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In Their Arms
Taking place across a mutating set of darkrooms, art galleries, blank apartments and bedrooms; In Their Arms is an acute inspection of loneliness, desire and confusion.
The narrator attempts to simultaneously find himself and become lost completely in a world of sex, internet hook-ups, drugs and pleasure.
Within the arms of nameless and unknown lovers, a strange, often conflicted spirituality is hinted at. In Thomas Moore’s second novel, he uses a deft and purposely layered prose to create a grey area of illusions and smokescreens, where needs and fears entwine, often becoming the same thing.
In Their Arms is a disturbingly seductive assault from one of the most exciting new voices in experimental fiction.
COMING IN SUMMER 2016: more details soon
The narrator attempts to simultaneously find himself and become lost completely in a world of sex, internet hook-ups, drugs and pleasure.
Within the arms of nameless and unknown lovers, a strange, often conflicted spirituality is hinted at. In Thomas Moore’s second novel, he uses a deft and purposely layered prose to create a grey area of illusions and smokescreens, where needs and fears entwine, often becoming the same thing.
In Their Arms is a disturbingly seductive assault from one of the most exciting new voices in experimental fiction.
COMING IN SUMMER 2016: more details soon
76 pages, Paperback
First published October 10, 2016
8 people are currently reading
466 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Moore
16 books256 followersThomas Moore's writing has appeared in various publications in Europe and America. His novella, GRAVES (2011), and his book of poems, The Night Is An Empire(2013), were both published by Kiddiepunk. His first novel, A Certain Kind of Light(2013), was published by Rebel Satori Press. His book of poems, Skeleton Costumes, was published by Kiddiepunk in 2014 and again as an expanded second edition in 2015. His second novel, In Their Arms, was published by Rebel Satori in October 2016. A collection of poems, When People Die, was published in 2018 by Kiddiepunk. Also in 2018, Moore collaborated with visual artist Steven Purtill on their book Small Talk at the Clinic, published by Amphetamine Sulphate. Thomas Moore's third novel,Alone, was released in June 2020. His fourth novel, Forever, was published by Amphetamine Sulphate in October 2021. His new novel, Your Dreams, was published in 2023 by Amphetamine Sulphate.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
October 16, 2016
A short yet intensely bleak read: the pages here should be turned with appropriately desolate death music playing in the background to set the mood (Regel-era Maurizio Bianchi comes to mind). This novel is a detritus mosaic of anonymous Tweets, discarded suicide notes, bitmapped horrors and GIF gnosis: a 21st-century Noh drama where the masks have been replaced with emoji icons. The blank, aimless, and mostly inarticulate characters that flit into and out of sight like desiccated sylphs between the decimated bones that make up the skeletal narrative of the book are so sketchy and insubstantial (the narrator amongst them) that they make the Damned of Bret Easton Ellis' books look like paragons of personality by comparison, and the one thing they seem to all have in common is a yearning for self-destruction and a desire to copulate with death (in some cases, quite literally). Of all the short chapters which make up this rumination on the transient and the ephemeral, I think my favorite are the three that list a long number of GIFs: they remind me of prose versions of Dennis Cooper's infamous GIF novels, and I almost wish that the whole book had been written in this style.
February 3, 2017
In Their Arms is a bracing novella alright, a nightmare played out against a blank Transatlantic landscape of sleazy nightclub darkrooms, anonymous internet chatrooms and stultifyingly voguish art spaces, their contents a bore that our unnamed protagonist can review without ever really laying eyes on. As this antihero grasps in vain for any authenticity, Thomas Moore sets down his misadventures with a measured, sympathetic wit.
September 14, 2016
Full Review
In Their Arms is an excellent exploration of disconnection from life and loneliness among others. This was my introduction to Thomas Moore and I'm glad he sent me this book to review. This novel is forthcoming in October of 2016 and I highly recommend picking this up when it's out.
In Their Arms is an excellent exploration of disconnection from life and loneliness among others. This was my introduction to Thomas Moore and I'm glad he sent me this book to review. This novel is forthcoming in October of 2016 and I highly recommend picking this up when it's out.
June 27, 2024
When I clicked 'I'm finished' on the reading progress button on Goodreads, I realised that I couldn't have put it better myself. Another effortlessly heart-breaking masterpiece from Thomas Moore in the history books for me.
October 26, 2016
This book sets you in a deep haze, so you should be ready with a clear mind. You will feel like you’re walking through a fog, unable to discern who is who, what is what. You will question what’s real, if getting at any real Truth is even a worthwhile pursuit.
The nameless protagonist we follow often disappears, both physically and mentally. He leaves without telling anyone where he’s going and loses track of time. He misses and botches interviews with artists for his day job. He detaches himself from the real people in his life, pretty much anyone with a name. He loses himself in anonymous sex, internet lurking, and cruising apps. He feels almost completely disconnected from others and himself. Everything and everyone shifts in and out of the text. Nothing and no one can be pinned down. Everything is smoke.
Despite the shrouded nature of this story, there are moments of crystal-clear clarity, usually involving flirtation with the grotesque. Here you can see the influence of Dennis Cooper, the possibility of beauty in the abject. Our protagonist becomes both fascinated and disgusted with bug chasing and obsesses over the Twitter feed of a past hookup who just wants to have the most degrading sex as often as he can. He also follows the Tumblr page of an artist’s daughter. These sections of the book are just lists of images she posts. Our protagonist’s lurking and the anonymity of all this activity only seems to punctuate his isolation.
Having just finished The Lonely City, I couldn’t help but relate the two. Art and loneliness, how they seem to go hand-in-hand. The particular isolation that comes from being queer, living in a city, and living through others on social media. How the internet allows us to connect, but how we hide.
Our protagonist likes to tell stories. Towards the end, he tells a story to comfort an older man who tries to hook up with him. At this point, you begin to question whether anything he has said is true. A friend’s suicide, which hovers like a ghost throughout the text, may not be real. We don’t know. What we do know is that the protagonist tells his stories to create meaning, whether or not they are just fiction. A very post-modern question arises: where does this meaning originate? Why are we even looking to pin down a “truth” in fiction? Is the fiction just as real? Does it even matter?
The nameless protagonist we follow often disappears, both physically and mentally. He leaves without telling anyone where he’s going and loses track of time. He misses and botches interviews with artists for his day job. He detaches himself from the real people in his life, pretty much anyone with a name. He loses himself in anonymous sex, internet lurking, and cruising apps. He feels almost completely disconnected from others and himself. Everything and everyone shifts in and out of the text. Nothing and no one can be pinned down. Everything is smoke.
Despite the shrouded nature of this story, there are moments of crystal-clear clarity, usually involving flirtation with the grotesque. Here you can see the influence of Dennis Cooper, the possibility of beauty in the abject. Our protagonist becomes both fascinated and disgusted with bug chasing and obsesses over the Twitter feed of a past hookup who just wants to have the most degrading sex as often as he can. He also follows the Tumblr page of an artist’s daughter. These sections of the book are just lists of images she posts. Our protagonist’s lurking and the anonymity of all this activity only seems to punctuate his isolation.
Having just finished The Lonely City, I couldn’t help but relate the two. Art and loneliness, how they seem to go hand-in-hand. The particular isolation that comes from being queer, living in a city, and living through others on social media. How the internet allows us to connect, but how we hide.
Our protagonist likes to tell stories. Towards the end, he tells a story to comfort an older man who tries to hook up with him. At this point, you begin to question whether anything he has said is true. A friend’s suicide, which hovers like a ghost throughout the text, may not be real. We don’t know. What we do know is that the protagonist tells his stories to create meaning, whether or not they are just fiction. A very post-modern question arises: where does this meaning originate? Why are we even looking to pin down a “truth” in fiction? Is the fiction just as real? Does it even matter?
October 20, 2016
Powerful. Intense. The kind of book that makes me babble. The imaginary relationships are just as empty as the real ones, here, where Twitter and Tumblr pages fill in for whole conversations. Where bugchasing becomes a kind of intimacy. Forgive me for invoking him, but if Tyler Durden is right, and self destruction is the only way to approach reality, then this may be one of the most real character journeys we've seen in print. HIGHLY recommended, but be warned...do not approach this book lightly.
November 15, 2023
Indie sleaze ft. Dennis Cooper. Ik werd op een rare manier erg nostalgisch, dus heb de rest van de dag naar de Crystal Castles geluisterd.
September 30, 2025
i read this in one sitting two nights ago. the sort of novel that's impossible to look away from. a hazy internet dreamscape. absolute best sections are the descriptions of someone's tumblr. this is just a sucker punch to the gut... infinitely relatable and disgustingly truthful. i love thomas moore and i truly believe that he's one of the greatest talents of the 21st-century.
January 9, 2025
“I did a disappearing act with my life; only no one knew that the magic was happening.”
Thomas Moore is a favourite of mine. In this story, we follow the protagonist as they drift between blank apartments and bedrooms, a world of sex, internet hookups, drugs and pleasure. The protagonist attempts to lose himself and find himself in these encounters, and somewhere in the arms of strangers he finds a kind of spiritually. This book confronts a common theme that was explored in Alone, another of Thomas Moore novels; the idea that anonymous hookup culture can be simultaneously destructive and transformative. How sometimes losing yourself in the comfort of a stranger can sometimes bring out the most honest version of yourself, and form a kind of raw intimacy unseen in romantic and platonic relationships. On the other hand, if done incorrectly, sometimes you can lose your humanity within the world of anonymous sex, and find yourself a black hole of desperation. A desire to surrender yourself to total self annihilation. There were segments of this story that imitated a Tumblr feed, which gave the air that the author wanted to show the ineffable feeling we get from online spaces like this, a seemingly random accumulation of ideas and thoughts that can sometimes be gathered and assembled to form a piece of someone’s curation and of themselves. A feeling of one reaching out for someone, something. Anything. It made me miss the days when Tumblr was at its peak. There was a moment in this story that I related to that I’ve never seen in a book: the protagonist uses the anonymous sex to become a different person and essentially lie about himself and who he is in order to speak about things he doesn’t have the courage to talk about to people in his real life. This reminded me of a younger version of myself in a way that was really chilling, I had essentially done the same thing with some of the older men I used to see regularly. I liked this book, sparse and experimental, but impactful. Thomas Moore reminds me of a lite Dennis Cooper, he explores the same themes but with more bleakness than darkness. The ending was beautifully bleak, and it made me appreciate Thomas Moore as one of my favourite authors.
“Talking about my imaginary dead boyfriend legitimizes a lot of stuff for me. I’m able to talk about things that if I was just being honest and relating things to myself I’d never ever even get near. If I say that lies are a really helpful thing, you have to realize that I don’t mean it in a malicious way. Lies can be pure, too.”
Thomas Moore is a favourite of mine. In this story, we follow the protagonist as they drift between blank apartments and bedrooms, a world of sex, internet hookups, drugs and pleasure. The protagonist attempts to lose himself and find himself in these encounters, and somewhere in the arms of strangers he finds a kind of spiritually. This book confronts a common theme that was explored in Alone, another of Thomas Moore novels; the idea that anonymous hookup culture can be simultaneously destructive and transformative. How sometimes losing yourself in the comfort of a stranger can sometimes bring out the most honest version of yourself, and form a kind of raw intimacy unseen in romantic and platonic relationships. On the other hand, if done incorrectly, sometimes you can lose your humanity within the world of anonymous sex, and find yourself a black hole of desperation. A desire to surrender yourself to total self annihilation. There were segments of this story that imitated a Tumblr feed, which gave the air that the author wanted to show the ineffable feeling we get from online spaces like this, a seemingly random accumulation of ideas and thoughts that can sometimes be gathered and assembled to form a piece of someone’s curation and of themselves. A feeling of one reaching out for someone, something. Anything. It made me miss the days when Tumblr was at its peak. There was a moment in this story that I related to that I’ve never seen in a book: the protagonist uses the anonymous sex to become a different person and essentially lie about himself and who he is in order to speak about things he doesn’t have the courage to talk about to people in his real life. This reminded me of a younger version of myself in a way that was really chilling, I had essentially done the same thing with some of the older men I used to see regularly. I liked this book, sparse and experimental, but impactful. Thomas Moore reminds me of a lite Dennis Cooper, he explores the same themes but with more bleakness than darkness. The ending was beautifully bleak, and it made me appreciate Thomas Moore as one of my favourite authors.
“Talking about my imaginary dead boyfriend legitimizes a lot of stuff for me. I’m able to talk about things that if I was just being honest and relating things to myself I’d never ever even get near. If I say that lies are a really helpful thing, you have to realize that I don’t mean it in a malicious way. Lies can be pure, too.”
