# 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:** 28
**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:** [October 29, 2019, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/541 "2019-10-29T22:08:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ve heard of the trope of quenching a sword in the body of a condemned man, but I’d heard it in an urban-myth purporting-to-be-fact context. _Testing_ swords on people [isn’t entirely mythical](http://www.tameshigiri.ca/2013/12/15/a-look-at-a-dark-past-forensic-analysis-of-tameshigiri-remains/), though. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2019, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/542 "2019-10-29T23:39:36Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I remember a cheapo novel, probably from sometime in the early- or mid-Seventies when supernatural or demon-themed novels were in vogue, that started with the forging of a magical sword. I think it was during the Renaissance. The sword was tempered, in part, by being used while still red-hot to kill a condemned man - somehow his screams or suffering were important to the process. Eventually, in the present day, the sword is used to kill the bad guy. The very last scene, I’m pretty sure, had the body of the bad guy being found, while the person who killed him walked downstairs, quiet and unnoticed. My [Google-fu](https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw=999&bih=628&tbs=sbd%3A1%2Ccdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F1974%2Ccd_max%3A12%2F31%2F1974&tbm=bks&ei=98a4XbfOBf6o1fAPzdKU4Ac&q=quench+sword+blood&oq=quench+sword+blood&gs_l=psy-ab.3...4003.8322.0.8889.9.7.2.0.0.0.157.573.5j2.7.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.Mib6jEZ184Q)turned up a possibility, \*The Search For Joseph Tully \*by William H. Hallahan. You can see a [preview on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Search-Joseph-Tully-William-Hallahan/dp/B000NPT89G#reader_B07WJXQCR7). You can read the first few pages. It starts with the forging of a sword in 1498, as you describe, then switches to modern day. Does it sound familiar? It was a New York Times bestseller, [according to Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Hallahan). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/543 "2019-10-30T13:13:50Z")
The Google-fu is \*strong \*in this one. I don’t recognize the cover, but the opening scene is pretty close to what I remember from all those years ago. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/544 "2019-11-22T05:58:44Z")
Watching Disney’s The Black Hole, with the little trash can looking flying robots. Puts me in mind of a kid fic about a boy who builds a robot in his garage that as I vaguely remember looks like a small trash can, any ideas? ---
**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:** [November 22, 2019, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/545 "2019-11-22T21:12:43Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Watching Disney’s The Black Hole, with the little trash can looking flying robots. Puts me in mind of a kid fic about a boy who builds a robot in his garage that as I vaguely remember looks like a small trash can, any ideas? Sounds a bit like Asimov’s Norby [Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norby,_the_Mixed-Up_Robot) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/546 "2019-11-23T03:03:36Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Sounds a bit like Asimov’s Norby [Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norby,_the_Mixed-Up_Robot) Perfect, that is definitely it =) ---
**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:** [November 23, 2019, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/547 "2019-11-23T03:04:17Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Perfect, that is definitely it =) Great! Glad to help out. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/548 "2020-03-22T20:50:08Z")
I never did get back to my question in the beginning of this thread. The suggestion of William Tenn was indeed correct, I had confused some of the plot with the Sound of Thunder. Thanks! I have two new questions. 1. A short tory I read in the 80s about a woman who turns out to be one of the few humans who is telepathic. One of her fellow telepaths tries to contact her but she doesn’t want this and gets him killed by confusing him in traffic. It ends in that she suddenly realizes that she is alone with her gift. I distinctly remember that she had a soft fontanel, as I had to look up that word. 2. This should be easy but I haven’t managed to find it with Google or in ISFDB. It is about the Earth being overrun by refugees from the future, who arrive through time travel portals. They escape a horrible totalitarian future (there is torture going on). The protagonist is a government official involved in dealing with the refugees. She finds out that she is in some way connected to how everything started. I remember she had something she called a ‘gadget’ that was the key to everything. The story won some prize maybe 10-20 years ago. I thought the title was something like Luminous doors or Luminous portals, but apparently that is a red herring. Googling on refugees and time travel turns up references to a TV series which may be inspired by the story but doesn’t mention it. ---
