Scary Books, Kiddies!
The Mind Parasites. By Colin Wilson. Bantam, 1968. First published by Arkham House, 1967.
This
harrowing romp is a novel on Lovecraftian themes, but told in a sci-fi
vocabulary. You see—according to this
tale—when ol’ Aich-Pee Ell talked about entities “from beyond” who wanted to
control Man, he was right. But those
critters are noncorporeal minds which override the consciousnesses of most
humans.
Only narrator and some few others come to realize the age-old domination and take strides to combat it.
Of course, Colin Wilson being who he is/was, that conflict takes place in the mind of a hero who finds the strength of will to wrest control from those nigh-immortal baddies.
In the olden days of SF there was a short story in which an astronaut, the first to travel to another planet, is shocked when suddenly his mind is FREE of a hitherto unknown mind vampire, which cannot exist past a certain distance from Earth. The astronaut is amazed to discover that he has scads more brainpower. He easily reaches heights of philosophical and moral insight never before attained by Man. He is astonished to realize this is Man’s normal mental state—except for those evil mental piggybackers in control of Earth. He makes plans on how to release all of humanity from the scourge. Then his spaceship gets close to the new planet—and he is immediately reoccupied by those mind-controlling critters.
I sure wish
I could remember that tale and its author’s name! Anyway ...
In Wilson’s tale, only those who have the power of the mind (say that with a German accent) have the right to survive!
