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Drakyn posted:I inflicted this awful bullshit on the Sci-fi and Fantasy thread in passing: This actually reminds me a bit of a book I read - in it, they were fed some of the clues via a computer game they were playing, and iirc they initially think the house used to model the game (which is a bit like Myst crossed with some sort of sci fi game) was just like the house the (male) narrator was staying in by coincidence, but the girl realises that no, it is actually that particular house after comparing a missing bit of tile on the floor from the kitchen in the game to the actual house. The uncle did have a secret area in the house, but it wasn't an entirely sealed off room, I don't think, it was more like a cupboard or attic or something. Spoilers on the off chance it's the same one - the mystery of the book is that the main female guardian figure (aunty? mum? I feel like it was possibly a great-aunty) had a brother who was autistic, but at the time they didn't have a name for it, he was just a freak. While playing the game and visiting the places referenced in the game and finding clues, the kids realise the game is a kind of allegory/allusion to the incident that lead to him being sent away, presumably to an institution. It turns out the kids living in the house (including the narrators mum or dad?) and a group of local children were playing, and the uncle took it way too seriously and/or maybe got upset about the two twin boys bullying him, and ended up firing some sort of air rifle or bb gun at one half of the set of twins and the boy ended up falling down a ?? well/abandoned mine shaft ?? and died (I don't think it was the getting shot that killed him, it was the falling down and presumably breaking his neck). It's conveyed in the game as the player character shooting at two aliens, but the kids basically use that + some stuff one of the other adults present said to piece it all together. The uncle is alive and working making video games (this book is almost certainly from the 90s given the uncle solo made a video game and at the end he says to use some sort of instant messaging program to chat with him coz he finds it easier to communicate that way?) and this is his (tbh probably unhealthy) way of dealing with what happened, and he'd lost contact with the rest of the family coz the dad just dumped him at some institution and didn't leave a forwarding address and told the other kids their brother had died. The end of the book was finding out the still living twin (Timothy??) had moved to Australia never knowing what had happened to his brother, and the conclusion was kinda 'look this guy has likely moved on with his life, telling him the truth about what happened that day would probably be far more upsetting than leaving it', what happened was a terrible accident and it's not fair to apportion blame, and the mum/aunty/guardian figure and her brother being reunited. . I swear every time I post in this thread I wonder if I've hallucinated a book or made it entirely up yet people here have proven no, it was real, my brain likes to hang onto weird AF childrens books, but apparently 'uncle leaves weird clues and the nephew + friends go solve a 40 year old mystery' is A Thing. Edit: Hey if it's not that I'd still be interested in someone finding it; it's the first book I remember reading that mentioned autism or had an autistic character and I know someone who'd probably be interested in reading it. froglet fucked around with this message at 07:27 on Oct 9, 2021 |
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Oct 9, 2021 07:13
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AnonymousNarcotics posted:Time frame of when you read this/how old it might be? froglet posted:I swear every time I post in this thread I wonder if I've hallucinated a book or made it entirely up yet people here have proven no, it was real, my brain likes to hang onto weird AF childrens books, but apparently 'uncle leaves weird clues and the nephew + friends go solve a 40 year old mystery' is A Thing.
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Oct 9, 2021 14:00
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Liffrea posted:Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer? https://www.amazon.com/Ahabs-Wife-Star-gazer-Novel-P-S/dp/0060838744 you know, I think this very well may be it — thank you so much this thread is amazing
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Oct 9, 2021 17:13
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Pretty sure I read this as a kid, so probably something in that age range, but I remember a description of a rope knot that was some kind of obstacle for the hero. Specifically remember that it was described as crusted over with grime and crud from ages of sitting out exposed. I think the hero untangled it through traditional means instead of the Alexander The Great method
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Oct 11, 2021 17:22
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morestuff posted:Pretty sure I read this as a kid, so probably something in that age range, but I remember a description of a rope knot that was some kind of obstacle for the hero. Specifically remember that it was described as crusted over with grime and crud from ages of sitting out exposed. I think the hero untangled it through traditional means instead of the Alexander The Great method Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli has a scene where the main character unties a big, crusty knot. Could that be it?
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Oct 11, 2021 17:41
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shelley posted:Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli has a scene where the main character unties a big, crusty knot. Could that be it? almost definitely, thanks
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Oct 11, 2021 17:43
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shelley posted:Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli has a scene where the main character unties a big, crusty knot. Could that be it? I got this at one of those scholastic book fairs back in elementary school, and I was thinking of it the other day. Weird that it pops up here.
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Oct 11, 2021 17:55
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morestuff posted:almost definitely, thanks You’re welcome! 
