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Was it set in Russia and the old guy constantly writing in a book because his thoughts came true all the time and writing it down was the only way to contain it?
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Nov 24, 2012 14:46
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Awesome Kristin posted: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 17:58
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You are amazing! Man I forgot so much about that but I remember really enjoying it back then.
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Nov 24, 2012 18:48
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I'm looking for a book that was described to me once. The story as I understand it was that aliens have been avoiding earth because humans are so primitive/brutal, but this other race of aliens is attacking everyone so they need help. An alliance of aliens makes contact with earth and enlists humans as warriors in exchange for tech, meds, etc. The humans end up almost wiping out the attacking aliens so the surviving aliens decide to attack earth. When they get there they see that all of the tech has made earth dwelling humans soft and lazy. They are about to wipe out earth when the space warrior humans show up and save the day. This is the best I can remember from the description. It was supposedly written between 60s-80s or something, not very specific I know but thats all I've got.
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Nov 24, 2012 23:24
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Nashlogic posted:I'm looking for a book that was described to me once. The story as I understand it was that aliens have been avoiding earth because humans are so primitive/brutal, but this other race of aliens is attacking everyone so they need help. An alliance of aliens makes contact with earth and enlists humans as warriors in exchange for tech, meds, etc. A Call To Arms, perhaps?
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Nov 24, 2012 23:34
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Nashlogic posted:I'm looking for a book that was described to me once. The story as I understand it was that aliens have been avoiding earth because humans are so primitive/brutal, but this other race of aliens is attacking everyone so they need help. An alliance of aliens makes contact with earth and enlists humans as warriors in exchange for tech, meds, etc. Sounds like The Excalibur Alternative.
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Nov 24, 2012 23:36
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Awesome Kristin posted:You are amazing! Man I forgot so much about that but I remember really enjoying it back then.
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Nov 24, 2012 23:37
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Ok, trying to win a bet here. I remember someone telling me about a book, apparently sci fi, where there is a first contact situation with aliens. Some monk or priest or something ends up screwing something up and ends up as a sex slave to the aliens, and apparently not in the "good" way like SNOO SNOO. My friend cannot believe this book exists, much less that it won awards, and I remember that it had won some sort of sci fi award for "best story" or something crazy like that. So, anyone remember any books about monks getting buttfrustrated by aliens due to an intergalactic booboo?
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Nov 25, 2012 08:49
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xcheopis posted:A Call To Arms, perhaps? I think that might be it. This has been bugging me for years, thanks a bunch man! NinjaDebugger posted:Sounds like The Excalibur Alternative. I don't think it had knights in it or anything but that still looks interesting, I might read it anyway.
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Nov 25, 2012 11:09
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Ok, trying to win a bet here. Sparrow by Mary Doria Russel, it won awards yes.
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Nov 25, 2012 11:13
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Okay, I got a request, hope you guys can help. Time travel story I remmeber reading when I was a kid. It starts around 1970 or so, set in America. So, this boy's mom befriends her new neighbour, a certain "Mister Was" (Dutch name, but probably the same in English) who the boy can't see. Later that boy finds a mysterious door in the ceiling of his house. The door works a bit like the gates from chrono trigger: he can use it to travel from it between ~1930 and ~1970 at will, which at first he does so just to get first edition comic books for cheap. At some point he feels forced to travel back and stay in the past (some accident with his mom?) and he starts a life there. He may or may not be trying to wait 40 years and prevent something that happened in ~1970. Either way, he ends up in the world war 2, but gets shot down and goes into a long coma. The healing process takes a really long time and he lost all memory, so now he calls himself "Mister Was". Eventually, around the time the book originally started, he goes back to the hometown, meets this lady who has a son he can't see, etc. Very important in the book was the phrase "what goes around, comes around" (which I remember because it wasn't translated and I had no idea what it meant) and the whole book was written as a series of diaries and medical reports. It also use the classical trick of starting with a "I, the author, found this text in some box and published it without changing anything, as far as I know everything is true." foreword.
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Nov 25, 2012 12:58
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Hedrigall posted:Sparrow by Mary Doria Russel, it won awards yes. Yay! I win my bet! Thank you, cause no way in hell could I figure out a mentally safe way to search for alien monk rape sci fi in google.
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Nov 25, 2012 19:04
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I'm looking for a sci-fi story about some explorers who come across an intelligent mechanical city. It kills the explorers, mechanises them (??) and then sends robots in human skin back to Earth to bring more bait. I've been searching for this story for ages and had no luck.
