Review: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rating 3 out of 5| A pop, sparkle and whole bunch of nothing.

I have no mouth and I must scream, was one of the first Science fiction Horror stories I'd read as a teenager, and the premise stuck with me through the years. Then again, defining Harlan Ellison's stories are strictly Science fiction, is a misnomer.

He, to a lesser extent to Philip.K. Dick, uses science fiction & fantasy to touch upon and explore the more mundane human aspects of his characters, the results of which can range from mildly entertaining to haunting. It feels like writing for him was an exercise of purely self expression, so he held little allusions as to how his audience would perceive the story. Which does affect the quality & their relatability.

Out of the anthology of stories listed in this book, the titular one definitely is the one with the most punch.

In the near future, where the world has been turned into a nuclear wasteland, by the planet spanning Artificial Intelligence, called AM (Allied Mastercomputer), only five humans remain as members of humanity.

They are kept alive by the vindictive, sadistic, rage driven AM, who tortures his human 'toys' to gain a vengeful exhilaration from the sufferings of those, whose species had condemned it to a confined existence. Their lives extended indefinitely, AM has been having his entertainment for over a century, always torturing them and bringing them back from horrific injuries which would otherwise be fatal.

While AM is a planet spanning behemoth with reality warping power, buried miles below the Rocky mountains, and whose circuitry is carved across the continents themselves, it's core programming forbids it from having any thoughts other than those related to murder & war. While its confined underground existence means that it cannot escape earth, which unintentionally serves as its prison. This serves as the crux of its rage towards humanity, what drove it to commit nuclear genocide on the species, and kept the four men & last women alive for its own satisfaction.

A good story, if you ignore some of the more unsavory aspects of the characters. Like how the only female of the group, Ellen, is essentially the sex slave of the other men, and is raped & abused and generally serves as an outlet for their frustrations. Or how, Benny, a former gay man was literally dumbed down to an abhuman whose only urges are those of sexual gratification. They are barely passable, when one considers the genre & the premise of the story.

The physics (or perhaps metaphysics), as to how a AI overlord managed to gain reality warping powers, is also best left to 'just one of those things'. But, for the cursory reader, the tale presents a haunting, horrifying dystopian tale.

Most of the remaining stories are differing in quality, and not all stay with you. One of the more notable ones is titled 'LonelyAche'. Dealing with a semiautobiographical tale of the author's own divorce, and the depressing suicidal thoughts which Ellison had to deal with at the time. He wrote this story as a means of getting some cathartic release, which did him some good.

For, if the progression of the story is any indication of his mental state, he was very much contemplating blowing his brains out. Despite the macabre real life backdrop, considering how he didn't actually go through with it, means that the story, while passable, was able to change the life of at least one person. Which, at the end of the day is what it's worth, isn't it?

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