spock coming to understand that ‘talking dirty’ is something terrans enjoy as a sexual experience so he engages jim in a rousing, hour-long discussion about topsoil and minerals and actual dirt and jim is just like ‘what is happening. what the hell is happening right now’
McCoy did nothing to dissuade this perception. In fact, he encouraged it because he thought it would be hilarious.
Concept: Kirk likes memes (because ofc he does). Spock tries to communicate with him through memes. Spock doesn’t actually understand it and now the crew creates Enterprise specific memes based on Spock’s meme fails.
an incomplete list of unsettling short stories I read in textbooks
the scarlet ibis
marigolds
the diamond necklace
the monkey’s paw
the open boat
the lady and the tiger
the minister’s black veil
an occurrence at owl creek bridge
a rose for emily
(I found that one by googling “short story corpse in the house,” first result)
the cask of amontillado
the yellow wallpaper
the most dangerous game
a good man is hard to find
some are well-known, some obscure, some I enjoy as an adult, all made me uncomfortable between the ages of 11-15
add your own weird shit, I wanna be literary and disturbed
The Tell-Tale Heart, The Gift of the Magi, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County, Thank You Ma’am
the box social by james reaney. i remember we all had to silently read it in class, and you would hear the moment everyone reached the Part because some people would audibly go “what”
wHat did I just put my eyes on
“The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury
Not quite a short story, but read in class: “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” from The Twilight Zone
Harrison Bergeron, Cat and the Coffee Drinkers
“Where are you going and where have you been” by Joyce carol oates
“The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury
the lottery by shirley jackson
i can’t believe Roald Dahl’s “The Landlady” wasn’t already mentioned
and also it’s not so much unsettling as more absurdist but “The Leader” by Eugene Ionesco definitely made me go wtf
Ett halvt ark papper. I cried so much.
Ночь у мазара, А. Шалимов
A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury
I Have no Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury
Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby, by Donald Barthelme
I read Ray Bradbury’s “All Summer In A Day” in seventh grade (it wasn’t assigned, I was just going through my textbook for new stuff to read) and as a bullied kid with SAD, it Fucked Me Up.
An Ordinary Day with Peanuts, by Shirley Jackson
Eh, this was more like community college, but The Star by Arthur C. Clarke
Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl
and this story that I can’t remember the name of and can’t find, though it might be by O. Henry? it’s about a bunch of demons who want to stop Santa Claus from going through with Christmas, and he must travel through the mountains they inhabit to escape their vices? (good christ I can’t remember the name for the life of me)
Ok but the laughing man and a good day for bananafish but j.d. Salinger
The City (195) Ray Bradbury. An intense commentary on colonialism and space exploration. I read it for a sci fi survey class.
Another short story I read in that sci fi class was Vaster than Empires and More Slow (1971) by Ursula K. Le Guin. A commentary on humanity and how human we believe ourselves to be. Also, an interesting commentary on mental health.
In the Woods Beneath the Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom, written in 1947 by Ango Sakaguchi. It made my skin crawl the first time I read it.
I didn’t read it in a text book, but “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” haunted me for life.
I read most of Ray Bradbury’s stuff as a kid, and I remember being deeply horrified by almost all of it. “All Summer in a Day” was probably the worst, though, because holy shit I could relate to that girl. Could never remember the title, though, so thank you guys for the list!
Also of note: Harlan Ellison wrote one of the best episode of TOS Trek, “The City on the Edge of Forever”. The original screenplay is haunting.
spock: every single thing i do is for logic and not emotion
spock, swirling around in a dramatic black cape, eye makeup masterfully applied, brows plucked to perfection, not a hair out of place: it is only logical to look good, to increase the chances of jim wanting to date me
obviously it’s completely tragic that sam kirk died and jim was too late to save him but i snorted so hard when they rolled him over and it was just william shatner wearing a fake moustache
Was he literally the only person you could find to play a dead blonde man? You legit did not have to do that but it’s funnier that you did.
Their budget was $12 and a single bag of instant coffee, bless them