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Nov 26, 2012 02:18
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Sounds vaguely like the plot to Screamers, which was based on a Philip K dick story Second Variety. Robots end up going a bit shitnuts, build bigger and better robots, end up building a human style one, etc.
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Nov 26, 2012 02:59
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Ray Bradbury, The City. It's in The Illustrated Man.
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Nov 26, 2012 16:49
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This has been bothering me for a while. I read a Wikipedia article on this book a long time ago, it sounded interesting, but I never bothered to look into it so the name has been lingering in the back of my mind for a long time. I think it takes place in the 70s or 80s. The Cold War is a major part of the storyline. There's no real main character, instead it jumps around between dozens of characters and multiple timelines. I think the central character (as in the guy who gets the most pages) is some kind of Russian/European spy or defector. I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis being a plot point and this guy has the missile codes in his head so people are looking for him. I don't even remember what I was researching when I discovered the Wikipedia page but I'm guessing I was looking up ensemble casts and "Polyphony" as a literary device. e: I'm 99% positive it's Gravity's Rainbow. In hindsight I don't know why I stressed Russia but I knew missiles were involved and it was published in the 70s which made me think of the Cuban missile crisis. al-azad fucked around with this message at 03:43 on Nov 29, 2012 |
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Nov 28, 2012 12:14
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A short story with a crazy dude holed up in his house during a train derailment or maybe a factory explosion that's letting tons of bad chemicals into the air. Cops wearing gas masks are going around and trying to evacuate people from the neighborhood. I remember he was obsessed with Nazis for some reason, and I think having delusions of them killing children or something. He's armed with a gun, specifically if I remember right it was an AR15-type of rifle. A cop comes to his house to try and get him to evacuate. Either he doesn't answer or tells the cop to get lost, and he's hallucinating and seeing the cop as a Nazi rounding people up. I think he kills the cop. I don't recall what happens to him, but I think he might have succumbed to the chemicals.
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Dec 4, 2012 03:24
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I just thought of a book I read when I was a kid that I really loved... it was about a young kid who wanted to be an artist, maybe a cartoonist, and had a kind of mentor who showed him how. The book culminated with him drawing a really great picture of a hand, and that drawing was in the book. I seem to remember the cover showing drawing on a piece of paper on the floor from behind, and the book was probably meant for 10-15 year olds. Probably came out mid-90s
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Dec 4, 2012 03:58
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I'm looking for a book that I read about 10 years ago. The idea was that some researchers had found a spot in the brain that made you believe in god, and had engineered a virus to disable that spot with the intent of making everyone rational and non-religious. The virus works, and everyone who is infected with it becomes atheist and really depressed. The twist at the end is that, for the people who don't commit suicide in the depression phase, when the "God spot" in the brain is disabled, it backfires. It turns out that the God spot was actually filtering everyone's awe and wonder at the world or something, so after it's properly disabled, everyone becomes super religious and happy. Does this ring a bell with anyone?
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Dec 7, 2012 15:08
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I had a series of paperback science books maybe 15 years ago. They were small (like smaller than a regular small paperback book) and had lots of color illustrations/photos (along with lots of text). Each book dealt with a different subject (the oceans, dinosaurs, astronomy, insects, and so on). They were well written. The most distinctive feature I can remember about them was that the covers were really brightly colored - the "oceans" book was a shocking blue, the "dinosaurs" one was aqua (maybe), "insects" might have been bright red. The astronomy one was definitely black or brown. They had inset cover illustrations too, but the rest of the covers were a single solid color. There were at least a dozen of them, they were written for maybe a 12 year old to read, and were probably from the early 90s or late 80s. My younger brothers and parents remember the books but not what the series was called. It's killing me! Any ideas?
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Dec 8, 2012 02:37
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I think I read this in some sort of sci-fi short story anthology a very long time ago, but I don't remember many details at all.. set in the future, everyone has a personal device constantly monitoring their health. And for some reason, a man turns into a unicorn (?) while his device bleeps YOU ARE ILL at him. Pretty vague, but is it ringing any bells for anyone?
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Dec 12, 2012 13:26
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No, but I definitely want to read this if it exists. Also, I'm pretty sure I have 3 or so of those small science books at my parents' house. If nobody digs up the answer before I'm over there next I can answer that.
