Almost A Cult

A long list of short stories of casual brainwashing, near incest and inadvertent polygamy
Start Here

Get the release dates, rewrites, and editing notes in real time.

Dedication

Prelude

Part 1: The Family

Part 2: The Cult

Big Coller "Family"
Therapist Joe
Acceptable Cults
Extreme Cults
Our Cult
No Outside Influence
           *The Leader’s Leaders
           *The Consultation
           *Vaporized
           *The Wank and File
           *Preponderance of Eminence
Big Coller "Family"
Lack of Growth
           *A Proud Plateau
           *Two Minutes Hate
           *Summa Cum Nil
           *Best Book Ever
Ultimate Holders Of Truth
           *Crap On Your Principals
           *Fiat
           *Circumstantial Evidence
           *The Car Wash
           *Just Do Your Job
Big Coller "Family"

Narcissism
           *Ministry Of Health
           *Let Them Eat Cake
           *Story Time
           *Drama Kings
           *Most Important Performance Ever
           *Legends In Our Own Eyes
           *Building The Pyramids
           *Jack Of No Trades, Master of All
Operating Outside of Expertise
           *Un-Ambiguous
           *Marriage Prep
           *Pedophilia
           *By Their Own Standard
Black and White Thinking
           *God Ma’s Dogmas
           *Cookie Cutter Kids
           *Onward!

Big Coller "Family"

Self-Contradiction
           *That’s What He Said
           *Home Schooling Indecision
           *Indulgences
           *Accreditation Cancellation
           *False Advertising
           *Ideological Revolving Door
Blaming
           *Severance
           *Bad Teachers
           *Learning To Grade
           *Fudgy Facts
           *Unavoidable Setbacks
Mind Reading
           *Damned If You Speak, Damned If You Listen

Big Coller "Family"

Doublespeak
           *Character Clues
           *Unmerited Fervor
Disdain for the Lower Class
           *Cruelty
           *What About Slob?
           *Too Dumb to Question
Lack of Recognition
           *Totally Different
           *Toilet Paper Time
           *Forget Paris
           *Like Ri, If I Could Be Like Ri

Lack of Delegation
           *Women & Children First
           *A Matter of Principals
           *Prince Edward Longshanks
Lack of Autonomy (Professional Micromanagement)
           *If You Want Something Done Right
           *Corporate Punishment
           *Grade Quicker
           *Grade Quickerer
           *Eternal Interns
           *Overgrown Leaders
           *The One Exception
Personal Micromanagement
           *Tinker Troys
           *Your Kid Is Ugly
           *Contraceptive By Will
           *Mommy’s Makeover
           *Papa, Papa, and Papa Too
           *Scheduled & Sketchy
           *Treat Me Normal

Big Coller "Family"
Invisible Sets of Rules
           *Valentine’s Daze
           *Unperson
           *See Nothing, Say Something
           *A Cute Couple
Puritanism
           *Kiss It Goodbye
           *Premarital Advice
           *Divorced from Reality
           *White Weddings
           *Promise Keepers
           *Re-crucifixion
Big Coller "Family"
Culture of Fear
           *Texts of Terror
           *Unbrief Debriefing
           *Those Eyes
Public Repentance
           *Awaiting The Prodigal
           *Chapel Confessionals
           *Un-arranged Marriage
Information Siloing
           *The Mentors’ Mentors
           *Restricting Expecting
           *Super Secret Santa
Ethics Folders
Sharing Personal Secrets
Isolationism
           *The Holy Spy-rit
           *A Friend In Deed
           *Too Healthy For Family
           *We Can’t Be Friends
           *Self-fulfilling Prophecies
           *Attaching Strings
           *Confidant to Kids

Total Enmeshment
           *Publicly Prostrated
           *Matchmakers
           *Jesus Christ’s Super Scar
           *White Elephants
           *My Heart, Your Home
Financial Abuse
           *Pastoral Pork Barrels
           *Fiscal Enmeshment
           *Entered Into Evidence
           *Fiscal Manipulation
           *Buyer Be We’re
           *The Asch Assemblies
           *Lifeway

Part 3: The Rebel

Part 3A: Child Jamin (Iowa, ages 0-9)
7-ish
Kids of the 80’s
Christian Kids of the 80’s
Mom
           *Rebel Mom
           *Zombie Mom
           *Disrupting Reality
Dad
           *Curse Words
           *Mysogyny & Masculinity

