I go to a small Liberal Arts school in Pennsylvania, and part of the graduation requirements involve writing a substantial Senior Composition, basically a baby thesis (Original research requirements, rigorous, etc.) I'm double-majoring in Physics and English, and I'd love to be able to combine both of these subjects into one comprehensive paper, especially because if i can't, I have to write two separate ones. [more inside]
posted by Archibald Edmund Binns on Nov 18, 2009 - 17 answers

Let's say you were an astrophysicist who saw a wormhole open up in the sky above you, and you had video of it, magnetometer readings, whatever else you'd need to record it. What kind of recorded "proof" might be used to identify it as a wormhole-- after the fact? [more inside]
posted by MattS on Nov 16, 2009 - 11 answers

Looking for a short sci-fi story that I read on the internet. It was about a police force who worked in the very risky highways of the future, where rocket cars zoomed around at hundreds of miles an hour. [more inside]
posted by chrisamiller on Nov 1, 2009 - 5 answers

I just finished reading Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, and really enjoyed it. I'd love to read other World War I novels with fantasy/science-fiction/steampunk twists. Are there any? [more inside]
posted by Caduceus on Oct 17, 2009 - 17 answers

Name that book filter: guess this children's SF book from minimal clues. [more inside]
posted by penguinliz on Sep 21, 2009 - 1 answer

please help identify this short story...I believe I would have read this in the 80's. There was a team of psychic investigators, and they are called to look into strange events (unexplained accidents?) on a section of highway. In the end it turns out that cumulative spiritual energy of roadkill animals is somehow striking back/rising up, and there is an exorcism of some sort. Then they hear about the bus full of dangerous inmates which has crashed...(implying that the aftereffects will be horrific) [more inside]
posted by maryrussell on Sep 20, 2009 - 3 answers

Memory help: What was the SciFi novel about a man who dies in his 40's to be re-born again as a teen, cycling over and over again ala Groundhog Day, with his memory of former lives intact, re-living the same time period (mid-20th century) over and over. I read it in 1980 or so. [more inside]
posted by stbalbach on Sep 17, 2009 - 18 answers

Identify a science fiction story about a giant, unfixable traffic jam. (spoilers inside.) [more inside]
posted by escabeche on Sep 16, 2009 - 25 answers

I need ideas for a Sci-Fi convention themed book club party I am hosting this weekend. [more inside]
posted by Lapin on Sep 16, 2009 - 13 answers

Please help me find this SciFi story I remember reading as a kid. [more inside]
posted by mahke on Sep 11, 2009 - 2 answers

Half remembered short story identification filter: A story in which scientists discover grids underground which might be the cities of beings who live at a greater density, and then at the end scientists from the underground city are looking through the documents, having wiped out humanity accidentally just by coming to the surface.
posted by Artw on Sep 7, 2009 - 5 answers

Looking for book recs about sci-fi, specifically about gender issues and jetpack-related physics. [more inside]
posted by mumble on Aug 23, 2009 - 27 answers

My visceral dislike of the movie District 9 combined with years of other sub par science fiction movies has pretty much killed any desire to see more films of the genre. Help me rekindle the flame. (Minor District 9spoilers inside) [more inside]
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Aug 19, 2009 - 82 answers

What are some or how can one best find science-fiction novels that are good by general literary standards? [more inside]
posted by colinmarshall on Aug 18, 2009 - 75 answers

What's the best literary equivalent of Alien/Aliens? [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Aug 9, 2009 - 21 answers

Recommendations for erotica [more inside]
posted by ninebelow on Aug 6, 2009 - 8 answers

Can you point me toward some slammin' science fiction-themed hip hop? [more inside]
posted by slappy_pinchbottom on Aug 4, 2009 - 36 answers

Intelligent space opera? [more inside]
posted by Grinder on Jul 30, 2009 - 44 answers

I am looking for a book from my boyfriend's childhood. What he remembers: kids controlling a spaceship who can't get the food replicator to make anything other than potato salad. [more inside]
posted by eleanna on Jul 20, 2009 - 12 answers

Can you recommend some good beach reads for my honeymoon in a few weeks? [more inside]
posted by mikeweeney on Jul 1, 2009 - 23 answers

SFShortStoryFilter: Looking for a short(ish) story I must have read in one of the more popular SF anthologies about a human race of nigh-immortals spread out through several verses. [more inside]
posted by tigrrrlily on Jun 27, 2009 - 6 answers

Science Fiction films dealing with sex-change? [more inside]
posted by kolophon on Jun 11, 2009 - 21 answers

Book filter: Is there a book out there, fiction or non-fiction, that outlines how society could move towards goods and services being transferred without any need for money to be exchanged? [more inside]
posted by gwpcasey on Jun 9, 2009 - 19 answers

I've just finished reading Let The Galaxy Burn, a collection of Warhammer 40k short stories, and I really liked it. What are some other good Warhammer 40k books? [more inside]
posted by thewittyname on Jun 9, 2009 - 11 answers

Science fiction - filter: I used to read and love Dick, Farmer, LeGuin, and others who coupled great writing with directly confronting sex, violence, and societal change. What contemporary authors might I like? [more inside]
posted by Forktine on May 28, 2009 - 40 answers

