Looking for a science fiction book I read a few years ago. I believe it came out within the past five years. Basic plot was that a guy died and then his mind was uploaded into a robot. I think the main character might have been fairly poor at one time and then started dating an heiress which was why he was able to do the upload after death. [more inside]
posted by sorindome on Nov 29, 2009 - 4 answers

How would a psychiatrist treat an adult who was having visual hallucinations, but no other symptoms of psychosis? [more inside]
posted by Fenriss on Nov 13, 2009 - 18 answers

Besides Lost in America, Easy Rider, Surfwise, and Into the Wild, what other films are about people who make an affirmative decision to live on the road? The closest Wikipedia seems to get is Road Movies, which is not really apt. If not movies, what other cultural works of fiction deal with that kind of decision?
posted by artlung on Nov 11, 2009 - 35 answers

What well-known novels lack any character descriptions aside from names?
posted by odinsdream on Oct 9, 2009 - 17 answers

What's your favorite online fiction site, and did you find what I'm looking for? [more inside]
posted by motsque on Oct 6, 2009 - 2 answers

Please recommend authors who use fiction to convey religious beliefs, a la C. S. Lewis. [more inside]
posted by SLC Mom on Sep 28, 2009 - 37 answers

What is the name of this fantasy book that I only vaugely remember? [more inside]
posted by tylerfulltilt on Sep 18, 2009 - 2 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

Please help me remember a book I read about a guy who saw ghosts! [more inside]
posted by internet!Hannah on Sep 6, 2009 - 3 answers

Trying to identify a Chicago novel I read way back in the 50s or 60s. It is about a veteran (WWII or Korea) who spends his nights walking the streets of the Near North Side and always ends up in an all night coffee shop peopled by bums, alcoholics, writers and bohemians. Not Algren, Farrell or Studs Terkel. Please help.
posted by charlesminus on Aug 15, 2009 - 2 answers

FictionFilter! I can't believe I'm asking this, but.. here goes: What could you put in an urn that would be mistaken for the ashes of a loved one? Oh god, that looks even worse now that I've actually typed it! Luckily, it's only for a story I'm writing. [more inside]
posted by 2oh1 on Aug 13, 2009 - 36 answers

Could an AI zombify another? [more inside]
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit on Jul 27, 2009 - 12 answers

Can you ID these short stories and help me find them? I think there were at least two, they were written by Keith Laumer, and they appeared in a paperback IF anthology that I can't find. They are about the right of revolution (one may be titled something like that) and take place on a mining colony on another planet. I think the first is about the miners who revolt and are led by an Ayn-Rand-character-like person (his name is John Ralt or something). The second is about the 'ARcl' person who is now in charge and must deal with dissenters who contest his moral and political authority. And were there any more stories in this vein, or just two?
posted by Mr. Justice on Jul 8, 2009 - 5 answers

Wrecking havoc/ fiction: How much spying could someone who works for a server farm engage in? [more inside]
posted by From Bklyn on Jun 18, 2009 - 11 answers

Please help me identify this comical children's adventure story book from the 80s... [more inside]
posted by kumonoi on May 8, 2009 - 6 answers

Looking for short fiction journals. [more inside]
posted by charlesv on Apr 8, 2009 - 11 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

KidsBookFilter: I've been racking my brain for hours trying to dredge up the title of a book I read sometime in the 90's while in elementary (or possibly middle) school. I remember very little of the plot and sparse details beyond that: at some point the main character's personal clubhouse was vandalized by a classmate--with mustard. [more inside]
posted by miratime on Mar 9, 2009 - 4 answers

Who are the new exciting, young novelists of the 21st century? I suddenly find myself with a lot more time on my hands for reading. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Mar 2, 2009 - 24 answers

I'm looking for the title of a French short story, in which a father kills his son. [more inside]
posted by Isingthebodyelectric on Jan 29, 2009 - 5 answers

Since I began a reading life (at about age eight), I have had a problem: my mind automatically places action in just a few places familiar to me from my life: my house, the main street of my hometown. Whether the action in a novel takes place in 16th century Scotland, or the Black Forest, or under the Unisphere. Are there ways to get around this, or to learn to read fiction more actively, and, fantastically/creatively? [more inside]
posted by Tufa on Jan 29, 2009 - 30 answers

I want to read fictional and/or true stories about people being put into positions of responsibility unexpectedly for extended periods of time and how they deal with it. [more inside]
posted by reenum on Jan 27, 2009 - 37 answers

What works of fiction retell another work of fiction from a different character's point of view? Offhand, I can think of Wicked, Wide Sargasso Sea, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. What other similar works are there?
posted by yankeefog on Jan 21, 2009 - 61 answers

I've been waxing poetic about AskMeFi for a while, and a coworker asked for help identifying a story about an experiment with dancing children. Save my co-worker, MeFites! [more inside]
posted by Gorgik on Jan 15, 2009 - 7 answers

Interactive Fiction question. I want to write a short (~2 hour) piece of interactive fiction, but I want it to be a stand-alone file or able to be integrated/hosted on a website when done. (Simply put, I don't want people to have to download anything more than a single file to play it, or, ideally, to do anything other than play it directly in a website.) What's the easiest way to do this? (I'm using Inform 7, but would be happy to use something else if needed.)
posted by Damn That Television on Dec 14, 2008 - 13 answers

Recent dramas have used (without ambiguity) the name and image of real living figures and events in fiction and film. How this is legally possible? Is it covered by Fair Use? [more inside]
posted by Hugobaron on Nov 5, 2008 - 17 answers

I'm looking for werewolf literature. Any fiction with a halfway decent plot. Novels, short stories, folklore. Comics or graphic novels also okay. [more inside]
posted by Ritchie on Oct 16, 2008 - 38 answers

Book-filter (again)! I just read Markus Zuzak's "The Book Thief" and loved it and loved being moved by it. Give me more books that do the same. [more inside]
posted by robotot on Oct 9, 2008 - 15 answers

Women writers like Neal Stephenson, are there any? [more inside]
posted by exceptinsects on Oct 5, 2008 - 18 answers

I'm looking for short stories/poems/creative non-fiction and the like about school, schooling, education, and/or learning to write/self-expression. Should be suitable for college freshpersons.
posted by Saxon Kane on Aug 24, 2008 - 4 answers

I need a longish, interesting, well-written book (fiction) to read on an upcoming trip. Any suggestions? [more inside]
posted by mosessis on Aug 21, 2008 - 58 answers

Why do novelists use "________" in place of a character's name? [more inside]
posted by serazin on Aug 11, 2008 - 10 answers

I'm reading Alastair Reynold's excellent Pushing Ice and I'd love to read more like it - help me Mefi! [more inside]
posted by Happy Dave on Jan 27, 2007 - 24 answers

What is this young adult fiction I read in the mid-1980s about some papers read in a public square giving clues (and red herrings) eventually leading to some sort of inheritance? [more inside]
posted by Tuwa on Apr 4, 2006 - 13 answers

In high school, I read a book that I remember being titled "The Island Girl." It seems like it would be easy to find this book since I have a title, unfortunately, I'm not entirely sure that's the title, and even if it were, there are approximately nine million books named "The Island Girl." [more inside]
posted by headspace on Jun 7, 2005 - 3 answers

More FictionFilter: Nuclear warhead, meet Oz. Sound familiar? [more inside]
posted by melissa may on Nov 19, 2004 - 8 answers

A friend in a sociology graduate program has turned to me for advice and I could use yours: she is required to read a book of fiction (a novel or short story collection) per week for a course, and wants recommendations. [more inside]
posted by melissa may on Sep 12, 2004 - 56 answers