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fakepostman t1_jdy107m wrote

If you're reading this thread, I recommend Ship of Fools by Richard Russo

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TheJester0330 t1_jdz1y79 wrote

Which also just a heads up for those who like to own physical copies, the same boon is also called Unto Leavithan.

Ship of Fools has recently only been printed in mass market, trying to get a regular paperback is upwards of like $100. Unto Leavithan however has regular papers backs in $20-30 range.

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fakepostman t1_jdzy8ik wrote

Good information! It's a good book but not a hundred bucks worth of recommendation :D

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For_Grape_Justice t1_jdx3j4l wrote

A little bit off topic, but for more space horror I want to recommend this little pure text mobile game called Lifeline. In its essence it's a short interactive story. You're tasked to help a person stranded on an alien moon, it's not fully horror (starts as a survival), but a few moments coupled with the fact that you can fail and lead the main character to something probably worse than death gave me shivers. Neat stuff and cost me only 2 or 3 bucks.

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StephBets t1_je0ntos wrote

Man I thought I was the only one who remembered that game!!

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drak0bsidian OP t1_jdwloqf wrote

Before people jump down my neck, I am not the author. It's just the title of the essay written by someone else.

(Although I do agree with their argument . . .)

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vvarthog t1_je11c4a wrote

Thanks for sharing. I picked up a few good recommendations from her!

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kendawg9967 t1_jdywvov wrote

Blindsight!!! It really opened this genre up for me. The space setting is often really just a tool of writers trying to express the alienness of our place in the universe, reality and our consciousness.

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dirg1986 t1_jdyxi6z wrote

Yes! Just finished this book it’s fantastic and while not scary it’s pretty chilling…

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angstt t1_jdwq5lj wrote

Ala' Event Horizon....

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vvarthog t1_je11mjx wrote

If we gave out awards for movies that disturbed our childhoods, Event Horizon would be in the top 20 for sure.

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mid-world_lanes t1_jdxvwwp wrote

I loved the whole Expanse series, but yeah I think the horror sections might be my favourite parts (maybe tied with the action sequences).

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Apprehensive-Log8333 t1_je03w6l wrote

I came here to recommend The Expanse books, my favorite space horror. Leviathan Wakes is a sci-fi masterpiece.

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jellyrollo t1_jdygut2 wrote

For anyone else, who agrees (like me) that more space horror would be a dandy prospect, you might enjoy the recent Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes. Edward Ashton's Mickey 7 wasn't exactly horror, but has many creepy horror elements, and its sequel was just released.

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Gnomeopolis t1_je2v836 wrote

I loved Dead Silence, but it's the only thing in this genre I've read

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happygoluckyourself t1_je049s2 wrote

Mickey 7 felt too upbeat and jokey to be even adjacent to horror for me. And I couldn’t get past some of the author’s very strange choices with the protagonist.

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onken022 t1_je15nhp wrote

Really wasn’t a fan of Dead Silence. The “twists” weren’t impressive (and are incredibly played out in fiction) and it frankly wasn’t that scary imo.

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jabbafart t1_jdxvewu wrote

You can only visit so many alien planets and derelict ships before you run out of material.

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Zalack t1_jdy9b9k wrote

Space horror, at its best, grapples with the anxieties that acknowledging our place in the universe entail by necessity: being insignificant, being alone, floating on a small grain of sand suspended in a sea of nothingness with only a thin strip of air holding it back. Being beyond the limits of what the human brain can intuitively reason about. Free Will being a lie the machinery of our brain tells itself. Being at the mercy of random chance the next time the universe decides to hurl a rock or electromagnetic storm at us. Having a finite amount of time before we die.

All of these can be expressed through good cosmic/space horror.

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Beiez t1_jdz650b wrote

Yeah, it‘s more about that feeling of existential dread and absolute loss of control and understanding when it comes to what‘s out there, not about spaceships and aliens.

At its very best, this kind of horror gives me a feeling of insane unease about the fact that there are things out there that could wipe us out in a matter of seconds without us ever understanding why or how. That includes alien forms, but also lots of other cosmic occurances

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gnatsaredancing t1_je8utd7 wrote

I think we've only begun to scratch the surface really. Most space horror is just being stuck in a place with a monster. It's just a reskin of fantasy, not that different from being stuck in a labyrinth with a minotaur.

Very little space horror explores just how horrific the sheer difference between us and whats out there can be. Stuff like Blindsight or Annihilation.

Or even just contamination horror. You are literally made out of food. Every single moment of your life a horde of microbial life is trying to eat you alive, parasitise you or highjack your cells to force your body to create copies of itself until your body simply fails.