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Oct 11, 2021 17:57
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so here's one where I know the name and author, but have no idea how to go about finding the thing to actually read it: Ryu Murakami's "No Matter How Many Times I Read Your Confession, There's One Thing I Just Don't Understand: Why Didn't You Kill the Woman?" the wikipedia link to the only citation that appears to actually do any more than reference the title 404s and I'm at work and can't do more than a cursory glance at my phone every so often
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Oct 15, 2021 23:16
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hexwren posted:so here's one where I know the name and author, but have no idea how to go about finding the thing to actually read it: I’m also on my phone, so I couldn’t do as in-depth of a search as I would have liked  That story ran in Zoetrope: All-Story in their Winter 2010 - 2011 edition (volume 14, number 4). They don’t appear to do e-texts and that volume isn’t available in their store. You might have luck at a university library, maybe? I searched WorldCat and it looks like my old college, for example, keeps back issues.
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Oct 16, 2021 01:30
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Drakyn posted:Looked 'em up and woah woah WOAH that's WAY too much adventure. These kids are going to different countries and having VILLAINS and poo poo! Way too intense. God help me if it's one of Enid Blyton's though; how many books did she write? Definitely an Enid Blyton book as I know i've read this - either one of the clues or the entrance to the secret room was hidden in the fireplace/chimney. I'll get back to you, but i'm sure I know this one!
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Oct 18, 2021 07:50
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Dell_Zincht posted:Definitely an Enid Blyton book as I know i've read this - either one of the clues or the entrance to the secret room was hidden in the fireplace/chimney. Isn't the one with the secret passageway in the fireplace The Five Go Adventuring Again? The antagonist in that one is a holiday tutor/spy, not a recluse relative. (Why does so much of my brain retain utterly useless plots for children's books?)
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Oct 18, 2021 15:14
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Dell_Zincht posted:Definitely an Enid Blyton book as I know i've read this - either one of the clues or the entrance to the secret room was hidden in the fireplace/chimney.
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Oct 19, 2021 01:01
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Lashings of tenterhooks
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Oct 19, 2021 13:25
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Hobnob posted:Isn't the one with the secret passageway in the fireplace The Five Go Adventuring Again? The antagonist in that one is a holiday tutor/spy, not a recluse relative. Yeah, i've mixed several Enid Blyton books up in my head I think. Hopefully someone else has the answer as I'd like to know too, now!
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Oct 21, 2021 07:11
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Teen/YA sci-fi short story featuring humans and aliens (reptilian humanoids, I think) coexisting on a desert planet. The aliens have a rite-of-passage where they walk through the desert on the hottest day of the year, and the human protagonist wants to join his alien friend on the trip, even though it might kill him (no human has done this before and they're not adapted to the heat as the aliens are).
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Oct 23, 2021 03:52
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ScienceSeagull posted:Teen/YA sci-fi short story featuring humans and aliens (reptilian humanoids, I think) coexisting on a desert planet. The aliens have a rite-of-passage where they walk through the desert on the hottest day of the year, and the human protagonist wants to join his alien friend on the trip, even though it might kill him (no human has done this before and they're not adapted to the heat as the aliens are).
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Oct 23, 2021 04:22
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Alright so, it was a scifi/YA book that was fairly trashy involving a family of psychics who used their psychic powers to basically project cargo/ships into orbit and psychics were the lynch pin of interplanetary logistics and transit in this way, somehow? It was all about a psychic matriarch and her daughter/family who did this stuff. I am losing my mind trying to remember this book.
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Oct 28, 2021 21:55
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Anne McCaffrey's The Rowan
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Oct 28, 2021 23:28
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rollick posted:Anne McCaffrey's The Rowan Whole series / world based on that concept, right? Is that the same as the Ship Who Sang series? fake edit: nope, different series about psychics powering ships from the same author.
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Oct 29, 2021 03:44
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This is extremely vague to the point that it may be unanswerable, but here goes. I recent read a shitpost about D&D plot hooks and it included this line: quote:Owing to a series of misunderstandings that will probably seem hilarious in retrospect, a princess who ran away from home to become a masked vigilante has been hired to find and rescue herself. She can't refuse a royal commission without having her masked identity branded a rebel against the crown, and she really doesn't want to have to overthrow her parents, but she wants to go home even less. Maybe these passing adventurers can help resolve her dilemma? and it reminded me of reading something that had basically that as a plot point -- someone is hired to find and rescue the missing princess, but is in fact the princess herself in disguise. Where it gets super vague is that I remember basically nothing else! It was fantasy, I read it in the last 10 years and it was probably published in the last 20, and that's it -- I don't remember if it was a short story or a novel, I don't remember if the princess was acting alone or part of a larger group of adventures, if the latter I don't remember if they were aware of her identity or if it turned out to be a horrible surprise, and I can't guarantee I'm not mis-remembering other, similar plot points like "princess fakes her own kidnapping to embark on a life of adventure".
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Nov 1, 2021 15:34
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Could it have been fanfiction?
