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Looking for a book, kind of like a Tom Clancy/Dale Brown thing. Takes place in area 51 where the entire base is used as a training zone. Main character is a pilot who "shoots" down some f-15's while flying a f-4. There is some sort of time travel kind of thing that is hinted at. Could have sworn the name of the book is Dreamland, but that is coming up empty. I read it sometime in the early 90's if that helps any.
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Sep 24, 2019 23:22
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diremonk posted:Looking for a book, kind of like a Tom Clancy/Dale Brown thing. Takes place in area 51 where the entire base is used as a training zone. Main character is a pilot who "shoots" down some f-15's while flying a f-4. There is some sort of time travel kind of thing that is hinted at.
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Oct 2, 2019 11:21
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Anyone remember the name of that terrible novel about a MANLY MARINE who goes back to college and ends up teaching all the ~snowflakes~ to defend themselves against ~TERRORIST ATTACK~? Ostensibly written by some old pulp writer but actually written by his psycho chud daughter?
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Oct 3, 2019 22:23
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Runcible Cat posted:Anyone remember the name of that terrible novel about a MANLY MARINE who goes back to college and ends up teaching all the ~snowflakes~ to defend themselves against ~TERRORIST ATTACK~? Ostensibly written by some old pulp writer but actually written by his psycho chud daughter? Trigger Warning?
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Oct 3, 2019 22:45
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Skyscraper posted:Trigger Warning? Johnstone. Yes. Thank you.
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Oct 3, 2019 23:11
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immolationsex posted:I listened to this story on a podcast, probably Starship Sofa. Must’ve been at least 10 years ago and I’m fuzzy on the details. mankind settled on the moon, so it grew flowers and then space itself contracted, and it ends with the alien taking his (as in Bobby's former) head off because the aliens have no heads and therefore no curiosity and there was like... a place across the ocean for it to live, where it couldn't gently caress up the universe with its curiosity they also talked with their tentacle hands and stood on the ceiling with their flipper feet also he didn't rape the girl, well he did but they used the word to mean thought rape, he kept talking to her about his ideas when she didn't want to hear them, which is simultaneously very forward and kind of a misuse of the word Hopefully more info helps, because I wouldn't mind rereading it
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Oct 4, 2019 01:58
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Unkempt posted:Holy poo poo this is over 10 years old. I found it last week, it was 'Way Station' by Clifford D Simak and my description was wrong in all sorts of ways. Was intrigued by this and now I'm reading it, about a quarter through and there IS a national geographic magazine type who's just got in contact with the guy, who is indeed super old, so not that wrong... it's a pretty cool little book, thanks for following up 
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Oct 5, 2019 10:14
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I have an extremely vague image in my head about a book or short story where a shadow-y organization owns a building (with no windows?) in NYC dedicated to listening (for aliens? telepathy? regular espionage? I dunno) on high tech equipment. The "action" occurs in the heart of the building, while the surrounding rooms might be regular apartments for unsuspecting people. The images in my head remind me of similar facilities in Twin Peaks or Stranger Things.
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Oct 21, 2019 19:09
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Lester Shy posted:I have an extremely vague image in my head about a book or short story where a shadow-y organization owns a building (with no windows?) in NYC dedicated to listening (for aliens? telepathy? regular espionage? I dunno) on high tech equipment. The "action" occurs in the heart of the building, while the surrounding rooms might be regular apartments for unsuspecting people. The images in my head remind me of similar facilities in Twin Peaks or Stranger Things. Part of that sounds like 33 Thomas Street, New York (a windowless skyscraper that used to be a telephone exchange and is now supposedly an NSA hub). Wikipedia has a small list of popular culture uses but none of them match.
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Oct 21, 2019 21:47
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I know this might be a bit too far outside this threads wheelhouse but I'm trying to find an old kids picture book that could have been from the early 90s to the early 2000s, with 2002 at the absolute latest. The plot was pretty simple, there were two protagonists that were searching for an uncle I think, so they arrived to a haunted island where he told them he was. The plot by itself wasn't that remarkable, what makes me remember it was how the book was laid out, it had these sprawling, intricate scenes that you'd follow the protagonists along, and it was like a CYOA book. Like you'd go to the start when dinghy that the protags arrived on, and then follow the dotted line to a point on the page where you'd choose to go say left or right and it'd be like a scooby doo thing with an axe appearing out of the jail bars if you go right, and something else if you go left, with other stuff like falling off cliffs or being chased, all on the same two page spread. It had a few different scenes, I remember a cave scene, a haunted castle, hell, there was probably more but those are the ones I actually remember. I've tried googling a few variations to just try and get some kind of lead, but I haven't had any luck.
