To Be One Thing
A novella by Jason Planer
Release Date: TBD 2026
In a quiet barn hammock spun from silk and secrets, a giant sentient spider named Hannibal Napoleon Vader confesses his life to you, dear reader. Eight legs, eight truths, one fractured identity: he is both monster and philosopher, predator and poet, Hamlet with fangs and Lecter in chitin.
Born into a brood of cannibals, he survives by devouring siblings, liquefying prey with venom that turns flesh to shake, and wrapping leftovers in perfect Saran silk. Yet the mirror moment arrives—an Anaïs Nin epiphany—and the creature who once reveled in his symmetry begins to fracture. To be one thing, he discovers, is to embrace the monster within.
As his mouthparts dissolve from self-imposed starvation, Hannibal recounts his tragicomic journey: childhood bliss on sun-warmed silk, the farmhand’s silent nod of acceptance, forbidden forays into the human world, and the unbearable burden of hunger that no longer fits insects alone.
Part philosophical horror, part psychological thriller, part dark comedy of identity, To Be One Thing is the first published work in the Chrysalis Accord multiverse. A tale of monstrosity, belonging, and the quiet terror of becoming whole—told by the monster himself, who still cracks casino jokes while he fades.
Because sometimes, the scariest thing isn’t the spider.
It’s realizing you might be one too.
