The Magnus Archives: Ask an Exec: How to Navigate Cultish Colleagues [...] by shinyopals
Jan. 2nd, 2026 10:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
birdylion posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fancakeTitle: Ask an Exec: How to Navigate Cultish Colleagues, Soul-Stealing Bosses, and the End of the World at Work
Fandom: The Magnus Archives
Pairings/Characters: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims; OC management advice blogger, OC internet commenters
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Length: 43626 words
Creator Links:![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
shinyopals
Theme: crack treated seriously, epistolary, no canon required, outsider pov
Summary:
I've recently been unexpectedly promoted to lead a department in my organisation, wrote the anonymous emailer.
As there was no one working here when I arrived, my manager, who is head of the organisation, had promised me the choice of my own assistants. However, without warning, he simply presented me with an additional assistant. This new assistant’s first act on his first day was to let a dog into the office. It took several hours to catch and clean up after this dog and it has only been downhill from there. I admit I'm not entirely sure what to do with this assistant now I'm stuck with him. I'm hoping you have some advice?
Kind regards,
New Manager
Abigail Bailey runs a successful management advice blog. One frequent contributor is from a workplace with some... issues.
Reccer's Notes:
Content Notes:
Fanwork Links: Ask an Exec: How to Navigate Cultish Colleagues, Soul-Stealing Bosses, and the End of the World at Work on ao3
Fandom: The Magnus Archives
Pairings/Characters: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims; OC management advice blogger, OC internet commenters
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Length: 43626 words
Creator Links:
Theme: crack treated seriously, epistolary, no canon required, outsider pov
Summary:
I've recently been unexpectedly promoted to lead a department in my organisation, wrote the anonymous emailer.
As there was no one working here when I arrived, my manager, who is head of the organisation, had promised me the choice of my own assistants. However, without warning, he simply presented me with an additional assistant. This new assistant’s first act on his first day was to let a dog into the office. It took several hours to catch and clean up after this dog and it has only been downhill from there. I admit I'm not entirely sure what to do with this assistant now I'm stuck with him. I'm hoping you have some advice?
Kind regards,
New Manager
Abigail Bailey runs a successful management advice blog. One frequent contributor is from a workplace with some... issues.
Reccer's Notes:
The Magnus Archives is a horror audio drama in which the main character starts a new position as archivist in an organization named Magnus Institute that specializes on investigating strange/magical phenomena. Very soon, strange things start to happen to him too. Also, it turns out that his workplace itself is ... not what you could call safe.
This story starts with the idea that the main character writes to a management advice blog about the strange things about his workplace, and becomes a regular writer. The fanfic is told in the form of this advice blog as it could appear on the internet: We get the mails he writes in, and the bloggers answers, and also the comment section. It's hilarious, but also it's taken so seriously as the story progresses and gets darker.
As an outsider POV, it really brings out how horrible the whole Magnus Archives story really is. It also shows very well how the story starts so inconspicuous and then boils the characters in horror like a lobster it a pot - and in this fanfic, the character doesn't event write to the advice blog about what's actually happening (because of secrecy), only the workplace safety circumstances. It's such a fascinating outsider POV.
Since it doesn't expect any canon knowledge, it can be read fandom-blind. Even without fandom-knowledge it's a hilarious and tragic advice blog story and in my case, it was my intro to the story, which I listened to after finishing this fanfic, so it was great advertisement for The Magnus Archives. (Note that it contains out of context but significant spoilers if you're going in fandom blind. For me this added to the re-read factor of the fanfic.)
This story starts with the idea that the main character writes to a management advice blog about the strange things about his workplace, and becomes a regular writer. The fanfic is told in the form of this advice blog as it could appear on the internet: We get the mails he writes in, and the bloggers answers, and also the comment section. It's hilarious, but also it's taken so seriously as the story progresses and gets darker.
As an outsider POV, it really brings out how horrible the whole Magnus Archives story really is. It also shows very well how the story starts so inconspicuous and then boils the characters in horror like a lobster it a pot - and in this fanfic, the character doesn't event write to the advice blog about what's actually happening (because of secrecy), only the workplace safety circumstances. It's such a fascinating outsider POV.
Since it doesn't expect any canon knowledge, it can be read fandom-blind. Even without fandom-knowledge it's a hilarious and tragic advice blog story and in my case, it was my intro to the story, which I listened to after finishing this fanfic, so it was great advertisement for The Magnus Archives. (Note that it contains out of context but significant spoilers if you're going in fandom blind. For me this added to the re-read factor of the fanfic.)
Content Notes:
- depictions of outrageously bad workplace safety
- (canon-typical) dysfunctional interpersonal relationships
- lighter on the actual supernatural horror than the original canon
- out of context (but significant) spoilers if read fandom blind
Fanwork Links: Ask an Exec: How to Navigate Cultish Colleagues, Soul-Stealing Bosses, and the End of the World at Work on ao3