Ryan
           *Missing Ingredients
           *Unprotected
           *Implausible Deniability
God
           *Crucifixion (the reason)
           *Ministry (the means)
           *Bible (the justification)
           *Rapture (the threat)
           *Heaven (the reward)
Sexual Development
           *Don’t Ask, Don’t Spell

Me
           *Not Seen & Not Heard
           *Kill Yourself Already
           *Don’t Cry, For Christ Sake
           *Family Feuds
           *The Walk Out
           *Begging For Family
           *Jeremiah 23:16
           *Really Don’t Cry, For Christ Sake
           *The Beginning of the End
Hypotheses

Part 3C: Adult Jamin
– Secrets (1999-2003)
           *Sex, Lies, and Vision Escape
           *Cobblers
           *Breakup Or Breakdown
           *Detox
           *Wonderful Counselor
           *Courtship
           *Married Twice

 

– Blind Faith (2004-2007)
           *Equilibrium Narratives
           *Honeymoon
           *Pedonillia
           *My Old Man & My Young Earth
           *Premise The Menace
           *Pressure
           *Continued Counselling
           *Sects’ Addiction

 

– Reality (2008-2015)
           *Disequilibrium
           *Peak Org
           *Coda
           *Finale
           *Relational Hospice

– Winning Wendy (2016-2017)
           *Poking The Bear
           *Foreshadowing
           *Intervention
           *High Chair Legionnaire
           *Crazy Blessed Adventures (part 1)
           *Crazy Stressed Adventures (part 2)
           *Crazy Pressed Adventures (part 3)
           *Crazy Incest Adventures (part 4)

Part 4: The Exit

May 31, 2017 – January 28, 2020

Part 5: The Intrusion

January 29, 2020 – May 2020

– Betty
– The Setup
– Different in Hindsight (January 20)
– D-day (January 29)
– Giggity
– The Blossoming of a Beautiful Disaster
– A Royal Awakening (March 5)
– Locking It In (March 9)
– Ides of March
– Burning Our House To The Ground
– The Trinity Intervenes
– The Storm Before The Storm
– Hypotheses
– Advice to Jamin

 

Part 6: The Shipwreck

May 2020 – August 2020

– Writing The Headlines
– Iceberg Ahead (Friday, May 1)
– First Impact (Monday, May 4)
– Sinking (Tuesday May 5)
– Last Words (Wednesday May 6)
– Gunplay (Thursday, May 7)
– Watching the Dominoes (Friday, May 8)
– Another Letter (Wednesday, June 10)
– A Month of Darkness

– My Plot (Friday, July 3)
– The Rejection Parade (Friday, July 10)
– Trapped
– Logan, Utah (Wednesday, July 15)
– Living in Grayscale (Friday, July 17)
– The Court Report (Tuesday, August 11)
– Please. Please. Leave.
– Stitching Up The Marriage (Friday, August 21)
– The Last Goodbye (Friday, August 28)
– The Last Last Goodbye (Sunday, September 20)
– Hypotheses
– Advice to Jamin

Part 6B: Wendy’s Version

 

Part 7: The Recovery

Part 7a: Finding Jamin
– Flailing
– Collers
– Tests
– Memory
– Feelings
– Wishes
– Reality
– Timeline
– Family Tree
– Constructing My Story

Part 7b: Reconstruction
– Disconnecting
– The Reynolds Pamphlet
– Growing and Moving Forward
– Ten Years

Part 7c: Grieving
– Sorry Not Sorry
– Owning Crap
– Responsibility
– Gratitude
– Hearing God
– New Goals
– Morning Lists
– Hypotheses
– Advice To Jamin

Part 8: Goodbye Letters

Part 8A: Honorable Mentions
– To the Smiths, Leses, & Hevvis
– To the Smiths
– To the Leses
– To the Hevvis
– To the Cobblers
– To Wholehearted and Courageous
– To the Drivers
– To Jax
– To Kacher
– To Bob Ballion
– To free-thinkers and think-free-ers

Part 8B: Goodbye Letter To My Drug of Choice

Jump On In!

The water’s…muddy, actually. Maybe start at the shore and wade in.  But if you’ve already been to my ocean of messy, here’s the most recent addition to the map: