I was wondering if anybody had suggestions for ANY kind of book about immortality, cryonics, or similar soul/body preservation gone wrong. Preferably something aimed at adults, if only because YA usually doesn’t deal with these themes, and a lot of what I’m picturing is way too messed-up to typically be published in a book for kids/teens.
Specifically, I’m thinking of something where preserving/capturing the soul or body ends in an unexpected way, or is being done for an evil purpose to begin with that the characters/reader may or may not be aware of in the beginning.
In sci-fi this is usually biological immortality, cryonics, or being uploaded to a computer somehow; in fantasy this could involve ghosts, trapping the soul, something in that vein. I’m not sure if there’s a TV Trope or a “Trope Codifier” for this but the closest thing I can think of is the concept album/musical “Dolls of New Albion: A Steampunk Opera” by Paul Shapera in which somebody tries to immortalize ghosts in mannequin form and chaos ensues. I’m almost certain there is something more famous than this but I probably haven’t read it so I’m drawing a blank.
Other examples, though I’m spoilering them since there are big plot twists: >!”The Cookie Monster”!< by Vernor Vinge or >!”Shadows”!< by John Saul would fall into this too if we are looking at the “preserving/capturing consciousness” bit without the body/cryonics. Also if you are familiar with the 2015 science fiction film >!”Advantageous” !<which was briefly on Netflix, then that setup would fall into this as well. I’d say it also applies to characters like Dr. Manhattan from “Watchmen” or Daghlian in “Manhattan Projects” who become superpowered/immortal, but only due to a traumatic event that changes everything.
I’m not looking for:
\-“pitfalls of immortality” type books that are simply about some immortal person/deity/being becoming bored or cynical over the centuries while watching everyone they knew die
\-the “immortals behaving badly” type of thing that is just about immortals/deities being flawed and/or hedonistic like regular mortals
\-someone doing something really evil to try to become immortal, regardless of if they succeed, such as stories in which someone makes a deal with the devil and there’s inevitably a catch, or the old “Satanic ritual murders which turn out to be some guy’s plan to get immortality or fame” thing in some crime novels
\-Frankenstein/Dracula retellings or other straightforward undead/zombie/vampire stuff
\-sci-fi that plays on the age mismatch due to faster-than-light travel/relativity where someone goes away and comes back while looking young, perhaps due to cryostasis, but people they know on Earth have aged
Science fiction, fantasy and horror of all lengths are welcome, including novels, novella, novelettes, short stories, web comics/novels, and comics/graphic novels. I’m older than 18 so any content is fine, and I am okay with reading violence, sexuality, gore, etc. Romance elements are fine but I’m not interested in books that are primarily erotica with a fantasy/sci-fi setting. Nothing against the genre; it just doesn’t grab my interest personally.
I’ve already read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (which could almost be a trope codifier? though the focus is more on the creature’s abandonment than the immortality itself). I’ve also read The Terminal Experiment by Robert J. Sawyer, which I only mention because it’s a semi-well-known work on this idea.
Thanks for any and all suggestions on this oddly-specific theme!
by birdpictures897
1 Comment
“Revival” by Stephen King is a solid read.