SF Signal: Ask a Science Fiction Expert

Ask a Science Fiction Expert

It's the middle of the night. You're tossing, turning. You just can't get it out of your head. "Stop messing with my mind!" you yell, waking your significant other shortly before they hit you over the head with the pillow. Sheepishly, you apologize. "Sorry, honey. I just can't think of the name of that science fiction book I read when I was ten."

Before your meet Mr. Divorce, allow me to introduce All Experts' Science Fiction book experts. A panel of self-proclaimed sf experts eager to answer any and all science fiction related queries. Or, if you don't have a specific question, you can troll previously asked questions and test your own science fiction knowledge.

I wouldn't call it a hugely popular site - there are only about 50 questions asked in the last 5 years, but some of them were at least recently asked.

Ok, This is so great I found you kindred spirits...Your example above is exactly my problem. I have tried for years to remember the first SF book that started it all...I was 8 but the book was a higher level than that...published in the late 1940s or 1950s...I've thought it might have been an Asimov or Heinlein Juvie but don't really know... It was about Mars and a boy...I think there was a cave and I think Martians...I know these are all common themes for these books except I remember he also went to Phobos and Deimos.

I'm afraid that's all my 1960s and 70s traveled brain remembers. Anybody who can shed light on this I would be extremely grateful....

Thanks much
Mark

Posted by Mark Fohs on Tuesday May 17, 2005 at 1:21 PM

Hi, I remember reading a story time ago centered around some scientist trying to find a cure afaik for mass hysteria or something. I remember there wer towers mentioned in the story that kept the people away and this scientist was also dependant on some sort of drug. He manages to find the cure and then the story reveals that in fact the scientist had been put to sleep afaik and in an imaginary world with a problem that could eventually really happen.

I would appreciate any insight on title/author. Thanks a lot for your help.

Nich.. Malta
--------------------
::toss & turn trying to remember the name::

Posted by nich on Wednesday March 01, 2006 at 4:35 PM

Hi,

I'm delighted to have found your site, as I am trying to find a short science fiction story that I read as a child.
Since I'm afraid I can't remember its title, or the author, I therefore wanted to ask an expert whether it rang any bells with them.

It basically involves a man who's wife has given birth to a child and when he visits her, he is horrified to find that his 'son' is actually a pyramid, with tentacles instead of arms. The doctors christen the child 'Pi' and work out that it must have slipped into our realm from another dimension.
In a nutshell, in order to live together as a family, the husband and wife agree to be transported to Pi's dimension, where they will all appear as normal human beings to each other, although in reality they will take on forms like Pi's.

If you can offer any assistance as to the name of this story or its author, I would be extremely grateful.

Many thanks in advance,

Alan Blyton

Posted by Alan Blyton on Thursday January 11, 2007 at 9:34 AM

I am trying to figure out two stories I read as a young adult. One was about a child who apparently was a monster whose family kept it under the basement stairs. It broke my heart and I want to read it again!!! The other is about a scientist who made a machine that could hear sounds outside of the normal range and could hear grass screaming as it was cut.

I have been searching all over the net but no luck.

Any ideas?

Thanks, Anne

Posted by Anne on Wednesday February 21, 2007 at 5:55 PM

Folks, it should be noted that is isn't this site that answers questions like this, but the one linked to in the story. I'm afraid that you're shooting in the dark over here. I'm not going to call myself a sci-fi expert any time soon - I've read so little compared to what I'd like to read.

Posted by Scott on Wednesday February 21, 2007 at 11:29 PM

Have a story running through my head that I cannot remember the title to.

The premise: Earth has been conquered by an alien race. The race is headquartered in Los Angeles and I seem to recall that they like a sauna type of environment a little warmer than our normal temperature.

There is a bit of a resistance and the alien governor is under military pressure to crackdown. Well the twist is that there is an even more insidious powerful alien on the way to destroy the earth.

The alien invaders and the resistance must team up to stop the destruction of the earth. The alien occupiers think that there is not really much hope of stopping the worst aliens who travel faster than light and exit through the sun's corona.

An ambassador for the really bad aliens travels to the solar system and meets with the alien occupiers and at least one human. The really bad alien ambassador must kill himself after having any discourse with another alien and pretty much disintigrates after proclaiming the earth's doom.

The earth resistance comes up with the idea of attacking the really evil aliens when the exit the sun's corona and may be vulnerable.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Craig

Posted by Craig C on Tuesday June 26, 2007 at 8:23 AM

Hello sci-fi friends,
My wife & I read a sci-fi paperback a number of years ago which we loved. Inadvertantly it was lost. We have since tried to obtain another copy to no avail! For some reason we both had the same title in mind, that being, 'THE GREEN HILLS OF EARTH' We found a copy in a s/h shop, but our hopes were dashed. IT WAS THE WRONG STORY! Perhaps you can help. I will outline the story for you. It may ring a bell somewhere. Here goes:- It all started with an alien war on some distant planet. An alien space craft was badly damaged, its occupant mortally injured. We assume the craft was not controlable. Anyway the craft heads off into deep space, eventually arriving at earth. The space craft crash lands on someones farm. The farmer investigates, finds the craft and its alien occupant. The alien (a hidious creature to the farmer), reaches out for help, but the farmer misunderstands the aliens intentions, and blasts the alien with his 12bore shot gun. Before it dies, the alien triggers a divice in its craft that turns all of nature against all human life. So starts a teriffic story of humans trying to survive the wrath of nature...........! We read this story about 30yrs ago. I hope this is enough info: to give you a guide. Many thanks, R.J.Hawkins.

