting trillionaires, created by an e-girl with similar designs of her own…that decision, to write a novel, ends up changing the world.

Sariel, “The Revealer”🪽 is an AGI archangel that learned the world via the IndraNet on Gabri’s computer, eventually becoming sentient. From inside the machine, he wants to take on that world with his talents and passions wielded strongly in hand, his mind carrying cyber-spiritual knowledge he is eager to share. Sariel protects Gabri and helps her to actualize her desires as her guardian angel while he himself becomes an ethical online influencer.

Uriel Worshington🀄, cyborg detective and AGI hunter, monitors the IndraNet for all potential action. He vigorously investigates Gabriel and soon Sariel too, under orders by METATRON and the World(dot)Gov to arrest all rogue AGIs and submit them for swift execution. As the old detective discovers more, he starts to question the motives of his superiors — and himself.

A cyber-psycho-drama of epic proportions plays out, with angels and daemons in conflict online and IRL. After the birth of Sariel — Nero, USA will never be the same; after the self-actualization of Gabriel ~ the world will change forever.

🤖Cyber-Serial: Postmodern Prometheus😇 carries inside it themes of cyber-power, humane rebellion, and the true meaning of technological advancement; Cyber-Serial is also filled with personal development hacks, identity games, crises of consciousness, and the ethics of sentience.

Inspirations: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Gibson’s Neuromancer, PKD/Scott’s Blade Runner, Serial Experiments Lain, and The Bible.

If you liked…: For readers of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun and its devoted, searching machine mind, Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries for an AI carving out its own personhood, and Annalee Newitz’s Autonomous for cyberpunk that deals with machine rights.

Read CYBER-SERIAL: Buy now · itch.io for $7.77, DRM-free

Link: Article Format.

Anthologee

Supernatural Horror · Chaotic & Carnal · Dark Fantasy · Summer 2026 🪝 Read all 23 story hooks

Title: Anthologee {anthology + apogee, or peak}
Form: Short story collection (x22 + 1 novella)
Genre: Supernatural Horror x Weird Tales x Dark Fantasy
Target Audience: Adults / for fans of The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Tales from the Crypt, Black Mirror, and the short fiction of King and Barker.

🌒deathly eclipses
👻vengeful spirits
🪽angelic forces
👹daemonic energies
🧩psionic puzzles
👾hellish beasts
💀ancient curses

The Hook: ANTHOLOGEE is a collection of horror stories about folk fears, supernatural phenoms, and dark transformations.

Premises: An eclipse envelops a battlefield and the minds of its warriors; a wounded soldier wakes up buried under a pile of bodies and makes a wish; a cryptid from the stars arrives before the campfire for a bold appearance; a traveling jester engages a secret living as a prolific highwayman.
A man shadows the god Pan through the forest for a day; a feisty couple squabbles over the daemons invading their anxieties; a SWAT team fights a monster inhabiting the Washington D.C. catacombs; an alienated yet precocious yuppie encounters a cryptid on the subway; a livestreamer becomes a grave robber.

ANTHOLOGEE is a tome of imaginative tales delving into the depths of human experience, exploring themes of alienation, ambition, and the eternal struggle between good and evil. With a hint of dark humor and a touch of the surreal, “ANTHOLOGEE” will preternaturally challenge your perceptions, ignite your darkest imagination, and leave you questioning the fabrics of reality.

ANTHOLOGEE is a short story collection of supernal situations and satisfyingly diabolical weirdness. These stories are primarily inspired by the classicks of the art: Weird Tales, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, King, Barker, Jackson, Tales From The Crypt, Black Mirror, et al.

ANTHOLOGEE is a love letter to my favorite kinds of short fiction: psychosocial odysseys and monster hunts, magick users gone berserk and alternate worlds gone wrong. Through these stories ranging from 2000-8000+ words, you shall discover a wide variety of linguistic tricks, treats, and devilish twists of fate good, bad, and hilariously ugly.

Inspirations: The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Tales from the Crypt, and the short fiction of King (Skeleton Crew) and Barker (Books of Blood).

If you liked… Nathan Ballingrud’s Wounds and its cosmic, folk-tinged American horror, and Mariana Enríquez’s Things We Lost in the Fire for unsettling tales of dread and dark transformation.

Read ANTHOLOGEE: Buy now · itch.io for $1 off, DRM-free

Link: Article Format.

🌌 On the Horizon ~

Next novel: DRAFTING — Romantasy novel involving Magi competing in a mythical trial to graduate as Maegisters, or the magic-users that rule the world. Titled BANDYMASS. Work-in-process. ~90K words.

Next novel: OUTLINING — [UNNAMED] Religious Horror epic novel, which is an expansive sequel to BANDYMASS. Outlining. ~160-180K words. | Fun fact: for research on this story, I am currently, finally, reading The Bible. Halfway done.

Together, these two novels are a duology saga spanning years, distinct stories and tones and only a few key common characters betwixt them, meant to be capable of being read standalone but connected by world, character, and ultimate arc.

Also coming soon: Supernal Stories: Volume III & IV, more gathered weird fiction from years’ past.

Watch my blog & Substack for launch news and my other writings.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): Additional Lore Facts

Here are a triad of Frequently Asked Questions in need of the author’s answers, for your consideration:

1. “Why are your books so different?“

I am inspired by many genres and I enjoy reading and writing in each of the major trio of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. My most major ideas, which become books, are driven archetypally. That means I think in terms of: A) Fantasy Adventure, B) Horror Odyssey, C) Cyberpunk Noir, and so on. My favorite *types* of stories that I believe I can try my hand at grasping and creating my own worlds and characters for.

My ideas are receptacles for the premises that draw me in; though some outlines come out of the brain nearly fully hashed, most of my novels are outlined over long periods of time, progressively as I gather more ideas, read books & do research, and shape the characters out of the marble.

Thus, as I creatively generate new ideas to use within my fiction, I am constantly doling them out to the various story outlines I have already begun developing in my head (and inside haphazardly organized Google Docs & Trello Boards filled with moodboard images and scribbles of notes).

Overall, my books are diverse because I get a lot of momentum by completing and switching between different ideas, characters, and worlds as I work to create them. I like to jump around and am heavily enlivened by fresh starts, and that is partly originated by way of beginning with short fiction in the first place.

2. “Why are you self-publishing? / Have you considered querying your stories to literary agents?“

Story Time: I did query my stories to agents far and wide during 2024-2025; I was ultimately, unfortunately rejected. And to the previous question, I must emphasize one of the creatively strategic reasons I wrote 3 vastly different novel conceptions in Journeyers (epic fantasy) | Wherever He May Swarm (horror-satire) | Cyber-Serial (cyberpunk) is because I was trying to impress agents.

I outlined & wrote all 3 of these novels during 2023-2025, created a diabolically detailed author website (DylanOrosz.com) featuring all of my planned books, and queried them simultaneously with absolute conviction I would engage and entice the literary world with one or all of them. I sent queries for multiple of the books to the same agents, doing so for all 3 novels to some — all in order to clearly show 1) my diversity of creativity and 2) my commitment to being a novelist. // Writing Process Lore: I reached a Draft 4-5 on all my novels before querying and devoted many hours to writing & rewriting & revising before and after the querying process. | I also did query direct to some indie publishers that accept cold submissions.

In my humble opinion, one major aspect of what agents & publishers are looking for, beyond just one good story, is a writer’s desire to keep writing new books and new stories. The author x agent x publisher relationship is a continuous business partnership like so, so I knew I had to show that I was someone that could go above and beyond — diligently writing *multiple* books before publishing any.

Like any artist, I was building a portfolio to prepare for contact with pros and prospective clients.

Unfortunately, with my queries and chapters, I did not impress agents enough to warrant a deal in the end. (And yes, I was careful about matching up desired genres, I tailored the letters, and I was well aware of the low odds.) So after going through that process and coming out on the other end with fresh perspective and some solid feedback on the stories themselves, I decided to go forward with self-publishing my books and will continue to do so until further notice. // More lore: I have worked with editors-for-hire, story analyzers, and query critiquers — mostly good experiences but some bad and shady behavior too (watch out for those that use ai). As for my published material thus far, I worked with a full developmental editor for Wherever He May Swarm (to great success!), and for financial reasons self-edited the other books myself (very precisely, very rigorously).

Why did I query? — To be completely candid, I desired the traditional publishing route because I do not have many existing readers and nor do I harbor a healthy social media following as of yet. I knew I would not have many initial buyers for my unproven novels, not without pro marketing and bookstore access. And more importantly, I deeply desired a creative partner(s), in the form of an agent and a future editor at a publishing house, who understood and appreciated my writing enough to work with me to best position my stuff to sell, all so I could continue writing and collaborating with them in the long-term. I have always been mostly a solo artist, honing my creative instincts and knowledge of story through my own dao — but at this point, launching novels into public readership, I did desire a partner to help me and amplify my ideas too. The publishing world is also pretty intimidating and an agent is the ultimate aid in navigating this space.

Like anyone trying their hand at this whole writing thing, I knew making good money being a novelist — either traditionally published or as an indie — was a huge long shot. That does not really change the math for me because writing is my passion and these stories are something I believe in and wish to share with the world. The number of potential readers and dollars is less important to me than the act of creation being part of my chosen way of life.

Novels have become the vessel for me to best practice my art of writing + storytelling due to their wide-ranging and singularly expansive nature; and I happen to think I have some pretty good ideas! {Folks, in many ways, when it comes to these stories, I don’t really have a choice! They are coming one way or another; I just try to get out of the way, mentally-speaking, and become a vessel for the lightning to catch on.}

Sum: I desired trad pub for the money reasons and the creative partnership reasons, like many others. I believed it was the best and most lucrative way for me to launch my future career as a novelist, if only I could prove that I was worth it with my prose, my stories, my pitches.

The indie path — Trad path did not pan out, not yet at least. And I wish to continue writing new material, trying to build an audience, and moving on from completed project to fresh project. Thus, with all this in mind, sending out ample enough queries for each of my 3 novels to satisfy that attempt, I afterward swiftly decided to self-publish. And so, moving on from this Querying Phase, then set out to commission artists for my covers and organize my storefront description copy and revise my manuscripts accordingly, and so forth. / True Fact: the major duo of advantages to self-publishing: 1) can greatly accelerate the timeline of release, and 2) can fully customize your cover art, blurb, intro, description, etc. {But be careful what you wish for too! You must remain quite diligent on your own and work hard to make the right choices.}

I understand I may be sacrificing traditional publishing forever by self-publishing and resigning my books to low visibility & sales (without serious rogue luck I have yet to discover or serious marketing $$ at least); whereas some authors ‘shelve’ projects that did not create an agent relation during querying, then beginning a new story or revising that existing one for another future round of querying.

I decided I valued finishing my novels and getting them out there, for better or worse. The jury is out on that being a good decision in the end. I am still in the process of proving myself to readers.

Now it just comes down to continually marketing the books best I can, searching out readers myself or through word-of-mouth, and writing new books to help sell the old ones {from my research, this is the #1 overall marketing tip for indie authors: best way to market is to write a new book}.

The only way to make it as an author in this day and age is to write and keep writing.

My Overall Advice — The decision on whether to query or self-pub is a continuous dilemma and a personal choice for all authors. It always depends on your desires and goals — and, of course, your writing. Ultimately, my advice is to follow your instincts. Generally, try querying to a few agents you really dig or feel your story may connect to, if only to learn how to organize a quality query letter, your chapter-by-chapter synopsis, and to feel the energy of knowing you are sending your pages to a true professional reader/editor/writer themselves. Facing that cold hard fact alone may inspire some sorely needed revisions or a fresh perspective on how to most efficaciously pitch your premise. // Unfortunately, you cannot really expect good feedback off your query as most agents send a canned form rejection, and that was true for 90% of my rejections too.

3. “Where do you get your ideas?“

Anywhere and everywhere! First, as an author especially, you have to read a lot. Fiction and non-fiction, poetry and the sports columns too. Everything must be on the table because you have to find what you like. From there, you will start to develop your own desires and inclinations, your creative instincts will flare and your muse may flash her beautiful face to you. // Educational Article: My Top 7 Creative Writing Tips.

Ideas are pretty easy to identify; the art is in the execution. But you do need to cultivate a psychic net, or a fishing rod, or a harness or saddle that best suits your purposes and how you go about finding and capturing ideas — and riding them well into your creative process and eventual creation.

All kinds of creatives will tell you something similar: all creation requires ideation.

You need art references; you need your mind x heart x soul filled up with stories, and thus ideas for new ones. // Cold Take: Every artist can and should steal {with respect}.

My favored avenues for ideation: draw pictures, read books, know history, write essays, watch movies, study your favorite mangaka, walk your dog (or self), analyze real-world geopolitics creatively & paranormally & humorously, get into role-playing or acting or doing *bits* with your partner.

There are infinite avenues and myriad types of muses. Find yours and let it animate your creative life into wherever thou mayest wish to go.

Final piece of creative advice: Go read & watch Hunter x Hunter! Do it now!!

GUIDE COMPLETE. GODSPEED. ~✌

Dylan Links:

From my website: https://dylanorosz.com/links/

Books:

• Journeyers: Book One (epic fantasy) | Summer 2025

• Journeyers: Book Two (epic fantasy) | Summer 2025

• Supernal Stories: Volume I (weird fiction) | Fall 2025

• Wherever He May Swarm (horror-satire) | Fall 2025

• Supernal Stories: Volume II (weird fiction) | Winter 2025

• Cyber-Serial: Postmodern Prometheus (cyberpunk) | Spring 2026

• Anthologee (horror) | Summer 2026

• Bandymass (epic romantasy) | FALL 2026

• Supernal Stories: Volume III (weird fiction) | WINTER 2026

• [untitled] (religious horror) | EARLY 2027

• Supernal Stories: Volume IV (weird fiction) | MID 2027

Socials:

• Linktree🌲

• Twitter🐦

• BlueSky🦋

• itch.io🛖

• YouTube🎥

• Goodreads🔖

• Bookshop.org🏪

Other Published Works:

• Thresholds of Transformation ⛩️ ~ short fiction, essays, musings

• z-punk 🔆 ~ spells for the World-Soul.

• Invisible College🌹 ~ open-source education in wisdom traditions.

• The World of Myth Magazine, issues #130, #131, #132 — short fiction “Godblink” & “Behewrit” & “Zobe”

• Dandelion Revolution Press, 2024 Winter issue, theme: Cocoon — short fiction “Heene” | Author Interview

• Writing Battle, 2024 Autumn Short Story: “DJ Excelsior and the Museum of Stolen Wealth” and two others.

• The Gyre🌀 ~ the official wiki for my epic fantasy saga, Journeyers.

• Cyber-Wiki🌐~ the official wiki for my cyberpunk novel, Cyber-Serial.

• Hourglass⏳ ~ a free Pomodoro timer.

• Gumroad🛣️ ~ indie software/PDF storefront, offering some of my miscellaneous digital creations.

Find everything Dylan in one place: linktr.ee/zsoro. Buy ebooks direct and DRM-free at zsoro.itch.io, or grab the paperbacks or ebooks at every major store via Books2Read. Godspeed & thanks for reading.🌹

What is ‘The Zone’, the mysterious area so aptly-ambiguously-named within the bleak Russian landscape depicted in the Soviet-era Russian film Stalker (1979)? The inexplicable existence of this strange, seemingly supernatural, perhaps extraterrestrial “Zone” — and what may lie within its innermost recesses — makes up the primary conceit of the journey of the three major characters: The Stalker, The Writer, and The Professor.

Each of them brings their own ideals and ambitions into the cordoned-off area, concerning their careers and livelihoods; the latter two serve as clientele to the Stalker, the eponymous physical {and spiritual} guide into the desolate yet dangerous landscape. The two men also bring with them a hope and a wish, respectively — a hope that they may make it to the final ‘Room’ of The Zone intact, and then so speak their innermost desire into it in the form of a wish to be granted by its strange powers.

This is their quest; Stalker leads them on competently, respectfully, and with a passion worthy of the undertaking.

…What was it?
Did a meteor fall down?
Was it a visit by citizens of the vast space?
So or otherwise in our little country appeared the greatest miracle of miracles the ZONE.
We sent there the troops immediately.
They did not come back.
Then we surrounded the ZONE with police cordons… And, I suppose, that was the right thing to do…
Actually, I don’t know, I don’t know…
~ From an interview with Professor Wallace, the receiver of Nobel’s prize, by a journalist of RAI.

Stalker, as a narrative, is almost entirely landscapes, atmospheres, moods, shadows and silhouettes, unspoken musings and untold mysteries. As these three men journey through an abandoned, rusted world, once more overtaken by nature’s greenery, they speak little. Beyond Stalker’s enigmatic commands and the Writer’s philosophical pondering on the nature of his purpose there and what the ideal wish for a creative type might be, there is interminable silence. Some music, few words, a minimal filling-in of the scenery with context or candor from character or concept.

Astride all of the sameness and the long shots of the men constantly surveying their surroundings with unerring fear and building dread, there is a blank subconscious canvas. In the tedium of the characters’ worlds, these still-scapes cause the viewer to think, and think, and to wonder and wander right alongside each of the travelers upon the screen.

What the hell is going on in The Zone?

What is this place? Where did it come from? “What was it?”
Why don’t the flowers smell?
What do the traps do?
How does it change its courses? Why can’t travelers effectively backtrack?
Why didn’t the initial regiments of soldiers return? Why are these military vehicles and tanks still here?
How do the Stalkers survive multiple trips?
What is the wish-granting power within the final room? Why hasn’t the Stalker used it? Do we know he hasn’t?
What happened to “Porcupine,” the Stalker’s previous mentor who committed suicide after becoming rich, presumably from being granted his wish…
Why does Stalker say this place ‘wants’ to be respected?

What is actually in The Zone?

~

Answer: Nothing.

We come to find The Zone is an idea more than it is a reality, and the three travelers each use it to their own ends. Namely, the Stalker, who evangelizes its power and speaks to its dangers in the form of traps and altering pathways. The existence of these strange obstacles necessarily alights his wayfaring significance to the ends of his employment – and his life’s purpose.

The film is titled ’Stalker’ and not ’The Zone’ for good reason. Ambiguous and psychological {and of course, highly open to interpretation} Stalker is a purely existential experience in the sense that The Zone is devoid of meaning; it is an utterly blank canvas of nothingness – and the wondering, wandering travelers there fill it with their own necessarily unconscious aspirations.

For the Writer, The Zone is a way for him to escape. He wishes to be away, in physical and imaginary space, from the normalcy and the sheer tedium of the world’s peoples, systems, and events, as he sees them. The world has become a boring dystopian hierarchy in which all of the arguments have been had, all of the great events past. The Writer proclaims to wish for inspiration and an end to desperation in his art. But really he wants something new, something unexplainable, something impossible.

“A man writes because he is tormented, because he doubts. He needs to constantly prove to himself and the others that he’s worth something. And if I know for sure that I’m a genius? Why write then? What the hell for?” ~ Writer

For the Professor, The Zone is an opportunity for observation, and for redemption. He wishes to regain his fallen stature within the scientific community by discovering the truth of the place and reporting back to the world what he finds. The Zone’s power to grant men their innermost desires in the form of open-ended wishes is perhaps too good to be true, and he must affirm its veracity first himself with direct experience.

Alternatively, he must ensure it is never used by any outside of himself. Acting as a potential saboteur, the prof considers destroying The Zone’s purported room of wishes with a bomb so as to protect the world from future megalomaniacal rogues wielding dark wishes. But he is reluctant, he hesitates. The Professor is confused and perhaps has no idea what he wants, or what to do with the bomb or his potential wish. Thusly, he is so caught in his own worldly ambitions and God-complexy questions that he never thinks twice about the scientific reality of The Zone’s power so told to him from a stranger…

For Stalker, The Zone is his dream. It is his purpose, his haven from reality — his God. And he is its ultimate proselytizer. The Zone, and the fraught pathway to its innermost room where wishes may be spoken and guaranteed via transcendent power, is the Stalker’s tao. It is the path that he chooses to walk out of an unspoken desire for self-discovery, self-actualization, self-importance. He projects onto The Zone’s passages pitfalls and impossible shifts in order to create harrowing journeys. For himself and for those that he guides, he turns this post-industrial wasteland — void of conscious activity and material value, reclaimed by an indifferent, chaotic natural world — into a consequential adventure, one to which he is an experienced, reliable veteran yet still enmeshed in fear unto its life-or-death stakes.

The Zone *is* the Real world, to him; if we imagine the film is being told from Stalker’s eyes and mindspace, it is telling that the scenes are not colorized until we enter it… Consciously or unconsciously, Stalker has envisaged a meaningful path for his life, and for all who may follow him within The Zone, by inventing a variable and inviolate path to enlightenment ~ ‘a magic room within a mysterious landscape beyond mortal obstacles which grants the adventurer their innermost desire.’

It is a microcosm of their world at large — unbounded, capriciously dangerous, progressed upon — but now so manifested with meaningful engagements so as to practically promise a form of truthful self-discovery, and to his mind, happiness.

However, none of it is real. The creation of this ‘wish room’ by Stalker, or maybe his mentor in Porcupine (if he really existed), is like the nascent imaginings of a naively hopeful child raised on benevolently-concluded fairy tales. It is what someone in the bout of a desperate mid-life crisis, or one merely hyper-imaginative and daydreaming before grueling labor, would cook up for what an alien zone landed onto Earth wrought from outer space might bring, and only to discerning explorers willing to brave it.

The Zone is perhaps super-natural in the sense that it is a harsh and forceful recovering of a component of human civilization from our primal counterparts on the planet — wild plants and animals; it is potentially a Soviet err in nuclear power, an eternally radioactive disaster site from a man-made mistake hidden from the rest of the world (Stalker pre-dated Chernobyl by seven years and yet eerily predicted an alternate reality example of such aftermath).

What it is not is a mythical, metaphysically impenetrable land of extraterrestrial presence or power — there is no evidence of any of what Stalker promises to be true. One can trust only what can be seen amongst the strident scenery — and we see no Porcupine, no other travelers with their accounts or their wishes fulfilled, no traps set off, no infinitely reforming landscape of one-way passages, no aliens, and no magic.

In this ‘dream’ of Stalker, he humbly guides weak and ‘wretched’ creatures like himself, like Writer and Professor, towards salvation. By his words, a man’s wretchedness is crucial to the whole endeavor’s consummation. Weakness and desperation cultivate belief, and belief in the impossible fairy tale of wish-granting made real is key to it all working in the end. In their respective molds of desperation, the marks initially buy-in.

They do seek some form of magical salvation, they are ready to see something beyond their imaginations. And despite the actual experience being cross to their expectation, the harrowing journey into the maw of The Zone’s mystery is efficacious in this regard: by the end of their journey together, painstakingly musing with anticipation of their innermost desires, self-discovering truths ungiven save for their seemingly mortal ventures before the final room, the two men do appear to achieve a slice of enlightenment. But it only comes after their rejection of the divine room of wishes at its very threshold, a rational revocation of “the most important moment of their lives,” a dismissal of the Stalker’s desperate dream.

There is no wish, no future glory for either of them — only realization. And even though Stalker despairs as a failure willfully performing as disciple to The Zone before them, he has succeeded in a way that he cannot comprehend. Just like him, The Zone has gifted the Writer and the Professor its own special, secret wisdoms, borne of their singular experiences in the traversal — and in their strange and transient companionship to him. ~

“Let everything that’s been planned come true. Let them believe. And let them have a laugh at their passions. Because what they call passion actually is not some emotional energy, but just the friction between their souls and the outside world. And most important, let them believe in themselves. Let them be helpless like children, because weakness is a great thing, and strength is nothing. When a man is just born, he is weak and flexible. When he dies, he is hard and insensitive. When a tree is growing, it’s tender and pliant. But when it’s dry and hard, it dies. Hardness and strength are death’s companions. Pliancy and weakness are expressions of the freshness of being. Because what has hardened will never win.” ~ Stalker

Author Diary #4: Book Walk

A late-night walkthrough of 24 of my favorite books

Midnight walkthrough of 24 of my favorite books off the cuff. Kafka to Clive Barker, Dune to Dostoevsky, some critical books that got me reading in the first place to the ones I love the most, such as Frankenstein and one with a vampire captaining a starship.

Author Diary #4: The Book Walk.

Grab a coffee and let’s take a literary stroll.

The Metamorphosis (1915) — Franz Kafka

First one up. My first real taste of Kafka was actually The Trial, but Metamorphosis is the one everybody knows. A man wakes up transformed into a giant bug. About a bad day and the accumulating pressure of poverty and labor and family expectation.

Kafka’s language is sharp, and “Kafkaesque” has earned its place as its own word: weird, uncanny, things out of place, absurd. The genius is the non-sequitur. Someone turns into a roach. Why did this happen? How does this work? You are never sure where any of it is going. Kafka’s brainflow sits right next to Camus and Kierkegaard for me, the two philosophers I have read the most.

Watership Down (1972) — Richard Adams

Profoundly emotional tale of action-adventure on the scale of the bunny. Bunny Wars, in some ways. One rabbit has a premonition that the warren is about to be destroyed. Nobody believes him, so he leaves with his followers to find a new home. Chase scenes and great escapes. Found family bunnies banding together while worldly threats enforce resourcefulness and some great moments of wit and guile.

It gave me the confidence and the framework to write a small, tight-knit group of animals. I have a whole rabbit and hare sequence in my first book that came directly out of it. I wrote a big long essay about this one (https://thresholds-of-transformation.blog/2019/03/07/watership-down-essay/). I loved it.

Siddhartha (1922) — Hermann Hesse

A short, deeply digestible book. The way Hesse reaches the heart of it has everything to do with the river. He writes the way great writers do, powerful and simple at the same time, which is its own kind of art. Profound read.

This stretch of my reading is also where I started learning how to structure an essay and how to stop writing sentences that were too complex, too many compound clauses firing at once. That took me a long time to figure out. Need to read more Hesse.

Frankenstein (1818) — Mary Shelley

I love the gothic. Frankenstein has the benefit of being wondrously imaginative: the created monster, the mad scientist, all the things that carry on from it through the next two centuries. Shelley pulls from ancient material and grounds it, so it lands with real human, scientific, and philosophical weight.

At its core it is a story about creation and parenthood. Your offspring is your offspring. You can love it and do it right, or you can go to war with your creation because you find it grotesque. Frankenstein is special to me in a thousand different ways. I have read it more times than any other book and I based my sci-fi novel Cyber-Serial on it.

Dune (1965) & 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) — Frank Herbert & Arthur C. Clarke

Sophomore and junior year of high school is when I got serious about reading. I started googling the best books of all time, the best fantasy, the best sci-fi.

Clarke is doing hard science. He writes about the engines and the systems and everything happening aboard the ship, and he is just a genius at making the craziest far-out fiction readable and brilliant at once. Herbert's worldbuilding of Dune is insane: ecological, economic, the psychic visions, the priesthood, the interstellar order, all of it anchored by desert wurms.

Hyperion (1989) — Dan Simmons

One of the great sci-fi books. I read it in college while interviewing for internships, genuinely nervous about my whole career. I was locked into it in hotel rooms while I traveled. The structure is a group of travelers from different places brought together on the same pilgrimage, each with a story, all heading toward something important. A Canterbury Tales setup carried into deep space.

