I'm trying to find a short sci-fi story I read over 10 years ago that I barely remember. It may have involved some or all of the following: bicycle repair, ripe banana smelling bacteria used as deodorant and anti-libido medication. [more inside]
posted by jrishel on Nov 19, 2009 - 7 answers

Please help me remember the title and author of a short story I read maybe 15 years ago. A handicapped woman, living with her sister and her sister's family, sees a man in church she feels quite sure is the devil. In order to get away from him, she struggles to regain the physical independence she had given up. (She had gone into a wheelchair because walking was possible, but too painful.) She does manage to become self-sufficient enough to move out on her own--and then wonders if it was worth it, after all. I am almost sure the author was Italian. Can anyone help?
posted by uans on Nov 16, 2009 - 0 answers

Help me find this short story that I read in 8th grade 20 years ago. It's about a prisoner who finds the entrance to a tunnel in his jail cell and crawls all the way down... [more inside]
posted by yawper on Nov 1, 2009 - 4 answers

In the early 1980s, Starlog magazine ran a column called Quest that featured readers' artistic submissions. To this day, I still recall a story called "Bomb Run," which dealt with an Enola Gay-style bombing of an alien planet. Did anyone else read this story, and if so, do you know where can I find it online or at least learn the author's name?
posted by nightengine on Oct 14, 2009 - 2 answers

please help identify this short story...I believe I would have read this in the 80's. There was a team of psychic investigators, and they are called to look into strange events (unexplained accidents?) on a section of highway. In the end it turns out that cumulative spiritual energy of roadkill animals is somehow striking back/rising up, and there is an exorcism of some sort. Then they hear about the bus full of dangerous inmates which has crashed...(implying that the aftereffects will be horrific) [more inside]
posted by maryrussell on Sep 20, 2009 - 3 answers

Name this short story about an immigrant student working as a babysitter for an American professor. [more inside]
posted by Bizurke on Sep 9, 2009 - 3 answers

Short story cover letters: How do I indicate I have actually read the journal I am submitting to , or do I do so, at all? I am a Canadian who wants to publish short fiction in the far larger market in the U.S. Every literary journal’s submission guidelines urge you to read at least one copy of their magazine before submitting. [more inside]
posted by uans on Sep 8, 2009 - 16 answers

What are some short stories/myths etc. with a sole female protagonist for film adaptation? [more inside]
posted by breadfruit on Aug 22, 2009 - 6 answers

Anyone recognize this short story about a journalist who wants to learn what it's like to be on Death Row? It's NOT by Roald Dahl. [more inside]
posted by web-goddess on Jul 19, 2009 - 6 answers

SFShortStoryFilter: Looking for a short(ish) story I must have read in one of the more popular SF anthologies about a human race of nigh-immortals spread out through several verses. [more inside]
posted by tigrrrlily on Jun 27, 2009 - 6 answers

Please explain what happened in Edna O'Brien's short story "Old Wounds", published in the June 8-15 issue of the New Yorker (link). [more inside]
posted by medusa on Jun 12, 2009 - 5 answers

Help me remember the name of this short story I read in a humor anthology in the late 70's. I remember the title as "A Visit to the Cream-Puff Factory," but all my attempts to find it again have been unsuccessful. [more inside]
posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo on May 21, 2009 - 2 answers

This question about eggs reminded me of a short story I read years and years ago. It features a kitten and breakfast. [more inside]
posted by maudlin on May 13, 2009 - 4 answers

I'm trying to track down a fantasy short story based around a real life infamous chess game. [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Apr 23, 2009 - 6 answers

What is this short story about a diver falling from the sky? [more inside]
posted by nvly on Apr 6, 2009 - 5 answers

Help me remember a short story about a girls' detention center. [more inside]
posted by DWRoelands on Apr 3, 2009 - 1 answer

After looking everywhere and which a way, I am at a loss. I am looking for a short story with a near future high tech anarchy as background-- something that resembles David Brin's concept of The Transparent Society, Utopian Version, where every body knows everybody else's business--as opposed to, say, Police Surveillance State On Steroids Big Time where Big Brother knows your business and location as in 1984 meets The Minority Report. [more inside]
posted by y2karl on Mar 10, 2009 - 11 answers

"What science fiction short story is this?" filter. One story about body switching/different perceptions, and another about mindreading. [more inside]
posted by anthy on Feb 25, 2009 - 10 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

"ID this short story" Filter: Story about a storyteller toy à la Teddy Ruxpin who is discarded by its owners after they receive a new model. [more inside]
posted by infinitewindow on Jan 10, 2009 - 6 answers

Can you help identify a short story read on NPR on or around x-mas day 2007, about a poor white family helping out a poor black family, probably out west, probably in the 1930s? [more inside]
posted by chr1sb0y on Dec 24, 2008 - 4 answers

I feel like I should know this one but Google has failed me. I recall reading a Sci-Fi-like story about a group of children who were only allowed to play outside in the sun for one day a year. I can't remember if the lived underground or if it rained all of the time. I just remember that there was only one day they could enjoy being outside. Does anyone know the name or author of the story?
posted by extraheavymarcellus on Dec 11, 2008 - 6 answers

"ID this SF story" filter: I read this story in middle school out of a scifi anthology. It was about a human soldier who was launched into space in a capsule with an onboard computer, containing all the knowledge of the Earth, as well as enough supplies to last him indefinitely. [more inside]
posted by wayofthedodo on Dec 1, 2008 - 6 answers

Another "ID this SF story" question...a man wakes up in the night to discover (so he thinks) that all the metal in his house is gone. [more inside]
posted by attercoppe on Nov 21, 2008 - 3 answers

ID That Story: novel (novella? short story?) in which a man is standing in line. Pretty much the entire story is his experience while waiting in line. It's a future/dystopia story. The man is waiting in line to make a complaint. He falls in love with the girl in front of him, though she's not allowed to turn and look at him. It's a parable about overpopulation. It was probably written in the 60s or 70s. That's all I remember.
posted by grumblebee on Nov 20, 2008 - 8 answers

I'm trying to find a short story I read awhile back. 1960s-era student radicals infiltrated the Establishment to bring it down from the inside. Decades later on the eve of their impending success they.... [more inside]
posted by codswallop on Nov 4, 2008 - 2 answers

Please help me identify/find this David Foster Wallace (very) short story. [more inside]
posted by hugo on Oct 28, 2008 - 3 answers

Short Story Suggestions: I need a short story for a specific lesson. Criteria inside. [more inside]
posted by gursky on Oct 25, 2008 - 10 answers

Short Story Filter. I remember a short story that I read in a sci-fi story anthology back in the mid 90's that I haven't been able to find since. There are a group of three boys, one of them substantially younger, who play out in a big field. One of the older boys tells the younger boy, as a joke, that if you look through the hole in the middle of a stone, you can see into another world of some kind. Mysterious circumstances then occur. [more inside]
posted by lockle on Oct 23, 2008 - 2 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

Another of the endless stream of "name this childhood book" questions that y'all are so good at answering. [more inside]
posted by ricochet biscuit on Sep 6, 2008 - 8 answers

What are some good short stories in which time passes extremely quickly? [more inside]
posted by whir on Sep 1, 2008 - 12 answers

Does this literary form exist? [more inside]
posted by dances_with_sneetches on Jun 5, 2008 - 32 answers

Help me remember the name of this short story about a draft dodger in Vietnam. [more inside]
posted by BusyBusyBusy on May 15, 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 by pedmands on May 14, 2008 - 14 answers

Looking for a science fiction short story I read years ago. [more inside]
posted by gerryblog on Feb 24, 2008 - 11 answers

Help me be awesome and find this sci fi short story for my room mate. I have only my account of his account of the plot to go by. [more inside]
posted by pedmands on Feb 23, 2008 - 15 answers

Help me identify these four short horror stories, based on descriptions of their plots and endings. SPOILERS AHEAD! [more inside]
posted by Faint of Butt on Jan 29, 2008 - 3 answers

Help me identify this short story! It is a story told from the perspective of an infant as he is free-falling through the garbage chute of a multi-level housing complex after being discarded by his teenage mother. The story is divided into nine parts, with each part signifying the baby's arrival at each floor until he finally reaches the trash compactor at the ground level. [more inside]
posted by sansgras on Jan 16, 2008 - 4 answers

What is the short story where there is a barber who, upon touching a person's head or hair, is able to see how the person will die? That's all I can really recall about the story. I read it years ago when I was in high school in one of the literature books that some classes use for instruction.
posted by mulligan on Jan 10, 2008 - 9 answers

Help me figure out the title/author of this short science fiction story. It was about a world where everyone stopped growing. [more inside]
posted by hjo3 on Jan 10, 2008 - 6 answers

What is the name of this short story that I am thinking of? [more inside]
posted by jModug on Jan 6, 2008 - 6 answers

Short Story Filter: I'm trying to track down a wonderful short story I read maybe 15 years ago. It focuses on a couple struggling with a dysfunctional marital and/or sexual relationship. The story is set somewhere in a snowy/icy climate, and the central conceit of the story is that the husband needs to free their car which is stuck in the snow. As the story unfolds, the author describes the back-and-forth rocking of the car as he slams it from "drive" into "reverse" and back again, and it becomes clear that the movement of the car is a powerful sexual metaphor. Finally the car rolls free and the dramatic release seems to provide hope for the relationship. Does this sound familiar to anybody? I thought the title of the story was "Unstuck," but Googling has led me nowhere.
posted by AngerBoy on Dec 11, 2007 - 5 answers

TeenAngstFilter: Can you help me identify a short story about a student who blows up a pool? [more inside]
posted by burnmp3s on Nov 29, 2007 - 2 answers

What type of stories win the Toronto Star's short story contest? I mean, beyond what's in the Star's rules and guidelines -- does history show a bias towards a certain subject matter or style, etc.? The judges are from the Humber College creative writing program -- does that mean there are any types of writing that are especially in/out of favour?
posted by winston on Nov 27, 2007 - 0 answers

I need an extremely short suspense story. [more inside]
posted by Hargrimm on Oct 25, 2007 - 17 answers

I've written some fiction. Now I want to see if it's any good. [more inside]
posted by reenum on Oct 14, 2007 - 7 answers

Seeking out a sci-fi short story I read some time ago and would like to find again. [more inside]
posted by killThisKid on Aug 23, 2007 - 6 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 by Specklet on Jul 31, 2007 - 4 answers

[ObscureSciFiFilter] Help me identify these science fiction stories please? [more inside]
posted by herichon on Jul 8, 2007 - 15 answers