SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Hi all,

Do you have any recommendations for "sci-fi horror"?

Thanks,

Two "recent" novels:

The Girl with All the Gifts, by M.R. Carey.

Annihilation, by Jeff Vandermeer, but just this one, not the rest of the trilogy Southern Reach.

Thanks for the recommendations, Jose.

I quite liked Annihilation, but I haven't read The Girl with All the Gifts yet.

I'm also planning to add Blindsight (and possibly the rest of the series) to my list.

Neal Asher often goes gory, as does Alistair Reynolds on occasion. Dan Simmons' Hyperion books have a horror element, and I highly recommend them. Likewise Iain M. Banks. While his books are High Space Opera, there are often horror themes within. Surface Detail and Use of Weapons fit and are probably two of the finest SF novels ever written.

Leviathan Wakes isn't exactly horror, but it definitely had some horror in it.

Yagiz wrote: "I'm also planning to add [book:Blindsight|484..."

I also have it in my TBR list!

David wrote: "Leviathan Wakes isn't exactly horror, but it definitely had some horror in it."

Thanks, David.
I definitely enjoyed Leviathan Wakes.

Perdido Street Station is SF/Fantasy/Horror/Steampunk ... or something. Quite liked that one.

Any of the H.P. Lovecraft Cthulhu mythos tales as well (obviously).

I wouldn't actually classify Blindsight as SF/Horror. Yeah, it's got a vampire in it (a pretty non-horror kind of vampire, and one that is not adequately explained to my satisfaction) and a lot of horrible stuff but it's not really about the horror. It's also a very dense, dark, difficult read. IMO.

I see Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo on lists of SF horror. I read it and rated it 4-stars ... but didn't write a review so now I can't for the life of me remember what's in it! Isn't getting old wonderful? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

Ha ha! We're not getting old. We're just reading too many books :).

Thank you. I just added Ship of Fools while I was researching potential books. It looks like I'm going to like it.

Blindsight was a great read. Interesting bits of psychology, cognitive science, and philosophy. I typically don't read horror and didn't think of this book as being horror.

Paul wrote: "Neal Asher often goes gory, as does Alistair Reynolds on occasion. Dan Simmons' Hyperion books have a horror element, and I highly recommend them. Likewise Iain M. Banks. While his books are High S..."

Thanks, Paul.
I agree with Hyperion. I love those books.
Last year, Dan Simmons did a book reading and signing here in Denver, and I had the chance to get my books signed too :).

Well, one obvious contender is the granddaddy of the entire genre, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

I would also add The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells and I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.

A.E. van Vogt's The Voyage of the Space Beagle is pretty much Alien, written 40 years earlier.

Now that I think on it, lots of classic SF also edges into horror: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Day of the Triffids, The Midwich Cuckoos, etc.

How about Alien? It is certainly scif-fi that will make you shiver with fear and horror.

Here's a thread from 2013 that was discussing the same topic.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Michel wrote: "How about Alien? It is certainly scif-fi that will make you shiver with fear and horror."

To be perfectly honest, I almost added to my original post three movies that embody "sci-fi horror" in my mind:
- Alien (Ridley Scott) - Book: Alien
- Event Horizon (Paul Anderson) - Book: Event Horizon
- The Thing (John Carpenter)

So, IMHO, Alien is spot-on! :)

Sarah Anne wrote: "Here's a thread from 2013 that was discussing the same topic.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/..."

Thank you!
I ran a search before posting, but I didn't see this topic. Thanks for taking the time to share it.

If comic books are allowed, then you may like Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire. The first volume is Sweet Tooth, Volume 1: Out of the Deep Woods.

Jose wrote: "If comic books are allowed, then you may like Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire. The first volume is Sweet Tooth, Volume 1: Out of the Deep Woods."

If we're going with comics, there are lots of horror-tinged books to look at. My current favorite is Manifest Destiny, Vol. 1: Flora & Fauna (volume 5 was recently released), which is a fantasy version of the Lewis & Clark expedition where the Corps of Discovery meets Lovercraftian horrors. The writing is terrific and the art is amazing. Since everyone wears the same sorts of clothes, you'd think it would be hard to distinguish between them, but the artist makes it easy.

172 Hours on the Moon

seconding Blindsight

Several stories in James Tiptree Jr.'s Warm Worlds and Otherwise have a horror feel to them, especially "Love is the Plan the Plan Is Death."

Under the Skin is on my TBR

I think you could mount a strong argument for 20-30% of The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume 1 being sf/horror.

Short stories/novellas:
"At the Mountains of Madness" by H. P. Lovecraft
"Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr. (basis for The Thing (From Another World), The Thing, etc.)
"Black Destroyer" by A. E. Van Vogt (probable influence on Alien; his "Asylum" could also be considered horror)
"It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby
"The Autopsy" by Michael Shea
"The Sea Raiders" by H. G. Wells
"Mimic" by Donald A. Wolheim
"The Mind Parasite" by C. M. Kornbluth
"Sandkings" & "Nightfliers" by George R. R. Martin
"All My Darling Daughters" by Connie Willis (my impression is a lot of readers don't like this; I found it chilling)

Among novels, I Am Legend is hard to beat. George R. R.Martin's Fevre Dream is also quite good.
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells
The Day of the Triffids & The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham
Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein

I would add “The Screwfly Solution” by Raccoona Sheldon (aka James Tiptree, Jr. née Alice Sheldon) to the list of SF horror short stories. And maybe “Bloodchild” by Octavia E. Butler.

Good additions, Anthony.

Thank you!

All Judgement Fled

James White's novel about a derelict alien spaceship filled with exotic and deadly alien animals. But where is the crew?

Anthony wrote: "I would add “The Screwfly Solution” by Raccoona Sheldon (aka James Tiptree, Jr. née Alice Sheldon) to the list of SF horror short stories. And maybe “Bloodchild” by Octavia E. Butler."

Just go grab the short story collection Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by Tiptree - I'd say every story in it fits the bill, including "The Screwfly Solution" (which gives me the wiggins just thinking about it).