I love horror and I love ballet. I often combine the two in my work. And when I find another author who has combined the two forms of storytelling, I want to read it. And if it’s good? I’m especially glad to read it. Jamison Shea’s novel I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me is one of those books I’m especially glad to have read.
Taking place at the Paris Ballet and its attached academy, I Feed Her to the Beast follows Laure Mesny, a dance student in Paris who is the most talented in her class, but has had to deal with privilege and racism in the academy and the company every day. When a fellow ballerina she admires leads her into the tunnels of the catacombs, she is introduced to an ancient godlike entity that offers her a deal: her blood in exchange for the power she has always craved. Laure takes it, and it leads her on a path that could end in her stardom, or her destruction.
Where do I start?
Well, let’s talk about the horror. While there is some eldritch occult horror here, the real horror is with the human characters. Not just what the characters are willing to do for their goals, but what they’re willing to do to each other out of spite. Laure’s fellow dancers, often white and privileged, treat her horribly and tell her, behind her back and to her face, that she doesn’t belong and will never be good enough, even though she is amazing. More than a few bring up that she’s black and from a poor background and, in their view, wouldn’t be a good fit for the company. When Laure finally gets some power, it’s kind of scary how quickly she not only gets used to it, but how much she enjoys using it, including to do violence!
Not to say there isn’t some more traditional horror. The gods living beneath Paris are quite cool, as is the destruction they wrought, and there’s a murder mystery throughout the story which resolves in a way that surprised even me and which felt quite satisfying.
I also liked how most of the characters felt real. They’re all extremely complicated, especially Laure. She’s had it rough, coming from a broken family and dealing with racism and poverty, and often being told to be better and be perfect despite doing everything she should. And despite all that, she still wants to belong and feel loved by her coworkers, which honestly feels very human to me. I also empathized with her struggle to try to balance her dreams and her relationships. She’s not all good, and she’s very flawed, but it’s hard not to root for her, even at her worst. And we see her at her worst a lot.
I think the one flaw is that some of the supporting characters could have used some more development, especially Keturah. She sort of becomes a sister figure to Laure halfway through the novel, but I never really felt like we got a chance to see past her surface. Maybe in the sequel. (Yes, there’s a sequel, and I’ll check it out as soon as I can.) And, at times, the story did drag a little.
All told, I award I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me by Jamison Shea a 4.5 out of 5. This is a riveting slow-burn novel that delights in being bad and in delving into the darkest parts of humanity. Get yourself a copy, put on Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, and prepare to be transported. Believe me, it’s worth the read.
Pop the champagne! Run wild through the streets with hardly any clothes on! Propitiate the horror gods with sacrifices, lest you be eaten by monsters! Hannah and Other Stories is a year old today!
So, if you were unaware, Hannah and Other Stories is my second collection and my fifth book overall. The collection contains seven short stories, among which are tales of ghosts, budding serial killers, and carnivorous horses, among other things. Yes, you read that right. Carnivorous horses! They’re horrifying and will get you when you least expect them!
Honestly, it’s hard to believe that this collection has been out a year. I started collecting the stories and then shopping them around to publishers in 2021, at the height of the pandemic. In October of that year, while I was on vacation, BSC Publishing Group told me they wanted to publish them and sent me a contract! Over the next year and a half, we worked to get the stories up to scratch, finally releasing them on September 23, 2023. And here we are today, at the one-year anniversary of the release!
And I’ve been doing a lot for this anniversary. In addition to the usual posting to social media, I created a book trailer, which you can watch below.
Pretty cool, huh? Personally, I think it’s my best work yet! And hopefully it conveys the terror within Hannah.
But this isn’t the only thing I’ve been doing for Hannah and Other Stories. I also did a radio interview recently that should air soon. Yes, you read that right as well. A real radio interview, for a show about artists and writers’ techniques and processes for creating their work called The Craft. I’ll post more details when I can, so you can listen to it live with me.
