Origin of the Matrix relating to a Science Fictional setting... [more inside]
posted by madmamasmith on Dec 24, 2009 - 19 answers

Please link me to Sci-Fi or Fantasy stories involving God--especially "surprise" God. [more inside]
posted by jefficator on Dec 7, 2009 - 52 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

Short Story Askme: I read a short dystopian story many years ago set in a run-down, post apocalyptic future. A queue of people line up on a street to spit at a painting. The painting represents all the problems of the past. It is implied that the painting is The Mona Lisa. What is the story?
posted by bollockovnikov on Sep 25, 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 by russm on Jun 8, 2008 - 8 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 by Artw on Jan 13, 2008 - 11 answers

Help me remember the name of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel i read as 10 years or so ago. [more inside]
posted by sunimplodes on Feb 18, 2007 - 6 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 by grumblebee on May 25, 2006 - 148 answers

Help me find these two short stories - one horror and one (possibly) sci-fi. [more inside]
posted by ninazer0 on Apr 26, 2006 - 9 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 by merocet on Mar 27, 2006 - 17 answers

Is there an online database of science fiction writing by subject matter? [more inside]
posted by xpermanentx on Nov 22, 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 by honeydew 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 by Dante5Inferno on Mar 11, 2005 - 26 answers

Like many other geeks here, I grew up reading sci-fi and fantasy. But I gradually got tired of it, because so much of it was poorly written or antithetical to my tastes. But I still yearn for other worlds at times, so I'd be interested in recommendations. [more inside.] [more inside]
posted by grumblebee on Dec 16, 2003 - 64 answers