The identify that story/book thread: Home of the gas pump boy

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The identify that story/book thread: Home of the gas pump boy

«‹›2 »

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:

It sounds more like Stand on Zanzibar. Make Room, Make Room is part of the overpopulation genre but it's boilerplate stuff like The Ultimate Solution or something.

'Stand on Zanzibar' is pretty much the opposite of a short story. Plus, they're not actually standing on Zanzibar.

Someone asked a similar question on rasfw the other day, and the best they could come up with is Larry Niven's 'Bordered in Black', but I don't think that's it either.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2007 14:45

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 19, 2024 09:55

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Seksiness posted:

I know it had Inexpensive Progress by Betjemin in that section. All I remember for certain about the piece was the towers in a field of some crop and there being a canteen, possibly with a PA system telling people what to think.

John Betjeman posted:

The Planster's Vision
(by Sir John Betjeman)

Cut down that timber! Bells, too many and strong,
Pouring their music through the branches bare,
From moon-white church-towers down the windy air
Have pealed the centuries out with Evensong.
Remove those cottages, a huddled throng!
Too many babies have been born in there,
Too many coffins, bumping down the stair,
Carried the old their garden paths along.

I have a Vision of The Future, chum,
The worker's flats in fields of soya beans
Tower up like silver pencils, score on score:
And Surging Millions hear the Challenge come
From microphones in communal canteens
"No Right! No wrong! All's perfect, evermore."

# ¿ Jan 14, 2008 14:29

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

mickey mousecapade posted:

One revolved around a planet completely barren of people, and farming robots suddenly realize there aren't any people and decide to set out to find some, although it just degenerates into the most advanced of the robots destroying the rest of them.

This sounds a lot like 'Who can Replace a Man?' by Brian Aldiss, in which case the book ought to be in this list. But it might not be.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2008 11:19

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Runoir posted:

I'm shocked at the speed and accuracy in this thread.

A few days ago, this guy told me the author/title of this book and the plot, but I wasn't paying as much attention as I should and I just have the plot.

Old SciFi, envisions the internet, instant video chat, etc before it actually happens via wormhole control. This leads to the creation of a surveillance society where various cults decide to live either completely exposed, with no concept of privacy, or oppositely, in pitch black with no communication or self expression of any kind.

I don't know what you consider 'old', but this might be 'The Light of Other Days' by Arthur C Clarke and Stephen Baxter.

edit:

Zero Gravitas posted:

This one is a collection of short stories set in one timeline. The basic arc is the rise and fall and rise and fall of civilisations, but the stories are largely independent plot wise:

- A group of humans take control of an alien spaceship where they are held prisoner

- A large human spaceship crashes into a world where human civ has devolved back to living in the forest with nature etc.

- A human trading spaceship discovers that a world they were heading to trade with has devolved to mostly medieval times with the exception of some military, and is chased by piston engine aircraft.

- An exploration ship tries to find a group of refugees find their home star amongst a star cluster of millions of stars.

I haven't really done it justice here, it was a good series.

This could be Baxter as well; maybe this one? Does the name Xeelee for some of the aliens ring a bell?

Unkempt fucked around with this message at 16:33 on Feb 1, 2008

# ¿ Feb 1, 2008 16:30

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

poopcutter posted:

I am looking for a book I read about a few months ago but I doubt anyone will know what it is because I have such scanty information to offer.

It was written by a French Catholic bishop or some other kind of luminary back in the 17th or 18th century. He was also a noble, although I cannot remember his rank, and I think he had some illegitimate children. That probably doesn't narrow it down too much.

I think it was a collection of observations on courtly life and it focused on the writer's perception that people are motivated by self-interest or vanity or something interesting like that. I want to say that it was called _Memoirs of whoever_ but I am not sure. It sounded interesting though and I cannot remember what it was called.

Cardinal de Retz?

# ¿ Feb 20, 2008 12:00

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Mr. Beefhead posted:

magic chemistry set

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=magic.chemistry.set&btnG=Search&meta=

# ¿ Feb 25, 2008 11:09

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

How Bout That poo poo? posted:

Here's a summary of a book I've been looking for for ages;

It's set in a post-nuclear world about a pilot confined in a satellite with another wheelchair-bound man of great intellect.

It's not post-nuclear, but Waldo has a crippled genius living in a satellite.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2008 18:46

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Mr Crucial posted:

This is one that's relatively recent. I picked the book up, read the blurb, thought to myself 'that's awesome', realised I had no money and resolved to get it at some other time...then completely forgot what the title was or who wrote it.

