|
Zamboni Rodeo posted:Hi, thread. Looking for a short story that a teacher read to us once when I was in grade 8 (around 13ish I guess?). I think it may have been by Eudora Welty or Flannery O’Connor or someone writing in a similar vein. Basic plot is a new girl comes to a small town and there are two boys who vie for her affections. The story ends with the girl getting hit by a car (truck? Bus?) as she’s running to cross the street where the two boys are standing with big bouquets of flowers. Does this ring any bells for anyone? That has to be "Children on Their Birthdays" by Truman Capote. Great short story.
|
#
?
Jun 17, 2023 16:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 05:24 |
|
|
That's it exactly! Thank you!
|
|
#
?
Jun 17, 2023 19:57
|
|
|
I read a short story in one of those horror anthology paperbacks around 1999 that was about a lighthouse keeper who would get his blood sucked by some apparition every night until his body was found completely drained of blood at the end. It sounds like a vampire story, and maybe it was, but as a kid reading it I feel like I recall it being more of a ghost story? Anyway, the short story collection also contained a story about someone seeing their doppelgänger, if that helps narrow it down. Google doesn’t do much these days.
|
|
#
?
Jun 19, 2023 07:14
|
|
|
Trying to remember this short story I read that's about a man in a psychiatric hospital who believes that he's the only real person in existence and everyone and everything else is fake while his wife tries to convince him that's not the case. At the very end it's revealed that he's actually right and his wife and the other beings start talking about how to wipe his memory and move on to the next iteration, but at the same time his wife asks that in the next iteration he should get to see some landmark he's always liked a lot, I want to say it's the Taj Mahal? She's accused of being compromised, but says she's not scared of the consequences. I think it's kept vague why exactly these beings are doing this to the guy, and it ends on them preparing to restart their simulation. Part of me wants to say it's a Heinlein story, but at the same time I don't remember reading it in a Heinlein anthology.
|
|
#
?
Jun 21, 2023 02:02
|
|
|
Sounds like a very Phillip K Dick premise to me but the closest I can think of (and it's not all that close) is We Can Remember It For You Wholesale (which Total Recall is based on but it's actually quite different)
|
|
#
?
Jun 21, 2023 03:09
|
|
|
GrayGriffin posted:Trying to remember this short story I read that's about a man in a psychiatric hospital who believes that he's the only real person in existence and everyone and everything else is fake while his wife tries to convince him that's not the case. At the very end it's revealed that he's actually right and his wife and the other beings start talking about how to wipe his memory and move on to the next iteration, but at the same time his wife asks that in the next iteration he should get to see some landmark he's always liked a lot, I want to say it's the Taj Mahal? She's accused of being compromised, but says she's not scared of the consequences. I think it's kept vague why exactly these beings are doing this to the guy, and it ends on them preparing to restart their simulation. Part of me wants to say it's a Heinlein story, but at the same time I don't remember reading it in a Heinlein anthology. It is a Heinlein story, "They".
|
|
#
?
Jun 21, 2023 04:39
|
|
|
Lemniscate Blue posted:It is a Heinlein story, "They". Thanks, that was it! Surprised I remembered some of the details so exactly, actually.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2023 05:22
|
|
|
GrayGriffin posted:Thanks, that was it! Surprised I remembered some of the details so exactly, actually. I rewrote it as a stage play for community college theatre class, so it's something I'll probably remember for the rest of my life. (I did not get the Heinlein estate's permission.  )
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2023 06:01
|
|
|
Lemniscate Blue posted:(I did not get the Heinlein estate's permission. quoting for evidence lol
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2023 07:40
|
|
|
Google's failing me yet again. I remember a book with wizards doing secret research somewhere, having a magical particle accelerator type thing, and turning a cartload of scrap metal into gold to deal with funding problems. ... At some point, the villain stumbles into the camp of Ellis Dee (IIRC) who was distilling the sparkles out of actually magic mushrooms for  reasons, and steals his equipment. Villain eventually twigs that wizards contain more magic than mushrooms do, kidnaps one and starts draining their blood to  it.No idea how it ends, though - possibly it turns out they can't actually metabolise that much magic and it ends badly? Kerbtree fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Jun 25, 2023 |
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2023 00:11
|
|
|
I remember as a little kid having a book about the physics, technology, and history of aircraft that was a bit beyond my reading comprehension level at the time, it had a lot of illustrations; it began with a diagram showing various planes and flying objects starting with a dandelion seed and going up to the Space Shuttle, and ended with an illustrated breakdown of a hypothetical BVR dogfight. The cover was mostly black, had the word "FLIGHT" very prominently, and showed multicolored airflow lines over the fuselage and wings of an F-16.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2023 05:05
|
|
|
Woolie Wool posted:I remember as a little kid having a book about the physics, technology, and history of aircraft that was a bit beyond my reading comprehension level at the time, it had a lot of illustrations; it began with a diagram showing various planes and flying objects starting with a dandelion seed and going up to the Space Shuttle, and ended with an illustrated breakdown of a hypothetical BVR dogfight. The cover was mostly black, had the word "FLIGHT" very prominently, and showed multicolored airflow lines over the fuselage and wings of an F-16. Are you sure it was an F-16? There's a Smithsonian Flight: The Complete History of Aviation that seems pretty close: 
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2023 05:23
|
|
|
I think this is an Arthur C Clarke story but for the life of me I cannot recall it: Sci fi, ship pilot is stranded in space when a massive god like figure saves him. I think the theme was that any advanced technology appears to be god or magic to lesser beings. Anyone know the title?
