# Amazingly dim recollections of stories/books that I now want to acquire. (Possible sp **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2003, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-dim-recollections-of-stories-books-that-i-now-want-to-acquire-possible-sp/150718 "2003-01-24T21:21:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Don\_Roberto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Don\_Roberto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Roberto)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2003, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-dim-recollections-of-stories-books-that-i-now-want-to-acquire-possible-sp/150718/41 "2003-01-28T09:25:24Z")
**Octavia Smythe-Bunion I. Esq** : I’ve read that story! In an anthology called _Science Fiction_ (cause that will be helpful). The cover was red and blue, but I can’t remember anything else. Arrgg! I think I still have the book, but it would be stored at my parents house, thousands of miles away… ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2003, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-dim-recollections-of-stories-books-that-i-now-want-to-acquire-possible-sp/150718/42 "2003-01-28T10:46:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Octavia Smythe-Bunion I. Esq. \* > **Okay, I have one. I read this back in one of my jr. high lit. books. There is this guy who has learned that there is supposedly an alternate world that is a paradise. He approaches this man who is supposed to know the path to get there. The man tells him about it, issues a few warnings, and instructs him to show up at a barn somewhere outside the city at a certain time.** This story is “Of Missing Persons” by Jack Finney. One of my all-time favorites! It appears in his anthology _About Time: Twelve Stories_. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2003, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-dim-recollections-of-stories-books-that-i-now-want-to-acquire-possible-sp/150718/43 "2003-01-28T10:48:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiat Lux \* > \*\*This is a story I read some time ago, and I’m completely unable to recall the author. > > It’s sort of a detective story, except the ‘detective’ is actually more a mystic, spooky occult investigator rather than a hardboiled PI. He goes to a town where several different people are having the same bad dream, about being at a feast, only the host always turns them away at the end. After looking around for a while, he finds out what’s going on. The dream is actually a spiritual guilt trip they’re all taking; they’re all sinners in some way or another, and they’re dreaming of the host (Jesus) denying them Heaven. The detective leaves them to their dreams and leaves town in the end \*\* The Detective of Dreams, Gene Wolfe, 1980. Appears in the Gene Wolfe anthology _Endangered Species_, 1989. ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2003, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-dim-recollections-of-stories-books-that-i-now-want-to-acquire-possible-sp/150718/44 "2003-01-28T10:51:21Z")
BTW, if you’re looking for a hard-to-find science-fiction story, the Locus Press offers a great online index by author, story title, and anthology title at [http://www.locusmag.com/index/a4.html](http://www.locusmag.com/index/a4.html). There is a similar index for mystery stories at [http://users.ev1.net/~homeville/msf/a4.htm](http://users.ev1.net/~homeville/msf/a4.htm). ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2003, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-dim-recollections-of-stories-books-that-i-now-want-to-acquire-possible-sp/150718/45 "2003-01-28T10:56:53Z")
Sorry, the link that I just gave for the mystery index was just for the index by author. The main link is [http://users.ev1.net/~homeville/msf/0start.htm](http://users.ev1.net/~homeville/msf/0start.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Gravity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gravity/32/14322_2.png) [@Gravity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gravity)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2003, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-dim-recollections-of-stories-books-that-i-now-want-to-acquire-possible-sp/150718/46 "2003-01-28T13:35:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fizgig \* > \*\ ***Gravity** Thank you so much! I believe that may be the book, because I sort of have a vague recollection of a sequel, so the war may have come in the second book if that was accurate. It sounds pretty familiar. I’ll be so thrilled if I find a copy. 😃 \*\* \*_fizgig_, I’d be happy to send you my 1973 Dell Yearling reprint (in horrible shape) if you like. Just e-mail me with your address, and I’ll mail it out to you. ---
**Author:** ![fizgig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@fizgig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fizgig)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-dim-recollections-of-stories-books-that-i-now-want-to-acquire-possible-sp/150718/47 "2003-01-30T02:05:37Z")
Thank you for the generous offer, but I found some early printings ('36 and '39, I think) of The Good Master and The Singing Tree on [www.abebooks.com](http://www.abebooks.com). I wanted the whole yellowed paper, musty smell and cloth binding experience. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-dim-recollections-of-stories-books-that-i-now-want-to-acquire-possible-sp/150718/48 "2003-01-30T02:58:40Z")
I just tried the SF link posted by **brianmelendez** , and it’s down for now, having exceeded it’s bandwidth limit. The main page works, [http://www.locusmag.com/](http://www.locusmag.com/) and there’s a link in the News Log explaining. ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-dim-recollections-of-stories-books-that-i-now-want-to-acquire-possible-sp/150718/49 "2003-01-30T03:07:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjk \* > \*\*I just tried the SF link posted by brianmelendez, and it’s down for now, having exceeded it’s bandwidth limit. The main page works, [http://www.locusmag.com/](http://www.locusmag.com/) and there’s a link in the News Log explaining. \*\* There is a subset of the Locus index, for stories published pre-1984 (the year, not the novel), at [http://users.ev1.net/~homeville/isfac/0start.htm](http://users.ev1.net/~homeville/isfac/0start.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Osbie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cdc98d/32.png) [@Osbie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osbie)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-dim-recollections-of-stories-books-that-i-now-want-to-acquire-possible-sp/150718/50 "2003-01-30T05:27:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by brianmelendez \* > \*\*This story is “Of Missing Persons” by Jack Finney. One of my all-time favorites! It appears in his anthology _About Time: Twelve Stories_. \*\* Thank you! You too, **Don Roberto**. I’ll be checking my local library for this. ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-dim-recollections-of-stories-books-that-i-now-want-to-acquire-possible-sp/150718/51 "2003-01-30T06:42:38Z")
rjk the book with the plant-man on the raft and the guy with the cougar is called “Dark is the Sun” by Philip Jose Farmer. I remember that image distinctly, since I searched for that book for years. Finally found it at a used bookstore. Good story. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-dim-recollections-of-stories-books-that-i-now-want-to-acquire-possible-sp/150718/52 "2003-01-30T15:25:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjk \* > \*\*I just tried the SF link posted by **brianmelendez** , and it’s down for now, having exceeded it’s bandwidth limit. The main page works, [http://www.locusmag.com/](http://www.locusmag.com/) and there’s a link in the News Log explaining. \*\* OMG! Did the SDMB just slashdot someone? ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-dim-recollections-of-stories-books-that-i-now-want-to-acquire-possible-sp/150718/53 "2003-02-14T08:52:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MusicJunkie \* > \*\*Another one that I’ve been looking for: a story where various cycles and fluctuations in the global economy and politics end up being related to the personalities and neuroses of the bureaucrats who run the responsible departments. I read the story in a science-fiction anthology at least 20 years ago and haven’t been able to find it since. > > That’s by Fritz Leiber but I can’t remenber the name. \*\* **Musicjunkie** , you were right: the story is “Sanity” by Fritz Leiber. Thanks! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-dim-recollections-of-stories-books-that-i-now-want-to-acquire-possible-sp/150718.md?page=2)