Sci Fi Collections

January 6, 2005 12:17 AM

[Two Obscure SciFi Short Story Questions]
When I was a kid our family library was stocked with lots of 'Best Of' Sci Fi collections. One particular story that I half remember had something to do with the human race being enslaved by large aliens, and basically a slave revolt by humans occurs in one of the alien ships. The other story was about an alien artifact (a helmet?) and some quasi-Egyptian pyramid ruins. That's really about all I can remember, other than I remember enjoying both stories very much. Any ideas?

I figured furtive had such good luck so quickly, and these have been bothering me, so I'd try my luck.

Not sure, but I think they were both in the same book.

posted by geekhorde to media & arts (10 comments total)

Any idea as to era of the stories?
posted by SpecialK at 1:18 AM on January 6, 2005

... or a more precise idea of the anthology title? E.g., one of the "Best of..." annuals, or a Nebula anthology?

BTW, no ideas myself -- neither rings a bell.
posted by lodurr at 5:37 AM on January 6, 2005

Someone should set up a site like Identifont for science fiction short stories.
posted by smackfu at 6:30 AM on January 6, 2005

Someone should set up a site like Identifont for science fiction short stories.

Not quite the same thing, but I heartily recommend Stump the Bookseller as an excellent resource for anyone trying to remember a long-lost title, or for those of you who delight in helping out those in similar need. It's great.
posted by redfoxtail at 6:41 AM on January 6, 2005

Ask on rec.arts.sf.written but really that's not a lot of information to go on.
posted by ninebelow at 7:18 AM on January 6, 2005

Your first story kind of sounds like John Christopher's Tripod books (When the Tripods Came/ the White Mountains/ the City of Gold and Lead/ the Pool of Fire ), except that the aliens in those books are not large, but merely pilot large tripod-things, and the revolt occurs not on an alien ship but in an alien city.
posted by profwhat at 8:02 AM on January 6, 2005

The first story sounds like Battlefield Earth. Was it over 1,000 pages long by any chance? ;)
posted by agropyron at 9:21 AM on January 6, 2005

Nope, they were both short stories. Definitely in a late 70s type of 'Best of Analog' or 'Best of Azimov' or maybe a 'Best of Baen' type of collected work. I think I remember them being in the same book, but I could be smoking crack. What makes it frustrating is that one of my older brothers would constantly buy books from a local used book store, so our family library was FULL of these type of books.

Looks like I need to go to my local used book store.
posted by geekhorde at 1:38 PM on January 6, 2005

Hardcover anthology. Dust jacket with a spaceship on it (I think). Smelled like an old book. Definitely late 70s or early 80s.
posted by geekhorde at 1:44 PM on January 6, 2005

Groff Conklin edited five hundred million sf anthologies, and there were both paperback and big fat hardcover editions. (The timeline is probably too early, though.) Definitely go to the used bookstore and rule out one series at a time until you find it!
posted by oldtimey at 11:17 PM on January 6, 2005