Rumors of the Dissimulants, not always known by the same name, have been around for all of the human experience. These beings existed as fact at times, in other times they were treated as legend, or myth. No matter what any civilization named the others that lived among them, there has always been the shadow of a sense that Homo sapiens sapiens was not truly alone in ruling the planet. The rumors fade away now — in favor of reality. Human knowledge is evolving, and therefore history is changing.
Dissimulants is a collection of stories presented in various formats and across differing media channels. Episodes published on the Dissimulants.com website are in flash fiction form, and made available out of order in the natural story timeline. Events depicted in the online episodes may follow or precede those previously published. It's for the reader to link the stories together into chronological order — and assemble the historical puzzle of the Dissimulants from the record. Each flash fiction episode is a glimpse, a sliver of time, where the decisions made by the characters change the course of their history, and perhaps the history of others.
The most common level of reader participation is to make regular visits to the site and search for new stories in the form of leaks. Leaked stories remain online only for a limited time and must be found and read before they are removed. In addition, all readers can join with others in a discussion of the stories and their opinions on the Dissimulants WordPress bulletin board.
Some readers, active on the main site and the online discussions, are invited to join as Insider members of the website. Insiders have privileged access to files of additional stories hidden on the site and they maintain full access to all episodes once published anywhere on the site.
If it all seems confusing, don't worry. Start reading the stories and it will become apparent. Just remember that the pages contain links to stories, but that those stories may have occurred before or after the one you are reading.
The original characters and events depicted in the stories are fictional, written under copyright by M.H. Duncan. All rights are reserved. Readers may not copy, reprint, redistribute without written permission from the author, or otherwise violate the copyright of this material.