The Stories That Shaped Horizons
Science fiction has always been more than just entertainment. It’s a mirror held up to society, a thought experiment, a way to imagine what’s possible—and what’s inevitable. Whether it’s the vastness of space, the ethics of technology, or the simple wonder of the unknown, sci-fi has always had a way of making us dream bigger.
When we were writing Horizons, we weren’t just thinking about music—we were thinking about stories. Worlds beyond our own. Futures full of possibility and uncertainty. The kind of visions that make you feel both small and infinite at the same time.
So here are some of our favourite sci-fi books—stories that have shaped the way we see the world, the way we write music, and the way Horizons came to life.
1. The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K. Le Guin
Michael: “This book changes how you think about people, about time, about love. It’s science fiction at its most human.”
Le Guin’s novel is about an interstellar envoy who visits a planet where people shift between genders. But beneath its futuristic setting, The Left Hand of Darkness is really about connection, trust, and the way culture shapes our understanding of identity.
It influenced Horizons in a big way—especially in how love is portrayed as something timeless, something that defies distance and logic. Tracks like Timeless Love and Crystal Youth capture that same feeling: love that isn’t confined by space or time, but simply is.
2. Neuromancer – William Gibson
Ayesha: “This book feels like being dropped into a city where everything’s too fast, too bright, too much—but you can’t look away.”
If you’ve ever listened to Neon Nights, you’ve already felt the influence of Neuromancer. It’s a book that defined cyberpunk, a vision of a world where corporations rule, hackers move through digital landscapes, and neon lights flicker over rain-soaked streets.
More than that, though, it’s a book about people trying to outrun their pasts, trying to find meaning in a world that feels artificial. Neon Nights and Shahar-er Alo explore that same paradox—the way cities can feel alive yet lonely, electric yet empty.
3. The Stars My Destination – Alfred Bester
Michael: “This one’s got it all—revenge, space travel, weird telepathy. It’s like sci-fi Shakespeare on adrenaline.”
The Stars My Destination is a brutal, fast-paced journey across the cosmos, following a man who learns to teleport and becomes obsessed with revenge. It’s full of big ideas about power, destiny, and transformation—all things that resonate with Horizons.
The biggest influence? The way Bester describes space as something infinite but deeply personal. Songs like The Dreamer and The Voyager tap into that same feeling—being lost in the cosmos, yet still driven by something undeniably human.
4. The Three-Body Problem – Liu Cixin
Ayesha: “This book makes you feel tiny in the best possible way.”
Liu Cixin’s sci-fi epic is mind-bending, terrifying, and full of awe. It starts with a secret scientific experiment and ends up spanning light-years, alien civilisations, and impossible decisions.
It’s a book that forces you to think on a scale bigger than yourself, something we tried to capture in songs like Eternal Horizons—the feeling of standing before something vast, knowing you’re just a small part of it, but being in awe all the same.
5. Foundation – Isaac Asimov
Michael: “What if history wasn’t random? What if the future could be predicted? That idea still blows my mind.”
Asimov’s Foundation series is about predicting the future—not through prophecy, but through science. The idea that vast empires, wars, and collapses can be mapped out mathematically is both thrilling and unsettling.
This book influenced Horizons in a subtle way: the idea of time stretching out ahead of us, patterns repeating, the sense that we’re all part of something bigger than we can understand. Tracks like The Journey of Time capture that same feeling—the weight of history pressing down, but also the possibility of shaping what comes next.
6. Hyperion – Dan Simmons
Ayesha: “This book feels like myths, poetry, and space travel all crashed into each other and made something incredible.”
Hyperion is a sci-fi pilgrimage, a novel told through multiple perspectives, full of mystery, fate, and the terrifying unknown. It reads like an ancient legend retold in a distant future, which is exactly the kind of feeling we wanted Horizons to have—like it exists outside of time, like it’s something passed down from dreamer to dreamer.
How Science Fiction Shapes Crystal Youth
We don’t just read sci-fi—we live in it. We make music in a world where technology is evolving faster than we can understand, where the line between reality and fiction keeps blurring.
When we write songs, we’re not just thinking about synths and melodies—we’re thinking about the kind of stories that shaped us.
The ones that made us wonder. The ones that made us feel small. The ones that made us believe in something bigger.
That’s why Horizons sounds the way it does—because we wanted it to feel like stepping into a sci-fi world, like drifting through time, chasing something just out of reach.
Maybe that’s why we keep coming back to these books. Because, in the end, they remind us that we’re all just travellers—moving through the unknown, searching for meaning in the stars.
Let us know what books inspire you. And, as always—keep dreaming.
Michael & Ayesha
Crystal Youth 🚀📖