**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 22, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/549 "2020-03-22T20:55:31Z")
> [@Tusculan](#): > > I never did get back to my question in the beginning of this thread. The suggestion of William Tenn was indeed correct, I had confused some of the plot with the Sound of Thunder. Thanks! > I have two new questions. > > 1. A short tory I read in the 80s about a woman who turns out to be one of the few humans who is telepathic. One of her fellow telepaths tries to contact her but she doesn’t want this and gets him killed by confusing him in traffic. It ends in that she suddenly realizes that she is alone with her gift. I distinctly remember that she had a soft fontanel, as I had to look up that word. > > 2. This should be easy but I haven’t managed to find it with Google or in ISFDB. It is about the Earth being overrun by refugees from the future, who arrive through time travel portals. They escape a horrible totalitarian future (there is torture going on). The protagonist is a government official involved in dealing with the refugees. She finds out that she is in some way connected to how everything started. I remember she had something she called a ‘gadget’ that was the key to everything. The story won some prize maybe 10-20 years ago. I thought the title was something like Luminous doors or Luminous portals, but apparently that is a red herring. Googling on refugees and time travel turns up references to a TV series which may be inspired by the story but doesn’t mention it. 2 is "Radiant Doorways by Michael Swanwick [Radiant Doors - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiant_Doors) - I remember thinking that the TV series ought to be paying Swanwick something. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/550 "2020-03-22T21:03:53Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > 2 is "Radiant Doorways by Michael Swanwick [Radiant Doors - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiant_Doors) - I remember thinking that the TV series ought to be paying Swanwick something. Yes, that’s the one! Thanks again. I remember that I didn’t quite figure out what the actual revelation at the end was. ---
**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 22, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/551 "2020-03-22T21:06:18Z")
1. is “Command Performance” (aka “Anyone Else Like Me?”) by Walter M. Miller. See discussion here [Walter M. Miller, Jr.: A Reference Guide to His Fiction and His Life - William H. Roberson - Google Books](https://books.google.com/books?id=FEKNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=%22anyone+else+like+me%22+miller&source=bl&ots=YU4xDX4yX_&sig=ACfU3U3ZyvUXLb-k9epbmzBM87JjbVgGHQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwihzq6C_q7oAhVDlHIEHWsKC-UQ6AEwAHoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22anyone%20else%20like%20me%22%20miller&f=false) Here’s a list of where it’s been collected [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?63117](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?63117) - in the 1980s it was in “The Great SF Stories #14” edited by Asimov and Greenberg (the good one). ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/552 "2020-03-23T06:37:03Z")
Indeed, excellent! Found it in an ebook collection of his stories, Dark Benediction. Now I’m at it, there is another story I’m looking for. It is about a lowly government official who has found a way to control his superior without the latter’s knowledge. This superior has also found (through a different mechanism) a way to control his superior, and so on. Then the top official in some way starts controlling the official with whom it all began, making a loop. I thought it was a Jack Vance story that I read a few years ago in an ebook collection of his, but when I looked through my library I couldn’t find the one. I also checked whether it was a Philip K. Dick story but also drew a blank there. It is possible that for some stupid oversight I simply looked past the story, but I’ve tried a few times already. ---
**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 23, 2020, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/553 "2020-03-23T11:27:13Z")
> [@Tusculan](#): > > Indeed, excellent! Found it in an ebook collection of his stories, Dark Benediction. > > Now I’m at it, there is another story I’m looking for. It is about a lowly government official who has found a way to control his superior without the latter’s knowledge. This superior has also found (through a different mechanism) a way to control his superior, and so on. Then the top official in some way starts controlling the official with whom it all began, making a loop. I thought it was a Jack Vance story that I read a few years ago in an ebook collection of his, but when I looked through my library I couldn’t find the one. I also checked whether it was a Philip K. Dick story but also drew a blank there. It is possible that for some stupid oversight I simply looked past the story, but I’ve tried a few times already. Another easy one (i.e. one I happen to know off the top of my head) - “Servant Problem” by William Tenn ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/554 "2020-03-23T13:32:36Z")
