left on read

by G.C. McKay

Love in the age of screenshots, nudes and getting ghosted

Whether you're doomscrolling at midnight, checking out who viewed your story (for 56th time in an hour) or wondering why someone opened your message but never replied, the stories inside left on read will make you feel seen in ways that are comforting, deeply unsettling and sometimes, outright traumatising.

Because deep down, you know this isn't really fiction.

"McKay's senses are finely tuned to modern social dynamics... everyone appears caught in the digital maelstrom from which there is no escape." — James Flynn, author

left on read is a collection that captures exactly how it feels to be human in 2025:
desperate for connection, addicted to validation, and slowly losing yourself one notification at a time.

g.c. mckay has written the stories you're currently living.

We've got...

an OnlyFans girl with Belle Delphine pipe dreams
a personal confession a la the 'I've never had a girlfriend' YouTube craze
facetiming revenge plots
the etymology of 'sauce'
instagram poetry
a #NoFap hub addict with a parasocial obsession
and a story plucked out of a self-deleting, online cult

all sealed with a salacious kiss from Lana Del Rey
and a little je ne sais quoi

We've all been left on read, and these painful, hilarious and horrifying stories will show you exactly why it cuts so deep.

“Something else I find worth mentioning, is how this book manages to serve as a social critique in the most beautiful way possible. As I said earlier, the author can navigate grotesque and difficult topics with a kind of beauty that’s hard to achieve.” — Goodreads reviewer

Perfect for readers who loved:

Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte (for the brutal digital-age humour
any book considered a dating red flag
and any Black Mirror episode that made you delete an app


Warning: Contains explicit content of all varieties (mostly in the bedroom), psychological manipulation and uncomfortable truths about modern loneliness. For mature readers only.

"There's a lot that's challenging and heartbreaking, but all of it is beautiful... left on read highlights what is currently true in our society." — Lauren Sapala, author

Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2025

About the author

https://gcmckay.com
youtube.com/gcmckay

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure, before starting this book I had no idea what “Left On Read” meant, it doesn’t even feel like proper English innit, so off to the google machine I did go and to prepare you for reading this book, this is what I found – It’s that feeling of when you know somebody has read your message but hasn’t bothered to respond, it’s an expression of being ignored.


I have read mckay’s previous book Heather so I knew what I was about to read had the potential to traumatise me on multiple levels, I also knew it was gonna contain some bloody good writing. It doesn’t disappoint, I write this review whilst rocking back n forth down at the bottom of the garden (with the poddington peas) and there wasn’t a dull moment in the book.


The subject matter is eye opening, I have experienced things that I new nothing about, the scenes are very graphic, the thoughts going on inside the character’s head are real eye openers and once I had started a story I couldn’t put it down until I had reached the end. First thought was always eeewww (all eggcups have now been binned), but after a couple of stories I began to see a theme. These characters may have been nasty but their loneliness jumps out at you, from sat behind a computer craving contact or recognition to reminiscing about lost chances to have physical contact with another human or just watching someone from afar, I couldn’t help but see a pattern, each of these characters were trapped seeing the world through social media. In a roundabout way this book is trying to raise awareness to the damage caused by having access to a virtual existence and that we are losing our grip on reality. Yes the content of the book is grim but that is the only way to grab the reader’s attention and that is why, for me, this book works so well.

I had one little issue and that is with the opening story, I couldn’t really get what was going on half the time, I think I got it at the end, it’s probably the weakest in the collection and not the best one for opening with, swapping it with the second story would have helped this reader settle in.

Excuse all the gifs in this review, the author demands heavy use of gifs in reviews.


So the big question is this…”Is this the book to buy yer Gran for her birthday?” Yep, for sure!

Blog review (including gifs): https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2025...

[Chanel Chapters]

My autistic brain fixated on the Malteasers

[James Flynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always Wash Your Eggcups

After having familiarized myself with G.C.McKay’s work for a while now, I have come to view him as a social commentator. His senses seem to be finely tuned to the social dynamics of modern society, with special emphasis on the detrimental effects that social media is having on it.

