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I really thought I wouldn't have to ask, because I was so sure the novel was called Darkness and that I could go from there. Apparently not. Plot points: Something about darkness taking over a town. I think it was a shadow or primordial ooze in some other way, and it would get townspeople sort of one-by-one. The plot was confusing to me as a child (it was an adult novel), and I read it too quickly and with few breaks to mentally file things away, but I think the darkness traced back to a traveling carnival (in the 1920s or 1930s maybe), maybe someone who was very crippled in that carnival and dragged around in a box or hobbled on crutches, and one of the women in the town was so drat old she had something to do with the carnival/evil/darkness's beginnings in the town. I believe the climax might have had something to do with the town's water tower. One scene I remember was when one of the town's little girls was being terrorized by the darkness--it was, like, wearing or making her dress move from the closet or hanger. The dress was I think supposed to be very pretty or special for the girl, and involved flower-print like magnolia or bougainvillea. I think she stayed in bed scared about the thing making her dress move. Time-frame of purchase/reading: Probably middle or early 1990s, and definitely before 2000. It seemed like a cheap novel you could pick up at a Target or K-Mart store, which is exactly what I did, so I'm thinking it was not critically acclaimed, not an immortal piece of literature, and it wasn't by any of the horror novelists that I was familiar with at the time (John Saul, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Anne Rice). I think the author was male, and I thought maybe his name was Matthew but I could not make the internet tell me anything that wasn't about Joseph Conrad. Cover of book: What I remember best. It was black matte, with glossier black embossed parts that formed a small-town water tower. May have been vague black tentacles involved. Title of the novel was sort of neon orange, and I sincerely thought it was Darkness.
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Oct 26, 2012 22:29
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Liebfraumilch posted:I really thought I wouldn't have to ask, because I was so sure the novel was called Darkness and that I could go from there. Apparently not. I have no idea what this is, but now I want to know, too. It sounds like the author crammed a bunch of existing horror stories (It, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Mist, Poltergeist) into one plot.
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Oct 26, 2012 22:57
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No kidding! If the book doesn't exist, if I fever-dreamed this up, I am so writing it. 
Liebfraumilch fucked around with this message at 23:37 on Oct 26, 2012 |
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Oct 26, 2012 23:09
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Short story about a kid in a post-apoc future of some type who is a farmer. Standard thing about the kid being an outcast, blah blah blah, no friends and everyone hates him. He's a redhead, and when a group of travelling "magicians" arrive they take an interest in both him and and old tower that everyone avoids because it's haunted. Turns out the "magicians" are the last (or members of a society of the last) scientists trained in pre-apoc science, and their tricks are chemical reactions and exploitations of tech the common man knows nothing about. The kid manages to turn something on in the tower that generates a ton of heat and causes the snow to melt up in the hills, and almost wipes out the town with a flash flood. I'm fairly certain this was set in a world that the author has done more, longer works in, if that helps. I read it in an anthology about 5 years ago.
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Oct 28, 2012 05:55
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I have a couple of books that I remember, but for the love of my I can't remember what they are called. The first one is a series, which I think is a little old, that is about a group of dogs, and maybe a cat or something, and they live in a mansion or some place like that when their master leaves or dies or something and they are left on their own. I do believe that they go on an adventure and I think in the last book they get magic medallions that allow them to turn into humans, and I am pretty sure that there is a Boxer that is given the ability to breathe fire. The second one is also a series, I think it was published in the early 2000s and I think it is a YA or children's book series. It is about a society that lives completely secluded from the outside. There are people that have powers and abilities, but are treated as second class citizens and I think live in separate from the people who don't have abilities. The main character is a boy with parents and I think twin sibilings, who all have abilities, and they have to keep it a secret because of the stigma. The boy has a hat that can make him look like anyone he wants, and I am pretty sure that either a shop he works at or visits regularly is a magic wool shop. The boy also becomes friends with a girl with powers who has a flying carpet.
