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Play: A Novel
Play is a haunting, slow-burn psychological horror novel about insomnia, grief, and the terrifying cost of nostalgia.
Jack Plummer hasn’t slept in months. Doctors can’t help. Pills don’t work. Nights stretch endlessly until exhaustion becomes a way of life. Then, at two in the morning, he finds something a fully stocked, 24-hour VHS rental store in San Francisco—a relic of the past that shouldn’t exist anymore. The tapes work. Jack sleeps—deeply, completely—for the first time in years. But the sleep comes with side effects. Lost hours. Blackouts. Memories that don’t come back the same way they left. Faces blur. Words vanish.
Phone calls are made that Jack can’t remember placing. And the more he returns to the store, the more it seems to know exactly what he’s lost—and what he’s willing to sacrifice to forget. As the boundaries between waking life, memory, and recorded media begin to dissolve, Jack realizes the tapes aren’t just helping him rest. They’re taking something in return. And the price keeps increasing.
Dark, unsettling, and emotionally raw, Play explores addiction in its most seductive relief. Blending psychological horror with surreal dread, the novel asks a chilling question—how much of yourself would you give up for one good night’s sleep?
Jack Plummer hasn’t slept in months. Doctors can’t help. Pills don’t work. Nights stretch endlessly until exhaustion becomes a way of life. Then, at two in the morning, he finds something a fully stocked, 24-hour VHS rental store in San Francisco—a relic of the past that shouldn’t exist anymore. The tapes work. Jack sleeps—deeply, completely—for the first time in years. But the sleep comes with side effects. Lost hours. Blackouts. Memories that don’t come back the same way they left. Faces blur. Words vanish.
Phone calls are made that Jack can’t remember placing. And the more he returns to the store, the more it seems to know exactly what he’s lost—and what he’s willing to sacrifice to forget. As the boundaries between waking life, memory, and recorded media begin to dissolve, Jack realizes the tapes aren’t just helping him rest. They’re taking something in return. And the price keeps increasing.
Dark, unsettling, and emotionally raw, Play explores addiction in its most seductive relief. Blending psychological horror with surreal dread, the novel asks a chilling question—how much of yourself would you give up for one good night’s sleep?
Audible Audio
Published May 28, 2026
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June 5, 2026
I read the print edition when it came out, full disclosure. When I saw this in n audible I wanted to listen while driving. The story is even trippier when listening to it, and I swear you can actually hear a vcr playing super faintly. SO GOOD!
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