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SF softcover I got at a used book store in the early 90s, cover art made me think it was from 80s at least. Set in a future where humanity is part of a galactic empire that has advanced tech and FTL travel but forbids computers. Humans are somehow smarter than all the alien races and cause trouble by exporting religion and other dangerous ideas. Main character is a former archaeologist who got a bad reputation somehow and now makes a living searching ruins for old computers and selling them to shady aliens. I remember at one part he meets an alien that's a Scientologist, and he flies around in an old spaceship made out of gold. Now that I think about it, it may have been several short stories that were tied together into a novel because it was pretty episodic. There was also a lot of weird sex scenes.
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Mar 28, 2012 00:42
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Looking for a book that was entirely illustrated but not for children. Art was very very dark themed by an artist well known for another such book. The one I'm looking for's story involved a little boy's toys who end up having to save him from a demon-like creature. This is spawned by a voodoo figure the boy's father brought home from his travels, which gets broken, releasing the demon. His nanny was an african woman and I remember that the main toy was a slender, acrobatic jack-in-the-box guy. He ends up empowered by the nanny to battle the dark being and save the day. It was a hardcover book that I read at least 3 years ago. Any ideas?
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Mar 28, 2012 04:21
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OriginalPseudonym posted:Looking for a book that was entirely illustrated but not for children. Art was very very dark themed by an artist well known for another such book. The one I'm looking for's story involved a little boy's toys who end up having to save him from a demon-like creature. This is spawned by a voodoo figure the boy's father brought home from his travels, which gets broken, releasing the demon. His nanny was an african woman and I remember that the main toy was a slender, acrobatic jack-in-the-box guy. He ends up empowered by the nanny to battle the dark being and save the day. That would be The Plucker. Great, if sort of creepy, book.
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Mar 28, 2012 05:36
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P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT
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Guesticles posted:That would be The Plucker. Great, if sort of creepy, book. Right in one. Thank you kindly, sir.
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Mar 28, 2012 10:42
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Runcible Cat posted:This? Yes! That's it! Wow, I'm really impressed that you knew what it was, since what I remembered isn't even close to the actual plot.
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Mar 28, 2012 21:22
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The Albino Otter posted:Yes! That's it! Wow, I'm really impressed that you knew what it was, since what I remembered isn't even close to the actual plot.
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Mar 28, 2012 21:28
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I'm pretty sure if there was a scorecard for this thread Runcible would be leading or at least in the top 3.
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Mar 29, 2012 01:02
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Zola posted:I think that the story you are talking about is Ivan Popyalof Thank you for this! I'd completely forgotten about the Wives. I spent a good few hours on that site, reading through the stories.
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Mar 30, 2012 04:02
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I'm trying to remember a book that I had on tape when I was a young child. It was a detective story starring a dog. The one detail that stick out to me is that the dog detective was getting older and loosing his/her hearing and starting to "grey around the muzzle." It may have taken place in England or the East coast of America. The dog may have had initials for its first two names. It might have been the dog of a human detective. I wish I could remember it a little more clearly. I've bugged my Mom about it, but she doesn't remember a thing about it.
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Apr 2, 2012 03:41
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Looking for a novel (or a series?) about well-meaning robots enslaving the humanity to prevent people from doing anything risky.
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Apr 8, 2012 15:05
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mcustic posted:Looking for a novel (or a series?) about well-meaning robots enslaving the humanity to prevent people from doing anything risky. (Hahahaha! Yes! Me again! Go me!)
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Apr 8, 2012 17:22
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Runcible Cat posted:With Folded Hands and sequels, by Jack Williamson. That's the one! I was thinking of Humanoids, that is. I even searched for Hominids and found only the neanderthal alternate history series.
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Apr 8, 2012 21:22
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Ok I hope my description is not too vague. I've never read Terry Pratchet but something makes me think his name was in the cover or something. The book was a fantasy novel with quite a bit of humor, with the plot following several characters as they separately tried to find... A universal rap sheet or something? One character was an old angry wizard who was very abusive to his assistant, another was an adventuring artist who I thought was cool because he kept knives concealed in his easel. There was also a huge brute of a man who was so insane he knew the secret of the universe. There was also a wizardly looking fellow on the covere. Does this ring anyones bell?
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Apr 9, 2012 13:44
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ManSedan posted:Ok I hope my description is not too vague. I've never read Terry Pratchet but something makes me think his name was in the cover or something. The book was a fantasy novel with quite a bit of humor, with the plot following several characters as they separately tried to find... A universal rap sheet or something? One character was an old angry wizard who was very abusive to his assistant, another was an adventuring artist who I thought was cool because he kept knives concealed in his easel. There was also a huge brute of a man who was so insane he knew the secret of the universe. There was also a wizardly looking fellow on the covere. Might be Interesting Times by Terry Prachett but I haven't read it in years...
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Apr 10, 2012 02:32
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That is definitely not Interesting Times, and doesn't sound much like any other Pratchett thing I've encountered.
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Apr 10, 2012 06:41
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It's definitely not Pratchett.
