# Ask the guy who is pretty good at SF Story Identification **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [September 7, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417 "2008-09-07T00:08:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/281 "2017-08-30T00:27:07Z")
> [@as\_u\_wish](#): > > Sometime between 1970 and 1990 I read a short story where people are being evacuated from a planet/moon. They are lining up to board the space ships. Some youngsters are busy playing with cars and trucks in the school yard. Their teacher is angry with them for playing. The kids are extremely intent and serious. The teacher kicks the trucks and pours water on them. > > Later it turns out that the cars/trucks are foreshadowing what will happen to the escape pods. The last pod (which the teacher is on) is scheduled to be kicked out of orbit and/or flooded out. > > Does this ring a bell at all? I probably remember the details only partially and could have some of them wrong. > > Edited to add: Oh, and the teacher realizes it and is feeling guilty and sick at heart. Based on the summary here [Zenna Henderson - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenna_Henderson) this story is “The Last Step” by Zenna Henderson (in “The Anything Box”) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/282 "2017-08-30T01:32:30Z")
Fenris, there’s an anthology that came out in 1973 that was edited by Roger Elwood and Virginia Kidd. It was called _The Wounded Planet_ and _Saving Worlds_ in various editions. The stories are about ecology. Perhaps the story you’re thinking of is in this book. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/283 "2017-08-30T01:44:36Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Fenris, there’s an anthology that came out in 1973 that was edited by Roger Elwood and Virginia Kidd. It was called _The Wounded Planet_ and _Saving Worlds_ in various editions. The stories are about ecology. Perhaps the story you’re thinking of is in this book. This site has brief descriptions of each story [The Wounded Planet by Roger Elwood | Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6381435-the-wounded-planet) ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/284 "2017-08-30T05:45:31Z")
I’ve mentioned this before, but i’ll try again. Is probably a kids book of some kind but if so, surprisingly mature themes. From the 70’s, what I remember: Protagonist is a baseball player, has great eye/spatial coordination. War breaks out, his brother is presumed dead. The aliens have a single eye that emits a powerful laser. Holes in the hull are plugged by expanding balls shot from guns. Sort of what incapacitated Mr. Incredible. The protagonist and an alien are on a moon together and stuff is moving around in slow motion because of the low gravity, but the human can tell the alien is going to be crushed because the protagonist has great baseball/spatial skills. He sacrifices himself to save the alien. He wakes up in the hospital and sees his brother standing over him. The war is over, the guy saved the alien and it turns out the powerful lasers from the aliens are actually communication beams and the war started accidentally. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/285 "2017-08-30T09:26:48Z")
This isn’t a story, but I’ve looked for a couple of years and haven’t looked in the right places: Does anybody remember a large-format SF art magazine that ran a few issues in the early or mid 70’s? The pages were probably about A3 size, and I think most of the art was not original --they might have been republishing book cover art. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/286 "2017-08-30T10:27:08Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > This isn’t a story, but I’ve looked for a couple of years and haven’t looked in the right places: > > Does anybody remember a large-format SF art magazine that ran a few issues in the early or mid 70’s? The pages were probably about A3 size, and I think most of the art was not original --they might have been republishing book cover art. You couldn’t be thinking of [_Heavy Metal_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Metal_%28magazine%29), could you? Or [_Epic Illustrated_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Illustrated), from the early 1980s? ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/287 "2017-08-30T10:34:56Z")
It’s [Science Fiction Monthly](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Fiction_Monthly). I used to have every issue (although most were canaballised to put on my bedroom walls! ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/288 "2017-08-30T11:06:20Z")
Okay, since the OP is around, I’ll throw this out: [ol] [li]Read in the late-ish 80s or early 90s, in an anthology I found in a school library. Was probably the first story in the anthology.[/li][li]The great Terestrial Empire of Earthmen had fallen a while ago.[/li][li]Most alien kings had an Earthman slave as part of their court retinue, pretty much just to show how badass the king is.[/li][li]For some reason, the mark of pride of a true Earthman is that he shaves his head. (No naturally bald aliens?)[/li][li]Earthman protagonist somehow steals a ship to escape, frees an Earthwoman from a neighboring king’s court[/li][li]At the end, they find a cave with thousands or millions of Earth soldiers in cryosleep, waiting to conquer the aliens and start the Second Terrestial empire.[/li][/ol] That’s about what I can remember! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/289 "2017-08-30T20:35:16Z")
From early in the thread… Sometime in the early 80s I read a short story that was probably in a book of collected short stories. A man has a pregnant wife who is currently out and about while he is in their apartment on New Year’s Eve waiting for her to get back home. Some old guy knocks on the door. Turns out he was born last year at the turn of midnight News Year’s Eve and has aged over the past year. He’s this year’s avatar of sorts. He dies at the stroke of midnight. Guy gets a call from his wife - she had gone into labor and delivered at the stroke of midnight. Angst ensues. I am 100% certain that is a Richard Matheson story. I am 80% certain that it was “Deadline”. (Apologies if this was answered upthread.) ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/290 "2017-08-31T09:02:35Z")
> [@Meurglys](#): > > It’s [Science Fiction Monthly](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Fiction_Monthly). > I used to have every issue (although most were canaballised to put on my bedroom walls! Arrrrghhh. Irreplaceable then. Mine were canaballised by other people. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/291 "2017-08-31T10:50:16Z")
Oh, well, here’s a reminder of a couple of pages of the artwork for you, including the center spread from issue # 1… [Pastel City](https://www.flickr.com/photos/17270214@N05/25834611636) (see also the next photo to the left) [Durdane](https://www.flickr.com/photos/17270214@N05/25739751612) (The next two photos to the left are related) ---
