Trying to chase down cheesy scifi story.

March 24, 2009 12:59 PM

I'm looking for the title and author of a sci-fi short story about a man who dies creating a rogue black hole, which then falls in love with the man's wife.

I read this story maybe 25 years ago. As best as I can recall, the plot went thusly: a mad-scientist type creates a black hole, dying in the process. The black hole 'imprints' on him, absorbing his feelings for his wife... she temporarily escapes with the scientist's space-beast(?).

The story ends with the woman and the black hole being transformed into sentient stars.

posted by pointless_incessant_barking to Writing & Language (11 answers total)

Is this it? Differs from your memory, but close enough....
posted by bartleby at 1:04 PM on March 24, 2009

Unfortunately, that's not it (though some of the elements are startlingly similar!)
Much of the action takes place in outer space. I believe she calls the black hole "Monster".
posted by pointless_incessant_barking at 1:16 PM on March 24, 2009

An interesting side-bar: sadly, this page seems to lack what you're looking for, but this list of movies and books relating to black holes is (or was, in 2006) part of a class that served as an introduction to Black Holes for nonscience majors.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:43 PM on March 24, 2009

It wouldn't be As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem, would it? A physicist creates a black hole in her laboratory and falls in love with it, much to the dismay of her human lover.

That's the only book I know of that even comes close.
posted by magstheaxe at 2:04 PM on March 24, 2009

The details of the story are lost to (my) memory, but I'm wondering if this might be Lollipop and the Tar Baby by John Varley.
posted by Zed at 2:23 PM on March 24, 2009

While the story I remember certainly seems Varley-esque, the only plot synopsis I was able to turn up for Lollipop and the Tar Baby is as follows:

Lollipop and the Tar Baby. Cloned "daughter" deep in space is told by a black hole that her mother is going to kill her. She decides to strike first. For some indescribable reason, I really liked this story. Rating: Excellent.

posted by pointless_incessant_barking at 4:35 PM on March 24, 2009

In Lollipop and the Tar Baby there wasn't really a father at all, the daughter was a clone, I believe. Great story, though.
posted by codswallop at 9:23 PM on March 24, 2009

Probably not this one, but you might like it: Whipping Star, by Frank Herbert
posted by ecsh at 9:41 PM on March 24, 2009

Could it possibly by "Kyrie," a short story by Poul Anderson published in 1968?
posted by xenophile at 10:01 PM on March 24, 2009

Kyrie I actually do remember, and, while it involves love and a black hole, it's fairly orthogonal to the description of this story.
posted by Zed at 10:33 PM on March 24, 2009

Aha! Found it -- my characterization was a wee bit off. It wasn't a black hole; it was a star. It wasn't a short story, it was a full-length novel.

Rogue Star, Frederik Pohl, 1973

Pohl is, of course, one of my favorite authors (see The Heechee Saga) -- but I think this one was far below his usual standard.
posted by pointless_incessant_barking at 7:15 AM on September 8, 2009