10 SCARY Sci-Fi Book Recommendations 

Thanks for having me on. This was a really fun idea for a collab!

Hyperion is one of the books that got me back into reading sci-fi after years or reading horror. One of the all time greats.

I really like these collaborations where we are introduced to different sci Fi reviewers. That's how I came across Whitney's channel and now I look forward to checking out Rachel's. Thanks Jonathan

Only a short story but Harlan Ellison’s “I have no mouth and must scream” is 10/10 on disturbing scale. I’m sure he has novels if you are interested.

Some interesting recommendations from Rachel, I’d be curious to check out Tender is the Flesh! Thanks for reminding me to add Roadside Picnic to my tbr Jonathan!

Just started watching this. I wonder if Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo will come up? Slow start the last half scared the bejazus out of me. It has an alternative title but I can't recall it. I agree some parts of Hyperion are scary. And yes just jumped ahead and see ship is there! ETA Rachel sums it up perfectly. ETA2 I have no mouth and I must scream is of course the most scary sf story ever but obvs not a novel

I was very excited to see this video. You are the only two main sci-fi channels that I watch so it was fun to see you do a Collab. I think Hyperion was a good choice because Dan Simmons also writes horror novels so there is cross over appeal if you like his writing style. I have added some of these to my tbr. I am still reluctant to read Tender is the Flesh. Not sure if it would be too much for me or not.

I was so excited to see you two doing a video together! I watch and love both of your channels! I was also happy to hear that Rachel is Canadian because I am too! Great video I love the concept 😊

This is a fun Collab!! I follow Rachel's channel and i like her recommendations and her enthusiasm when she's explaining the book premise, would be fun to have part 2 🙂, i really need to check out Tender is the flesh lol.

Gonna check out Starfish for sure. The scariest (and one of the best) sci-fi books I've ever read is Queen of Angels by Greg Bear (RIP). Trapped in the dreams of a psychotic killer....

What a fun collab!! Love seeing friends talking about books!! Love you guys and wonderful reccs! I've read many of these and can say-- they aren't too too scary. Don't worry Jonathan, cannabalism has a purpose in Tender is the flesh. And its more than just trying to convince you to be vegan (haha)... it a reflection of humanity in a way we don't like to look at much. And its short! It is worth the read.....

This was a really great collaboration thank you both. On a side note I always watch both of your reviews and recommendations, you have helped me expand my mind thank you both for that.

What a crossover! I never would have guessed it haha! Great video :D

For short stories that are horrific: "Bloodchild" by Octavia Butler (ScFi Horror) "“Eumenides in the Fourth Floor Lavatory,” by Orson Scott Card (Disturbing Horror) "The Atlas of Hell" by Nathan Ballingrud (Fantasy Horror) Great content on this channel.

More engaging SF discussion! I would add 2 by Van Vogt, The World Of Null A, written 5 years before 1984. Nineteen Eighty - Four substitutes Van Vogt's General Semantics of time binding history's lessons through maintaining word meanings, with Newspeak. Orwell explains all of that issue very well in the Appendix of 1984. Van Vogt's "The Voyage Of The Space Beagle". The basis for Star Trek, Forbidden Planet, Alien, etc. You will find Spock and many other concepts. Van Vogt created a book from several of his short stories, very common in The Golden Age. And "A Plague Of Demons" by Keith Laumer. A lesson in Global intrigue and other intrigues. More recently, you will probably not find anything scarier than "Flashback" by Simmons. You can certainly see real event relationships, there.

This was so wholesome! You guys are my two favorite booktubers, just love the amount of excitement that you both bring to your videos! Thank you for collabing!

I'm in the middle of reading Blindsight right now and yep, there are definitely some terrifying moments! Really enjoying it. Here's a few I would recommend: Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant I Am Legend by Richard Matheson Wayward Pines Trilogy by Blake Crouch Psychlone by Greg Bear The Hunger by Whitley Strieber The Migration by Helen Marshall If watery tales of sci-fi horror is Rachel's thing, I'm sure she'd enjoy Into the Drowning Deep!

The Dark Forest was pretty scary to me

What a wonderful guest you had in Rachel! I was one of the lucky ones to read "A Handmaid's Tale" when it first came out. Mind you, this was just (maybe even before) as it became commonplace to pay for things with a debit card. There's a scene in the book where Offred goes to pay for her cigarettes with her debit card and the cashier informs her that her money has been confiscated by the bank and only her husband can withdraw it. It's been over 35 years since I read that and I don't think I've ever paid with anything using a debit card that that scene doesn't briefly flash in my mind. As for my pick for "scary sci-fi", I would recommend Ray Bradbury's "The October Country". It's a collection of short stories that run the gamut from bittersweet to terrifying. My fave at his best!

This couldn’t have been a better time to post this! Im a huge horror fan and am looking for some sci-fi horror. Im happy you read Blindsight because im thinking about picking it up. What are your thoughts on it? Ive heard good things but also that it can be hard to follow.