Basically in the 50s a plane crashes in the jungle somewhere. The survivors assume they crashed because World War 3 had started, and proceed to keep 50s English culture alive in this tiny jungle village. Eventually they are discovered by modern (90s/00s) explorers, still living the 50s lifestyle...and some stuff happens after that.

Any help much appreciated.

Speak for England by James Hawes. I keep thinking it looks good too, but then I keep forgetting about it so I haven't read it.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2008 14:08

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Hubcap Hal posted:

There was a book that was recommended in a thread in this forum. I forgot to write down the title, and now I want to read the book.
It was about a guy who dies, and is either reincarnated into a new body, or he is placed into his younger self. I think there was a woman who had the same thing happen to her, and I think there was a serial killer who was hunting the main character. One other thing that I can recall is that the author wrote a sequel, and that he also died. I believe the book came out in the '80s.

That's Ken Grimwood's 'Replay', which I think is an excellent book that doesn't get enough recognition. I don't think the sequel was finished or published, though.

# ¿ Mar 24, 2008 12:41

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Axhind posted:

I've got a series of books that I'm dying to reread, but multiple searches over the months haven't turned up anything.

It's a SF series about human 'tribes' that are clad in very sophisticated suits that warn them with smells because the human mind reacts very fast on smells. Some of the suits are exoskeletons that are sun-powered, and the different tribes are named after games like the pieces of chess...

There are also insect-like aliens who, the older they get, get more and more of their biological body replaced by robotic pieces. The more cyborg they are, the higher their age and standing among their kind.

I think the human tribe discovers a spaceship, and they find other tribes of men on other planets. They also encounter another species that's very technologically advanced because they can control and direct cosmic strings by magnetic force. The human protagonist is even "thrown" into the middle of a planet that has been hollowed out by one of those cosmic strings (like an apple), and he keeps going through it again and again until he manages to divert his path.

I even think, but this is highly speculative, that the insectoids and the advanced aliens are in some kind of war, and the humans become allies of the aliens...

I'll try to think of more details ...

Pretty sure this is Greg Benford's 'Galactic Centre' series. Take a look at the reviews for 'Tides of Light'.

# ¿ May 16, 2008 13:35

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

I Am Hydrogen posted:

My sophomore year of high school I read Jaco: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius, and in the book there was a short section about a book that Jaco and a friend of his used to read on his roof. All I remember was that while they were reading it they were convinced the world was going to be taken over by aliens. I'm pretty sure the book started with a U.

I've always wanted to read it. I'm hoping someone knows the book I'm talking about before I try to find my copy of the book and then search through it.

It's this.

# ¿ Jul 11, 2008 16:06

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Runoir posted:

I got about 1/2 way through a science fiction book before leaving it on a train in europe and forgetting the title. I remember very little of the book: Somehow, man creates intelligence, but it quickly realizes it is smarter than man, and transports all of humanity out into the galaxy. Each settlement is given a machine that can make anything, if fed resources, and a large diamond pyramid with a set of rules carved into it.

'Singularity Sky', by Charlie Stross. There's a semi-sequel, too; 'Iron Sunrise'.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2008 11:22

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

M_E_G. ADI. K posted:

1. Starts with some sort of experimental research project into the 4th spacial dimension. Previous subjects who attempted to move extra-dimensionally were lost, dead or insane. I think the protagonist was a woman, but I can't be sure. The 4th dimensional creatures she encounters she perceived as weird swirly snowstorm type things. The book is in two parts, in the second part the role of protagonist is taken over by his/her son, who has been stepping into the 4th dimension since he was a little kid and right at the start of the second part he moves extra-dimensionally to take a shortcut down a hill/outside. I'm pretty sure they actually gave the additional 2 4-d directions names, ana and kata. After reading the first few pages on Amazon, I'm also really sure it's not The Boy who Folded Himself. I can't for the life of me remember what the central conflict of the narrative was, but it was probably the son trying to save his 4-d friends from evil greedy humans or something.

Edit: There was an example of a tesseract/hypercube in the lab from part 1 of this book.

Could be "The Universe Between" by Alan Nourse.

