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I'm very vague on this, but I do remember hearing in my high school lit. class about a book, which has a detective solve a murder/crime he himself committed. I'm pretty sure it was some postmodern handling of the noir/ gumshoe detective genre. I believe the tile had something to do with the word gumshoe even, but the class was not taught in english and it's not very searchable. Any ideas?
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May 10, 2016 21:28
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Capilarean posted:I'm very vague on this, but I do remember hearing in my high school lit. class about a book, which has a detective solve a murder/crime he himself committed. I'm pretty sure it was some postmodern handling of the noir/ gumshoe detective genre. I believe the tile had something to do with the word gumshoe even, but the class was not taught in english and it's not very searchable. Any ideas? They're not noir by any stretch of the imagination, but Agatha Christie wrote two stories which sort-of fit that criterion. One is famous (but stretches the definition of "detective" a bit), the other is less well known but a closer fit. The names of the stories are below, and are obviously spoilers: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and Curtain
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May 11, 2016 06:42
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Hobnob posted:The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and Will go down in history as being the only cozy-mystery to cause so much anger lol Edit: I haven't been able to find anything on the short story I posted about, however I remember reading "Harrison Bergeron" at the same time, I wonder if my teacher just photocopied an anthology... if that helps
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May 11, 2016 22:32
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Professor Shark posted:Will go down in history as being the only cozy-mystery to cause so much anger lol
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May 11, 2016 23:02
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Professor Shark posted:I'm looking for a short story that I read in Grade 8 (2000-2001) that I was telling students about today, but have been unable to find online. Professor Shark posted:Edit: I haven't been able to find anything on the short story I posted about, however I remember reading "Harrison Bergeron" at the same time, I wonder if my teacher just photocopied an anthology... if that helps I hesitated to say anything since it's not a perfect match, but your description sounds a little bit like the Twilight Zone episode "The Obsolete Man". It's a bit of a long shot, but maybe your story inspired/was inspired by that episode? I haven't been able to dig anything up myself, I'm sorry to say, but you might have better luck.
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May 11, 2016 23:43
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This one is a children's fiction book. I read in in the UK in ~1980 so probably published around then or a bit before. I can't remember anything of the title or the author. Probably aimed at pre-teen readers. The edition I read was a common hardback binding with a white bordered cover with a central illustration, I saw a lot of books at school in the same binding (e.g. I can recall reading The Eighteenth Emergency in the same format) . The book I want was set (I think) in a US city (so probably a US author), and involved some kids playing in a (possibly abandoned) construction site. I think the kids houses/apartments surrounded the site on all sides - might have had a map at the front of the book? I think the building was maybe a skyscraper under construction or something, I recall something about a grid of steel beams. The plot involved some kind of conflict over which gang of kids "owned" the site - they had a (fairly genteel) war ongoing between two groups. That's about all I can recall. Possibly the title referred to the site/building in some way? Unfortunately the combination of children book + construction site makes it very hard to google.
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May 12, 2016 01:20
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I'm trying to identify a book that my wife read in her childhood (publication date would be pre-2001). It was a CYOA-style version of Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Little Mermaid' though that may have not been the title. The illustrations were similar in style and colour to Edmund Dulac's work but not as detailed. It was an A4-ish sized thin hardback book and the mermaid's name may have been Undine. Been trying to find a copy for a long time but can't find any trace on the internet.
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May 14, 2016 12:37
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Pretty sure this one was published in the last ~20 years: A guy loses his cat and his wife, a bunch of weird stuff happens and there's a lot of classical music and somehow there's a bird involved.
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May 16, 2016 19:36
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HighwireAct posted:Pretty sure this one was published in the last ~20 years: Sounds like the Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.
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May 16, 2016 19:45
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Disappointing egg posted:Sounds like the Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. Yeah, that's it! Thank you!
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May 16, 2016 19:50
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Don't forget the part where he cooks spaghetti. It is a central theme in Murakami's books.
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May 16, 2016 20:29
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Runcible Cat posted:Well, here's a list of anthologies including Harrison Bergeron: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?41335 On the Threshold of Freedom in the Science Fiction (1973) sounds promising, no author listed, however
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May 16, 2016 21:32
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Professor Shark posted:On the Threshold of Freedom in the Science Fiction (1973) sounds promising, no author listed, however https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Threshold_of_Liberty#/media/File:On_the_Threshold_of_Liberty_1937.jpg
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May 16, 2016 23:43
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HighwireAct posted:Pretty sure this one was published in the last ~20 years: This is actually a really good description of what I was thinking when I finished this book. I really didn't appreciate Murakami when I had to read him in college, and my professor was in love with him. He's pretty great now though!
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May 17, 2016 23:39
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I vaguely recall a series (or at least two books of one) involving a mysterious teenage girl recruiting a group of other teenage girls to rob the Catacombs of Paris (I think). The narrator was a bookworm who was recruited mainly for her highly impressive library. Her parents had this trust fund that meant they could basically keep going to college for new degrees for whenever. I know it was named after the mysterious teenage girl and I think the sequel focused on one of the other teenage girls.
