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Action Jacktion posted:Deepwater Black by Ken Catran. Fun fact: Ken Catran wrote this, got lovely at the lack of credit/consideration for the excessive use in advertising it's had then quit writing for TV>
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Dec 1, 2011 01:55
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I'm trying to remember the name of a scifi book where: - humans have been colonizing the solar system - they've met these aliens that look like displacer beasts, except the tentacles come out of their mouths instead of their backs - the entire UK has moved into into a giant spaceship - a bunch of human spaceships get invited back to these aliens' homeworld - their ships are all ceramic because the FTL drive destabilizes metal
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Dec 1, 2011 06:33
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Keep having this book pop in my head when I'm at work It's a slice of life book that takes place in the late 1800s early 1900s about a farm family, the main character is a girl and each chapter may be a separate story of her life, I specifically remember 3 specific stories, in one she is mad at her brother for some reason and stuffs his pillow with ragweed and then feels bad when he has a severe allergic reaction. Second one she finds a doll in a ditch and when they set it on the stove to dry while there eating it starts making noise and moving, turns out it was full of corn which starts popping, and the last I can remember is they buy a trunk or crate from some gypsies without knowing what was in it. I think it turned out to be full of bent nails or other scrap metal and I learned the term pig in a poke from the story.
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Dec 1, 2011 14:39
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Here's a YA book I read years ago, and have never been able to find since. All I can remember is that an ordinary kid went to some kind of bizarre dimension where no one was allowed to sleep, ever. And he was able to fake it for a while, but then he got caught napping and was put in some kind of zoo. And now it gets strange, because I seem to remember that there was some kind of bird who was notable because his name rhymed with "orange" (it was actually pointed out in the text), like "Luornge" or something. But maybe that last part was from a different book? 
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Dec 10, 2011 07:14
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I'm looking for two books. I've been trying to find one for 17 years. The main character was a naval officer, the events happened during the early part of the War in the Pacific. I believe he was having an affair with a Dutch woman and that part of the action dealt with the fall of the Dutch East Indies. I also think there was something about the ABDA forces and their defeat. The other book was about a queen or some sort of female royal lady in a state in Central Asia in the time after the death of Alexander the Great. I remember that the Amu and Syr Darya rivers were referred to as the Oxus and Jaxartes.
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Dec 12, 2011 02:59
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http://sf-encyclopedia.com/ This came online today, it should answer about 50% of the requests in this thread 
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Dec 13, 2011 07:19
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There was this short story by (I think) a sci-fi author, about how God intended for the world to end after 6000 years or whatever, and so he commanded Gabriel (or another angel) to sound the horn to start the Apocalypse. However, the angel managed to convince God that since all the people don't share the same calendar, it's not fair to end the world at a seemingly arbitrary point. God then agrees, and says that the world will end 6000/whatever years after the entire planet has a common calendar. Then there's an epilogue about how people set a common calendar from the first atomic detonation or the first world government or something like those lines.
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Dec 13, 2011 10:37
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I think that's The Last Trump, by Asimov.
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Dec 13, 2011 10:49
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I had to read this book in a college lit class in 1997. The basic premise is that a girl moved from the U.S. to Spain to learn flamenco guitar from some gypsies. Her brother died from a nitrous(?) overdose. Also, at some point she hosed up her fingers because she accidentally stuck them in a fan. This has been bugging me for years.
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Dec 15, 2011 02:05
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Barnum posted:I had to read this book in a college lit class in 1997. The basic premise is that a girl moved from the U.S. to Spain to learn flamenco guitar from some gypsies. This might be Returning to A by Dorien Ross.
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Dec 15, 2011 03:30
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tabris posted:This might be Returning to A by Dorien Ross. Wow. That's definitely it. Thank you so much!
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Dec 15, 2011 06:43
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Ok, so I would really like to make my wife's Christmas great. She has told me a ton of times about a book she had as a child, that she doesn't remember much about save for the plot was about household objects (utensils, furniture, etc) that would turn into birds at night. Please help! Thank you!!
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Dec 15, 2011 21:19
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A book called something like "One Day I Will Take Over the World", from the point of view of a super villain with self-esteem issues.
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Dec 15, 2011 21:25
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ACauseToLead posted:A book called something like "One Day I Will Take Over the World", from the point of view of a super villain with self-esteem issues. Soon I Will Be Invincible?
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Dec 15, 2011 21:27
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Late 19th, early 20th century horror. Starts with a dude talking to a girl in his garden, he begins telling her a tale about the distant future where the sun has gone out and giant monsters are slowly approaching the last bastion of humanity. Guy gets exiled or goes exploring outside the arcology, has a wrist-mounted laser whip or something.
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Dec 15, 2011 22:09
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Dead Alice posted:Late 19th, early 20th century horror. Starts with a dude talking to a girl in his garden, he begins telling her a tale about the distant future where the sun has gone out and giant monsters are slowly approaching the last bastion of humanity.
