.png){kind=logo}
For many of the white-collar professionals among us, the message notification sound from Slack, the Discord-before-there-was-a-Discord work-chat platform, is a source of stomach-churning dread. A fun little book called Several People Are Typing takes this feeling up a notch, with body possession, creepypasta Excel files, a missing persons case, and an avalanche of emojis.
Deadlines and dead colleagues
Where WFH meets WTF—reads the blurb for Calvin Kasulke's debut novel, or it would perhaps be more precise to call it his introductory collection of chat logs for the literary world. "Several people are typing", for the uninitiated, is the indicator that shows on the bottom of your screen when exactly that is happening, rather than an individual person writing out a response. The book takes all the trappings of the cutesy corporate communication style of the extended Slackiverse and uses them to tell the oddest of stories.
It's as absurdist as it gets, and if the premise had you hooked, you will likely stick around for the entire duration of this short read off the back of the humor. But the horror aspect slowly creeps up on you, and it turns out that the setup works really well for it. The characters are all isolated, after all, especially with work-from-home arrangements becoming more and more common, and the separate conversations across different chat rooms and DMs make for a great environment for people who have something to hide.
Something like the fact that their body has been taken over by a malevolent chatbot.
:wave: hello hello hello
Kasulke started writing the book in 2019, and he wrapped up the work in 2021, by the time the most turbulent part of the pandemic was behind us. In an interview with NPR the same year, he expressed worries that Slack and its platform-specific idiosyncrasies would fall out of the zeitgeist, and that the book would "age like yogurt," as he put it. He needn't have worried: The otherworldly elements of the story make it timeless enough to begin with (so the absence of pandemic discussion doesn't feel like a plothole in any way),
Not only was that not the case, but the way he uses the short and snappy chat messages to convey his characters is becoming worryingly timeless. From capitalization and grammar (or lack thereof) to emoji usage and non-sequitur inserts, it's a fascinating example of the "show, don't tell" principle in action.
It also helps that this is a very funny book even beyond its wacky setup, though there's no doubt the blurb will self-select a group of readers who would knowingly groan at all the usual trappings of the non-stop work chat experience. Thankfully, not even the world's worst deadlines and meetings can go toe-to-toe with "so I was reading this fucking memo when I realized I didn't have flesh," even if it may feel like it sometimes.
Kasulke also takes care to offer more than just the endearingly nonsensical horror side of the story, with the PR firm's problematic project work offering a fun sideplot in the vein of The Office or Fawlty Towers. It doesn't strike the same sort of balance as Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell does with the juxtaposition of the "normal" and the otherworldly aspect, but its more compartmentalized solution also works here.
Several People Are Typing is a breezy read at 245 pages' worth of chat logs, and a truly one-of-a-kind experience. It deserves the highest of possible accolades: four :hearteyes: and a :partyparrot: out of @here. Just be sure to ignore all the howling.
The post This weird and wonderful book turns Slack chat into literal horror appeared first on Destructoid.
Stay tuned thanks for visiting
0 Comments