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Like the identify the song thread, let's post stories/books whose title/author you can't remember. I remember reading this short story back in the 70's. Sci-fi story set in a dystopian future when overpopulation has forced people to live one person per a few square feet of land. There are people as far as the eye can see. Don't know the name or author.
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Dec 6, 2007 01:42
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First thing that comes to mind is Harry Harrison's Make Room, Make Room!. IIRC, it's the novel that Soylent Green was based on.
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Dec 7, 2007 13:26
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Okay, a friend of mine is trying to find this book he read back in '01- he thinks it had been republished around then for the first time since it came out, way back in the early 20th century. The subject of the book itself is very vague: It's basically just a revised history of famous figures, like Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Charlemagne. It's tongue-in-cheek, but historically accurate. But what makes it more notable is that it was written by some recluse who lived in Greenwich Village, NY, back in the 1920s/30s/40sish (pre-war). The sort of guy who read everything and then kept newspapers stacked around the house. Any ideas? ETA: Oh wait, never mine. it's "The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody", by Will Cuppy. Which came up really early in my searches, but my friend didn't think it was him and so we went past it looking for something more obscure. Jezebel fucked around with this message at 04:33 on Dec 8, 2007 |
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Dec 8, 2007 04:24
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It was a long time ago, during the ice storm in Montreal and I had a bunch of dragon books my mother had lent me. There was one that stood out however and I'd really like to know what it was. The story starts off with a handful of humans surfacing from an underground society into a "prehistoric" earth ruled by technologically advanced dragons. If I remember correctly, the whole book just follows these men and women on their way to destroy the dragon city which is made entirely of [orange] plastic. The only part of the book that I remember clearly is when they are attacked by a triceratops, and they shoot it in the brain with the bad assed nomad chick saying "Takes a few seconds for the brain to realize it's dead." It was awesome and made the ice storm a whole lot more bearable. If I remember the cover correctly it was mainly purple with a bit of yellow if that helps in any way.
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Dec 10, 2007 20:42
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I read a short story collection about two or three years ago, I'm not sure who it was by. It was classified as horror I think. Only one the stories I kind of remember was a guy who was into cutting as a sexual pleasure, and this girl he falls for, and they cut each other deep during sex. I think it takes place on a college. I think there may have been one set in a warehouse or something where there was a supernatural force killing those inside, who were there to investigate. I feel like maybe it was a Gaimon collection or the name sounded like Gaimon, because I can't find anything on his website that seems similar. I know to have an anthology you have to be somewhat of a well known author. I know he's written some non-short story stuff, maybe novels about vampires? Ugh this isn't a lot to go one but hopefully a horror fan knows 
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Dec 10, 2007 22:49
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xie posted:I read a short story collection about two or three years ago, I'm not sure who it was by. It was classified as horror I think. Sounds like it would be up the alley of Gahan Wilson. He's pretty macabre and his name sounds like Gaiman. v  vGahan Wilson wikipedia ColonelCurmudgeon fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Dec 10, 2007 |
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Dec 10, 2007 23:15
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ColonelCurmudgeon posted:Sounds like it would be up the alley of Gahan Wilson. Nope, it would have had to be The Best of Gahan Wilson and that's not it, I checked on Amazon. I actually just found it after an hour of googling: Richard Laymon  He's pretty well known too. Thanks though  The collection I was thinking of is Madman Stan and Other Stories.
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Dec 10, 2007 23:26
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I have posted this in several threads, but I have never received an answer, which I know is because I have very few details. In fact I can only barely remember two scenes in the book, and by that I can remember two locations where fights take place. The book is about some other world where dudes can use magic, one scene they are fighting in a church (I think) and the other one they are fighting in possibly some sort of town square by a water fountain. That's literally all I can remember about this book, it is I am pretty sure part of a series.
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Dec 11, 2007 05:55
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Captain Equinox posted:First thing that comes to mind is Harry Harrison's Make Room, Make Room!. IIRC, it's the novel that Soylent Green was based on. 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.
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Dec 11, 2007 06:08
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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.
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Dec 11, 2007 13:45
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You're right, I missed the "short story" part cause that is a pretty drat long novel.
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Dec 11, 2007 15:05
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The book I'm looking for takes place in a country/state called "Nihila" (or something similar)a place which practices nihilism to its fullest extent. It's like Grand Theft Auto in novel form, from what I remember. You get points for running people down in the street, status is based on how many mistresses you have. The nation's highest goal is to send a couple into off on a shuttle to make live sweet porno love for the populations below to watch. Found it about 15 years ago in a school library which weren't too big on buying in new books, so it must be say twenty+ years old?
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Dec 12, 2007 09:52
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Here's one I read a few years back. I'm a bit vague on the big picture, but I remember some of the details. It was about three children who break into some variation of a haunted house and accidentally reawaken some axe-weilding zombie beast, and then they need to go on some magical journey to send the axe-weilding zombie back from whence he came. There was a magic wand in there somewhere, also a boat trip, and some magical berries that you could only eat 60 of otherwise you'd get a tummy-ache. I think the characters were called Margaret, Felix, and something else. Also, one of them turns into a parrot for a brief period of time on some weird jungle island. Someone assure me that this is not just the product of an overactive imagination.
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Dec 12, 2007 16:08
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alright maybe someone can help me, this has been driving me mad for close to six years now, and i'm at my wit's end! there are two stories i remember reading, that i really enjoyed years ago but cannot remember the name of. the first one was possibly in an elementry school short story collection, and was about (i think) the sun becoming a red giant in the far future. the earth is being evacuated, and the story follows a poor family who are crammed aboard one of the "cheap" starships and launched out into space. when they finally reach a planet the youngest child on the ship is chosen to name it, and she (he?) chooses the name "sunshine" or possibly "sunlight". additionally, there is some kind of grass on the planet that is very sharp and cuts their feet when they first run out onto the ground, and they call for boots. that's all i can remember. the second was a short novel of some type about how in the future the majority of mankind is unemployed, and something about how some a group of high-school students "join the ranks of the unemployed" and how it's a pretty bad but not unlivable lifestyle, and they from time to time take part in a simulation of a different world where everything is bright and cheery. in the end however, they enter the simulation one time and everything is not perfect, and they realize they've been actually sent as colonists to a different world. i will love forever anyone who can tell me the name of these stories!
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Dec 12, 2007 23:02
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whoops, double post. unstable connection. suckyness.
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Dec 12, 2007 23:33
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I'm looking for two books. The first is about a boy with a rat/mouse which is apparently magical and can talk. He and his friends go around stopping the crimes of some evil dude I can't remember the name of. One of the stories involves them stopping a gold bullion heist by figuring out something about articulated trucks in a convoy. The other is a sci-fi novel about some aliens - could be the Martians - who put everyone on Earth to sleep by poisoning the water supply. Some people didn't drink the water and so they begin to fight back. A major part of the story involves one guy taking control of the robots in a shopping centre and using them to break into a camp and save more humans, and also capture the antidote to the poison. Please help.
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Dec 13, 2007 01:40
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I'm looking for some help finding a piece of prose. It was a long time ago so some of my descriptions may be incorrect but the poem was written about (two?) towers in a field of wheat/soya in a dystopian society. All I can clearly remember was part of the poem being written from within a canteen in one of the towers. I believe it was part of an anthology of prose (called Brave New World) that was part of the GCSE cirriculum, although we never studied that particular piece
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Dec 13, 2007 09:39
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SkaWes posted:I have posted this in several threads, but I have never received an answer, which I know is because I have very few details. In fact I can only barely remember two scenes in the book, and by that I can remember two locations where fights take place. It's a long shot, but The Elder Staves?
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Dec 13, 2007 20:58
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Mister Kingdom posted:Like the identify the song thread, let's post stories/books whose title/author you can't remember. Is it Billenium, by J.G. Ballard? This story is about due to super overpopulation, all usable land has to be claimed for raising food, and people are forced into super crowded urban areas. There is a government mandated quota of 5 sq. ft per person (which gets smaller every year). The story is about 2 friends who move in together after they each get kicked out of their singles since the quota has just gone down again and their one-person apartments become reclaimed and rented out as doubles.
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Dec 13, 2007 21:26
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roffles posted:Is it Billenium, by J.G. Ballard? That sounds like it. I'll have to try and find a copy. Thanks.
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Dec 13, 2007 23:26
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Nrapture posted:It's a long shot, but The Elder Staves? No that book is far to new, this book was written at the very least in 1997, but I think the book was probably older than that because I got it from the library in high school, and they didn't exactly update books all that often. I often times confuse it with what I think is another series all together, I think in that one they could go from a "normal" world in to a world of magic by walking though some sort of tunnel or something, but again I think that was another book series entirely, and has nothing to do with the one I am thinking of.
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Dec 14, 2007 04:04
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SkaWes posted:No that book is far to new, this book was written at the very least in 1997, but I think the book was probably older than that because I got it from the library in high school, and they didn't exactly update books all that often. Alright, I have one more try. Still not a serial, but The Faerie Queen? It's definitely old enough, and a high school library would probably have a copy. Otherwise, I'm out of ideas, sorry. Fake edit: The more I think about it the more it sounds like the C.S. Lewis books, but I haven't read those in 20 years so what do I know.
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Dec 14, 2007 16:00
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Trying to remember a book that I started readed last year but lost before I could finish it. It was recommended pretty heavily here on SA so I think it'll be pretty easy to I.D. The Book is Sci-Fi;It's starts with a genetically engineered assassin (with poison finger nails and teeth) getting tortured and then saved by his giant allies. There is also a race at war with these giants that are mostly humans and robots living together. I read up until he was on some ice planet and blew up a cruise liner with a nuke or something. thanks
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Dec 14, 2007 18:12
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teamdest posted:the second was a short novel of some type about how in the future the majority of mankind is unemployed, and something about how some a group of high-school students "join the ranks of the unemployed" and how it's a pretty bad but not unlivable lifestyle, and they from time to time take part in a simulation of a different world where everything is bright and cheery. in the end however, they enter the simulation one time and everything is not perfect, and they realize they've been actually sent as colonists to a different world. I think you're talking about Invitation to the Game by Monica Hughes. Edit: Actually, I'm 99% certain you're talking about that book. King of Fools fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Dec 14, 2007 |
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Dec 14, 2007 18:14
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Nrapture posted:Alright, I have one more try. Still not a serial, but The Faerie Queen? It's definitely old enough, and a high school library would probably have a copy. Otherwise, I'm out of ideas, sorry. You must be fakeposting. Spenser and Narnia? I don't know what the guy's looking for, but I'll guess The Wheel of Time, because there are plenty of magic fights in large buildings and poo poo... and Thom Merrilin faces off against a myrdraal by a fountain in a town square if I recall correctly.
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Dec 14, 2007 19:52
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King of Fools posted:I think you're talking about Invitation to the Game by Monica Hughes. THANK YOU! that was the book. now if only i could figure out what that other one was called. also as promised, i will love you forever.
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Dec 15, 2007 09:18
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Ok, this one's been bugging me for ages. I remember reading a book back in elementary school in which a panther is loose outside a village (maybe in either England or New England?). The main character is a boy who is trying to convince people that the panther exists, but (if I remember correctly) no one believes him. At one point he faces off with the panther with only a pellet gun. If someone can actually figure out what this is, I'll lose my mind.
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Dec 15, 2007 09:31
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This is a book that came out a few years ago I think. It's about a guy who goes on a trip into space, but a micro-meteorite takes out the radio and the pilot. He starts writing his life story on a computer, which somehow is able to be read by people on Earth, who put it up on the news. There is an spaceship sent to save him, but he doesn't know about it so he flies the ship down to earth himself.
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Dec 15, 2007 14:01
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Teh Jawesome posted:Ok, this one's been bugging me for ages. I remember reading a book back in elementary school in which a panther is loose outside a village (maybe in either England or New England?). The main character is a boy who is trying to convince people that the panther exists, but (if I remember correctly) no one believes him. At one point he faces off with the panther with only a pellet gun. If someone can actually figure out what this is, I'll lose my mind. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nature-Beast-Janni-Howker/dp/0744590329
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Dec 15, 2007 14:38
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subpage posted:Trying to remember a book that I started readed last year but lost before I could finish it. It was recommended pretty heavily here on SA so I think it'll be pretty easy to I.D. Consider Phlebas, by Iain M. Banks.
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Dec 15, 2007 16:49
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Two stories, both Sci-Fi: One about the Soviet astronaut left to die on the Moon because they can't figure out a way to get him back to Earth. The other about HP Lovecraft and Robert Howard teaming up in Hell.
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Dec 15, 2007 18:06
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mcustic posted:The other about HP Lovecraft and Robert Howard teaming up in Hell. Shadow's Bend by David Barbour? Elderling posted:You must be fakeposting. Spenser and Narnia? Why would you say that? Because they are wellknown? Then your suggestion isn't that much better.
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Dec 15, 2007 19:30
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Nrapture posted:Alright, I have one more try. Still not a serial, but The Faerie Queen? It's definitely old enough, and a high school library would probably have a copy. Otherwise, I'm out of ideas, sorry. Nope it wasn't that, and I know it isnt a CS Lewis book. 
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Dec 15, 2007 22:18
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roffles posted:Is it Billenium, by J.G. Ballard? That sounds really similar in tone to High-Rise, also by Ballard.
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Dec 15, 2007 23:25
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LittleSunshine posted:The Nature of the Beast by Janni Howker? YES! Thank you so much! You have no idea how long I've been trying to figure that out.
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Dec 16, 2007 05:15
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Nrapture posted:Shadow's Bend by David Barbour? Not really. The one I read was a short story. It's about this weird afterlife in which everybody that ever lived appears in flesh, sort of like the Riverworld saga. The great military leaders of their age such as Queen Elizabeth, Genghis Khan and others organize vast armies. HP and Howard serve as courtiers to the Queen Elizabeth. Another character that appears is the Swiss humanitarian Dr. Schweitzer. There are all kinds of humans inhabit that strange world, thought to be Hell. Neanderthals are mentioned, as well as Celts, victims of the Black Plague and others. Oh, and Lovecraft and Howard are a gay couple.
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Dec 16, 2007 11:45
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mcustic posted:Not really. The one I read was a short story. It's about this weird afterlife in which everybody that ever lived appears in flesh, sort of like the Riverworld saga. The great military leaders of their age such as Queen Elizabeth, Genghis Khan and others organize vast armies. HP and Howard serve as courtiers to the Queen Elizabeth. Another character that appears is the Swiss humanitarian Dr. Schweitzer. There are all kinds of humans inhabit that strange world, thought to be Hell. Neanderthals are mentioned, as well as Celts, victims of the Black Plague and others. Oh, and Lovecraft and Howard are a gay couple. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_in_Hell ?
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Dec 17, 2007 03:28
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mcustic posted:Two stories, both Sci-Fi: "Gilgamesh in the Outback" by Robert Silverberg
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Dec 17, 2007 15:12
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HB posted:Consider Phlebas, by Iain M. Banks. Thank you.
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Dec 17, 2007 17:32
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I've got a book and a short story. As for the book, I read it when I was young, and remember almost nothing about it. It may or may not have had a dragon in it, and the cover may or may not have had a flying carpet on the front. What the book DID have was some magical force that gets referred to as The Interface, and I think the main character's ultimate goal was to repair it before everything got all jacked up. I've never been able to find the book for obvious reasons, but I didn't understand it very well the first time I read it, and I REALLY want to re-read it and see if it makes more sense now. This has been bothering me for years. In the short story, the narrator was standing around watching these blobs of people go around getting other people stuck to them, creating what eventually became whole new organisms. It was a pretty creepy story. I think I found it in some sci-fi collection.
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Dec 17, 2007 18:05
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