A little extra something for the weekend: for the first time in years, you can read the story that persuaded Markus (Notch) Persson that I was "the right guy to write the end game text for Minecraft".
the title sounded so silly at first but the further the story continued ... this is deeply unsettling and unbelievably creative, thank you so much for sharing this again!
I love all of this, but admit I am curious - is there a foreshadowing bit about his mother? I missed that and was curious if it was hinted at in any way :)
Yes, foreshadowing is tricky, because too much can give away the ending in advance, and not enough means the ending can feel unearned; not properly connected to the rest of the story. And of course there isn't even a set level of foreshadowing that works for all readers at all times, because a reader in a quiet room who is fully immersed in the story is more likely to pick up on foreshadowing than is someone reading more casually in a distracting environment...
So, the foreshadowing is pretty minimal in the story, but there is some. I start the story with his mother (as his coworkers share rumours about her), and I end with his mother. (I like symmetry.) I mention that she collects Beanie Babies at the start, and we see a Beanie Baby pop out of the iHole just before the end (so if Thierry threw her Beanie Babies into the iHole, then maybe he did something worse). Around the midpoint of the story, we can see that Thierry is having some kind of breakdown, he is smashing up all the furniture in the house and feeding it into the iHole. (And we have heard the rumours that he lives with his mother, so the reader should be getting a little concerned for her at that point.) When the police stop him the second time, he wonders is it about his mother, and when it isn't, he is so relieved he lets them find drugs on him. The scene is deliberately ambiguous; is he concerned that the police are going to tell him something bad has happened to his mother, or is he worried because he did something bad, involving his mother, which he is glad the police don't know about? And in the early discussion with Sharif they discuss how someone could dispose of a body. (Not in one piece.) So he has thought about this. And towards the end he cuts up his futon, the last piece of furniture in the house, so we know he has a knife. Plus, he already threw a jury down the iHole. My hope was all these oblique points come together in the reader's head at the end. (Er, yeah, it's dark. But it's a story about darkness, among other things, and how people hide from the darkness, including their own darkness; how people can want all the unloved and difficult stuff in their lives to just go away forever.)
I haven't read the iHole yet, but have a couple of preread comments. I noticed the surname Persson which I had apparently overlooked previously. My great grandfather's name was Johan Magnus Persson before he arrived in America and became John Morris Peterson. Also I have just begun reading 'Connect' The first few chapters have absolutely grabbed my attention. Token of appreciation in the air👍🏼
Twitter is a totally unstable environment right now, so I will hold back for a while. They already had a newsletter publishing arm, Revue, which Elon closed down, with almost no notice. You can't access any of the old content now. So I don't trust Twitter. Also, writing on Twitter is like writing in an open cubicle on the roof of a burning building in a hurricane. But we shall see.
Highly entertaining and frightening. As a mother of three sons, I cannot help but wonder what Thierry's mother did to deserve a trip into the iHole....
I'm sure she was just doing her best. Sons can be pretty ungrateful. I suspect Thierry did not have a clear and objective perspective on his mother. (And thanks for supporting my writing! Greatly appreciated.)
Still a great story. It's not often I want to return and re-read something, even things I enjoy, but I read this a few times after discovering it through a Minecraft Youtuber and I'm glad to have bumped into it today, as I was just talking about it with a colleague.
I also knew a few people at Comma Press back when I was at Edge Hill Uni. I had the 2013 collection, did not know you were in the 2012 one!
On another note, I'm upgrading my talk show set-up so should be in better shape to welcome you in mid-March/April. (It's Hologrammatical from the twitterverse). We already had the studio mic but proper editing and high quality video on my side is now on the way. Maybe a ridiculous dubstep intro as well.
Thanks for reposting this story. I'm going to cross-post it to my subscribers as I'm currently answering questions about what inspired me to post my short stories online
Oh, thanks for the cross-post Phillip. And I am definitely there for a ridiculous dubstep intro. I'll try to live up to it.
Give my love to any Comma Press folk you're still talking to. Yes, I didn't know them until I got shortlisted, but Ra Page turned out to be an excellent bloke to work with. Good editor. He later dragged me into a couple of interesting publishing adventures. At one point I found myself running after him, down into a mist-shrouded crater on the side of Mount Etna that turned out to be full of hats. Long story.
If you are interested, there is more on the Mount Etna Hat Club here, from Adam Marek. (Including some video...)
Pleased to hear about the intro. It should be a lot of fun.
Growing back into the literature scene here in Manchester, finding a lot of cool things to go to, and reconnecting with people. Moving from fiction to poetry to comedy to radio and then back around again is very fun. Had a friend at uni who worked with Comma for a pitching event in 2015. Ra Page did a lecture on publishing there, which was brilliant and gave me not just the energy to keep trying, but the knowledge to refine my attempts. I made sure to tell him at the time. I'm still working on the novel I pitched then, now. Almost ready to plug a query into reality and see what happens.
Love the hat club. I need to go and make some memories like that. Great vid and really liked Adam's writing about it, and mention of The Prestige.
the title sounded so silly at first but the further the story continued ... this is deeply unsettling and unbelievably creative, thank you so much for sharing this again!
Thanks!
I've finished my coffee and 'iHole.' A very satisfying start to the day☕🎱
Nice. (And thanks for supporting this whole project; I hugely appreciate it.)
HOLY SHIT THIS IS BACK!!! I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS FOR YEARS
Delighted to be able to help!
