I’m happy to hear you are interested by my most heinous fic :) 

Certain things are left to the reader’s imagination on purpose. I can tell you that she’s a prisoner of war, but how she got there is up to you. She could have been in the military or could have been a civilian. I like to imagine she was at home when her village got wiped and they thought she was a spy so they took her to prison. Or maybe Levi just likes keeping girls, and the spy thing is an excuse to rape them under the guise of information-seeking. Gotta protect your funding somehow. 

I was thinking the other day how it might have been interesting to include something about language barriers, because her and Levi are from different countries. I think she would have had to learn his language, fast. Or it could be that he conveniently speaks her language. Again idk, up to the reader. 

When it comes to her training, yeah, he broke her down pretty quickly. He was practiced at that point. Maybe she resisted him for a bit longer than the others, and maybe that intrigued him enough to keep her as his personal pet. Maybe she’s the best at shining his shoes, tonguing the floor. Maybe she’s the most “flexible”. Maybe she’s the favorite for now, and when another, more interesting girl comes along, he’ll toss her to the side. Maybe she’ll work to please him enough that he decides to keep her for good.

Either way, she’ll be the dog of the prison forever. 

I mentioned this in one of my previous replies, but she ain’t getting out unless her country breaks her out. And her country is for sure losing the war. 

Also, fun fact and this could totally get me cancelled - Glossolalia was inspired by real, legit torture practices used on POWs (some of them by the US). They walked them around like dogs, stuffed them into cages, sprayed them with high-powered water, anally raped them, etc. 

so first things first

a lot of people have recommended ethel cain to me since i started my horror series. my series focuses on televangelism and charismatic christianity, two things i, like ethel, have grown up with and was surrounded by constantly. we have a lot of things in common (including being from the feral state of florida) and i love that.

ethel's world reminds me of my grandmothers. at least, parts of them. my grandma on my dad's side was catholic, but still had a lot of christian imagery and old 80s/70s fixtures in her house down in south florida. my grandma on my mom's side is an avid lover of jimmy swaggart and rodney brown. ethel cain's work reminds me of both of these worlds combined. instead of 90s reruns of my little pony playing on the tv down in south florida, i see swaggart and copeland.

that's just me crossing my memories the wrong way.

grandma #2 used to be a live-in caretaker. the televangelists went with her. when i visited, they were on a new screen-- a 25 inch flat one, that is. there's an air of comfort, littered with hypocrisy and damnation that follows these men. i think ethel captures that beautifully. it's paternal and oddly nostalgic, and i connect with it.

that's why i find it so intriguing to examine how my artistic expressions of televangelism and charismatic christianity differ from hers.

i like to explore heresy and scandal when it comes to televangelism. there's no denying that there's power behind these men, but they are also terribly cocky. but i am, somewhat helplessly, enamoured by their potent charisma. i grew up in a world that saw more of revival, of yelling, and shouting, and miracles. i grew up on the weird side, with conspiracy theories and tracts chock full of disturbing imagery. that's why i ended up falling in love with analog horror-- because that's what televangelism is to me-- almost liminal, always glamorous, sometimes sinister, and rarely quiet. i don't talk about the quiet ones that much, haha

so yea, i just wanted to share

"THE POOR WAYFARING STRANGER" by Connecticut artist Kristin Hayter through her project Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter, off her 2023 album SAVED!