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Dec 12, 2012 20:03
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Prolonged Priapism posted:I had a series of paperback science books maybe 15 years ago. They were small (like smaller than a regular small paperback book) and had lots of color illustrations/photos (along with lots of text). Each book dealt with a different subject (the oceans, dinosaurs, astronomy, insects, and so on). They were well written. The most distinctive feature I can remember about them was that the covers were really brightly colored - the "oceans" book was a shocking blue, the "dinosaurs" one was aqua (maybe), "insects" might have been bright red. The astronomy one was definitely black or brown. They had inset cover illustrations too, but the rest of the covers were a single solid color. There were at least a dozen of them, they were written for maybe a 12 year old to read, and were probably from the early 90s or late 80s. My younger brothers and parents remember the books but not what the series was called. It's killing me! Any ideas?
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Dec 13, 2012 04:15
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I asked about this in this thread years ago and apparently stumped everyone then, but I figured I'd try again: I vaguely remember a short story, in a collection of short stories. Basically, it's in the future when mankind has colonized the moon, or Mars, or some other planet's moon (can't recall exactly). And the only bit I remember is that a boy is running home and his mother is waiting in the doorway yelling at him to hurry up because the "hail" (or something) is coming, and he needs to beat it home. He makes it either just in time or one just nicks him as he gets in. The next morning, there are trucks coming by to collect the "hail" on the ground and the mother says something about how she doesn't understand why the earth people want such junk. It's better implied that they're diamonds or precious gems or something.
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Dec 13, 2012 05:45
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King Pawn posted:I think I read this in some sort of sci-fi short story anthology a very long time ago, but I don't remember many details at all.. set in the future, everyone has a personal device constantly monitoring their health. And for some reason, a man turns into a unicorn (?) while his device bleeps YOU ARE ILL at him. Pretty vague, but is it ringing any bells for anyone? 'Mythological Beast' by Stephen Donaldson.
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Dec 13, 2012 13:18
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angelicism posted:I asked about this in this thread years ago and apparently stumped everyone then, but I figured I'd try again: I read this too. The boy was playing baseball with himself, and there was a button on the bat that recalled the ball to him. I want to say it was by Ben Bova.
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Dec 13, 2012 13:55
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I'm looking for a book someone once told me about (said person can neither remember telling me about it nor reading the book, a bad sign I guess): I don't know what the story is about but the setting is a city in which old graves may not be dug up again so that the graveyards are slowly encroaching on the whole place. I think the main character works for the administration which has also grown big and the book might count as dystopian. The author may be Spanish speaking but don't take that as a hint. This sounds a bit too complex for it to be only misremembered and it drives me nuts, please help me out here!
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Dec 13, 2012 23:17
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Chiba City Blues: No, not Zoobooks. Although the general gist of the bright illustrations with the bright backgrounds is right. They were small in the sense that they were only a few inches tall and wide. Shaped like a regular book, just pretty small. They weren't huge length-wise, maybe 100-150 pages?Medicinal Penguin posted:Also, I'm pretty sure I have 3 or so of those small science books at my parents' house. If nobody digs up the answer before I'm over there next I can answer that. That would be awesome!
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Dec 14, 2012 05:21
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Detective Thompson posted:A short story with a crazy dude holed up in his house during a train derailment or maybe a factory explosion that's letting tons of bad chemicals into the air. Cops wearing gas masks are going around and trying to evacuate people from the neighborhood. I remember he was obsessed with Nazis for some reason, and I think having delusions of them killing children or something. He's armed with a gun, specifically if I remember right it was an AR15-type of rifle. A cop comes to his house to try and get him to evacuate. Either he doesn't answer or tells the cop to get lost, and he's hallucinating and seeing the cop as a Nazi rounding people up. I think he kills the cop. I don't recall what happens to him, but I think he might have succumbed to the chemicals. Don DeLillo's White Noise? Edit: there's no way I am right, but toxic cloud and Nazis is a strange combo to be in multiple books
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Dec 14, 2012 05:56
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Trying to recall a sci-fi book I read about 10-12 years ago and I'm failing at Googling. Set on Earth, main plot element is that the vast majority of the human population have voluntarily uploaded their consciousness into a big orbiting satellite where they live in utopia. Real society has broken down since all that's left are crazies and a tiny number of people who morally object to the whole Matrix thing. Main character is a dude in the latter camp, but he still visits his family in the computer world. Meets a girl during one of his visits, falls in love, hijinks ensue. Only other detail that I can vaguely remember is the main dude's companion in the real world is possibly an animatronic or genetically engineered anthropomorphic dragon, like an ex-Disney-type mascot or something. That last bit may just be my dumb brain being dumb. Any help?
