NEW STORY: Lost Inside a Box Inside a Box Inside a Box
What is it about people disappearing and leaving strange manuscripts behind?
A group of friends finds itself at a loss when their friend, Cooper, sends them a story starring them – about them receiving a story starring them.
The unusual story features mysterious plane tickets, tragedies, strange codes and even – murder. Soon, the oddities seep into the real world in unexpected and horrifying ways.
But what is the real world? Where does the fiction truly end? Is it even fiction?
Where does the point of discontinuity lie?
If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll recognize that this is my take on what is sometimes known to be the Fourth Great Occult Mystery Novel of Japan – Takemoto Kenji’s Paradise Lost Inside a Box. I’ve discussed the novel in more detail here.
When I say ‘my take’ I mostly refer to taking inspiration in the same way Inui Kurumi took for his own homage, Inside a Box. The mechanics of the story are entirely different and there are no spoilers for either of the works. It’s simply an exercise in metafiction.
As for how it turned out… I’m not actually sure! I think as a puzzle plot, everything worked out well enough and should be fairly entertaining, and I think there are enough nuggets of character development there for people to latch onto… But certain sections or explanations might be confusing to wrap one’s head around. We’ll see! I’ve tried to make the explanations as understandable as possible with the diagrams at least…
Hope you enjoy the story!