Hey, LMNO...

[Cainad (dec.)]

I finally crawled my way out of the hive, that awful place full of the tube-mouths. I spit out the pills because they were making me feel all funny on the inside, and not the ha-ha funny. The spiders took them back, of course, and apologized for what was clearly a mistake. I must have been taking the wrong kind of pills; see, everyone is different and a unique snowflake and in our modern world there's a formula to make everyone Happy™.

But I don't want any pills, I said. They're so considerate, the spiders are. Even though I'm not Happy™ and clearly broken in some subtle way, they let me into college where I learn how to find my way into the softer, cushier webs. It's okay if I don't indulge in the joys of the glowing box now, they say. Study hard and soon I'll be in a web so warm and cushy that I won't even notice when those kindly spiders put a high-definition glowing box in front of me with surround sound. They're so nice, the spiders are, giving me all these wonderful options to make my way into the softer webs and providing idle amusements for me on the way. The pills are just a doctor visit away if I ever want them, and I probably will. What's the point of the web if you haven't got the means to be Happy™ and comfortable while you're in them?

Even if I don't really want Happy™, the spiders have something else that's sure to satisfy my wants (they think of everything, the spiders do). They don't sell it in pills, but I can have Bitter™, Misanthropic™, and Angry™ for cheaper than dirt if I really want to try it. It's distilled from the screams of cranky old farts (though how exactly it's gotten out of them they won't tell me) and it's for youngsters who want to feel more mature and fit in with people who've been in the web for a while.

But I have a question for you, my wise elders. What's it like in the web, and how high should I try to climb before giving up and falling into a coarser grade of web than the spiders told me I should strive for? And between you and me... what pills do I take to deal with the fact that I hate spiders?

[AFK]

...and when I entered the ninety-five on-ramp, I once again re-entered the world of nine to five.  Another weekend behind and another week ahead.  As I merge into the stream of traffic I bear witness to others making the same routine journey.  All wearing the mundane mask of Monday.  Mouths, slightly agape in a wandering stupor.  Heading to jobs that perhaps were not bred from youthful wonder.  But they put the wonderbread on the table.  And at this time this is what we all must live with.  We are where we are and The Machine and The System have seemingly trapped us here.  Mobility is limited thanks to the bankers and the mortgage brokers.  We are boxed into our lanes.  All of them slow.  All of them leading to.....where? 

[Triple Zero]

                      .                                                   
                                                                          .

           .                                                               
    .      :                                                              .
    :      :          .                                                   :
    :      :          :                                                   :
    :      :          :                                                   :
    :      :          :                                                   :
    :      :          :                                                   :
    :      :          Stuck in sticky strands of static high-pitched bleeps
    :      unfeeling of forgotten freezing thoughts I'm watching the Teevee
    :       where way back along the web the Spider waits while watching me
    kept caught curled-up against the cold and :fap:fap:fapping me to sleep.
                                               :   :   :
                                               :   :   :
                                               :   :   :
                                               :   :   .
                                               .   :   
                                                   .   
                                               

                                               .                                               

[Cramulus]

I lament for the tricksters
who have lost their spider god

I lament for the spider god
who has lost the tricksters

the spider is the original trickster, the guardian and guide, the kinky storyteller who spins the world to-be


the web is everywhere, it's everything, it connects you and I and the you-to-be.


You cannot be, you can only become
and we became poison
and the spider spun us up and drank our vitality
    (as she is wont to do)

                          and thus the spider was poisoned


we poisoned her,
           you and I

           & now the web is twisted

the spider needs that poison, she's hooked on it,




   on the worst parts of us


we have to keep making the poison for her, she needs it now

we're brewing it in our guts,
   in our gas tanks
   drip by drop
   in every road rage
   every 401K
   each cup of black coffee to get throught the day



the spider-to-be is becoming for us

[LMNO]

This thread has gotten really weird.  Cut it out, you're making the spiders nervous.

[Cainad (dec.)]

This thread has gotten really weird.  Cut it out, you're making the spiders nervous.

If by weird you mean TOTALLY WIN


As I said, I hate spiders, so this spider imagery is really striking a chord for me.