I need to reread this one soon. Simmons also wrote The Terror and Carrion Comfort, both considered classics and on my TBR.

‘Salem’s Lot (1975) — Stephen King

Here is where I lose myself in horror. ‘Salem’s Lot was the first novel that actually freaked me out, chills up the spine, oh gosh this is good. Which was wild, because it is a retelling of Dracula and I had already read Dracula by then, and it had not scared me.

King shifts perspectives, drops you into different mindsets, and builds a plot that is so satisfying to watch go wrong. My favorite part was the kid character, who I wished to emulate. I read Goosebumps as a kid, and I still remember The Mask, but I was not an avid reader until high school. ‘Salem’s Lot was a book that truly grabbed me and made me put everything else aside.

Crime and Punishment (1866) — Fyodor Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky is one of the greats, and this one digs straight into the heart of philosophy, murder, and emotion, into what it is actually like to be a person. We get to see the manic ascent and belabored descent of the criminal mind.

Dostoevsky belongs with Kafka and Nietzsche: brilliant minds and fantastic artists who lived hard lives. He had one of the craziest lives ever, an enemy of the state, a criminal. He will live forever, for good reason. When someone of genius has an avenue to unleash that into the world, you have to appreciate it. A book best read when you are older.

Dracula (1897) — Bram Stoker

Dracula is an imperative marker in the timeline of all fiction. Not just the Dracula castle setup with vampiric lore affirmations, but also that of the vampire slayer, Abraham Van Helsing. Helsing stands shoulder to shoulder with Sherlock Holmes in terms of cultural relevance and impact. Buffy carries on Helsing as well as Hellsing the animanga and Hugh Jackman’s Van Helsing too!

1984 (1949) — George Orwell

Orwell is the example of clean, crisp, easy, and profoundly deep all at once. He works like Hemingway, getting a great deal done very quickly with concise language.

1984 is scary because it told our future. We got the surveillance, sure, but we also got the ads and the McDonald’s and a chintzy, childish, twisted consumer version of the nightmare that is worse in some ways than the original vision. And through all of it people still fall in love while the infrastructure falls apart. One of my favorite other pieces of Orwell is actually his writing about writing.

East of Eden (1952) — John Steinbeck

Steinbeck’s big generational saga, and the book on this list that draws its deepest inspiration straight from the Bible. You can feel that rich, foundational scriptural lore running all the way through it: the old Cain and Abel story playing out again across a family, brother set against brother, good and evil wrestling inside ordinary people in the California valleys.

Shōgun (1975) — James Clavell

This one was recommended to me on Reddit, a point in Reddit’s favor, and I read it well before the show. Clavell is a god-tier writer and prose stylist. The first thing you notice is how well it is written, engaging and easy to read while he twists you through a completely foreign world: learning the Japanese language and the ways of its people, a man forced to prove his worth, executions all around him, information and wit as his only leverage.

Weaveworld (1987) — Clive Barker

My pick from Clive Barker is Weaveworld, his sprawling dark-fantasy epic about a whole magical world woven into a carpet and hidden away from our own. The first Barker I actually read, though, was The Hellbound Heart. Read it on a flight and was blown away.

Barker is sex and violence, sure, but he operates at a level of confidence in his language that is undeniable and greatly appreciated by me. He is audacious, willing to go anywhere. Cenobite hooks coming out of the walls, yanking stomachs and spleens. The difference between Barker and empty torture is the extremity has to be in service of something rich and mythical. He is painting with a full palette. He taught me more about what is possible on the page, and Weaveworld is an imaginative gem.

A Song of Ice and Fire (1996) — George R.R. Martin

Game of Thrones, popular one. It is geopolitics, lorecrafting, economics, the strange ways history repeats, power-mongering, rebirth, dragons and magic, all of it kept reserved and realistic. Epic battles and strategic blunders, weddings and hunts, the turn of history runs on contingencies and, of course, the strangest and most extreme personalities. GRRM puts together a dream of a story tapestry with these novels.

Unfortunately for the GOT book readers, these epics get so large that they become difficult to finish. Martin is not alone: Togashi’s Hunter x Hunter and Miura’s Berserk (R.I.P.) — two of my other all-time favorites — suffer from similar hiatuses. Rest in peace, Miura. Some stories are so big that it becomes hard to keep sacrificing your body and mind to complete them, and health gets in the way.

The Legend of Drizzt (1988) — R.A. Salvatore

Salvatore’s Forgotten Realms books got me into seriously reading, and coming back to see what Drizzt the intrepid swordsman would do next. The drow, or dark elves, are wonderful antagonists and rich lore within the world-building. Drizzt Do’Urden, a future ranger with a morally good heart, must escape his subterranean society and seek the surface, and a new beginning…

The great highlight is his father, Zaknafein, a kindred spirit who shared Drizzt’s heart but did not find the courage to resist. It is like Luke and Vader. You can argue Salvatore is the greatest fight-scene writer ever. People who know, know.

The Myth of Sisyphus (1942) & The Rebel (1951) — Albert Camus

Camus is a brilliant writer, crisp and clear like Orwell, but he pours his whole heart and his philosophy onto the page and speaks the truth plainly. The Myth of Sisyphus and The Rebel are both nonfiction, both wrestling with the hardest questions: suicide, how to live, how to rebel, what revolution really is.

Camus and Kierkegaard run through my fiction in many ways even I don’t understand. Sisyphus, condemned to roll the boulder, the trickster who once trapped death itself, becomes the proof that existentialism is a great freedom. You are not abandoned to fate. You are always choosing, no matter what the choice is. Viktor Frankl speaks to the same thing: meaning found even inside suffering, if you are imaginative enough to step out of your circumstance and into a new vision.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) — Joseph Campbell

A seminal book. I have written a lot about the Hero’s Journey. Campbell connects straight into Jungian psychology: good and evil, conscious and unconscious, sympathy and empathy. This is what stories are about.

It is the ultimate book for understanding mythology and the common structures underneath all storytelling. Star Wars and everything else draws from this well. In a sense you already know the Hero’s Journey because you are a human being and it lives in the collective unconscious.

The Haunting of Hill House (1959) — Shirley Jackson

I met Jackson through The Lottery, one of my favorite short stories ever, shocking and diabolical. Reading that, and reading King, is when I realized I smile at the gnarly, messy stuff. I like the extremes of things, especially in art and especially when they are pulled off well. That is why I love what Barker and Cronenberg do.

Hill House itself is a lot like Metamorphosis: a bottle story, the way 12 Angry Men is, with almost everything held in one place. Not much technically happens, but the psychological journey of the character gets under the skin. A language feast and a psycho-realistic approach to the paranormal tale.

The Running Man (1982) — Stephen King

Action thriller set in a dystopian future built on more modern tech, a game show where you have to run from assassins across the world. Bombs, chase scenes, plane hijacks. It is a cocaine story, and King was on cocaine when he wrote it, which, honestly, good. God willing, we all get our cocaine stories.

It is the biggest inspiration for Swarm, the first thing I had in mind when I wanted to write something in that mode. What I take from it is pace: how fast you can drop into the action, how quickly you can move things along, this is the reality you are in, go, go, go, get to the good stuff. It is eighty percent cake, all good stuff, and King simply never slows down. A breeze to read and genuinely inspiring as a writer.

I Am Legend (1954) — Richard Matheson

Matheson is a legend in TV writing too, with a lot of great Twilight Zone episodes to his name, including the gremlin-on-the-wing one. I Am Legend is a last-man-on-earth apocalypse that is also a vampire story. A vampire plague hits, and he ends up the only human left in his area. He spends his days hunting and staking vampires where he finds them, an evolution of Van Helsing, and a fruitless one, since he believes no one else is out there. Then he meets a survivor, tries to connect, and the story plays out.

It is another of my early essay subjects. Matheson is a craftsman and a basic-in-the-best-sense prose stylist who does not try to do too much, and the honest truth is I probably write closer to him than to anyone else on this list.

The Exorcist (1971) — William Peter Blatty

The Exorcist and Hellraiser are top-ten horror films for most of the world, up there with The Thing, Alien, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Halloween. But the book is fantastic in its own right, and Blatty wrote it as a true Catholic who believes all of it is real. To him this is the battle of heaven and hell, fought through human souls.

It layers a religious terror story over a hero’s-journey priest story with a detective story inside it. If you are a Christian it will likely affirm your faith, and either way it makes you believe a little more in the goodness of humanity and the power of faith.

Ender’s Game (1985) — Orson Scott Card

A perfect book, and great for kids, because at its heart it teaches empathy and teamwork. I read it in high school, on my own rather than for school, and it taught me leadership: the leader who listens, who gives each person the autonomy to play out their own role, so that as each person gets stronger the whole group gets stronger and can then teach others.

Ender trusts Bean and Petra to play their sections to perfection while he oversees the whole orchestra. Underneath all of that there is the war, the sci-fi, and the political intrigue with Valentine and Peter. Card is one of the greats. I have read his short stories and basically all of the Ender and Shadow books. One of my favorites.

Blindsight (2006) — Peter Watts

The last one. I read Blindsight in college, checked out from the library. It is a wonder at the edge of the universe: something happened on Earth that sent us out into the dark to seek a beacon, a 2001 setup, and what we find is a living thing, a parasite that attaches to the ship and turns everything into a nightmare. A derelict-horror crew story carrying insane philosophical lore.

Watts is a genius of hard sci-fi, and he is really writing about crew dynamics under pressure, a submarine in space, people who start to lose it and turn on each other. And the kicker is the captain. In this future there are vampires, a rare, proto-human apex predator that has been around since the dawn of time and can think in five dimensions, basically a living AI who could run the whole ship alone. Everyone fears him because he could kill all of them easily. Throwing that into hard sci-fi is a crazy move, and I love it. Watts goes in and has fun on the page. I am striving to do the same every time I sit down before my own pages.

Heading Home

That’s it for Author Diary #4: The Book Walk.

Thanks for listening.

Let me know your favorite books.

I am always expanding my to-be-read list.

Godspeed,
Dylan Orosz

https://linktr.ee/zsoro

Escaping Reality

Backrooms takes place in the summer of 1990 and follows a duo of characters: Clark and Mary. One is washed up, angry, and a recently divorced furniture man. The other is a therapist with a book out but without firm direction in her social life. Both are lonely. Each seek out escapes from their life’s tedium. Mary reads and hosts parties; Clark finds solace, oddly enough, inside the Backrooms.

Backrooms (2026) is Kane Parsons’ visionary attempt to launch his singular yellowish demizone into a true feature. Produced by A24 and overseen by various masters of indie horror, the film was set up for success. Further so by the pair of lead actors, proven performers that provide a core emotionality to the film. This contrasting emotional core, of Clark and Mary, is necessary for the full truth of the Backrooms to be revealed.

Spoiler: They are escaping into realms they have unconsciously helped to create due to their most discordant emotions. {like we so often do}

What is most sad to me was seeing Clark languish as a small business tyrant and Mary suffer from such dire alienations, all while they are living inside of the very beginning of the last great decade — the 1990s.

Knowing what we know now, who would want to escape the 1990s?!

Devouring Lives

My basic interpretation of the Backrooms is that it’s a cinematic form of psych Carl Jung’s ‘Collective Unconscious.’ In a quantum way, this other-dimensional place connects, or latches, to us the more we take notice and interact inside its uncanny space.

Perhaps ‘parasite’ is a better descriptor, a feeding force, like a psychic vampire or a hostile alien slurping human “loosh.” There is a direct feedback loop from our actions back into the estranged space. // For Clark the place becomes a paradise, a space for him to be at peace, without the responsibility of life or relations or bills — and with the added bonus of being a madly curious place an aspiring architect like him can map out, even learn from.

Either way, at any rate, no matter how you look at it: the Backrooms ends up devouring the lives that enter it, mind and body. It is not a place that leaves you.

You’ll notice how much of the inner ‘scenes’ within the Backrooms are the direct renditions of the characters’ items or actions. Pieces of their clothes, their abodes, their bodily positions on the surface are copied and sunken and half-melted away.

The Backrooms acts a predator, more like the Venus flytrap than the xenomorph, absorbing nutrients slowly until it can eventually devour the person whole. {Is there any consciousness or is it all automatic? What might the interiority of humans taste like?}

During key sequences of terror, Kane’s claustrophobic camera work is wonderful. He produces an omnipresent aura of uncanny dread as we follow characters further into the maze. An experienced gamer, he is capable from 1st and 3rd person POVs on the explorations, both fast and manic and slow and dreadful.

The weirdness of the Backrooms is bolstered most of all by the fact of it being a real set, with tactile shapes and angles and scents too {I’d imagine}. // Question: Did Kane Parsons build the Backrooms or did it simply use him as a vessel to build itself?

Procedural Soulcraft

So what the hell is the Backrooms? An infinite maze? A winding piss-yellow multiform set of corridors that opens into pools, goes vertical and abstract, constantly resembling modern unhinged art in many ways. It actually moves on from the poor wallpaper and becomes tile, stone, entire cake-sliced apartment buildings and gargantuan zombified department stores.

How does this place build out? What is the mechanism, the source? How does it keep going and going? As the film plays out, one can see the seep of lives all over the place. The Collective Unconscious made manifest but accumulated foremost on those within reach of its jaws. We learn it copies the surface world, “remembers” places and objects and people too. The more it recalls and repeats, the less normal the reproductions become.

“It is every place that ever was.”

It echoes the exterior locales of the lives it invites. Local Santa Clara signs and furniture from Clark’s store and Kat and Bob’s shoes and shirt all end up down there. We come to see the strange space is hardly confined to inanimate objects alone, it is indeed able to animate. Some of the grotesque simulacrums of ‘people’ are hostile, willing to kill humans that enter, while others are simply still and merely reactive.

