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A large-format art book about life on other planets, presented as a collection of photos sent back by an explorer. On one planet he finds particularly unusual creatures and phenomena that seem to indicate intelligent design. The last footage from his camera shows him approaching an artificial-looking structure (which is speculated to be involved in terraforming or engineering the planet in some ways) and then the signal goes dark. There's an epilogue where another explorer visits and encounters a bunch of primate-like creatures who resemble the disappeared guy, implying that his DNA got into the terraforming machine. It's not Expedition by Wayne Barlowe, and to my knowledge it's not an art book for any movie or other franchise. I'm pretty sure the title was just "Worlds," but that is not exactly easy to search for.
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Oct 19, 2022 18:42
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Alright, a book I remember now and then from my youth. A starship with people in stasis has a malfunction and one of the children ends up growing to adulthood aboard the ship. They end up at some planet that's alive and spreads itself to other worlds via spores. The POV character ends up infected with spores and jettisons himself into space so the spores can't infect any other planets. I think it may have been YA, and in the 90s some time. I also get the weirdest feeling I asked this already but I don't think I did. I'm sorry if I have
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Oct 19, 2022 19:37
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One from me, a series of books about a group of teenagers who got stranded on an island, but the island is also home to a bunch of psychopaths, I think they may be escaped prisoners or something. I was surprised when reading it as kids actually die - in the book I read, I remember the cover depicted one of the psychopaths on a hang glider trying to grab a kid that was running. In that book, at one point an attempted rescue of some kids goes wrong and the psychos send back one of their decapitated heads in retaliation.
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Oct 19, 2022 19:42
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Brawnfire posted:Alright, a book I remember now and then from my youth. A starship with people in stasis has a malfunction and one of the children ends up growing to adulthood aboard the ship. They end up at some planet that's alive and spreads itself to other worlds via spores. The POV character ends up infected with spores and jettisons himself into space so the spores can't infect any other planets. I think it may have been YA, and in the 90s some time. Sleepers, Wake by Paul Samuel Jacobs
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Oct 19, 2022 19:59
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Phew, I haven't asked before, thank God.
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Oct 19, 2022 20:20
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The book or books I'm looking for were suspense, maybe romantic suspense. I'm not sure if the plot points below are from the same book or different books in the same series. I don't think it was a particularly good book (or books), but trying to figure it out is driving me crazy. These are possibly the same story or in the same series. I think I read them via Kindle Unlimited or something, because there was a time period a few years ago where I was trying out a bunch of different mystery/thriller/suspense series from there. 1. At the beginning of the story, two FBI agents are walking through a park in the middle of a city (maybe Central Park?). One is shot. The 2nd one contacts the injured agent's sister (maybe his twin sister?); they join forces to investigate a mystery. I can't remember if it is the brother's shooting, or if it's unrelated. 2. A woman is living in (maybe temporarily) old family home somewhere rural. There's a caretaker guy living in a cottage either on the property or nearby who is either undercover or maybe an ex cop or something looking for the villain; the caretaker is keeping an eye on the woman because he thinks she is connected somehow. There's a river or creek on the property and a scene where she ends up in a cave with the bad guy who maybe gets bitten by a rattlesnake?
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Oct 21, 2022 00:39
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ZoeDomingo posted:The book or books I'm looking for were suspense, maybe romantic suspense. I'm not sure if the plot points below are from the same book or different books in the same series. I don't think it was a particularly good book (or books), but trying to figure it out is driving me crazy. I read an excerpt of Hidden by Rebecca Zanetti that seemed to have a similar premise to #2. I never read the whole thing so I am not sure if it has the cave/snake scene. I know there are several books in the series though.
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Oct 21, 2022 01:18
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wheatpuppy posted:I read an excerpt of Hidden by Rebecca Zanetti that seemed to have a similar premise to #2. I never read the whole thing so I am not sure if it has the cave/snake scene. I know there are several books in the series though. I saw that one, and it didn't seem to fit. But then I kept looking and realized I'd skipped over a book in my Overdrive history... Night's Landing, by Carla Neggers, from the Cold Ridge series. Definitely the first plot, and part of the 2nd one, except part of that one came from a later book in the series. Why is it that the moment you post a question on the internet you find the answer?!? Thank you!
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Oct 21, 2022 01:38
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ScienceSeagull posted:A large-format art book about life on other planets, presented as a collection of photos sent back by an explorer. On one planet he finds particularly unusual creatures and phenomena that seem to indicate intelligent design. The last footage from his camera shows him approaching an artificial-looking structure (which is speculated to be involved in terraforming or engineering the planet in some ways) and then the signal goes dark. There's an epilogue where another explorer visits and encounters a bunch of primate-like creatures who resemble the disappeared guy, implying that his DNA got into the terraforming machine. I think I found it: Worlds: A Mission of Discovery, by Alec Gillis (Reddit link with photos of some of the interior pages.) It's even available, where else, on Amazon Zamboni Rodeo fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Oct 22, 2022 |
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Oct 22, 2022 20:54
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xiw posted:Oh man now I'm trying to remember an 80s kids book version of the same idea - it was a small paperback with the premise that yeah you're just going on holiday to the moon and here's the handbook. The only detail I remember was a note and picture about how your helmet would have a scratchbad on the inside to deal with an itchy nose. Finally found this when talking about my white whales with someone else https://archive.org/details/firsttravelguide0000blum  Pretty good read still!
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Oct 22, 2022 21:27
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Zamboni Rodeo posted:I think I found it: Thank you! This was so hard to track down.
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Oct 23, 2022 00:19
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 Happy to help!
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Oct 23, 2022 01:20
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A book that's a biography of a fictional author, interspersed with excerpts from "his books" This was a large (height/length) hard-cover book. The cover may have been blue? The book was a biography of a fictional author - the pages were in color, with pictures of the author's books and excerpts and descriptions. I took it out from the library once a long time ago, but never finished it. This must have been sometime between 2009 and 2017. I think the title may have been something along the lines of "The Life and Work of [Fake Author]"
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Oct 24, 2022 04:45
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AnonymousNarcotics posted:A book that's a biography of a fictional author, interspersed with excerpts from "his books" It's "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick" by Chris Van Allsburg. yaffle fucked around with this message at 12:22 on Oct 24, 2022 |
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Oct 24, 2022 10:28
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yaffle posted:It's "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick" by Chris Van Allsburg. Looks like a similar premise, but this isn't it. It was pretty new when I took it out. Probably published no earlier than 2000
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Oct 24, 2022 13:52
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AnonymousNarcotics posted:I took it out from the library once a long time ago, but never finished it. This must have been sometime between 2009 and 2017. ask the library for a printout of your checkout history
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Oct 24, 2022 19:24
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Maybe A Life in Books: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley (2013) by Warren Lehrer
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Oct 24, 2022 20:52
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rollick posted:Maybe A Life in Books: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley (2013) by Warren Lehrer HOLY poo poo THIS IS IT thank you so much!
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Oct 24, 2022 21:34
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Trying to remember the name of a cyberpunk novel that heavily featured the SF bay area and bike couriers. It was near-future, had current day (90s? 00s?) technology and featured phreaking. I remember an excerpt about going down a hill and timing all the lights to green so they can make it in one go. I'm reading Virtual Light right now as it was suggested but it isn't it. Virtual Light is interesting in its own right but it's too futuristic to have been this one.
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Oct 26, 2022 16:14
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Wasn't there a bit in Snow Crash like that with the skateboard courier?
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Oct 26, 2022 19:38
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Scaramouche posted:Wasn't there a bit in Snow Crash like that with the skateboard courier? I feel like it is, but that doesn't fit the modern tech aesthetic at the time it was written.
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Oct 26, 2022 22:52
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Chill la Chill posted:Trying to remember the name of a cyberpunk novel that heavily featured the SF bay area and bike couriers. It was near-future, had current day (90s? 00s?) technology and featured phreaking. I remember an excerpt about going down a hill and timing all the lights to green so they can make it in one go. ARe you sure it wasn't the movie Hackers? Maybe a novelization of it?
