What are some great sci-fi novels that take place on planets with unusual climate/geography? [more inside]
posted on Jul 12, 2008 - 42 answers

Science-Fiction-Novel-Filter: Lost colony of Galactic Empire, in which a man is dispatched to the planet with an automated legged probe. There is a technology on the planet that is perceived as magic(?) to the natives... [more inside]
posted on Jun 29, 2008 - 2 answers

please help identify this "young adults" sci-fi-ish novel - "I'm an Est, for Ests are best, down to their sodding woollen vests"... [more inside]
posted on Jun 8, 2008 - 8 answers

There was a post (I believe on Boing Boing) a few months ago about a sci-fi short story in the form of an internet message board. The message board was for a group of time travelers, and the new members were always being scolded for going back in time and killing Hitler (this was against the rules, as without Hitler we wouldn't have many technologies, etc etc). I have Google strings that I've tried inside... [more inside]
posted on May 14, 2008 - 14 answers

Help me locate a weird 80's sci-fi movie with almost no info. [more inside]
posted on May 9, 2008 - 5 answers

A childhood memory of two science fiction films has been nagging me lately. I have just a little to go on... [more inside]
posted on Apr 17, 2008 - 11 answers

Television show where half the planet is always dark? [more inside]
posted on Apr 1, 2008 - 13 answers

What are some good sci-fi stories (both short and full-length) that explore the idea of singularity? [more inside]
posted on Mar 30, 2008 - 37 answers

A while back, on this site, some lovely soul posted a YouTube link of a very strange full-length animated sci-fi film from the 70s. The story involved men being kept as playthings/servants by a giant race on a strange planet. The humans wore some sort of collar that restricted their movements. It was a very unusual film, quite obviously NOT North American. I believe the original film was French and that it had not been available for many years. Can anyone recall the name of this film? Much thanks :)
posted on Mar 10, 2008 - 7 answers

Help me understand the methaphor/mythology behind female sci-fi characters losing their ovaries (slightly spoilery for Alias, X-Files, and S2 of Battlestar Galactica). [more inside]
posted on Mar 6, 2008 - 15 answers

Help me identify this sci-fi short story, involving a hunter who is "impregnated" by a sphinx-like creature, and slowly evolves into such a creature himself while under scientific study. [more inside]
posted on Feb 13, 2008 - 3 answers

I remember reading this sci-fi book a long while ago, but I can't remember anything easily googleable. Can anyone help identify it? [more inside]
posted on Feb 10, 2008 - 2 answers

I'm looking or the name, and possibly other information on a five or six part sci-fi series that aired in the mid nineties, I think on the BBC (not sure). It was set in London/UK and dealt with repercussions of various theorised technological advancements. [more inside]
posted on Jan 27, 2008 - 7 answers

I'm looking for a series of hardback science fiction anthologies I dimly remember from childhood (sometime in the mid 80s). I think it had a one word title with a number, and the series went up to at least number five. I remember two stories in particular... [more inside]
posted on Jan 13, 2008 - 11 answers

Are there any good (or at least decent) animated features that have that Star Wars-esque space opera adventure feel to it? [more inside]
posted on Dec 29, 2007 - 23 answers

I need books for a sci-fi discussion group [more inside]
posted on Oct 9, 2007 - 49 answers

I'm looking for screen caps of several different dystopic sci-fi movies. Any idea where I should look?
posted on Sep 6, 2007 - 8 answers

Do you remember a sci-fi short story about the last man on earth and suspended animation and the evolution of algae? [more inside]
posted on Jul 31, 2007 - 4 answers

Do you remember a show - around the time of the a team, knight rider street hawk etc.. This guy, was an astronaut... The sun's radiation got through his visor He used to get really angry, could run fast but his head almost exploded and would pulsate. I think in the last episode his head actually did explode. Quite a crud super power I suppose. But he could run after cars and flipped out whenever anybody picked on his girlfriend. It really flopped and was a short run thing - I think they killed him off (hence his head exploding).
posted on Jul 16, 2007 - 5 answers

