Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sci-fi

Searching for a sci-fi short story I saw here once

raw sugar — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:12:22 -0800

Searching for a sci-fi short story I saw here once Posting for a friend-

About 5 or 6 years ago, I read a short story that someone linked to from metafilter. It was a sci-fi story about this blood protein or virus that existed in a certain percentage of the population, and the racism that accompanied it, once people could reliably test for this item. All the people who possessed it were basically second class citizens, and it was a story that took place over 3 generations. Can someone identify or link to this story again?

What book did I just read?

Cosine — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:27:37 -0800

What book did I just read? I just read a recent (new?) sci-fi novel while on holiday. I am now drawing an almost blank trying to remember the title.

What I remember:

- a character called "Driver" or "The Driver"
- humans travel through space, a peaceful alien race accompanies us
- the computers that got us to space are gone
- one human family have been working for decades on the math required to allow human interstellar travel without alien help

Zeroth Contact

ddbeck — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:35:24 -0800

Where can I get some absentee alien stories? I'm interested in books, short stories, movies, video games, or anything else you can recommend in which Earthlings have found proof of alien life, but the aliens themselves do not appear in the story. I'd like to avoid standard first contact stories.

Some (slightly spoilery) examples include Frederik Pohl's Gateway and Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama. Big Dumb Objects are not required, but conclusive evidence of alien life is. Please consider alien liberally; the Myst-series game Uru, would qualify, for instance.

I'd like to stick to works of deliberate fiction, so no "ETs actually built the Egyptian pyramids"-style conspiracy theories, please.

Bonus points for stories that you liked and were good. Thanks!

Can you find this sci-fi short story?

mr_crash_davis — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:13:26 -0800

I've been looking for this particular short sci-fi story for several years and I am finally giving up on going solo. Help me find it, hive mind. The story may have appeared in an anthology printed prior to 1983, it may have been in OMNI magazine, or it may have been neither of those, but those were my two biggest sources of reading material when I was a teenager, which is when I read the story.

The plot involves a graffiti artist who is something of a national counterculture hero, and a company that invented a special "non-stick" paint that was supposed to end his ability to paint on any buildings. There was a giant televised reveal of the new paint and when the cameras started rolling it turned out the artist had beaten them to the punch, painting a giant figure thumbing his nose, which was revealed as their paint slid off of his because he'd tagged the building with clear non-stick paint before they painted it.

At least one other person I have described this to remembers the story, so I am sure I'm not hallucinating.

Any ideas?

Book recommendations for the housebound

Polychrome — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 03:57:59 -0800

I need to get some birthday gifts for someone who is off work and stuck at home for weeks due to surgery. This person has no hobbies and doesn't really do much other than shop and watch TV and tends to get depressed easily, so I'd like to get him some things to keep him busy and engaged. He used to really enjoy reading so I think if I got some books he'd get into them while he's stuck at home. Previously enjoyed authors are Edgar Rice Burroughs, Louis L'Amour, Stephen King, Anne Rice and Conan books. So old Sci-Fi, Westerns or Horror. He doesn't like Zane Grey. He also enjoys history, particularly WW2 and Civil War eras. Could I please have your recommendations for riveting books that might be enjoyed by someone with these tastes? Am also happy to hear non-book recs that might fit in.

Goldilocks ISO juuuuuust-right fantasy novel

taz — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 04:09:55 -0800

I'm just finishing up the third book in Ben Aaronovitch's "Rivers of London" series, and I've really enjoyed these books. What fantasy book(s) should I read next to suit my current mood? I'd like something relatively lighthearted but not silly; light romance elements okay but probably not interested in any big love/sex focus, and definitely not interested in the sexy vampires / sexy werewolves genre; well written is a must; would prefer some sort of novelty over tired tropes; probably not interested in the swords and dragons kind of thing; not too dark or bloody; not sexist or racist. Wry is nice. Eccentric/unusual is very nice. I dig character development, and am not so fond of Mary Sue-ish archetypal heroes/heroines.

What I've enjoyed about the "Rivers of London" books: the magic is fun, but not usually overdone (with a couple of exceptions); I like the London setting and the fact that the city is intrinsic to the characters and plots; I love that the protagonist is mixed race, a little dorky, not OMG POWERFUL WIZARD (he's still learning, and tends to occasionally fuck up), and that the books don't make me wince at racist/sexist stereotypes (greatly appreciated). I like the police "procedural" aspect combined with the magical, and that it sort of gently pokes fun at pretty much everything, without trying be zany comedy (which is usually pretty tiresome to me). I like that there are various interesting female characters who could each as easily be the main character in a different book. (And I say "female," because some of them are not exactly human women.) Obviously, the next book is not going to duplicate all these aspects, but this should give an idea of atmosphere, I guess.