# ¿ Sep 17, 2008 15:45

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

TenMiddleTeeth posted:

I've been trying forever to find this book. When I was a kid, my dad had all of these old sci-fi books in the basement that I'd read all the time. There was one about some kind of enigmatic alien that comes to earth and has all these awesome powers. It generates radiation, is invincible, can increase or decrease its mass. At some point in the novel it's trying to get back to its ship and turns super-hot and melts into the ground and starts walking through solid rock to avoid an army or something. I'm almost certain it was called "Vor" or something like that, but Google never turns anything up.

James Blish wrote a book called Vor, though I haven't read it. Have a look at http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/james-blish/vor.htm

# ¿ Sep 23, 2008 09:49

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

pbpancho posted:

Reposting this to see if anyone can get it. It has been bugging me for years.

I read this compliation of short stories at least 10 years ago I would think. One of them was about a world where Vampires had pretty much taken over, but a bunch of humans were holed up in a church. At the end, the Vampires get in and a human tricks the main one into drinking consecrated wine from a pop can, which kills him since its the blood of Christ.

Another one of the short stories was about a guy that started molding his wifes skin like clay and ended up horribly, might have been called something like Softer?

There were a few others in the book as well, but those are the two that I can remember.

Could be this? It has a story called 'Softer' that sounds a bit like the one you remember.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2008 13:38

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

The first is Leiningen versus the Ants.

edit: second is Love of Life by Jack London.

Unkempt fucked around with this message at 11:21 on Jan 10, 2009

# ¿ Jan 10, 2009 11:16

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

King Plum the Nth posted:

OK, this is way to vague for me to expect an answer but I have to try. My elementary school library collection (c. 1985) had a trilogy (or, at least three books from series) of juvenile mystery novels. They were hardbacks of the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew verity with wraparound cover art done all in purple tints. Probably from the 50's (early 60's at the latest) they were about the adventures of 3 children; there was an older (early teen) boy and girl and a small boy -- the younger brother of the girl, I think. The adventures were all New England-y; the one I remember most vividly took place on the coast with lighthouses and a cove that you could only enter at low tide. Proto The Goonies, sort of.

Christ, now I type it up that's even more than I thought. I've checked the children's section of every library and used bookstore I've ever been to without result though. Sucks when all you have to go on was "they were purple."

This sounds a lot like the Three Investigators, except they were all boys. So, probably not.

# ¿ Jan 25, 2009 15:24

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Omegauo posted:

Can't for the life of me remember the name of this short story:

Basic plot is the main character works in a used book store of some kind. The owner is a kooky gentleman who has a 'secret' book of sorts that he refuses to share. Eventually, the main character finds it and reads it. The secret is that no one ever actually dies, somehow quantum physics makes this impossible. Everyone else dies, but it impossible for you yourself to stop existing.

This is eventually realized to be true, as by chance the main character is the only human alive eons in the future, kept alive in stasis or something. He is eventually woken up by aliens who explain all of humanity is gone, and offer to 'end' his life by absorbing his mind into theirs.

This would be a fairly recent story, but I can't remember if it's from a book I own, or from the library. Been searching through my collection with no luck.

I've read this, and I think it's Robert Charles Wilson's 'Divided by Infinity', but I've just moved house and can't find it to check at the moment. See if this rings a bell.

# ¿ Mar 24, 2009 11:53

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

GOOCHY posted:

For some reason, I just had a book pop into my head that I read as a kid and I simply cannot remember the author or title of the book. I'm wondering if you guys can help out. Google hasn't been very helpful so far.

The story was about a kid who runs away from home and lives in the wilderness by himself. He learns to forage, fish, etc. and ends up finding a huge tree that he hollows out and turns into his home. There's a point where he heats water and uses a natural basin to bathe in. Later on in the story his father ends up finding him somehow and visits with him for a short time. He unsuccessfully tries to talk him into coming back to civilization.

That's about all I can remember. I'm sure that the book is older, as I read it in the late 80's in middle school. It's definitely at least a couple decades older than that. Does anyone have any ideas?

Is it My Side of the Mountain?

(Thank you, Achewood thread)

# ¿ May 29, 2009 16:25

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

An old SF book, 60s or around there. It starts in a magazine office, National Geographic or Nature or something, and they're trying to find their oldest subscriber; someone notices that there's a guy who's had a subscription for around a hundred years. They think it's probably several generations of people with the same name but go and meet him anyway, and of course it turns out it's just one man who's been getting it all that time, and after that I can't remember a thing about the book. Anyone?

