holohaus-9

the future of serial fiction.

holohaus returns with six works from the futures to the seconds in the present, between apocalypses and the unreal.

Moonlight Cantata /  renko chazakiël rodenburg

supernatural, urban fantasy, experimentation, dolls, high school, amsterdam, magical, changelings,

>>synopsis:

self-consciously normal Dutch teenager Marieken discovers she (like her idol Maria Mithras) is a changeling - one of the non-human “Periphery Demographics” that have reappeared since the return of magic, powered by belief, to a world that medicates, instrumentalizes, surveils, and eventually wants to drive them back out of existence

>>chapter 02

Marieken makes her way to the grouphome meeting new roomates and soon recieves her first assignment to counter so-called Nightmare Erosions. Partnered with Hiro. she faces the reality of fighting these creatures, and soon a latent power within her begins to awaken.

Swords Under the Phosphor Sky / Nekosattva

teen soldiers, influencers, internet culture, satire, near future, Eastern Europe, Zone, literary, modernism

>>synopsis:

yelena wanders the zone populated by paramilitaries, influencers and the children of napalm and static breeding across the desert until even its sands dye into the blue-light glimpsed before artillery fire

>>chapter 08

Natalia wanders the wastelands once familiar to her now reduced to debris, and her, an inhabitant of this ruin, much like many within the zone that gesture towards someone outside of it all.

Mercenary Planet / Gabriel Wainio Theberge / Escher McDonell

military sf, first contact, speculative science, space exploration, leftist, butch transfem protagonist, black transfem love interest, social realism, messy relationships, strategy, complex factions, very weird aliens, lesbian space atrocities, rationalfic, dark hopepunk, bittersweet

>>synopsis:

clinging to a single desperate prayer, leona meets halation, a visitor from that supposed better world once held remote by the thousands of atrocities that littered the earth, and draws war and peace towards a collision spanning the galaxy.

>>entry 09 / Responsibility & Retribution (The Soldiers' Road 4)

stranded on the surface of Towers, Leona grapples with the escalating complexity of a conflict involving alien air support, ethnic rivalries and conflicting historical accounts

Scarred Zeruel / vape escapist

abstract, experimental, modernism, cyber-surrealism, dreampunk, reality ambiguity, multiple storylines, smart drugs, wetware, magitech, speculative religion, unfamiliar terminology



>>synopsis:

several inhabitants in this digital, how could our affections still travel between the thousand strands of data between us

>>violation 09: SHADOWS FLEET AWAY (ε / Σ)

Morgan wanders Ino’s Veil among cursed and frostbitten exiles, including Phassa; Lesia finds a message from Hexa in the Braided Swim, as Acheron awakens and the fabric of the Cosmere frays

Psychogramma / caraparcel

cyberpunk, vaporwave, dreampunk, virtual reality, detective, gunfights, episodic, conspiracy, internet culture, urban legends, cyber-spirituality, anime influence, atmospheric prose, urban, firearms

>>synopsis:

users wander the infinite plazas within their internal os. foxtel, one such user, darts between each of these old worlds distinegrating in electric signals, one bullet at a time.

>>protocol 04.2

crime boss goldman sends foxtel into a new america server to retrieve a stolen car from exxxon serpico. the conspiracy of the number sequence continues in the midst of executive dealings, while someone approaches the door, revolver in hand

It's a Good Thing the Dark Lord is a Shut-in! / baroquespiral

light novel, hikkikomori protagonist, mental illness, psychological realism, OCD, internal monologue, modern fantasy world, low realism, cringe comedy, multiple storylines, worldbuilding, conspiracy, speculative religion, otaku culture, internet culture

>>synopsis:

Luskonneg remains dormant by a curse and a conspiracy. social peril, online conflicts and miniscule destructions litter the interior of the small Pandora’s box of his life, a hidden cornerstone on which stands an unstable world.

>>failure 09 / Static Build-Up

plots and investigations begin to converge: Marzanna and Mark’eg arrange to raise and destroy Luskonneg’s hopes with the unwitting involvement of a third party, but the threat of Dark agents may be closer than it appears

Down by the River to Pray / Amara Reyes

solarpunk, interplanetary civilization, alternate history, space habitat, artificial ecosystem, human speciation, speculative religion, speculative gender, uplifted animals, bureaucracy, noblebright, dialogue heavy, experimental dialogue

>>synopsis:

an emissary vessel from the See of Delphi, learned lawyers and messengers of the Sun, descend to the garden habitat of Savannah to uncover the nature of a mysterious project that might change the very key of the song of humanity.

>>Record 09 / of the last days spent in the city Quay before a further flight 

Emelry learns of the harsh justice of Quay and travels along the length of Savannah to the other tengmunnin settlement, Quarry