Bioshifter: Volume 1 (Bioshifter #1)[October 18, 2024]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read for Bioshifter: Volume 1 by Natalie Maher starting on October 18, 2024.


Happy Reading!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

After some checking around, I can confirm this is a finished story, which is nice... I think the chapters release easrly on Patreon... the ebook for BioShifter 3 came out as an ebook in March, and finished releasing on Royal Road last month... not sure when it'll release as an audiobook yet, but pretty much everything else has released, with Vigor Mortis 4 releasing in March, so maybe by the end of the year when we've read the first 2 volumes of BioShifter, we'll know when the 3rd is expected to release... in the meantime, I'm sure we can fill time with other anticipated new releases, like Beware of Chicken 4 around Thanksgiving...

[Nirkatze]

Series schedule--it's spread out 'cuz we're weaving it with Cinnamon Bun... Spooky & Cozy...

Series:
1. Bioshifter: Volume 1 (Oct 18)
2. Bioshifter: Volume 2 (Jan 18) [link]
3. Bioshifter: Volume 3 (Feb 18) [link]

Audio: Audible Only
Eye: Not on KU (but $5 on Kindle), Hoopla, or Open Library

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I believe one of the BioShifters is part of the Audible June month-long sale selection... I think I got one there and the other on the sitewide sale...

[Nirkatze]

I just did a quick sweep of the monthly SFF section and couldn't find one--doesn't mean it's not there, sometimes the pages get shifty--but it didn't pop out at me.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Maybe it was last month... oh well... I know I bought both recently... or the Memorial Day sale... so many sales...

[Nirkatze]

Truth...

[Ann-Marie]

Volume 2 is $7.99

https://www.audible.com/pd/Bioshifter...

[Nirkatze]

LOL that's the smart way to do it! Go to the pages!

[Ann-Marie]

Nirkatze wrote: "LOL that's the smart way to do it! Go to the pages!"

Yeah they have books classified stupidly sometimes in the categories.

[Ann-Marie]

Also I had a digital credit so I bought book 1 and got the audio for $7.49 so I can join in despite the cover giving me the creeps....

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I think/hope you'll be pleasantly surprised...

When I discuss these books (the author in general, not this series which I haven't read yet), I describe them all as body horror... that's a term I've latched onto...

Looking at some reviews, tho, I've seen them called TF stories... TF being TransFormation... I guess there's alot of love for this kind of fiction in the Trans community, and how it explores identity issues... I can definitely see that...

In Vigor Mortis, the MC basically learns she is equivalent to the thing they worship as god on these floating islands, and does alot of body transformation, and by book 4 ends up merged with a spider creature from another island...

In Hive Minds Give Good Hugs, the MC ends up on another planet as a monster that can make clone babies and do all sorts of weird stuff...

Honestly, most of this authors fiction is impossible to explain in 1-2 short paragraphs :D

With Vigor Mortis fully published now, Hive Minds Give Good Hugs on Hiatus until she's ready to write the sequel, and apparently BioShifter finished... the only active fiction she has going right now is her Patreon series, Are You Even Human?, about Superheroes fighting Cthulhu Monsters across the multiverse... or something...

[Ann-Marie]

That current patreon sounds interesting, I do like a good C'thulu story.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Decided to be smart this time, and read the Patreon tiers...

There's the baby tier, just to know what's going on... then the Are You Even Human tier...

Then there's the Magical Girl, Mechanical Heart tier, which is apparently a story about "child soldiers and having a computer brain and being abused by sexy lesbian monsters"... there's gotta be alot more to it than that... this is just them trying to do a one sentence elevator pitch for support tiers...

Looks like MGMH started in April to replace BioShifter, and has 8 chapters so far...

AYEH has been going since late last year I think (that's when I first heard of it), and has 20+ chapters... I dunno... it's hard to get clear info since I'm not a patron (I kinda need audio so just wait)... BioShifter is 82 chapters across 3 volumes...

Looks like there's also been some pauses and breaks... so far this year Thundamoo has gotten sick, taken a trip to visit in-laws / partner's family, and managed to strain her wrists from writing once or twice...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Series schedule--it's spread out 'cuz we're weaving it with Cinnamon Bun... Spooky & Cozy...

Series:
1. Bioshifter: Volume 1 (Oct 18)
2. Bioshifter: Volume 2 (Ja..."

BioShifter Volume 3, the finale, releases tomorrow... just noticed it on Audible pre-order list...

[Ann-Marie]

I bought this but I am still not sure about it lol

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Ann-Marie wrote: "I bought this but I am still not sure about it lol"

Give it a shot... we really liked Vigor Mortis, about a random girl getting necromancy powers and discovering a whole world of body modification and craziness...

This one sounds even crazier...