# ¿ Jun 16, 2009 19:56

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Dareon posted:

I just remembered a short story I absolutely loved. It was about this gnome or dwarf, one of the small tinkering fantastic races, that wakes up/comes out of hibernation in "modern" times, and tries to make a living tinkering. He starts off going door-to-door repairing kitchenware, but his tinkering powers only work on copper, not this newfangled enamelware and stainless steel. I think he fixes part of a bicycle in there somewhere, and eventually starts working at a garage fixing radiators. While he's fixing the radiators, he thinks about how these cars are making GBS threads up the planet, and I think he rationalizes that if the humans poo poo up the planet so bad they can't live there, then his magical friends can come back and fix everything with their magical powers when the humans are gone.

The only line I can remember verbatim is "I could only fix the honest copper", probably said with some kind of accent.

'The Coppersmith', Lester Del Rey. http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?52350

edit: ^^^ that's definitely The Marching Morons.

Unkempt fucked around with this message at 15:20 on Nov 9, 2009

# ¿ Nov 9, 2009 14:15

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Elohssa Gib posted:

I had a book pop in my head the other day. I can't remember much about it except it was a sci-fi about this guy who is given the ability of extra dimensional travel. If I'm remembering correctly the guy uses the skill to cheat in Vegas, and also observes some 2 dimensional people. There were some drawings in the book of the 2d people. I think he accidentally kills one while trying to get it to be 3d, and there was something about needing to pee on people so they could access the extra dimensions. Any help that proves I'm not insane would help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceland_%28novel%29 ?

# ¿ Jan 12, 2010 11:58

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Autarch_Severian posted:

Hopefully I'm not repeating a request that has already been in the thread. I scanned through it and didn't see any mention of the story I remember.

It's a short story, science fiction, I had to read it around 2002, but I remember it was from possibly the 70's-80's. It's roughly about the future of the cold war, where America and Russia send a squadron of soldiers each every year to fight to the death in some sort of large arena, the last 'team' with a survivor or group of survivors wins resources and bragging rights for a year, and the survivor is allowed to live the rest of their life without having to obey laws.

I know it's probably "the survivor" or "the arena" but there are quite a bit of short stories and stories with those names.

See if this rings any bells. If it's not that one, it might be something else by the same author; he wrote some other stuff in the same setting.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2010 12:52

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Gobeachfrog posted:

Some short story by Orson Scott Card

Two brothers are hitchhiking and are picked up by a women.
The older brother trys to rape her but she manages to turn the
tables and they are both left stranded and naked.

I've never read it, but he wrote a short story called 'Hitching'.

# ¿ Aug 13, 2010 11:40

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Hughlander posted:

What sucks about this one is it's a book I know I own, I just don't remember which it is...

Written in the '60s, about a mid future point (3-400 years I think?) Only thing I remember is that the protagonist is hidden at some point in a giant underground 'vat' of processed protein. It was a mutant chicken hundreds of feet in diameter that the city used for it's food supply. Every day they'd carve off a few tons of it for food and it'd grow back. I think a female character had a flute or something that she'd play and the 'chicken' would move a bit to get to a hiding spot under it's bulk.

I think it may be Immortality Inc. But not sure...

It's 'The Space Merchants' by Pohl and Kornbluth.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2010 15:33

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

4000 Dollar Suit posted:

I was reading on this very forum a couple of months ago about a Sci-fi/fantasy type book where the whole world is this never ending wall, I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to explain this very well, I think it was a trilogy. I wrote it down and everything then lost it.

This one. It's out of print, but there's some used ones on Amazon.

edit: looks like getting the third one might be tricky

Unkempt fucked around with this message at 12:51 on Jan 1, 2011

# ¿ Jan 1, 2011 12:16

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Darth Brookz posted:

When I was younger there was this book in the comedy section at bookstores about a guy who would write fake letters to people/corporations and get a real response back. One page would feature the note he wrote the other would be like a photocopy and transcript of the one he would receive back.

I've tried goggling various parts of what I posted but haven't found any clues about an author or title.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

First one I thought of is Henry Root, but a few people have done that and if it isn't him then the answer's probably on this page.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2011 09:54

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Philo posted:

Trying to find a scifi/fantasy novella I read a number of years ago.

In it there are dragons that are actually mecanical/AI who are piloted by elves(?) one of them crashlands in this little podunk village and the pilot dies. The dragon demands that someone from the village interface with it and tries everyone before settling on the protagonist (can't remember why, think he was secretly part human or something). Protagonist acts as dragon's mouthpiece to the village, and he gets addicted to the stuff that gets injected into his veins when he interfaces with the machine and begins to abuse his power. I remember that some of the villagers try to rise up, headed by the protagonists ex-best friend, and he decides to have the best friend crucified as an example.