Dead Silence is by SA Barnes is pretty for the whole “can I trust my mind” vibe. Some body horror and psyc thriller elements as well

BLINDSIGHT gave me goosebumps.

I would add Charles Pellegrino's THE KILLING STAR to the list. This is where we first ran into the idea of The Dark Forest. WHat makes Pellegrino scarier than Cixin Liu is the idea that we have already shouted out our location to the Universe, and that we are unified. THis is a real event, we really did it, and that is SCARY! You need to read the book to see what blunder we have already made. I will just give a hint that it involved the single loudest broadcast we have sent outward.

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Here would be my personal choices: Solaris, Metro series, Tender is the Flesh, A Canticle for Leibowitz

Existential dread is my jam

blindsight

Love the video. Some great recommendations from both of you!

Hi Johnathan. For me Solaris would make the top of the list as well as Greg Bear’s Blood Music; I read it recently and it definitely fits the sci-fi horror label.

Also John Campbell: Who Goes There?

the last one she mentioned reminded me of a book called under the skin debut novel by michel faber it had somewhat the same gruesome theme but very suspenseful and well-written but whatever you do DON'T see the film based on it unless you're a scarlett johansen fanatic

If you consider Wolfe as sci fi I would add Bakker's, what's up with Canadian authors, Prince of Nothing / Aspect Emperor to the list. The series has about every trigger warning there is and later almost goes anime, so it is difficult to recommend. But his prose is amazing. However, the books get more horror as the become darker. One sequence that stands out is he riffs on Moria but makes it really scary.

The first few times I heard about Hyperion, I thought people were saying the Time Dunes, not the Time Tombs.

Excellent collab!

Great recommendations! Check out Stephen King's short story The Jaunt if you haven't already. It's truly chilling and the perfect blend of sci-fi and horror.

This is a great syncing of the book world. Love it. Best wishes from Ireland.

Somebody earlier already mentioned "I have no mouth...." so let me add slaughterhouse five

Roadside Picnic - I'm stalking this one down. Authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, used this 1972 novel as the basis for "STALKER "(1979) awesome and moody by Andrei Tarkovsky dir. of SOLARIS (1972).

Great list Mr Words in Time and Shades of Orange I really love Science Fiction so thought I'd check this out, I never read pure horror so I was curious what the reviewers here mean by scary sciFi? I have read HYPERION, ROADSIDE PICNIC, HANDMAIDS TALE, 1984, PANDORAS STAR, THREE BODY PROBLEM from this list, all really great books but I didn't think that any of these were particularly scary? From the books I have read perhaps Annihilation is scary and maybe Alien for the tension but even these are not really scary I don't think in the horror sense. Does anyone agree?

Scott Sigler’s Infected Series is beyond terrifying. I recommend everything he writes. I am a Sigler junkie.

Jonathan would be like "Top 10 nonfiction books about 18th century composers" Number 5- Hyperion and I absolutely love the commitment. I consider Thus Spake Zarathustra by Nietzsche and the Metamorphosis by Kafka as Science Fiction just to keep pushing those boundaries

I'm going to say " Swan song by Robert r. Mccammon, to me it was scary and sad but the realism of it , is what stuck with me " it's been 2 years and I still think about it here and there.

Check out "The Last Astronaut "

I found the whole premise of the Dark Forest theory - to be bone chilling

I loved eternal sunshine, I'll have to look into this full immersion book

Fun horror collaboration! 💀

Two channels I really enjoy!

I would recommend Infected by Scott Sigler. Body horror, insanity, alien invasion.

HYPERION and FALL OF HYPERION have other horror elements that have stuck in my mind.

Tender is the flesh !

Two of my favorite booktubers! Double the pleasure.

If you want a good sci fi horror for ONE thing that happens: Ring by Stephen Baxter. Anyone who has read it knows what I'm referencing. It randomly pops into my brain and haunts me to this day

As a diver "Starfish" really appeals to me, added to the wishlist now!

Great show thanks

Yeah! SF and Horror are my favourite genres. Books that have it both are the best thing ever. And I'm the opposite of Jonathan: jumpscare over bungee jump anytime. Come on, you're more likely to die jumping off a great height than by reading something scary in a book.

1984 was originally written as a satire. The constant surveilance is very ofter mistated. Our protagonist makes it very clear that only about 20% of the population is being watched (the Party members) and that the rest , the proetariat, are left alone.

This video was great guys. 🙂🙂

The Gap Cycle was pretty good and I’m surprised it doesn’t make more lists.

ShadesofOrange my favorite booktuber ever.

This was great!

I am Canadian, and I haven't read any Margret Atwood.

I would add The Windup Girl to this list

She’s awesome

Huh. Just came from her site.

Hi Rachel 👋

Tender is the Flesh was quite vivid and i had to take a long shower after reading it cause just ewww.

Nothing scarier than ‘1984.’ In 2023 it qualifies as non-fiction.

Spoiler: Arkady and Boris stole the idea from Gary Larson.