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Dec 15, 2011 22:25
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Runcible Cat posted:The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson. Skip the first chapter unless you like suffocating in some of the ghastliest glurge ever committed to paper. Ahah thanks, I knew it was something like Night/Dark Land/Place/World/[location].
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Dec 16, 2011 03:18
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Runcible Cat posted:The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson. Skip the first chapter unless you like suffocating in some of the ghastliest glurge ever committed to paper. I'm assuming skipping the first chapter won't harm the story? I've tried a few different times to start it but couldn't get into it.
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Dec 16, 2011 04:29
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calandryll posted:I'm assuming skipping the first chapter won't harm the story? I've tried a few different times to start it but couldn't get into it. Synopsis of chapter 1: [Contemporary-ish] man meets woman, they find they both have visions of the same dream lands and fall in love, he saves her from muggers, she saves him from vicious dog, bla bla they marry, she dies in childbirth. All in the syrupiest of Victorian prose. Chapter 2 begins with the narrator/hero explaining that since this his visions have become Of The Far Future and far more real; then he kicks off with the story proper. It's a much better starting point. The only thing that the first chapter adds is extra confirmation that the hero and his true love actually have been sort of spiritually bound throughout the millennia, and it's not worth the wading and gagging it takes to get through. Runcible Cat fucked around with this message at 10:45 on Dec 16, 2011 |
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Dec 16, 2011 10:42
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Hey! I'm looking for a sci-fi short story I've read some time ago. It's about these people who woke up in limbo after their train derailed. One by one they wake up and find that the other passengers are in a deep sleep. Later, after the train stops at a small station, the guys debate whether they should return on the train or stay at the station, over a game of cards. The ones that stay wake up later from a coma, find out what really happened and that the ones that left with the train are now dead. The main character then finds a playing card in one of his coat's pocket.
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Dec 18, 2011 21:37
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I am looking for a weird sci-fi time travel book I read as a teen. In it a young man receives a time machine (possibly a belt?) from a deceased relative. At one point he lives in a house with hundreds of other versions of himself, at another point he screws up the timeline so much that he manages to meet and fall in love with a female version of himself. Thanks!
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Dec 20, 2011 22:43
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optimaltable posted:I am looking for a weird sci-fi time travel book I read as a teen.
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Dec 20, 2011 22:57
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Runcible Cat posted:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Folded_Himself It's probably that one, but there's also All You Zombies by Heinlein.
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Dec 20, 2011 23:22
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Piell posted:It's probably that one, but there's also All You Zombies by Heinlein.
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Dec 21, 2011 00:47
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WastedJoker posted:Hey guys,
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Dec 21, 2011 15:29
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WastedJoker posted:'Fraid I can't help you, but your description made me think of a series I read and quite enjoyed. The story follows a slave who is the only one who can help the ruling family's scion with his demon-haunted dreams. The slave is a demon killer in his dreams, which is how you fight demons in this world. The prince he's helping starts off a terrible person but gradually learns humility and humanity thanks to the slave. In the end he leads a rebellion against his despotic father. (He might also be turned into a tiger at one point?) The slave is at first forced to help him, but they end up working together to save the slave's people. The books had a sort of Eastern-flavoured setting, while the people that the slave was from were characterised as humble shepherd types, very lowly and not warrior-like at all. The series was written by a female author, I think. Help!
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Dec 21, 2011 15:50
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I was directed here from the stupid questions megathread regarding my mystery young adult sci-fi novel: I'm seeking the title of a science fiction book I read when I was in middle school. Having trouble using amazon and google since the keywords I remember are not incorporated in any way in the title. This is probably a stretch to find the title now, but this is the general idea: The main character was a young boy named Doddy (maybe Dody?). He and his family, and possibly many others, were making a long trip across space and were put into suspended animation. Doddy's machine fails and he wakes up early, and the ship's computer refused to put him under again or wake up his family. So, by the time their ship reaches the destination, he's a middle-aged man or something. At that point, the family comes across some weird kids that don't seem right somehow. All I remember after that point is that Doddy and his siblings are taken aside by the weird kids who try to make copies of them. I'm pretty sure they're referred to as "ersatz children" and after a copy is made, nothing is left of the original but the teeth. Ring any bells? dustbin fucked around with this message at 05:12 on Dec 22, 2011 |
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Dec 22, 2011 03:10
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dustbin posted:This is probably a stretch to find the title now, but this is the general idea: The main character was a young boy named Doddy (maybe Dody?). He and his family, and possibly many others, were making a long trip across space and were put into suspended animation. Doddy's machine fails and he wakes up early, and the ship's computer refused to put him under again or wake up his family. So, by the time their ship reaches the destination, he's a middle-aged man or something. At that point, the family comes across some weird kids that don't seem right somehow. All I remember after that point is that Doddy and his siblings are taken aside by the weird kids who try to make copies of them. I'm pretty sure they're referred to as "ersatz children" and after a copy is made, nothing is left of the original but the teeth. Sleepers, Wake by Paul Samuel Jacobs.