The Dragons of Babel by Michael Swanwick

# ¿ Feb 20, 2011 11:49

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Barack Pwnbama posted:

Once I was in the hospital for about a month and I couldn't leave the room, and since I had pretty much nothing to do I read books, and I ended up reading a book a day or so (from the hospital library). Recently I've been trying to go back and buy some of the books I read on Amazon and re-read them, and there is one book I remember but can't recall the title or author.

There's this guy who has some sort of major health issue. These scientists think that they can cure him using something controversial, like stem cells or something, and putting them into his brain. Anyway, somebody is trying to stop them for some reason (the guy was the head of a company, maybe, and his competitors wanted him dead, something like that) and they sent hit men after the scientists to kill them.

The end is the part I really remember. They are all ready to go with the procedure to cure him and he's unconscious and has this cage thing on his head that they used to line up the brain surgery or the needle or whatever and when they are wheeling him in they accidentally hit the bed on the doorframe, but don't mention it to the doctor. It turns out that the cage thing on his head moved a bit when it hit the door, and since the doctor didn't know he performed the procedure anyway. What happens is the wrong part of the brain was affected by the cure and then the guy wakes up and is basically insane and believes that he is Jesus.

It's probably not a very good book but I want to read it again anyway. Any ideas?

Do they get the stem cells from the Turin Shroud? If so, it's Seizure by Robin Cook.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2011 11:52

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Barack Pwnbama posted:

Yes! That looks like it. Thanks a ton!

No problem, but I wouldn't thank me too soon, it's got some loving terrible reviews.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2011 14:52

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Sri.Theo posted:

Hey I wonder if anyone can help me find an online copy of a very popular sci-fi short story - its the one where Earth is invaded by aliens however it turns out that space flight is actually very easy and humanity just missed it by chance.

Therefore Earth is actually more technologically advanced than the invaders.

I also think that the invaders may look like teddy bears, although that may be wrong. I'm sure its quite famous but I can't remember the title or author.

Thanks!

It's 'The Road Not Taken' by Harry Turtledove. I'm not sure there's a legal copy online, but I guess a Google wouldn't hurt.

# ¿ Apr 5, 2011 12:59

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Sri.Theo posted:

Thanks, that was fast!

You don't by any chance know if there was a follow up or expanded version of this do you?

I'm pretty sure there was a sequel, but it was a short story too.

(googles) it's called 'Herbig Haro'. I've never read it.

# ¿ Apr 5, 2011 17:33

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

my dog boyfriend!!! posted:

Read a book way the hell back in middle school, can't remember what it was and the memory of it's been plaguing me for years. The detail that sticks out the most at me is that it took place on some other planet or some other world, where there was a sort of dog-like (?) creature referred to as Miacis? I think that was its name? According to Wikipedia that's the genus of a prehistoric carnivore, but I was hoping it could help me with like "references in pop culture"...no dice.

There may have been like psychic powers involved or something like that. Vague memory of being like "dang this book is wack."

Could it be this? Prehistoric Earth + psychic powers, but I don't remember Miacis specifically.

# ¿ May 26, 2011 09:04

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Funkmaster General posted:

Young adult (although leaning more toward "young" than adult) book about a kid who finds a weird alternate universe in his basement and goes on a quest for the crab people who live there, only to realize that time moves slowly there and when he comes back it's like 30 years later.

I'm sure I could give a better description but I don't remember the middle parts.

Marco's Millions?

# ¿ Nov 11, 2011 13:10

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

boneration posted:

I recently (in the last six months!) read a book and have now completely forgotten the title and the author. Elements include:

Post-apocalyptic world, but not Fallout style. More of a return to swords and knights and medieval levels of technology.

Main character was (I think) a prince who ran away and led a bandit gang.

Story opened with the MC and his gang murdering a village.

Rebar (steel) was used to make a sword that was much better than normal iron weapons.

A rebar-reinforced concrete building was an impregnable fortress.

MC wins everything forever when he detonates a WMD inside the enemy fortress, which is populated by people known for the colour of their skin (but I don't recall what colour that was).

I really hope I am not conflating two or more books, I have read a lot lately.

