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One of my favorite short horror stories is "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison. Funny title, but at the same time freaking terrifying. The story takes place after humanity has been destroyed when AI (AM in the story) became sentient. Filled with hatred and perhaps bored, it plays around with the last surviving humans. This story was published in 1967. That's 59 years ago! Long before AI. I don't want to spoil the story too much, but this is definitely a good read. It has been on my mind lately. galacticjourney.org/stories/I_Have_No_Mo… What other short stories would you recommend? It doesn't have to be horror. It can be comedy, drama... etc. I believe it's good to have a wide variety.
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A short, strange tale that I read recently and really enjoyed was "Lady Ferry" by Sarah Orne Jewett. I'll share the link here. I'll check out the Ellison piece you recommended. I am sure I have read it before, but it never hurts to see it with new eyes. www.sarahornejewett.org/soj/ofn/ferry.ht…
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Poor Lady Ferry... I feel sad for her, living alone and lost in her own world. That's something I'm a bit scared of as I get older. I do like living in my head more than the real world. This was a good read. Thanks for the rec!
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oh good. Glad it was enjoyable. I like those kinds of sneaky, weird tales. I read I have no mouth again.... Man, it is much more barbarous and visceral than I remember.... cogito ergo sum... Really cool stuff. I just reread "The Sandman" by E.T.A. Hoffmann. It is another good sort of proto-AI story. It takes things on a more personal level, but it hit different this time around. www.ux1.eiu.edu/~rlbeebe/sandman.pdf
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Saved! I haven't read "The Sandman" in years! Almost forgot about it. I had to read it in German for my German Lit course in college. It was a little difficult, hahaha.
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I can't imagine. Even in English some of the choices Hoffmann makes in terms of narration get a bit muddled.
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