[Cramulus]

btw - to Pariah for compiling these into a sexy PDF

the thing reads real smooth, and is much easier to digest than reading it in-thread. Nice choices on graphics, too.



some (hopefully helpful) notes on layout/design----

what are you using to lay this out?


In a lot of cases, the text is center-aligned. I think it'd look better if it was justified, but with narrower margins --- so it hangs in the middle of the page in a nice rectangle.

Page 3, the text at the bottom ("Whoops, gotta go") overlaps the treebranch a little bit. You can still read it, so it's not a big deal.

Page 4, the alignment is wonky. Would look better with a consistent left margin. You go from left-aligned to centered, back to left aligned. Paragraph breaks are in kind of weird spots.

Page 6, the left side of the hamburger doesn't sprint. And a consistent right margin would make the page look cleaner. If you can, try contouring the text box around the burger? not sure what program you're using, but this isn't hard with scribus.

Page 7, Richter's name (bottom left) gets cut off by the printer

Page 9: a few letters on the right side of the page get cut off by the printer. Bring in the margin by 1/4th inch and it'll be fine.

second to last page (begins with "There was a day...") - the printer cut off a few letters that are sitting on the left margin.


The pieces sort of flow together nicely, and it's clear that every page is its own piece - but since they don't have titles, they could use a little distinguishment. I like what you did on page 4 with the big capital T, perhaps more like that?

[Jenne]

If I wasn't in the pit of hell known as work, I'd write one from the spider's pov.

[LMNO]

I'd like to see that.

[Jenne]

Me too...I just don't have to time atm.  Meh, this sucks.

[Payne]

Yes, I want to add to this as well. As long as I don't start my own thread for it, it won't get shat on 

[Richter]

This whole thing reads like "The King in Yellow".  

[The Good Reverend Roger]

My daughter and I spent some time on galleys, and she has hit the nail on the head for the imagery.

[Corvidia]

My memory is kind of fuzzy. What did I do yesterday? Or last week? I can't really remember. I think it's the pills the spider gives me, but I'm not sure. I don't really want to stop taking them, so does it matter anyway? I suppose I can live with a bad memory if it means I can be happy and warm for the moment.
But sometimes, sometimes when I miss a dose, the world snaps into sharp focus and I know what I've been doing with my life and I see all time time I've wasted in front of glowing screens. I hear the cold wind that blows through the web and the glowing box snows. I can't bear the chill and I can't bear the now loud, harsh hissing of the glowing box. I scramble for my pills, frantically popping open the lid with my thumb as I grab it.

And then, later, before the pills kick in, the spiders come to visit me. There, there, they say while I shake in the aftermath of something I'm beginning to forget. Just remember to take them on time, ok?

[Pariah]

btw - to Pariah for compiling these into a sexy PDF

the thing reads real smooth, and is much easier to digest than reading it in-thread. Nice choices on graphics, too.



some (hopefully helpful) notes on layout/design----

what are you using to lay this out?


In a lot of cases, the text is center-aligned. I think it'd look better if it was justified, but with narrower margins --- so it hangs in the middle of the page in a nice rectangle.

Page 3, the text at the bottom ("Whoops, gotta go") overlaps the treebranch a little bit. You can still read it, so it's not a big deal.

Page 4, the alignment is wonky. Would look better with a consistent left margin. You go from left-aligned to centered, back to left aligned. Paragraph breaks are in kind of weird spots.

Page 6, the left side of the hamburger doesn't sprint. And a consistent right margin would make the page look cleaner. If you can, try contouring the text box around the burger? not sure what program you're using, but this isn't hard with scribus.

Page 7, Richter's name (bottom left) gets cut off by the printer

Page 9: a few letters on the right side of the page get cut off by the printer. Bring in the margin by 1/4th inch and it'll be fine.

second to last page (begins with "There was a day...") - the printer cut off a few letters that are sitting on the left margin.


The pieces sort of flow together nicely, and it's clear that every page is its own piece - but since they don't have titles, they could use a little distinguishment. I like what you did on page 4 with the big capital T, perhaps more like that?

Thanks for the tips.
I was a little caught up in how well it looked in the program I'm using (Btw It's pages. Actually pretty nice) I kind of forgot to think what a printed version would look like.
I'll fix all that stuff the next version (I'll give it maybe a few days for possible entries)