'Prince of Thorns', I think.

http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Thorns-The-Broken-Empire/dp/0441020321

# ¿ Sep 21, 2012 17:26

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Hobnob posted:

This one's probably a long shot. I read a teaser excerpt (probably the first few chapters) online around 2000. I think it had a real publisher, not self-published, but it may have been a small-press SF house.

A present-day historian (I think specifically a science historian) ends up unexpectedly, by unknown means, in just-pre-WWII London. He's able to contact an important scientist working on weapons for the government and convince him of his future knowledge (I recall one of the things that stops him being dismissed as a madman is mentioning "Tube Alloys", the code name of the British nuclear weapons research effort).

The Foresight War, Anthony G Williams. This is probably what you read:

http://www.authorsonline.co.uk/viewbook.php?show=sample&eBookID=385

# ¿ Feb 11, 2013 19:50

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

GunnarHelmudsson posted:

When I was back in school, there was a series of books that I was really into, but haven't been able to pinpoint since. The only book in the series I can vaguely remember was a paperback that had a viking ship on the cover. The story (or at least the beginning of the story) had something to do with some sort of device that brought a viking ship from the past into the present, and the people operating it captured the vikings. The only thing I remember clearly was one of the modern folk going through a series of gestural insults to one of the vikings they captured, finally getting a reaction with the "up yours" bras d'honneur gesture- I think that's how I figured out it wasn't a book for kids. It was definitely some sort of sci-fi comedy series if I remember correctly, although I'm not sure that that book specifically fit with the others as a sequel/prequel or if it was just a bunch of books by a particular author playing on a theme.

Some of the details are wrong, but this:

- is from 'The Technicolor Time Machine' by Harry Harrison.

# ¿ May 24, 2013 16:07

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Centripetal Horse posted:

Here's one that is definitely in my current library, but buried amongst the thousands of short stories in the many, many collections I own. I would have read this in the last year or two, and it is most likely from the Dozois-edited "Year's Best Science Fiction" series, possibly a volume number in the mid-to-late 20s.

Although I read it recently, my memory of details is vague. From what I recall, some scientists (presumably) create virtual lifeforms, purely in computational space, which are allowed to evolve, and grow more and more intelligent. I remember the expirimenters could speed up and slow down the creatures' evolution by increasing or decreasing the computational resources available to the AI world. I really liked the story, but my brain is weird with details, sometimes. What I mostly remember is feeling that it was one of the best treatments I've ever read on the theme of evolving artificial intelligences. Once my brain settles on something like that, it tends to let other details fade.

Did the people running the simulation decide that it was cruel to let the simulated creatures suffer and do various things like ending death for them? I think that one was by Greg Egan but I can't find it right now.

edit: This is the one I was thinking of. It's in Year's Best 26.

Unkempt fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Dec 24, 2013

# ¿ Dec 24, 2013 22:25

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 19, 2024 09:55

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

8 Ball posted:

This is a long shot, but when I was in school 15 or so years ago I borrowed a book which was a detective noir set in a bedroom/world of toys. I'm pretty sure the detective character was male, but my Google searches are only bringing up a match with a female detective which I'm almost 100% sure isn't it. Theres the usual murder/corruption/femme fatale/hardboiled detective but its about toys..probably more of a children/young adult book. Please help, it was awesome Had chapter illustrations too if I remember correctly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hollow_Chocolate_Bunnies_of_the_Apocalypse ?

# ¿ Nov 23, 2014 19:38

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The identify that story/book thread: Home of the gas pump boy

«‹›2 »

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:

Seksiness posted:

John Betjeman posted:

mickey mousecapade posted:

Runoir posted:

Zero Gravitas posted:

poopcutter posted:

Mr. Beefhead posted:

How Bout That poo poo? posted:

Mr Crucial posted:

Hubcap Hal posted:

Axhind posted:

I Am Hydrogen posted:

Runoir posted:

M_E_G. ADI. K posted:

TenMiddleTeeth posted:

pbpancho posted:

King Plum the Nth posted:

Omegauo posted:

GOOCHY posted:

Dareon posted:

Elohssa Gib posted:

Autarch_Severian posted:

Gobeachfrog posted:

Hughlander posted:

4000 Dollar Suit posted:

Darth Brookz posted:

Philo posted:

Barack Pwnbama posted:

Barack Pwnbama posted:

Sri.Theo posted:

Sri.Theo posted:

my dog boyfriend!!! posted:

Funkmaster General posted:

boneration posted:

Hobnob posted:

GunnarHelmudsson posted:

Popular Human posted:

Centripetal Horse posted:

8 Ball posted: