Oh how wonderfully surreal, my favorite kind of story… nothing definitive, and lots of details that will inevitably creep into my own dream state. A world of opposites—darkness looking for light, sleep looking for alertness, seeking self looking for rested, contented self.
Your brain is marvelously colored and complex. So fun to swim in it every time I read something you write. And yay for the repose of post-op that allowed you to indulge in it!
And this was pretty awesome too:
“As I wait with anticipation by the kettle, I stretch, imagining the long vagus nerve in my neck emerging from my ear like an ancient serpent, its frayed tongue reaching for the ceiling as if seeking answers in the uneven surface of the paint. Only once it is satisfied with its exploration do I relax.”
This is so beautiful, Nathan! The magic that emerges from the normal. The paradox of existence: we’re here, yet we’re somewhere else. I loved how you delicately weave into this idea of overlapping universes. There’s a border between different dimensions, where you’re left hanging peeking at both sides at once. This is my interpretation of this idea, of course. But I can see it in your words too. “It’s quite beautiful, to follow yourself” — this line will stay with me for a long time. Thank you for writing this. And thank you for mentioning me! I’m honored to have been some sort of a “prompter” for this.
Thanks so much, my friend. I like your interpretation a lot ;)
I wanted to leave a fair amount of ambiguity in here, as much for myself as for any other reader. It is how the story wanted to be told, which I’m sure is a sensation you are familiar with from your own writing. :)
Yes! The type of writing that I like best is one where there is space, where the unsaid functions as a stimulus for venturing into an interpretation, or just a feeling of the direction of a story. I think your writing has this in spades, as far as I'm concerned.
How lovely to grow your story from the comments (especially Silvio's!).
We could have some intertextuality going about early mornings as well as doppelgangers. I sit hear reading with my own cup of early coffee...looking out the window for a creepy figure now!
It's wonderful to see you 'back' and with such a brilliantly immersive piece. I always feel we can release ourselves as readers into these worlds you create somehow. Great work, Nathan, and even better to know you are writing again!
You also got me to look up what Lachesis means, so I think I may have a clearer grasp of what’s happening but, ultimately, that doesn’t matter as it’s able to stand on its own through the strength of character and setting without any further explanation. It’s late here now so I will read it again in the morning, and after my usual night time antics, I’ll probably relate even more to its wondrous charms
I love that line. It’s like being at one with nature
Also, the imagery of the spider waiting stoically on the window is great. Like a painting of a world in stasis. Wonderfully done 👍🏼
PS After I read this I slept like a log until about 4.30 this morning, which is pretty good going for me. Maybe I’ve found a cure to my night terrors 😁
Very intriguing. I guessed that the person lying down was you, but that is probably because I've become used to your twisted mind. 😂 Beautiful language, as ever. It struck me that the theme of this story is absence: absence of normality, absence of memory, absence of sense. Well done.
Interesting. It reminds me of the thing I've read from novelists sometimes, that they sit back and allow their characters to dictate how the story goes.
I started this story before I went to bed and finished it when I woke this morning (before having my first cup of TEA.) I'm happy I didn't finish it last night. I had several dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream experiences and they are creepy. Next time I'll check my soles.
Also, I've been flexing my feet the whole morning...
I was absolutely sure that I was awake, then realised I was dreaming. Then I woke up for real only to realise that I was still dreaming. It's the strangest feeling ever. Because it feels so real, the air, the body sensations, I got out of bed and was walking and felt the floor under my feet...
(Yeah, I wrote a second one in less than two months after the last one 😜. Maybe I'm getting faster...)
How beautiful and dreamy. I loved the sensation of just floating along, through the morning ritual of coffee and reading and diary; even the strangeness, the character’s finding himself just outside of the usual, isn’t frightening. The wonder of it is gorgeous. A peek at what lies, perhaps, just the other side of awareness…in the next room…so close and oddly familiar.
The unique places only the mind can go. Wonderfully surreal.
"That morning, everything felt disrupted." Even the sun won't come up! Love the details woven in, the spider, the sensation of seeing yourself, your "self" for whom it all makes sense only to find ourselves in front of a blank page.
“Yes,” he said. “It makes sense now, don’t you think?” He smiled again, then returned to inspecting the sky. “It’s quite beautiful, if you follow yourself.”
A very intriguing tale, Nathan. Loved the ambiguous ending. And a delicious new word: Lachesis. Watch me work it into a new story. ha ha ha. An unusual grammar bit that I have seen before in your writing: "I was sat." Then I remembered you were in Australia. In the US, we would say "I was sitting" or "I was seated" or "I sat". To say "I was sat" would imply that someone forced me to sit. I love grammar variation. Also, here we would say " I've already gotten my mail." Gotten! I don't know anywhere else where that structure is used.
Heh, thank you, Sharron! I am pleased to have offered you a new word.
And thank you for the grammar pickup. This is most likely me just being inept and not understanding grammar. I appreciate the note about that. I doubt it's a geographic thing. It'll be me being uneducated.
It IS actually an acceptable form ( I checked). Just not commonly used in my part of the world. I assumed it was an Australian thing. I'll check with Terry Freedman to see if it is used in UK.
Please know that my comment was in no way meant as a correction, Nathan. I love the regional differences in our language. I mean, in Scotland they sell "Big Butts" in the bakery! Delightful - but you would never see that here. Ha ha ha.
It is often used by people from the northern parts of England, so definitely an ok form. Nathan was merely displaying his British roots. You see, Sharron, you can take the boy out of Britain...
This wonderful story took the readers to unexpected places and people. I love the magic realism quality to it. It feels so real and surreal all at once. My beloved line: "As I wait with anticipation by the kettle, I stretch, imagining the long vagus nerve in my neck emerging from my ear like an ancient serpent, its frayed tongue reaching for the ceiling as if seeking answers in the uneven surface of the paint." I'm glad you're healing, and may you continue doing so smoothly and fast.
Thanks so much my friend! Honestly, it’s kinda strange thinking back on this one now. I barely remember writing it. Evidently having a week of work to sit and heal and be creative was nourishing for me and I wish I could be doing it more often (well, perhaps without the surgery haha).
Wow. I know what you mean. I sometimes don’t remember doing certain things myself. It’s like are we dreaming life? No more surgery! Only health and strength going forward for you, I hope! And I wish you more days of rest, respite, and enjoying life and writing. And of course - coffee!
Wonderful story. Reading it put me in a waking-dream state. I love the weirdness of it, the narrator's lack of resistance, giving in to curiosity, see where it leads.
I had goosebumps for the last half of this story…it was written so well and I was so creeped out! I was left with the impression he was seeing himself after he died but he didn’t know it yet. I like many of the other readers interpretations as well. You know I like interpretive space in writing.
Oh how wonderfully surreal, my favorite kind of story… nothing definitive, and lots of details that will inevitably creep into my own dream state. A world of opposites—darkness looking for light, sleep looking for alertness, seeking self looking for rested, contented self.
Your brain is marvelously colored and complex. So fun to swim in it every time I read something you write. And yay for the repose of post-op that allowed you to indulge in it!
And this was pretty awesome too:
“As I wait with anticipation by the kettle, I stretch, imagining the long vagus nerve in my neck emerging from my ear like an ancient serpent, its frayed tongue reaching for the ceiling as if seeking answers in the uneven surface of the paint. Only once it is satisfied with its exploration do I relax.”
Your comments are the best, Kimberly. Thank you so much.
You may have quoted my own favourite line, too! ;)
PS I haven't forgotten your email!
A world of opposites - brilliant insight, it helps me to appreciate it all the more. Thanks!
I gasped when I read that line. I can only imagine what it felt like to write / channel it.
I’m so happy that line found some love :)
My favorite line too!
This is so beautiful, Nathan! The magic that emerges from the normal. The paradox of existence: we’re here, yet we’re somewhere else. I loved how you delicately weave into this idea of overlapping universes. There’s a border between different dimensions, where you’re left hanging peeking at both sides at once. This is my interpretation of this idea, of course. But I can see it in your words too. “It’s quite beautiful, to follow yourself” — this line will stay with me for a long time. Thank you for writing this. And thank you for mentioning me! I’m honored to have been some sort of a “prompter” for this.