Feminist science fiction novel written between 2001 and 2004, featuring (IIRC) women with psychic connections to their hunting mount animals. I believe the title is a combination of a few letters at the beginning, then a three- or four-digit number, like NNN-####. What is the title? [more inside]
posted by cog_nate on May 18, 2009 - 7 answers

Looking for a specific illustrated encyclopedia of science fiction aliens. I owned a copy 15 years ago- beautiful glossy pages, each depicting an alien from a sci-fi book, and I believe a short paragraph of description. The cover was black with one of the gorgeous illustrations on the front. The illustrations were very detailed and may have been painted. Wasn't gigantic, maybe a 1/4 inch thick. I have googled and searched amazon to no avail. Thanks in advance.
posted by bmct on May 15, 2009 - 7 answers

JG Ballard was often said to offer a prophetic vision of the future. But now he's dead. Who will take over from him? [more inside]
posted by MrMerlot on May 15, 2009 - 15 answers

I read and very much enjoyed The Diamond Age. What work(s) by Neal Stephenson should I read next? [more inside]
posted by alms on May 5, 2009 - 38 answers

ObscureSciFiBookFilter: Space opera-type book, wherein a cargo ship is taken over by pirates. [more inside]
posted by cereselle on Apr 30, 2009 - 3 answers

Looking for science fiction movies/TV shows in which a military force (consisting of aliens or humans, good or evil) has tactically used time travel as a means to win a war. [more inside]
posted by np312 on Apr 18, 2009 - 16 answers

Having had such luck in my last AskMe post, I trying again. I want to find if anyone recalls the title of another science fiction short story I read when I was young*. It involved a nightmare scenario where sinister predatory aliens were snatching drivers and passengers from speeding vehicles on a fast moving freeway. [more inside]
posted by y2karl on Apr 14, 2009 - 9 answers

Seeking a vanishingly obscure SF novel, "Stranger from the Deep". [more inside]
posted by zadcat on Apr 5, 2009 - 4 answers

I have an idea for a SF novel (/screenplay?), but I have the nagging feeling that it isn't at all original. Have you read or seen this concept before? [more inside]
posted by zardoz on Apr 3, 2009 - 36 answers

Wanted: Science Fiction Books moved by a great central idea such as: Ringworld by Larry Niven or The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. [more inside]
posted by MasonDixon on Mar 25, 2009 - 34 answers

Is there any first contact science fiction (or other types of scifi, more generally) where the characters have actually READ first contact science fiction before? [more inside]
posted by OmieWise on Mar 24, 2009 - 23 answers

Science Fiction Filter: examples of unreliable aliens? [more inside]
posted by arcanecrowbar on Mar 14, 2009 - 36 answers

Yet another "name that science fiction story" question: Short sci-fi story, probably read in a best-of-year, Hugo, or Nebula collection, possibly from the 80's. [more inside]
posted by mosk on Mar 10, 2009 - 11 answers

After looking everywhere and which a way, I am at a loss. I am looking for a short story with a near future high tech anarchy as background-- something that resembles David Brin's concept of The Transparent Society, Utopian Version, where every body knows everybody else's business--as opposed to, say, Police Surveillance State On Steroids Big Time where Big Brother knows your business and location as in 1984 meets The Minority Report. [more inside]
posted by y2karl on Mar 10, 2009 - 11 answers

I'd like recommendations for short stories that are strange, humorous, or have a surprising twist. [more inside]
posted by Rinku on Mar 8, 2009 - 56 answers

"What science fiction short story is this?" filter. One story about body switching/different perceptions, and another about mindreading. [more inside]
posted by anthy on Feb 25, 2009 - 10 answers

I have a story and I'm looking for an artist to collaborate for little to no money on a sci-fi comic book. I will pay for the actual production (it will be a limited run to accompany a record), so I have at least that to offer to the artist. Know of any websites/forums that help foster this labor-of-love type collaboration between media? [more inside]
posted by nosila on Feb 23, 2009 - 5 answers

First contact and apocalyptic sci-fi recommendations please. [more inside]
posted by turgid dahlia on Feb 2, 2009 - 44 answers

"ID this short story" Filter: Story about a storyteller toy à la Teddy Ruxpin who is discarded by its owners after they receive a new model. [more inside]
posted by infinitewindow on Jan 10, 2009 - 6 answers

Does anyone remember this not-at-all-easily-googled 70s sci-fi film? [more inside]
posted by el_lupino on Jan 7, 2009 - 10 answers

StoryID: Alternate history where physics is based on angelology. [more inside]
posted by rwhe on Dec 31, 2008 - 8 answers

Is the tv show "Lost" science fiction? [more inside]
posted by zardoz on Dec 3, 2008 - 24 answers

A science-fiction story which claims that no one ever dies. [more inside]
posted by stoneegg21 on Nov 26, 2008 - 17 answers

ID That Story: novel (novella? short story?) in which a man is standing in line. Pretty much the entire story is his experience while waiting in line. It's a future/dystopia story. The man is waiting in line to make a complaint. He falls in love with the girl in front of him, though she's not allowed to turn and look at him. It's a parable about overpopulation. It was probably written in the 60s or 70s. That's all I remember.
posted by grumblebee on Nov 20, 2008 - 8 answers

A friend is searching for early references in science fiction literature (a genre that I am not very well read in) where a corporation runs the world. I thought of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Are there earlier references?
posted by stephenfrancoeur on Oct 27, 2008 - 13 answers