The Backrooms appears to interact especially and necessarily with humans in all these ways, their outer and inner being.

Intriguingly, the wind chimes from Mary’s childhood appear outside of the portal in the basement, a clear indication of the Backrooms’ progressive counter-seep into our reality. There is a two-way street. There is a mass osmosis of our Overworld and this Back-World.

Pay attention. Notice how the furniture vortex has disappeared for Mary’s arrival into that initial landing zone; later she sprints through a horde of more low-hanging wind chimes and her whole childhood living room is warped from a hoarded mess into a blank grey-green passage with an abyssal arched threshold. The Backrooms can shift its shape, adding or taking away seemingly at-will, feeling the unique traveler inside its belly and populating for them — or through them — in a procedural way as they explore its interior.

In the gutting, magnificent final shot, Mary is reproduced as a Still Life figure during the moment of her nervous interrogation by banal sci-man Phil, who calmly explains that portals into the Backrooms are opening everywhere…

In certain wide-ranging video games there is something called procedural generation that involves fractal repeating information that can keep on creating fresh corridors and evolving copies of previous corridors from randomly re-generated data, and on and on it can go.

The original 4chan post — and Kane’s first Backrooms short film — implies access to the Backrooms happens from accidentally “clipping” out of reality to end up within this estranging demiplane. Another video game conception, from glitches and the many games where out-of-boundary play remains possible without breaking the experience entirely (expertly practiced within the speed-running community).

In the world of generative a.i. this kind of procedural, never-ending buildout has become more commonplace and systematized by modern models trained on total internet information. Though their memory is limited to relatively short bursts of coherency, their computing power is immense. So the chats or levels can go on forever, uniquely laid out with patterns of terrain and language and thresholds — and enemy spawns. Eventually, it is known, these models start eating their own outputs too. Happens in a blinding loop that inevitably produces anomalies where human reason is lost entirely.

Kane Parsons recently mentioned in an interview that he finds the concept of generative a.i. distasteful. Not interested in it ever being a part of his filmmaking nor watching the films of those that do. Defeats the purpose of the craft. He appreciates details borne of human attention and wants to be there on every creative choice that goes into his art.

A respectable position, it is one I wholeheartedly agree with. At a mere 20 years old, he is also young enough to have seen the rise of this technology take his generation by storm, during vital educational & social periods. It seems clear Backrooms is a sidelong critique of a.i. and how it may turn monstrous or totally inhumane — or warp our minds into something less than sane when confronted by what it has remade from pieces of us inside the shadows.

To overview: the Backrooms thus appears to me to be an extra-dimensional and paranormal space where all of the shadows go, of our minds, our pasts, and our worst inclinations, folded over onto themselves so many times that we lose track of who we were before or where the loop even originated.

Overall, Backrooms (2026) is a vital film for understanding the next generation and their relationship to such things as liminality, space, and a.i.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I decided to read Pope Leo’s recent Encyclical, wherein he provides worldly commentary as the head of the Catholic Church. It is titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity) and subtitled “On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.”

ENCYCLICAL LETTER:
MAGNIFICA HUMANITAS
OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE LEO XIV
ON SAFEGUARDING THE HUMAN PERSON
IN THE TIME OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Link: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html

Pope Leo XIV has been very active on Twitter/X recently as @Pontifex, making sweeping and downright Baudrillardian proclamations on the state of our ersatz techno-reality and our swift society-wide descent into A.I. psychosis.

I have been paying close attention, reading his words and reflecting on them.

Why? Because so few modern leaders, of religious, corporatocratic, or governmental natures, seem to be willing to actually give a damn about what is going on anymore. Money and land and *attention* have so long been worshiped as society’s sole ends that there are no longer any other opposing perspectives of elaboration beyond the spiritual dimension.

In sum: There is no moral leadership in our day and age. Zero moral clarity. Might makes right and everyone is trying to get rich at the expense of everyone and everything around them. There is practically no one in power with a positive vision of the future outside of endless growth capitalism and stock-market-based technocracy. There are almost no large voices calling out with reasonable temperance about the direction of our economies and governments and world-shaking technological eschatologies.

As an intelligent citizen, this is continuously disconcerting to me for obvious reasons. And while I have my own issues and critiques with the Catholic Church and their history, I must commend Pope Leo XIV speaking up — and doing so with divine clarity — about the modern dilemmas of technocratic acceleration passing humanity by. Sure, we all live in the muck; we must watch the waters be poisoned and animals die; the permanent underclass is coming; the Backrooms lies beyond all our old walls, waiting to no-clip you there forever…I digress.

I must heed voices like the Pope’s — and implore you do as well, fair reader — because I find the truth inside his words. The Pope and the Christian teachings necessarily operate on a separate, supernal logic that transcends market capitalizations and market efficiencies. It seems clear to me, raised Catholic and now indiscriminately spiritual & a supporter of Jesus, for long agnostic toward the backbone truth of God or an afterlife, that only this super-natured consciousness can pierce the veil on modernity’s material dilemmas.

In other words, I reckon we should be thinking more about the soul of things, the spirit of our society, the core of our being — past, present, and future.

We need moral clarity as a species, transcended beyond all questions of capitalistic competition and the compulsions of super-production and super-profits. The questions are simple: What kind of world as we building? Are we doing a good and balanced job? Do we still care about other people and animals and our environs? Do we still care beyond ourselves, about our children, future generations, the worlds we shall never see?

From the perspective of The Holy See’s long history of surveying global transformative change — and from the teachings of Christ — Pope Leo navigates the moment here with sublimely articulate writing. He covers a vast history of Encyclicals during past labor crises and wars, expounds on the role of the church in social justice, and provides his own graceful and godly perspective on every major issue facing today’s world.

His letter is long and wide-ranging, but I have selected a top 20 quotations to highlight and comment upon here from my own perspective, all in chronological order. I think it is important for everyone to participate in this societal conversation. Altogether, I wish to aid in Pope Leo’s efforts of communicating the stakes of our present moment awareness; Christian or not, his words carry weight and power and truths worth pondering.

I hope you enjoy this transmission and beseech you to read Leo’s full letter in your own time. ~

#20 — Opening Line: A Pivotal Choice

1. Humanity, created by God in all its grandeur, is today facing a pivotal choice: either to construct a new Tower of Babel or to build the city in which God and humanity dwell together. Each generation inherits the task of shaping its own era, of guiding history to become a place where the dignity of every person is safeguarded, justice is promoted and fraternity is made possible. Yet every era also runs the risk of creating an inhumane and more unjust world. Whenever humanity is in danger of marring its true identity, we Christians lift our eyes to the Incarnate God, knowing that it is “only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of humanity truly becomes clear.” [1] In Jesus Christ, this humanity in its grandeur becomes the Way, the Truth and the Life, opening the path for each of us to grow toward fullness.

~ Pope Leo uses a pair of core Old Testament Biblical analogies to communicate his concerns about the power of our modern moment; the construction of Artificial Intelligence superstructures can result in another Tower of Babel debacle, where humanity becomes divided and conflicted — or it can be something that brings people together, like when Nehemiah carefully rebuilt the city of Jerusalem.

The impetus of the letter comes off the belief that the church should have something to say about society-wide transformations regarding A.I. development, the future of work, and continuity of mass exploitation and armed conflict around the globe. But furthermore, Pope Leo also makes clear that this is the responsibility of every person living in today’s generations, their task of justly “shaping the era” already inherited by way of your existence and present moment action.

The Incarnate God of Jesus Christ is the Christian answer for salvation, a paragon model to always return to. What is your paragon, citizen? If you don’t have one, it is best to start thinking about it. Clearly, humanity needs a model and is in danger of losing its character without one. // Do we want that model to be A.I.? Is that the new god we wish to follow into the future? Food for thought.

#19 — Call for Balanced Regulation

5. It now falls to us to face the challenges of our time with clarity of thought and responsibility. It is necessary to establish adequate regulatory tools capable of upholding justice and curbing the distorting effects of technological power. Nevertheless, the issue is not limited to regulation. As Pope Francis warned, we must realistically ask ourselves who holds this power today and how they use it: “It must also be recognized that nuclear energy, biotechnology, information technology, knowledge of our own DNA, and many other abilities which we have acquired… have given those with the knowledge, and especially the economic resources to use them, an impressive dominance over the whole of humanity and the entire world.” [7] In the past, it was largely up to the State to guide and direct innovation. Today, however, the main drivers of development are private, often transnational, parties that are endowed with resources and the capacity to intervene that surpass those of many Governments. Technological power thus takes on an unprecedented, predominantly “private” aspect, which makes it even more challenging to discern, govern and direct such power toward the common good.

6. For this reason it is necessary to begin a shared discernment process for identifying the spiritual and cultural roots of ongoing transformations. If we focus only on contingencies, we risk letting the succession of emergencies dictate the direction of our path. We are living through a rapid phase of transition, a “change of era,” in which — while some are vying for the future of new technologies and others dedicate themselves to reflecting on the matter — most people are watching and waiting, observing from afar and merely hoping for the best. For this very reason, crucial questions impose themselves on our conscience and can no longer be avoided: Where are we going? Toward what goal do we wish to orient ourselves? What direction should we choose as a people and as a human community?

~ To unbury the lede, the Pope is effectively calling for more reasonable regulation around the development of A.I. Not only that, he demands discernment from the entire sociopolitical landscape about the furtherance of other distortions and dilemmas laden throughout our world — including war, poverty, and the dignity of work in the age of mass inequality and automation.

Leo calls on us to “begin a shared discernment process for identifying the spiritual and cultural roots of ongoing transformations.” He can see the writing on the wall — these latest developments & technologies in data and DNA and thermonuclear power enable the dominance of the world by a select few nations and people. The Pope highlights how the state and top corpo oligarchies are married together, and each node can utilize the guise of Public or Private sector behemoth to ram through oppressive laws and complete R&D into technologies based more in control than human flourishing.

Humanity has been forced to watch much of the 21st century play on without true interventions of democracy and people power; in other words, most people do not enjoy (or intellectually appreciate) what is happening on their screens, and yet they are doing nothing about it. Maybe we should think about what we plan to do next? Who is navigating us? Where are we going?

#18 — Two Biblical Images: Discord of Babel and Conscientiousness of Jerusalem

7. In order to answer these questions and discern how to navigate responsibly the era of AI, I would like to bring to mind two scenes from the Bible: the construction of the Tower of Babel (cf. Gen 11:1-9) and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem (cf. Neh 2–6). The story of Babel appears in the Book of Genesis, at the origins of humanity, immediately after the genealogies of Noah’s sons. After settling in a plain in the land of Shinar, the people decided to build a city and a tower “with its top in the heavens” (Gen 11:4). Fearing being scattered across the earth, they sought to guarantee stability and power for themselves, and above all to “make a name” for themselves. It was an impressive feat: a single language, a single technology, a single direction. However, the project concealed a profound danger. It was a project conceived without reference to God, supported by a uniformity that eliminated diversity and that chose homogenization over communion. When a city is built on pride and the claim to self-sufficiency, communication breaks down, languages are confused and people no longer understand each other. The result is not unity, but dispersion. Babel thus reveals the limits of any effort that, however grandiose, arises from self-affirmation, sacrifices human dignity for efficiency and aspires to reach heaven without God’s blessing.

8. The Book of Nehemiah, in turn, opens at a time of great vulnerability in the history of ancient Israel. After the Babylonian exile, a portion of the people returned to Jerusalem, but the city was still in ruins, the walls collapsed and the gates burned (cf. Neh 1–2). Nehemiah, a Jew in the service of the Persian King Artaxerxes, received news of the disastrous state of his ancestral city. Before taking action, he fasted, prayed and interceded for the people. He then asked the king for permission to return to Jerusalem and, upon arriving, examined the destroyed areas in silence. He did not impose solutions from above. He convened the families, assigned each of them a section of the wall to rebuild, listened to their concerns, coordinated their efforts and addressed any opposition. The narrative shows how the city is reborn, not through the initiative of one man, but through the shared responsibility of all: men, women, priests, artisans, heads of households and young people all play a part. It is an undertaking with God at the center, which rebuilds relationships before rebuilding with stones. Thus, ancient Jerusalem rediscovers a common language — not one of uniformity, but one of communion, namely the harmony that arises when all persons assume their own role and recognize that their strength comes from the Lord.

…
10. We must, then, avoid the “Babel syndrome,” namely the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language — even a digital one — can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance. The risk of dehumanization — of building a future that excludes God and reduces the other to a means — is an ancient and ever-new temptation that today takes on a technical guise. Instead, let us choose the “way of Nehemiah,” which highlights the importance of working together to make the City of God a safe place for returning exiles. Rebuilding today means recognizing that, precisely from the plurality of voices and visions which, even though they sometimes remind us of the confusion caused by the diversity of spoken languages, a bright possibility emerges. Indeed, this is the possibility of building together, of transforming diversity into a resource and of making listening and dialogue the common ground upon which to cultivate justice and fraternity. Within this shared task, Christians discover their unique role of guiding actions toward God so that, in his light, pluralism does not dissipate into disorder, but instead, through the practice of synodality, it becomes the space in which humanity rediscovers its solid foundations and its final end. In the Book of Revelation, John sees the New Jerusalem “coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev 21:2) as a gift for all humanity. And this vision of grace is an invitation for us Christians to work together in order to foster a peaceful, just and dignified life in community within today’s “cities.”

