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Unkempt posted:James Blish wrote a book called Vor, though I haven't read it. Have a look at http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/james-blish/vor.htm That's it! My God, I've seriously been looking forever. Thank you so loving much.
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# ? Sep 24, 2008 07:37 |
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# ? May 13, 2024 06:54 |
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Shonagon posted:The setting is completely wrong but the ending is Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones. He's Sirius the Dog Star, exiled to Earth for murder, and the other orbs (big red and small white) are the planetary bodies who framed him. However, it has nothing to do with sea monsters. Is this coincidence or could you be confusing two titles? it could well be that. I did find another book where the sea monster part was there but not the orbs (The Bogart and the Monster by Susan Cooper), so I may well have been mixing them up thanks very much in any case, I'll seek them both out and see how messed up my memory really is
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# ? Sep 24, 2008 10:18 |
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yaffle posted:This sounds little like Julian May's Saga of the Exiles series, but your description lacks a lot of stuff from the books (aliens, mental powers, time travel etc) I was kinda thinking that as I wrote the description, but I realised that the only similarity was actually the golden torc thing. It turns out it was The Power of Three by Diana Wynne Jones. ...and it's still pretty good.
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# ? Sep 24, 2008 13:18 |
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I have three stories that have been hovering around my subconscious for a while, First one was a story about a guy who ends up transformed into some dog like creature I think to as a curse and then he ends up with this lady and being a guard dog or something, I'm pretty sure it took place on a different planet. Second is a short fiction story about the history of the song "Waltzing Matilda" but every time I've tried to look it up I either just get the lyrics or the actual history of the song. and last was a sci-fi book about a lady who is an outcast for having something wrong with her face, I think she was missing her nose, and she finds a special prosthetic that couldn't be detected and had to decide if she wanted to stay an outcast or not. Sorry for the lack of details hopefully at one of you knows these.
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# ? Sep 26, 2008 18:13 |
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First one might be Moon of Three Rings by Andre Norton - synopsis here. Not a clue about the others though.
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# ? Sep 26, 2008 18:49 |
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Rocambole posted:First one might be Moon of Three Rings by Andre Norton - synopsis here. Not a clue about the others though. Yes thank you, recognized the second cover and synopsis thank you
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# ? Sep 26, 2008 19:57 |
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Sci-fi book about a young (6 or 8 or something) boy who is shipped off to space to go into training to become a commander. During his training he has to do all these tactical simulations and mock battles. At the end of the book it is revealed that the mock battles were real and that he won the war which they thought was impossible.
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# ? Sep 26, 2008 21:44 |
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nemotrm posted:Sci-fi book about a young (6 or 8 or something) boy who is shipped off to space to go into training to become a commander. During his training he has to do all these tactical simulations and mock battles. At the end of the book it is revealed that the mock battles were real and that he won the war which they thought was impossible. Enders Game? Wikilink: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enders_game
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# ? Sep 26, 2008 21:49 |
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Lipumira posted:Enders Game? Wikilink: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enders_game Thanks.
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# ? Sep 26, 2008 21:50 |
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Here's one from the late 70s: Took place in a high school and the title of the book was the name of the school's student handbook. May have contained the name "Alfred" in the school name.
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# ? Sep 27, 2008 03:39 |
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Mister Kingdom posted:Here's one from the late 70s: Took place in a high school and the title of the book was the name of the school's student handbook. May have contained the name "Alfred" in the school name. The Alfred G. Graebner Memorial High School Handbook of Rules and Regulations by Ellen Conford. I remember reading that probably 15 years ago if not longer.
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# ? Sep 27, 2008 04:16 |
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Encryptic posted:The Alfred G. Graebner Memorial High School Handbook of Rules and Regulations by Ellen Conford. I remember reading that probably 15 years ago if not longer. Yep, that's it. Thanks.
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# ? Sep 27, 2008 04:45 |
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They were a series of children's books. The main character was named Hattie, and she had a pretty large family 6+ children, in rural late 19th century/early 20th century America. I think she was around 10-12 years old. I only remember some bits of the stories, like looking at the Sears and Roebuck catalog, buying a lavender print dress, growing a large pumpkin for a fair. I had no luck googling it.
