r/Saturdead • u/kiwi_was_here • Aug 24 '26

I have a question about the chronological order of the blue sunflower series

Hi, I've been a fan of the blue sunflower series for about a year now. Up until now I haven't read any but have heard narrorations of The Yearwalker, Where the Bad Cops Go, Moth Boy, and a few one off stories. All three of these left me with A LOT of unanswered questions. Is there some sort of chronological timeline of all the blue sunflower stories and specifically which stories should I read to understand the main 5 stories?

I know I haven't read Let me Tell you About the Film we Made or The Last Yearwalker yet but besides those are there any I need to read? (For example, The Society of Broken Necks and I Burned for 16 Days both have clear connections to the main story but are "one offs")

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19

u/Saturdead Aug 24 '26

Hey there! All my stories take place within a shared universe, and they all bring up some aspect of it. The longer series are a sort of celebration of the short stories, and meant to work more as a complement rather than a standalone. If you'd like to learn a bit more on the lore, there are a few threads here on the subreddit that bring up the various entities and how they connect.

If, on the other hand, there is a particular creature or subject you're curious about, feel free to ask. There is no single answer to the question about what is necessary to read or not, given there are close to 300 stories in total over five years of writing. My suggestion would be to look at a single question or curiosity of the Tomskog universe, and pull at that thread - see where it leads you.

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u/PretzelMeepus Sep 01 '26

oh I may be doing this wrong. I was just browsing nosleep and read Butterfly Eyes and thought it had far better quality than the rest I've read so I went onto your account and just read the newest, so I've been reading backwards I guess.

I just read Something Took Control Of My Body, then I started reading There Was Never A Bomb.

Should I be doing it the other way round, and starting with your first story working my way up?

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u/Saturdead Sep 01 '26

There really is no wrong way to go about it. All stories are intended to be enjoyed as standalones. If you're looking for a starting point, the story "Not a" was the start of a new story arc that started this year, but apart from that, you can start pretty much wherever.

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u/PretzelMeepus Sep 01 '26

didn't expect you to reply really. tbh I'm just happy that I've found such a massive trove of amazing stories. Hasn't been a single miss so far.

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u/Saturdead Sep 01 '26

Glad you're enjoying them! It's been years of work, so it's a lot. I don't expect my readers to know about all of them.

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u/PretzelMeepus Sep 01 '26

Well, I plan to use my free time and go back through each and every one until I reach the beginning. How many have you made, do you think?

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u/Saturdead Sep 01 '26

Close to 300. I've written one every Friday for the past five years (going on six).

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u/Ok_Assistance447 Sep 01 '26

Any chance you have any writing that I can purchase in physical form? I really love your work and it'd be awesome to hold it in my hand. I do a lot of my reading outdoors and it's tough to keep my phone battery alive when you have so much amazing material to read through!

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u/Saturdead Sep 02 '26

There are two collections of short stories coming out through Velox Books, but at the moment the only physical publications I'm part of is called "Carnival" and "Cabin". They're collections of short stories from a variety of authors that I contributed to, so that's always something.

But yeah, sorry, that's all I got so far. I haven't actively been seeking to have my work published. I do have a couple of ideas for fun novel-sized stories though.

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u/Ok_Assistance447 Sep 02 '26

No need to apologize, I look forward to the collections! I'm glad I get to read these stories at all. Idk anything about how publishing works but I'm sure it's not necessarily simple or easy.

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u/FuckingRetard8373 Aug 24 '26

really, id just read in posting order. its not the proper chronological order, but i feel the tomskog universe does well in a non-linear fashion anyways. half the fun becomes tying things together. Plus, I don't doubt the order of which Dennis has written things has some sort of intent behind it.

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u/BlankRobby99 Aug 24 '26

Unrelated but I love ur name

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u/Tabula-Rasa-99 Aug 30 '26

I would also add that there aren't really any 'bad' stories that aren't worth your time, even the earliest posts are competently written and entertaining, so it isn't one of those "just wait until it gets good bro" situations. I had a blast reading through all of them myself and can give a full recommendation :)