Usually we look at video games, movies or television shows here on The Witching Hour because those forms of media are the main focus of our parent site, The Inner Circle. Horror can take shape in many forms, however. Paintings and illustrations, sculptures, the written word or the spoken voice – those frightful things that dwell among the shadows can be found in all manner of human expression. With this in mind we are going to look at a relatively new medium where things that go bump in the night can flourish – social media. Allow me to introduce – The Sun Vanished.
If you have not heard of The Sun Vanished before, think of it as a kind of interactive story that plays out on Twitter. There will not be any plot analysis tonight because the story is ongoing and may very well be a completely different experience a year from now (or even a month from now, for that matter.) The story is set in an alternate reality in which aliens have cut the Earth off from sunlight. The protagonist struggles to survive in this world that is always dark and is constantly fending off humans transformed into zombies, aliens and even viruses. Every so often he asks for advice or emotional support which is where you come in. Players help guide the future of the story with their input.
It has been a while since there have been any tweets from the main account but the writer behind the whole thing, a man named Aidan Elliott, has been hard at work adapting The Sun Vanished into some kind of series. It is not clear if this will be a live action series, an animated show or what but he did show a cover page for “Episode 1” of the new series. This means now would be a good time to get acquainted with the lore behind The Sun Vanished so you can hit the ground running when the new series premieres.
