My mind is changed forever. I am not who I was before.

There Is No Antimemetics Division, by QNTM, is a book my wife (notoriously slow reader) finished in a day and a half, set down, and told me that I had to read immediately. I now understand why; it’s nearly impossible to discuss this book with someone who hasn’t read it. Even if you’re okay with spoilers, I don’t think there’s any way to capture the feeling of going on this ride. Allow me to try anyway.

The premise is wild: There exist creatures and objects with properties that make you remember and/or make you forget, and some of those entities are malignant. Some are not. This book is about a small group of people who professionally find, study, categorize, and contain these entities.

But, see, it’s the way the premise is executed that really makes this story shine. QNTM crafts and meters a narrative voice that is as haunting as it is compelling. Reading this book, I felt a growing sense that there was some important thing I was forgetting, some clue I couldn’t quite see that would help me understand the shape of the threat. I think it’s in the way he throws a bunch of information at the reader, all of which is significant, that creates the feeling of forgetting. You know there’s a detail you should have, but you can’t recall everything, and when the pieces of the plot start to slot into place the details come roaring back to you.

Combine that with the slippery narrative voice of a story where every character is unreliable (anti-memory properties!) and you get a viscerally compelling reading experience. You are an echo of the cast in a way—forgetting, remembering, trying to hold the shape of this thing in your mind.

It would be easy—and typical of the genre—for the story to shortchange its characters in favor of this Very Cool Idea, but it doesn’t. Although the narrative voice stays relatively matter-of-fact, it illuminates the inner life of our deeply human protagonist as she squares up against incomprehensible danger. She is forced to make choices in service of her goal, some that she won’t remember, that have real and bitter consequences. QNTM’s ability to pick the right moment to narrow the story down to one person’s life, one person’s tragedies and triumphs, is impressive and it makes the broader story work.

From the very first chapter, the story is twisty—folding in and over itself, inverting perspectives to surprise you and show you something new. The perspective ranges freely between third-person omniscient and third-person limited, with no real marker for when it’s changing. While this works well to deliver the twists and turns at the core of the narrative, it can also trip the reader up at the wrong moment, creating ambiguity or breaking the flow in places that don’t seem intentional. These slip-ups are minor, but they do stand out in a book that otherwise wastes no moment or detail.

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

Gerald unwittingly gets himself trapped in his office's Slack messenger system and chaos ensues. Disbelieving co-workers, poisoned pomeranians, office drama, paranoid management, and an unceasing howling, all told through Slack messages. I had an unreasonably fun time with this one. (248 pages)

There is No Anti-Memetics Division by qntm

If Eva Stratt and Harmony Cobel had a lovechild who grew up to run an SCP facility, this is what you'd get. I don't think I can explain it better than that. (209 pages)

The Employees by Olga Ravn

This is a strange little translated sci-fi novella following the mixed human and synthetic crew of a slowship after they collect some strange objects from an alien planet and slowly become obsessed with them. Told entirely in witness statements from unnamed crewmates as they each start to ruminate on the objects, life, death, or what it means to be a person, and synthetic and organic lines start to crack and blur. So strange but so good. (136 pages)

Sky Daddy by Kate Folk

OK so this one is a little bit more of a stretch but I think it still works. Linda works as a content moderator on a video sharing platform and she has a secret. When her coworker Karina invites her to brunch with the girls to do vision boards, Linda takes her first step towards manifesting her ultimate dream - finally "marrying" one of her aeroplane lovers by dying inside of it via fiery plane crash. Surprisingly tender weird girl litfic, I genuinely cared about Linda and her goals so much by the end. One of my favourites of last year. (352 pages)

Finna by Nino Cipri

An OAP accidentally slips into another dimension while browsing in IKEA and it's down to two minimum wage retail workers to go save her, which would be considerably less tricky if said workers hadn't broken up a week ago. Short, sweet, and pretty silly dimension hopping while attempting to navigate friendship after love. (144 pages)

Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman

The scope of this list is specific references to written works. Years listed should be original publication years. I'll add to this as I confirm more references. Some of Tom's videos have affiliate links. You may prefer to use those links instead of the links here!

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LILY, THE IMMORTAL by Kylie Lee Baker (2022)

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ACCELERANDO by Charles Stross (2010)

EVERYONE IN SILICO by Jim Munroe (2002) (also mentioned here)

BIT PLAYERS by Greg Egan (2014) (also mentioned in his newsletter)

LENA by qntm (2021)

THE AGE OF EM by Robin Hanson (2016)

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PERMUTATION CITY by Greg Egan (1994)

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NEW POMPEII by Daniel Godfrey (2016) (from #129)

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RECURSION by Blake Crouch (2019)

THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE by Douglas Adams (1980)

DICHRONAUTS by Greg Egan (2017)

CRYSTAL NIGHTS by Greg Egan (2008)

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THE SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS by Micaiah Johnson (2021) (also mentioned in his newsletter)

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SNOW CRASH by Neal Stephenson (1992)

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THE CITY AND THE CITY by China Miéville (2009)

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POSTSINGULAR by Rudy Rucker (2007)

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THE DEMOLISHED MAN by Alfred Bester (1952) (also mentioned here)

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THE FIRST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUST by Claire North (2014)

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"Skylar, everything I did.. I need you to understand.."

"If I have to hear one more time that you did this for the family-"

"I did it for me.

I liked it. And I was good at it. And I was.. really.. I was alive."

Breaking Bad

“I keep on asking myself the same questions over and over again,” she said. “Maybe you can answer. Was it worth it?“

I stared down at my hand. It was shaking, but it wasn’t from fear.

“Would you do it all over again? Knowing what you know now? Knowing that you end up here?"

“I… know I’m supposed to say yes,” the words made their way past my lips. “But no. Some-somewhere along the way, it became no.”

Worm

"So you believed the lie because you wanted to," Rachel surmises. "You wanted to believe you were special."

"I..." - Laura watches her language, then thinks again - "fucking am."