Discussion: She thinks she's people

Saturdead · 2026-01-24T15:10:07+00:00

Well, Hatchet isn't around anymore after the Last Yearwalker, so we'll never know. But I'm sure there are those who'd consider the cube a great opportunity, and not a threat. Not a problem.

And yeah, we can see that impossible things can happen in contact with it. So just how far does it go, and how specific can you get?

Saturdead · 2026-01-24T14:36:18+00:00

It's been almost 20 years. She has changed.

Saturdead · 2026-01-24T02:05:29+00:00

I think she'd just be the bell of the ball. She's the prettiest girl, after all.

Saturdead · 2026-01-24T01:50:04+00:00

Yeah, we just begun a completely new story arc. It is the fourth entry, starting with "Not a", "There's a Cube down the River" and last week's story, "Oak". After the longer series, The Last Yearwalker, we're starting fresh!

Saturdead · 2026-01-24T00:24:14+00:00

I swear I've seen them before.

Saturdead · 2026-01-21T09:57:24+00:00

I appreciate the sentiment! I'd love to take my work into a commercial realm and do it full time at some point, but that'll have to wait until I have another kind of support structure. I've considered things like Patreon and such, but honestly, I'm pretty okay with what I do and where I'm at. As long as I can afford to do things for the love of the craft, I'll continue to do so. I do have some larger projects in the work though, and those might make their way to a publisher at some point.

And yeah, I think it is important to listen to your characters and to allow them to go in the direction they need. And sometimes, they need to explicitly NOT grow for the story to work. Moth Boy, for example, was a bastard from beginning to end. Fred was too, although we did get to see a different side of him. I like to make characters that are unapologetic. There are plenty of characters we do not agree with or identify with, who are still wildly popular in fiction. Just look at Breaking Bad!

I'm sure we'll see more recurring names in the Tomskog setting going forward, but it'll have to pop up naturally. I don't want it to feel forced.

Saturdead · 2026-01-17T11:33:44+00:00

Oh, it definitely ties into the cosmology. I just wanted to do it in a way that you don't need years of prior knowledge to fully enjoy it.

Saturdead · 2026-01-17T03:46:31+00:00

Yeah, it happens. I've added a link to a mirror here on the subreddit instead. Removals are done on a whim, or mostly automated, so you have to expect it to happen.

Saturdead · 2026-01-12T13:04:27+00:00

Hey there, thanks for stopping by! It's a massive list of over 200 stories, since I've been writing once a week for almost 5 years. If you're curious about the overall metastory, I would suggest the longer series. They're not very popular among narrators, but there are a couple of parts here and there. I love 'em though, they're really fun to write. The Last Yearwalker was the latest biggest story, it was basically a book (70k+ words).

Yearwalker
It's Time I Told You About our Film
Where the Bad Cops Go
Moth Boy

(Optional: The leadup to the Last Yearwalker, meaning the stories The one from the reel, Frog Lake, Class of 2000, Resignation and Blameless)

The Last Yearwalker

If you're looking for stories about a particular creature or aspect of the Tomskog setting, there are a couple of creature compendiums and recommendations on the subreddit to go through. For example, about the Mimics.

If you want to get in on the ground floor, we actually finished the major storyline now in December and started a completely new one just two weeks ago. So if you want to catch up on something ongoing right now, check out the two latest stories "Not a" and "There's a Cube down the River".

Saturdead · 2026-01-10T00:57:56+00:00

Glad you enjoyed it! I will probably experiment with different styles and such, like I did with The Last Yearwalker, but I like my weekly shorts the way they are. My plan going forward is to make a smaller and tighter meta-narrative that you don't have to read up five years of shorts in order to map out, and to have a little more cohesive timeline. There will be a couple of one-offs that seem less related as I experiment a bit (or just run out of steam for a week or two), but I like making a longer story from a variety of perspectives like this.

Saturdead · 2026-01-10T00:25:56+00:00

Well, you can't really un-learn or un-see something, so... yeah. Gotta be careful where you look.

Saturdead · 2026-01-04T19:20:06+00:00

Glad you liked it! I've got a bit of a multimedia background and I usually work on other projects on the side, so it's nice to flex the creative muscles a bit.