The only reason you're not a failing mind in a decomposing living body right is that your immune system has learned to fight off most other Earth life from eating you alive.

Any life you encounter out there will be unfamiliar to your immune system.

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stef_bee t1_jdxr0f6 wrote

I wonder if the Tor writer has made the aquaintance of Cordwainer Smith (pen name of Paul Linebarger.) His short story "A Planet Named Shayol" is one of the most gruesomely horrific stories I've ever read.

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PlagueofSquirrels t1_jdzs2by wrote

*Opens article*

*First paragraph is massive spoiler for the book I'm currently reading*

*Closes article before it's too late*

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deevulture t1_jdyuh1a wrote

Alien (1979) goes here, but it's a film.

We need more rogue spaceship AI taking control over its human crew. Like the stuff in the soap operas mentioned in the Ancillary Justice books. Or aliens that simply do not value human life for whatever reason - either cause they're too non-human or have a different set of moral standards. People getting lost in space in a universe without any other life and having to contend with the horrific reality that they are well and truly alone.

Agree that we need more horror.

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Autarch_Kade t1_je064yu wrote

AI is so topical lately that I'm guessing we're about to be carried by an utter tidal wave of new sci-fi books with them at the forefront. Can't wait!

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deevulture t1_je3bhp4 wrote

Definitely. Expect a new wave of "evil or out-of-control" AI or "what does it mean to be human?" AI related discussion. And I don't mean that negatively. Can't wait to see what will be done.

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vvarthog t1_je1211n wrote

I love that Alien isn’t just space horror, but that the protags are trapped between that and corporate horror. “In middle management, no one can hear you scream.”

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deevulture t1_je3b6ut wrote

scariest of horrors cause it's applicable to real life!

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gnatsaredancing t1_je8u7fr wrote

It's one of the themes of the franchise really humanity and the xenomorph are both monsters.

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[deleted] t1_je5fftr wrote

There are plenty of Alien novels (though none as good as the movie). One even has a lost episode of Ripley waking up between going to sleep and being found by deep space salvagers. There's also a William Gibson treatment of a script for the 3rd movie that was re-published maybe last year. Other than that I would recommend the closest thing being cosmic horror (Annihilation, Lovecraft), and space opera (Iain M. Banks Culture series).

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Lazay t1_jdzp4vi wrote

I won't allow it. Because in space, no one can hear you plea.

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kn0chen t1_jdzxzgo wrote

For all you Star Wars fans out there I can highly recommend Joe Schreiber's fantastic novel Death Troopers. It's a fun read.

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Troglodeity t1_je022kg wrote

You should play the Dead Space game series.

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darth-skeletor t1_jdzoyzz wrote

Yes! I find myself always recommending Ship of Fools by Richard Russo, the Expanse, Blindsight, and Eclipse by Ophelia Rue because there aren’t enough books in the genre.

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Autarch_Kade t1_je06t70 wrote

The Stars are Legion wasn't a horror book. But oh man, was there a lot of body horror in there. Deeply uncomfortable descriptions, ways people use or share their bodies, locations in the ships they lived on... really stuck with me for years. I really enjoyed that book.

I feel like a generation ship could be a good horror setting. Can't escape, mandatory breeding, could introduce mutations that amplify over the generations, etc. That's what I'd want to read if there was a good on out there.

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deevulture t1_je3c0rg wrote

It's sort of understated horror in a way. The horror comes from the normalization of said use of the body more than intending to scare you. The scene where Das Muni gives Zan >!her afterbirth to drink !<evoked a reaction in me that actual violence depicted in other books does not. I'm reading Mirror Empire right now and while it's no where the level of the Stars are Legion this seems to be a thing that Hurley tends to go for.

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notsogreatredditor t1_je06xci wrote

Deap Space series (the game) is the greatest space horror game to be ever made. If you are into gaming definitely should play. Reading a book is good but seeing it in flesh is something else.

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Hum_baba_ t1_je1sd28 wrote

Loved the first 2. I watched my roommate play No. 3.

The first cannot be beat.

My favourite part is What's Making That Noise?

Is it a monster? Is it the ship clattering about? Is it debris hitting the outside? Is it imagination? Is it insanity? Is it just Me?

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see-bees t1_je09bu4 wrote

Checked out The Outside based on this article and it’s not a BAD book, but it it isn’t all there either. The author was more concerned with setting the stage for the series as a whole than writing one good, complete story.

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hail_the_cloud t1_je0cbil wrote

Have you listen to an audiodrama? Cause those things are like 80% space horror

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geronimo_miczo t1_je2kxma wrote

The Three Body Problem, for the love of god- read it

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