The Funhole

In the early 1990s, Kathe Koja wrote a splatterpunk horror novel about a hole in a basement, and the various misadventures a mismatched punk couple had while putting objects (and limbs) into said hole.

If you're still reading, it gets worse: The hole - dubbed, you guessed it, The Funhole - didn't seem to be anything of this world, and in fact seemed more like a void or process that physically altered anything near it. It smelled weird; sometimes good. It drew folks towards it. A camcorder dropped down the hole created a video that altered itself every time it was viewed (think Ring...but more ooze, malaise, and much slower death). 

Publishers weren't crazy about the title "The Funhole" so it became "The Cipher" instead. It was the first title in the Dell Abyss line, which included titles by authors Poppy Z Brite, Tanith Lee, and Lisa Tuttle, to name a few.

This September, Meerkat Press issued a reprint of "The Cipher," which has been a cult favorite for decades but very hard to get a hold of. In honor, October's The Spectral Collection yarn club was a celebration of this weird and wonderful snippet of the early 1990s.

With a colorway officially titled "Into the Darkness" (but please go ahead and call it by its true name, "The Funhole"), a cassette tape charm, and a curiously scented candle, the club took the staticky and surreal elements of the novel for a spin towards a fun Halloween-reminiscent yarn. 

The Spectral Collection is the monthly yarn club for 2020, and it's full of author-inspired yarn from the horror, speculative, and science fiction genres. Sign ups for the last edition(!) of the club will go live on November 15 at 1pm.