There Is No Antimemetics Division
published 2026-07-20 | tags: #backlog #books
I've been following SCP off and on trough the last few years. I'm a fan of Control and Alan Wake and those feel like an extension of the SCP universe.
Having followed this space unfortunately some of these stories were already spoiled either by YouTube videos or reading the "there is no Antimemetics Divison" webseries -- which I don't recall reading at any point but some of these stories were definitely already in my brain... maybe it's a memetic implanting memories in my consciousness... or I am just forgetful...
SCP is a fun world to read about since it's basically just X-Files but even less structure.
There is not Antimemetics Division does do a good job of breaking out of the SCP mold in a few ways:
- A theme of Alzheimer's, while not in text but I got that vibe at least.
- A theme of societal memory loss, people in general forgetting atrocities that were horrible.
- A pretty authentic-to-the-narrative love story.
The Alzheimer's one was the most impactful to me. I've wanted to write a story about mental decay, memory loss, not being able to trust your own senses, that sort of thing, and while it doesn't go that far it does explore some of the themes, so I had interest there.
While not in the text directly, characters struggle to know what's real, what they used to know, and often lose friends and family and loved ones because of an Antimemetic monster taking their memories without them even knowing, or remembering.
Finally, I liked how as a story construction this was able to introduce an unknowingly untrustworthy narrator, because they keep forgetting things that happened -- that you even read in previous chapters!
It also plays with what information the characters have in a fun way that you can usually only get with like... flashbacks. In most stories once a character learns a piece of information they know it forever, but in this the author was able to do some interesting, and not too cheap, selective memory tricks to produce interesting situations.
This is all just what I liked about the story, and honestly reading it back I could see if you might be turned off by this description. I promise it's a fun sci-fi romp with interesting story telling and fun ideas you don't read much of.