But more than that, I have a big announcement to make: the title story of the collection, Hannah, is going to be adapted into an audio play!
You see, the guy who produces The Craft, Doug Dangler, does a yearly show where short stories are adapted into audio plays for Halloween, and Hannah is going to be one of those stories! For those of you who don’t know, Hannah follows some ghost hunters who sneak into an abandoned school to ghost hunt, and find more than they expected. Anyway, the story will be adapted and acted out by local high school students, and I can’t wait to see what these kids are able to do. I’ll be sure to let you know when the show airs, but it should be around late October.
With all this going on, I hope this leads to a lot of people checking out Hannah and Other Stories, as well as leaving reviews. The reviews I’ve gotten so far have been rather positive. Take a look:
I just finished Hannah and Other Stories by Rami Ungar. This is a great little collection. Stories range from ghost hunting to the dangers of social media to diabolical new friends and Lovecraftian horrors and more. Had this on my TBR for a while and finally pulled the trigger to finish (the adhd is strong). Very fun collection and I would recommend it and am excited to see his future work. I give it a 4/5.
Dustin Allen, Amazon
This collection of seven stories had me hooked from the get-go. Each story has a little bit of everything: horror, occult, revenge, betrayal, ghosts, and so much more. Every story is solid and unique. Expertly crafted and well told. If you are a fan of horror anthologies, this is an absolute must-read. I’m still thinking about some of the stories. Good stuff. Check it out!
5 severed fingers out of 5
Yeti Reads and Reviews, Goodreads
There are horror stories set in houses across the street and in apartments next door. There are also horror stories set in exotic locations like the Catacombs of Paris. There are even horror stories set in imaginary worlds of cosmic horror and monstrous gods. And then there is Rami Ungar’s collection which manages to be all those things at once. This is what makes these stories so special: a combination of exotic and familiar; Ohioan farmlands and Romantic paintings; Lovecraftian gods and suburban ennui. The stories in this collection range from a traditional haunting with a strange twist at the end (“Hannah”) to a postapocalyptic small-town horror reminiscent of Stephen King’s Cell (“The Red Bursts”); from an unfortunate encounter on a Parisian rooftop (“The Autopsy Kid and Doctor Sarah””) to a rather more optimistic, though equally bizarre, Beauty-and-the-Beast meeting in the Catacombs (“Poor Unfortunate Souls”); from a creepypasta (“Queen Alice”) to a Renaissance poem coming to life on social media and in the Midwest (“What Errour Awoke”). My own favorite story is “Fuseli’s Horses,” which seamlessly blends the famous Romantic painting of The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli with the realities of farmwork and growing up in rural America. It is not the combination I would ever think of, but the story is flawlessly plotted and executed. The stories in this collection combine moments of visionary beauty and visceral horror, perfect for the genre’s afficionados. Rami Ungar is a writer to watch!
Elana, Goodreads
Along with the titular story, “Hannah”, this collection from the Master of Fear comprises 5 other short stories and a novelette.
There is a certain level of intense imagination, dread-filled atmosphere, and relatable characters that I’ve come to expect from Ungar’s short stories. The last three stories in this collection certainly delivered all these qualities and more.
This is an enjoyable anthology, with solid stories. At times, the political message in some of the stories detracted from the characters and plot. It worked best in “The Red Bursts”, where it layered seamlessly with other thematic elements without distracting from the story.
“Hannah and Other Stories” is a worthy addition to the bookshelves of the Followers of Fear.
Iseult Murphy, author of “Gone But Not Forgotten,” Amazon
Sorry, I couldn’t help but want to post some of these reviews. They’ve all been overwhelmingly positive! And if more people read the book and leave reviews, with any luck we’ll get a paperback edition soon. Yeah, BSC Publishing is waiting until we’ve reached a certain threshold in sales and reviews before giving the okay on a paperback. I’ve been working since well before the book came out for this, and I’m hopeful the first anniversary will bring it about.
