London Scifi/Horror/nonfic book club

Of course, we are going to be going over Blood Meridian, haha. The 1985 historical epic by Cormac Mccarthy isn't a horror novel per se. However, due to the 'unrelenting gore of the narrative' and being 'a Western that puts horror to shame', I thought we might as well go over this book. The brutal and grim landscape of the American West becomes a disturbing backdrop for a disturbing journey through human depravity. We follow the story of the kid, a young drifter who joins a scalp hunting expedition. Together, as they journey across the unforgiving landscape, the kid witnesses disturbing acts of violence. The novel explores themes of Manifest Destiny, morality, and the inherent savagery of man.

Warning: contains graphic depiction of violence and racism

Hey all,

For this event, we won't be reviewing a book or text (unless you want to review 'Man a Machine' by Julien Offray de La Mettrie). Instead, we will view Ghost in the Shell directed by Mamoru Oshii.

This is a brilliant movie in terms of story and artistic style; the movie explores the themes of transhumanism, consciousness, what it means to be a human, and AI.

After the screening, we will go to a pub or restaurant nearby to discuss the movie and socialise.

The movie will be screened on Sat 14 Jun 2025 at 5:45 p.m. at the Prince Charles Cinema.

Tickets can be purchased here:
https://princecharlescinema.com/film/115369/ghost-in-the-shell/

My seat is K10, if you'd like to sit next to me.

We will be reviewing the novel 'We' by Yevgeny Zamyatin, written in 1920-1921. The novel depicts a future world of conformity and harmony under a unified, encased totalitarian society, The One State.

We follow the life of D-503, a spacecraft engineer in The One State as he begins a journal he intends to be carried on a spaceship he is constructing.

A central theme of 'We' is the rationalisation and mechanisation of society - the application of scientific management and the ideas of Frederick Winslow Taylor to society itself. The novel was seen as a critique of the direction the Soviet Union was taking and inspired George Orwell.

The following article would serve as a good supplementary reading: https://thecharnelhouse.org/2011/12/07/the-ultra-taylorist-soviet-utopianism-of-aleksei-gastev-including-gastevs-landmark-book-how-to-work%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BA-%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%BE-%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C/

Our first non-fiction book: we will be reviewing 'The Priciples of Scientific Management' by Frederick Winslow Taylor. Scientific Management is a theory of management that seeks to optimise economic efficiency and labour output. Frederick Winslow Taylor, a late 19th century/early 20th century engineer and contemporary of Henry Ford, is credited as being the father of Scientific Management.

This relates to 'We' by Yevgeny Zamyatin as the society portrayed in 'We' seems to be based on an extreme version of Scientific Management. So by reading this, we can hope to get a further understanding of the nature of 'The One State' and the principles it runs on.

To finish off, here's a video explaining the world of 'Red Flood' as a game mod of Hearts of Iron 4, set in a world where nobody wins World War one, and radical ideas such as accelerationism, communism, and Anarchism have a greater influence:

https://youtu.be/YkS5b7bCemU?si=4C25HjvZLLI1Ih3-

In a section of the video, we see a path/description that is essentially an homage to 'We'.