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Dec 15, 2012 23:39
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Preheated Toast posted:Trying to recall a sci-fi book I read about 10-12 years ago and I'm failing at Googling. Set on Earth, main plot element is that the vast majority of the human population have voluntarily uploaded their consciousness into a big orbiting satellite where they live in utopia. Real society has broken down since all that's left are crazies and a tiny number of people who morally object to the whole Matrix thing. Main character is a dude in the latter camp, but he still visits his family in the computer world. Meets a girl during one of his visits, falls in love, hijinks ensue. Circuit of Heaven by Dennis Danvers
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Dec 15, 2012 23:45
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Yaay thank you, new best friend
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Dec 16, 2012 02:05
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This is silly, but here goes. I remember reading a segment of a short story for elementary school back in the 90s, and it's been driving me crazy that I can't remember the title. It was about a modern-day girl who visits a castle and sees a painting of a princess, then she goes outside and finds herself back in time and she has tea/plays with the princess. I think she had to hide in a trunk, or use a trunk for the time travel. She goes back and forth a couple times and I think part of the plot involved an assassination attempt on the princess.
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Dec 16, 2012 04:51
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Here's one a customer asked in the bookstore I work in yesterday, and it sounds familiar enough that it's annoying the hell out of me. When she was in around 8th grade in the 1980s, she remembers the teacher reading them a story or book based on the Arthurian legends, but in the future. She remembers Arthur had some kind of robot sidekick/friend, and time travel may possibly have been involved. Does this sound sort of familiar to anyone else?
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Dec 16, 2012 21:16
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Wolfechu posted:...a story or book based on the Arthurian legends, but in the future. She remembers Arthur had some kind of robot sidekick/friend, and time travel may possibly have been involved. Closest match I can think of is The Warlock in Spite of Himself by Christopher Stasheff. Not Arthurian legends, but set in a middle-age society, protagonist has a robot horse sidekick and time travel is part of the plot. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/christopher-stasheff/warlock-in-spite-of-himself.htm
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Dec 16, 2012 21:30
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A short story told first person about a man who removes his brain in order to perform some task that subjects his body to radiation. His brain can 'communicate' with his body, from his perspective nothing has changed. Later, a computer simulation of his brain is built and control is flopped between the two with the same inputs given, and the real brain can never tell when it is in control and when it isn't because the simulation is quite good. The computer ends up being the one in control and some slight imperfections in the program leads it to make an action that the real brain didn't will. The real brain realizes what's going on and is trapped watching its own life as it would have lived it.
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Dec 16, 2012 21:48
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Modest Mao posted:A short story told first person about a man who removes his brain in order to perform some task that subjects his body to radiation. His brain can 'communicate' with his body, from his perspective nothing has changed. Later, a computer simulation of his brain is built and control is flopped between the two with the same inputs given, and the real brain can never tell when it is in control and when it isn't because the simulation is quite good. The computer ends up being the one in control and some slight imperfections in the program leads it to make an action that the real brain didn't will. The real brain realizes what's going on and is trapped watching its own life as it would have lived it. Part of this sounds a lot like Learning to be Me by Greg Egan. miryei fucked around with this message at 23:48 on Dec 16, 2012 |
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Dec 16, 2012 23:34
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Wolfechu posted:Here's one a customer asked in the bookstore I work in yesterday, and it sounds familiar enough that it's annoying the hell out of me. Could it be Tom McGowen's Sir MacHinery? I don't think Arthur himself shows up in that story, but Merlin does.
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Dec 17, 2012 01:47
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I can't remember if this is an actual short story or if it's a story-within-a-story, nor can I remember if it's from a published book or something written online, but I vaguely remember reading something fictional (probably here on SA) about a guy who had a pit in his garage or basement, into which he shoved people he didn't like. I just watched the (utterly amazing) movie "The Pit" which has a similar plot, albeit with a 12 year old creep instead of a middle-aged man, and I can't for the life of me remember what I was reading that was similar. I don't think I could possibly get more vague, so I'll be very impressed if anyone can identify this.
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Dec 17, 2012 05:03
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I think I've asked this before and if I did, I didn't get a response. I believe I know the title of the book, but have no idea of an author. From what I remember, the title is Run, but as you can see it's one of those nice vague ones that makes tracking down information difficult. The only thing I remember of the plot was that a teenage girl gets drunk while her parents are away from home. There might have been something about a chase outside the home, which was a (cottage? vacation home? family friends' house?). This was one of the books I read in 9th grade AP English, so it was written before the mid-1990s and it had the feel of something written in the 1970s.
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Dec 17, 2012 07:13
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