HOOKBOOK - TIMELINE #25184406

(Timeline Tuesday #138)

Despite appearing similar to the natural books of our timeline, hookbooks are actually a species of hard-shelled invertebrate. The creatures can range in coloration, but are usually found in a distinct shade of blood-red. Their dimensions can also vary, but rarely do they stray from what’s expected of a standard hardcover book. When a hookbook is lying in wait and disguising its true nature, there is not much else to describe. The only giveaway is that their spine is blank.

Anyone who stumbles upon a hookbook and opens it up will trigger an automatic, primal reflex from within the creature, a mass of thin, barbed tentacles springing forth and using a rudimentary heat-seeking mechanism to worm their way into the closest patch of exposed skin they can find. These hooklike barbs are incredibly painful, and the discomfort will get even worse if anyone tries to remove them. Tampering with hookbook barbs causes the tentacles to pull progressively more taught, escalating the pain as their victim struggles. Careful surgical intervention can be used, but this often requires time and money.

The much more common approach for releasing a hookbook, however, is to simply read them. The motivations for this are unclear, as hookbooks do not gain some kind of psychic sustenance when they are read. They are natural scavengers, and their hunts for food appear wholly unrelated to their hooking abilities.

After much debate, the majority of researchers believe hookbooks simply enjoy being read. They are biologically predisposed to spread the knowledge within their pages. Once they are fully consumed from cover to cover, their barbs will relax and release.

Surprisingly, the stories held within hookbooks are rather interesting. No two hookbooks are exactly the same, and their tales can range from whimsical ramblings to stark, realistic prose.