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Nov 1, 2019 07:39
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Possibly "Journey" by Aaron Becker? https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Aaron-Beckers-Wordless-Trilogy/dp/0763660531
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Nov 1, 2019 09:08
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How about a story in which the only detail I remember is that at some point towards the ending the phrase "It's not over yet", or something to that effect, is part of the story without attribution to any character? It might be scifi, if that helps narrow it down. Also still trying to remember the childrens story about two cats who accidentally end up going out to sea on a fishing boat in a storm and when they get back to the shore they have meatballs. EDIT: I'm really sorry that I don't have any more details, I wish I did, but my memory is basically ruined because of chemo-brain 
BlankSystemDaemon fucked around with this message at 12:17 on Nov 1, 2019 |
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Nov 1, 2019 12:15
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Hey guys, I'm racking my brain over here trying to find a story I read a while ago, it was a short story about... eternal, non-expiring copyright I guess? Society made copyright non-expiring and ever verifiable, so it becomes more and more difficult to create new things without infringing on another long-dead artist's creation. As a result some weird poo poo pops up like olfactory-operas or something, and it explodes in popularity because since it's so new artists can create new things, but that is eventually going to run out too. Main character is a lady who is meeting with the president of the copyright council (wildly guessing from fuzzy memory here) and I think the whole story is just them chatting and talking about this stuff. Twist ending is that the dude wants her help in destroying the copyright systems because society is stagnating and going insane without creating new things by forgetting the old things. Please help, google thinks I'm an insane person either looking for nose surgery technology patents or trying to copyright my own life.
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Nov 1, 2019 13:16
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Bubblyblubber posted:Hey guys, I'm racking my brain over here trying to find a story I read a while ago, it was a short story about... eternal, non-expiring copyright I guess? Society made copyright non-expiring and ever verifiable, so it becomes more and more difficult to create new things without infringing on another long-dead artist's creation. As a result some weird poo poo pops up like olfactory-operas or something, and it explodes in popularity because since it's so new artists can create new things, but that is eventually going to run out too. Spider Robinson, "Melancholy Elephants", in the anthology of the same name. http://www.spiderrobinson.com/melancholyelephants.html
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Nov 1, 2019 13:54
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yaffle posted:Possibly "Journey" by Aaron Becker? No that's not it, the book I remember was Scooby Doo as hell for aesthetics, also that looks to have come out way after 2002.
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Nov 1, 2019 19:35
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This is weird as hell, I was watching The Fifth Element and the weird critter that Zorg has in his desk made me remember a (golden age era or just after?) SF short story in which men are getting little pink toothless sucker-mouthed alien critters (which are obviously getting sexually abused) and women are disgusted by them. I also wonder if anyone else thinks the thing in the film is a reference to the story - there are definitely a number of what seem like fond references to classic SF stories.
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Nov 4, 2019 03:04
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Metoron posted:I know this might be a bit too far outside this threads wheelhouse but I'm trying to find an old kids picture book that could have been from the early 90s to the early 2000s, with 2002 at the absolute latest. The plot was pretty simple, there were two protagonists that were searching for an uncle I think, so they arrived to a haunted island where he told them he was. Could be one of the Usborne Puzzle Adventure books? The Haunted Tower looks plausible.
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Nov 4, 2019 04:12
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Myron Baloney posted:This is weird as hell, I was watching The Fifth Element and the weird critter that Zorg has in his desk made me remember a (golden age era or just after?) SF short story in which men are getting little pink toothless sucker-mouthed alien critters (which are obviously getting sexually abused) and women are disgusted by them. I also wonder if anyone else thinks the thing in the film is a reference to the story - there are definitely a number of what seem like fond references to classic SF stories. How's the Night Life on Cissalda? by Harlan Ellison?
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Nov 4, 2019 04:46
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It definitely sounds like a Harlan Ellison story.
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Nov 4, 2019 05:11
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xiw posted:Could be one of the Usborne Puzzle Adventure books? The Haunted Tower looks plausible. Found it thanks to your prompting, Haunted Castle by Leo Hartas. Someone in an old message board compared it to The Haunted Tower. It looks like I was wrong about it on one particular way, there were choices but it was only on what page to flip to, nothing inside each scene.