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Dec 22, 2011 05:30
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shadok posted:Sleepers, Wake by Paul Samuel Jacobs. Thank you!! Did you know exactly what I was talking about or better searching?
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Dec 22, 2011 05:31
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dustbin posted:Thank you!! Did you know exactly what I was talking about or better searching?
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Dec 22, 2011 14:41
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Please help. A book I read 7-10 years ago just popped into my head. I read it a couple of times but only the vaguest details remain with me. It had mermaids in it. Or at least, mermaid-like creatures. Selkies, maybe. The cover I remember quite well - it was white, and featured a blue-haired woman, possibly a mermaid, holding up some kind of mirror or magical relic type thing that proved to be central to the story in some way. The protagonist was a teenager in a magic school. It was, obviously, a young adult kind of thing. I think the title had something to do with the magical relic thing, and it was probably the first in a series? This is going to drive me crazy.  e: Oh, and another one for you guys. Another YA thing from 6-10 years ago. Teenage girl gets captured by demon man and taken to his castle. He's the typical beautiful demon guy, only he can't heal his wounds, and at one point he gets lacerations right through his cheek that never heal. He has dogs guarding the castle steps. In the garden there's a cave, in which there's a river I think and a man lives there, he helps the protagonist. There's something about apples with this guy. There's also a sideplot about a prince and his mother travelling with a group of merchants through a desert to find somethingorother, an oasis maybe? Anyway the mother (the queen?) gets killed, possibly poisoned. I think the demon guy dies in the end in a similar manner, the teenage girl has to kill him or something? There's a love plot, a creepy stockholm syndrome thing. Been driving me batty for years, any help would be appreciated
eating only apples fucked around with this message at 23:00 on Dec 22, 2011 |
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Dec 22, 2011 22:48
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eating only apples posted:Please help.
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Dec 22, 2011 23:24
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eating only apples posted:e: Oh, and another one for you guys. Another YA thing from 6-10 years ago. Teenage girl gets captured by demon man and taken to his castle. He's the typical beautiful demon guy, only he can't heal his wounds, and at one point he gets lacerations right through his cheek that never heal. He has dogs guarding the castle steps. In the garden there's a cave, in which there's a river I think and a man lives there, he helps the protagonist. There's something about apples with this guy.
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Dec 22, 2011 23:48
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Runcible Cat posted:Was it by Jan Siegel? Nope. Action Jacktion posted:Some of that sounds like The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce, but that might not be it. No, that's it! I must be getting stuff muddled up, but that's definitely the one I was looking for, I remember the necklace thing and the spinning for his wives. And the duarough in the garden! Awesome, thanks
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Dec 23, 2011 00:23
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mystes posted:C.O.L.A.R.? I loved loved loved that book as a kid, but I was only allowed to check it out once. The middle school librarian had a stupid policy where you could only check books out of a certain section of the library each time your class came to visit (yes, there were scheduled visits, and that was literally the only time you were allowed in the library). I get the idea -- to get kids reading lots of different books -- but it punished those of us who were avid readers and saw many interesting books we wanted to read. At any rate, I never got to read it again. Even when I went back in sixth grade, she kept me from checking it out because I'd checked it out previously the year before. I never could find the drat thing anywhere. Ordering a copy now. I'm sure it won't live up to expectations, but I don't care.
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Dec 23, 2011 01:32
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Its a fantasy book, probably written for young adults since I read around the age of 10-14 (so at least 5 years ago). The back of the book described it as Dune but with islands instead of planets. The book started with some kid on a tiny and somewhat poor island with a castle, poo poo happens and he goes on a quest. From there I remember there being magic, a submarine, a book burning and it ending really weirdly (but I don't remember how, just that it was hosed up). I am 99% sure its not Earthsea, but I may be confusing some of my memories with it.
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Dec 23, 2011 02:17
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I'm trying to remember the name of a book my third grade teacher read to us before Christmas. This was in the mid-80s, but the book was much older. It was bascially the backstory of Santa Claus. It might have been Baum's The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, but I don't remember his being the author, and I think that's something that my teacher would have pointed out and would have stuck with me given how well known his other works are. What are some other children's books in this same vein that it could have been?
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Dec 24, 2011 20:53
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There is a sci-fi book that I read long ago about space horses pulling ships around and "jumping" to stars and getting attacked by space sharks who were host to swarms of little space vultures or something that could block the horses vision so it couldn't jump. I tried to Google space horses and other things like it to no avail.
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Dec 26, 2011 19:46
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WastedJoker posted:Sounds a little like The Redemption of Althalus, by David Eddings.
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Dec 26, 2011 21:17
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I don't know what that book actually is but I am extremely sure that it is not Redemption of Althalus.
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Dec 27, 2011 05:38
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