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“I’m sorry Dave, you can’t skip this new newsletter…”
If you got that reference, you’re in the right orbit. Welcome to Strange New Words: Space.com’s Sci-Fi Reader’s Club, a virtual reading community where we enjoy science fiction one short story at a time.
If you didn't get it, or just aren't interested in receiving this newsletter, simply scroll to bottom of this email and hit Unsubscribe in the footer.
Here’s how it works: Every month, we'll beam a community-voted sci-fi short story to your inbox. These gems are 10-30 pages tops: short enough to read on your lunch break, but long enough to melt your brain a little. You’ll get a quick intro to the author, some discussion questions, and a link so you can read whenever and wherever.
At the end of the month, we’ll come back with a wrap-up: a video roundtable where the Space.com crew dives into the story and shares a few laughs, plus a poll so you can vote on what we read next.
Strange New Words will land in your inbox on the first and last Wednesday of each month. Add spacestrangenewwords@smartbrief.com to your contacts so our transmission doesn’t get deflected by your shields (aka spam folder). See you out there!
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry and Ian Stokes
Space.com staff
| | | | | | | | | | Letter from the Editor As fall nights grow longer and shadows stretch across our doorsteps, it only feels right to gather around a story steeped in the eerie, the gothic, and the macabre. Science fiction is often filled with rockets, and futuristic societies, but it also has a deep history of being influenced by gothic literature. I mean, the first ever science fiction novel was Frankenstein written by teenage Mary Shelley, which is about as gothic as you can get (unless you do body building different than most people). To pay homage to this tradition and not at all because we're starting our readers club in October, we've chosen "Usher II" by Ray Bradbury as our short story for the month of October. Bradbury was a master of blending genres, giving us the 'Martian Chronicles' and 'Fahrenheit 451' and countless other short stories. Be sure to vote for next month's story while you're at it to help choose what we read next! We hope you enjoy and we'll be back in a couple of weeks to wrap up "Usher II." | | | | This Month's Short Story, "Usher II" has all the things for a good science fiction horror piece: a haunted house, Mars, and many, many plot twists. Here, Bradbury not only celebrates the legacy of the most gothic writer of all time, Edgar Allan Poe, but also sprinkles in humor, revenge and censorship into a deliciously dark twist. Oh, and if you're an Edgar Allan Poe fan, you'll enjoy all the easter eggs Bradbury sprinkles in throughout the story. Content warning: 1.5 skulls: Ray Bradbury's "Usher II" contains gothic horror elements, depictions of exaggerated violence. Younger readers should be aware of its dark atmosphere and references to death.
Disclaimer:
All stories linked through this club are hosted on their original publishers’ websites. We do not reproduce or host the stories ourselves. Links are provided solely for readers’ convenience and discussion purposes. Copyright and all rights remain with the original authors and publishers. | | | | Discussion Questions Because half the fun of reading isn't just turning the pages, it's what happens when we start talking about them. So below are a few questions to think about while you're reading the story. These are great to share with friends or answer on socials. We'll also be walking through a few of these in our wrap up newsletter on this story. - If you were one of the guests lured into Usher II, what horror-themed trap do you think would "get" you?
- Do you think Stendahl is a hero defending art and fighting censorship, or is he a villain delighting in being cruel to make a point?
- Do you think Bradbury makes a haunted house on Mars seem believable? Why or why not?
- If all "fantasy" and "horror" was banned today, what books, films or games would you miss the most?
- If Poe and Bradbury sat down together, what do you think they'd say about "Usher II?" Would Poe be flattered, horrified, or both?
| | | | If You Like That Story, Try This Book! | If you want more sci-fi horror or a space-themed thriller, try astronaut-turned author Chris Hadfield's upcoming book "Final Orbit." Launching back to the historic Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975, this book arrives next month from the New York Times bestselling author. | | | | Other Sci-Fi Reads | | | The Martian Chronicles is a work of extraordinary imagination that evokes the wonder and folly of Earth's colonization of the fourth planet from the sun. | | | | | | | | | Just in time for Halloween, this is a compilation of the most notorious works of H.P. Lovecraft, from Cthulu to Dagon! | | | | | | | | | Vote For Next Month's Story | Here are the options to vote on for November | One of the best parts about Space.com's Readers Club is that you help shape where we go next. Each month we'll take a trip across the sci-fi universe and your votes help decide the destination. So cast your vote on the story you'd like most to read and discuss next month | | | More Sci-Fi Content | Aliens have crash-landed, crept, and charmed their way into our screens for decades--some terrifying, some wise, and some just plain weird. | | | | Stay up-to-date on all things space science, news, and entertainment by subscribing to our newsletters. | | | | | | | | | Future US LLC © | | Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY, 10036 | | | | |
