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ToxicFrog posted:I read that, but I don't remember what it was called or who it was by. I want to say Stross, but I'm pretty sure it's not actually by Stross and I'm just having a hash collision with his Eschaton setting. I've read a good amount of Stross and I don't think it's him. While looking for it I saw some really strong similarities to Neal Asher's "Agent Cormac" books, but this was a short story and it didn't match up with any of the plot descriptions.
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Apr 26, 2014 04:20
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ClearAirTurbulence posted:I read a science fiction story a few years ago, it was set in a future where mankind had spread out to thousands of planets across the galaxy, and were ruled by godlike artificial intelligences. The AIs had spread some kind of nanomachines throughout all of these worlds which would record everyone's experiences and when the person died, they would be uploaded to the networks of the AIs. On one of these worlds, which was at a roughly early 20th century technology level, a mysterious being had conquered much of the world and was slaughtering tens of millions of humans in a systematic way. The main character was an agent of the AIs sent to stop this. He finds that the person responsible is from a more advanced world and is doing it to attack the AIs, destroying a person's optic nerves immediately before killing them causes some kind of harm to the AIs if it's done in large numbers. The main character discovers that the AIs are not collecting the minds of the dead to give them eternal life as is commonly believed, but are instead consuming their memories in a torturous fashion to keep themselves from going insane from sensory deprivation (they think so fast the only way they can keep from spending thousands of years of experiential time with no input is to have billions of minds to "eat"). I'm pretty sure you're talking about this Stross set of short stories http://www.antipope.org/charlie/fiction/monkey/yearzero.html Either I missremember the end or you have some of the ending details wrong though.
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Apr 27, 2014 18:54
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Hughlander posted:I'm pretty sure you're talking about this Stross set of short stories http://www.antipope.org/charlie/fiction/monkey/yearzero.html Either I missremember the end or you have some of the ending details wrong though. That's it, I read only the first story and part of the second one before.
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Apr 28, 2014 09:58
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ClearAirTurbulence posted:That's it, I read only the first story and part of the second one before. I'm glad. It's a little rough but it had a huge WTF moment for me when I realized that if we were all a computer simulation from within the simulation we wouldn't even notice if our frame rate was so low that it took more than a second to simulate a second. 
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Apr 28, 2014 14:19
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It's definitely an old story, since I remember reading it on the Wikipedia database. I think it was by Lovecraft or Poe, but can't say for sure. I also think the main character was called something like Caleb? It followed someone on his journey through an old city, and somehow he wanders into areas that aren't supposed to exist. Eventually he returns back to normality, but can't seem to find his way back to those strange, otherworldly parts. That's all I remember. Also, I'm not thinking of The Music of Eric Zahn. Another story that I'm looking for is even stranger. It was by Poe, and it followed a group of people in some faraway deserted building, perhaps a church or monastery? There was something terrible outside, and it was about to come in. The strange thing here is that I remember reading it, but lately have come to doubt if the story actually exists or if I'm mixing things up in my head. EDIT: Well, what do you know. After years of searching, I randomly open up an electronic Lovecraft collection and discover that the first story I'm looking for is called He. I...I have no idea why I was never capable of finding it. Bizarre. A Worrying Warlock fucked around with this message at 03:00 on May 1, 2014 |
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May 1, 2014 02:47
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Sobatchja Morda posted:Another story that I'm looking for is even stranger. It was by Poe, and it followed a group of people in some faraway deserted building, perhaps a church or monastery? There was something terrible outside, and it was about to come in. The strange thing here is that I remember reading it, but lately have come to doubt if the story actually exists or if I'm mixing things up in my head. The Masque of the Red Death?
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May 1, 2014 03:34
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Ornamented Death posted:The Masque of the Red Death? No, I think it was written from the perspective of a found message or something like that. It's not Ms. Found in a Bottle or A Descent into the Maelström either. It just frustrates me that I know most of Poe's stories, but this thing keeps nagging me.
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May 2, 2014 01:46
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Sobatchja Morda posted:No, I think it was written from the perspective of a found message or something like that. It's not Ms. Found in a Bottle or A Descent into the Maelström either. It just frustrates me that I know most of Poe's stories, but this thing keeps nagging me. Could it be Fall of the House of Usher? There's a story within the story about a knight breaking into a hovel, and the outer story starts to mimic the inner story.
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May 2, 2014 04:14
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Sobatchja Morda posted:
Complete Poe bibliography is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe_bibliography. If you're certain it's by him you should be able to find it in that list. Just click the links to each story in turn till you find it.
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May 2, 2014 04:31
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I've been trying to find this for the last few days, due to reasons. A short story / autobiographical sketch by George Elliot Clarke that starts with him riding the Toronto bus when an old Eastern-European woman starts hurling racial abuse at him? I can't google anything about it, but I'm fairly confident it was a bit of published material rather than just a sketch brought to class or something of the sort.
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May 3, 2014 23:37
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Complete Poe bibliography is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe_bibliography. If you're certain it's by him you should be able to find it in that list. Just click the links to each story in turn till you find it. Going through that list, I think it must have been The Oval Portrait. It fits the criteria of an old, abandoned building and a storm raging outside, and I must have confused it somehow with parts from other stories. Glad to have found it anyway, thanks you guys!
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May 4, 2014 02:14
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I'm trying to recall a short story. It's about a scientist who obsessively experiments on dying chimpanzees to understand how the brain shuts down during death, so he can understand whether it was right to help his partner commit suicide. Does anyone recall the name of the story or its author? edit: I can think of a couple others that may have come from the same author or compilation. There was a story about an advanced spaceship studying Earth while the computer amused itself by asking radio stations to play "Space Oddity". Another was about a powered suit walking around automatically to transport a dead human across a desert planet. Another story talked about a society where a powerful religion built itself around stimulating the brain with magnets. Does anyone recognize one of these? Chamale fucked around with this message at 07:31 on May 4, 2014 |
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May 4, 2014 07:09
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Don't know about the first one, but the rest are from an anthology by Iain M. Banks called "State of the Art". The story about the advanced spaceship visiting Earth is from his excellent series about the Culture.
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May 4, 2014 07:44
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AATREK CURES KIDS posted:I'm trying to recall a short story. It's about a scientist who obsessively experiments on dying chimpanzees to understand how the brain shuts down during death, so he can understand whether it was right to help his partner commit suicide. Does anyone recall the name of the story or its author? Two of those are by Peter Watts and two by Iain M Banks! Edit: The brain magnets/religion one is "A Word for Heathens" by Watts. The dying chimps one is "Flesh Made Word". Edit 2: The Banks stories are "Descendant" and "State of the Art", both found in the collection The State of the Art. Enjoy! Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 08:19 on May 4, 2014 |
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May 4, 2014 08:14
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Any ideas on the desert one? Sounds kinda interesting.
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May 4, 2014 15:09
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Any ideas on the desert one? Sounds kinda interesting. Yeah it's "Descendant".
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May 4, 2014 15:21
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Hedrigall posted:Two of those are by Peter Watts and two by Iain M Banks! Thanks so much! It was really bothering me that I couldn't remember.
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May 4, 2014 21:13
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I remember reading a fantasy series as a kid where the author described villains as "swarthy" so often that I thought it was a synonym for villainous. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Possibly the Belgariad.
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May 5, 2014 22:57
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Hah, yeah I'm pretty sure that's The Belgariad.
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May 5, 2014 23:11
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A kids' book about a girl who meets a family cursed with having a horrible cat that makes their lives hell and will only eat raw bloody bones and...I want to say candy corn? Not sure on that last bit.. eventually they manage to trick a nasty rich guy into accepting the cat and transfer it to him. I think there may have been someone named Nadine.
