# 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:** 20
**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:** [March 12, 2019, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/381 "2019-03-12T11:17:40Z")
What do you mean by challenges instead of requests for identification? ---
**Author:** ![BlueInfinity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BlueInfinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueInfinity)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/382 "2019-03-12T11:29:39Z")
I mean I know what the story is, but I want to see if anyone else can ID it without Google. It’s just for fun. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2019, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/383 "2019-03-12T12:03:51Z")
> [@BlueInfinity](#): > > If challenges instead of requests for identifications are okay, here’s one… > > 1. A time traveler knows how he’s supposed to die, but doesn’t like the details, so he refuses to go along with the “script” and instead dies somewhere else in time. > 2. Time starts to unravel because of the paradox of this guy dying twice. His best friend must resolve the conflict or else all life on Earth will end. > 3. Also includes a love triangle, going to jail on purpose, and time machines built into wristwatches. Off the top of my head I’d say “Time Travellers never Die” by Jack McDevitt ---
**Author:** ![BlueInfinity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BlueInfinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueInfinity)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/384 "2019-03-12T20:57:58Z")
That was fast. This is courtesy of the anthology _[Time Machines: The Best Time Travel Stories Ever Written](https://www.amazon.com/Time-Machines-Bill-Adler-Jr/dp/0786704934/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=time+machines+best+time+travel&qid=1552424209&s=books&sr=1-11)_. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/385 "2019-03-12T21:27:29Z")
> [@BlueInfinity](#): > > That was fast. This is courtesy of the anthology _[Time Machines: The Best Time Travel Stories Ever Written](https://www.amazon.com/Time-Machines-Bill-Adler-Jr/dp/0786704934/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=time+machines+best+time+travel&qid=1552424209&s=books&sr=1-11)_. I read the original novella in Asimov’s magazine where it first appeared (in 1996) and read the later version when it was expanded into a novel in 2006, so it wasn’t hard for me to recognize. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/386 "2019-03-12T22:25:18Z")
Anyone remember a short story in which the flickers of movement you see in your peripheral vision were actual creatures? It’s been so long that my memory may be supplying false notions, but I seem to recall one attached to his arm or hand and he had to hack off his arm with a machete. A long shot, I know. Hope springs eternal. ---
**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:** [March 13, 2019, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/387 "2019-03-13T02:01:27Z")
> [@pohjonen](#): > > Anyone remember a short story in which the flickers of movement you see in your peripheral vision were actual creatures? It’s been so long that my memory may be supplying false notions, but I seem to recall one attached to his arm or hand and he had to hack off his arm with a machete. > > A long shot, I know. Hope springs eternal. Doesn’t ring a bell, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/388 "2019-03-13T03:25:15Z")
There was one I read in middle school that I’m still trying to find. I thought it was named _Psi High_, but the description of the only book by that title I can find, by Alan Nourse, does not match my recollection. Plot: Three passengers of a space liner escape from the liner when it is attacked by enemy aliens. Each passenger has a particular psi power: Cordelia is a telekinetic, Jake is a receiving telepath, Bernie is a teleporter. Their escape pod lands on a backward planet that is reminiscent of 1920s/1930s midwest America whose inhabitants have forgotten they were originally from Earth. The three eventually join a carnival. Then the enemy aliens find the planet and start trying to turn it into a secret, behind-the-lines base for attacking human forces. Cordy and Jake escape to inform the human government about this, but Bernie dies because he 'ports into the alien control center to turn off the devices preventing the ship they were stealing from taking off and the aliens mortally wound him before he kills them and releases the ship. What is this book, and who wrote 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:** [March 13, 2019, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/389 "2019-03-13T04:50:25Z")
[The galactic rejects Andrew J. Offutt](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qpbBOOGo9hEC&q=telepathy+teleport+carnival+subject:%22science+fiction%22&dq=telepathy+teleport+carnival+subject:%22science+fiction%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiWyd-IqP7gAhWRs3EKHeurDhoQ6AEIKzAB) ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/390 "2019-03-13T12:44:46Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > [The galactic rejects > Andrew J. Offutt](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qpbBOOGo9hEC&q=telepathy+teleport+carnival+subject:%22science+fiction%22&dq=telepathy+teleport+carnival+subject:%22science+fiction%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiWyd-IqP7gAhWRs3EKHeurDhoQ6AEIKzAB) That’s it! I remember the cover they show on Amazon! Woo-hoo! Thank you, **Peter Morris**! ---
