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ClearAirTurbulence posted:I think it's funny that the radical post-scarcity civilization he imagines is basically a form of state capitalism with a minimum income, like the USSR or Red China. The "1000 credits a month" thing shows how hard it is to get rid of the idea of money. It's not really post scarcity may be a reason. Space is still scarce from what I remember. (I read it when it was first posted and thought it was drivel then so maybe he magiked away space and I forgot about it.) Until you get to everyone lives in the Matrix, or we're bored so let's create a ringworld, it's not really post scarcity.
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Jan 2, 2014 15:35
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Hughlander posted:It's not really post scarcity may be a reason. Space is still scarce from what I remember. (I read it when it was first posted and thought it was drivel then so maybe he magiked away space and I forgot about it.) Until you get to everyone lives in the Matrix, or we're bored so let's create a ringworld, it's not really post scarcity. Still not a good story though.
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Jan 2, 2014 19:10
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Dammit, I want to read a book but I have completely forgotten the name of it. Been out in the last 5 years or so. Basic premise was a group of high tech thieves are going to rob some building, except it's either during or after a zombie breakout where the building is in the middle of a bunch of undead. I want to say Seattle but I am in no way sure that's the city. IIRC the cover was mostly black, like a night shot of a city skyline, and there was a building in the middle of it that was kinda lit up. It's an ebook, I remember that much. Just lost the damned paper I had the title written on  Edit - Wow I was a bit off on the book cover. Turns out to be a book called Necropolis Rising by Dave Jeffrey. Also it takes place in the UK apparently, and not seattle. Stupid_Sexy_Flander fucked around with this message at 10:19 on Jan 9, 2014 |
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Jan 9, 2014 09:21
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It was a short story about two of the last people on Earth. One was a vampire, and the other was... something else, I don't remember. They had a conversation, which ended with the other agreeing to let the vampire have a drink. The vampire couldn't control himself, however, and drained the other completely. In the process, the vampire gained the other one's powers and found he could start life anew on the desolate earth. It would take a while, but he could wait. And that's how it ended. I remember reading this as a child something like fifteen-twenty years ago, although I didn't really comprehend it. Don't know why it suddenly popped up in my head today. A bit of a long shot, but I hope this sounds familiar to someone.
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Jan 9, 2014 10:20
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Linnear posted:It was a short story about two of the last people on Earth. One was a vampire, and the other was... something else, I don't remember. Not an exact fit with your description, but it's close to The Stainless Steel Leech by Roger Zelazny. It's about the last vampire on Earth and a robot who steals the energy from other robots, making him the new vampire of his time. Found an online copy of the story here: http://www.e-reading.co.uk/chapter.php/73093/4/Zelazny_-_The_Last_Defender_Of_Camelot.html
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Jan 9, 2014 11:04
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Unhappy child. I think his life was normal kid life but he felt like it sucked or something, the way kids do. He runs away and goes down an alley and is taken to this weird wonderland with tons of other kids like him where every holiday (including your birthday!) happens every single day. It is a dark story and I think he ends up escaping and it's been 30 years or something but he's still a kid and the reason they celebrated every holiday was because every day was actually a year. Any ideas?
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Jan 10, 2014 00:23
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That sounds like "Thief of Always", one of the few Clive Barker books I've liked.
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Jan 10, 2014 01:20
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BatteredFeltFedora posted:That sounds like "Thief of Always", one of the few Clive Barker books I've liked. Yep, that's it. Thanks! Now to decide if I want to stick with my nearly decade-and-a-half old memory of it (I remember enjoying it the summer before my freshman year of high school) or to see if it was actually good...
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Jan 10, 2014 01:42
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Linnear posted:It was a short story about two of the last people on Earth. One was a vampire, and the other was... something else, I don't remember. They had a conversation, which ended with the other agreeing to let the vampire have a drink. The vampire couldn't control himself, however, and drained the other completely. "Opening a Vein" by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini.
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Jan 10, 2014 02:22
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fritz posted:Pretty sure I remember these facts: No one cares but I found this finally Singletons in Love by Paul Melko, and it's in the 21st Annual Dozois book
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Jan 10, 2014 04:59
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Action Jacktion posted:"Opening a Vein" by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini. That's the one! The title immediately rung a bell and once I saw the summary, that sealed it. Thanks a bunch. I'll have to order a copy of that anthology. Captain Equinox posted:Not an exact fit with your description, but it's close to The Stainless Steel Leech by Roger Zelazny. It's about the last vampire on Earth and a robot who steals the energy from other robots, making him the new vampire of his time. I always appreciate a good story.
