Nanaimo Fiction Debut We're Naked!
Nanaimo Fiction Debut We're Naked! Supports Nanaimo Pride Society With Surreal Apocalypse Love Story
Michael Needham’s debut interactive fiction piece, We're Naked! — A Rapture in Three Acts, launches with half of all interactive proceeds directly benefiting local 2SLGBTQIA+ advocacy.
A Surreal Tale of Impermanence
The Nanaimo-based artist, developer, and writer, publishing under the pen name ChefMyKLove, officially releases the book on May 26, 2026. The narrative serves as both a love story and an apocalypse story, tracking two individuals who have exactly forty-nine minutes left before the world ends.
The work unfolds across three distinct acts:
The story begins with a morning waking where two people reach for one another as the day opens up.
The plot shifts to a narrated dream set at an apocalypse party in Central Park, where the crowd remains calm despite the impending end of the world.
The final act brings a quiet settling into the dust, maintaining an intimate focus on impermanence.
Community Impact and Launch Details
This launch offers a direct benefit to the local 2SLGBTQIA+ community in British Columbia. A $5 donation grants access to the full interactive browser version of the story, which features a scroll-triggered animation designed to activate during the climactic scene. Half of all proceeds from these donations go directly to the Nanaimo Pride Society. For readers preferring a traditional format, a standard epub version is also available for $2.99 at naked.chefmyklove.com.
Following the initial release, Needham plans a unique digital-to-physical publishing event on June 16, 2026. He will release a limited edition of 100 HTML ordinals inscribed on the BSV blockchain. In a notable step for Canadian publishing, token holders can choose to permanently burn their digital token to receive a physical, signed, and numbered Coptic-stitched chapbook. Because there will be no reprints or second runs, the final number of physical copies will depend entirely on how many holders sacrifice their digital tokens.
Needham creates his multi-disciplinary work as software developer, photographer, and writer from the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw Peoples, colonially known as Nanaimo, BC. Review copies and interview opportunities are currently available upon request.