"It isn’t uncommon for this particular demon to be summoned"
December 17, 2021 8:14 AM Subscribe
Two short fantasy pieces from the points of view of the monsters. In an untitled horror piece by synchronmurmurs, you are the haunted house: "...humans began running away from you just because you’d opened a shutter to let in some light, or when you’d open doors for them to allow passage through your lonely halls." And in this heartstring-pulling Tumblr collaboration among many writers, "An old and homely grandmother accidentally summons a demon. She mistakes him for her gothic-phase teenage grandson and takes care of him. The demon decides to stay at his new home."
From the first piece:
The first several paragraphs of the second piece may be easier to read on this Tumblr. Excerpt:
From the first piece:
This world and these humans have no need for what they do not know or understand; such things are fearful for them. And yet, in contrast to such simple logic, they hold within them an insatiable curiosity. That is, after all, why time and time again, humans return to you, a house with a supposed soul to behold the truth with their own eyes. Most leave in fear, but there are some who are struck by awe; the knowledge that there are things beyond their understanding (those are your favourites). They have endeared themselves to you in this way - even the loud ones who come with their long metal sticks and intent to do you harm. Any attention is good attention when you’re lonely, you suppose.
Until…
The first several paragraphs of the second piece may be easier to read on this Tumblr. Excerpt:
“I’m surprised you’re so tall, Todd! I haven’t seen you since you were at my hip! But your mother mails photos all the time—you do love wearing all black, don’t you?” She takes a seat at the small round table in the corner and taps the glass lid of the cake plate with quaking, unsteady, aged hands. “I was starting to think you’d never visit. Your father and I have had our disagreements, but…I am glad you’re here, dear. Would you like some cake?” Before the demon has a chance to decline, she lifts the lid and cuts a generous slice from the near-complete circle that has scarcely been touched.
notoriety public, I remember reading that too. I am also coming up empty when I try to search.
posted by bleary at 9:42 AM on December 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by bleary at 9:42 AM on December 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
I believe that's John Wiswell's "Open House on Haunted Hill".
posted by brainwane at 9:55 AM on December 17, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by brainwane at 9:55 AM on December 17, 2021 [3 favorites]
Indeed it is! I felt like I had read it here.
posted by notoriety public at 9:58 AM on December 17, 2021
posted by notoriety public at 9:58 AM on December 17, 2021
Speaking of monster POV, let's not forget Peter Watts' intense "The Things".
posted by gottabefunky at 10:14 AM on December 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by gottabefunky at 10:14 AM on December 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
That demon story is super sweet!
posted by Too-Ticky at 10:32 AM on December 17, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by Too-Ticky at 10:32 AM on December 17, 2021 [5 favorites]
Speaking of monster POV, let's not forget Peter Watts' intense "The Things".
I might try to forget that one, but I don’t think I can scrub hard enough. Classic Peter Watts, in all senses.
posted by notoriety public at 10:35 AM on December 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
I might try to forget that one, but I don’t think I can scrub hard enough. Classic Peter Watts, in all senses.
posted by notoriety public at 10:35 AM on December 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
D'awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!! *sniff*
I read the second one ages ago, and I'm so happy to see it again. It's sweet in exactly the right way.
Thank you!
posted by Space Kitty at 10:35 AM on December 17, 2021 [6 favorites]
I read the second one ages ago, and I'm so happy to see it again. It's sweet in exactly the right way.
Thank you!
posted by Space Kitty at 10:35 AM on December 17, 2021 [6 favorites]
Agreed, Demon Todd is a classic, and it was so nice to be reminded of it and get to re-read it!
posted by solotoro at 10:57 AM on December 17, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by solotoro at 10:57 AM on December 17, 2021 [6 favorites]
She mistakes him for her gothic-phase teenage grandson and takes care of him
It's not a phaaaaase!
OK, now I'll go read the actual stories, haha.
posted by limeonaire at 12:08 PM on December 17, 2021
It's not a phaaaaase!
OK, now I'll go read the actual stories, haha.
posted by limeonaire at 12:08 PM on December 17, 2021
Anette never gives ‘Todd’ her soul, but she gives him her heart
Ah, this really was the perfect amount of sweet with a slight touch of bittersweet. Just what I needed today.
posted by litera scripta manet at 1:11 PM on December 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
Ah, this really was the perfect amount of sweet with a slight touch of bittersweet. Just what I needed today.
posted by litera scripta manet at 1:11 PM on December 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
Speaking of monster POV, let's not forget Peter Watts' intense "The Things".
there's another pretty great monster POV section in Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Ruin
posted by are-coral-made at 1:11 PM on December 17, 2021
there's another pretty great monster POV section in Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Ruin
posted by are-coral-made at 1:11 PM on December 17, 2021
I would read Grandson Todd again right now, but I'm at work and it makes me SOB <3 <3 <3 We should all be so lucky to find our family.
posted by Occula at 1:55 PM on December 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Occula at 1:55 PM on December 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
... I might be mistaken, but I think that second link to Todd, "easier to read," goes to a version that seems to end halfway through the story?
posted by Occula at 2:00 PM on December 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Occula at 2:00 PM on December 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
Occula: Kind of, yeah. Let me explain.