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Oct 27, 2022 00:24
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Chill la Chill posted:Trying to remember the name of a cyberpunk novel that heavily featured the SF bay area and bike couriers. It was near-future, had current day (90s? 00s?) technology and featured phreaking. I remember an excerpt about going down a hill and timing all the lights to green so they can make it in one go. It's triggered something, this'll bother me too now. Cyberpunk and couriers were such a common mix, even Jessica Alba in Dark Angel was in on it. The only clear phreaking book I can think of is shockwave rider by john brunner it's in SF Bay but I don't recall a courier and it's very 70s
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Oct 27, 2022 12:59
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A parody historical novel about a nunnery in France or Italy. The convent only accepted nuns who were of noble birth, from princesses to "oops, this servant girl gave birth to a child that looks too much like the Prince, better hide her away in this convent!". Because all the nuns came from upper class backgrounds the Pope kept making exceptions to rules about poverty. So they ate luxury foods, slept in comfortable beds, their habits were black velvet, had servants, had a special box in the opera where they could watch the performances without being seen. The main character was a princess nun who wished her parents didn't come visit quite so often, as they disrupted her private life.
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Oct 27, 2022 15:15
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Alan Smithee posted:ARe you sure it wasn't the movie Hackers? branedotorg posted:It's triggered something, this'll bother me too now. Hughlander posted:I feel like it is, but that doesn't fit the modern tech aesthetic at the time it was written. Yeah, don't think it was snow crash since that also seems too fantastic.
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Oct 28, 2022 03:55
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Cross post from the White Whale Thread. ---------------- I’m trying to remember a children’s book it would have been out in the UK probably mid to late 80s at the latest. So could well have been from an earlier decade I guess There's a moderate chance it would have been a jackanory story, if not then it's the sort of book that would have been read by the teacher in primary school, roughly year 4 to year 6 in current school year dating (Was probably Lower Juniors to Upper Juniors in my 1980's CofE primary) Plot points I can remember: A child goes to a strange world and the first people they encounter are a seemingly sweet couple (man and woman, I think elderly) who lie all the time. They encourage the child to lie too. They encourage the child to tell little "white" lies. There were "little white lies", which maybe weren't that bad and also "black lies" which were a lot worse(?) The couple/whatever were trying to get the protagonist to lie to make bad things happen? Somehow the worse thing you lie about, it helps wake a monster or do something bad to the world?
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Nov 4, 2022 22:17
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Mr Darcy posted:Cross post from the White Whale Thread. Sounds like something by Enid Blyton - one of the Magic Faraway tree books maybe?
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Nov 6, 2022 13:44
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yaffle posted:Sounds like something by Enid Blyton - one of the Magic Faraway tree books maybe? I've skimmed the synopsis of the Blyton stories that might maybe work - i.e. ignore the Jolly japes posh kids and Noddy type books and I haven't come across one that feels right. Of course as she was famously somewhat prolific there's a non-zero chance I've just missed the synopsis of the right story.
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Nov 10, 2022 00:14
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Rebecca's World by Terry Nation. She has to follow a map with clues to find the last GHOST tree. The couple are the National Society for the Furtherance of Bad Habits, in between the Tongue Twister Monster and the Swardlewardle creatures who breathe out laughing gas. Ed: look familiar?  Ed2: ah, found the white whale thread and you already said no because you didn't remember any lying. Does this change that? Runcible Cat fucked around with this message at 10:56 on Nov 10, 2022 |
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Nov 10, 2022 07:25
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Runcible Cat posted:Rebecca's World by Terry Nation. She has to follow a map with clues to find the last GHOST tree. The couple are the National Society for the Furtherance of Bad Habits, in between the Tongue Twister Monster and the Swardlewardle creatures who breathe out laughing gas. That. That does change things a bit. Thank you.
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Nov 10, 2022 15:23
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Mr Darcy posted:That. That does change things a bit. Cheers!
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Nov 10, 2022 20:39
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Runcible Cat posted:Rebecca's World by Terry Nation. She has to follow a map with clues to find the last GHOST tree. The couple are the National Society for the Furtherance of Bad Habits, in between the Tongue Twister Monster and the Swardlewardle creatures who breathe out laughing gas. Wow that’s a blast from the past. I used to love that book but have never really heard anyone discuss it.
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Nov 12, 2022 19:30
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Sri.Theo posted:Wow that’s a blast from the past. I used to love that book but have never really heard anyone discuss it. I think it's one of those that sticks in the memory if you read it as a kid, but it was only ever printed in the 70s with one reprint in the 90s, so it never really got a lot of traction. Pity, it's good silly fun. Kind of surprised a kids' book about reversing the ecological destruction caused by a greedy billionaire with a strong stake in keeping it destroyed so he can keep on profiting from the unexpected side-effect hasn't had a reprint this century, all things considered...