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Nov 1, 2021 16:54
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CaptainJuan posted:Could it have been fanfiction? I don't read fanfic, as a rule - too many original works in my backlog. Although the question makes me realize that I also can't rule out the possibility that I'm misremembering a subplot from a JRPG or something as something I read 
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Nov 1, 2021 17:11
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It is the plot of an 80s horror movie
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Nov 1, 2021 17:29
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ToxicFrog posted:This is extremely vague to the point that it may be unanswerable, but here goes. It's very close to the plot of the story "The Armiger's Daughter" Foila tells for the contest in the Pelerine's hospital in The Citadel of the Autarch, but I'm sure the idea has been used lots of times.
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Nov 1, 2021 17:39
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Note: I haven't actually read this book, just recalling an article I read about it, so it might be way off the actual book. A novel about a family of circus freaks, including a pair of conjoined twins, an albino woman who is a talented musician, and a boy with flipper-like limbs. The plot centers around flipper boy gaining a literal cult following, and some of his devotees get surgery to modify their limbs into flippers.
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Nov 3, 2021 21:58
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ScienceSeagull posted:Note: I haven't actually read this book, just recalling an article I read about it, so it might be way off the actual book.
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Nov 3, 2021 22:18
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anilEhilated posted:Geek Love by Katherine Dunn? This is DEFINITELY it. I can so rarely answer these, and when I could, I'm beaten. But yes, it's absolutely Geek Love.
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Nov 4, 2021 02:12
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Trying to recall a sci-fi/horror book I once heard of where some kind of creature takes people and sticks them onto a huge tree made of knives, where they suffer for eternity and it feeds on their suffering. I thought it was a Clive Barker book but I can't find anything by him that seems to fit.
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Nov 9, 2021 22:47
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Magic Hate Ball posted:Trying to recall a sci-fi/horror book I once heard of where some kind of creature takes people and sticks them onto a huge tree made of knives, where they suffer for eternity and it feeds on their suffering. I thought it was a Clive Barker book but I can't find anything by him that seems to fit. I think you are thinking of the Shrike in Dan Simmons' Hyperion books. https://hyperioncantos.fandom.com/wiki/Shrike quote:The Shrike derives its moniker from the family of Old Earth birds of the same name, which are known for impaling their prey on the thorns of trees. Much like its namesake, the Shrike has a special "tree" for its victims: a vast, artificial tree-like armature made of a substance resembling chrome steel and studded with three-meter-long thorns, known as The Tree of Pain. When the Shrike chose to impale victims on the thorns, they would not die, but rather continue living while experiencing the full physical pain of impalement.
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Nov 9, 2021 22:49
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Yes! Thank you, that was it.
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Nov 11, 2021 16:48
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Read this one as a kid like 20 years ago. It centers around I think a boy and a girl, one of them might have been new in town (I think the boy), they ride bikes together in the countryside, one of them (I think the girl) crashes their bike, gets lockjaw (that specific term is the main thing I remember), and I think dies. Not Bridge to Terabithia!
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Nov 13, 2021 01:48
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The only thing I've found that seems relevant is Mick Harte Was Here, but I'm not getting any results for the word "lockjaw" when I search the Amazon and Google Books previews.
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Nov 13, 2021 02:00
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might be ol yeller if the girl is a dog and the lockjaw is rabies 
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Nov 13, 2021 08:26
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Carthag Tuek posted:might be ol yeller if the girl is a dog and the lockjaw is rabies Could also be Ghostbusters, if the girl is Gozer and the lockjaw is the streams crossing.
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Nov 13, 2021 14:51
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:Could also be Ghostbusters, if the girl is Gozer and the lockjaw is the streams crossing. Yes, but if the girl is actually the One Ring and the lockjaw is the Crack of Doom...
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Nov 13, 2021 21:32
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I remember reading a sci fi book about a self replicating robot that eventually ends with the last remnants of humanity fleeing the galaxy, knowing that eventually the devices would follow them. Anyone know what it is?
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Nov 14, 2021 01:25
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Professor Shark posted:I remember reading a sci fi book about a self replicating robot that eventually ends with the last remnants of humanity fleeing the galaxy, knowing that eventually the devices would follow them. Anyone know what it is? Von Neumann machines going out of control has been used a number of times, though you might be thinking of one of the Revelation Space books by Alastair Reynolds.
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Nov 14, 2021 02:58
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Sham bam bamina! posted:The only thing I've found that seems relevant is Mick Harte Was Here, but I'm not getting any results for the word "lockjaw" when I search the Amazon and Google Books previews. I worked on Mick Harte Was Here back in my copy editor days, so I can say that ain't it. It's about a girl whose little brother dies after crashing his bike while not wearing a helmet, and how her family deals with the loss. No lockjaw involved.
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Nov 14, 2021 07:25
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VROOM VROOM posted:Read this one as a kid like 20 years ago. It centers around I think a boy and a girl, one of them might have been new in town (I think the boy), they ride bikes together in the countryside, one of them (I think the girl) crashes their bike, gets lockjaw (that specific term is the main thing I remember), and I think dies. Is it "The Diary of Trilby Frost" by Dianne Glaser? The author of this article also remembered similar details from childhood and tracked that book down. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-11-30-9711300193-story.html
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Nov 14, 2021 07:32
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