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Hughlander posted:I think I'd remember if it was.... I'm thinking like 70s new wave, James Tiptree Jr or something. It's really driving me crazy, it was the first story of the anthology I was reading and I read it like 13 years ago but I have no idea what it was. Ian Watson, maybe? Sounds like his kind of thing, but I can't remember any of his that quite fit that...
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Mar 14, 2023 20:24
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I just wanted to share my ITS/B success story. I went to my uncle's funeral and took the opportunity to get some boxes of books that had been in my parents' attic for decades. I've been trying to remember it for a long time, but I didn't have much to go on. "So I had this anthology by this guy who died, it said so in the introduction. There was this story about a teenage runaway who moves in with some drag queens and then they try to cast a magic spell and it goes wrong. And there was one about cannibal children. And one about humans who crash-landed on another planet, and their descendants evolved to be born, grow old, and die in a week because of radiation."  I haven't ever heard Tom Reamy brought up in conversation, because he dropped dead at his typewriter in '77 at the age of forty. Harlan Ellison wrote the introduction/eulogy.
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Mar 15, 2023 01:54
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Trying to find a Holocaust book I read as a kid. - Read between 1994 and 2004 - Definitely age appropriate (children's book/middle grade/YA) - it had something to do with a train (people being packed in on a train?) - it had something to do with a camera or photographs
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Mar 15, 2023 04:20
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Halloween Jack posted:I just wanted to share my ITS/B success story. I went to my uncle's funeral and took the opportunity to get some boxes of books that had been in my parents' attic for decades. I've been trying to remember it for a long time, but I didn't have much to go on. "So I had this anthology by this guy who died, it said so in the introduction. There was this story about a teenage runaway who moves in with some drag queens and then they try to cast a magic spell and it goes wrong. And there was one about cannibal children. And one about humans who crash-landed on another planet, and their descendants evolved to be born, grow old, and die in a week because of radiation." I should look that book up sometime. Reamy's single novel, Blind Voices, was very good.
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Mar 15, 2023 18:17
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Trying to remember the name of a series of YA fantasy novels, probably from the late 90s/early 00s, where I think all magic was ritual spellcasting done with powdered dragon's blood. I think the protagonist was a teenage boy. Any idea?
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Mar 19, 2023 13:57
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Probably 15-20 years ago, I bought a book written by a goon. It was about an urban/local boogieman during the dustbowl era. Supernatural. I think the title was the boogieman's name: Mr. *something* Anyone remember this?
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Mar 19, 2023 17:41
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WHY BONER NOW posted:Probably 15-20 years ago, I bought a book written by a goon. It was about an urban/local boogieman during the dustbowl era. Supernatural. I think the title was the boogieman's name: Mr. *something* Can't say if this is the book, but was the boogieman called Mr Shivers?
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Mar 19, 2023 17:56
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WHY BONER NOW posted:Probably 15-20 years ago, I bought a book written by a goon. It was about an urban/local boogieman during the dustbowl era. Supernatural. I think the title was the boogieman's name: Mr. *something* Mr Shivers, by Robert Jackson Bennett. IIRC, people being dicks about the book and/or the ads drove him off the site. His City of Stairs books are pretty good.
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Mar 19, 2023 17:56
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I think that was it!! Thanks guys, I hadn't thought of it in years and years (don't even remember if I liked it), but I'm going to put it on my to-do list
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Mar 19, 2023 18:03
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navyjack posted:His City of Stairs books are pretty good. This part I would strongly disagree with.