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Apr 10, 2012 13:44
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The "abusive wizard" makes me think about a Malady of Magics series, by Craig S. Gardner. I've only read the first book so it might not be it.
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Apr 12, 2012 13:46
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I've been looking for a book for a long time now. The only information I have for it is a very short, somewhat broad description. I know it's a memoir or a non-fiction book of somesort. I know it's written by a woman and it's something along the lines of "My Month as a Whore" or something. Google lead me to a couple books about girls being strippers, but I remember this book seeming very very dark. Does anyone have any idea what I'm talking about?
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Apr 12, 2012 22:00
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I've been trying to remember on and off a book - I think maybe a trilogy? - I read as a kid. It was either children's or young adult's science fiction. I remember only the vague plot line that the lead character was a kid who'd had some vital information/MacGuffin implanted in his brain by some aliens to hide it, and he gets attacked by the antagonists who're trying to take it. His parents are killed in I think a car crash or some accident they stage, and he gets rescued by one of the good guys and the plot commences. The only other thing I seem to recall is at the end of the book/series he gets adopted by the guy who rescues him and somehow transforms into one of the aliens. That might not be accurate since my memory is a bit fuzzy on that point. I doubt I'd even want to re-read it but it's been bugging me for years that I can't remember it. Does this ring any bells with anyone?
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Apr 22, 2012 17:08
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Maybe Slan by A.E. van vogt.
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Apr 22, 2012 19:24
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I'm looking for the title of a book of short stories. The story in particular that I remember was told from the point of view of a being that fed off of vampires. I seem to remember the title had the word fire in it but I can't be sure. The only other detail was that the vampires had some weird statue to ward the protagonist off.
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Apr 23, 2012 06:46
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Frost and Fire by Roger Zelazny. The story you remember is "Dayblood."
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Apr 23, 2012 07:37
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Reatheran posted:Frost and Fire by Roger Zelazny. The story you remember is "Dayblood." That was the one! Thank you very much. I've been looking for that book off and on for years now.
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Apr 23, 2012 19:12
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MussoliniB posted:I've been looking for a book for a long time now. The only information I have for it is a very short, somewhat broad description. I know it's a memoir or a non-fiction book of somesort. I know it's written by a woman and it's something along the lines of "My Month as a Whore" or something. Google lead me to a couple books about girls being strippers, but I remember this book seeming very very dark. Does anyone have any idea what I'm talking about? The titles are nothing alike, but The Happy Hooker by Xaviera Hollander is a prostitution memoir from the 60s and 70s. However, it's not particularly dark.
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Apr 23, 2012 23:18
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Maybe Slan by A.E. van vogt. I don't think so, I seem to remember it being more recent - and I'm pretty sure the main character was unaware that he was different at the start. Reading the summary of Slan though sounds pretty interesting, so thanks for the recommendation all the same  .
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Apr 23, 2012 23:20
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I used to work in a library and I was flipping through some scifi book years ago adn the plot went something like this: Humans make it to Titan and find a crashed spaceship and then they activate its distress beacon and another one shows up and these aliens were from a destroyed planet and were horrified that humans came from the savage third planet. Does this ring a bell with anyone?
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Apr 24, 2012 03:57
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Ramadu posted:I used to work in a library and I was flipping through some scifi book years ago adn the plot went something like this: Humans make it to Titan and find a crashed spaceship and then they activate its distress beacon and another one shows up and these aliens were from a destroyed planet and were horrified that humans came from the savage third planet. Does this ring a bell with anyone?
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Apr 24, 2012 04:14
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Hobnob posted:Possibly James P. Hogan's The Gentle Giants of Ganymede. I liked the first one in the series (Inherit the Stars) but they get progressively worse, perhaps because Hogan got a bit strange as he got older. Wow, I wasn't expecting the right answer so quickly. Thanks a ton. After working in a library every book seems to blend together and its hard keeping everything seperate.
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Apr 24, 2012 04:45
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I remember reading a thread about space exploration or the existence of alien life or something like that a couple years ago in D&D. One thing a goon posted was about he had read a story about first contact between humans and aliens, but the story was from the aliens' perspective, describing the Human ships that were entering their system as "kilometer long towers, spewing radiation in every direction" or something like that. That's pretty much all I can remember about it, but perspective being shifted to the other side of the first contact sounded really intriguing to me.
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Apr 24, 2012 21:24
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There was a book I read in high school, that may have been YA, I'm not sure. It was set in ancient India, there were talking animals, maybe magic? I think that the protagonist had a dream but didn't know whether it had happened or not and that in the dream he made some sort of promise that he was forced to keep. All I can really remember was that I liked it 
jopo fucked around with this message at 08:37 on Apr 25, 2012 |
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Apr 25, 2012 08:31
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jopo posted:There was a book I read in high school, that may have been YA, I'm not sure. It was set in ancient India, there were talking animals, maybe magic? I think that the protagonist had a dream but didn't know whether it had happened or not and that in the dream he made some sort of promise that he was forced to keep. Maybe The Iron Ring by Lloyd Alexander?
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Apr 25, 2012 08:41
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AreYouStillThere posted:Maybe The Iron Ring by Lloyd Alexander? That's it! You guys are amazing.