Thanks so much, my friend. I like your interpretation a lot ;)
I wanted to leave a fair amount of ambiguity in here, as much for myself as for any other reader. It is how the story wanted to be told, which I’m sure is a sensation you are familiar with from your own writing. :)
Yes! The type of writing that I like best is one where there is space, where the unsaid functions as a stimulus for venturing into an interpretation, or just a feeling of the direction of a story. I think your writing has this in spades, as far as I'm concerned.
As do I of yours! ☺️
How lovely to grow your story from the comments (especially Silvio's!).
We could have some intertextuality going about early mornings as well as doppelgangers. I sit hear reading with my own cup of early coffee...looking out the window for a creepy figure now!
It's wonderful to see you 'back' and with such a brilliantly immersive piece. I always feel we can release ourselves as readers into these worlds you create somehow. Great work, Nathan, and even better to know you are writing again!
Thanks Kate, that’s lovely. (Well, except for any creepy figures; hope they don’t appear anywhere!)
Thanks so much for reading. Hope the coffee was good!
A quite wonderful fever dream of a story, Nathan
You also got me to look up what Lachesis means, so I think I may have a clearer grasp of what’s happening but, ultimately, that doesn’t matter as it’s able to stand on its own through the strength of character and setting without any further explanation. It’s late here now so I will read it again in the morning, and after my usual night time antics, I’ll probably relate even more to its wondrous charms
Brilliantly done 👍🏼
Thanks, Dan, appreciate your thoughts as always.
You know me and ambiguity by now, I'm sure, so don't worry if the grasp is loose. ;)
OK. Read it again
“My skin felt the same wind as the trees”
I love that line. It’s like being at one with nature
Also, the imagery of the spider waiting stoically on the window is great. Like a painting of a world in stasis. Wonderfully done 👍🏼
PS After I read this I slept like a log until about 4.30 this morning, which is pretty good going for me. Maybe I’ve found a cure to my night terrors 😁
Hehe, glad to be of assistance ;)
Thanks, Dan!
Very intriguing. I guessed that the person lying down was you, but that is probably because I've become used to your twisted mind. 😂 Beautiful language, as ever. It struck me that the theme of this story is absence: absence of normality, absence of memory, absence of sense. Well done.
😆 Thanks, Terry. A lot of themes. A lot of recent things intertwined. I just ran with the words and watched.
Interesting. It reminds me of the thing I've read from novelists sometimes, that they sit back and allow their characters to dictate how the story goes.
This is usually how I operate. I'm not sure it's optimal, but that's generally the only way I seem to work.
Optimal, shmomptimal. If it works for you then it's optimal.
Another brilliant story with echos of the Twilight Zone. Every single story you write is even more tightly crafted than the last. Bravo!
Aw, thanks so much Ben, that’s great to hear! :)
I started this story before I went to bed and finished it when I woke this morning (before having my first cup of TEA.) I'm happy I didn't finish it last night. I had several dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream experiences and they are creepy. Next time I'll check my soles.
Also, I've been flexing my feet the whole morning...
Hehe, thanks Claudia. Inceptional dreams ;) The mind can be a crazy place!
PS ooh, yay, new fiction from you today. Looking forward to getting to that asap!
I was absolutely sure that I was awake, then realised I was dreaming. Then I woke up for real only to realise that I was still dreaming. It's the strangest feeling ever. Because it feels so real, the air, the body sensations, I got out of bed and was walking and felt the floor under my feet...
(Yeah, I wrote a second one in less than two months after the last one 😜. Maybe I'm getting faster...)
Wow, sounds amazing. I don't think I've had too many dreams within dreams in my life.
Haha, speed increasing ;)
How beautiful and dreamy. I loved the sensation of just floating along, through the morning ritual of coffee and reading and diary; even the strangeness, the character’s finding himself just outside of the usual, isn’t frightening. The wonder of it is gorgeous. A peek at what lies, perhaps, just the other side of awareness…in the next room…so close and oddly familiar.
