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OK, two stories; the first was likely from one of the Judith Merill anthologies and I must have read it about 1968. If you read it, you will remember it. In this story, a mother is giving the Talk to her young daughter about the birds and the bees, and at some point she mentions "If your stinger starts to feel funny, you come tell me right away!" Zinger one: different birds, different bees. She also admonishes her daughter to never, ever, look in that big locked wooden cabinet in the hall. Well and sure she does and finds zinger 2: "She saw the father-thing, bound, gagged, emaciated and miserable, his eyes pleading, his abdomen heaving and writhing with the hungry larvae of her new siblings." She becomes traumatized by the nature of (her specie's) sex. A cool metaphor for... something. This story made the hair on my neck stand up and gave me nightmares. I was 12 or so. It was sooo delicious. #2: Possibly a Stephen Baxter story, concerning a very large synthetic world with a new civilization on it. On this world are obelisks stretching hundreds or thousands of kilometers into the sky, engraved near their bases with basic science, the carvings advancing in sophistication the farther up they go. The civilization used first blimps, then aircraft, then spacecraft to access ever higher tiers of knowledge recorded on these spires. They can't orbit because of the size of this world. ... I basically read the entire Sci-Fi section in the Santa Monica Library, so I got the knowing of a lotta stories 1951-1970. I recognized a number of the stories in this thread, so I could be a good source. Like Poppa Needs Shorts. Hysterically funny story. Thank you all so much. zimboe fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Mar 19, 2014 |
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Mar 19, 2014 17:01
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Scott Lame posted:A sci-fi novel I read about 20 years ago; a group of genetically enhanced children, each a genius of one sort or another, but limited in other respects. One is able to manipulate people's emotions, another is a brilliant artist. The final reveal involves the artist's work in some way. I think the protagonist turns out to be another of the children, to his surprise. That's all I remember. Man that sounds familiar. The narrator's power turned out to be finding those other people, yeah? No idea what book / author. Maaaaaybe Dean Koontz?
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Mar 19, 2014 21:46
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If it's Koontz then the book is probably Strangers. Weird one, had a UFO in it.
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Mar 19, 2014 22:23
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:If it's Koontz then the book is probably Strangers. It's not Strangers. Never read that book.
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Mar 20, 2014 00:33
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Did they have tattoos on their feet?
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Mar 20, 2014 06:56
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Scott Lame posted:A sci-fi novel I read about 20 years ago; a group of genetically enhanced children, each a genius of one sort or another, but limited in other respects. One is able to manipulate people's emotions, another is a brilliant artist. The final reveal involves the artist's work in some way. I think the protagonist turns out to be another of the children, to his surprise. That's all I remember. Could this be Baby Is Three by Theodore Sturgeon?
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Mar 20, 2014 22:32
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I remember reading a story when I was a kid. Fairly typical "teenage boy learns karate" story until he finds out he's a snake alien thing. Any ideas? I think the climax had him running away from some guy, biting him to get away and it turns out he's poisonous or something.
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Mar 23, 2014 16:55
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shadok posted:Could this be Baby Is Three by Theodore Sturgeon? No, but thanks. I checked out Dean Koontz bibliography as well, and it doesn't look like a match either. I remember that at the time I read it "alternate forms of intelligence" was a hot pop science topic, and the novel seemed to be inspired by that. Each of the kids represented a different "intelligence". So I'm thinking it was written in the mid 80's or later. I don't recall any alien or supernatural aspect to the story. It was definitely a full-length novel. One small additional detail; all of the kids were asexual. Not physically, but emotionally.
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Mar 25, 2014 02:26
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Several years ago I read a science fiction short story about a worker on a planet with an environment so harmful to life that his body had to be scanned, torn apart and reconstituted between shifts. This was horrifying because the destruction of his body took place while he was fully conscious, but because his physical state was scanned and digitally recorded just moments prior to the event, he never remembered it or knew to expect it at the end of the day. My googling has been inadequate, so I'd be glad if anyone could identify the story for me.