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Oct 28, 2012 08:43
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I'm looking for the name of a book a friend of mine told me about a long time ago. It was a pulp fantasy sort of thing as I recall, so this is kind of a long shot I think. It kind of centered around the thirty pieces of silver paid to Judas to betray Jesus in the bible. Someone or several someones was trying to collect the thirty coins because having them all together would give the owner magical powers, or would make things happen that they could use to their advantage, something along those lines. Sound familiar to anyone?
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Oct 29, 2012 17:38
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stubblyhead posted:I'm looking for the name of a book a friend of mine told me about a long time ago. It was a pulp fantasy sort of thing as I recall, so this is kind of a long shot I think. This theme appears in the Dresden Files, initially appearing in Death Masks, I believe
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Oct 29, 2012 19:54
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Zola posted:This theme appears in the Dresden Files, initially appearing in Death Masks, I believe That doesn't sound right, and is too recent. I'm fairly certain this was a 70s era book.
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Oct 29, 2012 20:01
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There's a new series out that's apparently the same sort of thing. I think they melted the coins down to make a knife or something. I think it's called Silver. Dunno what the 70s book is though, but if you find out I'd love to know. That's one of my favorite plots. Even grabbing a set of the 30 coins to go on my book shelf 
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Oct 29, 2012 21:36
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stubblyhead posted:I'm looking for the name of a book a friend of mine told me about a long time ago. It was a pulp fantasy sort of thing as I recall, so this is kind of a long shot I think. http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Coin-James-Blaylock/dp/0441470750 ?
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Oct 31, 2012 05:25
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Very possible. I admit I probably wouldn't know it if I saw it, but the blurb feels right.
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Oct 31, 2012 05:34
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Got one that is driving me nuts. It's an airport fictiony kinda book. I would have read it anywhere from the late 90s till early 2000's. I don't recall anything about the book, other than the main character being the WORLD'S BEST TRACKER, and he's trying to find some kid lost in the woods. There's a few speeches in the opener about how dumb people are about their own survival in the woods, and then he finds the kid. Later on I think he ends up fighting vampires or something in the woods, but I think they were science! vampires or something instead of the "dark lord of emo" kind of vampires. It might not be vampires, but I do remember him being stalked by something on or near a river. I can't remember anything else about it other than that, but if someone can figure it out please let me know. I am stumped on this one.
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Oct 31, 2012 08:05
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Mr. Stay-Puft posted:I read a story online (I'm pretty sure it was online, not 100% sure though) a year or two ago in a near-future setting where a handful of ludicrously rich people, who were practically whole countries in terms of net worth, controlled the world, and several major corporations existed solely for the purpose of trying to come up with some brilliant idea for a product one of these super-rich people would actually want to buy. Not the book but Holy Fire by Bruce Sterling has some very similar themes
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Oct 31, 2012 23:15
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This one's doubly annoying since I asked about it 2 or 3 versions of this thread ago and actually got an answer, and never wrote it down and have of course since forgotten it. Sorry, answer giver!  I'm trying to remember the name of a sci-fi short story I read maybe 20-25 years ago. I'm guessing it was written in the 80s or 70s. It was told from the point of view of a leader of a team involved in wargames (in outer space I think) vs. other teams. These teams were comprised of famous people from the past that had been resurrected with technology. There was some kind of limit, like you couldn't resurrect anyone who'd been dead less than 100 years or something. Each team competes / bids for the rights to resurrect (maybe clone would be a better word) famous generals, scientists, thinkers from the past. And people didn't always come out as you'd expect -- there was a lot of excitement when a team won the rights to resurrect Einstein, but after resurrection all he wanted to do was play chess. Anyway, it goes on for a bit, I think the narrator's team had maybe just won a major victory in these war games. As the story ends, there is a very strong implication that the narrator is Hitler. Any chance someone might know this story?
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Nov 1, 2012 01:40
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regulargonzalez posted:This one's doubly annoying since I asked about it 2 or 3 versions of this thread ago and actually got an answer, and never wrote it down and have of course since forgotten it. Sorry, answer giver! This sounds fantastic and I want to read it, hopefully someone recognizes it.
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Nov 1, 2012 02:34
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miryei posted:This sounds fantastic and I want to read it, hopefully someone recognizes it. Finally found the post from the archives. The story is Out of Copyright by Charles Sheffield. I had some details wrong, of course -- it's not war games, they're trying to get some mining rights on Europa or something. And I was wrong about the narrator. But it's definitely the right story.
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Nov 1, 2012 03:21
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Trying to remember the name of a novel about a town built on a river or lake of some sort. The coming of age ritual in the town is to be thrown into the river, IIRC. I think it starts with the protagonist's father being killed in a bizarre way by the towns people. It's relatively recent and I think was profiled on NPR earlier this year.
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Nov 1, 2012 05:00
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Bronz posted:This has been haunting me for years, and I haven't been able to find any clues on Google. Did it have to do with some sort of terrible mining accident that killed the people in the yard/under the house? If so it sounds like a book I read when I was a kid in the early 90s. I don't remember the title or the author, either, but I would also really like to know what book this is.
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Nov 7, 2012 21:30
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This has been driving me crazy for about 15 years. I remember two stories from a horror anthology I read in middle school. It was in the young adult section for new fiction so it was probably published 97-98 or maybe 99 and it had a green cover with some kind of monster or gargoyle on it.The first story in the book was about a man whose family had been kidnapped and the kidnappers kept telling him to do degrading things and not to call the police. It opens with him trying to pee in public. He drank two liters of Gatorade or something similar so he would be sure to go, but he can't. The kidnappers send him photos of his wife and son including his wife tied up with a funnel in her mouth and a jug of detergent on her lap with "Warning: Contains lye" written on it, a picture of his wife tied spread eagle to a mattress with something like "Does the carpet match the drapes?" written on it, and a picture of a cleaver next to his young son's penis. Finally, the kidnappers send him his son's pinkie finger and he calls the police and the moral is he should have called the police in the first place because if he did, his son wouldn't be missing a finger. The second story I remember was about a woman who picks up a guy on a beach. She's having some fantasies of taking him home and having sex with him in her penthouse on satin sheets as he puts suntan lotion on her. While putting on the lotion he slips his hands under her bikini top and they start having sex there on the beach. He gets under her somehow and starts shaking them both into the sand. I remember her thinking "My rear end is bare!" when he rips off her bottoms, but it's cool because soon she's completely under the sand with him. Then he stops kissing her and she suffocates on sand and he eats her because he's some terrible sexy sand monster or something. For all the detail I remember I haven't been able to find the book. Of course any search involving "beach sex" is just useless. I'd really appreciate it if anyone remembers these stories or the book they're from!
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Nov 7, 2012 22:14
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Those are kind of hosed up stories to put in a YA horror anthology...
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Nov 9, 2012 02:13
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Ornamented Death posted:Those are kind of hosed up stories to put in a YA horror anthology... That's probably why I remember them so clearly. I'd check out pretty much anything in the horror section and when I started reading this I was like "Whoa!" I might not have finished it as those are the only stories I remember.
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Nov 9, 2012 03:55
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I'm pretty sure that second one's by Richard Laymon, or one of the other "horror's best when it happens to hot teenage girls in bikinis!"  guys, and if it's Good Vibrations is this your anthology?vvv !!!Hooray!!! (!!!) vvv Runcible Cat fucked around with this message at 22:41 on Nov 9, 2012 |
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Nov 9, 2012 10:52
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I'm trying to remember a sci-fi story about a colony which developed on a planet from two settlers. Inbreeding has hurt their genetic diversity horribly and physical and mental issues are common. The protagonist, from what I recall of the review I read, is physically disabled but mentally intelligent. Their vocabulary has also declined and they use phrases like 'cold cold'. I remember reading a review of it and thinking it sounded very dark and depressing.
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Nov 9, 2012 11:19
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Runcible Cat posted:I'm pretty sure that second one's by Richard Laymon, or one of the other "horror's best when it happens to hot teenage girls in bikinis!" Oh my god I think this is it! Green gargoyles on the cover and everything! Thank you so much, this has been driving me crazy!! I am using all my exclamation points!!!!!