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Jan 10, 2014 05:50
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I'm looking for a series of trashy romance novels that I read maybe 7~10 years ago. They may have been Harlequin novels. The books were pretty formulaic, most (all?) of them with: - the female leads just starting to develop some sort of power/ability (like controlling fire, or telepathy), may have escaped/been released from a laboratory in the past - the male leads being "damaged" American ex-military of various types and I remember something about the leads being matched together via controlled pheromones or some other crazy eugenics program that was being orchestrated by the villains of the series. I also think the female leads had themed names (flowers?). Sorry it's so vague! It seems like that must describe hundreds of bad romance novels.  If someone can point me in the right direction I'd be very happy, not being able to remember is driving me nuts.
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Jan 10, 2014 10:07
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This was a short story from the 80's. A man is trapped in an unhappy marriage. His wife is fat, one of his children committed suicide and the other is a deadbeat punk. He finds his dead son's old computer that he'd put together from a kit and starts typing something. As soon as he finishes a sentence, it comes true, but the computer can't stay on for long. Before it blows up, he uses it to kill off his bad son, resurrect the good one and marry somebody else. Anyone remember this?
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Jan 14, 2014 09:56
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Adar posted:This was a short story from the 80's. "Word Processor of the Gods" by Stephen King
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Jan 14, 2014 11:45
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navyjack posted:"Word Processor of the Gods" by Stephen King Also, if you like Word Processor of the Gods, read Umney's Last Case, also by King. I don't want to reveal what links them, but Umney's last case is a wonderful detective-noir story with great King underpinnings.
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Jan 14, 2014 21:18
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navyjack posted:"Word Processor of the Gods" by Stephen King http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qu5im3zI4g
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Jan 16, 2014 00:34
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Oh my glob, thank you! I've been wanting to see that every since I found out the story was used as a script. But gently caress do I hate the opening theme. Still scares the poo poo outta me.
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Jan 16, 2014 01:10
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There's a book/series that popped into my head last night and I was up for hours trying to remember it. A brief search of my house suggests I may have thrown out the books (or they're hidden away in storage) so I turn to the kind goons to try and remember it for me. It was a young adult series - I probably read it in the early 2000s, though there's no guarantee of how new it was because I read most of the books from the library. Science fiction with a heavy dose of aliens - from what I can recall there was a group of friends who discovered they had "powers" (think Heroes, Misfits et al, but in high school) and somewhere along the line aliens show up. I'm fairly sure that at least one of the novels had a "grey" alien on the front cover, at least here in the UK. Honestly I'm struggling to remember any more details, but if anyone could find it (or point me somewhere I might be able to find it) I would be eternally grateful! edit: Ignore this! Literally right after I posted this I found it  Now I can sleep at night.
EvilHawk fucked around with this message at 21:03 on Jan 16, 2014 |
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Jan 16, 2014 20:52
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This one is pretty vague. Sci-fi, I read it in the late 80s or early 90s but if I had to guess, I'd say it was written in the 60s, give or take. Don't remember if it was a novel, novella, or short story. It's about a crew in a spaceship that is travelling near the speed of light on a mission for something or other. Either by intent or accident, their travelling right at the speed of light for a long time puts them at the end of the universe, in a big crunch scenario. They're obviously scared / concerned because hey, it's the end of the universe. But somehow or other (I think it had to do with going even FASTER!), they manage to survive the big crunch and subsequent big bang and find themselves in a new universe. They decide to keep going forward a few more billion years until planets and such have formed and find a planet to settle. drat that sounds stupid typed out. Just curious to read it again.
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Jan 19, 2014 19:44
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regulargonzalez posted:This one is pretty vague. Sci-fi, I read it in the late 80s or early 90s but if I had to guess, I'd say it was written in the 60s, give or take. Don't remember if it was a novel, novella, or short story.
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Jan 19, 2014 21:16
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Runcible Cat posted:Probably Tau Zero by Poul Anderson. You're certainly right, thanks!
