• Thought-provoking Short Story Thread
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[img]http://dryicons.com/images/icon_sets/aesthetica_version_2/png/128x128/warning.png[/img] [b]Warning:[/b] These stories may fuck your shit up. If you're mentally unhinged, depressed or prone to paranoia I highly advise turning to go immediately. There is such an archaic and sobering influence in many of these that it is not only my duty as a fellow human being but my obligation to attempt to discourage those who are cosmically weak. Imagine your mind as a sheet of tin foil. Each story you read will put a crease in that foil. You already know what will happen if you read too many of them over an extended period of time in unfavorable circumstances. Now let us continue. This thread is not only for me to share some stories with you, but for you to submit stories to be added to the collection that I or others can learn from. I will fervently seek out the full text of whatever you suggest and add it to this post. I don't want this to only be stories that I have read. [B]What defines a 'thought-provoking short story?[/B] A story of short to moderate length (Usually anywhere from one to thirty or forty pages.) that elicits either wonder, awe or horror in a reader to the point where the person mentally revisits the story several more times in the future. [B]What genres are most likely to be thought-provoking?[/B] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculative_fiction]Speculative Fiction[/url] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction]Science Fiction[/url] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoid_fiction]Paranoid Fiction[/url] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopian_and_dystopian_fiction]Dystopian Fiction[/url] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalyptic_and_post-apocalyptic_fiction]Apocalyptic/Cataclysmic Fiction[/url] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural_fiction]Supernatural Fiction[/url] [highlight]Current Facepunch Archive:[/highlight] [B]I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon by Philip K. Dick[/B] - [I]In the story, a man (Victor Kemmings) regains consciousness during a failed attempt at cryosleep on board a spaceship. The ship's artificial intelligence cannot repair the malfunction and cannot wake him, so Kemmings is doomed to remain conscious but paralyzed through the ship's entire ten-year-long journey.[/I] [B]Beyond Lies The Wub by Philip K. Dick[/B] - [I]Peterson, a crew member of a spaceship visiting Mars buys an enormous pig-like creature known as a "wub" from a native just before departure. Franco, his captain, is worried about the extra weight, but seems more concerned about its taste. However, after takeoff, the crew realizes that the wub is a very intelligent creature, capable of telepathy and maybe even mind control.[/I] [B]The Second Variety by Philip K. Dick[/B] - [I]"Second Variety" occurs in the aftermath of an extensive nuclear war between the Soviet Union (sometimes referenced as Russia) and the United Nations. Early Soviet victories forced the North American government and production to flee to a Moon Base, leaving the majority of their troops behind. To counter the almost complete Soviet victory, U.N. technicians develop robots, nicknamed claws—the basic models are "a churning sphere of blades and metal" that ambush their unsuspecting victims "spinning, creeping, shaking themselves up suddenly from the gray ash and darting toward . . . [any warm body]." U.N. forces are protected from the claws by a special radiation-emitting wrist tab. Within six years, the sophisticated and independent claws have destroyed the Soviet forces, repairing and redesigning themselves in automated underground factories run without any human oversight.[/I] [B]The Last Question by Isaac Asimov[/B] - [I]The story deals with the development of computers called Multivacs and its relationships with humanity through the courses of seven historic settings, beginning in 2061. In each of the first six scenes a different character presents the computer with the same question, namely as to how the threat to human existence posed by the heat death of the universe can be averted. The question was: "How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?" This is equivalent to asking: "Can the workings of the second law of thermodynamics (used in the story as the increase of the entropy of the universe), be reversed?" Multivac's only response after much "thinking" is: "INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER".[/I] [B]I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison[/B] - [I]The story takes place over a hundred years after the complete destruction of human civilization. The Cold War had escalated into a world war, fought mainly between China, Russia, and the United States. As the war progressed, the three warring nations each created a super-computer capable of running the war more efficiently than humans. The machines are each referred to as "AM," which had originally stood for "Allied Mastercomputer," and then was later called "Adaptive Manipulator." One day, one of the three computers becomes self aware, and promptly absorbs the other two, thus taking control of the entire war. It executes the genocide of all but five people.[/I] [B]The Bet by Anton Chekov[/B] - [I]A banker and a young man who make a bet with each other based on capital punishment and whether the death penalty is better or worse than life in prison. An ironic twist responds to this exploration of the value of a human life with an unexpected result. The terms of the wager state that if the lawyer can live in solitary confinement for 15 years, he will be given 2 million rubles.[/I] [B]The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft[/B] - [I]It is written in a documentary style, with three independent narratives linked together by the device of a narrator discovering notes left by a deceased relative. The narrator pieces together the whole truth and disturbing significance of the information he possesses, illustrating the story's first line: "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity; and it was not meant that we should voyage far."[/I] [B]Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut[/B] - [I]In the story, social equality has been achieved by handicapping the more intelligent, athletic or beautiful members of society. For example, strength is handicapped by the requirement to carry weight, beauty by the requirement to wear a mask and so on. This is due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the United States Constitution. This process is central to the society, designed so that no one will feel inferior to anyone else. Handicapping is overseen by the United States Handicapper General, Diana Moon-Glampers.[/I] Download the full texts here (Public Domain): [url]http://filesmelt.com/dl/Beyond_Lies_The_Wub.rtf[/url] [url]http://filesmelt.com/dl/I_have_no_mouth_and_I_must_scream.rtf[/url] [url]http://filesmelt.com/dl/I_Hope_I_Shall_Arrive_Soon.rtf[/url] [url]http://filesmelt.com/dl/The_Bet.rtf[/url] [url]http://filesmelt.com/dl/The_Second_Variety.rtf[/url] [url]http://filesmelt.com/dl/The_Call_of_Cthulhu.rtf[/url] [url]http://filesmelt.com/dl/The_Last_Question.rtf[/url] [url]http://filesmelt.com/dl/Harrison_Bergeron.rtf[/url] I would put some stories by Richard Matheson as many of his were the basis for Twilight Zone episodes and, in my opinion, are some of the best, but I can't find any text versions of them at this time. Same with Arthur C. Clarke.
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream freaked the hell out of me. I remember reading it months ago, it kept me awake for days.
I read I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, I was left with an awkward feeling.
I thought of The Twilight Zone a lot while reading the thread.
When I have a fever or some shit, I have a dream somewhat like I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon. Trippy shit
The Second Variety is an excellent read, kinda reminded me of the latest Terminator; with a bad ending though.
You should add "The Road" to the list.
[QUOTE=Noodle Ninja;20719044]You should add "The Road" to the list.[/QUOTE] The Road was an amazing story. Also "I have no mouth and I must scream" was some creepy shit. :I
I read 'I have no mouth and I must scream' and wasn't bothered by it. More desensitized than I thought, I suppose. It was an enjoyable read, however. I found it quite inspiring.
I think a Fallout 3 quest was inspired by I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. Or so I read.
Tranquility Lane.
I have the feeling that some of these stories are propaganda against the cold war etc, like George Orwell's 1984. That was written because George wanted to show how flawed communism was. Stories of this sort always end badly or negatively, to impact those who read it.
I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon is a lot like Alastair Reynold's short story Dilation Sleep.
[QUOTE=UnstableIsotope;20721290]I have the feeling that some of these stories are propaganda against the cold war etc, like George Orwell's 1984. That was written because George wanted to show how flawed communism was. Stories of this sort always end badly or negatively, to impact those who read it.[/QUOTE] Wait, wasn't 1984 about a totalitarian state? It's been a while since I read it. [editline]12:34PM[/editline] On top of that, wasn't Orwell a socialist?
[QUOTE=The Pale Lotus;20721721]Wait, wasn't 1984 about a totalitarian state? It's been a while since I read it. [editline]12:34PM[/editline] On top of that, wasn't Orwell a socialist?[/QUOTE] It's more a satirical political statement of the government of the time, and an expression of his own fear of what could become. And he was indeed a socialist. (My opinion: Socialism is a good idea; it's simply unfeasible on large groups of people). 1984 is a fantastic read for those of you who haven't read it yet; the first two thirds are relatively slow, but show brilliantly what living under a totalitarian regime is like. The final third of the book is a masterpiece; the Party's slogans: "War is Peace", and "Freedom is Slavery" etc. are so skillfully justified that you find yourself agreeing with them. I adore threads like these. They're a feast for the mind.
[URL]http://fiction.eserver.org/short/the_most_dangerous_game.html[/URL] Not really thought provoking or scary or anything, but a good read of a short story.
"Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said" was thought provoking and for some reason the little ending flourish about the ceramic sculpture being loved made me cry
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream was pretty fucked up. I intend to read the first story on the list, I always wondered "What would it be like to be conscious but paralyzed?"
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream wasn't very good.
[QUOTE=Dank Dave;20732769]I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream wasn't very good.[/QUOTE] What didn't you like about it? Although I didn't get the same reactions the others got, I still thought it was a good read.
Someone add "Trurls Machine" or "The ones who walk away from Omelas" I love Utopian Fiction
No sleep for me tonight... :sigh:
[QUOTE=Achilles123;20732797]What didn't you like about it? Although I didn't get the same reactions the others got, I still thought it was a good read.[/QUOTE] Actually, now that I think about it, it was pretty good. I wish it was longer because I didn't have time to grow to hate AM as much as I probably should have but it was interesting. I take back my previous statement.
I disagree, I felt strong sympathy with AM.
[QUOTE=TinSoldier;20732969]I disagree, I felt strong sympathy with AM.[/QUOTE] Agreed. EDIT: Sometimes I think it was an acceptable punishment, sometimes I think AM should have kept others alive so that the torture would be more "evenly spread". I don't know, I have a thing for those "eternal punishments", like the guy who got his liver eaten by this Eagle over and over.
When I read Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep I got my mind blown. The whole "trying to sympathize and love machines who know no emotions or feelings" thing was interesting. It was also pretty fucking crazy because you never knew who was an android. Deckard could have been an android and you would have never known it. It really blends the line between what is real and what only appears to be real. I would put more Philip K. Dick stories up there because that guy is like a prophet (We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, The Golden Man, NULL-O), but I want there to be more of a spread. I'm going to try to hunt for some more good ones tonight. The Man Who Couldn't Sleep by Karel Capek is a good short. It's only 3 or 4 pages long, but makes you kind of think about yourself. Too bad I can't find it in text. Here it is on google books, however: [url]http://books.google.com/books?id=nE5hNKbBOHkC&pg=PA335&lpg=PA335&dq=the+man+who+couldn%27t+sleep+karel+capek&source=bl&ots=t36tJc9JDQ&sig=AxNyEamCrB3S-LEUhMywQ7NBFeg&hl=en&ei=wGCcS4uMOI_2sQOhprS_Aw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false[/url] There's also a story by Richard Matheson called Witch War where the military hires seven little girls with psychic abilities to fight wars for them, but it's really disturbing. "The men were coming over the rise of a hill when the attack came. The leading men, feet poised for the next step, burst into flame. There was no time to scream. Their rifles slapped down into the muck, their eyes were lost in fire. They stumbled a few steps and fell, hissing and charred, into the soft mud."
[url]http://lucis.net/stuff/clarke/star_clarke.html[/url] The Star by Arthur C. Clarke. I don't want to spoil the ending. It has quite a twist.
[u]The Overcoat[/u] is a good Russian story.
[QUOTE=pognivet;21951570][url]http://lucis.net/stuff/clarke/star_clarke.html[/url] The Star by Arthur C. Clarke. I don't want to spoil the ending. It has quite a twist.[/QUOTE] You could say... the end of that has a twist.
I thought "A Dream of Armageddon" was pretty good; written by H. G. Wells, written in 1901. Quite a concept for its time, and still very interesting. [url]http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/6/[/url]
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