**Author:** ![Scoobysnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Scoobysnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoobysnax)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/292 "2017-08-31T21:04:29Z")
A couple of books that I read in middle school that I have always been curious about. Read in mid to late 80s. 1. Sci-fi book about a student taking his final survival training test on a desert planet. He is dropped from a flying ship and has certain period of time to get to their base. He survives sand storms, finds water in plants that store water in pouches in their roots, and exposure. When he finally makes it to the base he finds it taken over by their enemy and has to survive a lot longer and has to rescue his teacher. 2. Fantasy book set in Scotland where a girl visiting her cousins is sent back in time thousands of years when she touches one of the standing stones in a field. I think that she goes back to a druid encampment. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![aaebig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@aaebig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaebig)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/293 "2017-09-06T17:40:35Z")
> [@Scoobysnax](#): > > 1. Sci-fi book about a student taking his final survival training test on a desert planet. He is dropped from a flying ship and has certain period of time to get to their base. He survives sand storms, finds water in plants that store water in pouches in their roots, and exposure. When he finally makes it to the base he finds it taken over by their enemy and has to survive a lot longer and has to rescue his teacher. > Thanks It’s been a long time since I read it, but this sounds a bit like The Vandarian Incident by Martyn Godfrey. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/294 "2017-09-06T17:50:06Z")
> [@aaebig](#): > > It’s been a long time since I read it, but this sounds a bit like The Vandarian Incident by Martyn Godfrey. Could be (from the brief description here [https://www.amazon.ca/Vandarian-incident-Martyn-Godfrey/dp/059071080X](https://www.amazon.ca/Vandarian-incident-Martyn-Godfrey/dp/059071080X) ) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/295 "2017-09-07T00:38:48Z")
I’m hoping someone can help me identify this half-remembered children’s/YA science fiction novel. I’m usually pretty good at tracking these things down on my own, but this one has me stumped. Unfortunately I remember nothing about the title or author. I’m fairly certain that I checked this book out from the school library sometime roughly 1988-1992, probably towards the later end of that period. I don’t think the book was very old at the time. The story was set in a mountainous region, either in the far distant future of earth or on another planet. The main character was a young girl who was something of a misfit. She had an older sibling who was considered “good”. Their culture is a strict, puritanical one. Their clothes were mostly made of undyed wool, and they referred to wool from brown and black sheep as “red” and “blue” because that was as colorful as things got around there. The plot involved an outsider, a woman, coming to this region in search of something or other. I remember wondering if the woman had been the main character in a previous novel, but I don’t know if this was the case. Anyway, she became a kind of mentor to the girl and they explored the local caves together. There were machines (mining equipment?) left by a vanished civilization, and the woman knew how to operate them. My recollection of the cover is that it showed the woman, possibly holding up a glowing object, with the mountains in the background. Towards the end the girls learns that some sort of sinister force (in the caves?) is ruling over the area and her people are serving it. There’s a scene set during some local festival where the girl can see that people have been transformed by the influence of this force. I want to say that they have taken on a beast-like appearance. ---
**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/296 "2017-09-07T14:17:19Z")
I could use help with this one. It’s vague as hell. Post-apoc sci-fi that I read sometime in the 80s or early 90s. I don’t remember much but I think it was a cyborg/augmented super soldier type pulp novel and the protagonist is made into a cyborg to fight an enemy (giant bugs?). All I remember is that at one point during his training he’s told to turn down the heat in his body as he’s melting footsteps into the snow. I know it’s not Starship Troopers. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/297 "2017-09-07T15:59:09Z")
Could be [The Forever War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forever_War)by Joe Haldeman. He’s not turned into a cyborg, but he is given a suit of power armour. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/298 "2017-09-07T17:52:59Z")
Late 1960s/early 1970s. High school student is starting to think he might be telepathic. Police state really doesn’t like telepaths. Protagonist decides to quietly check out if the library has anything on the topic, and is surprised it has a large collection on the subject. But stranger warns him to stay away – library is used by police to identify persons showing too much interest. Protagonist somehow links up with underground group of fellow telepaths, who identify him as some sort of super-telepath. Protagonist uses new-found powers to set up a physic bridge to another planet and/or dimension which the group uses to escape to a better place. (Not in story, but I assume Earth then holds a big party celebrating that those annoying telepaths are now gone.) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/299 "2017-09-07T18:15:18Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Could be [The Forever War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forever_War)by Joe Haldeman. > > He’s not turned into a cyborg, but he is given a suit of power armour. Yeah, in Forever War there is a training scene on an iceworld, which might have that footprints bit in it. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/300 "2017-09-07T18:40:51Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > Late 1960s/early 1970s. High school student is starting to think he might be telepathic. Police state really doesn’t like telepaths. Protagonist decides to quietly check out if the library has anything on the topic, and is surprised it has a large collection on the subject. But stranger warns him to stay away – library is used by police to identify persons showing too much interest. > > Protagonist somehow links up with underground group of fellow telepaths, who identify him as some sort of super-telepath. Protagonist uses new-found powers to set up a physic bridge to another planet and/or dimension which the group uses to escape to a better place. (Not in story, but I assume Earth then holds a big party celebrating that those annoying telepaths are now gone.) Somewhat similar to [The Chrysalids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chrysalids)by John Wyndham. If this is correct, you forgot the post-apocalyptic setting, but plot includes: - young man develops telepathic powers - authorities hate any deviation from the “true image” of man, telepathy included. - hooks up with other telepaths - at the end they escape to another country, where telepaths are welcome. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=16)