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Jan 20, 2014 01:56
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OK, I've got a good one for you. Years (probably on the high side of twenty) ago, I remember paging through a science fiction (probably) book that my father (probably) left lying around the house. I guess the book was about some aliens, maybe really big ones, who were super powerful and/or really badass. I remember very little about the book, except for the fact that there were little jokes scattered throughout, possibly at the top/bottom margin of pages, or possibly at the end of chapters. The aliens had a name like K'thulu, or C'thane, or something with a hard sound and maybe an apostrophe. The only exact text I clearly remember is one of the jokes, which went something like this: "What do the [name of alien race] call the U.N.? A smorgasbord." Help me. Oh, wait, as long as I'm here... There is another pulpy science fiction novel I remember reading as kid. I think there was an emphasis on soldiers and/or war, and I remember a sex scene, or someone in the book imagining a sex scene, that was made unpleasant by the fact that the male alien had a barbed penis. I also remember a female character (possibly a prostitute) reflecting to herself that one of the male characters was the type she'd want to collapse next to her and not on top of her, due to him being some freakishly huge muscle-creature. This may or may not have been the guy with the wiener hook. Also, Mr. Penibard might have been green and/or scaly, but I'm not sure...
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Jan 26, 2014 10:30
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Centripetal Horse posted:Oh, wait, as long as I'm here... There is another pulpy science fiction novel I remember reading as kid. I think there was an emphasis on soldiers and/or war, and I remember a sex scene, or someone in the book imagining a sex scene, that was made unpleasant by the fact that the male alien had a barbed penis. I also remember a female character (possibly a prostitute) reflecting to herself that one of the male characters was the type she'd want to collapse next to her and not on top of her, due to him being some freakishly huge muscle-creature. This may or may not have been the guy with the wiener hook.
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Jan 26, 2014 14:00
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Centripetal Horse posted:OK, I've got a good one for you. David Gerrold's War Against the C'thorr series
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Jan 26, 2014 18:00
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Gambrinus posted:I read this in the UK in 2006. There were men (i think they were human) who could fly. There were insects who were coming to take over the world, and something about a sort of escalator that the main character saw in a dream. The insects were going up the sort of escalator. It was a paperback with a mostly white cover. I've been recommending this one a lot recently, it's The Year of Our War by Steph Swainston.
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Jan 27, 2014 15:38
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Splicer posted:Excluding the last line, this sounds like it might be one of the dodgier stories from the man-kzin wars. I thought of that, but I have the impression that were too many alien races involved, unless the Kzin stories start adding tons of aliens at some point. Edit: That doesn't mean you're wrong, but I don't know how to go about locating that particular book, if you're right. Humbug Scoolbus posted:David Gerrold's War Against the C'thorr series Thaaat sounds about right, awesome! Thank you. Centripetal Horse fucked around with this message at 18:57 on Jan 28, 2014 |
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Jan 28, 2014 18:54
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BigSkillet posted:I've been recommending this one a lot recently, it's The Year of Our War by Steph Swainston. YES!!! You absolute beauty. Are the sequels any good, do you know?
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Jan 30, 2014 00:14
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I've only read the first two so far, but yeah, I'd say they hold up. They show off more than just further insect battles, too.
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Jan 30, 2014 03:12
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This is a book I read as either a child or an early teenager. It wasn't even that good of a book, but I never got the actual ending so I'm hoping if someone can help me out with a title I'll be able to find it online. The story is about a group of adolescents who are all the children of genius scientists. Their scientist parents have been brought together on (I think) an island with the intent of working on some excellent new technology - it was either a desalinization technique that would help with water shortages, or some way of generating power from the tides. I just remember it involved tidal forces somehow. Anyway, there's some sort of mystery that the kids investigate. At the end, one of the kids sees the villain doing something bad to the science project the parents are working on (sabotage?). The part that makes me crazy though is that it's never revealed who the villain is. You were actually supposed to guess who it was, then mail your answer somewhere and you would get a reply telling you if you were right. I believe clues were seeded throughout the book as to who the villain was, but I never put the pieces together. Anyone know what this is?
