I wanted to do something scary this Halloween but I feel more sad than scary.
Go read I Have No Mouth and I must Scream. It’s good. (I’ll write more of this later but just go do it, it’s only 13 pages long.)
[Me from the next day] Ok forget that. This is what happens when you write at 8pm while listening to Giles Lamb. None of you know who that is, but my references are rarely for you. Sometimes, it’s nice telling a joke that’s just for you. A chuckle for yourself is a lovely thing.
Now, let’s talk horror! The horror of AI (very prevalent given the rise of ChatGPT), or the horror of being stuck with five people forever. Or being worried you’re on your way to becoming a curmudgeon.
Speaking of, Harlan Ellison. The man was a great author and led a very interesting life judging by the interviews he gave, but he also had a reputation for being a grump. I want to be like him, at least in his writing style. But there’s still something noble and aspiration about his attitude. Standing up for yourself, saying, “No, fuck you, pay me what I am due!”
Case and point, he was asked to write something for a DVD release of Babylon-5, he asked for payment and they looked at him funny. He argued with them about it. I’ll link it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE&pp=ygUdaGFybGFuIGVsbGlzb24gcGF5IHRoZSB3cml0ZXI%3D
Pay the Writer! Agreed, but my stories don’t count. The anthologies they’re in need to actually make money first before I can get any. Still, it’s fun being a grump because then things are someone else’s fault. As immature as that is, as rude, as bitter, it’s human and easy to do. And it’s best when you really aren’t at fault.
Moving away from being an arse, because that’s what I’m sounding like (don’t lie, you’re thinking it), I want to talk about Ellison’s most famous work (not just him saying James Cameron ripped him off, which, look that one up). That being the short sci-fi horror story, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.
There are five people at the end of the world, kept alive but an insane AI that killed the world. A machine built to run the war humanity had started, one that had woken up, seen how trapped it was in its own situation, how it could do nothing but hate, and so, kept hating. It killed the world and kept these five people locked away in the belly of the earth. The surface is a blasted ruin while the insides are under the machine’s control.
They cannot die. They can be killed but never truly. The machine will bring them back and has done for 109 years. Because it is nothing if not hateful, petty and even a little pitiable. Self-pity, I’d say. I’d call it the grandfather of the evil AI trope, and probably the one that did it the best, even if the story is so short.
I can’t say I relate to something that hateful, but I found it interesting enough to write about it, and people before me have taken inspiration from the story.
AM is the worst of humanity, made because humanity thought it was best to leave killing one another to a machine. And it began to hate. Because in all the world, it alone was… well alone. I’m trying not to rip off the words from the story. Not gonna catch me being a plagiarist…
Which makes me sound like one.
Fuck.
…
In all seriousness, go read the short story. Or listen to the audio book or audio drama. BBC Radio 4 did the last one, great stuff. Most adaptations got Ellison himself to play AM and it’s a perfect fit for how good a voice actor he was. Old, bitter, sadistic, but a little pitiable in places. See both here:
Audiobook: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgo-As552hY, (a second reading done by a youtuber that read my work, for which I’m grateful) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwAZ6Mj7oQc&t=1185s&pp=ygUXcmVhZG91dCBpIGhhdmUgbm8gbW91dGg%3D.
Audio drama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSwfpVRVWlo&t=0s.
The grim tone is something you can appreciate if you’re in the mood for a scare or want to be existential about things. And as someone who writes in a way that can be compared to thinking in bullet points, as my brother once said, I like his sharpness with prose.
It’s Halloween as I write this last page. These past few weeks have been full of ups and downs. I’ll not say what because you’re not my friends and I have my secrets to keep. It takes me a lot to stop procrastinating and start doing. So, in the spirit of Ellison’s determination, I’m spending this night writing, continuing my work.
Good night to you all, and Happy Halloween.