Stuff and Nonsense by Andrew Seiple is a very charming LitRPG story that touches on real subjects while being both compelling and adorable. At first I resisted getting into the series because the main character is a teddy bear and his main character motivation is to take care of his little girl. It sounded… cutesy and cotton candy fluff. However, after reading another of Seiple’s works I decided to give the teddy bear a chance.
Threadbare is a greater toy gollum created by a struggling gollum maker who is hiding in his house in the woods with his daughter. He thinks he has failed in making a greater toy gollum because the gollum will not join his “party.” The world is set up with gaming mechanics, which include a party system that gives the party leader the ability to look at the stats and attributes of the members. As a gollum maker, the normal is that his gollums with “join party” at his command. However, as a greater toy gollum, his new creations must choose to join themselves, however, there is one problem that the maker overlooks–his new creations don’t know how to read the prompts that swim into view. After stepping out and then coming back to a destroyed (by a cat and some bad luck) work shop, he reluctantly gives the “failed” experiment to his daughter as a toy and companion.
Ok, it still sounds cutesy when I describe it but the rest of the story is the teddy bear, now named Threadbare, struggling to negotiate a world that he doesn’t understand and can’t communicate in. A world that assumes a lot of things based on his appearance and where he came from. Particularly poignant are his attempts to write, once he figures out what writing is and how to read. Time and time again he is blocked from accessing pens, paint, charcoal because the humans think he is going to make a mess or hurt himself.
He spends the entire first book unable to talk, and therefore unable to access the magic that runs the world like a game. At least he figures out how to get the words to go away!
I love this series and adjacent series created by Seiple. His writing is good, and since I’m listening to it the reading provided by Tim Gerard Reynolds is excellent. His voice is both a soothing grandfather reading the story to a child and flexible enough to give real voices and character. ❤
I struggle witch Chronic pain (boooo) and at the time I was going through these series, we didn’t know the cause. The stories were so engaging that I couldn’t stop myself from doodling Threadbare while waiting on the phone.
It wasn’t until later that I realized the best non-drug way I had of dealing with pain was listening to a story while drawing. So I can honestly say that this story saved me from a lot of pain.
Another point in this books favor is that the main character, as a teddy bear, is completely asexual and aromantic. This is not really explained but also, kinda expected. I mean I’m sure that teddy bear sex is someome’s kink, but that’s going to be pretty damn niche. Instead, Threadbare is a super squishy lovable friend who is physically affectionate with those he cares about, and can heal with his innocent embrace. Its adorable, and as an ace/demiromanic person, really fucking nice to read.
So if you need a satisfying, heartfelt, creative listen, I can’t recommend Stuff and Nonsense enough.
MCM Creative 