In “The Dark Forrest” I legitimately thought the guy’s secret plan was going to be to >!teach everyone how to make psychic waifus like him, so that we all happily die out in a generation, before the aliens arrive!<. I was not correct.

I have a copy of “Ghost” by John Ringo, which has the dark distinction of being the only book that was ever “too much” for me.

I bought it with the intention of turning “Oh John Ringo, No!” into a drinking game. But no amount of liquor could get me through the sheer grossness of that book.

I grew up in a really religious place that censored all our movies for spicy, political, or religiously unapproved scenes. Their edit of The Matrix famously gave us a MUCH better ending (spoilers for the fake ending of a decades old movie):

Neo’s body dies, but being The One he is able to live on as a program. He is going to free humanity, but can never escape, himself. He is a god in the Matrix, but cannot leave, and has nobly decided to liberate everyone else, freeing them and dooming himself.

That’s how you know it’s a gothic novel, countenances all around.

I guess the counter argument is that not all art needs to be static. It can be multiple snapshots over time, as part of a continuous process of engagement.

One of the things I like about classical lit, for instance, is that the same text can have different meanings, and be understood or consumed in different ways, throughout history. I don’t HAVE to listen to The Iliad in fragmented ancient poetry, I can read it in English (and compare translations!) or enjoy one of many adaptations it. I don’t HAVE to take the ancient view of Hektor as a second rate hero, maybe I prefer the more modern reading where he fits out current standards of “honor”. Half the fun is seeing how the snapshots differ over the ages.