Hive Minds Give Good Hugs was almost cozy, despite the body horror elements, and had a dual storyline...

Thundamoo sounds like a nonbinary/trans author with an interestingly twisted mind for storytelling... body horror is a common theme in her books...

Vigor Mortis is what made the topic of body horror a buzzword for me in discussions, and learn a bit more about Transformation Stories, in general... not sure what thrad I mentioned that in before, maybe this one...

[Ann-Marie]

I'm going to give it a try. If you had explained the premise of DCC before I read it I would have been like no thanks, hard pass and I frigging love it so who knows?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

It's hard to say... some things just work better than you expect... and narration varies alot from narrator to narrator and can change a story alot... half of what makes Wandering Inn so great is the narrator Andrea Parsneau, and her love of the story as well (I believe she was a fan before getting the job)...

[Tonari no Emily]

I still need to read the last Vigor Mortis... Maybe in the next few months.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

It was good enough... lots of stuff happened... then it ended...

Alot more happened than I expected, honestly... the kinda rushed ending actually felt a bit similar to Hive Minds Give Good Hugs

It went more Cthulhu-adjacent than I expected, for some reason... totally should have... (view spoiler)[with the Watcher, MC, and other character on the higher islands basically being the lone survivors of Cthulhu entities that consumed their home dimension...

Extinction-level event triggered, solutions found, MC goes off to another planet to be their benevolent god and try to raise them up to one day be able to fend off Watcher (and MC if needed) (hide spoiler)]

I heard there was potential for a sequel series about other characters like Lark, but I wonder what the timeline of that would be, considering how much time passed in the last few chapters...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Starting... first chapter is excessively mundane (on purpose, I think)... other than a few hints of the things I know from the blurb, it's all normal high schooler stuff... I'm sure things are gonna get weird when she goes to bed and enters her nightmare monster world...

Also, the narrator is a fast reader, so I had to slow it down a bit below 3x, because otherwise it felt a bit motormouth...

Also also, I feel like the narrator doesn't know Thundamoo and Natalie Maher are the same person, from how they did the intro...

Re-reading all the blurbs, including book 3, this is definitely giving me Vigor Mortis vibes, and Hive Minds Give Good Hugs, which also leads into Locked Tomb (and the flashbackstory to what happened on Earth before the Emperor became the Emperor)...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Through chapter 5-6, and the MC's pubescent confusion led me down a rabbithole on google and I learned a new term:

cross-orientation -- catch-all term for people whose sexual and romantic attraction don't match...

homosexual heteroromantic
heterosexual homoromantic
bisexual unoromantic (I just kinda made that term up, from root prefixes, but you get the idea)...

I'm not sure that's necessarily what the MC is... might also just be demiromantic (needs to get to know a person and build an emotional bond first)...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Monster Hannah is definitely having an easier time waking up in the Monster World, which probably isn't a good sign for Human Hannah...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Loving this so much… was gonna jump to something else as a work read today, but I couldn’t stop myself after listening some more on the drive to work…

Super invested in both plots… what Human Hannah’s gonna do, and learning more about (view spoiler)[4D Hyperspider (hide spoiler)] Hannah in the other world…

[Tonari no Emily]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Starting... first chapter is excessively mundane (on purpose, I think)... other than a few hints of the things I know from the blurb, it's all normal high schooler stuff... I'm sure things are gonn..."

Yes! As I was reading I was like, yep this is definitely Natalie Maher/Thundamoo lol
Reminded me of those things too. Not so much Locked Tomb though lol

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Starting... first chapter is excessively mundane (on purpose, I think)... other than a few hints of the things I know from the blurb, it's all normal high schooler stuff... I'..."

(view spoiler)[I was talking about the backstory of the Emperor in Nona the Ninth, where we learn how the Earth goes to shit when people with superpowers appear... similar to the plot of the Earth side of Hive Minds Give Good Hugs... that's more an extrapolation from the blurbs of book 2-3, when Hannah stops trying to keep her transformation secret... I imagine she's gonna reveal her exoskeleton on Twitch, at some point... (hide spoiler)]

I just reached the lunch trip for smoothies with Eda/Brendan, and the next round of sleep after...

Still super into this... starting to question the plans we made to alternate with Cinnamon Bun through the holidays :D

Kinda want a solid plan to read 2-3...

[Tonari no Emily]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Tonari no Emily wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Starting... first chapter is excessively mundane (on purpose, I think)... other than a few hints of the things I know from the blurb, it's all normal h..."

Ohhhh I see where you're going with that.

Lol for sure.. For this being one of the longer reads this month for me, I kind of devoured it!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

For me, Thundamoo is an author that sucks me in... when I'm in, I want to keep going and read everything... given some distance, it's easier to pause... which is what happened when I got stuck waiting for Vigor Mortis 4... I read 1-2 back to back, and waited awhile to read #3 until you guys read 1-2, and we had an idea of when 4 was coming to audio, because I knew about the cliffhanger ending to #3 from reddit/reviews...

That summation, might be a good summary of my reading habits in general, actually... easier to wait after already waiting, vs the desire for immediate gratification, right after reading...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

In chapter 23... (view spoiler)[Be Gay, Do Crime!!!

LOL...

Since around the 50% mark, I've been waiting for something bad to come from Hannah seeing the magic world human secretly talking to animals at night... I expect he's reporting to someone and isn't as benevolent as he seems?... but time has been passing slow in the magic world, since Hannah has to wake up in the middle of the night and do sentry duty, so progress is happening half speed since 2 Earth days pass each magic night?... and alot has been happening on Earth, with Hannah growing new limbs and the date with Alma/Autumn...

Speaking of Autumn, did NOT see the DID coming... I was kind of expecting her to secretly also be gaining magic, in some serendipitous way... (hide spoiler)]

Through Saturday night in the alley (I think that'll make sense, once you're in the general area of the plot :D )

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 25... (view spoiler)[I KNEW IT... things were looking like I was right after Hannah learned that Seniki had been keeping the mind link open while asleep... and with all the story going on, it's easy to forget how Hannah was treated with mind manipulation, before they knew she was sentient and friendly...

But the revelations here were kinda on another level...

Now I'm questioning whether the Goddess is even real, and if maybe it's been a projection from Seniki all along, and a post-hypnotic trigger almost, to keep Hannah friendly and teach her magic in both worlds... (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

WTAF am I listening to here???? I am not sold on this one.....

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

This is Thundamoo in a nutshell... I saw someone on reddit describe it as:

Messed up people dealing with messed up shit, and trying to be good, but failing messily...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Also forgot to mention how much I love Kogiso, in my earlier comments...

Pretty much every main character in the story seems to be on the autism spectrum or some other neurodivergent malady... including Kogiso in the fantasy world...

And I just love her with her rock throwing and fancy spider hat gets pats...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I love this magic system so much... I'm in the last chapters now... post magic world climax and in the denouement/wrapup in the Human world and setup for the next book I'd say...

(view spoiler)[called everything with Seniki... interesting how things played out with Helen and that Cultist guy Hegoro... super sad there was no way to save/revive Tehoro...

BUT... Magic System... so much is happening in the human world... Eda's Arrogance Magic is hilarious... the fact it works because she thinks it will and it should... it's very Warhammer 40k... there's this faction called the Orks, that are kinda idiots, but have a collective consciousness magic that just makes things work because they think it will... if you take any of their technology apart or away from Orks and try to reverse engineer it, there's nothing to reverse engineer, it literally shouldn't work... this is a bit of a boon & curse for them, tho, with stories of tricking Orks into believing fake bullets are real and they die because they believe they should...

ANYWAY... Eda & her Arrogance magic... Brendan is trans and has art magic... Autumn/Alma/Jet has pneuma and a few other magic types... and Hannah has been leaking transformation magic on people, including Autumn... oops... not to mention Hannah is slowly growing 10 eyes and limbs...

So much is going on, and this is just the tip of the iceberg... and she totally revealed herself on Twitch as expected...

And it's only been like 2 weeks since the beginning of the book?...

And I haven't even touched on any of the slowly dribbling World Tree world lore... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Last pages... (view spoiler)[Alma's soul house is cool... but the trauma of dating a girl with pneuma magic is surely going to cause problems in book 2-3...

Eda's Nothing Less Than Perfect spell: I was sure it was gonna accelerate Hannah's transformation into a spidergirl for a second there... especially when she wasn't even looking at Hannah for a few seconds after, seemed like a perfect shock setup...

And Hannah's therapy appointment... I'm sure this'll go great... we still don't have details on what the previous therapist did that landed them in jail... maybe Hannah can just come clean to her parents and skip therapy?... it's not like the secret is sustainable for much longer, anyway, with eyes growing in, and hand and foot claws... dad's covid will pass sooner than later, and then there's the teeth to worry about as well, currently hidden under the face mask... (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Also forgot to mention how much I love Kogiso, in my earlier comments...

Pretty much every main character in the story seems to be on the autism spectrum or some other neurodivergent malady... inc..."

Yes she's my favorite!!

[Tonari no Emily]

Loved your reactions Iain! Lots of what I was thinking at the time. (view spoiler)[ I wonder what her parents are going to do when they find out about Hannah's transformation. I don't trust them because of their whole anti-gay thing...

Very interested to find out about the therapist back story as well...

So far for Autumn/Alma, she doesn't seem to be a very mind-controlly pneuma mage. Hopefully her magic doesn't take her that way... Siniki was awful! I was very sus of him from the beginning and especially when Hannah had mentioned multiple times about them being "friends" (even before she overhead his conversation with that one guy). I'm glad to see chaos magic isn't inherently evil like he was saying too.

So Hannah is essentially constantly awake (at least mentally).. That must be friggin exhausting! I don't know how long she can do that for. ALso I'm gonna go ahead and assume her Earth world friends are gonna end up in the other place too at some point. Hopefully it will be to help fix whatever the other isekai people did. (That might be too hopeful for Thundamoo lol) (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

Ann-Marie wrote: "WTAF am I listening to here???? I am not sold on this one....."

Yeahh... I don't think this is for everyone.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea... I like introducing people to things and them liking them, but I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't for Ann-Marie :D

At least she tried one...

If you don't like this one, Ann-Marie, I'm not sure you'll like any Thundamoo... they all tend to be this messed up, really... it's kind of her thing...

I saw on reddit that the ebook/Royal Road has an author's note where Thundamoo talks a bit about being a Trans Woman, and that yes, this is supposed to be a bit of a trans analogy...

[Choko]

Is this horror?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

horror-adjacent... at the start it's body horror, since the MC's body is changing uncontrollably... but as the story progresses the MC accepts and embraces the changes... typical of Thundamoo really...

[Nirkatze]

I'm about halfway--chapter 21--and enjoying... definitely squeamish on all the body-horror though! I'm getting very curious about Autumn... (view spoiler)[and I thought the friend's Norse/World Tree theories were pretty interesting. I'm liking the reminders this is giving me, of Hive Minds and Vigor Mortis--but also how this is more solidly set in our world (complete with a pandemic) and that this MC is a lot more freaked out about her changes than the other MCs were. And all the pop culture references are fun too.

Current theory on Autumn is werewolf... likes urban fantasy, toned body, self-defense... Thundamoo's other books are all very unique, even with some cthulu-esque bits... it'd be interesting to see how she works with some more mainstream bits too. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Me and Emily liked this alot… I’m sure Nirkatze will too…

When can we continue with 2-3?

Now that we’ve started, I don’t really want to wait until January to finish Cinnamon Bun 4-5 first… unless I have to…

[Tonari no Emily]

I don't have too much scheduled this month and December so either is fine for me. We can see if Nirkatze has a preference?

[Nirkatze]

I'd like to keep the existing schedule, for my two cents... While I enjoyed the first book, I also found it rather disturbing, and I feel like I need a cozy break... I'd like to keep January. But I'll go with whatever the group decides.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Spoilsport ;)

Whatever the group decides seems to be the mantra in so many threads where the questions like these are asked... hard to get definitive answers out of people... defer to the minority... best way to keep everyone participating...

With this one, I don't think we really had a plan... and/or the plan kept changing... at one point Cinnamon Bun was gonna be every other month once we finished Vigor Mortis...

[Tonari no Emily]

Ah well, Nirkatze's schedule up top says Jan 18 for the next one. I suppose I can wait for that ;D

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Guess I shoulda looked up there…

And a more accurate meaning of what I said earlier regarding consensus, is probably that it’s easy to delay for stragglers, once you’ve already paused…

[Nirkatze]

I had a plan. And then school started. And I have lost track of all plans. Some day I hope to have plans again.

I really did enjoy this book though, even though it made me squirm--very appropriate for the season. I wasn't disappointed in no (view spoiler)[werewolf either--in fact, Autumn's double personality made me think of how werewolves are kind of a form of Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde in their own way, and how authors sometimes have the wolf be separate soul in its own right, and sometimes it is just a physical transformation. The reveal of the two people (and now I've forgotten their names) was very in-line with Thundamoo's unique approach to fantasy.

But man, why did more people have to be transforming and flesh falling off and them eating it... *shudder*

I'm really enjoying the evolution of friendship between the group though--the mean girl who has hidden depths, the best friend who is exploring their identity, and the love interest who only has half of her who is interested... And all of them connected by the possibility of magic.

I also find the MC's family relations interesting... how she feels about her family and isn't sure how she feels about her family... My radar is always primed for autism references, but her emotional descriptions, and comparing herself to her friend who is more identifiably autistic, definitely makes me pin her as on the aspie spectrum. Especially when paired with her mother--and her insistence that she doesn't stick out that way. Women with autism tend to mask a lot better, and it also comes out in obsessive interests, like Hannah's love of Pokemon.

The whole COVID setting is interesting too--I feel like I still haven't read too many books set during COVID.

And then there's the whole other world. I honestly wasn't as invested until the friend got all religious and traitory. (hide spoiler)]