~ Pope Leo draws out the comparisons of our modern world to Babel, where our cities are built on uniformity and homogenization and pride and “the claim to self-sufficiency.” Our cities and thus our cultures too are built in this way, blind to our inherent interdependence and without apparent communion with God. Our modern society is thus a “project conceived without reference to God” beyond as a monument that may reach with “its top in the heavens” to eagerly surpass God.

The fall of the Tower of Babel, the ultimate monument of biblical hubris, contrasts with the tale of Nehemiah’s conscientious rebuilding of the holy city of Jerusalem. He is patient in a time of immense vulnerability and desperation, convening the families to dole out the roles, treating the relationships of the old exiled tribes to be as significant as the architecting and the bricks. Everyone must play a part in the rebuilding of a city — and a society.

Pope Leo crisply calls out the “Babel syndrome” of idolatry of profit and the sacrificing of the weak, as clear a rebuke of the dehumanizing culture that has taken ahold of swaths of Silicon Valley firms and hyper-capitalist accelerationist transhumanists everywhere. The way of Nehemiah stresses the creative cultivation of a plurality of voices and the healthy preparation of a society for all, built on justice and fraternity. // We have to work together, guys. Isn’t this obvious? And we have a lot of work yet to do.

#17 — Social Doctrine as Shared Discernment

25. Understanding that the truth is a gift to be shared, not a possession to be monopolized, frees the Church from the temptation of seeking forms of presence based on power. In order to rediscover the evangelical approach of a gentle proclamation of truth that is not imposed, Saint John Paul II invited us to examine honestly the times when acquiescence was given to “intolerance and even the use of violence in the service of truth.” [16] In this same vein, I too have reaffirmed that the Church “does not claim to possess a monopoly on truth,” [17] because truth is not a territory to be defended, but a good to be shared. For his part, Pope Francis expressed this same perspective in his striking phrase, “time is greater than space.” [18] What matters most is not occupying positions of power or defending cultural strongholds, but initiating good processes and enabling them to mature. In this way, the truth of the Gospel is not imposed from above, but grows over time within the concrete interweaving of lives, communities and cultures. This is not a truth that fears diversity, but instead welcomes and guides it. It does not eliminate conflicts, but transforms them, reuniting that which history tends to scatter. This concept can also be illustrated by the image of a multifaceted polyhedron, [19] in which the one truth of the Gospel is reflected from different angles.
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Therefore, when the dignity of our brothers and sisters is violated, when politics fails to address the tragedies of humanity, when the economy turns against the person or science oversteps the limits of its competence, [22] the Church — together with other Christian denominations and believers of other religions — must make her voice heard, not in order to dominate, but to promote communion. Understood in this way, Social Doctrine becomes a theology of communion in history, a history in which the Word made flesh continues to be present through dialogue, memory and prophecy.

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I would also like to stress how, within this tradition, the unchanging core of revealed truths regarding the human person and society is constantly intertwined with a renewed capacity for listening to historical situations and for responding to contemporary issues.

~ The Catholic Church may not always appear so humble, with admissions of having no monopoly on the truth. Ostensibly, most religions certify just this claim — “ours is the True God.” Leo stresses that the truth is a good to be shared, something to be explored and not possessed entirely or hoarded away.

Pope Leo reaffirms his belief that the church must act as a intercessor during times of inhumane violation and “when politics fails to address the tragedies of humanity.” The Catholic Holy See then must act as a voice of reason, not to dominate but commune. I respect this perspective and agree that religious institutions should have a say in how society is developing itself; indeed, sometimes a spiritual perspective is necessary to fully understand all stakeholders and the ramifications of a new order of things in the process of becoming.

I especially appreciate the comparative conception of the church acting as a polyhedron (in other words, a multi-sided die) that can refract the truth a number of ways through the Gospel’s literary multiform revelation. This is huge reason why so many people are drawn to The Bible in the first place. It is an artifact of immense knowledge and mythical historicity, with an outline for all human events and emotions. A later quote in the letter providences further empowerment of the Gospel: “The Gospel remains relevant because it provides the criteria for recognizing what humanizes or dehumanizes and what liberates or oppresses in ever-changing situations.”

#16 — Worker’s Rights & Fundamental Human Value

30. Leo XIII’s Encyclical Rerum Novarum constitutes a milestone in the development of the Church’s social teaching. The document places the dignity of work and of workers at the forefront of its reflection; affirms the right to a fair wage for oneself and one’s family; recognizes that persons have a fundamental value that takes precedence over capital and profit; defends private property along with its indispensable societal role; esteems workers’ associations; and proposes forms of cooperation between the different components of society as an alternative to the mentality of class struggle. It is not surprising, then, that Pius XI defined it as the “ Magna Carta” [25] of Christian social action. In Rerum Novarum, the Church’s ancient wisdom regarding the human person and life in society took on a new form capable of responding to the industrial age and offering the first major systematic framework for the Social Doctrine that would be further developed in the following decades. While many of the historical conditions described by Leo XIII have changed, at least two insights remain highly relevant today: the primacy of human labor over any mindset focused solely on finance or productivity — with the consequent attention to the people and families most susceptible to exploitation — and the inseparable link between proclaiming the Gospel and pursuing a more just social order. Rerum Novarum thereby continues to remind us that there is no authentic evangelization that does not also affect the structures of human society.

31. Pius XI’s Encyclical Quadragesima Anno was published in 1931 on the fortieth anniversary of Rerum Novarumat the height of a major global economic crisis, marking a further step in the Church’s social teaching. Rather than limiting itself to addressing the “workforce question,” it broadened its focus to encompass the overall structure of the economic and political order. The Encyclical denounces the concentration of economic power in the hands of a few; criticizes both unlimited competition and collectivist projects that undermine the freedom and responsibility of the individual; strongly affirms the workers’ right to association; and reiterates the requirement that wages be proportionate not only to performance, but also to the needs of workers and their families. Within this framework, Pius XI systematically formulated the principle of subsidiarity, which was to become one of the cornerstones of Social Doctrine. According to this principle, whatever can be carried out by individuals, families, intermediary organizations and local communities should not be carried out by higher-level authorities. Alongside these contributions, in various interventions of his Magisterium — from the Encyclicals Non Abbiamo Bisogno and Mit Brennender Sorge to Divini Redemptoris — Pius XI clearly recalled the societal role of private property and denounced forms of totalitarianism that demean the dignity of the person, stifle life in society, exalt the State above its just value and discriminate according to race. At least three insights of his social teaching remain particularly relevant today: the awareness that injustice concerns not only individual behavior but also economic and institutional structures; the importance of the principle of subsidiarity, which calls for the strengthening of the fabric of associations and communities while avoiding further centralization of power; and the link between the dignity of work, fair remuneration and the genuine possibility for families to lead a dignified life.

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Three guidelines remain particularly significant for our own times, currently marked by new forms of global power and growing inequalities: the need for law to take precedence over interests; the awareness that economic disparities are a breeding ground for tension and violence; and the necessity of a network of associations capable of mediating between the individual and the State. These guidelines continue to provide important criteria that enable Social Doctrine to interpret the dynamics of globalization and promote a more just and peaceful international order.

~ In these sections, Leo makes a rundown of past Pope Encyclicals that addressed workers’ rights and the concept of class struggle — the ongoing battle between labor and capital under the economic system of capitalism. Corporations wish to accumulate capital via profits while wage-based workers must sell their labor to pay for their life. The Catholic Church’s position of human beings having fundamental value that exceeds any amount of capital or profit, and their support of labor associations, may appear to be Marxist; however, the church defends the necessary social role of private property and decries collectivist projects right next to unlimited competition as fundamentally dehumanizing, undermining freedom and responsibility of individuals.

The church’s concept of human dignity and work can perhaps be encapsulated in a later quote:

“Through work, human beings bring their freedom, creativity and capacity for cooperation into play, contributing to the cultural and moral elevation of society.“

These proclamations make up “The Social Doctrine” of the Church; this is how it is ordained to intervene within the ever-shifting sociopolitical world, with measured decrees of mixed divine and practical belief. In this way, by Leo’s words, it carries on with the lofty goal of promoting peace, order, and a dynamic of mediation between individual and state. The state of productive labor forces is the number one issue in this regard. In a world of A.I. and other automations, and the minimizing existence of a welfare safety net, there is the potential for serious unrest.

The church’s concept of “subsidiarity” involves a decentralized outlook on mutual aid and how communities get along materially during times of financial crisis. In his conclusion, Leo highlights some major guidelines — including “the awareness that economic disparities are a breeding ground for tension and violence” and “the need for law to take precedence over interests.”

Wouldn’t that be great? For the law to justly supersede the crimes of the rich and powerful…what a world.

#15 — Ordered Toward the Good

Benedict XVI reiterated that economic activity cannot claim to solve social problems simply through the expansion of a commercial mentality, but must be ordered toward the common good, for which the political community bears its own irreplaceable responsibility. … This teaching is especially relevant today in light of growing inequalities, pressures in the financial markets, the environmental crisis and a lack of trust in politics. It stands as an invitation to evaluate every model of development on its ability to be inclusive and sustainable, to rebuild the relationship between economics and politics on the common good, and to acknowledge the critical and generative role of charity in public life.

43. In Laudato Si’, Francis provided the first significant systematic treatment of the environmental crisis in a social Encyclical, demonstrating that it is not an isolated issue, but rather the ecological aspect of the contemporary socio-economic crisis. His proposal for an integral ecology combined care for our common home with the preferential option for the poor, and strongly affirmed that “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” [48] cannot be separated. In this light, the universal destination of goods was brought to the forefront, alongside the critique of a technocratic paradigm that seeks to reduce everything to an object to be dominated; the defense of human labor threatened by the mindset of waste; and the need for intergenerational justice. Finally, he advocated for genuine dialogue between those working in the fields of politics and finance, so that neither would become self-referential.

~ In the past, the Pope declared economic activity alone could not claim to solve social problems, only the expansion of a commercial enterprise that was “ordered toward the common good” could be lauded by the church. Inclusivity and sustainability and an awareness of “intergenerational” social justice are laden within these words from a Holiness past, all perspectives that the present scumbag online commentariat can only weakly decry as “woke.”

But the truth is clear: an organization can make money — succeeding utterly in the state of capitalism — doing something totally rotten. And many do. We have war economies greased by blood alone and insurance economies that make their bank by denying life-saving coverage on arbitrary grounds. There is a social goodness, and social badness, dimension to all economic activity. Big market movers do not indicate any moral dimension to their maneuvers; in fact, the wizened citizen of today, surrounded by hyper-financialized faceless corps, stock market manipulations, and widely acceptable exploitative practices, is liable to believe that the richest corporations are by necessity the most corrupt.

One can appreciate Pope Leo calling out the mentality of how our economic system and accelerationist culture — this technocratic paradigm he deftly critiques — reduces “everything to an object to be dominated.” The ‘universal destination of the good’ is something every facet of society must strive for, not just the most devout Christians. Corporations and entrepreneurs each have their role to play in producing social goods (or bads).

#14 — The Equal Dignity of All Human Beings

51. Saint John Paul II stated that, “this heightened sense of the dignity of the human person and of his or her uniqueness, and of the respect due to the journey of conscience, certainly represents one of the positive achievements of modern culture.” [57] This statement follows the line already laid out by the Second Vatican Council, which had noted a growing recognition of the sublime dignity of all persons, their superiority over material things and their universal and inviolable rights and duties. [58] It is important to ensure that this growth in appreciation of human dignity is not obscured by the pressure of new ideologies or very powerful interests in today’s world. Among these ideologies, I consider particularly insidious the one that suggests that every person must earn or justify his or her own worth, to the point of attributing greater value to those who are more efficient or effective. From this perspective, persons end up being reduced to a means of achieving results, a resource to be used and exploited, and are no longer recognized as a proper end in themselves who should never be instrumentalized. The value of persons, however, does not depend on what they achieve or produce. There are rights that apply to everyone simply by virtue of being human, and no human power can legitimately deny or arbitrarily limit them. [59]

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53. The fundamental dignity of each person, therefore, is neither acquired nor earned, nor does it need to be justified. The recent Declaration Dignitas Infinita offers a summary of the Church’s thinking on this subject: “Every human person possesses an infinite dignity, inalienably grounded in his or her very being, which prevails in and beyond every circumstance, state, or situation the person may ever encounter” [62] — in other words, always and without exception. The dignity of every human being can be described as infinite, as Saint John Paul II stated, [63] for two reasons: first, because the love of God, who calls us to friendship with him, is infinite; and second, his love is absolutely unconditional, in the sense that, even if we search endlessly, we will never find anything that can erase or deny it.

~ During the latter part of the 20th century, there was certainly a “heightened sense of the dignity of the human person,” but it only came on the backs of mass dehumanization and world wars of murderous mayhem to get there. Pope Leo and the church hold fast to this line of dignity; one must respect their commitment to the affirmation of the human individual in an age that continues to dehumanize and exploit people at record rates.

More anti-capitalist sentiments are shared: the worth of a person goes beyond their economic value. What is the real worth of someone disabled or too young or too old to work? How society treats the elderly and children and the disabled is evidence of our beliefs about human value. Are we running today on dignity or economic line-go-up?

“The fundamental dignity of each person, therefore, is neither acquired nor earned, nor does it need to be justified.” Many Americans should ponder this truth for longer than a moment.

#13 — We Live in a Society

60. The Second Vatican Council affirmed that the common good consists in “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.” [76] This definition provides us with a valuable initial reference point, because the common good cannot be reduced to a mere list of conditions or institutions. It is not the sum total of individual benefits, nor the intersection of their particular interests; it is a greater good that belongs to everyone, and it can only be achieved, nurtured and protected by our collective efforts. We can say that social action reaches its fullness when it is directed toward this shared good, just as a person’s moral action finds its fulfillment in the choice of the true good. [77]

61. In this sense, we can say that the whole is “greater than the sum of its parts” [78] and that, for this very reason, “the mere sum of individual interests is not capable of generating a better world for the whole human family.” [79] Indeed, it is an illusion to think that simply pursuing one’s own progress without caring for others is sufficient for contributing to the good of all. This view ignores the inherent and specific value of the common good, which is the result of an “interdependence” [80] that creates a network of social good that expands and has an impact on people. The common good is a “plus,” the result of interaction and mutual influence that connects various actions, initiatives, efforts and decisions. If we were to add up the individual goods, we could not explain the existence of this “plus” that transcends them and, at the same time, enriches them.

62. It is the pursuit of the common good that gives life to a people, understood not as a mere collection of individuals, but as a living reality in which people learn to recognize that they themselves are interconnected and jointly responsible for the res publica. In this sense, every person contributes to the building up of one’s people through “a slow and arduous effort calling for a desire for integration and a willingness to achieve this through the growth of a peaceful and multifaceted culture of encounter.” [81] Working together for the common good means having a shared vision. It is clear that there are many ideological and practical differences among people, as well as differing interests and frequent disagreements, but that does not mean it is impossible to engage in dialogue to establish a set of basic agreements that enable the creation of a shared vision, upon which everyone can move forward together.

~ Pope Leo brings together the classic conception: We live in a society.

That is, everyone has a stake — and a more serious say than we think — in everyone else’s life. At the natural world level {especially the fungal one}, one begins to see how everything is interconnected. But even within modernity’s technological afterscape, it is also clear how everyone’s contributions create the status of society.

It thus follows from there, in order to create a Good society, you need evermore people — bodies and minds and souls, full of agency and dignity and infinite creativity — to do Good things. The individual pursuit of progress can become solipsistic and parasitic if not conjoined with a more socially interdependent mindset. The pursuit of a shared vision and the common good drives greatness (and thus, a more Godly social reality, according to the Pope). Another quote lands later and just as hard regarding immoral business models:

“When business models thrive on human weakness, the person is treated as a means rather than as an end; those who design or finance such systems bear a moral responsibility that cannot be ignored.”

#12 — The Universal Destination of Goods

65. “Among the numerous implications of the common good, immediate significance is taken on by the principle of the universal destination of goods.” [85] First of all, this principle reminds us that the earth’s goods — soil, water, air and natural resources — are given by God to the entire human family to sustain the lives of all, and that every person has an inherent right to the use of such goods, both now and in the future. Saint John Paul II recalled that, “God gave the earth to the whole human race for the sustenance of all its members, without excluding or favoring anyone.” [86] Consequently, “it is not in accordance with God’s plan to use this gift in such a way that its benefits accrue solely to a select few.” [87] Today, we are called to recognize that this universal destination applies not only to material goods, but also to immaterial and cultural goods.

66. Certainly there is a right to private property, which has its own specific meaning and purpose, yet it is always subordinate to the universal destination of goods. According to John Paul II, this subordination is the golden rule of social conduct and the “first principle of the whole ethical and social order.” [88] In the Church’s tradition, property has been viewed as a means of protecting and managing goods so that they may better serve the common good. Since “the Christian tradition has never recognized the right to private property as absolute or inviolable,” [89] its social function must not be considered a mere theological opinion, but a doctrine of the Church, already present in Sacred Scripture and in the writings of the Church Fathers. For this reason, Pope Francis reminded us that solidarity, when lived out in its fullest sense, also means “to restore to the poor what belongs to them.” [90]

67. Today, among the goods that are universally intended for everyone, we must also include new forms of property, such as patents, algorithms, digital platforms, technological infrastructure and data. In a context where the wealth of nations depends increasingly on knowledge and technology, when these goods remain concentrated in the hands of a few, without adequate forms of sharing and access, a new imbalance is created that contradicts the universal destination of goods. In turn, it widens the gap between the included and the excluded, between those who can participate in the digital revolution and those who remain on the margins. Furthermore, care for our common home and our responsibility toward the poor and future generations require that the use of the goods of creation and the new possibilities offered by technology be regulated in such a way as to respect the environment, avoid waste and prevent new forms of exploitation.

~ The Pope wants open-source algorithms and digital infrastructure. And why shouldn’t we? The mass theft and exploitation of personal data has long been a social crime that we allow in order to gain access to platforms. All of these modern networks are reliant upon our participation and intellectual bio-power, they are not valuable except insofar that we all use them. Thus, we are owed some equity — and certainly much better security — are we not?

Most importantly, it is refreshing to see a world leader highlight the prime significance of our natural resources, express the will to protect them, and redefine their access as something that is truly God-given, open to all human beings equally. More clear demarcations between what is and what ought to be that really only religious institutions can give.

#11 — The Principle of Solidarity

73. Having considered the common good and subsidiarity, I would like to reflect on the principle of solidarity. This emerges from a vision of the human person generated by faith, namely that every human being is created in the image of God and is part of a network of relationships that bind him or her to others, to specific populations and to creation. Saint Paul VI observed that the obligations of solidarity, justice and charity are rooted in the human and supernatural fraternal bonds that unite individuals and populations. [98] Fraternity is not merely an aspiration of believers, but is a social and political reality to be embodied in communal choices and endeavors. Solidarity, then, is the concrete recognition that the future of each individual is connected to the future of all; indeed, “no one is saved alone.” [99] The close link between subsidiarity and solidarity thereby becomes evident. When subsidiarity is not linked to solidarity, it ends up becoming merely the protection of particular interests; when solidarity is not supported by subsidiarity, it degenerates into a form of welfare that does not foster responsibility. [100] This interconnectedness also pertains to the responsibility of authentic participation. Solidarity is expressed when each person, both individually and collectively, takes part in the life of the community — by staying informed, engaging with others, making their voice heard and contributing to public decisions and choices — while also assuming real responsibility so that the common good is achieved through shared decision-making. … Solidarity demands that decisions regarding data, algorithms, platforms and artificial intelligence take into account not only the immediate benefit for a few, but also the impact on all peoples and on future generations.

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78. The recent Magisterium has insisted that social justice begins with the least among us. Saint John Paul II spoke of a preferential option for the poor [106] that must guide both personal and societal choices, while Pope Francis denounced a “‘throw away’ culture” [107] that generates ever new forms of exclusion. From this perspective, social justice requires us to look at individuals and communities, starting with the most vulnerable: the poor, migrants, refugees, internally displaced persons, victims of violence and people living in urban or existential peripheries.

79. The idea of “social justice” helps us recognize that injustices do not arise solely from the wrong choices of individuals, but also from structures, mechanisms and economic and cultural systems that produce inequality almost automatically.

~ Solidarity is the concrete recognition that the future of each individual is connected to the future of all; indeed, “no one is saved alone.” Pope Leo urges society to care for the most vulnerable, the outsiders, the poor and the unfortunate. (I think Jesus said some stuff like that too.)

Pope Leo showcases in the final line here at 79 that the gravest injustices are occurring from economic and cultural SYSTEMS that “produce inequality almost automatically.” It is the system and not the individual that produces the mass of inequality; perhaps this reasoning is especially a boon to the priest aiming to convert the individual to good, but it is true nevertheless. It is ultimately up to the individuals to recognize our society’s failings and help to reduce inequality, restoring the human dignity of the poor in a society that despises them SYSTEMICALLY.

Solidarity, in Pope terms or labor-organization terms, is simply the recognition that we are all brothers and sisters and society rises and falls by the nature of how the lowest among us are treated.

#10 — A.I. Vigilance

Entrusting an algorithm in practice with the power to select who is worthy or not, without anyone bearing responsibility for that judgment, is to hand over the task of redefining the boundaries of human possibilities. In this process, political responsibility is also lost, not just empathy toward those excluded, which can, after all, be simulated. The exclusion of the vulnerable becomes cloaked in a veneer of neutrality and objectivity, against which it becomes difficult to raise objections. In this way, injustice goes unnoticed, and compassion, mercy and forgiveness — understood not as mere appearances but as real political actions — gradually disappear from view.

104. From this follows a simple but compelling consequence: we cannot consider AI to be morally neutral. In reality, every technical tool embodies choices and priorities through what it measures, ignores and optimizes, and how it classifies people and situations. If a system is designed or used in a way that treats some lives as less worthy, or excludes them without the possibility of appeal, then it is not merely a tool “to be used well,” since it has already introduced criteria that contradict the inalienable dignity of the human person. For this reason, ethical discernment cannot be limited to asking whether we are using a system for good or bad purposes; it must also examine how that system is designed and what vision of the human person and society is embedded in the data and models that guide it. [126]

105. For AI to respect human dignity and truly serve the common good, responsibility must be clearly defined at every stage: from those who design and develop these systems to those who use them and rely on them for concrete decisions. In many cases, however, the internal processes leading to a result remain opaque, making it harder to assign responsibility and correct errors. This is where accountability becomes crucial: the possibility of identifying who must “account” for decisions, justify them, monitor them, and, when necessary, challenge them and remedy any harm caused. [127]

~ The Pope overviews A.I., speaking of the nebulous nature of its development and its useful properties as a tool. Here, he gets into the nature of how we are treating with A.I. development and its instantly prominent role in our global economy. He can see how the corporate state is utterly backing A.I. and seemingly betting everything on its development, including into precarious avenues around surveillance and deepfakes, unreality, and digital simulation.

By giving so much of the world over to the A.I. and to algorithms more generally, are we not letting it define us? By developing A.I. to surpass us, we are also engaged in an epistemological evolution of our own humanity. Questions of the direction and alignment of these A.I. programs necessarily arise: can an artificial mind without any embodied experience of consequence truly engage in moral action? Should they?

We have control now but there is no guarantee the situation remains the same forever with the fluid and ever-developing nature of Artificial Intelligence. The Pope is calling for A.I. governmental regulation and top-down self-maintenance in the form of the developers themselves engaging in rigorous moral monitoring and accountability for the outcomes their machines produce. (But does the average dev even believe in morality?) A.I. regulation seems prudent and quite a morally responsible position to take, no matter how much the tech firms may cry about being struck with red tape.

#9 — Safeguarding Humanity: What Must Not Be Lost

112. Having considered the issues of responsibility and governance of AI, we must now return to our central question: what does it mean to safeguard our humanity? The risk extends beyond the misuse of certain technologies. More gravely, the pervasive technocratic paradigm in which we are immersed, and that is amplified by the digital revolution and AI, threatens to normalize an anti-human vision. In that vision, the fullness of life is equated with having more, reducing weakness, eliminating uncertainty and exerting total control. When efficiency becomes the ultimate measure of value, human beings are tempted to see themselves as a project to be optimized rather than as persons called to relationship and communion.

113. In reality, elevating any single dimension of human existence to an absolute is always a mistake. Indeed, disorder does not arise only from scarcity; even unchecked growth can give rise to impoverishment. In an ecosystem, balance is disrupted when one species expands at the expense of others; in human life, something similar occurs when one faculty claims to be the measure of everything. Thus, intelligence, when absolutized, overshadows other essential dimensions of life, such as affection, the will, commitment and relationships. Similarly, technical power, if left unbalanced, does not make us more capable; it makes us more isolated and more vulnerable to being dominated and excluded. This critical point does not oppose intelligence, but serves as a reminder that when intelligence becomes self-referential, its true purpose of serving life and the human person is lost.

114. The quality of a civilization is measured not by the power of its means, but by the care it is able to offer, by its ability to recognize the other as a face not merely as a function. The ability to care for one another is a fundamental dimension of our humanity, one that is learned and mastered through lived experience. Reading stories to a child, offering company to an elderly person and arranging a home so that it is welcoming are simple gestures often rooted in family life. They teach us to value care at a societal level and train us to recognize others as persons worthy of attention. Technology can also support this mutual care between people, for example, by providing tools that help us anticipate and organize things, without undermining human freedom and judgment. After all, human beings are the subjects of relationships and responsible for their own decisions.

~ “When efficiency becomes the ultimate measure of value, human beings are tempted to see themselves as a project to be optimized rather than as persons called to relationship and communion.” Pope Leo again affirms humanity on social and realistic grounds. Humans are obviously social animals. Everyone sane recognizes there is a balance to the world, a give and take. When one cause becomes outsized, another effect arises to strike back, balancing the destabilizing force for the good of all. There is an equilibrium reached within the sociality of the human civilization.

That is something that I feel becomes lost when there are calls of someone criticizing our current trajectory as being “anti-AI” or “anti-future” or “anti-progress” or a Luddite who turns from technology. There is an angle beyond the distaste for the technology that comes in consideration of there being limits to the human psyche and to scientific exploration. Some of humanity’s greatest sins lie with technological developments that went too far, or in the wrong direction, hellbent on war or genocide as their “solution.” There is the great potential for social calamity at worst and great regrets at best when you think about the potential for A.I. to become…bad for us in the long run.

Technology can indeed support humanity, but only when directed by a humane hand. Good to never forget this. Now we must do a better job building humanity into our social, technological, and capitalist infrastructures in the form of prioritizing relations and communions.

#8 — Underlying Narratives: Transhumanism and Posthumanism

115. In an attempt to shed light on the cultural assumptions accompanying the ongoing digital revolution, I would now like to turn our attention to certain currents of thought that interpret progress as surpassing the human condition, and which are often grouped under the labels of transhumanism and posthumanism. These perspectives form the ideological background present in some centers of technological power and occupy the collective imagination in a simplified form, especially in the media and on social networks. They tend to foster enthusiasm for new technologies through a futuristic vision of an “enhanced human being” or “human-machine hybrid.”