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Nov 12, 2022 20:00
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There's been an audiobook version available for a while: https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/rebecca-s-world-journey-to-the-forbidden-planet-196
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Nov 14, 2022 23:56
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I'm looking for a series of Sci-fi books set in a failed colony that has regressed to a medieval level. The planet was infested with invisible psychic monsters that fed on strong emotions and basically caused the original colonists to do a purge on each other. The only survivors were people who could control their emotions through meditation. The whole culture was based on Japanese buddhist philosophy, and sword fighting, naturally. I'm pretty sure one of the books was called "<Japanese name>'s Koan" but I'm buggered if I can remember the name. Help me The identify that story/book thread. Edit: I read them in the 80's and they had predominately black red and white covers, I'm almost totally certain they were American. yaffle fucked around with this message at 10:31 on Nov 16, 2022 |
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Nov 16, 2022 10:26
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Sounds like the Kensho series: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?6579
Runcible Cat fucked around with this message at 10:48 on Nov 16, 2022 |
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Nov 16, 2022 10:44
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Runcible Cat posted:Sounds like the Kensho series: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?6579 That's it, thanks.
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Nov 16, 2022 11:59
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Book from China, I read it some time in the early 90s. It is set in the aftermath of Mao taking power. So early or mid 1950s? A theatrical performer, quite old, doing some kind of quick change opera? has lost everything after his type of theatre was declared too oldfashioned and conservative. So now he lives on a river boat doing quick change shows in villages and sailing to the next village after each show. Calling himself something like "Speed Mask Master" He is also a eunuch because his parents wanted him to get rich? He is depressed about the fact that he will never have a son, so he adopts an orphan boy he finds eating fish offal on the riverbank. There is a lot of "How can anyone let a boy go? Sons are the true wealth of a family!" He starts training the boy as an apprentice. But it turns out the boy is really a girl. Which makes him furious! Girls are NOT allowed to learn his craft? But he can't bring himself to leave the girl behind as he has familial feelings for her now. So he trains her as a contortionist and acrobat. The training is gruelling. Things like forcing her legs into a split, tying her up and leaving her over a pot to piss in for 6 hours? But it is also obvious he really loves this girl, and laments that "in the old days you could have been a favourite concubine, eating duck feet and dressed in silk". They get in trouble when the old man refuses to teach some Mao Opera troupe how to do his quick change trick. I think it ends with the old man starving to death in a cage, and the girl joining the new style opera, but only after she gets to do some "filial funeral ritual" in front of the man dying in the cage.
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Nov 25, 2022 12:40
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Not the exact plot, but The King of Masks is a 1996 movie which is hella close to what you're describing. On my end I'm looking for a sci-fi/military sci-fi duology (I think) that starts with the death of a galactic federation. The federation was originally created by a benevolent race of cybernetically-enhanced super species who finished their tech tree early, subjugated the galaxy, and used their unquestioned supremacy to force peace and prosperity on everyone. The book picks up with the last alien of that race dying, and all the member species going "Oh poo poo, poo poo is going to pop off now that we're free to indulge our normal brand of rear end in a top hat-ery." The thing is, the galaxy has been at peace for thousands of years and nobody remembers how to war good, so they're basically using star trek levels of supertech to fight the dumbest battles imaginable, where all the spaceships line up like civil war-era musket squads and fly straight towards each other. There are two protagonists: a stupid guy who is an officer in the space navy, and a smart girl who is a much lower-ranking officer in said navy. Between the two of them (but mostly thanks to the girl) they figure out some basic principals of fighting in space, but the guy gets all the credit because their society sucks and also he's kind of a dipshit. Then in the second book the girl's planet gets invaded, she turns into a sociopathic intelligence operative/guerilla, singlehandedly foments revolution, and basically kills everything she sees. Then there wasn't a third book, because the second one was kind of a downer.
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Nov 27, 2022 00:36
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The Dread Empire's Fall series by Walter Jon Williams. First book is The Praxis. There was a third book, and the trilogy was expanded into a larger series recently. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dread_Empire%27s_Fall
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Nov 27, 2022 04:53
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