# 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:** 22
**Author:** ![LoneRhino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lonerhino/32/1311_2.png) [@LoneRhino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoneRhino)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/421 "2019-03-17T03:24:45Z")
That was quick! Thanks. Now the question is: Do I read it again? Should I simply remember it as a book that I loved as a kid or do I risk being disappointed by re-reading it. ---
**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 17, 2019, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/422 "2019-03-17T03:56:08Z")
> [@LoneRhino](#): > > That was quick! Thanks. Now the question is: Do I read it again? Should I simply remember it as a book that I loved as a kid or do I risk being disappointed by re-reading it. If you’re curious, it’s [available as an e-book](https://www.amazon.com/Time-Great-Freeze-Robert-Silverberg-ebook/dp/B077QM5XFV) on Amazon, so you can do the Look Inside first. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/423 "2019-03-17T12:36:30Z")
OK, here’s one that just popped back up in my head, after however many years of dormancy: It’s a “kid detective” book, sort of like Encyclopedia Brown. But the gimmick is that the kid (or maybe kids; I can’t remember if there was only one protagonist) is a computer programmer, who always cracks the case by writing some sort of program for it. And at the end of every chapter, they would include the source code for the (real) program that did it. I vaguely remember two of the cases: One involved an amusement-park ride with a bug in the computerized safety systems, resulting from the original programmer mixing up rows and columns of an array. In another, limestone buildings were crumbling, and the townsfolk blamed the guy with the sandblasting company, but computer modeling of air currents was able to prove that it was actually acid rain (from the coal power plant, maybe?). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/424 "2019-03-17T13:18:21Z")
If your codename was ‘Orion’, it could’ve been the MICRO ADVENTURE books. ---
**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 17, 2019, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/425 "2019-03-17T19:27:46Z")
> [@LoneRhino](#): > > That was quick! Thanks. Now the question is: Do I read it again? Should I simply remember it as a book that I loved as a kid or do I risk being disappointed by re-reading it. I was really lucky. I remembered that Silverberg had written an “new ice age” book way back when, and as soon as I saw the description, I knew I had the one you wanted. ---
**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 17, 2019, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/426 "2019-03-17T19:32:08Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > If your codename was ‘Orion’, it could’ve been the MICRO ADVENTURE books. > **[Micro Adventure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Adventure)** > > Micro Adventure is the title of a series of books for young adult readers, published by Scholastic, Inc. during the 1980s. Created by Eileen Buckholtz and Ruth Glick, the YA series combined adventure stories with computer activities. > The books are noted for the inclusion of short BASIC type-in programs related to the plot of the story that the reader could type into their computers, and also for the use of second-person narration (rather like the Choose Your Own Adventure series, though unlike... ---
**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 17, 2019, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/427 "2019-03-17T19:58:05Z")
[Here](http://www.microadventure.net/) is a site that has not just the Micro Adventure books but even an emulator where you can type in and run the programs. ---
**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 17, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/428 "2019-03-17T20:02:36Z")
(Too late to edit–maybe just one book.) ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/429 "2019-03-20T00:24:51Z")
I read this one summer at my dad’s house, so it probably existed before 1985. He thinks it sounds familiar, but doesn’t remember the name/author. Sometime in the present day, our protagonist is some sort of scam investigator. (Police? Government? I don’t remember.) Someone starts a business that cures the common cold. One of his co-workers tries it out and reports that there’s a hum, some lights flash, and it’s over – but their cold is gone. Our protagonist investigates further and finds out: The entrepreneur worked for an engine manufacturer. He noticed that people who worked with a specific engine had their colds clear up. So, he turned it into a business. However, the investigator found out the entrepreneur also took skeevy pictures of the patients in the process, so the entrepreneur was forced to make his findings public. ---
**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 26, 2019, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/430 "2019-03-26T19:03:25Z")
The mention of _Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grille_ in the time machine thread reminds me of a different book that I vaguely remember. It is a collection of short stories all centered around a restaurant that is an attraction point for various stuff–time travellers, aliens, cryptids, etc. The MMPB I had had a 50s-style diner on the cover, and maybe a flying saucer type UFO off to one side. Any clues? (And no, I am _not_ thinking of anything by Spider Robinson.) ---
**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 26, 2019, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/431 "2019-03-26T19:14:10Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > The mention of _Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grille_ in the time machine thread reminds me of a different book that I vaguely remember. It is a collection of short stories all centered around a restaurant that is an attraction point for various stuff–time travellers, aliens, cryptids, etc. The MMPB I had had a 50s-style diner on the cover, and maybe a flying saucer type UFO off to one side. Any clues? (And no, I am _not_ thinking of anything by Spider Robinson.) Reminds me of “Why I Left Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers” by Lawrence Watt-Evans, which was collected in a volume called “Cross-Time Traffic” which includes some sequels to the original and what looks to be other similar works [Publication: Crosstime Traffic](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?437344) ---
**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 26, 2019, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/432 "2019-03-26T19:29:26Z")
When did you read it? Could it be Arthur C. Clarke’s [Tales from the White Hart](https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw=1290&bih=861&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=8nqaXMXUOMCe1fAPp_2diAw&q=%22TALES+FROM+THE+WHITE+HART%22&oq=%22TALES+FROM+THE+WHITE+HART%22&gs_l=img.3..0i30j0i24.315105.317781..318048...0.0..0.69.130.2......0....1..gws-wiz-img.......0.lfZMRtoSDMU), perhaps? [Fables from the fountain](https://c9c74d14-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/andrewjwilsonpublishingservice/projects-1/fables-from-the-fountain/Fables%20from%20the%20Fountain.JPG?attachauth=ANoY7cpv7V3Zcnrftrd8Ai9dCDMiezZRVxGSXT7ortHwNXqK_uWnvimmFqbdgrbkJunXeKuWZYNla4B0pQIjPDj_ylKD-cYRL0Dx1dbic-4tVXEMQIpP1GSfjn9kzr96BfaCCiUfEzJlhsxnSXuXCf7B518iJMGoNdvm1CLdRbxUDUUDyXIBHH035umEBsU58o_Byd6ubxChhOoGD79YSmfTkf9LQFroIOK9TQsOrv8zdBdGuRnP4rWGqbhpxbBhw_-JtW3im95mWEoSJWUrNdwOxUQ4c98CsUzrLekLhbushlMxWQyNwp036OujiB7la8Azs7swBkg3&attredirects=0), a more recent Clarke inspired book? ---
**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 26, 2019, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/433 "2019-03-26T19:34:24Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Reminds me of “Why I Left Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers” by Lawrence Watt-Evans, which was collected in a volume called “Cross-Time Traffic” [ [URL=“[Crosstime Traffic by Lawrence Watt-Evans, Evans Lawrence Watt](https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-345-37395-3)”]Yep]([Publication: Crosstime Traffic](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?437344)). ---
**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 26, 2019, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/434 "2019-03-26T19:36:52Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Reminds me of “Why I Left Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers” by Lawrence Watt-Evans, which was collected in a volume called “Cross-Time Traffic” which includes some sequels to the original and what looks to be other similar works [Publication: Crosstime Traffic](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?437344) Here’s the “Diner” cover of “Crosstime Traffic” [Publication: Crosstime Traffic](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?196661) Ninja’d by Darren! But at least I got the ID right. ---
**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 26, 2019, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/435 "2019-03-26T19:38:54Z")
And hey, look at [this](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/warner-bros-wins-bidding-war-sci-fi-spec-harrys-all-night-hamburgers-1085785). ---
**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 26, 2019, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/436 "2019-03-26T19:41:04Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Yep](https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-345-37395-3). Excellent! > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > And hey, look at [this](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/warner-bros-wins-bidding-war-sci-fi-spec-harrys-all-night-hamburgers-1085785). I’d like to see that movie… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/437 "2019-03-27T01:39:33Z")
This is one of those cases where the source material doesn’t have enough to support a full-length movie… but it could very easily be expanded to support a full-length movie. ---
**Author:** ![Uncrph90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/eada6e/32.png) [@Uncrph90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncrph90)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/438 "2019-03-27T14:22:43Z")
I have a SF story question. Read a novel that may have been part of a series. I read it in the mid to late 90’s–I think it was relatively contemporary, but I’m not sure when it was written. I only remember a few details–hopefully they’re accurate. Earth makes contact with a group of “friendly” aliens that abduct astronauts from a space station using their teleportation technology. BUT, the transporter creates duplicates. So the original person remains along with the copy. I remember when our abducted captives manage to kill one of the “friendly” aliens shortly after being abducted only to meet his duplicate–who is mostly angry that he has to re question them, because his latest memories had not been backed up yet. And, another scene where our heroes are frantically trying to get to a “transporter” with the bad guys right behind them. They are horrified to learn that even though they successfully “transported” away, their bodies remain in place where they will still be killed–it will be new duplicates that got away. There may have been a SETI type message to start the story–and there may have been an ability for a transported duplicate to communicate with an earlier copy, but not sure about those details. Any ideas anyone? I think I would reread if you can get me a title. The details of the teleportation system still intrigue me. Thanks! ---
**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 27, 2019, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/439 "2019-03-27T14:27:48Z")
> [@Uncrph90](#): > > I have a SF story question. Read a novel that may have been part of a series. I read it in the mid to late 90’s–I think it was relatively contemporary, but I’m not sure when it was written. I only remember a few details–hopefully they’re accurate. Earth makes contact with a group of “friendly” aliens that abduct astronauts from a space station using their teleportation technology. BUT, the transporter creates duplicates. So the original person remains along with the copy. I remember when our abducted captives manage to kill one of the “friendly” aliens shortly after being abducted only to meet his duplicate–who is mostly angry that he has to re question them, because his latest memories had not been backed up yet. And, another scene where our heroes are frantically trying to get to a “transporter” with the bad guys right behind them. They are horrified to learn that even though they successfully “transported” away, their bodies remain in place where they will still be killed–it will be new duplicates that got away. There may have been a SETI type message to start the story–and there may have been an ability for a transported duplicate to communicate with an earlier copy, but not sure about those details. > > Any ideas anyone? I think I would reread if you can get me a title. The details of the teleportation system still intrigue me. > > Thanks! Sounds like Fred Pohl’s Eschaton series (three books) starting with “The Other End of Time” [https://www.amazon.com/Other-End-Time-Eschaton/dp/0812535197](https://www.amazon.com/Other-End-Time-Eschaton/dp/0812535197) ---
**Author:** ![Uncrph90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/eada6e/32.png) [@Uncrph90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncrph90)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/440 "2019-03-27T14:40:56Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Sounds like Fred Pohl’s Eschaton series (three books) starting with “The Other End of Time” [https://www.amazon.com/Other-End-Time-Eschaton/dp/0812535197](https://www.amazon.com/Other-End-Time-Eschaton/dp/0812535197) Wow–that’s it! Thanks–and a whole five minute wait. I think it took me longer to type and post my question than it did to get an answer! This board is awesome! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=23)