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2023 18:09
|
|
|
I mean, Clarke’s Law is literally ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2023 18:45
|
|
|
Professor Shark posted:I think this is an Arthur C Clarke story but for the life of me I cannot recall it: Sci fi, ship pilot is stranded in space when a massive god like figure saves him. I think the theme was that any advanced technology appears to be god or magic to lesser beings. This is going to bug me because I'm pretty sure I recognize it and it's on the tip of my brain. The one I remember, the rescuer is an alien who pilots a spaceship that looks like a massive humanoid figure "walking" through space, because why the gently caress not when you're that advanced? Is that in line with what you remember?
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2023 20:06
|
|
|
Lemniscate Blue posted:This is going to bug me because I'm pretty sure I recognize it and it's on the tip of my brain. The one I remember, the rescuer is an alien who pilots a spaceship that looks like a massive humanoid figure "walking" through space, because why the gently caress not when you're that advanced? Yes it is
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2023 22:27
|
|
|
I’m pretty sure the protagonist equates the alien helping him to the same way a human might help a caterpillar cross a road: tiny, insignificant, never to be thought of again
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2023 22:29
|
|
|
Professor Shark posted:I’m pretty sure the protagonist equates the alien helping him to the same way a human might help a caterpillar cross a road: tiny, insignificant, never to be thought of again That's also the main motif of Roadside Picnic / aka: Source of every bit of STALKER media. Unimaginatively advanced aliens visit earth and don't even notice us leaving some junk behind that can change lives, the way humans would have a picnic on the side of the road and leave their cups and napkins.
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2023 22:47
|
|
|
Professor Shark posted:I’m pretty sure the protagonist equates the alien helping him to the same way a human might help a caterpillar cross a road: tiny, insignificant, never to be thought of again I think I've got it: "Passerby", Larry Niven
|
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2023 01:26
|
|
|
I have that collection downstairs- would not have guessed Niven, but totally makes sense!
|
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2023 17:01
|
|
|
I would niven have guessed it
|
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2023 17:07
|
|
|
More like oldpunless
|
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2023 17:56
|
|
|
OK, got one for y'all. British sci-fi novel Set on a microplanet, like extremely small (maybe 50km diameter)? with its own atmosphere, because of some neutron star remnant at its core (or something on that order) Settled only by a Hispanic (Portugese?) family. Humor is somewhat Douglas Adams-ish but toned down, although the plot ends up being fairly absurd. Overall world setup is that humanity had a war with AI, won, and banned any kind of AI, it's thought that they're still out there (a la the Battlestar Galactica reboot) rebuilding and looking for vengeance, and it turns out they're right Leader of humanity who won the war is named The Dictator and was overthrown and is missing There's one crazy old man on the planet that the family has occasional dealings with, and it turns out he's The Dictator Earth sends some huge cube there that turns out to be a prison for a psychotic, impossibly powerful psyker named Father Christmas (or something similar).
|
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2023 01:30
|
|
|
Absurd Alhazred posted:Are you sure it was an F-16? There's a Smithsonian Flight: The Complete History of Aviation that seems pretty close: it was an F-16 or another 4th gen fighter aircraft with airflow marks, yes.
|
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2023 03:30
|
|
|
GD_American posted:OK, got one for y'all. I feel like I've read this too, although I don't remember the cube bit. Hopefully someone else will be more useful
|
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2023 14:11
|
|
|
Woolie Wool posted:it was an F-16 or another 4th gen fighter aircraft with airflow marks, yes. This one  starts with a dandelion and ends with a dogfight? You can get a copy here https://www.amazon.com/Flight-Things-Work-Walter-Boyne/dp/0705411400 or borrow it here: https://archive.org/details/flight00boyn Resident Idiot fucked around with this message at 15:16 on Jul 1, 2023 |
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2023 14:47
|
|
|
There's a book I'm trying to remember, it was a picturebook about poisonous plants. It starred a kid named Weed who could talk to plants and each of the plants he talked to had a beautiful arthopmorphic illustration while they talk about all the people they killed. Belladonna was a beautiful woman, Egot was a bunch of soldiers, Tobacco was "Madame Baccy" etc, Weed was the orphaned servant boy of an apothecary and he gave Belladonna to the girl he liked so she could dilate her pupils and look beautiful and she dies, then Weed goes crazy and poisons his master and runs off into the woods I apparently remember everything about this book except what it's called and what the cover looks like And there are 3 million illustrated books about poison plants, it's infuriating
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2023 19:14
|
|
|
YggiDee posted:There's a book I'm trying to remember, it was a picturebook about poisonous plants. It starred a kid named Weed who could talk to plants and each of the plants he talked to had a beautiful arthopmorphic illustration while they talk about all the people they killed. Belladonna was a beautiful woman, Egot was a bunch of soldiers, Tobacco was "Madame Baccy" etc, Weed was the orphaned servant boy of an apothecary and he gave Belladonna to the girl he liked so she could dilate her pupils and look beautiful and she dies, then Weed goes crazy and poisons his master and runs off into the woods Looking this up led me to The Poison Diaries.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2023 03:21
|
|
|
Ahhh thank you so much! I was having no progress looking it up because there's a lot of illustrated books about poisonous plants, and also there's something funky going on with The Poison Diaries being two completely separate books with the same title.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2023 06:45
|
|
|
branedotorg posted:I feel like I've read this too, although I don't remember the cube bit. Hopefully someone else will be more useful I think this might be Gregory Benford’s Galactic Centre books? One of which has micro-scale humans on a neutron star, humanity is fleeing/hiding from the “mechs” generally.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2023 08:15
|
|
|
Kerbtree posted:I think this might be Gregory Benford’s Galactic Centre books? One of which has micro-scale humans on a neutron star, humanity is fleeing/hiding from the “mechs” generally. That's nuts, Stephen Baxter's flux has the same concept (though it's in the Xeelee Sequence - which has always reminded me of Niven's Known Space in worldbuilding).