Anyway, if you would like to read Hannah and Other Stories, I’ll post links below. And if you like what you read, please leave a review somewhere so that I, as well as other readers, know what you thought. Plus, reviews help me out so much in the long run.
Thank you, my Followers of Fear. I’m so grateful for all the support you give me everyday, and especially over the last year. I hope the next year brings plenty of amazing things for my career, as well as Hannah.
One more thing, Followers of Fear: I know I’ve already said this, but this Saturday, September 28th, is the Hidden Marietta Paranormal Expo! If you’re in or around Marietta, Ohio this weekend, stop by the Washington County Fairgrounds. There will be psychics, ghost hunters, and me, doing Tarot readings and selling books. More information can be found on the website here.
Hope to see you there. Until next time, good night (or morning) and pleasant nightmares, my Followers of Fear!
As many of you know, my last book was a collection called Hannah and Other Stories. The book contained seven stories, among which were tales of ghosts, budding serial killers, and carnivorous horses, among other things. The collection was released on September 23, 2023, which means at the time I’m writing this, the one-year release anniversary is only fifteen days away.
In honor of the upcoming anniversary, I created a book trailer for Hannah. One was actually supposed to be created last year before Hannah was released, but things didn’t work out, so it never happened. So, to help celebrate the anniversary, I created one myself using a combination of stock footage, the Canva design app, an editing program on my desktop, and YouTube-provided music. The result is below.
And thus, I present to you, the book trailer for Hannah and Other Stories.
What did you think? Did you like it? Can you believe that was all stock footage and some photos I created myself?
And if you liked that trailer and are curious about the book itself, I’ll leave links below. Right now, it’s only available in ebook, but if enough people show interest and read and review the book, a paperback will likely happen as well.
And speaking of reading and reviewing, be sure to leave a review if you end up reading Hannah. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps both me and other readers.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I hope you’re looking forward to a spooktacular autumn like I am. Until next time, good night, happy reading, pleasant nightmares, and only 53 days till Halloween. Where is the year going?!
It’s a damn shame when something that’s supposed to be pro-writers turns out to be exactly the opposite.
Now, for those of you who don’t know, National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short, is both an annual event and a non-profit organization. The former takes place in November every year, during which participating authors try to write a fifty-thousand word novel in 30 days (that’s about 1,667 words per day if you’re curious). If you actually manage to write that many words, you get bragging rights and a printable certificate (it’s a self-challenge, so that should be enough. Besides, previous attempts at “prize packages” have not gone well). The non-profit of the same name runs the annual event, as well as connects writers in the same area and other services and programs.
Sounds great, right? And for a while, it was. In fact, I even participated while writing the first draft of my novel Snake, and hoped to do so again someday. However, the organization’s statement on AI writing, which I’ve included as a photo below, has now made that impossible.
So, to summarize, not only is NaNoWriMo going to allow people to use AI to write their novels for them, but they claim that people who condemn use of AI writing are classist and ableist.
Um, excuse me?
I’m going to quickly respond to that last part first, as it’s outrageous. It’s not classist to ask writers, who span the whole range of socioeconomic backgrounds, to write a novel themselves. You know, like they’ve been doing for hundreds of years? Besides, AI use isn’t restricted to any particular class, let alone those living in poverty. If it was, and writing the whole novel yourself was restricted to those above the poverty line, then it would be classist.
And ableist? I have disabilities! I’ve managed to publish five books and write many more stories despite that! And so have many other authors, such as Octavia Butler (dyslexia), Fyodor Dostoyevsky (epilepsy), Flannery O’Connor (Lupus), as well as many writers who I consider not just colleagues, but friends. If anything, saying a disabled person can’t write a novel without the use of AI is what’s ableist!