Should I follow in the footsteps of Douglas Adams? [more inside]
posted on Jun 21, 2007 - 18 answers

My friend is searching for the title of a low-budget B-monster movie. The plot: The crew of a spaceship find a derelict spacecraft and awaken a demon/alien creature who possesses the crew one by one. Also, the movie might star Kurt Russell. [more inside]
posted on May 30, 2007 - 11 answers

What Science Fiction movies feature dancing? [more inside]
posted on May 29, 2007 - 40 answers

Many years ago I read this really good sci-fi futuristic book (at least when I was little I thought it was really good). I would really like to find it and read it again. Please help! [more inside]
posted on Mar 1, 2007 - 9 answers

Help me remember the name of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel i read as 10 years or so ago. [more inside]
posted on Feb 18, 2007 - 6 answers

I was wonerding if anyone could give me examples of programs from science fiction(or any kind of fiction) that have been turned into real world applications ? [more inside]
posted on Feb 2, 2007 - 41 answers

In the grand ask.mefi tradition I'm looking for the name of a book... [more inside]
posted on Jan 4, 2007 - 17 answers

Once I've made my sci-fi novel available via Lulu.com, will it still be viable to shop around to agents and editors for potential mass-market publication? Are there factors that influence it? For example, if it sells a lot, is it considered a good buy by a publisher, or has it basically had its first run?
posted on Dec 8, 2006 - 9 answers

What is that movie where at the end the hero is flying a space ship and he crashes it into the main villain, piercing him with the pointy tip of the ship and killing him? [more inside]
posted on Dec 2, 2006 - 8 answers

Remember my request for sci-fi music? Six months later, I'm finally ready to make my CD mix. Almost. Last night I figured out how to record mp3 audio from DVD on my Mac, and now I want to rip key dialogue snippets from classic sci-fi films. I went for Khan spitting at Kirk from his grave, but there's too much incidental music. I think maybe I can get Ripley signing off. What other short, iconic soundclips from sci-fi films should I look for? The intro to the old Battlestar Galactica? Something from Logan's Run? Blade Runner bits? Eerie, ethereal, otherworldly, outer-space stuff is best. (Bonus points if you can direct me to a source that's already done the work for me; right now I'm looking at a several-week Netflix slog.)
posted on Sep 19, 2006 - 67 answers

BookFilter: I've read Richard Morgan's Kovacs trilogy through and through, and I'm looking for something similar to read... [more inside]
posted on Jul 31, 2006 - 15 answers

I'm on the hunt for sites and/or blogs about big ideas... Who wants to join me? [more inside]
posted on Jul 9, 2006 - 17 answers

What's the most exciting novel you've ever read? I mean this in the simplest sense: an exciting plot. I'm looking for page-turners. Novels that keep you on the edge of your seat and refuse to let you sleep until you finish them. I'm looking for genre novels -- but I don't care what genres: Mystery, thriller, sci-fi, etc. (though sci-fi/fantasy has been done-to-death here, so I'm really more interested in other genres.) Oh, I care about words. So no matter how exciting, I'll quit reading if the prose is crappy. [more inside]
posted on May 25, 2006 - 148 answers

ScifiBookFilter: My uncle has been trying to figure out this novel he read around the 70s. [more inside]
posted on May 22, 2006 - 3 answers

Name That Book! I'm trying to track down a book I read probably 20 or 25 years ago, when I would have been in my early teens. It was vaguely science fiction-ish, featured teenagers as the main characters and *may* have been Canadian. Plot synopsis inside... [more inside]
posted on May 8, 2006 - 11 answers

Help me find these two short stories - one horror and one (possibly) sci-fi. [more inside]
posted on Apr 26, 2006 - 9 answers

DreamWithMe filter: What if everyone read science fiction? How would the world be different? [more inside]
posted on Apr 7, 2006 - 27 answers

This silly little thing haunts me - the name of an 80's sci-fi TV show. Maybe a mini-series, or very short-lived I think.... [more inside]
posted on Mar 29, 2006 - 10 answers

Hi, I'm thinking of short story I read a while ago where the worlds communications system (telephones pre-net I think) became sentient. First sign of it doing so was that it started putting people in touch with each other that it thought might like each other like some crazy dating agency and finally it achieves full intelligence and starts communicating with a telecommunications system in another galaxy. Oh how I've looked! Or maybe I dreamt it in which case forget you ever read this and I'll write the story!
posted on Mar 27, 2006 - 17 answers

Moviefilter time: Does somebody know the name of this sci-fi-ish movie that Roger Ebert reviewed a couple years ago? [more inside]
posted on Feb 27, 2006 - 22 answers

Why did consciousness evolve? [more inside]
posted on Jan 25, 2006 - 39 answers

Is there an online database of science fiction writing by subject matter? [more inside]
posted on Nov 22, 2005 - 10 answers

Help me identify a cheesy sci-fi book I enjoyed as a teenager in the 80s! [more inside]
posted on Aug 3, 2005 - 5 answers

Looking for examples of Sci-Fi about social ramifications of immersive VR, particularly with regards to sex. [more inside]
posted on Jun 28, 2005 - 20 answers

I'm looking for a specific online sci-fi story. [more inside]
posted on Jun 13, 2005 - 5 answers

Inspired by this question, does anyone remember an illustrated, sci-fi book that came out about 15-20 years ago, which consisted mostly of possible forms that human evolution would take, and full-colour illustrations of what these future humans would look like? [more inside]
posted on Jun 13, 2005 - 3 answers

This is my first 'AskMetafilter' question, but browsing around here, I've noticed that several other people have posted similar queries, so here goes: Sometime in the late '70's, I recalll seeing at least one episode of some British ITV-produced show about a clutch of people who were floating around the galaxy in the British Museum. Yep, THE British Museum. However absurd, I remember that the Earth had somehow been destroyed, and this clutch of heroes was charged with preserving the remains of human civilization en route to a new, undetermined home. While this scenario bears many similarities to 'Space:1999', 'Journey to the Far Side of the Sun', 'Blake's 7', 'Battlestar Galactica' and 'Silent Running', I know it is none of those, and it was British. I distinctly remember aliens -actors in costumes, flowing robes, leather, that sort of thing - pursuing the human protagonists within the museum. It very much seemed an episode of a television show, in a hip, Quartermaas key, but with the better production values of the live Gerry Anderson/ITV shows. Any ideas? I really don't think it was Doctor Who...
posted on Apr 30, 2005 - 10 answers

I've recently gotten very interested the science-fiction/horror-with-a-religious-tint genre. Can you think of any good books that could fit that description? [more inside]
posted on Mar 31, 2005 - 46 answers

I'm a newbie to the Steampunk genre looking for suggestions. I've been starting on some of the early speculative SF stuff, like Jules Verne, Wells and Burroughs. Where should I go now?
posted on Mar 11, 2005 - 26 answers

Book recommendation (more inside unless you are moz in which case, you cannot look.)
posted on Dec 2, 2004 - 58 answers

What should I read next? The past few years, I've been reading some contemporary fiction and a lot of science fiction (mostly hard Sci-Fi). I tend to like strong character driven stuff with politics and religion (particularly as a method of social control) as major themes. So for instance, I LOVED books like Dune and Cyteen. I also like near future stuff with cool tech, so books like Diamond Age were also well received. Loved American Gods -- not a big fan of Neverwhere. Also, for some reason I didn't like Perdido Street Station very much -- I'm not sure why -- I just found it slow to read. I've read most of the well known science fiction writers, so I don't need recommendations for the luminaries in the genre. I'm looking for lesser known gems/works I might have missed, or for similar themes that cross out of the genres with which I am familiar.
posted on Nov 11, 2004 - 23 answers