Several Tumblr users collaborated to create the piece by replying to each other. On Tumblr, depending on a user's choice of formatting and depending on the reader's browser, if there's a chain where a bunch of people have replied to each other, the first few replies can get smooshed into a very narrow column that's hard to read. A reader can improve readability by, for instance, using Reader Mode in Firefox or some other local settings, but many people don't know how to do that. That's why I suggested that the first several paragraphs of the second piece would be easier to read using that second link -- it omits the last couple replies and isn't as extreme with the columnar smooshing.
posted by brainwane at 2:12 PM on December 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
Several Tumblr users collaborated to create the piece by replying to each other. On Tumblr, depending on a user's choice of formatting and depending on the reader's browser, if there's a chain where a bunch of people have replied to each other, the first few replies can get smooshed into a very narrow column that's hard to read. A reader can improve readability by, for instance, using Reader Mode in Firefox or some other local settings, but many people don't know how to do that. That's why I suggested that the first several paragraphs of the second piece would be easier to read using that second link -- it omits the last couple replies and isn't as extreme with the columnar smooshing.
posted by brainwane at 2:12 PM on December 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
It's lovely how people won't let Demon Todd end, and insist on conjuring up multiple seasons, etc.
I was once taught that what gives art and ritual their punch is the reverb between 'denotational text' [the story that's being told] and 'interactional text' [how people are constructing their roles as storytellers, listeners, etc.]. And that's what seems to happen here, giving a surreal boost to the theme:
THIS STRANGE THING IS A TREASURE, AND MUST BE CHERISHED, NOT CUT OFF.
-Anette decides this
-the demon follows suit
[Tumblr participation expands this at some kind of metalevel]
-the village does this on Anette's behalf
-divine authorities likewise
['The Tale of Demon Todd and the Tumblr' becomes a welcome thing that roams the Internet. Thank you, brainwane!]
posted by feral_goldfish at 3:56 PM on December 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
I was once taught that what gives art and ritual their punch is the reverb between 'denotational text' [the story that's being told] and 'interactional text' [how people are constructing their roles as storytellers, listeners, etc.]. And that's what seems to happen here, giving a surreal boost to the theme:
THIS STRANGE THING IS A TREASURE, AND MUST BE CHERISHED, NOT CUT OFF.
-Anette decides this
-the demon follows suit
[Tumblr participation expands this at some kind of metalevel]
-the village does this on Anette's behalf
-divine authorities likewise
['The Tale of Demon Todd and the Tumblr' becomes a welcome thing that roams the Internet. Thank you, brainwane!]
posted by feral_goldfish at 3:56 PM on December 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
oh no I just found season 6 help i'm crying
posted by Space Kitty at 7:32 PM on December 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Space Kitty at 7:32 PM on December 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
No one is cutting onions, it’s not dusty in here. No, I am straight up sobbing over a Tumblr story.
posted by gryphonlover at 3:52 PM on December 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by gryphonlover at 3:52 PM on December 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
The final scene of the last episode is at the end of this page. The whole story is there, so scroll to the comments:
“The last lines of the show…”
posted by malthusan at 6:05 PM on December 18, 2021 [3 favorites]
“The last lines of the show…”
posted by malthusan at 6:05 PM on December 18, 2021 [3 favorites]
Noticed your original link to Todd's story lacked the final scene, so came here to post it. Then notice someone else beat me to it.
So, here's another story rec: are you familiar with Suzy of the House Miller?
posted by cheshyre at 1:28 PM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
So, here's another story rec: are you familiar with Suzy of the House Miller?
posted by cheshyre at 1:28 PM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
(Note, Suzy of the House Miller is good and charming but unfinished.)
posted by Pronoiac at 3:21 PM on December 20, 2021
posted by Pronoiac at 3:21 PM on December 20, 2021
I haven't ever run across it! Thanks for the link and the note!
OK so I think I have a super nitpicky confession -- I like the Demon Todd story better without the "Anette knew all along" addition ("the last lines of the show"). Even though it totally makes sense that she would have noticed that "my biological grandson’s not twelve feet tall and doesn’t scorch the furniture when he sneezes". And I can see how some people would really like it better, because then she has not been a woman deceived about who's living in her house with her, but rather a tremendously loving and inclusive grandma who made a choice -- perhaps instantly upon encountering this demon -- to take care of a lonely person.
But -- Was he worried, ever, during the years that they spent together, that she'd figure out that he was a demon? If she knew, why didn't she ever tell him, before dying, so they could drop the facade at home, and so he wouldn't worry that she'd someday -- for instance -- actually get a visit from the real Todd? As I read the story, Todd gives her at least one chance (suggesting she sell her soul to him) to notice that he's really a demon, and she "just laughed, told him that he shouldn’t talk like that." which feels ambiguous regarding whether she gave the impression that she knew.
But thinking about any of this makes the story less comforting for me, and it's not the point anyway!
posted by brainwane at 3:33 PM on December 20, 2021
OK so I think I have a super nitpicky confession -- I like the Demon Todd story better without the "Anette knew all along" addition ("the last lines of the show"). Even though it totally makes sense that she would have noticed that "my biological grandson’s not twelve feet tall and doesn’t scorch the furniture when he sneezes". And I can see how some people would really like it better, because then she has not been a woman deceived about who's living in her house with her, but rather a tremendously loving and inclusive grandma who made a choice -- perhaps instantly upon encountering this demon -- to take care of a lonely person.
But -- Was he worried, ever, during the years that they spent together, that she'd figure out that he was a demon? If she knew, why didn't she ever tell him, before dying, so they could drop the facade at home, and so he wouldn't worry that she'd someday -- for instance -- actually get a visit from the real Todd? As I read the story, Todd gives her at least one chance (suggesting she sell her soul to him) to notice that he's really a demon, and she "just laughed, told him that he shouldn’t talk like that." which feels ambiguous regarding whether she gave the impression that she knew.
But thinking about any of this makes the story less comforting for me, and it's not the point anyway!
posted by brainwane at 3:33 PM on December 20, 2021
« Older Worth meeting: poet and author Saeed Jones | Enter 'The Devil's House' Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by notoriety public at 9:02 AM on December 17, 2021 [2 favorites]