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2023 08:51
|
|
|
Isolationist posted:That's nuts, Stephen Baxter's flux has the same concept (though it's in the Xeelee Sequence - which has always reminded me of Niven's Known Space in worldbuilding). Ah, bollox. You’re right. I’m getting stuff crossed over. You’re spot-on, it’s definitely Flux. Robert L Forward’s Dragon’s Egg 100% has aliens living in/on a Neutron star, tho.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2023 12:10
|
|
|
I'm trying to identify a poem/poet that I half remember from school. The poem had a part where ladies or a lady were walking the garden paths, possibly waiting for men/her man to return from war, and something about buttons or petticoats? edit: never mind, I remembered it is Amy Lowell's "Patterns" Enfys fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Jul 9, 2023 |
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2023 15:33
|
|
|
Sci-fi where Earth sends unwanted citizens to a new pIanet, modeIIed on how Britain sent prisoners to AustraIia? There is a revoIution on the prison pIanet, and they start rebuiIding society with new ruIes, ending up refusing to accept more immigrants from Earth, causing an aImost armed confIict? Sorry, this is reaIIy vague, I read it whiIe in hospitaI around 20 years ago
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2023 12:44
|
|
|
BattyKiara posted:Sci-fi where Earth sends unwanted citizens to a new pIanet, modeIIed on how Britain sent prisoners to AustraIia? There is a revoIution on the prison pIanet, and they start rebuiIding society with new ruIes, ending up refusing to accept more immigrants from Earth, causing an aImost armed confIict? The Moon is a Harsh Mistress?
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2023 14:04
|
|
|
No, absoIuteIy not that
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2023 14:08
|
|
|
Ok, I have one I need help finding. A juvenile/young adult fantasy story, pretty certain it was a standalone book and not part of a larger series. Very similar in tone to some of the postmodern meta-fairytale retellings that were everywhere in the 90s-early 2000s. (Like somewhat along the lines of Ella Enchanted, Dealing with Dragons/Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Once Upon a Marigold, etc.) The premise is that all book or story characters are really ‘alive,’ and when their stories are being read characters are acting out the story as if they are in a play. When their book is closed they live their lives as normal, but when it’s open they have to be ‘on-script’ and recite their dialogue, perform key actions, etc. The protagonist is a stock fairytale princess, I think she’s meant to be the main character of the story-within-the-story but I don’t remember for sure. Her character arc focused a lot on her frustration about the inherently limited scope of her reality and existence. One scene I remember is that she skips or messes up her lines and the reader character becomes confused, other book characters have to improvise to cover for her mistake and they get mad at her later. The strongest visual I remember is that the storybook characters perceive their readers as huge figures looking down on them from the sky or through the roof, with the sets and characters of the story being described like a diorama viewed from above. Eventually the reader character becomes fully aware of the living book people and has various direct conversations with them, especially the princess. That’s all I got, I wish I remembered more of the story beats or how the plot was resolved. I must have read it sometime in the early 2000s, based on what I remember the tone of the prose was very typical 90’s juv lit but it could have been from earlier, maybe 1980s. Anybody recognize this one?
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2023 18:42
|
|
|
Owl at Home posted:Ok, I have one I need help finding. The Great Good Thing by Roderick Townley?
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2023 19:17
|
|
|
Owl at Home posted:Ok, I have one I need help finding. This is almost exactly the plot of Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult but with a prince in the book
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2023 22:17
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 05:24 |
|
|
Runcible Cat posted:The Great Good Thing by Roderick Townley? AnonymousNarcotics posted:This is almost exactly the plot of Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult but with a prince in the book It was The Great Good Thing, thank you! Strangely I did remember that the cover was beige, but that wasn't much help when I was searching for it. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2023 00:58
|
|