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Nov 4, 2019 09:58
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Myron Baloney posted:This is weird as hell, I was watching The Fifth Element and the weird critter that Zorg has in his desk made me remember a (golden age era or just after?) SF short story in which men are getting little pink toothless sucker-mouthed alien critters (which are obviously getting sexually abused) and women are disgusted by them. I also wonder if anyone else thinks the thing in the film is a reference to the story - there are definitely a number of what seem like fond references to classic SF stories. Could be "All my darling daughters" by Connie Willis. If it isn't, I apologize for bringing it up.
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Nov 4, 2019 14:05
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Sorry if this is outside the thread's intended purpose, but I'm looking for a '90s children's illustrated puzzle book that was similar in style to Puzzle Island (link for reference: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0859534030/?coliid=I3KQJDVP2MYAZS&colid=EOGK2J66WEMJ&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it). Each page was a Where's Waldo-like room in a house that had small puzzles like finding people or solving small word puzzles. I distinctly remember that one had to do with figuring out where a character worked by his name, Chesty (you had to unscramble that to form 'scythe'; he worked in a farm). I think that page took place at a circus.There was also an exit sign that was partially hidden on another page so that only the 'EX' was showing. It looked like a strange arrow and you had to figure out that it was an exit sign. I think the book involved working through the rooms of a house to solve a mystery? I'm pretty sure that one page had a large outdoor swimming pool. I honestly don't remember much about it, and Google isn't turning anything up. It's not the infamous Maze book(s). I think this particular book came from a Scholastic Book Fair. I can't remember the the title of this book but I remember having fun leafing through the pages and looking at the illustrations, even if I couldn't solve most of the puzzles.
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Nov 5, 2019 05:21
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Maybe one of the Usborne Puzzle Adventure books? Wikipedia at least has titles. Edit: As in, I know I had at least one of these when I was younger and it sounds like your vague description (I'm pretty sure mine was in a mansion with butlers and maids everywhere). uvar fucked around with this message at 08:44 on Nov 5, 2019 |
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Nov 5, 2019 07:04
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The Usborne books do look somewhat familiar, or at least fairly close to the book I'm thinking of. Like those books, mine had an ongoing narrative/story - I think you were solving a mystery or a murder. I'll check those out to see if one of them is my book.
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Nov 5, 2019 16:51
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Lemniscate Blue posted:Spider Robinson, "Melancholy Elephants", in the anthology of the same name. Spot on, thanks!
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Nov 5, 2019 17:25
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Unkempt posted:Could be "All my darling daughters" by Connie Willis. If it isn't, I apologize for bringing it up.
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Nov 7, 2019 01:46
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D. Ebdrup posted:How about a story in which the only detail I remember is that at some point towards the ending the phrase "It's not over yet", or something to that effect, is part of the story without attribution to any character? Only thing that comes to mind is Terry Pratchett's Unseen Academicals, which has You think it's over!? in it at a climactic moment, a reference to the most famous soccer commentating line: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg2CXkJVCHk
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Nov 11, 2019 01:59
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John Lee posted:Only thing that comes to mind is Terry Pratchett's Unseen Academicals, which has You think it's over!? in it at a climactic moment, a reference to the most famous soccer commentating line:
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Nov 11, 2019 02:56
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Old feminist sci fi novel, written by a lady. It's about these four women who I think are the same woman but form alternate timelines or something? Some of them have the same name and the book jumps between their stories without notice making it loving unreadable.
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Nov 17, 2019 05:14
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Gripweed posted:Old feminist sci fi novel, written by a lady. It's about these four women who I think are the same woman but form alternate timelines or something? Some of them have the same name and the book jumps between their stories without notice making it loving unreadable. That book is a trip and a half. EDIT: Joanna Russ also won a Nebula for a short story called When It Changed, which is set in one of the worlds of the four women of the The Female Man - I highly recommend reading it! BlankSystemDaemon fucked around with this message at 12:57 on Nov 17, 2019 |
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Nov 17, 2019 12:52
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Thanks!
