Two men attempt to bring the creature they built together to life. Something goes horribly wrong. Read A COMPANION IN VICE here: stjohnstarling.substack.com/p/a-companio...

climbing over you to get from one leaf to another

I just finished reading over the first four chapters of A Companion in Vice, since they're all going out in a bundle to supporters tomorrow morning - and fuck, this is crazy. Did I write this? Me?? How did I write this???

THIS FRIDAY

St John Starling (evil now)@stjohnstarling.bsky.social · 3w ago

A Companion in Vice is a gothic-noir hybrid novel about psychosexual obsession and mad science, sent for free, a chapter per week, directly to your inbox. Beginning October 9th. FIND OUT MORE HERE - stjohnstarling.substack.com

I’ve invented a new hormone called testostrogen, and you aren’t gonna like what it does

On October 9th, it comes ALIVE. The mad doctor awakens to discover that he has been made into the monster. His assistant's unnatural obsession with him leads to an agonizing betrayal. People close to them start turning up dead.

it isn't easy to maintain this level of elegance and poise when you're in the mad science lab all day doing unethical things with sharp implements and hazardous materials

qualifications for the ideal mad scientist’s assistant: willingness to work on one’s knees, tendency to hiss “yes, master!" at appropriate moments, having a thing for black surgical gloves

If a post begins with something to the effect of "people these days don't" you can safely ignore every word that follows.

Kink is a way of introducing narrative tension to your sex.

They’re calling A Companion in Vice "a strange rectangular object that is vibrating softly and emitting a faint green glow". They’re calling A Companion in Vice "an immediate threat to life and limb."

🌕

You can mitigate 99% of the psychological hazards of the internet by having enough emotional support in close, stable relationships. The trouble is that most people who have those tend to lose the desire to post.

There’s an angle from which the only thing that really matters when it comes to novel writing is knowing how to get your readers invested in your story and keep them invested.

Here on the blurred borders of autumn, fields sing for their due libations of ale and blood. Demand the honouring of our old contracts with them. For harvest needs a balancing and fair payment. Take not corn saints and corn maidens till the tithe is paid. – #EmilyCBanting, 1982 #Equinox

It’s been a long time coming, but at last, we made it. Wipes away a tear.

You’ve got to appreciate the erotic elements of things that are not explicitly or directly sexual, while also not tricking yourself into thinking this somehow makes you above sex.

People just really don’t like it when you’re a guy some maniac pieced together out of mismatched corpse parts.

[guy in a labcoat showing rapidly me photos] Lives in a hell of their own creation. Hell of their own creation. Hell of their own creation. Well adjusted. Hell of their own creation. Well adjusted but is currently creating their own special hell. Hell of their own creation.

Posting is simply a matter of recreationally putting words in an order.

Unemployed e-celebrities are the wandering rōnin of the modern world.

A large part of what storytelling does for people is inventing ways to give readers permission to explore feelings that they think they are not allowed to have.

No… not the serum *I start slowly and horribly transforming into an unspoiled wetland*

this is a very good article but I particularly appreciate that they archived Ask Jesus

Kristina Killgrove@killgrove.bsky.social · 3w ago

This is a good deep-dive into AI slop invading what used to be legit media sites. One thing I’m seeing more and more: slop outlets churning archaeology stories from 1-5 years ago and presenting them as news. 🏺🧪

A Companion in Vice is a gothic-noir hybrid novel about psychosexual obsession and mad science, sent for free, a chapter per week, directly to your inbox. Beginning October 9th. FIND OUT MORE HERE - stjohnstarling.substack.com

I bet you would have a great time if I injected you with my experimental serum that turns you feel pain as pleasure, then opened you up and squeezed your heart.

What good is a novel if it doesn’t scandalize you a little?

I’ve always found this post funny because “Werner Herzog in a saw trap” is basically what happens in Chapter One of A Companion in Vice.

A Companion in Vice is actually 100% free of thematic subtext. The Frankensteins are just Frankensteins and the surgery is just meant to be scary mad science stuff. Frankly it’s all a bunch of spooky Halloween nonsense. Don’t worry about it.

Boys love it when you put them in a jar with a leaf and twig to climb on.