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Nov 9, 2012 17:15
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Neurosis posted:I'm trying to remember a sci-fi story about a colony which developed on a planet from two settlers. Inbreeding has hurt their genetic diversity horribly and physical and mental issues are common. The protagonist, from what I recall of the review I read, is physically disabled but mentally intelligent. Their vocabulary has also declined and they use phrases like 'cold cold'. That sounds similar to Dark Eden by Chris Beckett.
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Nov 9, 2012 17:25
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Someone posted this description in the comments for boingboing's review of The Last Policeman:quote:I recall a short story, that I read years ago, about a guy (in LA?) who one night notices that the moon has suddenly become MUCH brighter. While everyone else is standing around going "derp, look at the moon!" he eventually deduces that the sun has gone nova, and that in about 12 hours, when the earth spins and the supersonic shockwave of superheated boiled seawater arrives, the world is going to get really awful. He keeps this secret to himself and spends the night rushing about getting canned food, finding a place to hunker down that's high enough to survive the coming tsunami and strong enough to survive the coming shockwave, and fetching his girlfriend(?) and dog(?) I also have two more books from when I was much younger, books might be published in the 80s or early 90s, 2) A boy meets an old hobo-looking man on a park bench, offers to share some of his hotdog or food with him. Turns out the old man is fabulously wealthy and looking for someone genuinely good to leave his fortune to when he dies. Don't remember details very well, but after the man has died, and the kid is living in his mansion dealing with some sort of problems, it's discovered that the old man had his brain uploaded into a computer that the boy can interact with. 3) Sci-fi story, set in the not too crazy distant future. Teenage/college-aged kid from rural setting is recruited for something, and moves to a city which is divided into sections. Travel between sections is strictly controlled if not forbidden. The kid lives in a flat/loft with a couple others the same age. I think the city was a pretty dangerous and slummy place to be. They have some sort of job where they're placed in a simulator that has them exploring strange environments. Eventually turns out they have actually been travelling to different planets in order to kickstart new colonies, since the Earth has become such an unsustainable craphole. I think they ended up being unable to return at the end, and were forced to start a new civilization from scratch. The places being explored didn't have any real dangers that I can remember, no creatures or anything like that. I remember the main character being sent to this deserty, Arizona-sounding place a bunch of times, since it was the first time I had encountered the word 'mesa'. Maybe they checked out a planet a few times, and answered their handlers' questions to determine if it was a suitable spot or not, before being moved on to a different place? It's all hazy...
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Nov 11, 2012 06:08
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Pweller posted:3) Sci-fi story, set in the not too crazy distant future. Teenage/college-aged kid from rural setting is recruited for something, and moves to a city which is divided into sections. Travel between sections is strictly controlled if not forbidden. The kid lives in a flat/loft with a couple others the same age. I think the city was a pretty dangerous and slummy place to be. They have some sort of job where they're placed in a simulator that has them exploring strange environments. Eventually turns out they have actually been travelling to different planets in order to kickstart new colonies, since the Earth has become such an unsustainable craphole. I think they ended up being unable to return at the end, and were forced to start a new civilization from scratch. Sounds like Invitation to the Game.
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Nov 11, 2012 06:17
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Pweller posted:Someone posted this description in the comments for boingboing's review of The Last Policeman:
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Nov 11, 2012 06:24
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MrGreenShirt posted:Sounds like Invitation to the Game. Wow thanks, that is definitely it. Was not expecting that one to get figured out at all. Hobnob posted:That's Larry Niven's short story "Inconstant Moon". Nice, thanks. I'm going to look that up.
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Nov 11, 2012 06:27
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Ornamented Death posted:That sounds similar to Dark Eden by Chris Beckett. That's it. Thanks.
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Nov 11, 2012 09:11
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About 25-30 years ago I got a YA novel at the flea market in Lancaster about two friends who sleep over in a model home and get mad when someone else takes the credit for it. Since I got the book second hand, I have no idea when it was published or if it was at all popular. Does this plot sound familiar to any of you?
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Nov 22, 2012 03:12
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Sounds vaguely like something we had back home when I was a kid- this look like it? The Lancelot Closes at Five. The description doesnt mention anyone else taking the credit for it, though, and I don't think I was ever interested enough to read the whole thing so I can't be sure.
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Nov 22, 2012 09:11
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Zeth posted:Sounds vaguely like something we had back home when I was a kid- this look like it? The Lancelot Closes at Five. The description doesnt mention anyone else taking the credit for it, though, and I don't think I was ever interested enough to read the whole thing so I can't be sure. One of the reviews I found has the following: "Abby's move from Brooklyn to a development called Camelot, where her new friend Hutch's wildest idea of adventure is an overnight stay in the "Lancelot" model home. What's more, the whole school and town are buzzing for days over the candy wrappers, mussed bedspread and used tooth brushes that the two girls leave behind[...]when Hutch tries to take credit for the now famous exploit, she's lost in a flurry of competing claims"
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Nov 22, 2012 10:12
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Zeth posted:Sounds vaguely like something we had back home when I was a kid- this look like it? The Lancelot Closes at Five. The description doesnt mention anyone else taking the credit for it, though, and I don't think I was ever interested enough to read the whole thing so I can't be sure. Yes! Thank you!
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Nov 22, 2012 13:11
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Is it OK to ask for help identifying a book my sister is looking for? "Young Adult book, she read it in the late 80s or early 90s. Set in Sydney, Australia. Involves a teenage girl using a nursery rhyme to travel back in time. Lives with a family from the Hebredees who have emigrated to Australia after the Crimean war. The family accepts her time travel story because of some family curse. At the end of the novel she has returned to the 20th century and is now an adult. She finds out that her husband's grandfather was the son in the family she lived with in the 1800s." Ring any bells for anyone?
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Nov 22, 2012 13:33
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BattyKiara posted:Is it OK to ask for help identifying a book my sister is looking for? Uh some of that sounds like Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park. I read it >15 years ago though so I'm not entirely sure.
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Nov 22, 2012 13:39
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Thanks, Hedrigall. That is probably it. 
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Nov 22, 2012 20:15
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A middle-school or so book, about a group of slow readers who find a thesaurus. I read it in the late 80s/early 90s.
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Nov 23, 2012 04:04
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If anyone can help me with this, it's goons. The book genre is children's sci-fi or children's horror. It was published before 1993 because I remember reading the series in grade six or so. Unfortunately, I may be confusing the plots of two similar books. One book had a boy discover some old clues, possibly from a Popular Mechanics type magazine. The clue was in poem form, and included the line "only believe half of what you read". Everyone proceeds to misinterpret the poem and they find the old guy's apartment, and during renovation when they take the wallpaper off, they find a giant X painted on the walls and a "Congratulations, you found it!" message. However the MacGuffin is actually somewhere else because you were only supposed to read the first half of the poem or something. The other book was much darker. There was a boy and a man, possibly a doctor, helping the boy out, because they had discovered some evil magic world. There was the line "a tisket, a tasket, a skull in a wicker basket", and during the denouement when they had overcome the evil power, there was a gold coin with the word "wade" scratched into it. Wade was apparently a guy from the original magic council that had created the parallel world, but there was already a building in it when they started, so with the evil destroyed the world would slowly disintegrate back to its original form as a building and a garden floating around in nether space. There were two or three books in this series, I think.
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Nov 24, 2012 03:23
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I've been looking for a certain book I read when I was a teenager. It was about a girl raised in the woods. I think she was a witch or magic or something. The man that raised here died somehow. Or he was capture? I don't know. They lived in a cottage and he had a library. I think there was some kind of thing the girl wasn't allowed to touch. Like a magical ball or something. There was a dragon. I think she had black eyes or two-toned eyes. She goes into town. Um... maybe she sneaks into a wizard tower and gets caught? There was maybe a magical bird. I'm sure there was a castle and she possibly gets involved with a prince. Ugh. I wish I could remember more. I thought her name was Senna but all I can find is Everworld stuff with that name in it which I also read around that time so I could be mixing it up.
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Nov 24, 2012 11:13
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