Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters had me up for weeks and I kept staring at people’s shoulderblades…
Brrrrr…
Ok, a lot of it is hokey now, but when I was 12…
Fenris
How about H.P. Lovecraft? “The Whisperer in Darkness” is pretty creepy-paranoid.
Ia! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!
And then, of course, there is Nyarlathotep . . .
madcat wrote:
The Computer is interested in your opinions, of course. The Computer doesn’t want any security risks at your clearance level.
Damn! Most of the good titles I’ve thought of have been taken. Highly recommend Dick’s A Scanner Darkly. A very creepy book, and what really weirded me out was when some of the things in the book started happening to me!
There’s We, by a Russian author I can’t remember (it was what inspired Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four).
Then there’s The Manchurian Candidate (don’t know how good the book is, but the movie’s not bad).
Heinlein’s Job: A Comedy of Justice deals with happens to you when God desides to fuck around in your life and Prince Ombra has a similar theme.
If you want non-fiction, then I suggest In Search of the Manchurian Candidate/, Inside the Puzzle Palace and The Hot Zone, all of which will probably give you the heebee geebees.
Paranoia is a major theme in pretty much all of Philip K Dick’s short fiction.
I have specific recommendations whose authors have already been mentioned.
Philip K. Dick - The Game-Players of Titan. It’s highly paranoid, like much of Dick’s fiction. The paranoia is especially evident in this book because the character is himself highly paranoid as a result of his stressed-out defence instinct, so this may be what you are looking for.
John Brunner - Ukelele mentioned the excellent The Sheep Look Up and I second the recommendation–this is a paranoid novel indeed. To the list I would add The Shockwave Rider, which is about a man with remarkable abilities in a really disturbing future Earth where everyone is paranoid. I also recommend The Age of Miracles which is about, uh, well, it’s about some really weird stuff and it’s great to figure out what’s happening as you make your way through the book. Brunner can be pretty paranoid.
If you want physically exemplified paranoia, you can’t beat William Hope Hodgson’s The Night-Land. There’s a great Hodgson’s resource here, it also includes the full text of The Night-land.
There is a classic Heinlein short story, “They”, included in the collection The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag, that’s a classic of paranoid fiction. Come to think of it, the title story of TUPoJH is even creepier.
I have to go paint over all my mirrors now.
Word.*
I remember the first time I read the TUPoJH. The moment that his profession is revealed as
an art critic
with all that that entails and implies…I quite literally got the shivers…
Brrrr…
(Everyone knows that Hoag’s boss has a cameo in Heinlein’s Job, right?)
Fenris, Heinlein fan
*I haven’t been keeping up on current slang. “Word.” means “Well said, old chap. I quite agree with your position and your phrasing was masterful.”, correct?
Mephisto:
How about Foucault’s Pendulum - Umberto Eco?
Weird. I went to this site
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/2800/eco.html
which has a number of links to Umberto Eco sites.
One was Forbidden
Many are Not Found
Many Can’t Be Displayed.
Now I’m paranoid. :eek:
Though this isn’t precisely the type of paranoia you say you’re looking for, the book that sprang to my mind when I read the thread title was A Simple Plan by Scott Smith. I was consumed by guilty feelings the entire time I was reading it. On the jacket was a critic’s comment that while reading it, you feel like “an unindicted co-conspirator.” Very, very true. The movie’s good, but the book’s even better!
The Arabian Nightmare by Robert Irwin will do your head in.
The Heinlein short story is “Them” – and the first time I read it, I could not sleep that night.
Trying to explain it at all would result in spoilers – but may I trade on my reputation around here to just say, “Read it; it’s worth it” and leave it at that?
Fenris and Buck, I always saw Job as a brilliant disproof of fundamentalism by the reductio ad absurdam method – and a proof of Voltaire’s line about the Devil’s job prospects and personality changes. 
The Heinlein short story is “Them” – and the first time I read it, I could not sleep that night.
Trying to explain it at all would result in spoilers – but may I trade on my reputation around here to just say, “Read it; it’s worth it” and leave it at that?
Fenris and Buck, I always saw Job as a brilliant disproof of fundamentalism by the reductio ad absurdam method – and a proof of Voltaire’s line about the Devil’s job prospects and personality changes.
Stephen King’s poem Paranoid: A Chant from Skeleton Crew doesn’t exactly fit your criteria, but it’s a fun little read.
Apparently a short film was based on it as well. I’ll have to watch it on IFILM when I’m at a computer with sound…
Number, the “Paranoid” short is very creepy. I watched it a couple of weeks ago at 2 AM. Not smart on my part.
Great suggestions everybody, thanks! I’ve read a number of the books mentioned so far and liked most of them so I’m sure I’ll probably like the books you all have mentioned that I’m not familiair with. I’ll definitely take some of your recommendations with me to the bookstore this weekend. I wish I had more time to comment on some of your suggestions tonight, but I’m supposedly at the computer doing something “productive,” so I should probably go. I’ve got cars and teeth and stuff to pay for. Just wanted to pop in and say “thanks.”
Well, thanks.
Hmmm…it’s clearly titled “They” in my copy of The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag.
Clearly, Polycarp is from the Evil Alternate Universe and must be destroyed.
**
Ditto. The Heinlein story is “They”. I even dug out the original pulp (Unknown, April '41) where it appeared and it was “They” there too.
“Them” is not by Heinlein: it’s a film about Giant Mutant Ants.
He’s the ANTI-POLY!!! :eek: :eek:
Fenris
Jonathan Hoag is also one of Lovecrafts pen names. Coincidence? Or is it conspiracy?
zen101