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Apr 25, 2012 08:44
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jopo posted:That's it! You guys are amazing. I got one! 
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Apr 25, 2012 08:47
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There is this book I read loving ages ago, back when i was pretty young so the details are super sketchy but you guys are insane so here goes: From what I can remember it was definitely some sort of fantasy, involving perhaps an elf-like, definitely not human, protagonist(at least I think this character was the protagonist) who couldn't speak. Seemed like he(they?) had a rough life and I can remember them being a sort of slave for some family/group of people and I THINK they escaped or something? Possibly was apart of a series, definitely was the first book. Only recently got back into reading again, and this has been bugging me for ages.
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Apr 25, 2012 13:44
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insaine posted:There is this book I read loving ages ago, back when i was pretty young so the details are super sketchy but you guys are insane so here goes: vvv Yay! vvv Runcible Cat fucked around with this message at 20:40 on Apr 26, 2012 |
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Apr 25, 2012 14:18
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Runcible Cat posted:This? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ill-Made_Mute Nailed it. Cheers mate
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Apr 26, 2012 03:35
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I'm looking for two books. For the first one, I can't remember genre or plot, but only this one scene: The character's name is something like Gwendolyn, it doesn't suit her. She's wearing what looks like a nightgown and carrying her infant son. The baby is tiny, 6 months old at most but probably closer to 2. He's wrapped in blankets and held close to her chest, so that all you can see is his black hair. The woman is barefoot, which is bad, because the ground is rocky and she's running from something/someone. So she's running, and looks very afraid, and gets to the edge of a cliff. She hesitates for a fraction of a second, glancing behind at her pursuers as the wind whips around her hair and nightgown. Then she jumps. She curls herself protectively around her son as they fall into the ocean. I know it's a long shot, but I'd really love some context for that scene. The other is something I read as a child, but may or may not be a children's book. I think it had some illustrations in it. Main character is a girl, 10-15 years old. She's a princess but doesn't know it because her parents were killed by the usurpers, and she was raised by some elderly couple in the woods, who do not tell her she is a princess. A traveler comes and sparks her interest in other things, so she goes to the city. She wanders around the city for a bit. Then night falls. She's told to hide in a barrel, but if she gets caught out after curfew, say that she can cook yams. She has no idea what a yam is, but when the soldier finds her, she says she can cook them. She's taken into the castle and made into a slave, put into a kitchen cooking yams with other girls. At first, she's just sweeping the peels, and the peels get swept into a giant garbage disposal thing. Sometimes girls will fall in and have to catch themselves by bracing their broom across the mouth of that until they can be helped out. There's a scene later where she's walking along tables at an important feast, replacing flowers as they wilt. She meets a man, I think his name was Thomas. Thomas is a mentor/teacher to her. There's a scene where she and Thomas are inside of a giant clock. Meanwhile, all the slaves have heard that the main character--their true ruler!--has returned from exile to save them from the usurpers, who no-one likes. There's a prophecy that when the true ruler comes back, an angel of fire will fall from the sky, signalling the time to have a revolution. The slaves start stealing soldier's uniforms and such, infiltrating the usurper's ranks. Finally, there's a rally where the slaves make up half the crowd. The usurper king is talking about how awesome they are because look how many soldiers they have! Then Thomas sets himself on fire and jumps off the highest tower, becoming the 'angel of fire' and signalling a revolt. The slaves all tear off the bad guy uniforms, showing who they really are beneath, and attack. They win and the main character is reinstated as the rightful queen. There's a scene at the end where the main character/queen is explaining street lights. Amber means to use caution because one of the bad guys fell into a vat of honey at some point. This second one has been bothering me for years, but extensive googling turns up nothing. The title may or may not have had "City" or "Cities" in it. miryei fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Apr 29, 2012 |
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Apr 29, 2012 01:51
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A boy, about ten years old, who finds a sort of "otherworld" of elves, witches etc. inside a mountain. He may have had a sister. He may have had glasses. I'm sure there was definitely a witch of some kind involved. I read this in about 1989-1991, when I was in junior school in South Wales. I'm pretty sure it was in paperback with an orangeish cover.
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Apr 29, 2012 09:50
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miryei posted:The character's name is something like Gwendolyn, it doesn't suit her. She's wearing what looks like a nightgown and carrying her infant son. The baby is tiny, 6 months old at most but probably closer to 2. He's wrapped in blankets and held close to her chest, so that all you can see is his black hair. The woman is barefoot, which is bad, because the ground is rocky and she's running from something/someone. So she's running, and looks very afraid, and gets to the edge of a cliff. She hesitates for a fraction of a second, glancing behind at her pursuers as the wind whips around her hair and nightgown. Then she jumps. She curls herself protectively around her son as they fall into the ocean.
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Apr 29, 2012 10:24
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Gambrinus posted:A boy, about ten years old, who finds a sort of "otherworld" of elves, witches etc. inside a mountain. He may have had a sister. He may have had glasses. I'm sure there was definitely a witch of some kind involved.
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Apr 29, 2012 10:26
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