But let’s get back to the fact that NaNoWriMo is willing to accept AI writing. I’m going to let you in on a little secret: AI writing isn’t even writing! AI writing is a computer program studying hundreds or even thousands of pieces of work, often without the original authors’ permission or even knowledge, looking for patterns, and then putting out something that has patterns like the ones found in the works studied. The results are usually full of contradictions, unimaginative characters, little mystery (because how could a program grasp mystery or secret-keeping for later payoff), and a lack of love.
Because that’s what AI writing really is. A cold calculation by a computer program based on analysis of so-called patterns gleaned from stolen works, rather than a labor of love by an author who wanted to share their stories with people who enjoy similar stories.
And the people calling themselves writers who are using AI, like the guy on Threads who said I was jealous that he was going to reach fifty-thousand words in one day (he’s been blocked)? They’re not writing. At best, they’re checking the finished project to fix the algorithm’s mistake. Other than that, they’re probably playing video games or making sandwiches or otherwise finding other ways to not write!
And that’s the saddest thing about this. NaNoWriMo started out as a fun challenge, and the organization was meant to help authors reach their dreams. Both were to encourage authors to push themselves and see what they could do in a month’s time. In short, it was to encourage writing. For NaNoWriMo to embrace AI writing and enable this laziness, rather than supporting the writers who insist on genuine hard work and practice, is a slap in the face to real writers everywhere.
I’m not saying it all has to be handwritten, but it should actually be, you know, written!
So, what can you do, both as a writer and a reader? Well, I’ve heard some people say they want to form a new organization and event, but whether or not that leads to anything, we’ll have to see. In the meantime, the most popular reaction seems to be people are boycotting both the NaNoWriMo event and the non-profit. Personally, in addition to the boycott, I would encourage authors to continue writing one word at the time. You know, actual writing?*
I would also encourage you to support other authors, especially lesser known ones, who continue to put real effort into writing, and leaving reviews, as well as refusing to support the works of authors who use AI, or the organizations who support them. Together, we can work to ensure writing and storytelling isn’t corrupted by algorithms, piracy, and laziness.
*And it doesn’t need to be fifty-thousand words in a month. Great work takes time, so take all the time you need.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. If you would like to help this non-AI using writer, especially with spooky season just starting, I’ll include a button below to lead you to my catalog. From plant/human hybrids and strange gods to Mafia-hunting serial killers and carnivorous horses, I got something for every horror fan. And if you like what you read, please leave a review so I know what you thought.
And until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night, pleasant nightmares, and only 58 days till Halloween!
Took a little longer than I expected, but I finally finished this book tonight and, as promised, I’m writing a review.
Jumping back and forth between the late 1990s and 2019, The Dissonance follows Hal, Athena, and Erin, who, along with their friend Peter, discover that they have mysterious powers. Powers that, according to Peter’s grandfather, stems from the Dissonance, a magical energy that stems from the gap between our broken world and the world as it should be. They start learning how to harness their powers, but tragedy strikes during their senior year of high school. Twenty years later, they return to their old stomping grounds as forces begin to throw the world out of whack. And in the midst of it all, a great evil descends on their hometown, dragging a closeted gay teen in tow…
I’ve heard this book called a cross between The Magicians and IT, and while I’m only vaguely familiar with the first one, I have to say, the comparison to IT is apt. Not only does it hop back and forth between past and present, but Hamill does a great job showing the characters as hormonal teens trying to navigate friendship and their lives in the past, and trying to deal with cosmic shift and their broken lives and relationships in the present.
As for the story, it’s definitely more in line with dark fantasy than horror. For example, the Dissonants conference feels more Harry Potter than The Craft. Still, it’s got some horror elements. The magic itself, which requires tapping into the pain and misery of life, is pretty dark in and of itself, and plenty of aspects of the novel are of the cosmic horror vein.
If there’s one thing I would have liked to see more of, it might have been more of the character Owen. I get that the focus was more on Athena, Hal, and Erin, but Owen was a relatable character and I would have liked to see the kid have a bigger role.