The title of this book is left on read. To the best of my knowledge, this refers to the phenomenon of someone reading an online message, and then not bothering to reply, essentially ignoring the sender. I don’t think that the characters in this book are ignored, but they are certainly traumatized—mainly due to the internet. From manipulated OnlyFans girls to Instagram poets, everyone in this book appears to be caught in the all-encompassing digital maelstrom from which there is no escape.

My favourite story in the collection is probably Tribute, which highlights the dangers and perils of making a sex video in an age where a digital file can spread faster than a virus. This particular story, by far the longest in the collection, actually manages to shine a spotlight on a multitude of modern dilemmas within its pages, such as teenage obsession, delusion, dataism, and—without spoiling the story too much—the fatality of the internet.

The strength of these stories doesn’t lie in fast-paced action scenes or clever plot twists, it instead lies in their ability to reflect the decay of the modern social media age, all guided along by the acute observations McKay embellishes them with. Another example of this is I’m _ Years Old And I’ve Never Had A Girlfriend. Using a simple storyline involving a young man getting stood up on a date, the author somehow manages to touch upon a cornucopia of subjects, including inceldom, the perils of online dating, and the permanence/impermanence of online data.

Indeed, the author’s saturating prose seeps out from every page of this book, and it is sometimes as dizzying as it is insightful. What with the endless quips and interactional insights, along with the wide array of internet slang that’s used, I sometimes found myself unable to keep up and therefore questioning my own intellect.

I read most of this book on my smartphone. I usually avoid doing this for obvious reasons, but with this book it felt rather fitting. The formatting is quirky, and whether you decide to read it on a smartphone or not, the experience will probably feel akin to doing so. There are text message fonts and internet symbolism throughout, giving the book an artsy feel, and with this in mind I think left on read would appeal to anyone who enjoys reading Douglas Coupland.

All in all, it was quite an adventure. Due to the edgy nature of the subject matter, I’m sure that McKay will experience some kind of backlash from certain hostile sections of society, and he will undoubtedly get accused of being a ….. (insert derogatory name here). There is, however, one thing that nobody could ever accuse him of: not being relevant.

[Paula Deckard · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can detect the G.C.esque style and tone from miles away. And I mean this on a positive note. Not many writers take the time anymore to slow down and dissect a character's environment and thoughts while they're taking a piss.

The way McKay depicts psychological fragmentation in "Left on Read" reminds me of Joan Didion's "Play It as It Lays," except there is undoubtedly more hot "sauce" to burn the numbness, as well as more sweet and bitter "aftertastes" to send warning signals to the brain. As deluded humans in this generation, we crave this sensation to feel alive as readers.

McKay also delivers an incisive analysis of the digital age and the culture of content consumption. The internet has finally absorbed a whole new generation. Social decay has been going on for centuries, but in this day and age, social media is the culprit for all kinds of polarisation.

"...internet...all-cum-consuming cesspit."

The protagonist of each story has a tunnel vision of some sort that portrays their distorted perception of reality and disjointed awareness of their self. Paranoia, anxiety, FOMO—the obsession with observing through the lens keeps the protagonist in question in their shell of safety and normalcy. However, as soon as the lens is gone, the reality seems too much to digest, and they freeze.

My favourite story? It's hard to say. There was something cinematic and eerie about "Aftertaste." (Had it been a short movie, I probably wouldn't have liked it.) "Chameleon" could be a lost chapter from "Fubar." "Sauce" was traumatising. "Bus Catching" was romantic. "Tribute" had me picture Christina Ricci throughout the read.

What I love most is how G.C. McKay tells stories. His compelling art of articulation combined with storytelling brings a whole new meaning to (transgressive) fiction. Due to this book's relevance, I recommend all "Heather"-haters to give this a shot before jumping to a conclusion. What are you closing your eyes to?