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May 6, 2014 09:59
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The Moon Monster posted:I remember reading a fantasy series as a kid where the author described villains as "swarthy" so often that I thought it was a synonym for villainous. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Possibly the Belgariad.
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May 6, 2014 23:55
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The Moon Monster posted:I remember reading a fantasy series as a kid where the author described villains as "swarthy" so often that I thought it was a synonym for villainous. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Possibly the Belgariad. Xander77 posted:Lone Wolf. Definitely Lone Wolf (written by Joe Dever and available on the Internet for free at projectaon.org). In the last Let's Play - which I'd link, but hey, archives is hosed - we had a running count of how many people were swarthy in the playthrough. I'm pretty sure the answer was around 20. Also reviewed here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3606298 ulmont fucked around with this message at 00:05 on May 7, 2014 |
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May 7, 2014 00:03
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A YA fantasy novel about a guy who is intensely unlucky (due to his magic backfiring due to not being able to use it i think), which causes him to need to run away after inadvertantly horribly insulting some royal person by wearing the wrong colors to an event and end up sort of enslaved by a wizard of some sort. Magic-users have extra-long, thin fingers, suited to making fiddly magic gestures. rear end in a top hat wizard refers to magic as "supranatural." There is also a girl there and eventually they escape together. rear end in a top hat wizard makes three clones of himself, which kind of freak out and aren't sure what to do once the original dies. I thought it might have been by Vivian Vande Velde but I'm not turning it up in her stuff, not that I can find anyway.
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May 8, 2014 04:22
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The Moon Monster posted:I remember reading a fantasy series as a kid where the author described villains as "swarthy" so often that I thought it was a synonym for villainous. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Possibly the Belgariad. Anything by Edgar Rice Burroughs, H.P. Lovecraft, or before 1950?
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May 8, 2014 04:38
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Zeth posted:A YA fantasy novel about a guy who is intensely unlucky (due to his magic backfiring due to not being able to use it i think), which causes him to need to run away after inadvertantly horribly insulting some royal person by wearing the wrong colors to an event and end up sort of enslaved by a wizard of some sort. Magic-users have extra-long, thin fingers, suited to making fiddly magic gestures. rear end in a top hat wizard refers to magic as "supranatural." There is also a girl there and eventually they escape together. rear end in a top hat wizard makes three clones of himself, which kind of freak out and aren't sure what to do once the original dies.
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May 8, 2014 07:05
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Trying to remember a fantasy about some sect or other that get assigned as bodyguards to people and to seal the deal they get stabbed through the heart. Thanks
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May 8, 2014 15:41
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Stereo posted:Trying to remember a fantasy about some sect or other that get assigned as bodyguards to people and to seal the deal they get stabbed through the heart. Thanks King's Blades series by Dave Duncan.
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May 8, 2014 15:50
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Runcible Cat posted:The Luck of Relian Kru by Paula Volsky. Volsky. That'd explain why I got it mixed with Vande Velde, it must have been near something of hers on the shelf that I got at the same time as a teenager. Thanks.
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May 10, 2014 18:47
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Zeth posted:Volsky. That'd explain why I got it mixed with Vande Velde, it must have been near something of hers on the shelf that I got at the same time as a teenager. Thanks.
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May 10, 2014 20:05
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Looking for a book I managed to read a bit of about 20 years ago. It's set somewhere in the north of america I think, I didn't get to read too much of it. I think it might be about werewolves, there is a piece of music "something Blue" I think. Anyway the protagonist rocks up at this hotel/asylum thing and is a bit weirded out by what is going on, bout all i can remember. Sorry its so vague.
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May 12, 2014 01:21
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Fantasy trilogy (I think) about a group of young people setting out from their village down a river, they meet this travelling story collector who's good with a bow. Also remember that there's some kind of demi-gods or similar with powers ( one of the main ones is that he can use short-cuts everywhere). The main warring factions colours are blue and purple, also I think the sigil is a swan for the blue faction. The bad guy gets possessed or something by the fire god and the last battle is a fire storm in which the water girl helps. Arghhh can't think. The name of one of the books has swan in it I think
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May 12, 2014 21:09
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Stereo posted:Fantasy trilogy (I think) about a group of young people setting out from their village down a river, they meet this travelling story collector who's good with a bow. Also remember that there's some kind of demi-gods or similar with powers ( one of the main ones is that he can use short-cuts everywhere). The main warring factions colours are blue and purple, also I think the sigil is a swan for the blue faction. The bad guy gets possessed or something by the fire god and the last battle is a fire storm in which the water girl helps. Arghhh can't think. The name of one of the books has swan in it I think Could it be Sean Russell's Swans' War trilogy (The One Kingdom, The Isle of Battle, The Shadow Roads)?
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May 13, 2014 05:11
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I'm trying to remember a Sci Fi book I read in my teens. It's set in the future and most of it is set on the moon. They have quantum(?) computers and extensive virtual reality stuff. The computers have a magnet in a tube that indicates their processing power. The computer on the moon becomes very powerful somehow - I remember that usually the magnet hovered near the bottom but in this case it was near the top. At one point some of them are trapped in a sadistic horror virtual reality situation, and it's so scary that one of them's hair turns white.
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May 13, 2014 10:28
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A book I read years ago, about a teenage boy who meets a girl, they fall for each other. It ends with the girl's father murdering her and the rest of the family. There's also a scene where the boy's brother announces at a family lunch that he's dropped out of university, and that he's gay.
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May 13, 2014 15:49
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This is probably a long shot due to the lack of details but I'm trying to remember the name of a book I read years ago. A guy sees fairy tale creatures and for some reason ends up on a cattle drive in the old west and plays chess with death maybe? All I really remember clearly is the description of some fable monster chasing him around in the woods. It is essentially a walking tree with hatchet arms and and the front of it opens up like cabinet doors making a chopping sound.
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May 17, 2014 01:37
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Young adult short horror story. Can't remember whether it takes place during Christmas or not but for some reason I have that idea in my head. I think the monster's name is Daggerclaws and he chills on the roof of this house two little boys are living in. The two little boys are waiting for their Grandmother to visit and she's bringing them chestnuts to eat. Before she enters Daggerclaws leaps down and kills her, then tells the little boys he's the grandmother and enters. Older boy knows something is hosed up with grandma but doesn't know what. Daggerclaws offers the younger boy chestnuts and the older boy hears "crunching" noises which he assumes is his little brother eating chestnuts but it's actually Daggerclaws EATING HIS LITTLE BROTHER'S BONES. I forget how it ends. This story scared the poo poo out of me when I was little. Tried to find it but no luck, any help would be greatly appreciated. Probably anywhere from 20-50 pages.
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May 17, 2014 05:28
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speshl guy posted:Young adult short horror story. Can't remember whether it takes place during Christmas or not but for some reason I have that idea in my head. Bedtime Snacks, apparently it's a kid's story, not YA? https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/alice-low/spooky-stories-for-a-dark-and-stormy-night/
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May 17, 2014 21:25
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Chance II posted:This is probably a long shot due to the lack of details but I'm trying to remember the name of a book I read years ago. A guy sees fairy tale creatures and for some reason ends up on a cattle drive in the old west and plays chess with death maybe? All I really remember clearly is the description of some fable monster chasing him around in the woods. It is essentially a walking tree with hatchet arms and and the front of it opens up like cabinet doors making a chopping sound. wild guess: "the Flight of Michael McBride"?
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May 18, 2014 16:15
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Hah ha yeah wow that's it! It's too bad it doesn't seem to have e-book version since I lost my copy long ago but it's pretty cheap on amazon.
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May 18, 2014 16:23
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Midori Snyder is a great writer. I liked her stuff in the Bordertown anthologies too.
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May 18, 2014 17:27
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