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Jan 30, 2014 12:14
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When I was in primary school I read this sci fi book where I can't really remember the ending and I'm sort of wondering if there was ever a sequel. The plot points I can remember are these:
I have no idea how it ended and I'm now really curious. Edit: Looks like I'm not the only one wondering what the name of this book was. froglet fucked around with this message at 05:26 on Feb 2, 2014 |
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Feb 2, 2014 04:52
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Two for you, goonbrain! STORY ONE : Felt 1960's era, most likely in a Sci Fi anthology Humans had spread into the universe, however they had not spread far due to something referred to in the book as 'the rubber band'. No aliens discovered. Seemingly hostile, rare-earth universe. You would set out in space aiming to go x distance, however you would freak out (psychologically) prior to reaching your destination, get homesick, and go home. Story was about a lone scout pilot and his (intelligent) survey ship exploring a space particulate cloud. This cloud was continually being explored, although the band effect was strong enough that few in-roads had been made. This scout pilot holds out long enough against the pull to turn homeward to find a planet in the cloud, and lands. Single biped walks up to the ship, and starts talking. Ship slowly starts translating the language, as the primitive alien asks why the spaceman looks weird. During their discussion, the alien figures out how to talk English, shows that it is intrinsically more intelligent than the spacer, explains to spacer that civilisation on the planet is 3 billion years old. Alien figures out humans suck, brainwipes the spacer and ship (adding a stronger rubber band), and sends him back on his way. Story over. STORY TWO 1990's or 00's short story anthology Main character, peasant female child in Africa caring for her brother Story impetus and flavour provided by strange, slowly advancing alien biological entity (large scale, growing from initial spore points and expanding out at walking pace into continent - spanning melange/fungus). The U.N was attempting to fight this growth, and having no luck. Young lady migrates through ghettos, escapes situations caused by being a poor female in what amounted to a concentration camp environment. This story had some cyberpunk overtones, with armed-up ghetto forces being modified and computer chipped. Felt like the short story may have been related to the District 9 universe, thematically. Help me! Isolationist fucked around with this message at 15:36 on Feb 4, 2014 |
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Feb 4, 2014 14:29
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Isolationist posted:STORY TWO
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Feb 4, 2014 16:28
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This is a long shot because I don't remember much. Not sure if it was a short story or a full length book. One of the characters regularly gets new foreign workers to be domestic servants, handymen, housekeepers, etc. Everyone assumes that he's killing these people. It turns out that his attic has a pocket dimension in it with hundreds, possibly thousands of these foreign workers living in a town in this attic, from many countries all around the world. The people in the town may have been shrunk down to a miniature size to fit. The enchantment keeping everything in place in the attic breaks and either the dimension collapses or the people grow back to normal size, prompting a mass evacuation and spilling a ton of confused foreigners out onto the street. Neighbors are amazed that so many people were in the house. The attic dimension may have been held in place by clockwork machinery that the foreign workers ran. I am not sure whether the owner of the house knew what was going on.
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Feb 5, 2014 05:00
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froglet posted:When I was in primary school I read this sci fi book where I can't really remember the ending and I'm sort of wondering if there was ever a sequel. Born Into Light by Paul Samuel Jacobs? I asked about that book way back in this thread and got the answer here. Almost all the plot points fit exactly.
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Feb 6, 2014 19:07
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I read this around 1999-2000. Post-apocalyptic book set in England. I remember flooding down Tottenham Court Road (in London, I was living close by there at the time, so it stuck with me), and some fella (the bad guy?) on an abandoned cruise ship. There was a scene towards the start when a woman was about to be impaled vaginally on a pole, and the narrator shot her in the head to spare her that.
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Feb 7, 2014 17:38
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Gambrinus posted:I read this around 1999-2000. The Drowned World by JG Ballard?
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Feb 7, 2014 19:23
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Mammon Loves You posted:The Drowned World by JG Ballard? Hmm, don't think so. The apocalypse occurred during the story, rather than it being set after the apocalypse. I suspect it was written later as well, almost contemporary with when I read it, although I could be wrong.
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Feb 7, 2014 19:28
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Gambrinus posted:I read this around 1999-2000. It wasn't a particularly good book, by any means, but it was a page-turner. I think it was told in the first person and I think the narrator had a brother. Bad guy may or may not have called himself Jesus, or had some similar religious delusion.
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Feb 9, 2014 02:52
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This book was about civilation that had moved underground for some reason. It had kind of a City of Ember-like plot, only the main character was a typical sci-fi tough guy. I remember him working his way upward through the underground levels. It ends with him emerging from an underground portal on to the surface, so I think it may have been the first book in a series. This was a mass market paperback I read in the 90's. The cover had a drawing of a guy crouched down while entering the surface with steam around him. I think he may have been holding a sword. I'll be amazed if someone gets this, but plenty of other goons have been amazed with the accurate responses to their vague descriptions...
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Feb 9, 2014 04:03
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The Grey posted:This book was about civilation that had moved underground for some reason. It had kind of a City of Ember-like plot, only the main character was a typical sci-fi tough guy. I remember him working his way upward through the underground levels. It ends with him emerging from an underground portal on to the surface, so I think it may have been the first book in a series. Maybe The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster? Probably not though.
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Feb 9, 2014 04:48
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