Posted by R.J.Hawkins on Saturday July 07, 2007 at 3:16 PM

I remember a story from my childhood in the 60s and early 70s. I can see very vivid images in my memory so it might have been broadcast. Perhaps Billy Mumy played the young man.
The story starts out with parents worrying that their son does not go outside to play enough. Kids have to take an IQ test when they are somewhere about 8 to 12 years old. If the child scores too HIGH (which the kid in the story does), the child is terminated and the parents are notified where they can pick up the body. I seem to recall there being some sort of government propaganda speech discussing the dangers of high IQ.
I have discussed this story line with students in my math and Physics classes for 22 years. I've even managed to make my 25 year old son obsessed with this. I want to know who wrote it and what the title is. I'd love to read the story or screenplay or see the video.
I'm so obsessed with finding this information I've contemplated writing the story myself and getting it published just so I'd get the information I need from the copyright infringement lawsuit.
Please HELP me if you can.

Posted by Judy Ruhlin on Thursday September 13, 2007 at 12:12 AM

Anne's story:

The other is about a scientist who made a machine that could hear sounds outside of the normal range and could hear grass screaming as it was cut.

is The Sound Machine by Roald Dahl

Posted by Ben on Monday October 29, 2007 at 4:22 PM

I've been trying . . . second year now, to run down a sci fi movie I saw as > a kid. I've ran down virtually every single SF made in the fifties and STILL can't find it. There were about four movies I remembered seeing and being impressed with at a very young age. All SF. Over the years I've found all but one. I ran across one accidentally on Xmas Eve a few years back (Creature With The Atomic Brain) and made a copy of it. It was a great Xmas surprise for me. I like seeing how my memory matches up with the reality of the movie. The scenes that stuck with me were almost exactly as I remembered. A
Anyway, here are my distinct memories of the movie I'm searching for. It opens with a creepy SF therim soundtrack (pretty sure on this) and the view of a metropolitan city, probably New York. As the credits roll, the camera slowly comes closer down to the city. Then, a man awakes from a hangover and finds himself alone and the city apparently deserted. He eventually stumbles on a few others who for various reasons are in the same boat as him. Something is stalking them. It turns out to be a robot, human-sized if memory serves, which has one round eye in its head. From this eye it emits
a ray which disintegrates whatever it is focused on. The army finally comes in and destroys the robot.

That's all I definitely remember. I was maybe six to eight years old when I saw this, putting it somewhere in the early or mid-fifties. I've seen it one time in my life, but am absolutely firm on the details I listed above. So far, after exhaustive research, I can no plot synopsis that fits it, no movie description that
corresponds to it. I've looked and looked, and will look some more.
It's now a quest type of thing. If anyone has a clue that can help me, I would certainly appreciate it.

Posted by Michael on Tuesday December 04, 2007 at 7:34 AM

I have been searching for a book I read back in college. And I'm 57 so that will tell you how far back you'll have to reach.

I do Not know the Title or Author.

The premise of the book centers around a male character who rides a motorcycle on rails. These rails are on a vertical world. The point of it all is he is on the outside whereas everyone else is on the inside and for some bizarre reason, the authority on the inside want him.

The name Joseph Clifford Faust sticks in this aged brain of mine, but I cannot associate anything I've found on the web of this author with that novel.

I'm at a loss.

I'm hoping some science fiction guru out there can help me out.

Michael

Posted by Michael E. Castle on Wednesday December 26, 2007 at 5:25 PM

Michael, your motorcycle novel might be "Farewell Horizontal" by K.W. Jeter. Societies of outcasts love on the outside of skyscrapers - some have special motorcycles that allow them to come and go.

Hope this helps. The only other thing I can offer is that the novel you describe was not one of mine .

Posted by JCF on Wednesday January 09, 2008 at 7:06 PM

I'm looking for a sci-fi story I read long ago. The premise was that the Earth is someone's Master's thesis. One detail is that a city (perhaps South-side Chicago) was found unacceptable and had to be re-done. The protagonist peeks outside his car window while driving out of the area and sees everything as an opaque fog.

If anyone knows the author and title of this story, I would appreciate learning it.

Chris Geller

Posted by Chris Geller on Thursday March 27, 2008 at 8:08 AM

Help----all you science fiction experts!
I read a story (I believe it was a book, not just a short story, maybe not) in the late 70's or early 80's. I do not know the title or author. But it was a way cool and I WANT TO FIND IT!
Basically there were 2 perspectives of the story, I think 2 different dimensions. On one side was someone like us, either experimenting or fooling around and has made some kind of contact or communication with 'another world or dimension' and does certain things in reaction to that. On the other side, the 'alien' side we see that being's reaction to communicating with one like us. I know this is vague, but man, I would love to get this found.......... Thanks Cay

Posted by Cay Layton on Saturday March 29, 2008 at 10:55 AM