sleepy drafts
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a sleepy writer named em :)
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Stories (98)
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Neverchangeable | Chapter 1
< Click to read Chapter 0 Farley won't stop fucking around with his hunting knife. The sound sets my teeth on edge. The bridge has transformed over the two years since I sold it, most of the change happening within the last one. The limestone has been reinforced, no longer crumbling at random intervals, and signs have been put up at both ends with detailed directions on how to get through the forest safely and with ease. Different trails are marked with either green, orange, or red lines to allow tourists to select their difficulty. None of the trails are truly difficult anymore, though. None, except the unmarked ones. Farley’s face twists in disdain when he sees the sign, wide and dummy-proof.
By sleepy drafts12 months ago in Chapters
Neverchangeable | Chapter 0
I smile up at the camera. A past version of me, a ghost version, sits hunched over a laptop in a dark room and watches the grainy, bluelight images move across his screen. I picture being that other version of me right now, the one that doesn’t exist, staring blankly, hungrily at the scene. Finally, I hear him think, something different. He hasn’t realized it’s us yet – me, him – and so he laps up the image. Two slumped over figures, one barely human anymore, the other a black-and-white night vision phantom of a man, smiling at the camera. His one eye glows, a white ring of two-dimensional fire that burns into the lens. The other eye is a wet slit, open, gooey, dripping, the membrane now a soft, stretched sock drooping over the eyelid, the kind of sock Farley and I used to hit each other with, with tennis balls dropped down in to the toes, the kind you used to hate. I shudder, look sideways with my one eye at the barely human figure slumped beside me, at once the man in the night vision scene again. You would not have approved of this. Not one bit. I look back at the camera, attached to the nose of the moose Farley had killed when we were fourteen, the camera I put up after Dad died. You would have been mortified. Would have called me indecent. I would have told you, it’s called being smart. You and I both know, you would have seen through that.
By sleepy drafts12 months ago in Chapters
Stream, Money, Tears, Blood, Lullaby: A Review of "Ru" by Kim Thuy
Two letters, one word, and so many tumbling meanings, Ru by Kim Thúy, is a story as concise and layered as its titular word. Stream, flow of money, tears, blood...these are the translations of the word ru in French; cradle or lullaby are the word's meanings in Vietnamese. It's from this word, ru's, perspective, Kim Thúy takes us on a kaleidoscope journey through her protagonist, An Tinh Nguyen's life. An's recounting of her life story flows between different points in both her childhood and adulthood, beautiful, traumatic, and everything in between. All the while, Thúy's prose is unflinching and hypnotic, like the bloody lullaby in her story's name.
By sleepy drafts12 months ago in BookClub
Questions of The Apocalypse in "Moon of the Crusted Snow" a Novel by Waubgeshig Rice. Top Story - January 2025.
How would you react if the world went dark? In the novel, Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice, he asks his readers to consider this question while he unfolds the chilling story of a small northern Anishinaabe community who loses power at the start of a stark winter. With community members being at different levels of preparedness for winter, some having hunted and fished over the warmer seasons, some having not, tensions begin to rise. As news of the city losing power makes its way to the northern community, visitors begin to make their way to the community too. Not all of the visitors have the best intentions, though, which becomes clear as resources begin dwindle. Adjustments are made within the community as families try to re-organize themselves and learn how to live in the fallout of society's upheaval.
By sleepy draftsabout a year ago in BookClub
Babygirl
It’s not perfect, but it’s better than what we grew up with. That’s what Mama says. When she tells me about her childhood, it doesn’t sound so bad. That’s always when Daddy comes in shaking his head. He tells me, “That’s just because you’re not old enough to hear the rest yet, babygirl.”
By sleepy draftsabout a year ago in Fiction
"The Dangers of Smoking in Bed" A Review of Mariana Enriquez's Collection of Short Horrors
Disturbing, disgusting, and somehow... cozy? If you were to ask me what three words I would use to describe, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez, those would be them. Maybe 'cozy' isn't the right word, though. The more appropriate term might be more along the lines of 'sublime,' although not in the traditional sense. That being said, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed are not traditional horror stories.
By sleepy draftsabout a year ago in BookClub
10 Things You Should Know About Brain Rot
Snuggled up in bed, lights off, a long day behind you and a long day ahead of you, very little sounds better than turning your brain off and zoning out until your eyes start to droop and your thumbs start to slip and twitch, accidentally hitting questionable "likes" while you fall asleep. It's almost like coming home from a hard day's work just to kill a couple of hours in front of the TV before bed...right?
By sleepy draftsabout a year ago in 01
Ancestry, Addiction, and the American Dream: A Review of "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" by Ocean Vuong
Sometimes you pick up a book that is so deep, beautiful, and layered in meaning, the words, without saying, ask you to put them down for a moment, just to be sure you're ready for them. Ocean Vuong's debut novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous demands us to feel. It isn't just Vuong's story, or the format of his novel in the shape of a letter to his mother who cannot read, that makes On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous impactful, though. Vuong's craft is so stunning, thought-provoking, and intentional that you cannot help but be suffocated by his words; in that mesmerizing asphyxiation is where we meet his narrator, Little Dog, and in his story, we are reminded of pieces of ourselves, or maybe a loved one, or perhaps the fragments of someone we might once have known. Ocean Vuong doesn't flinch and in doing so connects dots over decades to tell a story that is not just Little Dog's, but so much of North America's.
By sleepy draftsabout a year ago in Pride
WIP - Neverchangeable
The Premise: I've been struggling with this story for close to a year now. It was inspired by a customer who told me a story about his friend doing something illegal, even though he'd just become a father. The customer shook his head and said, "People never change. Not really."
By sleepy draftsabout a year ago in Critique