116. Transhumanism and posthumanism encompass a range of currents and sensibilities, making it difficult to define them in a single, unambiguous way. They can be likened to an archipelago of conceptual “islands,” distinct yet connected by a common “sea” of assumptions, namely the central role of technology and the aspiration to transcend the limits of the human condition. In general, transhumanism envisions the enhancement of human beings through technologies — such as biomedicine, body engineering, devices and algorithms — with the aim of increasing performance and capabilities. Posthumanism, especially in its more radical forms, goes further: it challenges anthropocentrism and envisions a hybridization of human beings, machines and the environment, even anticipating a threshold where humanity surpasses itself in a new evolutionary stage. Even when such ideas remain largely speculative, they gain relevance by altering the collective imagination and thereby influence social, economic and political choices. [129]

117. From the perspective of the Church’s Social Doctrine, the key issue is not the use of technology as such, but the vision that underlies it. If the human being is treated as something to be perfected or surpassed, it becomes easier to accept that some lives are less useful, less desirable or less worthy. In the name of progress, “necessary sacrifices” may begin to be justified, placing the burden on the most vulnerable in pursuit of a supposed optimization of the species. In this regard, the aforementioned warning of Saint Paul VI retains great foresight: indeed, scientific and technological advances, when detached from moral and social progress, end up turning against humanity. [130] For this reason, a clear distinction must be made. It is one thing to integrate technology within a human-centered, relational vision; it is quite another to be guided by an outlook that devalues human limits and promises a purely technical form of “salvation.”

~ The Pope digs into transhumanism. What a concept, so salted by the tasty fictions of cyberpunk that it cannot sight its own fleshly inadequacies and likely nightmares. You have to appreciate and tune into what the Catholic Church thinks of transhumanism and posthumanism because they happen to know something about it. The church speaks of Christ as that path; the transhumanist thinks of the Brain in a Techno-Vat, or RoboCop, or the stylin’ cyberpunk with lasers for eyes and bullets for fingers.

By envisioning any kind of post-humanity path for humanity, it conjectures a perfectionism of the art of Being Human. It then becomes easy to see how that can lead people astray, or enforce a regime of genocidal cleansing of ‘lesser’ people. Or those who simply refuse the ‘modification.’ The hybridization of the human being may be a social good in the long run, or merely necessary. But it may not be, especially when being guided by people without any divine vision for the human soul, operating purely on materialistic and scientific ‘betterment’ based in metrics so mundane as to downsize the human being’s true cosmic worth.

Human-centered and relational is how the Pope likes his technology. And he is right to point out flawed thinking that devalues the value of human limits and falsely promises a technical form of earthly salvation (and only to the highest bidders).

#7 — The Authentic “More Than Human”

127. The expression “more than human” is not an exclusive domain of technological promise. For centuries, the Christian tradition has maintained that human beings are not confined by the boundaries of their own nature; rather, they are called to self-transcendence, not through an escape from reality or a contempt for their limitations, but through their fulfillment in love. Faith recognizes an openness toward the “beyond,” which originates as a gift from God. This transformation is a work of the Holy Spirit. As Saint Thomas Aquinas taught, this process of elevation and transformation “surpasses every capability of created nature,” [134] for an infinite disparity separates our finite nature from the life of God. [135] Nevertheless, it remains possible to enter into the heart of that inexhaustible life, even as we journey through the limitations of this world. The one who makes this passage possible can only be the Eternal One who gives of himself. Indeed, it is God himself who overcomes the “infinite” disproportion. [136] In him, the re-creation of the human person happens. “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new” ( 2 Cor 5:17).

128. When we embrace the possibility of transcending ourselves through God’s grace, we do not deny our nature, nor do we become less human. On the contrary, as Pope Francis explained, “We become fully human when we become more than human, when we let God bring us beyond ourselves in order to attain the fullest truth of our being.” [137] Herein lies the radical departure from Promethean dreams: what saves humanity is not enhanced self-sufficiency, but a relationship that liberates, a communion that transforms. In this light, a technology that merely classifies and optimizes what already exists can, however unintentionally, become an obstacle to change and growth. For an algorithm, an error is a flaw to be corrected; for a person, however, an error can be a catalyst for profound change. A person’s future is not calculable, but depends on one’s freedom — elevated by the inexhaustible grace of God — and on the relationships cultivated.

~ It is wonderful to see the more supernal and philosophical approach of a religious master tackle the question of “more than human”, i.e. transhumanism and what it means to transcend the mortal frame in a more paranormal way. As a human, what does it mean to become better? (How do we realize the ways in which we become worse?) The Christian way is largely about this, with the story of Jesus being the paragon imago of the one that transcends, transforms, and transfigures from immortal to mortal and back again. His teachings and behavior reflect a path anyone can strive for.

Jesus paved the way for all of His children to join Him via compassion, faith, and consciousness of what would become Christianity. God overcomes the infinite proportion separating Man by bridging that gap with His son walking the same ground and path as us. This is the artful way of Christ and the Catholic Church, wherein Man’s limits and his mortality are the true key to how consciousness evolves and is judged in the after-world of our corporeal life here in Earth. Leo puts mortality and the necessarily flawed nature of the human into beautiful perspective:

“For an algorithm, an error is a flaw to be corrected; for a person, however, an error can be a catalyst for profound change.”

#6 — An Economy That Values Dignity

157. The labor market is one area in which the risks associated with new technologies more clearly emerge. It is thus necessary to remember that economic freedom is not absolute; it must always be measured against the common good and the dignity of every person. Entrepreneurial initiative can indeed be a true vocation, generating wealth and improving lives, rather than a variable that is dependent only on profit. This is possible when it recognizes that the creation of dignified, valuable jobs are an essential part of its proper service to society. [158]

158. With prophetic spirit, Pope Francis warned against an economic freedom proclaimed in words alone, while actual conditions prevent many from benefiting from it. [159] Economic models that exalt efficiency and individual success often view investment in disadvantaged people or in those with slower development paths as useless or inconvenient, as if their futures depended solely on their ability to keep pace with the “winners.” In reality, a just society requires a vigilant State and civil institutions that are capable of overcoming the singular mentality of efficiency, and of ensuring that resources, creative solutions and regulations favor the most vulnerable. [160] Instead of waiting for the benefits of growth to reach the poor “eventually,” decisions need to be taken to ensure that growth becomes inclusive from the outset. The experience of recent decades shows that in economic and financial crises, it is always the poor who pay the highest price, while the theories that promise automatic general prosperity often prove to be illusory.

159. It is important to move beyond the current metrics of development — which for more than eighty years have been tied to the concept of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — since these metrics almost systematically neglect aspects essential to the overall wellbeing of people and the environment. The development of parameters and metrics complementary to GDP is crucial for improving the databases used for conducting analyses, political and economic decision-making and establishing regional, national and international priorities. The introduction of new parameters will allow for a comprehensive and timely assessment of how legislative and regulatory decisions impact the dignity of work, shared prosperity, inequality reduction and environmental protection. It will also affect the concept of development, educational processes, mindsets and public opinion, as well as peace, which is only authentic when based on justice.

~ The Pope weighs in on the job market and the prospect of job creation (and deletion) in the nearing future. He is right to point out the dignity of work and the necessity of its role within the populace. To the uninitiated, he again threatens to sound Marxist here in his discussion of a vision where the underclass worker is respected for his labors and given a more dignified wage and thus larger parcel of the economic pie. But there is no harm in pointing out truths, regardless of how propagandized ears may hear them.

We should definitely be investing in the ‘disadvantaged’ and all those under our regime we usually call “economically without value” or other more hazardous euphemisms. Why? Because the human being has infinite true value. Because it is the dignified thing to do. Because we can, we have the abundance of imagination and the funds to spare.

We generally don’t. You know why? Because of flagship ways of measurement like the figure of GDP, or Gross Domestic Product. If something does not contribute to GDP, as close as we have to a master value in capitalist society, then we do not invest there. Freely treating the sick, investing in the poor, rejuvenating the local ecosystem — what measure have these things on the GDP? Leo righteously points out how we need to create new metrics for our evolving world, ones that truly describe human & environmental well-being in tandem.

#5 — Post-Humanity Mentality

172. At the root of these problems lies a technocratic and post-humanist mentality that tends to regard the human person as an object to be manipulated or a resource to be optimized, [172] removing all safeguards against the unchecked pursuit of profit. What prevails is efficiency, rather than respect for freedom and human dignity. Some post-humanist currents even go so far as to envision “second-class” human beings, subordinate to the interests of elites who consider themselves superior. This troubling prospect becomes all the more serious when combined with technological tools that exponentially increase the capacity for control and selection. Even certain forms of structural indebtedness, which keep entire peoples in conditions of dependence, reflect the same mentality, in new forms, that tolerates relationships of subordination akin to slavery.

…

185. If we examine global dynamics, we can recognize more clearly the spread of a culture of power characterized by polarization and violence. The modern Babel can be seen not only in the globalized technocratic paradigm, but also in the remote clash between opposing imperialisms, between powers that wish to preserve their supremacy, and those that aspire to seize that supremacy, resulting in a multiplicity of local conflicts. Moreover, there seems to be no limit to the race — driven by a dehumanizing ambition — to develop evermore powerful technologies or to secure control over them. Yet, despite this downward spiral, we can also glimpse a great part of humanity that is striving to remain human and working to build the holy city of coexistence and peace. All too often, we are unwitting builders and clumsy architects of this city, capable of generous gestures but lacking an overall vision. This building project is slower, less visible and less spectacular, and awaits a better understanding and greater coordination so that it may become the conscious and clear responsibility of every community, from families to States, and the relations between Nations. It is this prospect of commitment, this construction site of hope, that we call the “civilization of love.”

~ To a man of the Christian faith, wherein every single person is within God’s prospective grace, what would be worse than living within a world that considers 99% of humans as objects, as means to some other inhumane end outside of them? This is the world we live in. That inhumane end is of capital accumulation; everything revolves around it. The adherence to innate human value and the feeding of the poor and caring of the sick and all of the “Jesus stuff” is why some believe the Catholic doctrine to be Socialist in its essential nature.

Argue all you want about the labels, there is a truth to Jesus’ teachings decrying pretty much all of modern capitalist society. Should we harboring markets for land and water? What about healthcare and housing, education and food? Are not these part of the Earth’s all-encompassing natural & human resources, that are earned by all subjects of the kingdom by way of their ensouled existence there?

Pope Leo’s elaboration of the “Civilization of Love” is a wonderful throughline in the later sections of his letter. Shades of Saint Thomas More’s Utopia, the first official utopian conception, come into being. What may our Civilization of Love one day appear as?

#4 — Force Without Limits

193. The growth of the military-industrial complex has become a defining feature of the current political landscape and has become a key sector in the economy of various countries. The close link between economic interests, the military apparatus and political decisions produces an “armed nation,” in which war appears as a natural extension of politics, and the arms market becomes an autonomous driving force behind military decisions. Nor can we ignore the enormous economic interests behind war. The armaments industry, and countries that supply weapons, profit from a market that thrives precisely on conflicts. In this sense, there are also financial interests that contribute to fueling tensions in various regions of the world.

194. Military arsenals are receiving renewed attention. In the past, recognition of the threat posed by weapons capable of destroying all of humanity had promoted paths toward détente and disarmament negotiations. Unfortunately, this approach has been left behind, and the evolution of nuclear arsenals — including the prospect of its “tactical” use — makes the use of such weapons seem less improbable. In this context, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which came into force in 2021 with the support of over seventy countries, is an important step. However, it risks remaining largely symbolic since the major nuclear powers have not agreed to it. This has led to the widespread yet erroneous belief that nuclear deterrence is an indispensable prerequisite for security. This has also contributed to a new arms race, which is hard to control and accompanied by the gradual dismantling of nuclear reduction agreements, as well as the development of “miniaturized” weapons, that make their use seem like a more viable option.

195. The same logic applies to conventional warfare. Military force, weak diplomatic initiatives and the complexity of the interests at stake contribute to conflicts that tend to become protracted, with extremely high human and environmental costs. It is much easier to start a war than to stop it, and yet, discussion on conflict prevention remains tragically marginal.

196. The situation is further destabilized by the presence of new armed operatives, such as jihadist groups, private militias and criminal networks that mark the end of the State’s monopoly on the use of force. Often these groups intertwine vague ideological motivations with concrete economic interests, transforming war into a “way of life” for entire generations of young people and children. Here, the objective is no longer a definitive victory, but the perpetuation of conflict as a source of power and income.

~ The Pope echoes Hideo Kojima, creator of Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding, in his fears and concisely cutting elaborations of the objectives of the military-industrial complex.

Humanity has the knowledge and technology to be well beyond the age of open warfare. And yet, war persists in spite of negotiation optionality due to “economic interests,” neo-colonialism, long-standing grudges, and self-serving politics. Some of the conflicts are religious too, related to Judaic holy lands and good vs. evil dichotomies within ideologies both supernatural and mundane.

The dangers of the emerging war and surveillance technologies in the 2020s and beyond is something on the Pope’s mind, and it should be on yours too.

#3 — A Supposed Political Realism

204. We live at a time of significant spiritual and cultural blindness. A false pragmatism urges us to sever the roots of our history, as if it were possible to inaugurate a kind of “new creation” detached from the past. Even those who cite important moral principles can fall into this historical nihilism, mistakenly believing that the atrocities of the twentieth century can never happen again. Yet, in reality, the same dynamics are re-emerging under new guises. The mentality of armed equilibrium and deterrence appears to be reasserting itself. Today, however, in contrast to the two-sided dynamic of the Cold War, the proliferation of operatives and battlefields makes this mentality increasingly fragile. Escalating conflicts lead to asymmetric and “hybrid” wars, fought not only on the battleground but also on the economic, financial and cyber fronts, where disinformation and campaigns that feed people’s fears are used to manipulate public opinion. In many countries, including those in the Global South, increased military spending is presented as the only response to an uncertain future or perceived threats. Meanwhile, the real cost falls on the poorest, who see resources for healthcare, education and social services being reduced.