Thanks so much, Liz. Your words do wonders to capture what I was trying to express. 🤗
The unique places only the mind can go. Wonderfully surreal.
"That morning, everything felt disrupted." Even the sun won't come up! Love the details woven in, the spider, the sensation of seeing yourself, your "self" for whom it all makes sense only to find ourselves in front of a blank page.
“Yes,” he said. “It makes sense now, don’t you think?” He smiled again, then returned to inspecting the sky. “It’s quite beautiful, if you follow yourself.”
Very powerful, and deep. Follow your dreams.
Thanks so much, Alexander. You have deftly pulled on the threads of what writing this was about.
The most unique ode to coffee I’ll find, I should suppose. Well done sir.
Heh, thanks Clancy ;)
A very intriguing tale, Nathan. Loved the ambiguous ending. And a delicious new word: Lachesis. Watch me work it into a new story. ha ha ha. An unusual grammar bit that I have seen before in your writing: "I was sat." Then I remembered you were in Australia. In the US, we would say "I was sitting" or "I was seated" or "I sat". To say "I was sat" would imply that someone forced me to sit. I love grammar variation. Also, here we would say " I've already gotten my mail." Gotten! I don't know anywhere else where that structure is used.
Heh, thank you, Sharron! I am pleased to have offered you a new word.
And thank you for the grammar pickup. This is most likely me just being inept and not understanding grammar. I appreciate the note about that. I doubt it's a geographic thing. It'll be me being uneducated.
It IS actually an acceptable form ( I checked). Just not commonly used in my part of the world. I assumed it was an Australian thing. I'll check with Terry Freedman to see if it is used in UK.
Good to know. I shall do some research, too.
Please know that my comment was in no way meant as a correction, Nathan. I love the regional differences in our language. I mean, in Scotland they sell "Big Butts" in the bakery! Delightful - but you would never see that here. Ha ha ha.
Oh not at all, Sharron. I very much appreciate it. I absolutely wouldn’t be offended in any case.
So, if anything catches your eye, please do say. :)
It is often used by people from the northern parts of England, so definitely an ok form. Nathan was merely displaying his British roots. You see, Sharron, you can take the boy out of Britain...
Hah, phew. Thanks for the backup, Terry!
A pleasure, Sir
This wonderful story took the readers to unexpected places and people. I love the magic realism quality to it. It feels so real and surreal all at once. My beloved line: "As I wait with anticipation by the kettle, I stretch, imagining the long vagus nerve in my neck emerging from my ear like an ancient serpent, its frayed tongue reaching for the ceiling as if seeking answers in the uneven surface of the paint." I'm glad you're healing, and may you continue doing so smoothly and fast.
Thanks so much my friend! Honestly, it’s kinda strange thinking back on this one now. I barely remember writing it. Evidently having a week of work to sit and heal and be creative was nourishing for me and I wish I could be doing it more often (well, perhaps without the surgery haha).
Wow. I know what you mean. I sometimes don’t remember doing certain things myself. It’s like are we dreaming life? No more surgery! Only health and strength going forward for you, I hope! And I wish you more days of rest, respite, and enjoying life and writing. And of course - coffee!
🙏🙏🤗
Wonderful story. Reading it put me in a waking-dream state. I love the weirdness of it, the narrator's lack of resistance, giving in to curiosity, see where it leads.
Thanks so much for reading, Julie, that’s love to hear.
I had goosebumps for the last half of this story…it was written so well and I was so creeped out! I was left with the impression he was seeing himself after he died but he didn’t know it yet. I like many of the other readers interpretations as well. You know I like interpretive space in writing.
Thanks, Brian. Goosebumps elicited = win!
I like writing with some degree of ambiguity and multiple means of interpretation, so that’s great to hear.
I was enthralled the whole time. I felt the anxiety of the never-coming dawn in my throat. Thanks for sharing this beautiful tale.
Thanks so much, Will!
Oh, this story is sooooo good. I love a good doppelgänger angle and parallel worlds.
Kimberly’s comment says it well. Your brain is fun to swim in indeed. 🧠🏊♀️
Thanks, Holly! Yay!