Well, if there’s a sequel, that might be a possibility. The book does present the possibility of being the jumping off point for a shared universe, like The Hobbit was for Lord of the Rings, but with more in common with the Cthulhu Mythos than Tolkien.
But getting back to the review, I award The Dissonance by Shaun Hamill a 4.5 out of 5. It’s an engaging dark fantasy novel with great characters and worldbuilding and a magic system that feels right for this wrong world. Grab a copy, tap into your deep well of inner pain, and prepare for a twisty, magical ride through hell.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, good night, pleasant nightmares, and only 61 days and one hour till Halloween!
Shoot off the fireworks! Summon the party demons! Sing praises to the gods for protection! I have completed the first draft of The Shape of Evil, AKA the 3D Printer from Hell story!
So, if you were unaware, I’ve been working on a story about a possessed 3D printer since March. It was originally supposed to be only a novelette or a short novella, but before I knew it, I’d devoted several thousand words to the first two sections of the story and was like, “Okay, this one’s going to be a novel. Why do I do this to myself?”
(This isn’t the first time this has happened to me, by the way. My Gothic horror novel The Pure World Comes was supposed to be a novelette. Boy, did that plan backfire in my face!)
Anyway, I’ve been working on this story since March, and the writing process was lengthened by how damn busy my life has been since spring. However, around halfway through the story, which was back in June, things started to speed up. I even managed to finish the last three chapters in single sittings, with the last one being written late last night after I met with my horror critique group!
If you’re curious, the story is 273 pages long (8.5 x 11, double spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font), and the word count is about 72,500 words. For context, the first Harry Potter novel was about forty-five hundred words longer. So, not a long novel, but a good length for a novel, to be sure.
Honestly, I’m really happy about finally finishing the story. Not only did it take longer than I thought to write, but I feel like this story has a lot of potential. Now, I feel like every one of my stories have potential, but I feel like this one’s going to be different. The story’s concept is a fun one and one I haven’t seen tackled in this or any other genre yet, and I feel like readers are going to empathize a lot with some of these characters.
So, some of you are probably wondering, “What’s next? And when can I read it?” Calm down, calm down, all in good time.
As many of you know, I like to give my stories a bit of time off after I finish the first draft before I edit them. In the case of The Shape of Evil, I plan to edit it in December, and hopefully finish the second draft by New Year’s. Afterwards, I’m going to try and find one or two beta readers who can act as sensitivity readers (my main character is nonbinary, so I want to ensure I wrote them well). After I get feedback from the readers back, I will do one more draft, and then try to find a home for the book. And from there, we’ll see what happens.
In the meantime, I’m going to take a couple of days to celebrate with good food, good drink, and good movies/anime. Then I’m going to write one or two non-fiction articles, and get started on some new stories I want to write. With three months and a few days till December, I think I can get plenty done (provided none of these stories want to become novels as well).
After all this work, I’m looking forward to a break.
And that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. If you want to support me while I’m working to get The Shape of Evil and other stories published, you can check out my already published work. From plant/human hybrids and strange gods to Mafia-hunting serial killers and carnivorous horses, I have something for every horror fan. And with spooky season starting up, now is the perfect time to read some of these stories. I’ll be sure to leave a link below if you want to check them out. Be sure to leave a review if you do end up reading them.
And until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night, pleasant nightmares, and only 70 days till Halloween. Have you started doing your spooky dances yet?
You have no idea how much this musical has been on my mind lately. Especially the song “Non-Stop.”
I’ve had the soundtrack from Hamilton stuck in my head lately, especially the song Non-Stop (if you haven’t ever heard it, you can check it out here). Now, if you’re unfamiliar, this song is the Act One finale and summarizes Alexander Hamilton’s post-war rise to become the first Treasury Secretary of the United States, while also going over how Hamilton never stops working and writing.
There’s some verses from this song that has really resonated with me lately:
How do you write like you’re running out of time?… How do you write like tomorrow won’t arrive? How do you write like you need it to survive? How do you write every second you’re alive?