[Lauren Sapala · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was a lot in this collection that triggered me to recoil, but all of it, whether I wanted to recoil or not, was beautiful. In fact, that’s what I kept coming back to over and over again when I tried to get a grasp on how I actually felt about this book. Beauty. There is a lot in it that is challenging, and even more that is heartbreaking, but all of it is beautiful.

I had this kind of reaction to Left on Read, I think, because so much of it highlights what is currently true in our society. Most people today feel ambivalent at best about how the internet has affected humanity and where we’re going from here, but in this collection, I found myself confronted with more than logical ruminations on how technology has changed the way humans interact with each other. I was shown how we ourselves are changing, from human into…something else. Something less than human. That’s what I was left with when I finished reading, the realization that the internet hasn’t added as much to the human race as it’s stolen from us.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

"...It is the secrets of a family that bring about their dysfunction...every unspoken and therefore phantomised truth that floats about between the walls of their home, will lay the foundations of each trauma, mental illness, and episodic psychosis in their possession...The same secrets that break a family apart are the exact same ones that keep them together."

"I guess that makes me wonder that with some people in this life, whether through force or circumstance, willingness or its antithesis, your relationship’s foundation will be built upon a secret."

"Make me your product.
I'll be your data.
Manipulate me into thinking I exist.
In the mirror of the algorithm.
I am real."

That last quote gave me the chills and I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days. Especially the “make me your product / I’ll be your data.” I can see this so clearly in how big tech companies and social media use people and ultimately turn them into products.

I enjoyed every story in this collection, but my absolute favorites were:

tribute.

Omfg I don’t even have words. This was a masterpiece. A total convoluted mind trip examining the viewer viewing the viewed who then becomes conscious of being viewed and becomes the viewer of themselves being the viewed and it all ends in tragic insanity. It’s like Rear Window meets Samuel Beckett’s Film meets The Virgin Suicides.

poem

One of the things I love about this author’s writing is how he explores dark female archetypes. The main character in this one did not disappoint. She’s a living, breathing, all-too-real depiction of the Devouring Mother, cast in this instance as the Devouring Lover, who is subsequently scorned. After the scorning, she completely loses it. I loved the arc of seeing the hot and desperate female-predator-pursuit turn to cold bitterness and the ruthless will to annihilate the party who spurned her by a brutal take-down of his art. This one was so good.

je ne sais quoi

Super sick and amazing. I’m pretty sure that the actual time period wasn’t mentioned in this story, but it really had a nineteenth-century gothic lit feel to me. I kept imagining the protagonist as an Edgar Allan Poe type with the old-fashioned black clothes and haunted eyes. The supporting character felt ethereal and mentally unbalanced, like all the women who were always getting locked up in attics in Victorian stories and could only communicate with the world through vague moanings in the night. Loved, loved, loved this one and will be revisiting it again.

I’ve read a few other books by G.C. McKay, and I do think this is his best work to date. It’s a solid collection of contemporary transgressive fiction that I think will stand the test of time for years to come.

[Anya Chikovani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somehow this book hit me harder than any action-packed thriller.

Every story in Left on Read reads like it was written by someone who knows what it means to live half your life online and still feel invisible; by someone who is aware of what it means to exist in a culture where everything is public, and nothing is personal anymore.

This book isn’t just about online culture but it’s written in it.

You feel like as if you're reading something you were never supposed to see - like scrolling through someone’s private notes or late-night rants.

Short, cinematic, self-contained stories, each with their own tone but all dealing with loneliness, performative identity, internet culture, and emotional burnout. Some funny (and brutal), some sad (almost made me cry - not because it’s sentimental, but because it nails that feeling of trying to connect with someone through a screen, and failing in the most quietly devastating way), some just disturbingly accurate.

But what really sets this book apart is its formatting. It doesn’t look normal (?). But somehow it doesn’t confuse - it invites re-engagement. And I won’t be wrong by saying that the formatting choices play a crucial role in communicating attitude, subtext, and tone of this collection.

Also it just looks cool.

McKay taps into a rare tone: emotionally raw, yet intellectually sharp. Every page of the piece screams with cynicism, poetic despondency, or black comedy.

And (as crazy as it might sound) this book needs to be a TV series. Each story is a psychological snapshot, often with a minimal setting and tight character focus. And that’d be a perfect anthology show for the post-Instagram, pre-AI collapse generation. Adaptation wouldn’t just be entertainment but it would spark discussion around identity, mental health, online exploitation, contemporary loneliness, toxic relationships, abuse and emotional trauma.

(God please make this happen).

Left on Read isn’t ‘well-behaved’ literature. It’s confessional, confrontational, and often uncomfortable.
If you want a clean, comforting short story collection, look elsewhere. But if you’ve ever lived too much of your life online, watched yourself become a persona, or felt like you were only real in someone else’s DMs - this book gets it.


[Christina Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an absolutely unsettling set of stories. Throughout this collection, you get a whirlwind trip through the minds of folks who are experiencing the direct impacts of our increasingly isolated, digital world. There's a quote from the author in the afterword that sums up what I took away from many of the stories:

[The smartphone is] "a device that not only gives him the impression he's got knowledge because he has assumed access to it, but one that is also making him dumber and dumberer all the while he stays glued to it, utterly oblivious to how it consumes him far more than the device serves to satiate his mental well-being."

My favorite stories reflected this message - most notably tribute. and thirsty female instagram poet. In both of these, the use of technology overtakes all thought to the point of assigning real life value based on things that only exist online. Watching each character spiral while trying to find meaning in nothing - does the value of a video change depending on who it's made for? does the quickness in hearting a post mean liking more than just the post?

I finished bus catching with a sort of haunted view of the pros and cons of the internet era, particularly in dealing with our isolation. In one way, the character is using the internet to provide a service but without the internet it seems less likely folks would be able to follow through on needing the service at all?

This is definitely the kind of book where you need to separate your feelings for the characters from the takeaways, because these are the minds of folks living distorted, and sometimes deranged, self-centered realities. Also, don't be squeamish about sex (I mean, this IS about the internet...)

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

From someone who has read all of G.C. McKay’s previous work, this collection didn’t fail to amaze me. I would even dare to say, it’s possibly his best work to date.

Something that has always struck me about McKay’s writing is how breathtakingly beautiful his prose is, even when he's describing extremely grim and often fucked up situations. As well, as the humour that’s certainly present in all of the stories. Very little books make me laugh out loud but this was definitely one of them.

McKay is not afraid to take a closer look to some of the most disgusting yet real aspects of human behaviour, and he manages to embody them through characters that feel deeply human (even in an age where humanity is essentially lacking), and who you can empathise with. No matter how unreliable they may seem.

You can tell the collection was carefully curated, as each story fits the theme perfectly. I especially came to love Tribute and would even dare to call it a masterpiece. Chameleon and Bus Catching are up there too. That said, all of the stories live up to the same high standard.

It’s refreshing to see the author navigate this shorter format. To convey what you want to say with fewer words is definitely no easy task, and I can confidently say the author succeeded with this collection.

Something else I find worth mentioning, is how this book manages to serve as a social critique in the most beautiful way possible. As I said earlier, the author can navigate grotesque and difficult topics with a kind of beauty that’s hard to achieve. I am sure that a collection like this can have a greater impact than a non fiction book written on the same topic. At least on a personal level, literary fiction when done right, leaves a way bigger impression. This collection is certainly the case.

[Sabrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of short stories connected by one common theme — the digital age, hence the title. Every story focuses on different aspects of our new reality, where something you privately send someone can be leaked to the public and where you can never know who's really behind a username.

The writing style is poetical while showing the unsettling, eerie, and dark side of internet and social media usage, or rather overusage. Strangely, this works really well with the explicit nature of this writing. This well-executed connection of opposites is what makes these stories so intriguing. This and their filterless, eye-opening portrayal of our modern society. It really makes one reflect on one's own internet and social media habits.