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Mar 19, 2023 23:33
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Asking here in addition to the SF megathread: I'm trying to recall a children's (well, younger than YA anyway) sci-fi book I read when I was a kid. Things I remember: Hostile, desert-type planet, lots of sand. Water accessible through certain grasses that accumulate water in potato-like nodules which you can dig up and suck on. Crust sand, which is where the sand sticks to itself and presents a solid-looking surface while a sinkhole has opened up underneath. Protagonists fall into one of these at some point. Lots of names for local things are prefixed with something like trilli-. So the grass is trilligrass, there are also trilliroaches. General plotline is our protagonists are students at Good Guy Space Academy, while they're out lost in the desert or something Good Guy Space Academy gets vaporized by a Bad Guy space fighter armed with something called a 'fuzz ray,' and they have to survive and make their way into space to stop the larger Bad Guy attack. Anyone know which book this was?
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Mar 20, 2023 19:28
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navyjack posted:Mr Shivers, by Robert Jackson Bennett. IIRC, people being dicks about the book and/or the ads drove him off the site. His City of Stairs books are pretty good. PurpleXVI posted:This part I would strongly disagree with. lol "I remember two facts about him: people were relentlessly negative about his books, and he wrote some good books." "no, his books suck"
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Mar 21, 2023 04:50
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Maha posted:Trying to remember the name of a series of YA fantasy novels, probably from the late 90s/early 00s, where I think all magic was ritual spellcasting done with powdered dragon's blood. I think the protagonist was a teenage boy. Any idea? Lawrence watt-evans had an ethshar series that had a book where a teen went out and got dragon blood. It was sold as a major ingredient in magic in the series. Some were good. Some were bad. I only really disliked 2. Weirdly enough one might be the dragon one I mention.
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Mar 21, 2023 06:48
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Maha posted:Trying to remember the name of a series of YA fantasy novels, probably from the late 90s/early 00s, where I think all magic was ritual spellcasting done with powdered dragon's blood. I think the protagonist was a teenage boy. Any idea? 2010s Draconis Memorium series by Anthony Ryan uses this as a magic system too.
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Mar 21, 2023 08:30
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Not those! I think the name of the first book (or possibly the name of the series) was the name of a powerful archmage in the setting, a single Italian-sounding word like "Castamenti" or something.
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Mar 21, 2023 12:13
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Maha posted:Not those! I think the name of the first book (or possibly the name of the series) was the name of a powerful archmage in the setting, a single Italian-sounding word like "Castamenti" or something.
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Mar 21, 2023 12:40
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Oh Gwendolyn uses powdered dragons blood to great effect in Charmed Life, yes.
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Mar 21, 2023 14:00
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Now that I read the question, it's gotta be that. Not all magic is done with dragons blood, but some of the big stuff is. Lives of Christopher Chant is the other main one that feels similar, Witch Week and Magicians of Caprona are also in the set.
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Mar 21, 2023 14:02
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silvergoose posted:Now that I read the question, it's gotta be that. Not all magic is done with dragons blood, but some of the big stuff is. Lives has bad guy using Christopher as an interdimensional mule for dragon livers and chunks of mermaid and whatnot, too.
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Mar 21, 2023 14:53
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anilEhilated posted:Chrestomanci? I don't remember anything about dragon's blood, though. That's it, thanks very much! Had no idea the first one was from 1977.
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Mar 21, 2023 17:43
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John Lee posted:lol American Elsewhere was decent if incredibly predictable, his first two were meh and everything after American Else was very meh. Nothing truly awful, just like if King never did coke.
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Mar 21, 2023 18:23
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Does anyone remember a fantasy novel from a few years ago about a guy who leads a city of women in defending themselves? I think the setup may have been that a majority of the men were away with the army when the enemy came calling, and that the guy was like a retired General or mercenary or something. The book I feel like I remember would have been in the last five years or less, not The Ladies of Mandrigyn from the 80's
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Mar 21, 2023 19:47
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BattyKiara posted:Heartlight by T.A. Barron This was it, thanks!
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Mar 22, 2023 02:23
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I'm trying to remember the name of a series of detective novels I read in the 90's. They were set in the states, probably in New York. The main character was an eccentric/bohemian type, given to big hats, jazz and cravats. Although I might be misremembering all of that, quirky anyway. Name might being with "F". A detail I remember was that he had to let people in to his apartment/office by throwing or lowering down the keys. Edit: It was Kinky Friedman yaffle fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Mar 22, 2023 |
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Mar 22, 2023 11:52
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Okay. So. I apologise for being vague but would appreciate finding out: There's one of these authors considered one of the finest in recent decades. American. Generally stuff that would be beloved by The New Yorker and NPR. If he's not parodied in The Simpsons he is of a similar class to a dude who was. Specifically he had a magnum opus about the life of an American family. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Mar 22, 2023 |
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Mar 22, 2023 21:40
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Probably either Michael Chabon or Jonathon Franzen
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Mar 22, 2023 21:46
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Opopanax posted:Jonathon Franzen Yup! Thank you! And I was thinking of Freedom. Out of curiousity do you just know The Simpsons really well or did you catch it off my thin lead? Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Mar 22, 2023 |
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Mar 22, 2023 21:49
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Bright Bart posted:Yup! Thank you! And I was thinking of Freedom. Both
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Mar 22, 2023 22:19
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Bright Bart posted:Okay. So. I apologise for being vague but would appreciate finding out: Was that the one where the dude plays around with a literal piece of poo poo and has some amazing insight into life?
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Mar 22, 2023 22:35
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Yes. But I never got to that part and if it's toilet humour I'd be upset and whelp it seems to be toilet humour.
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Mar 23, 2023 00:01
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Short story where the neighbors on a street are driven to paranoia of each other by a man just doing little things/starting rumors. I feel like it’s a matheson story but didn’t find it.
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Mar 25, 2023 05:56
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oldpainless posted:Short story where the neighbors on a street are driven to paranoia of each other by a man just doing little things/starting rumors. I feel like it’s a matheson story but didn’t find it. The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street was a banger of a twilight zone ep that matches.
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Mar 25, 2023 06:00
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oldpainless posted:Short story where the neighbors on a street are driven to paranoia of each other by a man just doing little things/starting rumors. I feel like it’s a matheson story but didn’t find it. My first thought was the Twilight Zone episode The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, but I don't know if it was ever a published story. E: beaten while perusing Wikipedia
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Mar 25, 2023 06:03
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That seems like it’s probably it. Maybe I read a novelization of it because I could swear I read it, not watched it.
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Mar 25, 2023 06:14
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oldpainless posted:That seems like it’s probably it. Maybe I read a novelization of it because I could swear I read it, not watched it. My middle school English textbook contained the script. If yours did too that might explain it.
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Mar 25, 2023 06:48
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It's definitely in print too, there are a few Matheson collections
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Mar 25, 2023 14:45
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oldpainless posted:Short story where the neighbors on a street are driven to paranoia of each other by a man just doing little things/starting rumors. I feel like it’s a matheson story but didn’t find it. Sounds like Matheson's The Distributor: https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?72804 quote:Pale morning mist engulfed Sylmar Street. Theodore moved through it silently. Under the back porch of the Jeffersons’ house he set fire to a box of damp papers. As it began to smolder he walked across the yard and, with a single knife stroke, slashed apart the rubber pool. He heard it pulsing water on the grass as he left. In the alley he dropped a book of matches that read Putnam’s Wines and Liquors. Runcible Cat fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Mar 25, 2023 |
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Mar 25, 2023 15:14
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Quoting myself from a few years ago in another thread. This short story is my white whale, and I've been looking for it for at least 15 years.MrGreenShirt posted:I remember reading a horror short story in an anthology probably some time in the late 90s, possibly Australian but most likely American or British in origin.
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Mar 25, 2023 19:39
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MrGreenShirt posted:Quoting myself from a few years ago in another thread. This short story is my white whale, and I've been looking for it for at least 15 years. Delia and the Dinner Party by John Shirley. I have it in the first Borderlands collection.
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Mar 27, 2023 06:10
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Holy poo poo, you're my goddamned hero. You have no idea how happy this makes me!
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Mar 27, 2023 16:52
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