Even if you don’t know me, you probably know I’m a writer, and you can see why these lyrics resonate with me. If you do know me, you might recall I’ve mentioned how my time for writing has seemed to be shaved down this year. So, when I do write, I’m trying to make the most of my time (including as I’m writing this). And when I’m not writing, I feel like I should be.
Sadly, the time I’m not writing is usually spent doing things that are essential for living my life: eating, sleeping, working, etc. If I didn’t, I would not be able to pay my bills and would probably have to move in with one of my parents (and I’m not doing that again!). And while I would like to use my vacation time to spend some time writing again, at the moment, that’s not feasible.
So yeah, it’s a sucky situation. And I don’t know how to fix it. After all, summoning demons to win the lottery has too many drawbacks, though it is tempting.
I guess, while I look for new ways to find more time for writing, I’ll do like Alexander Hamilton did. I’ll write like I’m running out of time. Because time’s a quick bastard, and I need to take advantage of it when I can. Until I eventually get to the point when I can write full time and I (hopefully) don’t have to worry about not having enough time to write.
Going to write like I’m running out of time, like I need it to survive.
In the meantime, write like tomorrow won’t arrive. Write like I need it to survive. Write every second I can find.*
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I have to get ready to spend necessary time sleeping. So, until next time, good night, pleasant nightmares, and only 78 days left to Halloween. If you’re not at least thinking of getting ready for spooky season, then what are you doing with your life?
*That last one is not an exact quote, but I think Lin Manuel Miranda and everyone who loves this show will let it slide.
Happy birthday to the blog, Happy birthday to the blog. Happy birthday, Rami Ungar the Writer! Happy birthday to the blog.
Hard to believe, but today this blog turns (un)lucky 13. And coincidentally, I turned 31 a couple of months ago. Or is that a coincidence? Yes, yes it is. But it’s a weird one.
Anyway, it’s amazing how far this blog has come. Especially considering how short-lived many blogs are, even popular ones. Those who write them don’t get the views they’d hope for, or they face burnout from keeping up demand. Either way, they decide to shut down their blogs, leaving the blogs themselves to disappear from the internet.
And I’ve said it before, but I could have become one of those people. During the first few years of blogging, while I was still in college, my blog barely got one or two views a day, if at all. Growth was slow, and interaction didn’t happen that often. Honestly, a few times I wondered if I should keep blogging, as it didn’t seem to be helping my writing career at all. And helping my writing career was why I created this blog to start with.
However, maybe I like a challenge, or maybe I’m just stubborn. Either way, I kept at it. And all these years later, I’ve written over 2,100 posts and usually gain over two thousand views a month. Sometimes I even get three-thousand, or close to it. And while growth has been slower in recent years, I have over 1,450 followers subscribed to the blog. Many of these followers have been with me for years, and I consider quite a few of them as friends.
And, whenever I let you guys know that I’m working on a story or I’m getting something published, several of you let me know how excited you are and how you can’t wait to read it. (Or in the case of those published in audio format, listen to them.)
So, at this point in the post, I want to say thank you, my Followers of Fear. Thank you for all the support you’ve given me through these thirteen years. All the views, likes, comments, subscriptions, and even buying, reading and reviewing my books, give me energy and keep me going even in my lowest points (which are few and far between, but which still happen). I hope you’ll continue to support me through this coming year. Here’s hoping this year, I’m able to start writing full-time. Or, if not, I’m able to see the path to this start to form in front of me.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m going to work today and then open up a bottle of wine to celebrate (and because it’s Friday). I hope you’ll have a drink with me, wherever you are. If you would like to check out my books, I’ll include a link below. Just remember to leave a review after you’ve read the book so I know what you thought.
And until next time, good night, Shabbat Shalom, and pleasant nightmares.
