Dislike

by Isaac Thorne

They say it’s difficult to judge a person’s tone based on what they post online. Two social network friends of William Dennison are about to find out for themselves how difficult it can be.


After losing both his marriage and his job in a single day, William takes to a popular social networking site to vent. A few irate posts later, however, it becomes clear to his friends that William’s state of mind is slowly unraveling before their eyes.


Can his online friends stop William’s real life from collapsing before it’s too late?


DISLIKE is a short work of dark social horror from the mind Isaac Thorne, a nice man who simply wants to provide you with a few fun frights. Written in the style of status updates and comment threads on a social network, DISLIKE is an experimental story that attempts to place the reader into the mind of a user who is watching the events unfold onscreen. If you’ve ever posted your intimate thoughts in such a public way, you might think twice about how you phrase things after you read DISLIKE.

ebook

First published January 4, 2014

About the author

Isaac Thorne is a Middle Tennessee man who has, over the course of his life, developed a modest ability to spin a good yarn. Really. He promises.

He considers himself a lover of books, music, movies. His philosophy on his life is that it's all one giant experiment.

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

'When having friends can just be so damn socially awkward!'

A guy has had a really bad day so decides to share all with friends online through a series of text messages on a social media platform. Dangerous times ahead!

I found this cleverly constructed dark little tale to be well paced and extremely engaging, although ultimately rather straight forward and all a little too obvious - was expecting a couple of heavy duty curve balls to be thrown in for good measure, but unfortunately they failed to materialise in all messaging and further lines of communication. Jake and Ian 'Like' this.

Nothing to 'Dislike' here. Rating: 3.6 stars.

[Kristina Gallo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent short story about people who post all personal troubles in a social media.

[Leslie Bacon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that this was a very interesting story. The rapid descent in mood and rational of the main character was disturbingly all to real to life. On the opposite end is the reaction too many people have when they encounter someone who is troubled. **Trying not to spoil the story by mentioned details.** That is, the belief that people's social media rants are ONLY that...rants...harmless, meaningless, stream-of-conscience tirades when the truth may very well be the opposite. How we ignore signs of distress in people we think we know and love. It also illustrates how difficult it is to pull yourself out of darkness once you've stumbled. Very thought-provoking story. Looking forward to the next as I read through Thorne's "Road Kills" book.

[Clare Lune · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh God, this story freaked me out and this is why I am so reticent about Facebook. Just goes to show you, it's really difficult to decipher a person's true intentions just by looking at social media. This story is truly reflective of modern horror, so check it out if you're down for a quick read.

[Donna L. Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed through the whole story.

This was a great story about a man on edge using social media to vent. He starts drinking and gets very verbal about his feelings. As the night goes on he becomes more obnoxious. Even with the dark storyline there was quite a bit of humor. I loved it.

[Iseult Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scarily realistic

Very well told story through status updates.
I loved Jason Berry, who was so clueless.
Unfortunately, I could see this happening. While it had a different end, it did remind me of a status update conversation I experienced with a friend who lived in another country.