That’s the one! I’ve found it now in my collection of Tenn stories, no wonder I couldn’t find it as I was looking in the wrong place. Amazing recall, even though you find it easy. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/555 "2020-04-12T16:39:44Z")
The Jack Vance story you were thinking of would have been Dodkin’s Job. A low grade worker discovers how government policy is really made and how to take advantage of it. Sent from my I3312 using Tapatalk ---
**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:** [April 14, 2020, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/556 "2020-04-14T01:00:38Z")
I started a thread on this a while back, and got some suggestions, but nothing that was the correct answer, although one respondent did remember the story clearly and added some detail. I read the story in the early '70’s, in a hard-cover anthology that was passed down from my father. I don’t think he was reading science fiction at that point and my belief is that the book was at least a decade old. I do remember that one of the other stories in the anthology was “First Contact” by Murray Leinster. In the story I want to ID, the protagonist is a man who is a stereotypical office worker as perceived in the 50’s or '60’s. Every day he has exactly the same experience. He wakes up, gets dressed for work, he eats breakfast, spills his coffee on his shirt and has to change it. He is late for work and has to make excuses, tells the same corny joke to his secretary, is dressed down by his boss, etc. Every day is EXACTLY the same. No variation is possible, at least in externalities. He can have different thoughts, but cannot say anything different or do anything different. Gradually he becomes aware of the presence of other beings observing him, and laughing at various things. He eventually comes to the conclusion that he is in a kind of museum exhibit, i.e. “A Day In The Life Of A Human Being.” According to the respondent who remembered the story in my other thread, there is a breakdown in the ‘projector’ for the exhibit and he spends some time free of the constraints before the machinery is repaired and another day begins… Any ideas? ---
**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:** [April 14, 2020, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/557 "2020-04-14T02:37:34Z")
Since you read it in an anthology published no later than the early 1970’s that contained the short story “First Contact” by Murray Leinster, the anthology you read it in must be one of these: _The Best of Science Fiction_ ed. Groff Conklin _The Fireside Book of Flying Stories_ ed. Paul Jensen _The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology_ ed. John W. Campbell, Jr. _The First Astounding Science Fiction Anthology_ ed. John W. Campbell, Jr. _Stories for Tomorrow: An Anthology of Modern Science Fiction_ ed. William Sloane _The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology_ ed. John W. Campbell, Jr. _Best of Science Fiction_ ed. Groff Conklin _Contact_ ed. Noel Keyes _Selections from The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology_ ed. John W. Campbell, Jr. _First Step Outward_ ed. Robert Hoskins _The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One_ ed. Robert Silverberg _First Contact_ ed. Damon Knight _The Astounding-Analog Reader, Volume 1_ ed. Brian W. Aldiss, Harry Harrison _Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol One_ ed. Robert Silverberg _First Contact_ ed. Damon Knight _The Science Fiction Hall of Fame_ ed. Robert Silverberg _The Astounding-Analog Reader, Book Two_ ed. Brian W. Aldiss, Harry Harrison _Science Fiction Hall of Fame: The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of All Time_ ed. Robert Silverberg Use the following webpage to examine the contents of each of those anthologies (by clicking on the anthology name) and see if you recognize the title of the story: [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?41398+1](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?41398+1) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/558 "2020-04-14T02:50:50Z")
Wow, that’s thorough, **WW**! ---
**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:** [April 14, 2020, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/559 "2020-04-14T03:03:11Z")
> [@Mr.Bill](#): > > I started a thread on this a while back, and got some suggestions, but nothing that was the correct answer, although one respondent did remember the story clearly and added some detail. Here’s the previous thread [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=20827982](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=20827982) I looked at some of the tables of contents in Wendell’s link and didn’t find it. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2020, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/560 "2020-04-14T03:10:42Z")
I keep wanting to say “Yesterday was Monday” (Sturgeon) but that’s not it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=27) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=29)