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Nov 17, 2019 13:29
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Once upon a time, I read a pulp sorta science fiction story. It was a series of incidents following a reporter who would occasionally investigate this weird crank scientist. The crank always had new schemes that were based off of new ideas, and he had a female sidekick who was also an extremely intelligent con artist. One time the scheme was her dressed up as a sexy robot, pretending to be a super intelligent computer that knew all human knowledge. She'd make flirty conversation with the crowd of reporters around her to disguise the fact that they had ten experts on a phone line, looking up and feeding her answers. When asked what the longest word in the english language was, she replied there was no such word, because there was a great-grandfather, a great-great-grandfather, and so on. Another time the pair were big into numerology. She was a numerology themed belly dancer (??) with a four sided gem in her belly button, four being the only honest number because that was the number of letters in the word four. The doctor was saying numbers contained all knowledge, and gave a seven digit number that was a prediction of who would win the presidential election, to inform any of the reporter's readers intelligent enough to decode it. When the reporter saw him later, he pointed out that the readers had figured out how to decode the number into either candidate's name, to the scientist's faux surprise. The reporter point of view character basically never believed anything the pair said, but was always interested in their schemes, because they were always good for newspaper articles. I've gotta believe it was written before 1980. Anyone know what I'm talking about? It's been decades but I'm thinking about that book a lot lately.
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Nov 22, 2019 02:32
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Mystic Mongol posted:Once upon a time, I read a pulp sorta science fiction story. It was a series of incidents following a reporter who would occasionally investigate this weird crank scientist. The crank always had new schemes that were based off of new ideas, and he had a female sidekick who was also an extremely intelligent con artist. Those were columns appearing in Scientific American written by Martin Gardner. The scientist was named Dr. Matrix. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Joshua_Matrix Action Jacktion fucked around with this message at 04:32 on Nov 22, 2019 |
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Nov 22, 2019 04:29
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Action Jacktion posted:Those were columns appearing in Scientific American written by Martin Gardner. The scientist was named Dr. Matrix. Yes, indeed! Thank you very much.
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Nov 22, 2019 20:12
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I read a book when I was younger involving a human colony that had fallen back into a nasty and brutish feudalism/tribal society. All I remember is the main character was constantly getting clowned on in noble society and there were lots of battles that he rode his war-tiger into (this world used big cats instead of horses for cavalry). I quit about halfway in during a description of a forced march of some sort. It was definitely part of a series. Any ideas?
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Dec 3, 2019 07:17
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Zurui posted:I read a book when I was younger involving a human colony that had fallen back into a nasty and brutish feudalism/tribal society. All I remember is the main character was constantly getting clowned on in noble society and there were lots of battles that he rode his war-tiger into (this world used big cats instead of horses for cavalry). I quit about halfway in during a description of a forced march of some sort. It was definitely part of a series. Any ideas? Was the giant tiger telepathic? It sounds a lot like the Gandalara Cycle by Randall Garrett and Vicki Ann Heydron - the giant telepathic war cats certainly feature prominently, and there's at least one forced march. The main character tends to trip over society because he's actually an old Italian dude transported into a warrior's body, which he realises when he notices that he pees crystals. I remember it as being better than it sounds.
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Dec 3, 2019 09:20
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Holy poo poo that's it. Thanks!
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Dec 3, 2019 16:23
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Asking for my dad. A novel, the first in a series, science fiction. Human/AI war. Everyone reads the same blogger, who has the inside dope on artificial intelligences. The blogger has a theory that humans are going extinct because there are so many AI compared to them. The Human Rebellion suffered a big PR setback after they attacked a factory with their mechs that was full of nascent artificial intelligences, and now everyone hates them because they blew up baaaaaaabies.
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Dec 5, 2019 02:11
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I read a story about some horse-like creatures who, it is revealed over the course of the story, are actually humans who have been genetically modified to survive, like, climate change or something. Maybe they were on a planet other than earth. I think a main plot point was one of the horses getting ready to give birth to a human, like maybe the human genes were re-expressing themselves. It wasn't as stupid as it sounds. I'm pretty sure it is a recent story. Does anyone know which story I'm talking about?
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Dec 6, 2019 01:57
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Veni Vidi Ameche! posted:I read a story about some horse-like creatures who, it is revealed over the course of the story, are actually humans who have been genetically modified to survive, like, climate change or something. Maybe they were on a planet other than earth. I think a main plot point was one of the horses getting ready to give birth to a human, like maybe the human genes were re-expressing themselves. It wasn't as stupid as it sounds. I'm pretty sure it is a recent story. I haven't read them in decades but this feels like one of the Well World books
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Dec 7, 2019 06:52
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