July 1, 2021
barebacking in a haunted sauna
September 17, 2022
"I did a disappearing act with my life; only no one knew that the magic was happening".
In Their Arms pulse with a desire, its movements constant, sentence after sentence of statements, actions, smells, rooms, people, lies, tumblr posts, tweets, body fluids. A parade of unrelenting scenes and uncomfortably honest self-obsessed remarks. The story flows told by an emotionally oblique narrator in his desperate journey toward self-discovery and death. Self-annihilation looms behind every brief chapter, getting sinister and sinister with every unprotected sex encounter and internet post. The power of lies, fiction or any other artificial subterfuge of illusion is constantly underlined, subtle hints to the importance of art as a tool for self-examination. Moore also writes internet relation dynamics in a compelling way, there's a bleak sense of humor in the way he articulates the many internet posts in the book.
"An Emoji suicide made from a skull, an explosion, an Emoji with gritted teeth and an Emoji gun".
Moore does not seem preoccupied with the risk of antagonizing the reader or exposing dark aspects of gay subcultures, which is refreshing when compared to the sanitized mainstream depictions of the community. It feels liberating to read a subversive portrait of gay sexuality like this, to see the desolate scenario of sex apps and forums explored in all its depressing potential. In Their Arms is a straight-forward story that still manages to be thought provoking, heavy in content and dynamic in form, a quick, but remarkable read.
April 27, 2025
“Whatever though … the internet is just a fog
that won’t clear.”
this novel is hard to pin down. it’s not the kind of novel you can easily label or sum up. reading it feels as fragmented as the unnamed narrator’s perspective. you’re never quite sure where the story is going, whether the narrator is the same person you met at the start, or whose life and memories you’re even following. the lines blur which leaves you guessing at every turn.
and moore’s writing matches this uncertainty. it is simple, clear, and direct; almost bare-bones. but that simplicity isn’t a flaw; it’s intentional. his words leave space for you to dig deeper, to find meaning in what’s left unsaid. it is a style that feels straightforward but invites you to read between the lines.
that won’t clear.”
this novel is hard to pin down. it’s not the kind of novel you can easily label or sum up. reading it feels as fragmented as the unnamed narrator’s perspective. you’re never quite sure where the story is going, whether the narrator is the same person you met at the start, or whose life and memories you’re even following. the lines blur which leaves you guessing at every turn.
and moore’s writing matches this uncertainty. it is simple, clear, and direct; almost bare-bones. but that simplicity isn’t a flaw; it’s intentional. his words leave space for you to dig deeper, to find meaning in what’s left unsaid. it is a style that feels straightforward but invites you to read between the lines.
June 25, 2024
It’s like a gay Giséle Vienne doll having to get up for work everyday and un-discovering the point of life. I love the chapters consisting of lists of pop culture or internet images. I think there are periods when your life is uneventful, even if something exciting happens, you can’t feel it and you just want to rely on your vices to get you through - Moore depicts this in a sensitive way which had me wanting the story to be longer.
November 30, 2023
3,5/5 stars. Very confusing read. At the start I was almost bored but then it sucked me in and I couldn’t stop reading. It’s sad and depressing, and yet beautiful. Despite all the cum, it left me a bit speechless. Can’t wait to read more Moore
December 21, 2025
„Every time I speak it feels like something is hidden within each new sentence that comes out of my mouth and for every sentence that comes out of my mouth there’s something that doesn’t come out with even more meaning that’s kept in.”
Thomas Moore the absolute genius you are…
Thomas Moore the absolute genius you are…
Read
December 6, 2023“Whatever though…the internet is just a fog that won’t clear.”
May 26, 2024
3.5 stars.
February 28, 2025
pavoroso!!!
February 19, 2022
I like how Moore describes the technology and internet stuff in this without being obvious. He makes the Internet seem timeless. Just another new wrinkle in our attempts to feel something with other people.
October 12, 2023
an insanely short read. I felt like I was reading the notes app of someone I had a fling with, it’s so insanely intimate and reading it made me feel like I was hit over the head with a hammer. Really excited to read more of Thomas Moore
October 18, 2016
Read this between 3am and 6am during an intense bout of anxiety and insomnia. Maybe not the best decision. Some of the passages are intense and the writing is a shattered mirror.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews