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Zola posted:This sounds like The Chosen by Ricardo Pinto That's the one. Thanks!
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Jan 21, 2012 16:11
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I'm trying to remember the name of a sci fi story I read a long time ago. The plot was pretty straight-forward, a small exploratory ship crewed by like 6 guys lands on a mysterious inhabited planet, and they wander around trying to make sense of various strange sights. Eventually, they're attacked by a native civilization, and forced to retreat back to their ship. Fortunately, the natives are much less developed and pose no actual threat once the crew is back inside the ship. Rather than vaporizing the alien army (it's implied this is an option) the explorers just leave. The main distinguishing characteristic of the book that I remember was that none of the characters were referred to by name--the book used their position in the crew instead. I definitely remember there was a "roboticist" in addition to the captain, and also a couple scientists like a biologist or whatever. Also the closing lines were something along the lines of, "too bad we had to get out of there, it sure is a beautiful planet." "Well you know, the Law of Averages says somewhere out there there's one even prettier" King of Bleh fucked around with this message at 04:08 on Jan 27, 2012 |
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Jan 26, 2012 11:54
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I asked this in GBS to no avail, so I might as well copy-paste this here to give BB Goons a shot: I'm looking for a fairy tale book originating from Russia or near that part of the world. My dad used to swing by this Russian shop on the way home from work when I was a wee chicld, and picked up a smattering of kids books and magazines and things (ironically, to help teach me English) They were in English, but based around Russian characters,a dn stories. I actually don't know the title; I've always assumed it was called the Thunder-wonder but I'm pretty sure that's not the name. Here are all the facts I can remember. - A son is born to some poor peasant woman. - he becomes BFFs with the son of a Rich Man, and tells said Rich Man that if he (the Widow's Boy) was fed ox liver until adulthood, he would grow up and defeat the Thunder-wonder. - Said beastie is dude in armour with three snakes where his head should be, acting as a Baron or Tsar or something and oppressing all the norms. - When he grows up, there a scene where he breaks successively hefty maces (by throwing them in the air an d letting them land on various parts of his body where they shatter) until the third one is strong enough to be useable. (Everything happens in 3s) - He hangs out at a bridge and kills the Thunder-wonder, and then its six-headed older bro, and then the eldest one with nine heads, like a bizzaro Billy Goats Gruff. Each T-W rides a horse (named Horsemeat) has a hound (Dogmeat) and a falcon (Birdmeat) who sass their master as the sense the presence of the Widow's Son. - there a sequel where he is set a series of impossible tasks by his prospective father-in-law, but in his travels manages to find men with the exact skill needed to deal with the respective challenge (a guy who can drink a whole lake deal with the drinking challenge, for example. there was some dude with a prehensile moustache at some point as well) It was really beautifully illustrated and the story remains a strong memory in my childhood, but I can't find any mention of it anywhere on the internet. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
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Feb 2, 2012 00:34
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It's a book I read for school in 8th grade (98-99.) It was a novella sized book about a kid who goes to visit his grandmother for the summer and stumbles upon some magic swamp water that gives him telepathic powers. Soon enough he discovers he's not the only one who has found the swamp. One detail I remember is the way the author described the way they "blocked" other mind readers from reading their thoughts. The main character would imagine up a massive wall of ice around his brain which would melt as the other person "broke through" rabidcowfromhell fucked around with this message at 09:46 on Feb 2, 2012 |
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Feb 2, 2012 09:43
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rabidcowfromhell posted:It's a book I read for school in 8th grade (98-99.) It was a novella sized book about a kid who goes to visit his grandmother for the summer and stumbles upon some magic swamp water that gives him telepathic powers. Soon enough he discovers he's not the only one who has found the swamp. Most likely Others See Us by William Sleator.
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Feb 2, 2012 13:05
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thedaian posted:Most likely Others See Us by William Sleator. That's it, thank you!
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Feb 2, 2012 18:06
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Meningism posted:It was really beautifully illustrated and the story remains a strong memory in my childhood, but I can't find any mention of it anywhere on the internet. Well, I suspect you may be conflating more than one tale, but I did some digging and I think that the story you are talking about is Ivan Popyalof, who fights... you'll never guess... the Chudo-Yudo. Chudo, by the way, means "prodigy", so thunder-wonder may have come from the translation. The maces in the air and the multi-headed monsters (6,9,12) make me certain that we have at least found the story, if not the version. Hopefully this gives you some stuff to search on.
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Feb 3, 2012 00:01
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In 2007 or 2008 I bought this hardcover book that was about hoaxes, scams, and pranks. Some of the topics it covered that I remember are Konrad Kujau forging the Hitler diaries, crop circles, Cottingley fairies, Lobsang Rampa, and the BBC "nightwatch" incident. I think the first story in the book was about a artistic burial ground where people could decorate a 10x10 space however they liked. I lost the book when I moved and it's been driving me crazy trying to remember the title. If anyone knows what book this is or knows of another book of a similar subject it'd be greatly appreciated.
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Feb 10, 2012 07:52
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Brett Favre posted:In 2007 or 2008 I bought this hardcover book that was about hoaxes, scams, and pranks. Some of the topics it covered that I remember are Konrad Kujau forging the Hitler diaries, crop circles, Cottingley fairies, Lobsang Rampa, and the BBC "nightwatch" incident. I think the first story in the book was about a artistic burial ground where people could decorate a 10x10 space however they liked. I lost the book when I moved and it's been driving me crazy trying to remember the title. If anyone knows what book this is or knows of another book of a similar subject it'd be greatly appreciated. Certainly a similar subject, not sure if it's what you are looking for. An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural In the same direction: Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked Into an Intellectual Black Hole Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions Hasseltkoffie fucked around with this message at 15:21 on Feb 10, 2012 |
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Feb 10, 2012 15:17
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I am trying to find out the title of a book(or maybe it is a series of books) that I read about someplace one, maybe on here. This description is going to be a bit poo poo, but it had to do with a giant cliff-face or mountain made up the whole world that the characters could travel up and down, and by doing so they would find themselves in different strata of time, or at least different kinds of places. I think it was science-fiction and was supposed to involve a lot of weird creatures and strange goings-on. Red Alert 2 Yuris Revenge fucked around with this message at 06:25 on Feb 11, 2012 |
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Feb 11, 2012 06:21
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Contest Winner posted:I am trying to find out the title of a book(or maybe it is a series of books) that I read about someplace one, maybe on here. Terminal World?
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Feb 11, 2012 09:47
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Contest Winner posted:I am trying to find out the title of a book(or maybe it is a series of books) that I read about someplace one, maybe on here. If you want good cliffworld stuff try Adam Roberts' On.
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Feb 11, 2012 11:51
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Runcible Cat posted:From your description it's probably Graham Edwards' Stone & Sky and sequels. Be warned, it's godawful boring though I know how implausible that sounds from the description. (Well, OK, it may improve after the first book, which would have been bearable if compressed to a 2-chapter prologue. I'm not going to be the one to find out.) Thank guys, it was the Graham Edwards books I was thinking of, but I might check out the other two things you suggested first.
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Feb 11, 2012 22:18
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nevermind
halaster53579 fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Apr 1, 2012 |
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Feb 12, 2012 01:59
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Trying to remember the name of a book, but I don't have a lot of details. The "scene" I remember has the main character having sex in a dark room with who he thinks is his ex wife, but turns out to be a male-gendered shape-shifter of some sort. He figures it out when he gets a phone call midcoitus from the woman.
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Feb 12, 2012 02:53
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Runcible Cat posted:From your description it's probably Graham Edwards' Stone & Sky and sequels. Be warned, it's godawful boring though I know how implausible that sounds from the description. (Well, OK, it may improve after the first book, which would have been bearable if compressed to a 2-chapter prologue. I'm not going to be the one to find out.) Oh no you di'nt! This series is seriously one of my favorites. The third book in particular is amazing. I will forever pimp this series out to people, I love it.
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Feb 12, 2012 08:19
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There was science fiction story that I read on the internet about a year ago about a scientist that made an AI and the AI decided that the best way to help out the human race was to digitize everything so that no one could die. There was a black woman who kept killing herself over and over for funsies, that eventually goes to find the scientist and stuff. Any help would be appreciated.
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Feb 12, 2012 08:45
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MrGunner posted:There was science fiction story that I read on the internet about a year ago about a scientist that made an AI and the AI decided that the best way to help out the human race was to digitize everything so that no one could die. There was a black woman who kept killing herself over and over for funsies, that eventually goes to find the scientist and stuff. The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect
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Feb 12, 2012 09:02
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That's it. Thanks pal!
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Feb 12, 2012 11:02
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Hedrigall posted:Oh no you di'nt! This series is seriously one of my favorites. The third book in particular is amazing. I will forever pimp this series out to people, I love it. It's strange because I'm normally all over big weird construct stories, but this one just draaaaaagged on and on and on to the point where I could only read a few pages at a time.
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Feb 12, 2012 12:31
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Funkmaster General posted:Trying to remember the name of a book, but I don't have a lot of details. The "scene" I remember has the main character having sex in a dark room with who he thinks is his ex wife, but turns out to be a male-gendered shape-shifter of some sort. He figures it out when he gets a phone call midcoitus from the woman. Imajica by Clive Barker The book is over 800 pages, I'm surprised that that is the only scene you remember.
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Feb 12, 2012 16:19
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Looking for an old book, maybe from 1950-1970? Setting is post-apoc, people have fled underground, and after many years completely adapted to darkness. After generations (?) the people from above (the apocalypse wasn't as bad as thought, or they didn't realise they could go up again?) find these people and slowly reintroduce them to the light, first flash-lights and so forth. I don't know any other details.
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Feb 15, 2012 20:32
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innocent_deadly posted:Imajica by Clive Barker The book is over 800 pages, I'm surprised that that is the only scene you remember. To be fair, that's the only scene I can remember too. I'm looking for the title to a book I read a couple years ago. It was set in a future (maybe decimated by global warming?'. I know that it's in Britain, with a lot of the isles flooded underwater. I know the main character's an archaeologist, except that archaeology is considered pointless or something. I remember one bit where he sets an assignment and it goes on about how all the students will use identical resources to find identical sources to write identical articles to get identical grades or something. The main plot focusses on the guy growing a pearl in his elbow (or knee?) I think, because it's worth a lot and he figures why the gently caress not. There's also a minority of (I think) 'marsh people' (maybe meant to be Welsh or Scottish? Or Cornish?) and at the end a girl from said minority steals the pearl.
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Feb 15, 2012 22:44
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Two for one! (Maybe....)Hasseltkoffie posted:Looking for an old book, maybe from 1950-1970? Setting is post-apoc, people have fled underground, and after many years completely adapted to darkness. After generations (?) the people from above (the apocalypse wasn't as bad as thought, or they didn't realise they could go up again?) find these people and slowly reintroduce them to the light, first flash-lights and so forth. I don't know any other details. Saith posted:I'm looking for the title to a book I read a couple years ago. It was set in a future (maybe decimated by global warming?'. I know that it's in Britain, with a lot of the isles flooded underwater.
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Feb 15, 2012 23:12
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Runcible Cat posted:And that's Jan Mark's Useful Idiots. A very underrated writer. Not by me!  "Nule" is one of my favourite stories ever.
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Feb 16, 2012 06:56
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I'm trying to figure out the name of a book I had when I was much younger (so 89-95 or so). It was all done in a collage style of cut paper where a group of maybe Japanese riders/soldiers confronted a series of spirits or monsters. Each one was based almost entirely on a color, I remember a red, green and blue for sure. I pestered my mom the other day for the name of it so I could try and track it down for my niece, but she didn't remember it.
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Feb 16, 2012 12:14
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innocent_deadly posted:Imajica by Clive Barker The book is over 800 pages, I'm surprised that that is the only scene you remember. It probably isn't, but rather I didn't connect it to the others in my mind, attributing them to other books to which I'd also forgotten the title. Gonna give it a reread and it'll probably all start coming back to me.
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Feb 16, 2012 20:02
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Funkmaster General posted:It probably isn't, but rather I didn't connect it to the others in my mind, attributing them to other books to which I'd also forgotten the title. Gonna give it a reread and it'll probably all start coming back to me. You should look forward to many more WTF moments.
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Feb 17, 2012 00:40
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I'm trying to remember as much as I can about this book, but it was in the nineties when I read it, (I think I was in Middle School or something). It was about a girl whose younger sister committed suicide. The sister thinks it's because her favorite rock band artist blew his brains out the day before, but it's more like he assaulted her when she came to meet him. He was really stoned/drugged/high and was just messed up in general. He had a... cat? That he was taking care of, but left it in the bathroom with no water and the tub full of cat food and it died. He shot himself as he was laughing hysterically. I want to say someone's name was Evie or something, but I'm not positive? Any ideas???
