I can faintly remember once reading something by Isaac Asimov about the moon landing. He was making a point about the predictive power or lack thereof of science fiction. He wrote that of the dozens of hundreds of stories written pre-1969 about the first moon landing, not a single one featured the event being televised live back to earth.
So where did he write this? Or was it someone else who made the point?
posted by LarryC
on May 11, 2013 -
8 answers
I recently discovered an awesome local bookstore in France, hence I'd like to pick up a French-language SF/F novel that isn't a translation and would be difficult to find in the US. Suggestions? (Subgenre preferences below the jump)
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posted by serelliya
on May 7, 2013 -
8 answers
I'm looking for a science fiction book cover illustration from a 1970's anthology of erotic short stories. It was a painting by Michael Gross (of National Lampoon fame) that showed a production line of robot Marilyn Monroes coursing down a a conveyor belt, factory style.
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posted by biddeford
on Apr 20, 2013 -
2 answers
Does anyone know of any very short stories (1,500 words or fewer), preferably in the science fiction or fantasy genre, that are told through the eyes of an unreliable narrator?
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posted by DeusExMegana
on Apr 2, 2013 -
21 answers
I'm looking for movies with a sound design that changes all of the typical sounds of the world. Something like replacing all of the "normal" sounds with something strange, like doors closing would all sound like "pew!" or footsteps would all be "bloop" or something. Does this exist?
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posted by Lutoslawski
on Mar 25, 2013 -
15 answers
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.
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posted by mr_crash_davis
on Mar 20, 2013 -
5 answers
[SciFi Book Filter] I'm basically looking for good science fiction books that have very minimal (or no) character development.
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posted by Busmick
on Mar 6, 2013 -
39 answers
I'm a graduate student about to propose a college writing class on science fiction and personal identity. The stories need to be short and brand name authors are preferred. I've got a prospective syllabus (see inside), but I bet there's a lot of good stuff that I'm missing that you know about.
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posted by vathek
on Feb 12, 2013 -
50 answers
Assuming one already knew the planet had a safe, breathable atmosphere and a similar terrain to earth's. Also assuming the group already had team leaders, security guys, pilots, and engineers for ship/equipment operation and maintenance. Just trying to discern what KINDS of scientists (or even cultural anthropologists, etc) might prove useful to an information-gathering mission-- one in which encountering intelligent life is highly likely.
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posted by np312
on Jan 30, 2013 -
23 answers
Examples of fiction books or stories touching on the debate about whether viruses are living things or not?
posted by ac
on Jan 28, 2013 -
8 answers
Name that science fiction story / movie: Two people in love with each other are trapped in a box. The box is possibly in some alternative dimension with a Panopticon-type God person. I think the story was written by a famous sci fi author.
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posted by Apropos of Something
on Dec 30, 2012 -
3 answers
As a reader of fiction (especially if you're a devotee of
speculative fiction), how much do you like detailed descriptions and/or lists as part of the story? What if the story switches between detail and expediency?
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posted by batmonkey
on Dec 28, 2012 -
12 answers
Please help me create an "Essentials of Doctor Who" playlist, to catch someone up on the show since the reboot.
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posted by zarq
on Dec 26, 2012 -
20 answers
Thoughtful science-fiction graphic novel suggestions needed! (non-horror, limited violence)
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posted by Auden
on Dec 18, 2012 -
10 answers
There is some insane YA trilogy that no one can seem to track down. Anyone here have a clue?
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posted by cereselle
on Dec 17, 2012 -
8 answers
Help me find this dimly-remembered SF novel, if you please. Near-future dystopia, high unemployment, unemployed people are treated in humiliating ways, they adopt mysterious insects as pets, the insects give off calming pheromones. More poorly-remembered details inside, one of them NSFW.
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posted by thehmsbeagle
on Dec 1, 2012 -
3 answers
I'm trying to find a short Japanese animation that I saw on youtube several years ago. It was definitely in a science fiction setting. The most memorable aspect was the shifting POV, moving between characters as they fight in a war, with a character becoming the hero or villain immediately after we start to follow someone else.
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posted by GDWJRG
on Nov 27, 2012 -
3 answers
What (probably 70s or 80s-era) science fiction novel involved colonizing an alien world which was inherently hostile to the human protagonists but which had a native population of vampire-like creatures who were similar enough to humans to "pass?" (Possibly shapeshifters.) I thought it was C.J. Cherryh's
Faded Sun books, but it isn't – although I think I read it around the same time that I read those books in omnibus.
posted by sonic meat machine
on Nov 22, 2012 -
6 answers
I'm looking for a visually appealing strategy computer game as a gift for my mid-twenties brother, preferably casual, hard sci fi and without DRM.
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posted by Triton
on Nov 15, 2012 -
12 answers
I just reread Dune, and the parts I liked were as good as always. I don't have much patience for the parts other than that. Help me find more books that feature the "navigating a new culture but doing it really well and then kicking ass in some sort of fight" narrative. I like it when the new culture is special/insular/devalued but is really the bestest all along. (Special sandgrains inside.)
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posted by OmieWise
on Nov 8, 2012 -
38 answers
[book-filter] Need help tracking down a sci-fi novel(s) read in the late 80's or 90's containing special abilities provided by nanochips.
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posted by eloeth-starr
on Oct 7, 2012 -
1 answer
I'm looking for an online video from a couple years back. It is a short scifi movie shot in the first person, which features a scientist waking up in a lab, looking out the window to see a giant tower shooting a beam into the sky, and then grabbing a black cube with lights on it, which appears to have some sort of strange powers. It was hosted on a website which had some other seemingly related material. I don't know if it was from an ARG, or a standalone video, or what, but I'd really like to watch it again.
posted by cthuljew
on Oct 4, 2012 -
4 answers
Looking for instances, whether fictional, religious or otherwise, of the idea of the "double".
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posted by Lorin
on Sep 30, 2012 -
33 answers
Science fiction that deals with people having the ability to download information directly to their brains?
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posted by Lobster Garden
on Sep 27, 2012 -
29 answers
Speculative fiction about historical gradualism: I'm looking for SF stories which begin in the real historical world (past or present) and then gradually diverge from it,
without any single decisive turning point.
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posted by RogerB
on Sep 19, 2012 -
11 answers
Looking for your favorite works of environmentally conscious and ecologically focused science fiction and fantasy. Obscurities preferred!
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posted by gerryblog
on Sep 15, 2012 -
29 answers
Let's say a catastrophic cosmic event caused a ripple effect in the fabric of space-time, the first wave of which could potentially destroy the Earth. I realize that we have nothing in our current technology that could do anything to stop it, but what about future technology? (For fictional purposes.)
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posted by MrHalfwit
on Sep 7, 2012 -
19 answers
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?
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posted by solarion
on Sep 1, 2012 -
12 answers
(sci-fi filter) How would someone in today's age of documentation handle the practical aspects of immortality?
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posted by JoannaC
on Aug 7, 2012 -
39 answers
For a story's sake, let's say a series of enormous gravitational waves caused the fabric of space time to fluctuate. What would that be like for us here on Earth, experiencing the fallout?
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posted by MrHalfwit
on Jul 29, 2012 -
15 answers
Help me track down this
Cube-esque, straight-to-video nuclear bomb shelter paranoia film (with a shocking twist!).
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posted by Rhaomi
on Jul 19, 2012 -
8 answers
I'm looking for some new books and/or authors to read, probably fantasy/SF or historical, dramatic but not dark and preferably with female characters.
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posted by jb
on Jul 16, 2012 -
47 answers