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# ? Sep 27, 2008 05:13 |
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e:nvm
ist fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Jul 2, 2020 |
# ? Sep 27, 2008 05:46 |
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ist posted:This one just randomly popped into my mind, and I've gotta figure out the title to it. Could it be "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E. L. Konigsburg? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Mixed-Up_Files_of_Mrs._Basil_E._Frankweiler First thing I thought of. Elohssa Gib fucked around with this message at 06:53 on Sep 27, 2008 |
# ? Sep 27, 2008 06:50 |
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There's a short story about a kid who is really into horse racing and horses and in about the middle of it, he looks into the eyes of the owner of some really talented horse that wins some race, and after the race he follows the horse's owner to a brothel where he sees the guy with some prostitutes and it grosses him out and then it's over. I remember the author was gay, and the story was pretty clearly about that too. E: remembered. Sherwood Anderson - I Want To Know Why Your Proud Pal fucked around with this message at 06:43 on Sep 29, 2008 |
# ? Sep 27, 2008 09:14 |
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e:nvm
ist fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Jul 2, 2020 |
# ? Sep 27, 2008 17:12 |
I have a couple, all from at least a decade ago. One is about a girl who's really shy and unhappy with herself, until she sees a painting of some kickass woman (I want to say Catherine the Great) in a museum and it looks just like her. This inspires to her to be more assertive and stuff, and I think it ends with her realizing she didn't have to act like said famous person to feel better. The other is a sci-fi novel, and pretty short. The main characters are a human boy and an alien girl on some other planet or moon or something. The only part I remember is they're in a buggy driven by someone else (maybe to infiltrate a base?), and it crashes, and a big deal is made that they're not badly injured, because they were mostly asleep and relaxed so they didn't tense up and injure themselves like the driver who was badly hurt.
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# ? Sep 28, 2008 05:58 |
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I've been trying to find a book for my wife that she's been trying to find forever. (If I can find the book, it means major points for me ) She has explained that she read a book when she was a teen (late 90s) and it was about a teenage girl and her friend who was a boy and they discover that they can do magic. Then something about her parents and them not liking her time with the boy or there's something wrong with the mom, and the girl has to become a fish and get some whales to come to a certain point in the ocean to be a part of a song at some time to save everything. It may or may not be a series. I know it's vague and young adult fiction, but my wife keeps looking for this book at shops hoping she'll come across it, and it's nagging her. Plus, what better gift for my wife. Thanks for the help. EDIT: So I told her about this thread and she says that it was definitely a series and the girl's mom has cancer and dies, or is dying. Apparently my wife is on a "I'm saving books that I liked for our future children" phase. Putin It In Mah ASS fucked around with this message at 08:01 on Sep 28, 2008 |
# ? Sep 28, 2008 07:44 |
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Putin It In Mah rear end posted:I've been trying to find a book for my wife that she's been trying to find forever. (If I can find the book, it means major points for me ) Sounds like Deep Wizardry, the second book in the So You Want to be a Wizard series by Diane Duane: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Wizards
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# ? Sep 28, 2008 10:07 |
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ist posted:This one just randomly popped into my mind, and I've gotta figure out the title to it. I came too late, and your question was answered, but I remember this book pretty clearly. It's way older than 15 years, because we read it when I was in elementary school, just after the invention of electricity The plot was that there was a possible statue by Michelangelo in the museum. She also brought her little brother along.
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# ? Sep 28, 2008 18:25 |
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Okay, this is one I read years ago; it's about an (English?) couple in the 50s(?) who are in a nuclear blast and slowly get sick from radiation poisoning? It was a cartoon book, sort of, and I specifically remember them building a shelter inside their house which was just a plank sloped against a wall with a mattress on top? Ring any bells?
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# ? Sep 30, 2008 01:22 |
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Meeper posted:Okay, this is one I read years ago; it's about an (English?) couple in the 50s(?) who are in a nuclear blast and slowly get sick from radiation poisoning? It was a cartoon book, sort of, and I specifically remember them building a shelter inside their house which was just a plank sloped against a wall with a mattress on top? Ring any bells?
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# ? Sep 30, 2008 04:19 |
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Action Jacktion posted:When the Wind Blows. Aha! They made that into a movie, which I've consistently been getting mixed up with The Big Snit. I wondered why a lot of the descriptions of that didn't seem quite right.
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# ? Sep 30, 2008 04:48 |
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fritz posted:Sounds like Deep Wizardry, the second book in the So You Want to be a Wizard series by Diane Duane: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Wizards Thank you!
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# ? Sep 30, 2008 13:46 |
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Elohssa Gib posted:and last was a sci-fi book about a lady who is an outcast for having something wrong with her face, I think she was missing her nose, and she finds a special prosthetic that couldn't be detected and had to decide if she wanted to stay an outcast or not.
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# ? Oct 1, 2008 07:01 |
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Ok I've got two for you. The first one is about these alien space ships that come to Earth, and park over all the major cities, and just sit there. Eventually the people stop caring and go back to their normal lives for 500 years or so, when the aliens finally decide to make contact. They send a message saying they will come out of their ships in another 500 years. When the time finally comes there is a big celebration, but when the aliens show up they're actually demons. The second book, I don't know quite as much about. It involes some strange planet where once every year anyone can do anything they want, without any repercussions. The main character, a detective, is investigating a murder that happened during the event that he believes was commited before hand. Fake Edit: I'm not sure but I think the people who went out durring the night dressed in some crazy S&M-esque gear.
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# ? Oct 1, 2008 23:04 |
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Gyver posted:Ok I've got two for you. The first one is about these alien space ships that come to Earth, and park over all the major cities, and just sit there. Eventually the people stop caring and go back to their normal lives for 500 years or so, when the aliens finally decide to make contact. They send a message saying they will come out of their ships in another 500 years. When the time finally comes there is a big celebration, but when the aliens show up they're actually demons. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke, which was expanded from the short story "Guardian Angel" - they both have the aliens turning out to look just like demons, but in the short story it's the punchline and in the novel it's just the beginning.
