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I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream

Lord RefaLord Refa Creepy, but in a good way
in Zocalo v2.0
[URL=http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/ellison/ellison1.html]The Book[/URL]

Finally found it.. Read it in one go and loved it.

I loved the game and the story, but didnt think the original short story would've been like that..

Its great. Got to get the book with it asap.

Hmm...

You know any other good stories with similar theme/feeling?

Comments

  • Morden279Morden279 Genius
    Well, I personally am quite looking forward to the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

    However, if that isn't really your thing, I'd suggest looking into some Iain M. Banks.

    Regards,
    Morden
  • Lord RefaLord Refa Creepy, but in a good way
    yesss... You could say it twice and quadruple times.. Harry Potter ain't my thing. :P
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    I second the recommendation of Iain M. Banks.
  • Lord RefaLord Refa Creepy, but in a good way
    Against a Dark Background, USE OF WEAPONS, THE ALGEBRAIST, CONSIDER PHLEBAS...

    But to start from where ? :/
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    Well personally, I started at the beginning and read them in order. [url=http://www.iainbanks.net/sf.htm]Go left to right, top to bottom.[/url]

    His first one ([i]Consider Phlebas[/i]) is a very good story but you can see he's still trying to find his writing style. [i]The Player of Games[/i] (his second) is a massive improvement in writing style and overall my favorite of the series.
  • sleepy_shadowsleepy_shadow Ranger
    Thanks for telling. :)
    I found Ellison's story a good passtime.

    [QUOTE]You know any other good stories with similar theme/feeling?[/QUOTE]

    [b]1. Deconstruction of Falling Stars[/b]

    Surely a story you know (mentioning just in case). Not a written story, but touches similar topics.

    We learn of four personality simulations being created... modeling persons who have already died. Partly for reasons of hate (new powers detest their legacy)... partly for manipulation / mind games (falsifying history promises profit).

    However, one of the artificial personalities (Michael Garibaldi) is constructed too adaptive -- and succeeds in hacking the virtual machine running his simulation.

    Realizing that war is coming... realizing he cannot save the situation, himself or his former comrades... Garibaldi utterly sabotages the plan of the people exploiting him. Presumably, it brings about the destruction of the physical environment which presumably contains the system which sustains his simulation.

    [b]2) "The City and the Stars"[/b]

    We learn of a left-behind pocket of Human civilization... a city maintained by its central computer... persisting despite entropy on an Earth mostly turned into desert.

    A similar theme is found in how the people live -- through a continued cycle of upload (when their natural bodies wear out), possibly mixing (while in storage), and download (when something, presumably the computer, decides to revive them again).

    We likewise learn of one inhabitant... possibly an element of randomness introduced on purpose... who decides to explore the outside world, and by traveling discovers another pocket of Human civilization.

    This leads to the computer rethinking its strategy, and the cycle breaking -- apparently reverting towards a less monotonous, more diverse, yet more risky arrangement of life.

    [b]3) Multiple stories by Iain M. Banks[/b]

    Recognizable similar themes:
    -- Interaction of biologicals and AI
    -- (To lesser extent) reality and virtual reality
    -- Whether hate is something unavoidable, or something one chooses. If one can choose... should one accept or avoid it? When or why?

    [b]3)A) Among them, "Consider Phlebas"[/b]

    Easier recognizable similar themes:

    -- A wrecked civilization
    -- Results of total war
    -- A shipwrecked person, unable to fully recover ability to touch the physical world
    -- Whether AI is perceived as a dangerous antipod to biological life, or oppositely considered their pathway to improvement

    [b]3)B) Among them, "Look to Windward"[/b]

    -- Of whether the burden of having participated in war is possible to abandon
    -- One person intending to exact revenge for their civilization, by committing a hopefully-devastating assassination
    -- The intended target making preparations to quietly and safely commit suicide
    -- Both being former soldiers, even if from different wars
    -- As sidenote: a human who looks like a monkey :p (but deliberately became like this, for reasons of better suiting an environment he studies)

    [b]3)C) Among them, a short story from the collection "The State of the Art"[/b]

    -- Of how a module-wrecked human and computer try making it to a location where they might survive.
    -- On the subject of going mad (and perhaps different ways to avoid this, or deal with the fact)

    [b]3)C) Among them, "Excession"[/b]

    -- Some plotlines relating to how different creatures deal with their respectively temporary or eternal nature
  • CiberCiber Earthforce Officer
    heyy people wiath!!!! that was a game looong time agoo am i right=?
  • the_exilethe_exile Kupo!
    Ah, more books to go on the list! I'm trying to phase myself out of science fiction at the moment, but I don't know if that's ever going to happen.
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