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Telecommuting
Working from home has its perks, being able to attend meetings in your pajamas chief among them. But when the house you occupy all day is empty - when the only voice you hear after work comes through television speakers, it can get a little old.
Unless you like it that way.
And Chris did like it that way
… until the whispering started.
Telecommuting is a modern psychological horror story set in what could be your town, your street, your house. The lyrical slow burn is subtle; the terror in this tale sneaks up on you before you know it.
Unless you like it that way.
And Chris did like it that way
… until the whispering started.
Telecommuting is a modern psychological horror story set in what could be your town, your street, your house. The lyrical slow burn is subtle; the terror in this tale sneaks up on you before you know it.
112 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 4, 2021
4 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
L. Marie Wood
50 books99 followersL. Marie Wood is an award-winning author and screenwriter. She is the recipient of the Golden Stake Award for her novel The Promise Keeper, as well as the Harold L. Brown Award for her screenplay Home Party. Her short story, "The Ever After" is part of the Bram Stoker Award Finalist anthology Sycorax's Daughters. Wood was recognized in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Vol. 15 and as one of the 100+ Black Women in Horror Fiction. Wood holds an MFA in Speculative Fiction from Southern New Hampshire University and serves as the Director of Curricula for the Diverse Writers and Artists of Speculative Fiction (DWASF.org). She is also the Director of the horror track for MultiverseCon.
Visit lmariewood.com to learn more.
Visit lmariewood.com to learn more.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
May 13, 2021
L. Marie Wood’s Telecommuting is short fiction that I can only assume is based on life in the pandemic. I mean, the title alone makes that pretty obvious. Life as we know it changed for months and months. A good portion of us had to change everything, as we all started to work from home full time, and kids had to deal with online school. After so long, people became isolated, relationships were under stress, insomnia kicked in, and some became depressed. But remember, this is a horror story, and not only horror, but psychological horror. This author truly messes with our heads.
Our narrator has quite an inner monologue, and right off the bat we figure out an ex-girlfriend broke up with him, leaving him in a large, empty house alone. Then we spend the day with our narrator, as he works from home. The dialog is written as stream of consciousness and feels claustrophobic, bitter, and paranoid. I felt the sense of dread throughout, and around chapter fifteen, it set itself up for a clever ending.
Telecommuting took me no time to read, so I did so twice. I wanted to make sure I understood the ending, and I liked it even more the second time around. The story didn’t feel suspenseful until about midway through, but then I felt the horror.
Our narrator has quite an inner monologue, and right off the bat we figure out an ex-girlfriend broke up with him, leaving him in a large, empty house alone. Then we spend the day with our narrator, as he works from home. The dialog is written as stream of consciousness and feels claustrophobic, bitter, and paranoid. I felt the sense of dread throughout, and around chapter fifteen, it set itself up for a clever ending.
Telecommuting took me no time to read, so I did so twice. I wanted to make sure I understood the ending, and I liked it even more the second time around. The story didn’t feel suspenseful until about midway through, but then I felt the horror.
May 13, 2021
3.5 stars rounded up for Goodreads
I first encountered L. Marie Wood's writing in SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire anthology. Her story, THE DANCE was an erotic, girl meets girl story with a dark twist. I mentioned in my review that the sexual tension was off the charts. Several months later, I'm still able to "see" the visuals Wood conjured up in my mind; that's potent!
TELECOMMUTING is a psychological slow burn. It's a story for right now. Chris lives in a big house all alone. It's isolating. To double down, he lands a job working from home.
Most of the narrative is in a stream of consciousness style where Chris's inner thoughts are relayed to the reader in their natural state. This can be disorienting at times but for the most part, I thought it served the story well. Chris's brain is a whirlwind of emotions, intrusive thoughts, and anxiety.
It's easy to relate and see yourself while reading what he's experiencing; especially after spending most of 2020 in global pandemic lockdown.
Wood takes her protagonist, a seemingly normal guy going through a breakup with a live-in partner or a divorce (I can't remember), and plunges him down into a dark spiral of paranoia. It's quite an unsettling and uncomfortable reading experience. Chris has normal, everyday interactions with his neighbors but somehow, they always get weird and twisted out of context in his mind. It becomes increasingly difficult to discern if our narrator is reliable or actually losing his mind.
"Note to self: Fuck going outside."
I first encountered L. Marie Wood's writing in SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire anthology. Her story, THE DANCE was an erotic, girl meets girl story with a dark twist. I mentioned in my review that the sexual tension was off the charts. Several months later, I'm still able to "see" the visuals Wood conjured up in my mind; that's potent!
TELECOMMUTING is a psychological slow burn. It's a story for right now. Chris lives in a big house all alone. It's isolating. To double down, he lands a job working from home.
Most of the narrative is in a stream of consciousness style where Chris's inner thoughts are relayed to the reader in their natural state. This can be disorienting at times but for the most part, I thought it served the story well. Chris's brain is a whirlwind of emotions, intrusive thoughts, and anxiety.
It's easy to relate and see yourself while reading what he's experiencing; especially after spending most of 2020 in global pandemic lockdown.