So, I just heard that Fangoria Entertainment is going to make a whole bunch of movies based on Junji Ito’s work. They mainly will adapt stories from his collection Smashed, but I hope Remina or Madonna get adaptations as well, as they are great stories (see my reviews for Remina and The Liminal Zone, respectively). In the meantime, a new collection of Junji Ito stories got translated, so I’m here to review it.
As I say, Junji Ito can be hit or miss with me, but this one was entertaining enough.
My favorite story was probably “Town of No Roads,” which follows a teen girl who goes to live with her aunt after her parents and brothers react the wrong way to a stalker breaking into her room. As if that’s not stressful enough, her aunt’s home has been swallowed up by a giant structure where nobody has any privacy. It’s weird, but you really start to empathize with the main character and the themes of the necessity for privacy really do resonate.
Other stories really struck a chord with me, which was nice. “”The Ward” is a creepy body horror story about several women in a hospital ward who start acting funny, while “Blessing” is a tragic love story with a great twist in the end. “Mold” just grossed me out (as a homeowner, I felt the main character’s pain, especially when it comes to cleaning one’s home). And “Descent” was a weird but engrossing story with a great hook and a mysterious resolution.
Of the rest, they were mostly decent. The titular story, “Alley,” has a great idea, but I feel like there’s too much exposition, which is followed by an ending that could have been a few pages longer. “The Inn” has a great idea and some terrifying art, though the ending kind of puttered out on me, and “Smoker’s Club” has a great idea about tobacco and smoking that would put anyone off cigarettes, though it also could have used more pages for its story. And “Memory” has a great story, though not enough scary art for me (it still would make a great movie).
The only bad story was “Ice Cream Bus,” which other than a reminder about why stranger danger exists, wasn’t much better than its animated Netflix adaptation.
Overall, I think I would give Alley by Junji Ito a 3.8 out of 5. There’s some decent horror in there, so if you’re looking to get into his work, this might be a good choice for your second or third read of his (I recommend picking between Remina, Uzumaki and Tombs for your first and second reads).
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!
About three weeks back, I wrote a blog post about how unsure I was regarding my feelings towards my disabilities, let alone if I felt “pride” in them during Disability Pride Month. Some time later, NPR asked readers with disabilities to submit their experiences with disability and what they wanted able-bodied people to know for an article. I submitted my thoughts and, much to my delight, I found out Sunday morning that my submission was used in the article, which I’ve linked to in the button below.
Did you enjoy the article? I did. And it was educational for me too. Someone in the article mentioned how disability isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but it could be a rich experience. They said this despite all the troubles that can come from their own disability.
That spoke to me. Like in my previous post, I’m not sure if I feel pride in my disabilities. On the one hand, autism and ADHD, among other conditions, makes me what is known as “neurospicy” and the unique individual that I am today. They probably also contribute to my writing in a major way, allowing me to see the world in a unique way and come up with wild ideas that translate into (what I like to think are) amazing stories.
On the other hand, I still worry that, because social cues aren’t always obvious to me, I’m skirting the edge of Sheldon Cooper-levels of awkwardness. Or that my problems with focusing and attention might negatively affect my job or my goals in life.
And God knows there’s still a lot of ableism in our society and a lot of people who still need education in interacting with people with disabilities, even if they think they know it all.
Like the folks in the article said, it can be a rich and varied experience, and it’s different for every person. And it doesn’t always have to be a barrier. Like I said in the article, I own my home, I have a good job, and I’ve published books and short stories. Some might think my disabilities make doing that impossible, but in actuality, they might even help me accomplish those things.
Maybe I still don’t know if I feel “pride” in my disabilities. But I know they don’t get in the way of my life. And I know they’re not a death sentence, or worse than death. They’re a part of me, and I wouldn’t be me without them. And while I wish social situations were easier to read, I would never wish to be different than I am.
Okay, maybe I might change some stuff. But that would be stuff like never needing to use sunscreen again, or having a swimmer’s build no matter what I eat or how much I exercise. But the essential stuff? I wouldn’t change a bit.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.
Rami Ungar The Writer 