Review: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, by Harlan Ellison, 1967

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, by Harlan Ellison, 1967

First published in 1967 and won a Hugo Award in 1968,  "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" is a post-apocalyptic science fiction horror story. A mad maniacal supercomputer AI has a hand in being a cruel, relentless, misanthropic god. 

The story follows a group of five people, the last survivors of an apocalypse brought on by a sadistic and god-like AI. The survivors are tortured repeatedly in ever-increasing cruel ways over the years while they struggle and look for ways to escape.

Short, diabolically creative, and hopelessly horrific, I rate this story 4.5 out of 5 stars.

The following is a link if you would like to read this short story:

https://wjccschools.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/01/I-Have-No-Mouth-But-I-Must-Scream-by-Harlan-Ellison.pdf

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Review: The Englishman

The Englishman by Douglas Stuart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"The Englishman" by Douglas Stuart, 2020

Coming off just reading Shuggie Bain, I found myself wanting more. Young Mongo is still off on the horizon at the time of writing this review, but luckily I found "The Englishman," a short story published in the New Yorker.

There were enough similar elements from "Shuggie Bain" that it was easy enough to imagine "The Englishman" is a story about Shuggie in his collegiate years. In the story, William the Englishman and "Casper" (the pet name for William's object of desire) went to the theater to watch a play about two inner-city boys finding their first love. Could that play be called "Young Mongo?". Yeah, that might be a leap or a little meta, but hey, don't knock me for imagining.

I liked the story just like I like my lemons, acidy sour, yet somehow sweet.

I rate it a 4 out of 5.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/14/the-englishman

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The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, 1948

The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, 1948

This a lottery you don't want to win.

The story describes a fictional small town which observes an annual ritual known as "the lottery", which results in the killing of one individual in the town.

"The Lottery" has been described as "one of the most famous short stories in the history of American literature"

My rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars) - I liked it.

You can read the short story here:

http://fullreads.com/literature/the-lottery/

"Reverting to a Wild State" by Justin Torres, 2011

"Reverting to a Wild State" by Justin Torres, 2011

Told in reverse narrative, "Reverting to a Wild State" by Justin Torres is a tale of a relationship's trajectory; an un-love story. It was beautiful, sad, brilliant, and engaging in all of its seven (7) pages. Carefully crafted words and snippets of moments made for the haunting and rawness of it.

It's a good read once around, but it's best read twice.

My rating: ★★★★★ (5 out of 5 stars)

You can read the short story here:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/08/01/reverting-to-a-wild-state