Halloween Special 2023

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:13

So I was sitting here flipping through this ancient book of magic that's been in my family for many generations. It's got spells and depictions of demons and other stuff and prophecies about how they're gonna come after me, but whatever, it doesn't matter that much. Anyway, I was sitting here studying these disturbing depictions, and I thought to myself, I have not planned a Halloween special for this year, so I thought that maybe I would take this time to explore some of my favorite spooky science fiction books and give you guys some recommendations for the Halloween season. This is Quinn's ID's Halloween special number three. If you'd like to do more to keep this channel afloat, consider donating through the PayPal link in the description or checking out our Patreon. Thanks guys so much. So you guys know that I love science fiction, but my first love was really horror. I got into Lovecraft as a teenager, and I also picked up the work of Stephen King as a teenager. And Stephen King, no matter what anybody says, has some of the best horror stories ever. And plenty of them have elements of science fiction and cosmic horror as well. We talked about his book It in my Halloween special last year, but in this video we're gonna talk about another one of his books, The Gunslinger. The Gunslinger is the first in a series of books that takes you on a journey through Stephen King's macroverse. Stephen King considers the Dark Tower series as his Magnum opus. The series connects most of his other works in a conjoined universe. So in this series, there is an object known as the Dark Tower that exists both physically and non-physically. It is the Nexus that connects all things. The reason I'm recommending the Gunslinger and not the entire series is because the entire series is a huge investment. And to get the full impact of the entire series, you really need to be familiar with the work of Stephen King. But the Gunslinger itself can be viewed as a semi-standalone novel, although it does directly connect to the other books. The Gunslinger opens up with the title character, Following a Man in Black Across the Desert. He's been following this man for some vague amount of time. In this particular world, time moves strangely. In fact, it's almost impossible to measure. Roland is in pursuit of the Dark Tower, and he believes that he needs to reach the Man in Black in order to find it. Throughout the book, while Roland is in pursuit of the Man in Black, the Man in Black, who also appears in other Stephen King stories like The Stand, leaves various traps in order to tempt Roland away from his quest. One of the scariest parts of the book, in my opinion, is when Roland visits a town called Tull. It is a town that the man in black has been to as well. In this town, the man in black has raised a man from the dead, and he gives this man a number, Nighting. Also, in this strange, eerie little town is a woman named Ali, and the man in black leaves her with a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. He says to her, You want to know about death? I left him a word. That word is knight. If you say it to him, his mind will be opened. He will tell you what lies beyond. He will tell you what he saw. The word is 19. Knowing will drive you mad. But sooner or later you will ask. You won't be able to help yourself. Have a nice day. Walter L D M P. You will try to forget, but sooner or later it will come out of your mouth like vomit. This part is disturbing to me because someone she knows has been brought back from the dead, from the other side, and all she'd have to do to know was say the number. But it comes with a price. To me, this is very love crafty, and it just gives me the chills. It implies that there is an afterlife, but the horror of what actually waits in the afterlife is terrifying. The land of 19. Now the Gunslinger and the entire Dark Tower series has a lot of very abstract moments. It's very surreal at times because you're dealing with the multiverse and the craziness of the entire cosmos. It's hard to call the Dark Tower series science fiction even. It's kind of science fiction and it's kind of a western and it's kind of a horror and it's kind of every genre blurred together. It's genre-less. So if you want a book that's definitely got creepy cosmic horror vibes, and that's easy to read and that's a quick read, The Gunslinger is probably the spooky season book for you. The next up on my list, Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. Now I'm not going to lie to you guys, the Book of the New Sun is a challenging read. It is a book that you have to decipher as you consume it. But it has a truly disturbing and creepy atmosphere. It takes place at some point in the distant, distant future, where mankind has kind of returned to this pseudo-feudal era. And reading this book, you're just as clueless as the main character who doesn't really know anything beyond the very small view of the world that he's had, so you're discovering the world with him. And as the title implies, there's something wrong with the sun. It's dim, it's red. The world is not what it once was. The protagonist is literally a torturer and an executioner. That is his job. The Book of the New Sun has a very strong sense of mystery, and I think that is a key part of what makes it work. Because I do think it's written in a way that might turn some people off, but once you realize how fun it is to decipher. And once you start to uncover the dark secrets that this world has hidden within it, it gets a lot more fun. So if you're the type of person that likes challenge and reading, and if you're the type of person that likes to read books more than once to uncover new things, and you like disturbing mysterious science fiction worlds, then the Book of the New Sun by Jane Wolve might be the book for you. Moving right along, next we're gonna talk about The Passage. The Passage is an apocalyptic novel, kind of in the vein of the stand by Stephen King, but it has its own thing happening. Basically, tale as old as time. The government is doing experiments on inmates, they're trying to prolong human life, and they end up creating a virus that kills most people and turns some people into creatures. Now, I promise you, this is not your basic zombie apocalypse story. There's so much more to it, is how it shows you the beginning of the apocalypse and how things happen, and then it jumps like 93 years, and throughout the book, it's also making references to up to a thousand years in the future. By the way, this book is also a part of a series that continues on and on and on. I really love science fiction that deals with the long view of history. It's something that I've always liked. That's why I like Dune, that's why I like Foundation, and the passage is another example of something like that, but it's told through this story that involves an apocalypse and nukes going off and viral zombies that we're all familiar with, but the way it's written, in my opinion, sits it several steps above most things of a similar nature. Also, this book is freaking scary. There are some extremely tense moments in this book, so definitely if you are a big horror fan, this is a great horror book for the fall season. Next on my list is basically anything by Alistair Reynolds. Alistair Reynolds has great horror elements in his science fiction books, especially Revelation Space. I've talked about these books before on my channel, but I've never really highlighted how creepy they can be at times. And really the creepiness comes from the fact that he's playing with the mysteries of the universe. And there are various moments in his books that evoke this ominous sense of the cosmos. What's really out there. Alistair Reynolds' books often have this sense of deep time. The universe is very, very old. And sometimes when I think about how old the universe is and how big the universe is, I do kind of get this feeling that it's almost like anxiety or fear. And I think Alistair Reynolds' books do a good job of evoking that same sense upon reading. Compared to the universe, we are so tiny, we are so small. And it is good to be reminded that. So definitely check out Alistair Reynolds' books if you like space operas. Moving right along, I bet you thought I was done talking about Stephen King. So this is actually a collection of short stories called The Skeleton Crew, and the reason I'm recommending this one is because of the story The Mist. Predictably, the horrors in this particular story start with another government project, the Arrowhead Project. So, let me explain something about Stephen King's macroverse. Think of the macroverse as a huge bubble. Within the macroverse are a bunch of other bubbles. Those bubbles are universes. But there's also space between those bubbles and the greater macroverse. That space is called 2-space. It might be pronounced Toe-Space, but I've never heard anyone say the word out loud, so whatever. The creatures that appear in the mist after the Arrowhead Project accidentally opened some kind of gate seem to be from 2- Space. The Dark Tower series at some points mentions that the barriers between certain realms and 2- Space are thinner. These places are called thinnies. When the barrier is too thin, these worlds become twisted and dark versions of themselves, full of the horrors that inhabit 2-space. This is what happens in the mist. So basically, in the mist, the Arrowhead Project has opened up a gateway to all sorts of Lovecraftian horrors, and the story follows a man and his son who think they're just on a trip to the grocery store after this big storm, but it turns out that trip is gonna last a lot longer because them and a bunch of other people in the grocery store are trapped and there's a bunch of monsters outside. Now The Mist is a great story if you have not read it. It's another quick, creepy one set in a small town that you can get through rather quickly. It's got sci-fi elements, it's got cosmic horror elements, and it's also got plenty of contemporary horror elements as well. Definitely check this one out. Alright, next on my list, a classic. Everyone talks about this book all the time, but why is it scary? This book is scarier now than I think it was when it was written. Because when it was written, it's like, hey guys, don't get to the point where we've given away too many freedoms. And now I feel like we have hit this landslide where our freedoms are being gradually taken away and government surveillance has become more and more prominent. Lots of things in 1984 are becoming true. Some of the societal ills present in 1984 were present in 1949, but a lot more are present now, in my opinion. I truly pray that we never get the ability to read people's minds, because thought crime could become a very real thing. There's a very specific warning in 1984. It's warning how easy it is to slip back into fascism, and how technology can aid in that process, and how incredibly difficult it is to get out of it once we've gotten into it. The book also deals with ideas like social conditioning, which is something that's particularly eerie to me. When someone is conditioned to believe something, it's really hard to break that condition often. There are plenty of things that society wants you to believe that aren't true. We still live in a world right now where it's okay, technically, to disagree with the powers that be, to think whatever you want to think. But how much longer can we hold on to it if we don't fight for these rights more? So 1984 is a banger of a book, and it's a must-read. A lot of people think it's boring, it's not a boring book. I do not agree, it's riveting every time I have the chance of reading it. Next up on my list, another classic, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Frankenstein is actually the first science fiction novel ever written. I love Frankenstein. I was actually Frankenstein for Halloween this year. We threw a whole mad scientist Halloween party. Frankenstein is a book that is about the horror of looking your creator in the face and seeing something that is unworthy. It is the horror about being rejected by your creator and being forced to face the world alone. The horror of being smacked in the face with the cruelty of the world and the cruelty of life and existence. It's about the horror of being seen as less human, or not even human, a creature, a monster, because you're different. Everybody knows the story of Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein wants to create life. He takes all the most beautiful dead body parts that he can find and he zaps it to life, but once he looks this creature in the eye, once he looks at his creation, he is disgusted. He rejects what he has created. But the so-called monster is a living, conscious being. He thinks profound thoughts. He dreams profound dreams. I think a lot of people have been tricked by the portrayal of Frankenstein in the mainstream. He's always kind of a dumb monster. Frankenstein is definitely not dumb in this book. This is such a profound story about what it means to be alive and conscious. And I highly recommend it, if not for the story, then just for the historical value of this being the first science fiction novel ever written. And finally, without further ado, honorable mentions Hyperion, Dan Simmons. I love Hyperion. I've talked about it a bunch on this channel, but I just wanted to reiterate it here. Hyperion has a lot of scary moments. The Priest Tale is freaking creepy. And I've done a whole video on the Priest Tale on this channel, you can check it out. There is a particular world known as Hyperion, where these objects known as the Time Tombs have appeared, and there is also a being named the Shrike that has come out of these Time Tombs, and no one understands the Shrike. It is extremely powerful and extremely malevolent. Hyperion is one of those books that is science fiction ostensibly, but has plenty of horrifying elements woven through them. And you can check out my videos that I've done on the Hyperion series if you want to learn more about it. Alright, guys, so that has been my spooky Halloween special. Thanks so much for watching. Now, I'm suddenly feeling the urge to utter out loud some of these incantations in a dark room. So if you don't mind me, I'll be heading out in.