I have read most of Christopher Fowler's "Bryant and May" and Jasper Fforde's "Thursday Next" books, btw; I have read "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell," and a whole bunch of Neil Gaiman and Connie Willis; love Victor LaValle's "Big Machine," and have the rest of his books in my stack. If there is a genre label for these sorts of books, I'd love to know what it is.

Sci-fi books that are jam packed with ideas?

jacobm — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 18:25:18 -0800

What are some good science fiction (ish) books that are crammed with lots of interesting little ideas? I have read and really enjoyed books by China Mieville (e.g. _Kraken_, _Railsea_, _Embassytown_, etc) and the Iain M Banks _Culture_ series (e.g. _Consider Phlebas_, _Use of Weapons_, _Matter_). One thing I really like about both of those authors is that they seem to stuff their books chock full of interesting ideas, some of which are relevant to the plot but a lot of which are just fun little asides. I really like that overstuffed feeling in sci-fi books and I want to read more of it. What other authors or books should I read?

Looking for an old sci-fi book

SparkyPine — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:35:30 -0800

Looking for a science fiction book that I read back in the 70's-ish. It was about a guy who was in a jungle way way into the future. A few key points that should a ring a bell are: 1. There were these humanoid creatures that were short and fat and connected to a main plant by an umbilical cord. The main actor cut one of these cords and these "tummytommies" (some weird name like that) then became irritable. 2. There were these "balloons" floating around the jungle with long ropes dragging in the trees. It turned out that these were creatures that would catch prey with those sticky appendages and begin pulling the victim up to their chattering teeth. 3. This was when the world was very old and, I believe the story ended with the world ending. That's about all I remember.

What children's sci-fi book is this?

lea724 — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 09:20:49 -0800

Book Filter: What children's sci-fi book (written for kids around 5th to 6th grade age) included scenes where the border between the parallel universe and our universe would open up and household items would travel between the two universes? This was a book I read in elementary school around the year 1992 and the book would have been around a 5th or 6th grade reading level.

All I remember about it was that it included a very clever explanation for how, for example, you couldn't find your keys and you search everywhere for them and then you find them in exactly the place you had already looked. The explanation was that there was a parallel universe right next to ours where the border between the two would break open (for a reason I can't remember) and as household items from our universe would fall into the other universe, people in the parallel universe would be frantically trying to sew up the border, and in the meantime, tossing your items back through the hole as it got smaller as it was being sewn back up.

If the hole was sewn up too quickly before the parallel universe people could throw our universe's items back over to us, they'd have to wait until the next hole opened up and then toss them through, which would explain why we couldn't find some items in our universe for days and then they would suddenly show up.

If I recall correctly, our universe had zero clue about this border and the parallel universe, but the parallel universe people definitely knew about us.

It also explained why we often only find one sock in the dryer when we could've sworn we put both in. Apparently, dryers are common weak links between the two universes.

Anyone know of this book? I've been thinking about it a lot lately and would love to re-read it.

telepathic assassin twins from the 80's!

darkpony — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 21:21:24 -0800

Asking what I always ask here... name the sci-fi novel based on tiny shreds of info: Pretty sure it was from the 80's and was about twin assassins who shared the same exact thoughts. they could communicate with each other instantly telepathically. This made them excellent assassins. and I feel like there weren't just some really cool antagonist but were more important to the story. That or the main character was just so bland that these killers were the only memorable thing from the story.

Oh internet oracle, in your dusty archives

solarion — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 02:26:26 -0800

Tracking down an old story about a person who was using some sort of method to detect the impressions of sound waves in objects in order to replay old conversations. Anybody got an inkling what it might be? Nothing is known beyond this (I'm tracking it down on behalf of somebody); it might've been a novel, film, short story, etc. I thought it was an unusual enough concept that it would show up fairly readily if somebody knew it.

It was a dark and stormy night...

run"monty — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 16:07:05 -0800

UK short story market for sci-fi and speculative fiction. Are there any sites that list current calls for submission? I remember visiting a site about ten years ago that listed all the zines, periodicals and such that were currently looking for content. Green text on a black background. Does anyone remember this? Does such a site still exist?

Great "fun" science fiction novels? (Think: Ready Player One)

petah — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 12:23:32 -0800

What are some great "fun" science fiction novels? (Think: Ready Player One) I read a lot of science fiction. Gaiman, Stephenson, OSC, Richard K Morgan, etc. Currently reading Hugh Howey's "Wool."

I love them all, but I don't think I've read something as "fun" as Ernest Cline's "Ready Player One" in forever, and would like to know if MeFi has suggestions for books of a similar vein. Granted RPO revolves around a dystopia similar to many sci-fi novels, but I love how it still maintained a light-hearted and "feel-good" nature to it.

Contemporary/classic, well-known writers/indie writers are of no concern as long as it's science fiction and fun.

What early to mid 70s (probably made for TV) sci-fi movie am I half-remembering?

kimota — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 05:35:56 -0800

What early to mid 70s (probably made for TV) sci-fi movie am I half-remembering? Any combination of these half-remembered details could be wrong, but I recall seeing part of what I suspect was a made for TV Sci-fi movie around 1974-1976 where most of the human race has died off I'm guessing from nuclear war, but our protagonists were in a cave or something and survived. The leader of the group of survivors reminded me of a Leslie Nielsen/George Peppard type (but probably played non-campily). I think most of the characters might have worn white jumpsuits. The parts I think I remember more clearly: the dead had been turned to piles of ashes, and I think there was at least one attack by hostile dogs.

Looking at Nielsen's work in the IMDB, it might've been a segment from "The Evil Touch," but if so, which one? And in regards to Peppard, I saw "Damnation Alley," a few years back, and it didn't ring any bells at the time.

Sci-fi movie memory

estherhaza — Thu, 31 May 2012 07:33:24 -0800

Help me find the title of a particular sci-fi movie. I saw part of a science fiction movie once while working in a restaurant; since I was on the clock, I only saw bits and pieces and didn't get to see the end credits. The bulk of the movie seemed to take place on a spaceship, and what stuck out to me was that each character had a particular feature exaggerated (ie. one had a huge left arm, one had an abnormally large ear, etc.). I have googled my little heart out, but I can't find anything to lead me to the title of this movie. Help?

Want to find out the name of a story I have forgotten

hruntlefoot — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:57:51 -0800

I am trying to find a short sci-fi story but cannot recall either the writer or the title. The story is about a spaceship marooned on a hostile ice planet where they are constantly under siege from the indigenous race there - not described. The people undertake a genetic development programme to alter themselves and their offspring to cope with the outside environment and be more hostile, stronger and savage than the indigenous population. The denouement of the story is the leader telling the last generation of people there that the children are ready to leave .... and that is all I can remember. Can anybody give me any clues or even the name of the story? Kevin

Robot Jesus of the future

Gargantuantoe — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:00:44 -0800

Looking for a short story I read 2 or 3 years ago about a robot who worked in a church, and started reading scripture, and was eventually killed by the townspeople because of it. I read this story online maybe 2 or 3 years ago. It was about a robot who worked as a janitor, I think, in a church. It started asking a lot of religious questions, and reading scripture.

I don't remember the middle of the story at all, but the robot is eventually destroyed by the townspeople and when the priest comes in the next morning he finds the robot in front of a message scratched into the floor, " Forgive them father, they know not what they do" Or something very similar.

So yeah, Robot Jesus Sci-fi Short story. Any ideas?

Fantasy novel recommendations?

jsturgill — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:51:53 -0800

I had an urge yesterday to read a fantasy novel (or sci-fi, sure) about a young, powerless, and reluctant hero(ine) being caught up in events larger than them and growing as a person. I went to the bookstore and didn't really find anything that seemed appropriate. Recommendations? Don't less any of this stop you from mentioning whatever awesome novel you want to mention, but I'm not particularly excited about:

- steampunk
- vampires
- books where the hero(ine) starts out on page one as a sooper death ninja rakish Oceans 11 fantasy thief level 90 wizard assassin antihero, with a devil-may-care attitude masking deep emotional depths, you betcha

Extra points if you recommend something that hits some of these elements:

- could be described accurately as a bildungsroman
- has prose that is lyrical and/or witty and/or displays keen observation and/or insight into the human condition
- isn't too deep (I was/am in the mood for a distraction most of all—no Pynchon, please!)
- doesn't focus on the upper class (princes, kings, emperors, warlords, etc.)
- is NOT book 83 in an as-yet unfinished series

The hamsters go in this end and the cans of stew come out the other

XMLicious — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:40:07 -0800

What is this machine appearing in a 1950 space exploration movie? From the context, designing a rocket in an engineering office, I would assume that it's some sort of mechanical calculator or mechanical computer. I was hoping that the hive mind could confirm or deny that and give some more specifics - manufacturer, model, is this the same kind of thing as the 50s fire control computers from this MeFi post or maybe a more general-purpose machine?

Locate old SF story

Hobgoblin — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:01:25 -0800

Long ago (maybe 30 years?) and 500 miles away, I read a short SF story in which it is illustrated that do-gooders cause all the troubles in the universe. A lesson in unintended consequences. It was humorous. How can I find this again? For added joy, I am also looking for a short SF story in which nothing can happen in the entire galaxy due to bureaucracy and red tape. My current belief system is based upon the rule of unintended consequences, and the fear that bleeding hearts like me cause more harm than good.

Curse you, you mysterious orb.

punchtothehead — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:45:55 -0800

Story-about-orbs filter: in my eighth grade English class, I read a sci-fi story about an extraterrestrial orb that was collecting specimens from Earth. I'd love to find out its author and name (and, optimally, a copy of the story itself on the web.) The story involved a man who was (maybe?) lost in the woods somewhere in the US. An orb had been left on the planet a long time ago, and its home planet had (maybe?) died. It had been charged with collecting specimens of a certain weight. It starts to hunt the man, and chases him over the course of several days.

The orb eventually catches the man, but only touches him with some sort of sensor. Then, it zooms away. Shortly after, the man is rescued by a friend in a helicopter, who comments that he looks like he's lost quite a bit of weight. (The punchline is that he lost enough weight while being chased so that he's now outside the orb's parameters.)

I contacted the school I went to, but my teacher is gone and they can't/won't find out the textbook we had back then. This was back in the late nineties, and I read it again when my little brother was in middle school in the mid-2000's, so it could still be in the textbook.

I'm hunting this down for a friend; apparently she's been looking for the story for the past five years or so, and hasn't found it.

Time for some new reading material.

Scientist — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 21:05:31 -0800

Hit me with some great, freely-available, science fiction short stories. I love science fiction shorts. My dad always had a few old Nebula and Hugo collections kicking around the house and I went through them over and over again. I'm looking to pick up some more and I figure there have got to be quite a few available here and there across the internet. Help me find some of the very best!

Here are the requirements:

1) Must be a short story. If it takes more than an hour to read it, it's probably too long.

2) Must be science fiction. Feel free to take as broad a definition of this as you like.

3) Must be available, on the web, for free. HTML, PDF, TXT, doesn't matter. I need to be able to just browse over to it and start reading.

4) Must be a specific story. I'm not looking for collections, magazines, anthologies, or writing groups. Just links to single stories that I can go ahead and start reading.

5) Must come highly recommended by you. I'm looking for stuff that you personally have read and loved, stuff that's really, really good. If you want to tell me why you think it's good so much the better, but honestly you look like a reliable, discerning sort of person and I'm willing to trust your judgement.

That's it. In the interests of making this question maximally useful to as many people as possible, I won't try to restrict things to only stories I have read myself, or only certain subgenres, or anything like that.

Now go to it! Bring me your choicest bite-sized bits of online SF! Find me something to tickle my brain and entertain me in the boring cracks of my life. All I have to offer in return is undying universal love.

How close could a satellite get to the sun, and how much energy could it harvest?

AdamCSnider — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 20:02:06 -0800

If some future civilization decided that they should tap solar energy at the source for industrial purposes, how close to the Sun could they site their energy collection facilities without having them burst into flames/die from radiation degradation, and how much energy could they harvest? Just to keep things simple, say they use photovoltaics or some other technology we have access to. I originally started thinking about this issue while playing with a NaNoWriMo sci-fi novel idea, and stumbled over my notes on the project a couple days ago and am considering picking it up again - and, frankly, I'm just plain curious. I've had trouble trying to find information on the Web - probably because sticking a satellite near the Sun isn't really a priority right now, for energy generation or otherwise.

Name that Sci-fi Novel: Time Travelling Russians + Advanced Human Intelligences

audiodidactic — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:46:52 -0800

Trying to remember the name of a sci-fi novel that involved time travelers. I *seem* to remember there was an organization dedicated to keeping the space-time continuum in order, and that organization consulted with human intelligences along the timeline, including vastly advanced human intelligences that basically weren't human anymore. Extra tidbits:
* The antagonist was perhaps Russian, perhaps a woman, and perhaps showed up at one point in a butt-kickingly wicked helicopter
* The antagonist (or some villain?) died. The reader expected them to suffer eternal damnation because of something heinous they did while alive (involved in genocide perhaps?), but instead their soul floated outward the earth's hemisphere, where it joined a peaceful communion with other recently departed souls, before fully dissolving away into a peaceful nothingness.

Read it when I was young, I remember it taking a lot of unexpected twists. Can't remember the name, get too many wrong results on Google.

Name-that-story-filter

tigrrrlily — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 02:43:32 -0800

Name-that-story-filter: Anthropologist mother with her daughter (and son?) on a planet separated from the rest of civilization by years of sub-light space travel. Mom maintains scientific detachment, but daughter is assimilated into peculiar local culture with taboos against social interaction, driving mother and daughter apart. Inspired by this AskMe. One possible snippet I remember from the story is "Be Aware", a sort of mantra describing the philosophy of the locals. Also, unless I'm mixing in something else, the males on the planet were ostracized from the tribe similarly to what happens to male elephants (?), preventing the scientist's son from integrating. Not sure about this last part.