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# ? Oct 1, 2008 23:43 |
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Gyver posted:Ok I've got two for you. The first one is about these alien space ships that come to Earth, and park over all the major cities, and just sit there. Eventually the people stop caring and go back to their normal lives for 500 years or so, when the aliens finally decide to make contact. They send a message saying they will come out of their ships in another 500 years. When the time finally comes there is a big celebration, but when the aliens show up they're actually demons. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
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# ? Oct 1, 2008 23:43 |
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I remember some book that was being given away by my middle school library. I read a few pages of it then quit for some reason. It had a bunch of kids in school with their (female) teacher. They were outside and the kids kept rubbing their faces on the grass because it was so rare in the world for some reason. But the teacher kept telling them to not hurt the grass. Then later in the book a bunch of bad people (terrorists? nationalists? i don't remember) broke into the school and held the kids/teacher hostage for some reason. Any help? Maybe? Thanks in advance.
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# ? Oct 3, 2008 23:22 |
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vegaji posted:I remember some book that was being given away by my middle school library. I read a few pages of it then quit for some reason.
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# ? Oct 3, 2008 23:33 |
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Rocambole posted:I think this is Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down by Irene Schram. Was the teacher called Miss Love? Is it actually a good book? It seemed very strange to my 12 year old mind when I was reading it so I probably stopped because of that.
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# ? Oct 4, 2008 00:01 |
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It might be a Douglas Adams: I am thinking of a book where they come across a village where it is customary to store the mummified remains of the ancestors within their houses. The protagonist takes a sample of the remains, with a knife I think, and it turns out that they are still alive, I think.
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# ? Oct 4, 2008 08:01 |
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vegaji posted:Wow, yes, I believe that is it. I can't find anything about it online, but that sounds extremely familiar and I do remember something about kids singing Ashes, Ashes in the book. Thanks! nemotrm posted:It might be a Douglas Adams: I am thinking of a book where they come across a village where it is customary to store the mummified remains of the ancestors within their houses. The protagonist takes a sample of the remains, with a knife I think, and it turns out that they are still alive, I think. (e: or if it was darker it could be one of the episodes in Joe Haldeman's All My Sins Remembered - it ends with the critically injured bad guy being put into the same kind of suspended animation.) Runcible Cat fucked around with this message at 10:53 on Oct 5, 2008 |
# ? Oct 4, 2008 09:14 |
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enuma elish posted:This one sounds like Expendable by James Alan Gardner, although the flaw in that story was a birthmark on the cheek. Sound familiar? Yes thank you, have no idea why I thought her nose was gone.
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# ? Oct 4, 2008 09:49 |
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I read this book about 5-6 years ago. It was French, translated into English. I can't for sure recall whether it was a novel or a play, but the quick summary is as follows: A well known laywer and his girlfriend (wife or fiance?) are relaxing by a body of water. His girlfriend falls asleep, while she sleeps he witnesses another young lady go into the stream, get caught in the current, and drowns. He doesn't help her out of fear, or maybe he can't swim. He is then forced to prosecute the drowned girl's boyfriend who is accused of murdering her. This ring any bells to anyone?
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# ? Oct 6, 2008 16:54 |
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I think it was written by Arthur C. Clarke, Joe Haldeman, Robert Sawyer or Neal Stephenson. The only thing I really remember is that at the end of the book an international law is put into place where no country can have more nukes than any other, so every time France disposes of a nuke Russia and the US have to as well.
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# ? Oct 7, 2008 00:49 |
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Rocambole posted:I haven't read it for years either, but from what I remember it's extremely strange. Kids and teacher are taken to a sort of experimental prison camp to be killed off one by one, the guards are these weird emotionless guys who have sex with each other in the breakroom (no, I'm not kidding, 70s kids' book ) - I may have to track down a copy just to see if it is any good. It seems to be in the William Sleator/House of Stairs vein, if that helps. It was Haldeman, thanks.
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# ? Oct 7, 2008 00:50 |
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I don't remember who wrote it, but it's available in novel and paperback form. I thought the title was "The Change" but I seem to be mistaken. It's about a man who creates an AI that becomes self aware and creates what it believes to be a utopia. A side story occurs as his ex-wife tries to find where the creator is hiding, and eventually they meet and the AI crashes, sending man back to the stone age.
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# ? Oct 7, 2008 03:24 |
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# ? May 13, 2024 06:54 |
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nemotrm posted:I think it was written by Arthur C. Clarke, Joe Haldeman, Robert Sawyer or Neal Stephenson. The only thing I really remember is that at the end of the book an international law is put into place where no country can have more nukes than any other, so every time France disposes of a nuke Russia and the US have to as well. This is from a short story by Joe Haldeman, To Howard Hughes: A Modest Proposal.
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# ? Oct 7, 2008 06:21 |