Wood takes her protagonist, a seemingly normal guy going through a breakup with a live-in partner or a divorce (I can't remember), and plunges him down into a dark spiral of paranoia. It's quite an unsettling and uncomfortable reading experience. Chris has normal, everyday interactions with his neighbors but somehow, they always get weird and twisted out of context in his mind. It becomes increasingly difficult to discern if our narrator is reliable or actually losing his mind.
"Note to self: Fuck going outside."
June 15, 2021
I know individuals cope with betrayal, rejection, and grief differently, and at different times. The protagonist here is just a virtual puddle. I could not elicit one nanosecond of empathy. Unfortunately, this novel just didn't fly for me.
February 10, 2022
TELECOMMUTING by L. Marie Wood is a contemporary psychological horror story focusing on one who is trying to find his place in the world again amidst a lot of changes and begins to work from home. Wood captures a lot of the feelings and emotions about working from home that a lot of people truly don't realize.
The biggest horror is the one where we are basically connected to our computers 24/7 and we have this sense of OVERworking as to not indicate we are doing something else. We have to always stay available and respond in an instant. In my personal experience, I cannot tell you how many times my boss has been escalated to because I did not respond in 3 minutes... or less, sometimes. God forbid I go to the bathroom, take a step outside for fresh air, or am actually (usually) busy on another call/work issue that has me placing this other person in a mental wait queue. Yikes.
BUT Wood is able to capture all of that and more with her fast-paced writing and biting inner monologue of our main character. His thoughts are rampant and chaotic at times, which is exactly how they should be if we want to be as realistic as possible. And with all of this we get our heads messed with, too... and quite a bit! It takes a little bit to get going/for me to find my groove in the story, but by about halfway through we get this "Aha!" moment and the suspense and terror start to pick up beyond just the paranoia and frustration we've been empathetic to so far.
Definitely worth a read and might be more impactful for those who do work from home... but also, it might hit differently for the alternative. I will never know how it feels (currently) to experience this story with the latter life circumstance, so you should read it and then let me know!
3.5 rounded up to 4 on Goodreads
The biggest horror is the one where we are basically connected to our computers 24/7 and we have this sense of OVERworking as to not indicate we are doing something else. We have to always stay available and respond in an instant. In my personal experience, I cannot tell you how many times my boss has been escalated to because I did not respond in 3 minutes... or less, sometimes. God forbid I go to the bathroom, take a step outside for fresh air, or am actually (usually) busy on another call/work issue that has me placing this other person in a mental wait queue. Yikes.
BUT Wood is able to capture all of that and more with her fast-paced writing and biting inner monologue of our main character. His thoughts are rampant and chaotic at times, which is exactly how they should be if we want to be as realistic as possible. And with all of this we get our heads messed with, too... and quite a bit! It takes a little bit to get going/for me to find my groove in the story, but by about halfway through we get this "Aha!" moment and the suspense and terror start to pick up beyond just the paranoia and frustration we've been empathetic to so far.
Definitely worth a read and might be more impactful for those who do work from home... but also, it might hit differently for the alternative. I will never know how it feels (currently) to experience this story with the latter life circumstance, so you should read it and then let me know!
3.5 rounded up to 4 on Goodreads
November 26, 2021
Rating 4 stars because I thought this short story was interesting and it kept me engaged enough to keep turning the page. I don't like the main character but I'm pretty sure we aren't supposed to, we get to see into the mind and the break down of a character that gets his just desserts.
The more we learned about him, the more I enjoyed watching him slowly slip into insanity.
The more we learned about him, the more I enjoyed watching him slowly slip into insanity.
June 12, 2021
Boring. Glad this was short and that I got this for free in exchange for my review because I would have been upset if I had paid money for it. It didn't even get interesting until I was 70% into it and "decent" until like 80-something percent into it; the park scene if you do end up buying it. I ended up skipping quite a few pages because I was sick of reading endless pages of his meaningless dribble.
To top it all off, she doesn't even give you the answer to the 'mystery' which would sit better with me if it was a better book (I would still be bitter about it, lol) but with the rest of the book being so lame, it just makes this book that much worse. I hate giving books low star ratings because I know how much time, effort, creativity and money publishing authors put into their writing, but not a fan.
To top it all off, she doesn't even give you the answer to the 'mystery' which would sit better with me if it was a better book (I would still be bitter about it, lol) but with the rest of the book being so lame, it just makes this book that much worse. I hate giving books low star ratings because I know how much time, effort, creativity and money publishing authors put into their writing, but not a fan.
March 3, 2023
Home safe home. That is where comfort and family is, where you lay down your burdens, unless your potential family leaves you the moment you move into the house AND you telecommute to work.
Now your work environment invades - the bad coworkers, the off-hour requirements, the being "on the job" in what should be your safe place. And no one to break you out of that mode, no time - like a commute - to change your mindset.
Telecommuting fails at creating safe boundaries between work and not-work.
It's in your house, your home, your safe place. With no way to turn.it.off.
Great slow-burn modern psychological horror.