I love all of this, but admit I am curious - is there a foreshadowing bit about his mother? I missed that and was curious if it was hinted at in any way :)
Yes, foreshadowing is tricky, because too much can give away the ending in advance, and not enough means the ending can feel unearned; not properly connected to the rest of the story. And of course there isn't even a set level of foreshadowing that works for all readers at all times, because a reader in a quiet room who is fully immersed in the story is more likely to pick up on foreshadowing than is someone reading more casually in a distracting environment...
So, the foreshadowing is pretty minimal in the story, but there is some. I start the story with his mother (as his coworkers share rumours about her), and I end with his mother. (I like symmetry.) I mention that she collects Beanie Babies at the start, and we see a Beanie Baby pop out of the iHole just before the end (so if Thierry threw her Beanie Babies into the iHole, then maybe he did something worse). Around the midpoint of the story, we can see that Thierry is having some kind of breakdown, he is smashing up all the furniture in the house and feeding it into the iHole. (And we have heard the rumours that he lives with his mother, so the reader should be getting a little concerned for her at that point.) When the police stop him the second time, he wonders is it about his mother, and when it isn't, he is so relieved he lets them find drugs on him. The scene is deliberately ambiguous; is he concerned that the police are going to tell him something bad has happened to his mother, or is he worried because he did something bad, involving his mother, which he is glad the police don't know about? And in the early discussion with Sharif they discuss how someone could dispose of a body. (Not in one piece.) So he has thought about this. And towards the end he cuts up his futon, the last piece of furniture in the house, so we know he has a knife. Plus, he already threw a jury down the iHole. My hope was all these oblique points come together in the reader's head at the end. (Er, yeah, it's dark. But it's a story about darkness, among other things, and how people hide from the darkness, including their own darkness; how people can want all the unloved and difficult stuff in their lives to just go away forever.)
Hope that answers your question...
It does, thank you very much! Definitely there on a second reading, now that I know what to look for :)
I haven't read the iHole yet, but have a couple of preread comments. I noticed the surname Persson which I had apparently overlooked previously. My great grandfather's name was Johan Magnus Persson before he arrived in America and became John Morris Peterson. Also I have just begun reading 'Connect' The first few chapters have absolutely grabbed my attention. Token of appreciation in the air👍🏼
Oh, cool. And I'm delighted you're enjoying Connect!
BTW, any plans to publish on Twitter? Musk just tweeted that publishing on Twitter will be announced shortly.
Twitter is a totally unstable environment right now, so I will hold back for a while. They already had a newsletter publishing arm, Revue, which Elon closed down, with almost no notice. You can't access any of the old content now. So I don't trust Twitter. Also, writing on Twitter is like writing in an open cubicle on the roof of a burning building in a hurricane. But we shall see.
excellent story - and I was able to find that BBC reading you mentioned on Tumblr - delicious :)
Oh, well done. Yes, isn't Andrew astonishing?
Highly entertaining and frightening. As a mother of three sons, I cannot help but wonder what Thierry's mother did to deserve a trip into the iHole....
I'm sure she was just doing her best. Sons can be pretty ungrateful. I suspect Thierry did not have a clear and objective perspective on his mother. (And thanks for supporting my writing! Greatly appreciated.)
Still a great story. It's not often I want to return and re-read something, even things I enjoy, but I read this a few times after discovering it through a Minecraft Youtuber and I'm glad to have bumped into it today, as I was just talking about it with a colleague.
I also knew a few people at Comma Press back when I was at Edge Hill Uni. I had the 2013 collection, did not know you were in the 2012 one!
On another note, I'm upgrading my talk show set-up so should be in better shape to welcome you in mid-March/April. (It's Hologrammatical from the twitterverse). We already had the studio mic but proper editing and high quality video on my side is now on the way. Maybe a ridiculous dubstep intro as well.
Thanks for reposting this story. I'm going to cross-post it to my subscribers as I'm currently answering questions about what inspired me to post my short stories online
- Phill
Oh, thanks for the cross-post Phillip. And I am definitely there for a ridiculous dubstep intro. I'll try to live up to it.
Give my love to any Comma Press folk you're still talking to. Yes, I didn't know them until I got shortlisted, but Ra Page turned out to be an excellent bloke to work with. Good editor. He later dragged me into a couple of interesting publishing adventures. At one point I found myself running after him, down into a mist-shrouded crater on the side of Mount Etna that turned out to be full of hats. Long story.
If you are interested, there is more on the Mount Etna Hat Club here, from Adam Marek. (Including some video...)
https://www.adammarek.co.uk/the-mount-etna-hat-club/
Pleased to hear about the intro. It should be a lot of fun.
Growing back into the literature scene here in Manchester, finding a lot of cool things to go to, and reconnecting with people. Moving from fiction to poetry to comedy to radio and then back around again is very fun. Had a friend at uni who worked with Comma for a pitching event in 2015. Ra Page did a lecture on publishing there, which was brilliant and gave me not just the energy to keep trying, but the knowledge to refine my attempts. I made sure to tell him at the time. I'm still working on the novel I pitched then, now. Almost ready to plug a query into reality and see what happens.
Love the hat club. I need to go and make some memories like that. Great vid and really liked Adam's writing about it, and mention of The Prestige.
Thanks for this, it's a lot of fun
those two holes and German tourists. Sehr witzig, now there is one more Markus liking that story a lot.
Excellent. The more happy Markuses the merrier.