24 Comments
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Deacon Short's avatar

Love the use of dialogue alone to tell a story. Nice job, John!

Labyrinthia Mythweaver's avatar

This was absolutely fantastic. I felt so immersed in the visuals, which I think is tricky to do with dialogue. Really awesome work.

John Watson - Horror Author's avatar

That’s a relief. Thank you.

Elizabeth Van Alstine's avatar

Fantastic writing loved it

Sehar Insights's avatar

how creative

M.O.Stewart Writes Dark Stuff's avatar

So well done! I’ve always disliked when people say you need to break up dialogue or you can’t just tell a story in this manner, but it’s all there. I can even see him lean forward in his seat at the end. I can imagine the room where they’re talking, because what it looks like doesn’t matter. Great example of paring down and letting the words work.

John Watson - Horror Author's avatar

Thank you. It was a fun little exercise.

The Black Velvet Hour's avatar

This is brilliant🖤Love this John

Cedar Jones's avatar

Damn, this was great. Hell of an intro to your work, sir. I look forward to more.

Gary L Taylor's avatar

Superb stuff. Wonderfully told just through dialogue. The imagery created is fantastic and it's one of those that really pulls you into it.

Original Worlds (Ira Robinson)'s avatar

John, you did such a great job with this one. It's SO difficult to do a dialogue-only story, and you pulled it off beautifully.

Bon C's avatar

Really excellent. Was hooked right away!

Mathew C. Bryant's avatar

Awesome job with the dialogue. Crazy how I could see the memories in my head through that alone. Got a chill with the languages line 🐙

R. Vanzela - Vanzela Darkworks's avatar

The most disturbing element for me wasn’t the creature itself, but the idea of perception being invaded. The tentacles moving through the firefighters instead of attacking them shifts the horror from physical threat to psychological contamination.

Visually, that’s such a compelling concept — smoke as a membrane between realities rather than just atmosphere.

That final line makes it feel like the entity never left.

Charlie Walls's avatar

This is great. Awesome use of the creepy pic. The smoke ghost tentacles are so cool.

Rebecca Poleto's avatar

Smoke octopus that gives you visions? Sounds very lovecraftian. Very cool!