Synopsis
Four friends unearth a unique VHS tape that, when viewed, causes short-distance teleportation with euphoric after-effects, inadvertently launching a perilous trend.
As copies of the original tape are made, the results become less predictable and ultimately gruesome due to analog generational decay. Despite the danger, some will risk everything for just one more trip.
Review
A huge thank you to the publisher for the eARC!
It’s no secret that Shortwave Publishing’s Killer VHS Series is a romping good time. Most recently, Brian McAuley’s Candy Cain Kills took readers on a bloody, wild holiday-themed hell of a ride. Installment number three, Teleportasm by Joshua Millican, serves as another homerun in the series for a multitude of reasons. The premise is simple: some stoner friends get their hands on a VHS tape that causes seemingly brief instances of teleportation. While this seems very cool by itself, teleporters also experience some wicked highs, keeping this from being a “one and done” experience. Things begin to spin out of control rather quickly as copies of the tape multiply, their reach impossible to fathom.
Teleportasm introduces a very entertaining premise that could spin out into multiple levels of horror based on the idea of teleportation gone wrong. While I’m no physicist, messing with the mechanics of such a practice seems to be teeming with possibilities for injury, misstep, and bodily harm. A butterfly flaps its wings and all that, right? While Millican focuses his first few chapters on the gory details of teleportation flying off the rails, that’s not all this novella has to offer.
Within the span of under two hundred pages, we are presented with an in-depth analysis of all the things that can go wrong with teleportation. There’s a great sense of dramatic irony built with each new chapter as unsuspecting characters get their hands on this tape leading to the most unfortunate of outcomes. This is where Millican writes the best examples of gory, gross-out, “I need to take a break after that chapter,” body horror. From amputations to fusions, gore runs amuck in these pages and while still being incredibly gross, it is so incredibly fun.
Most impressively of all, Millican doesn’t stop there. The ramifications for the existence of this tape aren’t limited to everyday folks, and this story ventures out into the greater logistics of the creation of the tape. There are multiple, impressive layers to this novella in which ideas of conspiracy, addiction, and power are brought to light. Who made the original tape and why? How was such a thing placed on a VHS tape to begin with and what are the consequences of so much freaking teleportation? Will space-time ever recover?? Very quickly, Teleportasm spins out into government-conspiracy-come-to-life territory that is full of surprises and twists. This novel functions just fine as a freakish, gory tale detailing the various dangers of messing with things you shouldn’t, but this wider view of conspiracy takes things to an entirely different level.
Another wildly entertaining installment to the Killer VHS Series, Teleportasm is so much damn fun. Oozing with nastiness and creative scenes of body horror, the practice of teleportation comes with a plethora of side effects, some too disastrous to even begin to fathom. If you’re looking for a read that’s equally entertaining and horrific, you MUST pick up one of Shortwave’s Killer VHS books, specifically Teleportasm.
Teleportasm by Joshua Millican releases on June 25th from Shortwave.
Thank you Anna Dupre for your thoughtful review! I’m so glad my goopy/gory creation resonated with you!