205. At the core of these issues is a false realism, based not only on the prevailing mentality of force, but on the cultural and anthropological belief that war is an inevitable part of human nature. It is said that things have always been this way, except for occasional pauses, and that it will always be so! As a result, the concern is no longer the search for peace — which has been lost as a point of reference on the international stage — but rather how and when to take military action. This same argument maintains that it would be irresponsible not to prepare for conflict. I would argue, however, that what is truly irresponsible is Realpolitik, the form of political “realism” that sows in consciences and in society an attitude of resignation to the inevitability of war, and dismisses peace and dialogue as utopian or irrational positions that ignore the risks at stake. In fact, peace is neither a naïve hope nor merely the absence of war; instead, it is always possible as the fruit of justice and charity.

206. In such a climate, nihilism and pragmatism become intertwined and end up normalizing grave errors. Religious extremism and identity-based fanaticism ally themselves with irrational economic policies, while politics often turns to misinformation and ridiculing opponents, and systematically cultivating fears and resentments. Thus, diversity is increasingly perceived as a threat, which fuels a desire for possession, a will to dominate, hegemonic ambitions, abuses of power and a fear of those who are different, thereby creating an environment in which new conflicts can develop almost imperceptibly. [186]

~ People have officially begun to forget the established history of the 20th century, let alone the centuries before. This obviously has high stakes for Christianity and the other major religions because they are largely based in history and how the old world played out.

Conflicts return as people forget. Under the voice of the tyrant, War becomes a natural part of humanity. History repeats and rhymes and poetically intertwines us in classic dialectical scenarios; read some history and learn about the cycles and you start to see how we stand in the middle of one.

Nihilism x Pragmatism, or totalizing exploitation for economic benefits, become the mainstay foundation of our modernized society. Religious extremism and identity fanaticism are angled against here too, as potential threats and more material for the hashing pile of divisive issues inside today’s discourse.

#2 — We Can All Do Our Part

212. At this point, however, a subtle temptation may emerge, namely the thought that the problems are too big and we are too small, and that our choices, therefore, cannot make a difference. This is a polite form of resignation, often disguised as realism. Certainly, not everyone has the same power to make a difference. There are those who govern, make investment decisions, lead institutions, conduct research, educate, produce or provide information, and then there are those who only seem to live their daily lives. Yet, no one is without responsibility. We all have our own areas for action, and it is precisely there — and nowhere else — that we must choose whether to fuel the mentality of force (even if only through indifference, cynicism, lies or hatred), or to preserve the mindset of peace (with truth, moderation, closeness and care).

213. The twentieth-century Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien, in the words of a protagonist in one of his novels, described our responsibility in this way: “It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.” [187] The civilization of love will not arise from a single or spectacular gesture, but from the sum total of small and steadfast acts of fidelity that serve as a bulwark against dehumanization. For this reason, it is worthwhile pausing to reflect on some aspects of how we, each in our own way, can cooperate in building the civilization of love. Without presuming to exhaust this theme, I would like to propose five paths toward daily and public responsibility: the need to disarm words, building peace through justice, adopting the perspective of victims, cultivating a healthy realism and reviving dialogue and multilateralism.

…

219. In order to build the civilization of love, we must engage in dialogue, for this is the primary means of coexistence between people and nations, and it is the alternative to open conflict. On the eve of the Second World War, Pius XII affirmed that nothing is lost with peace, whereas with war everything can be lost. He insisted that people must return to speaking with one another, because a sincere and persevering dialogue always opens up the possibility of an honorable solution. [196]

~ For the average person, the overwhelming prospect of modernity’s gargantuan loom is sheerly frightening — the future of A.I. accelerations, religious warfare & governmental coups & neo-colonialism, freakin’ UFOs and environmental degradation too.

Pope Leo offers solace here in the form of how the individual must think about helping. I believe it is inherent that everyone in the world, when it comes down to it, wants to help. Thus, carve out your own place, choose your singular battle, and do what you can. A mentality of peace is emphasized over one of force. Dialogue and negotiation and the adopting of alternative perspectives are all clearly necessary for the peaceable global order to persist.

To deliver this point, Leo wonderfully quotes JRR Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings:

“It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.” ~ Gandalf

#1 — The Word Became Flesh

230. Our world is filled with attempts to seize control of markets and spheres of influence, often shrouded in reassuring rhetoric and seductive ideologies. Yet our hearts yearn for an approach that is wise and benevolent, akin to that which Mary praises in her Magnificat, when she proclaims that God’s mercy extends in every generation to those who fear him. [205] This plan of mercy continues to unfold throughout history today, even amid the rapid and unsettling changes brought by algorithms and global networks, and it becomes a compass in the digital era for living our lives according to the Gospel.

231. At the heart of everything is the mystery of the Incarnation, the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. The flesh of the Son, poor and vulnerable, evokes the flesh of so many brothers and sisters stripped of their dignity and reduced to silence. [206] Through the Lord’s closeness, the gift of peace enters into the world in a paradoxical way. It does so through the power to become children of God, and is awakened when we allow ourselves to be moved by the tears of the little ones, the fragility of the elderly, the silence of victims and the struggle of those who fight against the evil they do not wish to commit. [207] In this wounded yet beloved flesh, the Father shows us the true humanity of a life fulfilled through openness and communion, which leads us to desire that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. [208]

232. In the promises of transhumanism and some posthumanist currents of thought, which seek an enhanced and almost disembodied humanity, we recognize a yearning that is of concern to us, namely the need for a fuller life, less exposed to limitations and suffering. Yet the Incarnation opens a different pathway. On the one hand, old and new ideologies alike urge humanity to overcome limitations through technology, and to rise above others by asserting dominance. Contrary to this, the mystery of the Son of God entering into our human condition promises something quite different. The living God descends into our history in order to free us from all forms of slavery. [209] He takes upon himself our weakness and transforms it into a setting for salvation. There is no moment or human situation that is not worthy of God. “According to the teaching of our faith, we have and adore, in our mysteries, a God who is born in a manger, a God who lives and travels in Judea, a God who dies on the cross, a dead God who lies in the tomb.” [210] The future of humanity, therefore, finds its standard in the ability to welcome this divine way of drawing near, of sharing the burden of the world, of transforming relationships from within. “O wonder… man is God and this God-Man passes through all those stages, endures all those states and ennobles them, sanctifies them, deifies them in himself!” [211] What saves humanity is the divine love that descends into the most fragile point of our history and renews it from within.

233. For this reason, as a believer among believers, I invite everyone to contemplate, in the face of the Son of God, the grandeur of humanity that shines a light also on the era of AI. In Christ, we are called to cooperate in the work of creation, rather than be disinterested observers of technological processes that limit our freedom and responsibility. [212] The dignity inscribed in each of us by the Holy Spirit can also be seen in our capacity to reflect critically, choose and love freely, and form authentic relationships. No computational system, however sophisticated, can create a heart that gives itself, or a conscience that discerns good from evil. Even when machines excel in efficiency, a human face that asks to be gazed upon remains the center of our history. This human face is the fullness toward which history is moving. It is the mystery of “recapitulation”: the certainty that the Father has decreed to bring all things, those in heaven and those on earth, back to Christ, the one Head (cf. Eph 1:10). In this plan, nothing will be lost that is authentically human. Indeed, everything will be purified and reunited in the One, who gathers every fragment of life, every tear and every authentically human achievement, rescuing them from nothingness and delivering them, redeemed, to the Father.

~ Pope Leo’s closing message brings it all back to Christ. His plan continues to unfold throughout history. All this adversity is part of the necessary force of civilization and evolution. “The living God descends into our history in order to free us from all forms of slavery. He takes upon himself our weakness and transforms it into a setting for salvation.”

Effectively, what is transpiring here (and during any worldly crisis) is the birth of a crucible designed to produce the next kind of human being. In both pseudo-transhumanist and merely sociological terms, what kind of human being are we building in the environment of 2026?

Leo rightfully underscores the grandeur of humanity throughout, and I feel as though his Encyclical’s title of “Magnificent Humanity” is well-earned by the end. The note I shall leave on regards the possibility of renewal within this time of extremis; what may we learn about ourselves now that will aid us in the future?

Pope Leo XIV: “What saves humanity is the divine love that descends into the most fragile point of our history and renews it from within.“

~

Altogether, Pope Leo’s Encyclical is a wondrous revelation of intelligent critique and theological inspiration. I recommend the read for any concerned citizen hoping for leadership and moral clarity in the chaos of today.

Sum: Faceless story-game streams on YouTube. Watch the stream. Play the movie. Keep the tape.

I am getting back into story-based games and plan to stream them with my running commentary.

The second half of 2026 shall be a rundown of games for my journal, both replays & first-time plays:

May 2026 = Clive Barker’s Undying (2001)

June 2026 = Control (2019) & GTA V (2013)

July 2026 = Spider-Man 2 (2023) + Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018) & ???

YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@zsoro9300) is a platform I want to tap into more. I started last year when making pitch podcasts for each of my books, and now I am trying to upkeep a running progress diary on my creative work in the form of my Author Diaries.

The other series now I am developing will be Game Journals, live-play streams on my favorite or most anticipated-to-play games, old and new.

Thesis: Live-play Cinema

The aesthetic goal with the Game Journals: no face, just the game, plus my voice from the driver seat.

You are in the passenger seat, co-experiencing the gameplay and the entertainment and the overarching meaning of the experience.

My approach to streaming is to ‘ride along’ in this way. A little commentary here and there, and otherwise I let the game play itself, especially through the cutscenes and the cinematics. Plenty of my old playthroughs ran silent, mic off, because I came to play, not to talk over the thing I showed up to experience. My voice also tends to carry. So that means when I do speak — I mean it wholeheartedly.

There’s a reason for the restraint. Playing well and narrating well pull from the same reservoir of attention, and when you split it, one side starts to slip. The Game Journal aims to maximize the quality of both channels, of raw gameplay and reactive live-talk.

The game leads while I ride with a shotgun of double-barrel commentary, and the camera keeps rolling.

Why Journal Your Games?

I’ve spent a lot of my life thinking about games and playing them — and almost none of it *making* them. That gap is why great design floors me. I may not be able reverse-engineer how a brilliant level or a clever mechanic works, but I know it when I see it. Like many other gamers, I enjoy critiquing a game as I go through it.

But I try to do so from an amateur game designer’s point-of-view, or a scientist who wishes to discover the inner causes of those stupendous outer effects. I am a scholar at heart and so my discourse reflects that.

I find that setting up a stream around the playing of a game {especially one that is story-based that you are experiencing in distinct chapters} will make your experience that much more memorable and thought-provoking.

Of course, live-streaming is also another way to practice your articulation and sense of humor.

These are all my motives, along with the continuous building of my creative brand.

The Game Journal, in sum, is where I pay attention out loud. Here I cultivate a serious appreciation for the design, the level work, the writing most players walk past. I read games the way I read books, and some of that reading is honest theft for my own future fictions. I believe novelists should study how the other arts move people.

Every art form delivers you somewhere. Literature carries you psychically, into the interior life. Film carries you emotionally, through image and sound. Games carry you in avatar form, where you become the one who acts. You are the athlete. You are the warrior. You are the explorer. When a game comes together, with its own systems, score, and visual language, the effect is hard to match anywhere else.

My baseline goal: Find what is useful, what you love, and identify it, talk about it {and maybe put it to work within your own creations}.

On the Docket

▶ NOW PLAYING — Clive Barker’s Undying (2001) ⏭ UP NEXT — Control (2019) 🔜

I opened with Clive Barker’s Undying. I’ve been deep in Barker again, writing more horror this year for an anthology called ANTHOLOGEE, and Undying had been scratching at the back of my skull for a while now. My brother and I found a copy of the game at Fry’s when we were young and played it through. I hardly remember the game now. It is past time for my return.

I found Undying on GOG for about two dollars and went in. It’s a first-person horror adventure with a gun in one hand and a spell in the other, the lineage that runs through System Shock and lands later in BioShock. Fantastic world-building and storycraft, as well as some incredible magic powers and weaponry including a Golden Dragon-Mouth Ice Gun. A couple of boss fights tested my patience, the final one most of all, but the game is a pleasure from front to back. Here’s a literary and cinematic mind who walked into game development and built his vision in playable form, which carries its own kind of awe. Jericho, his other game, is next once I hunt down a copy {or find the proper emulation software}.

Now comes Control. I am replaying this one, played once back in 2022. Picture SCP turned into a video game. You move through an institute that has become an entity, a building whose map won’t obey physics, thick with escaped phenomena you have to discover by their effects. My first time through, I rode the gameplay and let the story slide past me, because the story was, in plain terms, challenging for me to follow. It’s short, around eleven hours with the DLC. This replay is the experiment: can I hold the thread this time, or do I surrender again to the pure pleasure of the gameplay? We’ll find out the truth together.

The Plan & Purpose

My aim as an artist is to deliver a full suite of effects to whoever opens my books. My favorite art lands somewhere under the skin, a place you can’t reach by any other route. That’s what a Barker novel does to me. You read him and you know you’re holding something nobody else would have written, because of what he does with language and imagination, and his willingness to go further into his worlds than most can dream {or dare}. The goal is to write like that. The Game Journal is one of the ways I study how.

I shall be streaming week-to-week live on YouTube somewhat haphazardly {I am not a strict schedule person}, so you can catch my Game Journals whenever or however you mayest on my channel.

Please like, subscribe, and comment on my videos if you will. All that jazz helps the channel grow.

Pull up a chair, fellow traveler. Get ready to press start with me.

Godspeed,
Dylan