In 1816, during an unusually cold season caused by volcanic eruptions and circulating ash, 19-year-old Mary Shelley wrote a story about a monster as she and some friends struggled to stay warm. FRANKENSTEIN was born.
If you were to create a literary monster sprung from our own modern era of extreme and changing weather patterns, what would that monster be called? Can you describe it? (Be advised though, that SHARKNADO is already in the lexicon!) 🙂
TSUNEMORANHA, killer fish which ride tsunamis inland to wreak extra horrible havoc on inundated suburbs!
When I first read this my brain re-spelled it to sumoranha and I suddenly pictured 500lb Japanese guys with rows of razor teeth surfing giant waves while wearing big thongs.
Now THAT’S scary!! 🙂
Congresso…
Giant brainless ameoba that covers Washington D.C. and kills everything good in its path without doing a thing.
Inspired by the 1950s movie “The Blob.” Where is Steve McQueen and a fire extinguisher when you need em?
I think Washington D.C. has enough giant brainless amoeba already.
PJ–Horrible, yes, but you’re talking about Congress, right?
Lol, Brian!
Would have to be some kind of alien that actually acts…alien. There’s nothing worse than lazy sci-fi where the alien acts EXACTLY like human beings. Like Captain Kirk, who was anatomically compatible with every green, purple, or blue female alien from any corner of the universe. Or, in a more modern context, Defiance, where EIGHT species of aliens live amongst humans, and they all use 2000’s slang and have stereotypical New Yorker attitudes. Matter of fact, the one I’m thinking of at the moment might be perfect for the cyberpunk/sci-fi series I’ve been mulling over.
Although it would have been fun to see Kirk making out with nonhuman-looking aliens. It might have inspired a whole new adult entertainment subgenre!
Fun topic, although I disagree with the premise. Our modern era is not experiencing extreme weather, and our weather patterns aren’t any more variable than is natural.
That said, my modern era monster would be a young child, genetically altered so that his body produces weaponizable viruses, who is in constant pain from his condition but is not allowed to die. He finds a way to release the viruses on everyone who has ever hurt him, which is, in his view, everyone.
Whoa, that childhood sounds like the makings of a true sociopath. Inspired idea!
My monster comes from a cold dark place in the past where a fantasy of a life that never existed save for small pockets in clouds that were held up by the work of others. This monster, similar to King’s Walking Dude, offers perfect solutions if you will just fall in line and believe the dogma with no tolerance to anything else that does not serve the message, even while claiming to love those who are different. A very gray place, this dystopian future.
With several feet of snow outside I am thinking of an abominable snowman type character made of actual snow.
Frosty The Snow Demon with freeze powers like Jack Frost and the ability to grow with every snow fall. He roams around shouting “Happy Birthday” and singing the Frosty song mesmerizing people who stand there staring as they remember the cartoon they so loved as kids, then he sucks them into his frozen mass and feeds off their life force.
Unrealistically cute little orphan kids Jenny & Timmy fight back with super powered hair dryers they learned to build by watching old reruns of The Red-Green Show and are able to melt Frosty the Snow Demon just before he consumes their entire town. In the process of thawing their long thought dead parents fall out of the melting beast along with all the other people that had been consumed as well as every puppy that had ever gone missing in the town, although strangely not a single missing cat or ferret appeared in the melt off. Gradually they all are rescued from cryogenic freeze and as their souls return everyone is happy and giggly. They have hot cocoa and cinnamon buns and dance around singing,
The snow mans dead,
he’s lost his head,
and now he’s run down the sewer.
And a unicorn shows up … because he’s a unicorn.
Unicorns make everything better.
That one made me laugh out loud, Basil. You never disappoint! Happy Holidays!
Did someone say unicorns?!
Great topic. Mutant super-crows flying in groups of thousands maneuvering and reacting as a single giant organism, devouring all in its path. With due credit to an episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
Or, in Hollywood-speak, “PREY meets THE BIRDS.” Good one, Lance!
Eruptacature! Volcanic eruption of cats that fall from the volcano capturing humans, returning them to the volcano to work them as slaves or maybe a tasty snack. All credit to my daughter, Meghan
That is inspired! Cats rule. Me-OW!!