Naturally some stories stood out to me more than others; one of them was the first one, "Aftertaste", the story of an OnlyFans content creator who gets a special business proposal. What I liked most about it was its non-linear narrative, which was achieved through a multitude of time jumps.

Then there was "thirsty female instagram poet", which had me hooked from the beginning. This story about an Instagram poet longing for validation in general, but especially from one particular stranger, keeps one waiting for the inevitable to happen, continuously building up anticipation.

And then there is "Tribute", the longest one in the bunch. One could call it a cautionary tale about the perils of sending videos not intended for the public. Besides that, it also deals with other themes like loneliness, obsession, and addiction.

I would recommend it for fans of "Black Mirror." For me, it was the perfect reading material while anticipating the next season. Both left a similar aftertaste.

I got a free copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers Program and am voluntarily leaving this review.

[Amys Bookshelf Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

G. C McKay writes a dramatic and dark collection with Left on Read

In Left on Read, the reader is brought into the imagination of the author. I am a big fan of G.C. McKay and want to read whatever this author writes. This author has a grand imagination, and talent for showing the story. This collection is a raw and unflinching exploration of modern society's fractured psyche, delving into themes of trauma, isolation, and the pervasive influence of technology. It's a provocative collection that dives into the complexity of life, of trauma, isolation, and influences. G.C. McKay's writing is bold and captures the unsettling realities of life with a mix of dark humor and poignant observations. The stories vary in length and style, reflecting the chaotic and unpredictable nature of the world they depict. A compelling read for those who appreciate literature that challenges conventions and provokes introspection. Each story is unpredictable, thrilling and alluring, all the way to the end. Left on Read is a definite recommendation by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews. I read this book to give my unbiased and honest review. Amy's Bookshelf Reviews recommends that anyone who reads this book also write a review.

[Vflygirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have read the author's disclaimer, looked over the subject matter, and still find yourself intrigued, go for it. I can almost guarantee that you will find something here that will equally repulse, arouse, and offend you while also making you think deeply about the unfortunate trajectory that technology has forced upon the next generation.

Sure, it might be easy for some people to try to cast these stories aside as sleezy and misogynistic. Or perhaps the author is just able to excel at portraying their characters so vividly. In my opinion, these stories are worth reading regardless of how you end up judging them.

Please note that I received an advance review copy of this book for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. GC's writing flows well and is easy to immerse yourself in. This collection begins with shorter stories and ends with a few long ones. The arrangement gives the reader a glimpse of what they are in for and a chance to adjust to the subject matter.

[Teddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some twisted entertainment

Book was ok in a bit of a weird way. Story was a bit hard to follow at times but if you stick with it you can read much of it is an internal struggle. I did find the inconsistent formatting on this kindle version a bit distracting but I suspect it is done that way on purpose. Overall a bit disturbing, dark and entertaining at the same time.

[lolly Storm sparrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of stories based on "internet connections"

I enjoyed the majority of these shorts, they were well written and well paced. The psychological aspect of these felt tense and unnerving.

This was my first experience with this author and id definitely read more by them.

[Milt Theo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first time reading this author, and I enjoyed the stories very much. Excellent writing, apparently very little horror - till you realize that the horror lies in the fact that the story itself can actually exist, may actually be written; the horror lies in the possibility of the story itself. In this sense, g.c. mckay's writing choices and literary style reminded me of Eric LaRocca's fiction, though where LaRocca is lyrical, Mckay is descriptive, and vice versa. Same kind of subtlety, different moments of introspective brutality, violence and fear.

The stories feel very much as products of passionate indifference (if that makes sense), even the most fragmented ones. As a result, I didn't find any favorites: they're all gems, hurried snapshots of characters spiraling while being in contact with (if not addicted to, or depended on) some form of social media and digital pit stops in a race taking place mostly in their mind. It's bizarre how the unlikely twists grow organically out of the characters' mindset; equally bizarre how the characters fold when faced with the chance to test their own misunderstandings.

I'm glad I stumbled upon this book and found a hugely talented author of transgressive fiction, of who I'd never heard before (embarrassingly so!). Recommended!