Reading style guidance:
Here is a list of all the published chapters. This page is a useful navigation tool, so I recommend bookmarking it and returning here whenever you feel lost or like you aren’t sure what to read next.
You can read the chapters in chronological order of publication, which is how they are first listed below.
If you want to read it in reverse chronological order (which is Substack’s default, for whatever reason), click here.
If you want the more choice-driven experience, look at the map below and then select the related story path. (This is a work in progress and is literally being written at the time you are reading, so this way is going to be buggy for a bit.) The individual paths broken out by main topic or character are given after the chronological list. Likewise, I am doing my best to provide links within the individual chapters prompting you to follow them to stay on that story path.
A friend pointed out that it might be useful to only read one or two of these a day, rather than trying to take out a whole bunch at once in a block. I think that’s good advice, but don’t let me stop you from doing what works best for you.
Thanks for your understanding in advance, and I hope you enjoy the ride!
Entries in order of publication:
Hey bae (all paths)
The Front Matter (all paths)
Nine Years Gone (me & you, Karin, the park, Cade, photos, three ways)
Going to the Chapel (Karin; First Cut)
After Dinner, Upstairs … (me & you—partially locked for free subscribers)
Would You Spot Me? (me & you, SOMA, Zadok)
A Pool Scene (me & you, Everything Fails, Grand Story of Not; other paths)
Lava! (me & you)
My Private Collection (me & you, TVS & The Black Book of Fear)
Git! (me & you)
The Backbone (literally this document you a reading now)
Wendy (Wendy, obvs)
Come Close or Feel Far (me & you)
Estienne (Wendy)
Walk Down Main Street (me & you)
The Dream I Had Last Night (me & you; Dream #1)
Please Tell Me You Didn’t (me & you)
Another Dream (Dream #2)
Morning After (me & you; Dream #3)
Nikki Comes to Visit (me & you; Nikki)
A Litany of Crows (me & you)
Comic Sans (me & you)
The Long-Awaited by Few—Probably Brand New to You—Revelation of the Complex, Bizarre yet Astonishingly True Nature of the Semimalevolent Entity Known as Dwizaal: a pseduodemonic paranoid fiction in rather disastrous array (D, Scenes from the Tank)
Openings (me & you)
Inhibition (Dream #4; me & you, Zuy)
The Jupiter Room (me & you, Loona, Pem, Ecks; later on, Zuy)
Seth (Wendy)
Gay’s Hypothesis (Horace, Seth, Wendy)
Rockin’ Offa da Toppa Dis Apocalypse (me, Klava, Roxy)
A Microfiction Universe within the Secret of Secrets (Dream #5)
Secret Garden (me & you)
Alithea Arrives in Soma (Alithea)
Slaggin’ at da Violet (me, Riley)
Subterranean (Dream #7)
Occupied (Dream #8)
Nice Folks (me, Dad, Mason)
The Ones We Keep (me, Dad, Mason)
Intersection of Tradewinds & Povich (me & you)
Planes of Existence (me & you, Nikki)
The Sweet Sweat Ponged Party (me & you, Dag; Dream #10)
Checking the Tapes (Seth, Wendy)
A Peach In the Cage (Seth, Wendy)
Eager (Dream #11)
Vestigial Vestments (me & you)
I Wouldn’t Expect You to Understand (Dream #14)
Fused (Dad)
Impacted (Dad, Dream #15, Made to Remember)
New Neighbor (Desi)
Pass Without Notice (Terry)
Soaked Through (Dad)
A Haze (Mom, Mitz, Mars the planet)
He Doesn’t Get to Have a Chapter Named After Him (secrets school; Mickie kind of)
The Hidden Shrine (Camp O-Bag, Mars the deity, Lilamara)
Vampires Come at Night (Dad, Dream #16, Dream #17)
Garbled (me & you, Garance)
Christmastime In the Library [Ed. Near the end of Part I in the linear verszh.]
Cinda Ashe (Wendy)
Rust & Dust (Dream #12)
Packed In Salt (Alithea)
Back Cement (Dad)
A Locked Door to the Shadow Plane of Existence (Klava kind of)
Three Scenes In a Game I Do Not Understand (Dream #22)
Wrecking Ball (Dad)
By Hand, On the Floor (Thieves; me & you; Dream #23)
Flower Arrangement (me & you)
Possible, But Unlikely (Wendy; Mickie)
If These Warlocks and Devils Have Their Way (Dad; Klava [in absentia]; Bill; Scenes from the Tank)
Looked Over (Bit; Avan)
On a Precipice of Dream’s Edge (me & you)
No One Ever Does (me & you)
Death Shroud (Nikki; Bruno)
Reading the Backbone: A New Introduction by the Author for the 2023 Crowd (new readers’ guide)
Resolutions (me & you; ablated chapters)
Places of Residence (me & you; Dream #19)
A Lampshade (me & you)
Snake People (new path: Snake People; smut at the end)
Let Me Steal This Moment From You Now (Wendy; Mickie)
Wasteland Redux (me & you; Horace)
Up Through the Cracks, Like Grass Under Concrete (new path: First Cut)
In My Solitude (First Cut)
The Old Crane, on Page Road (First Cut)
The Map:
Path: Alithea
Lie Down
Spread (smut)
Path: Dad
Discharged
Man With the Beard
Back In Again
Shave and a Haircut (Two Bits)
I’m Just Going to Sit Here a Minute
Ossuaries
The Funeral
Short Walk
Dad’s Truck
Yard Waste
Dad’s Ring
Thank Yous
I Wish I’d Done a Better Job
Path: Dreams
The Dream I Had Last Night (Dream #1)
Another Dream (Dream #2)
Morning After (Dream #3)
Inhibition (Dream #4)
A Microfiction Universe within the Secret of Secrets (Dream #5)
Subterranean (Dream #7)
Occupied (Dream #8)
The Sweet Sweat Ponged Party (Dream #10)
Eager (Dream #11)
I Wouldn’t Expect You to Understand (Dream #14)
Impacted (Dream #15)
Vampires Come at Night (Dream #16, Dream #17)
Rust & Dust (Dream #12)
Three Scenes In a Game I Do Not Understand (Dream #22)
By Hand, On the Floor (Dream #23)
Places of Residence (Dream #19)
Dreamdash (Dream #28)
Path: Eight Gates
Lie Down
Eight Gated Agate Stage
Gate 1—North
Gate 2—Northeast
Das erste Geheimtor
Gate 3—East
Gate 4—Southeast
La Segunda Puerta Secreta
Gate 5—South
Gate 6—Southwest
Winčhékpa Kin Kektúwa
Gate 7—West
Gate 8—Northwest
Path: The First Cut
Throat-clearing, an Introduction, and All That Jam (up through the line: “I dunno what else to tell you. That’s me.”) will replace with The First Thing to Fail
Going to the Chapel, which is linked from …
Wendy Was Her Name-O
The Liberation
Path: Me & You
Prospero’s Books
Well this looks super interesting. The wonder of Notes doing wonders here (thanks @Claudia Befu for posting).