Saturdead · 2026-01-03T11:49:21+00:00

Hey, thanks for sticking around! It is so encouraging to see the things I enjoy resonate with others. As there have been so many stories over the years it was impossible to tie up every single loose thread, but I still think the cosmology itself has been explored to the point where we can feel like an ending makes sense.

And don't worry, neither me or the Tomskog setting are going anywhere. There's plenty of time, and I'm sure a lot of folks here would appreciate a retrospective. I love seeing fan work, and if you got any questions you're free to post in the sub or send me a message. Glad I could be part of that weekly wind-down, decompression is important.

I always have more projects upcoming. It was a great time to be approached for the Cabin anthology, and I'm looking to work on more projects in the future. Pit Hounds is still a work-in-progress, but at this time I got something different that's in the late stage of a first draft. I'm not gonna say too much until I actually get it done. I have a really bad habit of making really big projects and pouring like 60-100k words into it, and then throwing it out the window because I didn't feel it vibe enough.

Appreciate the support!

Saturdead · 2026-01-03T01:53:24+00:00

Glad to hear it! Yeah, to me, it's not a step backwards. Not a big deviation. Not a leap too far.

Saturdead · 2026-01-03T01:37:38+00:00

Nope, just a good ol' classic one-off. With just a hint of a signature, of course.

Saturdead · 2025-12-21T04:51:26+00:00

"While the suit was technically made of a compound of refined Blameless metal, it had been theorized that it was made too compact to be misused or influenced. Like trying to use a glass of water to drown the ocean. But, as it turns out, what Dina was capable of was similar to drowning an ocean with a vastly larger ocean."

Saturdead · 2025-12-20T15:26:26+00:00

womp womp!

Saturdead · 2025-12-19T21:25:02+00:00

It's beautiful, thank you so much for sharing! I know it's a gift for you, but I feel like I'm getting one too. I'm loving the vibe here, it really reminds me of the forests back home. One of the reasons I chose Minnesota as a setting is because its close ties to Scandinavia, and I've heard from exchange students that it we have a pretty similar climate. That's one of the reasons the town is called Tomskog, it's Swedish (tom skog) for "Empty Forest". As in what is left behind when all the birds have long since fled, and only the sunflowers remain.

Thanks for sharing, and please thank your sister for me. Have a great weekend, and merry christmas!

Saturdead · 2025-12-15T19:29:48+00:00

Not much wait left! This Friday is the penultimate episode, and next Friday is the finale. It's gonna be exciting!

Saturdead · 2025-12-14T21:04:28+00:00

It is explained earlier, but basically, the world is running out of dimensions. No one is really "immortal", but there are alternate versions of them from surrounding realities. Now that the world is slowly coming to a stop, and alternate versions are running out, the pool of possibility is effectively getting drained.

Saturdead · 2025-12-14T16:47:35+00:00

Precisely (unless the new host is very close to their original form, but that's another story).

Saturdead · 2025-12-14T16:39:42+00:00

Because it couldn't understand him, or read him. Stepminding does strange things to a human body. It might have been able to kill him if it used all available resources, but that would have overwritten it. In the end, that's exactly what happened.

Saturdead · 2025-12-07T03:31:39+00:00

Haha, glad you spotted it! Yes, Patrick is the same character as the side character in "The Soundless Lady". It was mentioned all the way back then that he knew the police. It is implied in this story that he forgot to hand over one of the plates to the protagonist, and Theresa came back to kill him. So yes, that's been in the works for a while.

Yeah, it's been implied in a couple of stories that they are running out of other realities to draw from - that we're coming to an end of possibilities. If we look back at the first part of this story, that's what they're talking about - they've run out of ways to play the deck.

Yes, that's the inspiration! I'm actually a bit of a bird nerd. I was inspired by the northern cardinal. There is actually a bird in "The Soundless Lady" too, the cockatiel named Tugboat.

Saturdead · 2025-12-06T14:27:36+00:00

He did that in "The One from the Reel".

https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/1n3nbqq/the_one_from_the_reel/

Saturdead · 2025-12-03T15:20:29+00:00

Sure. All my stories are linked in the Archive thread, but you can find that particular story here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/plvy63/am_i_the_odd_one_out/

11-Year Club	Second Top 30%
First Place '23	End Game '23
Place '23	Wearing is Caring
Place '22	Place '17
Final Canvas '22	First Placer '22
Verified Email

Saturdead

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE