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Zanzibar Ham posted:Reminds me of this collection of short stories I read somewhere, with the only two I remember at all being- I know the second one! It's by Damon Knight. With a Whimper, I think. She's immune to the world-ending illness, he had it and recovered, but a side-effect is he gets this muscle-locking tetanus thing and needs her to give him a shot to recover from it. He's sitting there thinking how much he hates her but maybe their daughters will be tolerably fuckable, then goes to the mens' room and locks up there. Where he's going to die, because she's too prudish to ever go in the mens' room.... vvv I stand corrected! vvv Runcible Cat fucked around with this message at 10:18 on Jul 29, 2018 |
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Jul 28, 2018 19:16
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Runcible Cat posted:I know the second one! It's by Damon Knight. With a Whimper, I think. She's immune to the world-ending illness, he had it and recovered, but a side-effect is he gets this muscle-locking tetanus thing and needs her to give him a shot to recover from it. He's sitting there thinking how much he hates her but maybe their daughters will be tolerably fuckable, then goes to the mens' room and locks up there. Where he's going to die, because she's too prudish to ever go in the mens' room.... Other way, it's "Not with a Bang." The other story is "The Curious Adventure of Mr. Bond" by Nugent Barker. The collection would be either Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories That Scared Even Me or Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Slay Ride, the latter of which has an awesome cover: 
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Jul 28, 2018 19:49
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Zanzibar Ham posted:- one where this guy gets lost and finds himself going to a bunch of inns all owned by the same family, with dumb names like 'The Meat', 'The Bones', etc' etc', and in the most predictable fashion ever it ends with the family killing the visitor and each inn makes use of the part in their name to make the stuff the visitor was complimenting them on being so great and such.
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Jul 28, 2018 20:43
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franco posted:Ah yes! The Pan thing definitely rings a big bell. And it was absolutely edgelord stuff with adult hindsight - very graphic detail with the ending as far as I recall. You could imagine the author...uh...writing with one hand trying to come up with the GROSSEST STORY MAAAAN. Kowlongo Plaything by Alan Temperley; it's in the 23rd Pan Book of Horror Stories and holy god it's bad and it gets worse and worse and WORSE.
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Jul 28, 2018 23:09
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Runcible Cat posted:Kowlongo Plaything by Alan Temperley; it's in the 23rd Pan Book of Horror Stories and holy god it's bad and it gets worse and worse and WORSE. Wow thank you SO much! I thought I'd never find out what it was. The second I saw the title I knew it was the one. Sorry if I've indirectly traumatised you - I guess it wasn't just me being a kid. Time to track it down and reopen old wounds...  Edit: Hah looked up the author and he's from just down the road from me. And now writes children's books 
franco fucked around with this message at 06:08 on Jul 29, 2018 |
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Jul 29, 2018 05:58
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My Lovely Horse posted:That reminds me of one I read in a similar anthology, probably more mid-late 90s though, about a guy who makes his living kidnapping kids and delivering them to child pornographers. I mostly remember the ending, where he gets into a car accident, wakes up in hospital with an amputated leg, then realizes actually some gangster boss (whose kid I think he had nabbed by mistake?) grabbed him after the accident. It ends right as they explain to him that child porn is big business, but hospital amputee porn makes good money as well, and bring in a porn actor while they turn him onto his stomach. filmcynic posted:Can't remember the title of the anthology, but that description does ring some bells. (Horrible, horrible bells.) Pretty sure Edward Lee was the writer. This was in 999 by al sarrantonio and it’s called ICU
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Jul 29, 2018 08:32
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franco posted:Wow thank you SO much! I thought I'd never find out what it was. The second I saw the title I knew it was the one. Sorry if I've indirectly traumatised you - I guess it wasn't just me being a kid. Time to track it down and reopen old wounds... All my own fault for being a completist and a packrat! It's not even the worst in the series, though it's certainly doing its damnedest... You need to show up at a book signing with a copy. Don't wash for a few days and say "h-h-h-h-h-h" a lot. Post pics.
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Jul 29, 2018 09:59
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oldpainless posted:This was in 999 by al sarrantonio and it’s called ICU Features an alright Stephen King story, too. Man, who knows, maybe that's also the one where I read the goddamn mouse story.
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Jul 29, 2018 10:12
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the Joyce Carol Oates short story in 999 is unironically one of her best works
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Jul 29, 2018 22:43
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I probably read both of these in the 80s. A short story where a kid finds out that he has the power to see inside things. He looks at a plant and sees the roots drawing moisture from the soil and the nutrients going up the stem into the leaves. He has an rear end in a top hat for a neighbor or stepfather and he sees inside of him how the heart pumps blood through his veins then uses his power to telepathically squeeze the man's heart and kill him. A book called something like "Adventurers in Time" or "Travelers in Time" where a small group of teenagers(?) have adventures in time and I think they battle Genghis Khan. I could be wrong, but I think it had a dungeons and dragons feel, but maybe it was just the artwork on the cover that makes me remember it that way. The description is pretty vague, but I specifically remember the cover had an illustration of the adventurers and Genghis Khan on it. There were probably other historical figures on there as well.
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Jul 31, 2018 03:43
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A book I read in the 80s but I'm sure it was from the 60s or 70s. 2 brothers go scuba diving and fit through a small passage to find an underwater/alien civilization. I remember it had detailed descriptions of decompression procedure. It's a kid/teen book for sure.
Beerdeer fucked around with this message at 20:55 on Jul 31, 2018 |
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Jul 31, 2018 20:53
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Absurd Alhazred posted:I'm calling the police on granos. In time, you will know what it's like to lose. To feel so desperately that you're right. Yet to fail all the same. Dread it. Run from it. The police still arrive. - Granos, Avengers, Infinity War
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Aug 1, 2018 10:57
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Trying to remember a novel from around 2004-2007. I remember almost none of the plot, but it was very gimmicky and had lots of puzzles and hidden codes you could solve with pen and paper. Write down the first letter of each sentence to reveal a clue, that sort of thing. It might have been about a detective. I think the author's first name was Joe or John. The cover was orange or red. I think I read it around 2006, and it was relatively new then, but I could be wrong. It's not House of Leaves. Sorry this isn't much to go on. Edit: I'm 50% sure the author's last name started with an A. The cover had a similar aesthetic to Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union, but not quite so busy. That style was very trendy for "hip" books from that time period. There might have been a magnifying glass on the cover. Also I think the main character/narrator rode the bus a lot. It was like one step above a YA reading level. Lester Shy fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Aug 5, 2018 |
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Aug 5, 2018 01:01
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Lester Shy posted:Trying to remember a novel from around 2004-2007. I remember almost none of the plot, but it was very gimmicky and had lots of puzzles and hidden codes you could solve with pen and paper. Write down the first letter of each sentence to reveal a clue, that sort of thing. It might have been about a detective. I think the author's first name was Joe or John. The cover was orange or red. I think I read it around 2006, and it was relatively new then, but I could be wrong. It's not House of Leaves. Sounds like Joe Meno, The Boy Detective Fails. Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Detective-Fails-Punk-Planet-Books/dp/1933354100#productDescription_secondary_view_div_1533453135162 Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102504.The_Boy_Detective_Fails
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Aug 5, 2018 10:09
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Yes, that's it, thanks! That was driving me nuts.
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Aug 5, 2018 15:38
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Just thought of a few sci-fi novels I read as a kid that I forgot the names and details of. Man I was entirely too young to read any of these. 1. Early to mid-90s, maybe even 97-ish. More of a technological thriller. Set in a hypermodern office building where all systems are controlled by an AI. A few people get locked in overnight, I think they include the CEO of the company that had the place built, engineers, IT guys, basically all people who were responsible for the building's creation. The AI goes haywire and starts killing people one by one. I remember a scene where one guy goes to the bathroom, the AI seals it off and increases the air pressure, and when someone else comes to check for him he's killed by explosive decompression. There's a vague biblical theme to the AI. I believe the author's name was Philip. e: there's a movie named The Tower that seems to have a very similar plot, but I'm pretty sure it's not directly related. That sure seems to have been a theme in the 90s though. 2. No later than mid-90s. Far future sci-fi with spacefaring humanity and vast technological advances. Protagonist starts out on a space station where he meets what I recall as the antagonist early on, who is more or less encased in a wheelchair. I can't remember any of the plot, but I remember it as a fairly hefty book. At some point, the protagonist goes through a sex change, which in this far future is a common fashion thing. There are also brutal bloodsports where lethal wounds are being dealt, but medical technology keeps fighters alive. 3. Same timeframe, completely forgot anything about it except I think it was an Italian novel, it's more of a comedy sci-fi thing with space travel and aliens, and for some reason it features a probably pretty racist jive retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. My Lovely Horse fucked around with this message at 10:33 on Aug 8, 2018 |
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Aug 8, 2018 10:24
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Your #2 has some similar themes to Iain M. Banks' The Player of Games. Could that be it?
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Aug 8, 2018 13:00
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The plot summary doesn't ring a bell at all, no. I remembered more about #1. The plot actually goes something like: early in the story they shut down the AI because it's faulty, but it somehow generated a second AI, which is the one that's going rogue and that they conclude at some point is actually sentient, and I think they're called Abraham and Ishmael. I vaguely remember thinking even back then that this wasn't very adequately explained in the book itself. e: actually found it, it's Philip Kerr's Gridiron. Weirdest thing, I did a search for something like "office tower thriller novel" and it threw up the cover for a different Philip Kerr book, which made me realize that was the author. My Lovely Horse fucked around with this message at 14:39 on Aug 8, 2018 |
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Aug 8, 2018 13:20
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Could #2 be John Varley's Steel Beach? Sex changes being commonplace definitely reminds me of that book.
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Aug 8, 2018 17:26
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That's the one! Cheers. Two down, one to go, but I'll be honest I'm gonna be amazed if anyone gets that. I don't even remember if I thought it was any good.
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Aug 8, 2018 17:36
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#3 Stefano Benni - Terra!? Don't remember the jive riding hood but it must be over 25 years since I read it
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Aug 8, 2018 21:02
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I am genuinely impressed. To be super honest, there is a chance the riding hood was from something else. From what, I couldn't possibly say. Either way, thanks, and great job!
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Aug 8, 2018 21:16
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Kids book, maybe as late as the early 90s but more likely the 70s or 80s. Main character was a boy and had a girl as a playmate who had once starred in a commercial for a kids product. She imagined herself as a famous hollywood actress because of it and was snooty and mean to the main character. She was constantly talking about how many times the commercial had aired that week and how much money she would be making. Probably someone obvious like Judy Blume or Beverly Cleary but I don't remember enough details to find it.
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Aug 24, 2018 14:37
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It was a YA boy spies/adventurers type book. The protagonists had a World War 1 bomber they just kept as a hobby. The big bad had some sort of drug stored in the ignition coil of a car. I think the big bads were named after some sort of snake because the way they figure out the drug was in the coil was "What does a snake do? It coils!"  The whole thing was like an "Encyclopedia Brown-meets-Jonny Quest"-type feel.
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Aug 25, 2018 12:07
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MONGOOSE and COBRA and the heroes called themselves VACUUM maybe? EDIT: Secret Agents Four by Donald J Sobol? Humbug Scoolbus fucked around with this message at 21:39 on Aug 25, 2018 |
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Aug 25, 2018 21:37
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:MONGOOSE and COBRA and the heroes called themselves VACUUM maybe? Yup, and that explains why I thought of the Encyclopedia Brown thing too. 
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Aug 25, 2018 23:44
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:MONGOOSE and COBRA and the heroes called themselves VACUUM maybe? Amazing, the minute you listed them, I remembered the book too!  Didn't they have a girl honorary member and they were going to call her VACUUM BAG?
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Aug 25, 2018 23:58
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Volunteer Agents Crusading Unsteadily Under Mongoose Beautiful Assistant Gangbuster I dug my old copy down from the attic. I bought it new in 1967.
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Aug 26, 2018 00:12
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:Volunteer Agents Crusading Unsteadily Under Mongoose Beautiful Assistant Gangbuster Amazing what you remember from when you were a kid. The whole plot escapes me but I remembered that. Thanks for checking it! 
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Aug 26, 2018 00:47
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Two I read at school in the UK in the early to mid nineties, but may have been published long before. 1) A local hill/lake/wood has tales about people going there and never being seen again. I think fairies were involved in these legends? A local man has six fingers on each hand, and seems to know what’s going on. At the end, the protagonist is offered the chance to take a brief walk through either of a pair of magic doors - one leads to a sea cliff with the waves crashing below, and the other a perfect English walled garden, full of roses. He declines, realising that if he spends five minutes there a hundred years will pass in the real world. This is where the tales of people disappearing come from. 2) On every planet a different species rose to sentience; on earth apes, but elsewhere cats, dogs, toads, etc. A boy discovers the tomb of a mighty cat hero, for some reason buried on Earth. The dog race is evil, and they are trying to find the tomb and the treasures within. The boy first realises something is up when he sees a dog standing on its hind legs against a fence and notices that rather than its paws resting on top, it has long, black fingers that are gripping the wire. The boy defeats the dogs using one of the tomb’s treasures - a golden egg containing a red paste that gives him uncanny agility and endurance. At the end the cat race comes to take the tomb away to hide it again, and they reward the boy with the gift of peak physical fitness - he climbs on something and one of the cats shouts “the ape is an ape once more” or somesuch. (That bit about the dog’s fingers made my skin crawl as I typed it, and I suddenly remember how disquieting I found it 25 years ago. Funny how things take you back!)
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Aug 26, 2018 00:47
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Second one is Urn Burial by Robert Westall.
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Aug 26, 2018 09:38
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The book is about philantropy or effective altruism. It was written pretty recently. I remember the author giving an interview where he says he never take planes due to environmental concerns. If he is invited to give a talk at another continent he would just hitch a boat ride, even if that would take him a month.
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Aug 27, 2018 21:15
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I saw a book that looked cool at the used book store but it was too beat up so I thought that I would remember the title and try to find a new copy. That didn't work out great. Here's what I remember -the title was two words, with the second word being "Wood" -the cover was green. I think there might've been some kinda critter on it -I can't remember the name of the author but I think it sounded like a white guy name
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Aug 28, 2018 23:01
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Guy Goodbody posted:I saw a book that looked cool at the used book store but it was too beat up so I thought that I would remember the title and try to find a new copy. That didn't work out great. Here's what I remember Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock?
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Aug 28, 2018 23:45
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Runcible Cat posted:Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock? That's not it, but it does look cool
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Aug 28, 2018 23:49
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Guy Goodbody posted:I saw a book that looked cool at the used book store but it was too beat up so I thought that I would remember the title and try to find a new copy. That didn't work out great. Here's what I remember Duncton Wood by William Horwood? Pretty much every version of that book has a greenish cover with at least one mole on it.
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Aug 29, 2018 02:49
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zedar posted:Duncton Wood by William Horwood? Pretty much every version of that book has a greenish cover with at least one mole on it. Yes, that is it! Thank you!
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Aug 29, 2018 02:54
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Sinding Johansson posted:Science fiction book, probably from the 70s or 80s. I might have some of the details incorrect but iirc the central character is some sort of golden android traveling alone through space in a coffin like vessel on mission to found a new human civilization. There is some sort of malfunction and he unexpectedly lands on an alien world. He possesses the memories of his creator, who in the distant past had built many such androids. There is some sort of love triangle between the android and the two first humans who he awakes on the alien world, the humans being clones of the creator's colleagues. The golden android is totally hairless, naked and was featured prominently on the cover of the paperback I had read 20 something years ago. This is from a while back, but it reminds me, I remember a short story by Larry Niven featuring a giant golden humanoid entity very much like the one you describe. It also featured people who were extremely fat because they grew up on a low gravity planet, or something like that. And one of these low-gravity people was telling the protagonist how he was rescued from some sort of space disaster by the golden giant. Sound familiar to anyone? Oh, and I think the same short story collection had a story about centaur-like aliens that reproduced parthenogenetically and they'd give birth by having their last pair of legs split off. SerialKilldeer fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Sep 16, 2018 |
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Sep 16, 2018 19:18
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SerialKilldeer posted:It also featured people who were extremely fat because they grew up on a low gravity planet, or something like that. And one of these low-gravity people was telling the protagonist how he was rescued from some sort of space disaster by the golden giant. Sound familiar to anyone?
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Sep 17, 2018 23:47
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A children’s book where a group of plucky underprivileged kids are trying to save their community centre, which was closed because a dead rat was found in the pool, AGAIN. To raise money to fumigate the building, their detective agency takes on a case from a rich lady whose cat is missing. I think the cat was also used to film cat food commercials? Ultimately, there was some kind of fraud going on, which they figured out because the photo of the cat they were given was mirrored. They only noticed this because the low-functioning autistic child, who they exploited as a human Rolodex, began repeating “DOOF TAC”, which he read in the background of the photo. In the end, they make enough to hire an exterminator, but as they watch, something ignites the fumigation gas and blows up the building. They are left standing amidst the fiery debris.
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Sep 19, 2018 07:27
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