{"id":4176,"date":"2025-05-14T12:08:57","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T16:08:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/?p=4176"},"modified":"2025-05-14T12:08:59","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T16:08:59","slug":"to-be-clear-i-am-in-no-way-suggesting-that-ikea-may-pose-an-existential-threat-to-the-fabric-of-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2025\/05\/to-be-clear-i-am-in-no-way-suggesting-that-ikea-may-pose-an-existential-threat-to-the-fabric-of-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"To be clear: I am in no way suggesting that IKEA may pose an existential threat to the fabric of reality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My latest horror story, “The N\u00f6lmyna<\/a>,” is now officially published and free to read on Reactor<\/em>: https:\/\/reactormag.com\/the-nolmyra-david-erik-nelson\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few months back I hung out with Ann VanderMeer, who edited this story for Reactor<\/em>, at a conference in Florida. We ended up talking about Grady Hendrix<\/a>, and I mentioned that this story sort of arose out of my frustration with Hendrix\u2019s first book, Horrorst\u00f6r<\/em>. It wasn\u2019t that there was anything wrong with that book\u2014which I really liked\u2014just that it wasn\u2019t the story I would have written about IKEA. This one is.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve spoken before about how much of my writing (and, I believe, much of art in general) arises from frustration that some artist Isn\u2019t Doing It Right, Dammit!™<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0That\u2019s certainly the case here: I wrote “The N\u00f6lmyna,” in part, because Hendrix hadn’t Done It Right, Dammit!™<\/em>, and so I’d better just jump in and take care of that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it wasn\u2019t until this morning that it dawned on me how deeply unreasonable it was for me to pick up Horrorst\u00f6r<\/em> and expect it to be the story I expected, because I have deeply weird feelings about IKEA that are simply not the norm:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost 20 years ago I was diagnosed with panic disorder with agoraphobia. This is well managed now, but I continue to struggle with certain public spaces, especially those like IKEA: cavernous places that have poor sight lines, lots of people, no windows, and obtuse wayfinding<\/a>. I can function in these places, but I experience dissociation and depersonalization, intrusive thoughts, a free-floating dread, and pretty much would rather be anyone or anyplace else. If you\u2019ve ever been too stoned on too much edibles, you\u2019re in the ballpark.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IKEA is the seat of cosmic horror for me. This morning it dawned on me that maybe<\/em> other people don\u2019t<\/em> experience this. Like, when I say \u201cI hate IKEA,\u201d what I mean is \u201cWhen I\u2019m in IKEA, I often feel like it would be better to stop breathing and being alive anymore.\u201d I\u2019m beginning to suspect when other people say \u201cI hate IKEA,\u201d they just mean \u201cit\u2019s crowded and weirdly stuffy\u201d or \u201cthat furniture only holds up half the time\u201d or “my partner and I always get in arguments there about lamps.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, the publisher\u2019s legal team very nicely asked me not to call the store \u201cIKEA\u201d in this story. But it\u2019s IKEA. This story is about the true nature of IKEA and the distinct possibility that, through no fault of their own, they are creating the conditions for the absorptive annihilation of All of Everything by an Eminent and Imminent Immanence. \u00a0You’ve been warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My latest horror story, “The N\u00f6lmyna,” is now officially published and free to read on Reactor: https:\/\/reactormag.com\/the-nolmyra-david-erik-nelson\/ A few months back I hung out with Ann VanderMeer, who edited this story for Reactor, at a conference in Florida. We ended up talking about Grady Hendrix, and I mentioned that this story sort of arose out … Continue reading “To be clear: I am in no way suggesting that IKEA may pose an existential threat to the fabric of reality”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_share_on_mastodon":"1"},"categories":[85,11],"tags":[1106,655,972,987,849,572,88,108,923],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/a2mi.social\/@dave0\/114507051061250354","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4176"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4180,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176\/revisions\/4180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}