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> they knew it was wrong I know which book series this was part of, and this action was the correct one to take. I feel as if the entire point of the book is
by moosey 7y ago
> they knew it was wrong
I know which book series this was part of, and this action was the correct one to take. I feel as if the entire point of the book is that at some point, we need to make collective decisions, and when we do so, we all need to share in the responsibility of those decisions.
The decision not to protect each human life as some kind of infinite well of value is an unusually narcissistic form of collectivism, I think, and only possible in highly developed nations. I believe that at some point, the reality of resource depletion or pollution, possibly war, will come to a head, and we will have to abandon this view.
- beat 7y agoI've heard some criticism of that series of "Can't relate to the characters". I suspect that it's because the perspective is so strongly Chinese, rather than American. The situation of the scene isn't something an American would even think of, y'know? A big part of the beauty and thrill of that scene, for me, was all of these people recognizing the problem, and the solution, and the horror of the solution, at the same time.
- amblingalpaca 7y agoDo you have any recommendations for other books, movies, or shows that "sparked horror" as well as that event did? The closest I think I've come since was Blindsight's revelation on how the aliens functioned, but it wasn't nearly as cinematic.
- beat 7y agoI would have recommended Blindsight! Along the same lines, I really loved A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge, and its "sequel" A Deepness in the Sky has aliens that remind me in many ways of the Trisolarans. But A Fire Upon the Deep gets some of that horror.
- amblingalpaca 7y agoVernor Vinge (or his publishers at least) have just made another $20. Thank you so much!
- asark 7y agoBlindsight was great. The Martian Chronicles and The City and the Stars both reliably produce a kind of satisfying melancholy, if that makes sense, at least for me. Not unlike To the Lighthouse, actually. Might not quite be what you're looking for, but... similar-ish? There's a short story collection called Beyond Flesh that has some solid horror moments of the sort you're looking for, I think.
- amblingalpaca 7y agoSatisfying melancholy is the “cellar door” of vibes in my opinion, these recommendations could have been airport romance titles and I’d probably still have checked them out! Had no idea Bradbury fit “There Will Come Soft Rains” into a novel of sorts, that was probably one of the very first SF stories I ever read and loved. All have been added to my reading list (To the Lighthouse included) thank you!
- asark 7y agoThe Martian Chronicles is more like a concept album, but with short stories instead of songs, than a novel. There are some connections here and there but the vibe is always more important than the details or any broader narrative, as far as linking the stories together. Fair warning: To the Lighthouse is a (gently!) stream-of-consciousness work of Modernist fiction, and the entire middle act is mostly a description of a vacation home aging for a time, largely absent any people. It's also one of my favorite books, but it's, ah, subtle, I guess. Think a series of impressionist paintings of everyday life, nature, and empty rooms, but in book form. I hadn't thought about it a lot but on reflection that "satisfying melancholy" effect is one of my most treasured feelings I can get from fiction. There's something childlike about it that really appeals to me—and now that I think about it, a lot of the big children's classic films, especially of 80s, went for this in a big way. Almost everything by Don Bluth. The Neverending Story. That kind of thing. Might be why I make that association. Just scanned my shelves looking for more. The short stories of Dinesen, a bit? The Call of the Wild, but I think that might just be a "me" thing. It's a lot more common in poetry, where you can read through an anthology for any famous poet and probably encounter it many times, than in fiction. Possibly it's more common in bodies of literature outside of English—I'm thinking especially of Russian and French—where I'm even less well-read than I am in English. I just don't know.
- moosey 7y agoOutside of the recommendations that I see, all of which I agree are excellent, I would say "The Broken Earth Trilogy" by N.K. Jemesin.
- amblingalpaca 7y agoI’ve heard really good things about those over the past few years but never took a serious look for some reason, reading the synopsis now... I can definitely see the “horror” I’m looking for happening, thanks for putting them over the top!
- beat 7y agoI thought you might enjoy this last verse, too... Sixty thousand years to get there Five ships waste fuel you need to stay alive Eden's just another word for graveyard So kill and steal, leave Eden and survive Light a candle in the darkness Drift forever in the gloom Four thousand comrades sacrificed to save you Their ships you gutted serving as their tomb.
- bloogsy 7y agoWhat book series is this from? Or even better, what specific book? I'd be keen to read it.
- beat 7y agoThe Three Body Problem, by Cixin Liu. The scene is actually from the second book in the trilogy, The Dark Forest, but they are really meant to be read in order, and I don't think The Dark Forest would make much sense without reading The Three Body Problem first. Outstanding books, highly recommended if you like old-school hard science fiction. I'm currently reading the third book in the trilogy. But when I read this one scene... I had a song a day later. It really knocked me out.
- chipuni 7y agoThe book was probably Liu Cixin's _The Dark Forest_. If you want to read it, start with _The Three-Body Problem_, the first in the series.