Really dont know what to read and who i am as a reader – the 'conventional' fiction and russian classic literature most of the times made me bored.
Recently i've finished Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs and i loved it. Didnt mind the chaotic experimental narration at all. My favourite parts of it were the dystopian science-fiction bits about brutal medical experiments on humans and real sounding descriptions of absurd non-existent illnesses and drugs. I found out that i like when the crazy fictive science concepts only subtly extend the overall realistic narration – to the point where i have no idea if what i've just read is real or not.
I figured out where my love for this stuff takes its roots – my childhood obsession with creepypastas. 'Russian sleep experiment' for example. But usually the ones i enjoyed the most were the tech-y creepypastas – about deadly files, paranormal computer activity, TV hijacking and so on. To this day i enjoy reading about concepts like 'cognitohazards', despair codes and so on. Apparently some of those were inspired by Burroughs' ideas (his 'word virus', for example)
So i know what i like, but i dont know any examples from valid real literature that i can check out. Maybe you can help me!
by MartyBoshySmith
4 Comments
To sum up what im looking for, i think the right tags would be:
digital age horror, gorey science fiction and paranormal activity, maybe dystopia
You might dig authors like Harlan Ellison or Richard Matheson or Phillip K. Dick.
You might want to try:
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
Finna by Nino Cipri
The Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler
First, the only metric for real, valid literature is that someone has written it, so write that down-
More seriously, you don’t need to worry about whether something is “real” literature or not. Read whatever you’re passionate about, and you will learn the same things as you would from “conventional” or “classic” literature – only better, because you’ll actually be engaged with it, and want to think about it more!
If you liked William S. Burroughs, go check out his other works! I also think you’d do well to look up more science-fiction or experimental horror – maybe even something like House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (for the experimental narration – I don’t think it has much in the way of science-related elements.) But overall horror seems like a genre you’d enjoy!
My personal recommendation is Scarewaves by Trevor Henderson. It’s written for younger readers, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s also very creepypasta-esque, which makes sense, because Henderson is a major part of the creepypasta scene – he’s the guy who created Siren Head, among others!
I hope you find something fun to read!