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May 18, 2016 04:49
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Runcible Cat posted:It's interior art... Oh, well that's definitely not it haha
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May 21, 2016 11:24
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nerdman42 posted:I vaguely recall a series (or at least two books of one) involving a mysterious teenage girl recruiting a group of other teenage girls to rob the Catacombs of Paris (I think). The narrator was a bookworm who was recruited mainly for her highly impressive library. Her parents had this trust fund that meant they could basically keep going to college for new degrees for whenever. Is this Kiki Strike?
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May 21, 2016 15:26
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foxatee posted:Is this Kiki Strike? God that's been bugging me for years, that's the one
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May 21, 2016 19:40
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Welp, you guys figured out Daddy in a couple of days, let's see if I can get lightning to strike twice! The book I'm stuck on is a thriller that was probably written in the late 70s or early 80s. There's a police detective--I think his name is Haggerty or something similar--and he's seeking insight on a case, so he goes to consult a fancy uptown psychiatrist. Psychiatrist gives insight, insight is useful, hooray. Later on, the psychiatrist asks Haggerty to return the favor. The psychiatrist has twin teenagers--I think their names may be Eric and Karen?--and they're both really smart, apparently, so their father is horrified that Eric has decided he wants to be a policeman. He asks Haggerty to take Eric on his rounds and scare the idea out of him. He does, Eric interferes in some kind of crime and gets beaten to poo poo, but he's totally not scared off at all. I think there's a scene where he's being taken to the hospital and his sister is there and he grins at her all bloodily and lisps something like 'Kawen... gonna be po-weeese-man...' Scene break, it picks up again several years later. Eric is now a policeman and he and Haggerty are partners, and they're on the trail of some serial killer or something. We're told that Haggerty has arthritis, I think, and the only thing that helps is DMSO, which is illegal and also makes him smell like garlic? Anyway, he's too upright or shy or whatever to go buy illegal DMSO himself, so Eric has been doing it for him. They're in some building and Eric leaves Haggerty there alone while he goes out to score his DMSO, and while Eric is gone the murderer pushes Haggerty down an elevator shaft, which kills him, but probably also cures his arthritis. You'd think I could find this book, but I've never had the slightest bit of luck.
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May 26, 2016 08:28
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Science fiction novel, probably late 80s or early 90s? I think it was a series but I stopped reading it because it got a bit rapey. A woman is held prisoner by the captain of a freighter who has a device that makes her all hot and ready for sex. She escapes, gets taken in by another captain who thinks she loves him but now she's using the device to conceal her revulsion at having sex with him. She gets pregnant, has the baby which is grown to adulthood in the space of a few hours, and then has the woman's memories implanted into its brain to make up for all the growing up it missed. There must have been more to it than this or I wouldn't have read it, but it's all I remember.
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May 26, 2016 15:32
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..
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May 26, 2016 15:32
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Sanford posted:Science fiction novel, probably late 80s or early 90s? I think it was a series but I stopped reading it because it got a bit rapey. A woman is held prisoner by the captain of a freighter who has a device that makes her all hot and ready for sex. She escapes, gets taken in by another captain who thinks she loves him but now she's using the device to conceal her revulsion at having sex with him. She gets pregnant, has the baby which is grown to adulthood in the space of a few hours, and then has the woman's memories implanted into its brain to make up for all the growing up it missed. That's Steven Donaldson's 'The Gap': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gap_Cycle
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May 26, 2016 16:55
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Sanford posted:Science fiction novel, probably late 80s or early 90s? I think it was a series but I stopped reading it because it got a bit rapey. A woman is held prisoner by the captain of a freighter who has a device that makes her all hot and ready for sex. She escapes, gets taken in by another captain who thinks she loves him but now she's using the device to conceal her revulsion at having sex with him. She gets pregnant, has the baby which is grown to adulthood in the space of a few hours, and then has the woman's memories implanted into its brain to make up for all the growing up it missed. Stephen Donaldson's Gap Cycle. Starts with "The Real Story." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gap_Cycle#Books_in_serie e;f,b.
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May 26, 2016 16:58
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Not gonna lie I mostly read this thread for partially remembered summaries like Picayune posted:Welp, you guys figured out Daddy in a couple of days, let's see if I can get lightning to strike twice! that make me laugh
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May 26, 2016 16:59
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AnonSpore posted:Not gonna lie I mostly read this thread for partially remembered summaries like I live to serve. 
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May 26, 2016 20:29
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I'm looking for a book I got from a Scholastic catalog ca. 1998. It was YA fiction, about a kid who I think keeps seeing an 18-wheeler that he thinks is following him? There's one scene where the driver is chasing him through an ice cream factory and a vat falls and kills someone. The last act starts with the kid waking up in the truck's cab in motion, the driver letting the truck drift between lanes. I've been looking for this book for years but holy gently caress it's impossible to find. Please help!
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May 27, 2016 23:42
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SEX HAVER 40000 posted:I'm looking for a book I got from a Scholastic catalog ca. 1998. All I could think of is this: http://www.amazon.com/Driven-Death-Strange-Matter-2/dp/1567140386/
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May 29, 2016 02:40
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Ok I read this book at least 15 years or so in cheap paperback form so it's probsbly st least 20 years old. It's a suspense/horror book where a man is always ignored by the world for some reason. People just don't pay attention to him and he eventually learns there isn't whole underworld or large group of people like him. They have the ability to not be noticed by normal people and use it for their own agenda. I remember the initiation into the group was the man had to kill his boss. I keep thinking the title has something like funhouse or carnival or circus to it but I can't find it. It'll probsbly turn out to be some Dean Koontz job. Thanks for the help.
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May 29, 2016 03:16
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oldpainless posted:Ok I read this book at least 15 years or so in cheap paperback form so it's probsbly st least 20 years old. It's a suspense/horror book where a man is always ignored by the world for some reason. People just don't pay attention to him and he eventually learns there isn't whole underworld or large group of people like him. They have the ability to not be noticed by normal people and use it for their own agenda. I remember the initiation into the group was the man had to kill his boss. I keep thinking the title has something like funhouse or carnival or circus to it but I can't find it. It'll probsbly turn out to be some Dean Koontz job. Sounds like Neverwhere, although don't remember killing the boss? It's been years since I read it.
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May 29, 2016 03:50
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There's a Bentley Little book called The Ignored that's kinda like that.
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May 29, 2016 04:16
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:There's a Bentley Little book called The Ignored that's kinda like that. That's exactly it. It's the same carousel cover I remembered. Thanks.
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May 29, 2016 04:40
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I read a lot of his books. Some good, some dumb as hell. They always seemed to start with "The" though. Always liked that for some reason. Glad to have helped!
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May 29, 2016 15:17
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Oldpainless's question reminded me of a story I'd like to get the title of. It's probably a Hugo winner from way back, but that's not certain. I've read it a dozen times, but I don't remember which collection it was in. The story is about a sort of superman, who tries to live his life anonymously. He's forced to deal with some people when the government decides to build a road through his house, I think. The protagonist recounts how he would fight in his youth, but he grew disgusted by it, because no one had a chance against his superior speed and strength. It was like picking on children, to him. He has learned there are others like himself, and he has learned to recognize them. At one point, he's watching a baseball game, and he can see that the pitcher is bored, and intentionally toning down his pitches, so as not to make it obvious how abnormal he is. The main character, and others like him, seem to have an innate ability to fly under the radar. People don't notice them. People who meet them, forget them. The protagonist speculates that this is an evolved survival trait, to allow those like himself to get an anchor in the world. Otherwise, the masses who are to be slowly replaced by the new breed would likely take action.
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May 30, 2016 01:30
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Taking another run at this. It's a collection (or possibly a couple of collections I'm mixing up) of (mostly ghost) stories for kids, probably published in the UK in the 1970s or 1980s. Some of the stories: - A nerdy kid in WWII London (I remember his mum makes him wear a liberty bodice) finds his lodger is a German spy who's growing luminous mushrooms in his shed (he scatters the mushroom spores on the roofs of certain buildings so the mushrooms will be a target for the bombers) - A gang of Indonesian (?) kids who fly fighting kites find their kites getting picked off by a mysterious phantom kite; - A teacher gives a troubled student a box with 'one happy day' inside it (it looks like a marble); - A goony kid takes his friend on a trip to an old castle hoping to see a ghost, they don't but his friend is transported to another world (and dies there); - A doll repairman steals parts from dolls he repairs to build a daughter for himself. I'm going crazy here, someone put me out of my misery e: and the illustrations were sort of Ralph Steadman/Gerald Scarfeish but I don't think it was either of them Clipperton fucked around with this message at 07:35 on May 30, 2016 |
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May 30, 2016 07:32
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Looking for a story probably originally posted here by someone else. Was a journal from a member of a society of pneumatic clockwork devices. They forsee their apocalypse as the difference in airpressure is changing and they have no way to charge their brains or can conceive of a pump that would do so that wouldn't cost more energy then it produces
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May 31, 2016 18:52
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Hughlander posted:Looking for a story probably originally posted here by someone else. http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/exhalation/
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May 31, 2016 20:10
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Got it in one thanks!
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May 31, 2016 20:48
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A short story or novella about a place (a planet I think) where masks are a required part of your wardrobe. They indicate social class and you're expected to have a few for different situations. Some lazy snob comes there and grabs a moon-moth mask and never changes it. Everyone snipes at him for being a lazy slob foreigner. Then he somehow gets into some kind of trouble where he loses his mask. He's gone native by this point and is really broken up about it. He manages to save the day and everyone is impressed with his bravery.
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Jun 1, 2016 18:05
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Added Space posted:A short story or novella about a place (a planet I think) where masks are a required part of your wardrobe. They indicate social class and you're expected to have a few for different situations.
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Jun 1, 2016 18:13
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Added Space posted:A short story or novella about a place (a planet I think) where masks are a required part of your wardrobe. They indicate social class and you're expected to have a few for different situations. Jack Vance's The Moon Moth
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Jun 1, 2016 18:23
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