Every year when Fall is approaching I get really excited and start thinking about what Horror book I am going to read for Fall to give me enough time to read and finish before or on Halloween…depending on time and my reading mood. My first thought this year in preparation was to go to my bookcase and read something I already owned which then led me to an anthology of science fiction. I instantly got really excited and thought why not science fiction as my horror choice this year?!
My first following thought was actually a feeling, like a pit in my stomach. A feeling of being smacked with reality, if you will, that 2020 is a literal version of what I could find in my stories of science FICTION. You know as Bad Religion wrote an entire song about this, “Truth is Stranger Than Fiction.” Going back and reading the lyrics to this song, which I loved for a very long time in my 20s, is so weirdly accurate in a pessimistic weird almost Requiem For A Dream kind of way. I know, that was reaching a little but… what I am trying to say is this:
I want to read this anthology of science fiction…but at the same time I am like…do I though? Are certain science fiction sub genres going to hit a little too close to home to even be enjoyable right now because they are going to be less of an escape but a further dose of reality that the unthinkable is our reality in America right now?
Or do I read it and realize meh… I guess it could be worse! All jokes aside… I don’t even feel like a horror book because certain stories on the news are literal reenactments of horror movies that hit the box office.
Anyone else feel this way? I still haven’t decided what I will read. Maybe a good thriller will do the good job. Or maybe nothing…and I just paint. That sounds good too.