I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream
Written by Harlan Ellison
www.ink2quill.com

“I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream” is a speculative fiction, post-apocalyptic, scifi, techno-horror, AI themed, short story written by Harlan Ellison and published in 1967. The novel itself is comprised of seven short stories which are “I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream”, “Big Sam Was My Friend”, “Eyes Of Dust”, “World Of The Myth”, “Lonelyache”, “Delusion For Dragonslayer” and “Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes”. This is a masterpiece in any genre and depicts a truly horrible and has been called by some critics as the most frightening possible future for the human race, or for those members of the human race that survive to the end of the story. I’ve never read anything like this.

I Have No Eyes And I Must Scream IMDb webpage

“I Have No Mouth And I must Scream” is the story of 5 survivors of an apocalyptic event that annihilated humankind. The 5 survivors are Bennie, Gorrister, Nimdok, Ted and Ellen. Ted is the narrator and probably the one who suffers the worst fate, as we see in the end. This story is the mother of all stories where the characters are just screwed. There really is no other way to say it. And as it turns out, their best outcome seems to be death. The terrifying villain of this story is a very high functioning, weapon of a computer/ AI named AM, which stands for many things over the years like Allied Mastercomputer, Adaptive Manipulator, Aggressive Menace and also cogito ergo sum. AM is, without question, the most terrifying and capable enemy humankind has ever faced. It is the enemy that bested and annihilated us. And like the case of a good Greek tragedy it was all our making.

The tone of the story is one of five people trapped and terrified with no way of escape. They are waiting for their next torture, one after the other, until the end of time. And they aren’t given the reprieve of death. They are not able to die to escape their fate. The all powerful sentient and unstable machine will not let them die. It heals them and then sends them back in their horrible prison. Being stuck in a jail with a jailer who has the cruelest intentions is the best way to describe the story.

This story is just terrifying.

John Ink2Quill

I2Q Blogs / Written 1967 / AI / AM / ellison / horror / ink2quill / john / quill / scifi / Ted /