Now your work environment invades - the bad coworkers, the off-hour requirements, the being "on the job" in what should be your safe place. And no one to break you out of that mode, no time - like a commute - to change your mindset.
Telecommuting fails at creating safe boundaries between work and not-work.
It's in your house, your home, your safe place. With no way to turn.it.off.
Great slow-burn modern psychological horror.
June 17, 2021
This is a new author for me which I enjoyed and look forward to seeing what is next for her. This is a well written story about a horror story that could happen in any town and a terror that you will never see coming. The characters are connectable and give the story life. It is a story full of action and twists and turns that you won't see coming. There is alot going on in this story but the author does a great job of keeping it all straight and not confusing. It was a great horror storry that I would highly recommend.
May 8, 2022
Telecommuting has its perks but when it is just you in the house and the only voices you hear are from the TV or meetings life can change over time and it doesn’t take much for our friend Chris.
This is actually a kind of horror story that many of us can in at least part relate to after covid and having to work from home for any amount of time. This was an interesting book and I liked the audio narrated by David Bosco a lot. I think he captured Chris and his many attitudes (for lack of a better work) perfectly, the whining and freaking out that Chris experiences.
This is actually a kind of horror story that many of us can in at least part relate to after covid and having to work from home for any amount of time. This was an interesting book and I liked the audio narrated by David Bosco a lot. I think he captured Chris and his many attitudes (for lack of a better work) perfectly, the whining and freaking out that Chris experiences.
November 24, 2022
The book wastes no time going straight into the story. Written in the present tense and in a stream of consciousness style, the pacing is fast-paced. Readers follow the character in real time, and experience exactly what the character is thinking. This means there are hardly any visuals since we are reading thoughts as opposed to what he sees. Therefore at times it is difficult to follow. I don't think I fully understand the character's job.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
June 16, 2021
A psychological story about a man working from home after some big changes in his life. Leaves you wondering through reading his inner thoughts if he is really experiencing some things or if they are only in his head. Chris lives alone in a big house after a breakup that he is a little murky on; he has a customer service IT job working from home and doesn’t go out much at all. He struggles with reality and so does the reader, still trying to decide some things after finishing reading.
March 8, 2023
An Immersive Psychological Trip
Telecommuting rockets us along from the opening lines and barrels us straight home. L. Marie Wood's prose is high octane and relentless as it delivers a totally immersive psychological trip. The sudden sparks of humor and super-taut narrative counter the intimacy of isolation, making a swift and utterly relatable aftershock to our collective pandemic experience.
Telecommuting rockets us along from the opening lines and barrels us straight home. L. Marie Wood's prose is high octane and relentless as it delivers a totally immersive psychological trip. The sudden sparks of humor and super-taut narrative counter the intimacy of isolation, making a swift and utterly relatable aftershock to our collective pandemic experience.
June 16, 2021
After 53% of this book I had to give up! This was one of the worse books I have ever attempted to read. The writing was disjointed, jumping from one scene to another without any reasonable transition. Sorry, I cannot recommend this book.
June 25, 2021
This is an ok read, a little difficult to get into I thought but over all was an interesting story! I liked the idea but the unbalanced main character made it a little uncomfortable & at points it seemed a little tedious, it seemed to go on but not progress in the plot.
September 1, 2021
A fun read.
This author has a way with words and the book is enhanced by the suspense-filled narrative tone. It was a little confusing in some spots, but overall, most lovers of creepy, suspense thrillers will dig this one.
This author has a way with words and the book is enhanced by the suspense-filled narrative tone. It was a little confusing in some spots, but overall, most lovers of creepy, suspense thrillers will dig this one.
November 8, 2022
I read this in one sitting! It was engrossing and definitely reminded me of my own isolation during COVID. It's definitely creepily eerie but I really liked the reflection on being alone and basically giving up on life.
April 4, 2023
Alright, this book hit all my sweet spots. Not entirely likeable main character, subtle horror, and nails the complete meaninglessness of corporate work and software development. Funny and taut, with gorgeous, understated writing.
November 27, 2021
This stream of consciousness short story kept me invested and a little disturbed.
May 13, 2022
Psychological Thriller....
Psychological Thriller that leaves you questioning what is real right up to the end. I love it! Recommended for all who enjoy being a little bit scared.
Psychological Thriller that leaves you questioning what is real right up to the end. I love it! Recommended for all who enjoy being a little bit scared.
January 3, 2026
2.5/5 stars
August 13, 2021
Ok, not going to lie, I started reading this because I thought this was a horror novel set during 2020 aka the year everyone telecommuted, so I was a little disappointed when I realized this was just about normal telecommuting. Despite that, it was still an interesting take on telecommuting culture.
This is a pretty quick read. The narrator is unlikeable, but the story itself was interesting. I don't personally enjoy stream of consciousness style narration, so ultimately I didn't enjoy this as much I was hoping, but I think fans of that style will find this entertaining and creepy.
This is a pretty quick read. The narrator is unlikeable, but the story itself was interesting. I don't personally enjoy stream of consciousness style narration, so ultimately I didn't enjoy this as much I was hoping, but I think fans of that style will find this entertaining and creepy.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews