by Zilla N.

by Sabitha F.

Ghost in the Vending Machine by Saevelle is a Wattpad novel, but don’t let that stop you from reading it. In fact, that should have you running to it, as not only can you read it for free, you don’t even have to wait for your hold on it to come in at the library. You can read it right now!

Now, as one of the founders of Night Beats, I’m heavily biased. Maybe you are too, since you’re reading this very blog. If you’re new here, though, Night Beats is a Creative Commons-licensed concept for a cheesy early Noughts paranormal police procedural—think X-Files meets Supernatural meets Forever Knight. Basically, you can slip it into your creative project if you need to make a reference that won’t get dated.*

So it’s been used in various creative works quite a bit already, and you can find out more on this very website. But to my knowledge Saevelle is the first person to actually write an entire episode. And it’s glorious. It’s so wonderful.

The story alternates between the episode itself and the behind-the-scenes filming of it. In the episode, a sex worker is murdered by some kind of monster, and Jordan and Jane have to both solve the case and keep her ghost, trapped in a coin, safe. Meanwhile in Toronto, the actors, stunt people, and makeup artists deal with the ups and downs of minor celebrity and on-set romances. It’s sweet and funny and as a Torontonian one degree away from the film industry, I believe she gets it perfectly. And I love the episode itself—it has all the dramatic beats and character moments of a show like this, and Saevelle’s cinematic writing style lets you picture it as if on screen.

Basically, I adore this story with my whole heart, and if you’re a fan of campy, witty, self-aware fiction, I’m guessing that you will too.

*In other words, it exists purely because JKR is a TERF and Rachel had to edit all the Harry Potter references out of the second draft of Cascade. True story.