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Apr 5, 2014 13:59
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Zazamoot posted:...his body had to be scanned, torn apart and reconstituted between shifts. This was horrifying because the destruction of his body took place while he was fully conscious, but because his physical state was scanned and digitally recorded just moments prior to the event, he never remembered it or knew to expect it at the end of the day. Not an exact match, but something very similar to this happens in the Orson Scott Card novel Hot Sleep. Only it relates to the suspended animation the protagonist goes under, with his memories recorded just before hibernation. Because the process is painful but happens after the recording, he always thinks something has gone wrong.
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Apr 6, 2014 00:19
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I've been trying to remember the title of a couple books I read years ago. One featured zepplins and primitive humanoids while the other was Martian adventure style story. Both were part of a series that involved aliens seeding planets with humanoid species and connecting the via gates. Any clues? And wow, I just realised how bad that series was ripping off star gate.
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Apr 16, 2014 03:21
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Chance II posted:I've been trying to remember the title of a couple books I read years ago. One featured zepplins and primitive humanoids while the other was Martian adventure style story. Both were part of a series that involved aliens seeding planets with humanoid species and connecting the via gates. Any clues? And wow, I just realised how bad that series was ripping off star gate. That might be S.M. Stirling's Lords of Creation series. The first book was The Sky People, set on Venus and including primitive cave people. The second was In The Courts of the Crimson Kings, set on Mars with a humanoid race interacting with visiting Earthmen. Both had a very '50s sci-fi feel to them.
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Apr 16, 2014 04:20
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Thanks! That's it exactly. Courts of the crimson kings kept throwing me on a Steven King loop.
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Apr 16, 2014 04:34
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I'm reviving a few from my past posts that no one ever figured out.Centripetal Horse posted:Short Stories:
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Apr 21, 2014 22:17
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Centripetal Horse posted:I'm reviving a few from my past posts that no one ever figured out. I may have found your ne'er-do-well space-trading schlubs.
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Apr 21, 2014 23:36
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First one: Book about a guy who was a war photographer in a distant future or something. He had cybernetics that did the photographing, I think? If I recall, they were called angels or something (the war photographers). He meets a woman in like, some sort of weird village with boats. Second one: There's this huge war and this guy who's friend with another guy. The war involves imaginary people -- like, if they can be thought up, they're brought into existence or something. Guy eventually finds out he's one of the fake people brought into existence. He also keeps talking about how he still hasn't been shot, so he's not a real soldier because he hasn't been shot. I especially want to know that first one; I found it in a second hand shop six years ago and lost it soon after reading it.
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Apr 21, 2014 23:59
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I think the photographer one might be Embedded by Dan Arnett.
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Apr 22, 2014 01:20
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:I think the photographer one might be Embedded by Dan Arnett. Published too recently  I bought it in 2008, and it had been published enough years before to find it in that store.
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Apr 22, 2014 02:03
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Gnossiennes posted:First one: A long shot, but possibly Distress by Greg Egan. Fits a little bit, anyway - a journalist with cybernetic recording implants, and a war on an artificial floating island.
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Apr 22, 2014 03:59
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Zola posted:I may have found your ne'er-do-well space-trading schlubs. I... I'm not sure. Those stories were published like 40 years before the magazine I am thinking of, and I am not sure if I recognize any of the plots, but stylistically they sound exactly like the stories I am looking for. If those are not the right stories, I'd be shocked if they weren't the inspiration. Thanks for digging those up.
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Apr 22, 2014 11:12
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Bites Yer Legs posted:I think you're looking for "A Dry, Quiet War" by Tony Daniel, available here: This was it! Thank you very much!
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Apr 22, 2014 11:22
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Centripetal Horse posted:I... I'm not sure. Those stories were published like 40 years before the magazine I am thinking of, and I am not sure if I recognize any of the plots, but stylistically they sound exactly like the stories I am looking for. If those are not the right stories, I'd be shocked if they weren't the inspiration. Thanks for digging those up. Did you see the list of active and defunct science fiction magazines on Wikipedia? I saw that those weren't the right dates, but it also occurred to me if the "new" magazine you were thinking of was one that had been revived like Weird Tales, the stories may have been reprints. Perhaps the list will jog your memory and you can then look up the magazine's catalogue to further lock it down. Google really wasn't very helpful, was it? I could think of quite a few "space trader rogues" stories, but apparently it's not common enough to be a widely commented upon meme.
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Apr 22, 2014 14:22
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so nevermind i figured out the book i was after. James clemmens banned and the banish series Oldmangray fucked around with this message at 16:34 on Apr 22, 2014 |
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Apr 22, 2014 14:59
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I asked this years ago, still wondering what it is:Hedrigall posted:A children's scifi novel I saw often in my primary school library, but for some reason never read, even though it looked awesome. It was called "Virtual ____" (I can't remember the second word, I don't think it was "reality"), and had a big neon dinosaur on the front. It also had a sequel or two. Other than that I don't know anything about it, not even what it was about.
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Apr 22, 2014 18:44
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Hedrigall posted:I asked this years ago, still wondering what it is: This perhaps? This might also be worth looking through
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Apr 22, 2014 19:32
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Hobnob posted:A long shot, but possibly Distress by Greg Egan. Fits a little bit, anyway - a journalist with cybernetic recording implants, and a war on an artificial floating island. Aww, still nope! I wish I could remember more about it. I remember a women with crystals or something on a boat in it, too. And the guy had been a war photographer in the past, had had the cybernetics or whatever removed, and then put back in, I think?
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Apr 22, 2014 21:29
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Gnossiennes posted:Aww, still nope! I wish I could remember more about it. Could it maybe be Limit of Vision by Linda Nagata?
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Apr 23, 2014 01:25
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Nah neither one The neon dinosaur was like, literally a dinosaur neon sign thing coming to life, IIRC
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Apr 23, 2014 02:38
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Zola posted:Did you see the list of active and defunct science fiction magazines on Wikipedia? I saw that those weren't the right dates, but it also occurred to me if the "new" magazine you were thinking of was one that had been revived like Weird Tales, the stories may have been reprints. Perhaps the list will jog your memory and you can then look up the magazine's catalogue to further lock it down. I was not aware of that list, thank you for pointing it out. Two of the defunct magazines are from the right period, but one has no Wikipedia entry, and the other is very sparse. I might take another run at Google, but as you noted, that's not an easy row to hoe. It's possible that you were right the first time around. The main doubt I have about that is that I grew up on 40s and 50s science fiction, and I can usually recognize it right away. I don't remember these stories giving any indication of being from that period. Of course, it's been about twenty years since I read them, so I could be wrong. I'll have to track down and read those old ones to see if anything shakes loose in my brain.
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Apr 23, 2014 06:25
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Centripetal Horse posted:I was not aware of that list, thank you for pointing it out. Two of the defunct magazines are from the right period, but one has no Wikipedia entry, and the other is very sparse. I might take another run at Google, but as you noted, that's not an easy row to hoe. Which were the two magazines? I might be able to find their issue lists.
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Apr 23, 2014 17:14
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This one might be hard but I have been trying to think of the title of this book for years. The book is meant for YA readers and I only remember two tidbits about it. The first being the main character was very clumsy and hi-jinks ensued. Second he convinced his teacher that the Great Depression was caused by sea turtles! Fake edit: It was part of a series about this kid and at the time I thought the books were the most hilarious things ever.
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Apr 24, 2014 00:47
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Hedrigall posted:The neon dinosaur was like, literally a dinosaur neon sign thing coming to life, IIRC I read this one as a kid too: The Virtual Reality Trilogy, by Claire Carmichael.