**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:** [March 13, 2019, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/391 "2019-03-13T16:15:21Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > There was one I read in middle school that I’m still trying to find. I thought it was named _Psi High_, but the description of the only book by that title I can find, by Alan Nourse, does not match my recollection. “Psi High and Others” is a good book though… ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/392 "2019-03-13T17:12:05Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > “Psi High and Others” is a good book though… The weird bit is that I have no recollection of it, and yet I almost had to have read it at about the same time as I read _The Galactic Rejects_ for me to remember the title of one but the plot of the other. So, how are you at mid-teen ghost stories? Because there are two other books I’m trying to remember the titles of, but I’m pretty sure neither were considered science fiction or fantasy. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/393 "2019-03-13T18:04:34Z")
> [@pohjonen](#): > > Anyone remember a short story in which the flickers of movement you see in your peripheral vision were actual creatures? It’s been so long that my memory may be supplying false notions, but I seem to recall one attached to his arm or hand and he had to hack off his arm with a machete. > > A long shot, I know. Hope springs eternal. I don’t know the title, but I’m pretty sure that Mike Resnick was the author. I remember them masquerading as debris by the side of the highway and moving just outside of or on the edges of one’s field of view. ---
**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:** [March 13, 2019, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/394 "2019-03-13T18:18:11Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > The weird bit is that I have no recollection of it, and yet I almost had to have read it at about the same time as I read _The Galactic Rejects_ for me to remember the title of one but the plot of the other. > > So, how are you at mid-teen ghost stories? Because there are two other books I’m trying to remember the titles of, but I’m pretty sure neither were considered science fiction or fantasy. 😉 I read a few of those in the 1970s and 80s. Give it a try… ---
**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:** [March 13, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/395 "2019-03-13T18:19:26Z")
> [@Mr.Bill](#): > > I don’t know the title, but I’m pretty sure that Mike Resnick was the author. I remember them masquerading as debris by the side of the highway and moving just outside of or on the edges of one’s field of view. Here’s Resnick’s ISFDB page [Summary Bibliography: Mike Resnick](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?48) (I do see one story called “Me and My Shadow” which sounds promising) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/396 "2019-03-13T18:25:27Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Here’s Resnick’s ISFDB page [Summary Bibliography: Mike Resnick](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?48) (I do see one story called “Me and My Shadow” which sounds promising) Don’t know if that’s the one. I also remember it was one of his stories set in Africa, with I believe a Maasai protagonist. Definitely not Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge, however, as I recently read that. ---
**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:** [March 13, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/397 "2019-03-13T18:29:14Z")
> [@Mr.Bill](#): > > Don’t know if that’s the one. I also remember it was one of his stories set in Africa, with I believe a Maasai protagonist. > > Definitely not Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge, however, as I recently read that. Those stories would be listed under the Kirinyaga heading, probably. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/398 "2019-03-13T18:32:30Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Those stories would be listed under the Kirinyaga heading, probably. Quite possibly. As an aside, I was a big fan of Resnick, back in the '80’s and '90’s. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2019, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/399 "2019-03-14T01:06:49Z")
> [@Mr.Bill](#): > > Quite possibly. > > As an aside, I was a big fan of Resnick, back in the '80’s and '90’s. Me too. I’m a sucker for “future histories” and Resnick’s “Santiago” universe was a pretty good one. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2019, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/400 "2019-03-14T01:14:15Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Those stories would be listed under the Kirinyaga heading, probably. Nothing supernatural in the Kirinyaga stories. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=19) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=21)