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Feb 17, 2012 12:23
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Runcible Cat posted:Two for one! (Maybe....) That's it! Thanks so much!
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Feb 17, 2012 12:41
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Anyone help me with this one: Sci-fi book. Protagonist is I think 16ish - everyone is highly educated - up to Calculus levels by middle school.. live underground and have screens that project landscapes to give the impression of living above ground. Anyway, the main plot is that at a certain age children are expected to go through a rite of passage involving a survival of the fittest type scenario. They are shot through space onto distant, undeveloped planets with only their wits and (I believe) one thing they can carry (can be anything - gun, knife, whatever). It is violent, and the kids end up stranded on the planet for years and start their own civilization. There is also some sort of strange animal that inhabits the planet and has some sort of annual migration that wipes the kids out. Eventually Earth manages to come back into contact with them and explains that a supernova interfered with their ability to get them back and some of the kids, now adults, decide to stay, since they have entire lives on the new planet. I just read the Hunger Games yesterday and it reminded me of a stupider version of the book I'm describing, so I wanted to maybe reread the other but I have no clue who could have written it.
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Feb 17, 2012 19:24
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Vaya con Dios!!! posted:Anyone help me with this one: Invitation to the Game, perhaps? Though refreshing my memory from the wikipedia page, perhaps not.
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Feb 17, 2012 19:55
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Piell posted:Invitation to the Game, perhaps? Though refreshing my memory from the wikipedia page, perhaps not. Nope, the book wasn't really dystopian, in hindsight I'd say more libertarian/hard-line meritocratic in bent, but I was too young to know that at the time.
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Feb 17, 2012 20:06
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Sounds a lot like Alexei Panshin's novel Rite of Passage though obviously they're from a ship rather than a planet.
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Feb 17, 2012 20:13
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Hobnob posted:Sounds a lot like Alexei Panshin's novel Rite of Passage though obviously they're from a ship rather than a planet. This sounds very similar, I should have noted that the protagonist was male. I guess this is a whole genre unto itself. edit: Figured it out, it was "Tunnel in the Sky" by Heinlein. Thanks for helping. Vaya con Dios!!! fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Feb 17, 2012 |
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Feb 17, 2012 20:26
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Runcible Cat posted:And that's Jan Mark's Useful Idiots. A very underrated writer. Cheers buddy. Shame there ain't a kindle version though.
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Feb 17, 2012 21:55
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DLAO posted:I'm trying to remember as much as I can about this book, but it was in the nineties when I read it, (I think I was in Middle School or something). Try Perhaps I'll Dream of Darkness by Mary Sheldon.
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Feb 22, 2012 07:37
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farraday posted:Try Perhaps I'll Dream of Darkness by Mary Sheldon. That's it! Thank you so much! I've been trying to figure that out for years now and you just took such an immense weight off my mind! THANK YOU!
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Feb 22, 2012 19:33
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Maybe you guys can help me! I've been trying to remember the name of this book that I first read when I was a teen when I found it in a stack of a friend's mom's books. Definitely not teen reading material, though.  The title is a number - I want to say it's like 2030 or 2031 or something, but every combination that I've tried to Google up just doesn't yield any results. It's a romance novel, of sorts, about a dude that basically finds his ~soulmate~ and then in ways I don't really remember somehow time travels to the future - maybe just by going to sleep, it's really been like 10 years since I've read this trashy thing so my memory of it is pretty sketchy. Anyway, over the course of the book I think the soulmate dies or something and then he timetravels again to be with her again after she's reincarnated and some other blappy romancey crap. The book was also written in the 70's the best I know, the copy that I read had the two main characters in typical 70's spandex sci-fi attire and huge hair and sparkles and stuff. Anyway, I've been trying to remember the name of this damned book so I can subject my friend to the horrors of it, so maybe if any of that sparks anything with you guys I'd love to know the name of it!
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Feb 23, 2012 05:17
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A friend of mine is trying to find a book he read in 6th grade. It involves a wandering young minstrel about the age of 13-14. It possibly takes place in France. There is some mention of Galen, a famous doctor, and has some subplot about a horse (possibly Charlemagne's)and it's fairly long for a 6th grader. I wish I could provide more details, but this is all he could remember.
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Feb 23, 2012 17:32
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