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Apr 24, 2014 12:46
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Zola posted:Which were the two magazines? I might be able to find their issue lists. These two started publishing at around the right time. I am not sure I would recognize any of the stories by title, though. I suppose if any matched the names of the ones from the 50s, that would be a strong clue. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realms_of_Fantasy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_Magnitude_(magazine) There's a third one called Science Fiction Age, but the link just goes to the Wikipedia page of the guy who edited it. Sneaky Fast posted:The book is meant for YA readers and I only remember two tidbits about it. The first being the main character was very clumsy and hi-jinks ensued. Second he convinced his teacher that the Great Depression was caused by sea turtles! Do you remember anything about The Great Ecuadorian Tortoise Blight of 1928? A quick Google turned up that likely suspect.
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Apr 24, 2014 19:19
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Centripetal Horse posted:These two started publishing at around the right time. I am not sure I would recognize any of the stories by title, though. I suppose if any matched the names of the ones from the 50s, that would be a strong clue. Okay, here's the issue list for Realms of Fantasy. They have shots of the covers too, so something might jog your memory. Here's Absolute Magnitude.
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Apr 24, 2014 20:50
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I read a science fiction story a few years ago, it was set in a future where mankind had spread out to thousands of planets across the galaxy, and were ruled by godlike artificial intelligences. The AIs had spread some kind of nanomachines throughout all of these worlds which would record everyone's experiences and when the person died, they would be uploaded to the networks of the AIs. On one of these worlds, which was at a roughly early 20th century technology level, a mysterious being had conquered much of the world and was slaughtering tens of millions of humans in a systematic way. The main character was an agent of the AIs sent to stop this. He finds that the person responsible is from a more advanced world and is doing it to attack the AIs, destroying a person's optic nerves immediately before killing them causes some kind of harm to the AIs if it's done in large numbers. The main character discovers that the AIs are not collecting the minds of the dead to give them eternal life as is commonly believed, but are instead consuming their memories in a torturous fashion to keep themselves from going insane from sensory deprivation (they think so fast the only way they can keep from spending thousands of years of experiential time with no input is to have billions of minds to "eat"). I think I read it for free on the internet. Anyone recognize it?
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Apr 25, 2014 04:36
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Isolationist posted:I read this one as a kid too: The Virtual Reality Trilogy, by Claire Carmichael. Yeeesssssss!!
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Apr 25, 2014 05:26
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Zola posted:Okay, here's the issue list for Realms of Fantasy. They have shots of the covers too, so something might jog your memory. Huh, I didn't know ISFDB had cover images. I was able to rule out Realms of Fantasy with nearly 100% certainty. None of the Absolute Magnitude covers were definite matches, but I noticed that they did reprint some stuff from the 50s, such as Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination," which means those stories you mentioned earlier are a possibility. I am going to go through the tables of contents and see if I can locate any matches. I see you're still pretty good at this. I can find almost anything on the internet, but for some reason I seem to run into a lot of dead ends when I am looking for old forgotten books and stories. Edit: Nope, no matches. I also checked all the publications that ran the Sheckley stories, and none of them are from the right time period. Oh, well. Maybe someone else will come along and know which magazine or which stories I am looking for. I guess I'll just post them again in another year or so if I'm still around. Edit the Second: Of course, it's still possible that Absolute Magnitude is the right publication, but ISFDB either doesn't have plot summaries, or I don't know how to find them. That's the main reason I usually don't bother going there to research this sort of thing. Centripetal Horse fucked around with this message at 11:59 on Apr 25, 2014 |
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Apr 25, 2014 11:47
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ClearAirTurbulence posted:I think I read it for free on the internet. Anyone recognize it? I read that, but I don't remember what it was called or who it was by. I want to say Stross, but I'm pretty sure it's not actually by Stross and I'm just having a hash collision with his Eschaton setting.
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Apr 25, 2014 16:33
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Hedrigall posted:Yeeesssssss!! I really dug those books, too. Come to think of it, they're probably to blame for my interest in VR. Why did you make me buy an Oculus Rift, book?!
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Apr 25, 2014 17:11
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BlueFlowerRedSky posted:Could it maybe be Limit of Vision by Linda Nagata? Afraid not! I wish I could remember more about it
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Apr 25, 2014 18:57
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