4 out of 5

This short story / novella / whatever came with a Thee Contortionists CD, the four tracks on the album named after a planet featured in the story.  Interestingly, I gave the album a lower review, but I have to admit that listening to it after / during reading gives it new shape and makes it a more worthwhile experience.  The Journal is fully available on the band’s myspace page; the version that came with the album is tall envelope sized (like 9″ tall x 5″ wide or something), computer printed on manilla paper in bold black type and has some free bookmarks on the inside front cover that also tie into the tale.  Okay?  Last detail: I feel so lucky to have read this, ’cause it’s one of those completely random doses in the universe (it was sort of a stocking stuffer from Mr. Chad @ Ascerbic Noise Development when I ordered several things from the label), something I would never have known existed, and it’s such a worthwhile, creepy read that I’ve already forced it on two more people.  The world’s a funny place.

So the journal is presented as exactly that – a journal by Mr. Von Tik, no other author mentioned.  There is a mission being planned to the ‘Ascedotropischian System,’ which Philip is documenting, one of five people selected for the mission.  We get a brief intro that what we’re reading was discovered in the empty Voyager ship that left with its passengers 49 years after departure, the ship found at the edge of our solar system.  Like a text version of Blair Witch stuff, yeah?  Platt introduces us to the Ascedotropischian system via a summary of “what we know at this moment” – at the beginning of the voyage – with the main takeaway being that nothing recorded about the system (one main planet and three satellites) is the same upon a second sampling.  Although a larger crew would be desired for exploration, since there’s no way to truly hypothesize what might happen to visitors, the slimmest crew necessary was decided upon.  Each member gets about 1 or 1/2 page of intro from our journalist and some talk as to why they were selected.  Mr. Swanson as captain, since he discovered Ascedotropisch, who chose silent muscle Gunnar Smith as his second, genius engineer Dahila Treisman, responsible for the unique engine which powers the ship, and Catholic Priest Father Mark Prine, chosen as a religious representative.  While the story is mostly without commentary, there’re some interesting details regarding Catholicism and the choice of the Father, as in the time-period of the story, Catholicism is a minor religion, being unable to relegate its beliefs with what sounds like a society advancing scientifically.

Then cue an Event Horizon style story.  As the crew gets closer to the system and planet, their grasp on the world loosens.  But, Platt stuffs so many unique and creepy concepts into the few pages that it gives the idea new life, and I find myself scrabbling through the pages with a true sense of dread, something I haven’t experienced in quite a while.  You sort of know the general direction of things, but he does such a good job of detailing the nature of the planets and yet leaving things unknown (achieved through the way all of the characters just seem to ‘accept’ things for what they are as part of their lunacy) that you approach the next passage with caution.  Ample space (in relation to the size of the story) is given to exploring the effects of the planet, so it is sort of a bummer that the switch from sane to crazy isn’t give some more pages.  Journal entries have dates and everyone is logical, then one passage later, “I have lost track of time.” and there are no dates.  It has a jarring effect, but the discovery phase is always fun in stories of this type, so delaying the switchover to cult-member crazy by one or two entries could’ve upped the creeps even more.

Yeah?  More words here than there are in the story?  Oh well.  Seriously – visit the myspace page.