# 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:** 31
**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 26, 2020, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/601 "2020-04-26T00:15:25Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > No luck so far. But at least I can confirm that someone else remembers it. I recall that the scientist described himself to the narrator as a fundamentalist, and that at the end of the story he is drunk/distraught. Crucifixion Variations by Lawrence Person - in Asimovs in May 1998, and in The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction in 2006 ([Title: Crucifixion Variations](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?81880)) Reviewed here [The SF Site: 1998 Short Fiction by David A. Truesdale](https://www.sfsite.com/vault/dave35.htm) "Lawrence Person’s well-written speculations – again using a variation on time travel of a sort – on the true account of the Crucifixion ends up (wisely) not supporting the truth or falsity of Christ’s divinity, but concluding that without some sort of Truth (regardless of its nature), “we’re all alone in the dark.” “Crucifixion Variations,” replete with collapsing wave functions and a hard sf rationale, is a thoughtful and successful novelette. Kudos to this relatively new author. " This excerpt [The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction - Mike Ashley - Google Books](https://books.google.com/books?id=_mHBBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT45&lpg=PT45&dq=%22Crucifixion+Variations%22+person&source=bl&ots=sjIuc8rAHx&sig=ACfU3U3n7teMJUCxA-tFYf8kpjYZT4R6Qw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjV7ITV54TpAhVRlnIEHcZdAQgQ6AEwAnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Crucifixion%20Variations%22%20person&f=false) should confirm the identification. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/602 "2020-04-26T00:52:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The asymmetric match-ups (with the best warrior facing the second-best, and so on) is a plot point in Piers Anthony’s _Battle Circle_, but that didn’t have any precocious pre-schoolers. > > And Ivy from the Dresden Files certainly never did anything like that, nor was there any such matchup between anyone else in those books. I’d pretty much reached the same conclusion about the Dresden Files which is what led me to post here… I’ve been muddling around for a long time convinced it had to be in one of the Dresden books because the character is so similar. Thanks for the confirm on that. ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/603 "2020-04-26T01:00:51Z")
I have a couple of stories in the SF/fantasy vein that I read back in middle school, but have since forgotten the titles of. Coming as they did from my school library, they were likely intended for middle school-aged kids. They were both published before 1997, but may even be older by a decade or so. I think the first story was about a colony on another planet, perhaps several generations old. The main character was studying to become (or already was) a ‘technician,’ a position of some renown. I believe the colony in general was trying to develop a new means of generating power. I recall references to farming and frequent use of computer terminals. I guess that’s not much to go off of. The other story I remember is more in the fantasy vein. The main character is searching for or following his older sister, who is some type of wizard or magician. The world he lives in is split into two factions, one that idolizes straight lines and another that prefers circles (or maybe just curves). I recall one scene where he’s trying to disguise himself as a peasant from one faction but gives himself away because he’s using an item from the opposite faction. This story ends with his sister apparently teleporting to our world (perhaps as part of a planned rite of passage) where she lives a new life in (I think) Scotland, or something. Well, that’s the best I can remember of the two. I know it’s not much. It’s been over 20 years, after all. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2020, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/604 "2020-04-26T03:21:30Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Originally Posted by Chronos View Post > Since we’re expanding out into fantasy, there’s one or two that I’ve been wondering about, which I would have read in the late 80s or early 90s. > > The first one was a fantasy novel with a kingdom that was laid under a terrible curse by some ancient evil sorcerer, and the only way to break the curse was a self-sacrifice using the Macguffin dagger. The main character was an innocent who was for some reason possessed by the spirit of that ancient sorcerer, and eventually ended up making that self-sacrifice… except that it turned out that he was fine afterwards, because the dagger killed the evil spirit possessing him, not him. > > That sounds rather like “Curse of Chalion” by Lois McMaster Bujold - it was published in 2001 though. There’s a demon inhabiting the hero’s body in the form of a tumor - and a knife attack destroys the demon (and the guy attacking the hero) but leaves the hero safe and healed. Actually Caz was attacked by a guy with a knife, that pierced the tumor encysting a demon, the demon whosshed out and dy Gironal and the demon were taken by The Bastard[a god] leaving Caz more or less healed of the demon infested tumor - he still had to heal from the knife wound, but compared to having a demon infested tumor growing in him, easy peasy =) I still haven’t ever discovered the SF book from the early 70s [or perhaps very late 60s] that I would love to reread … _sigh_ Domed city in empty ‘wasteland’, man who has the job of inventing flavorings [his pride and joy is inventing a really great Strawberries and Cream synthetic flavor] ends up accidentally outside the domed city and discovers a world of people and _real_ food rather than synthesized foods. Anybody? ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/605 "2020-04-26T03:28:18Z")
I remember a story from childhood. It was from the young adult section I am sure. The idea was that some kid found himself a means of cloning (or creating a duplicate) of himself. His twin was supposed to be doing all the drudgery stuff while he did fun stuff. He had a girlfriend (or was getting to know a girl) but he was jealous of his twin who was also spending time with her. The twist of the story was that the twin cloned himself too and the third clone was an evil little shit. I recall there also being a lighthouse involved. Now my memory of this is obviously hazy (see the first line of “The Pusher”) but does this ring any bells? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/606 "2020-04-26T05:38:33Z")
> [@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. Though I suppose that it’s possible that the myth was started by someone who read the same book, and thought it was more historically accurate than it actually was. It goes back to at least the myth about how part of the secret of Damascus steel was it being “quenched in the belly of a muscular slave”. So I’d call it the _pre-modern equivalent_ of an urban myth. Old General Questions [thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=126859) on it. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2020, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/607 "2020-04-26T11:17:43Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I still haven’t ever discovered the SF book from the early 70s [or perhaps very late 60s] that I would love to reread … _sigh_ > > Domed city in empty ‘wasteland’, man who has the job of inventing flavorings [his pride and joy is inventing a really great Strawberries and Cream synthetic flavor] ends up accidentally outside the domed city and discovers a world of people and _real_ food rather than synthesized foods. Anybody? BEYOND THE SEALED WORLD, by Rena Vale. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/608 "2020-04-26T11:23:37Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > I remember a story from childhood. It was from the young adult section I am sure. > > The idea was that some kid found himself a means of cloning (or creating a duplicate) of himself. His twin was supposed to be doing all the drudgery stuff while he did fun stuff. He had a girlfriend (or was getting to know a girl) but he was jealous of his twin who was also spending time with her. The twist of the story was that the twin cloned himself too and the third clone was an evil little shit. I recall there also being a lighthouse involved. > > Now my memory of this is obviously hazy (see the first line of “The Pusher”) but does this ring any bells? Maybe a William Sleator 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:** [April 26, 2020, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/609 "2020-04-26T12:40:12Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > Maybe a William Sleator book? The Duplicate, perhaps [The Duplicate - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Duplicate) ---
**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:** [April 26, 2020, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/610 "2020-04-26T13:00:48Z")
The one with the artificial flavorings also harkens to Asimov’s “Good Taste”, but that’s set in one of many orbital habitats around the Earth, not in a domed city in a wasteland. Well, I guess technically, an orbital colony is “a domed city in a wasteland”, but you know. ---
**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 26, 2020, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/611 "2020-04-26T13:44:12Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Actually Caz was attacked by a guy with a knife, that pierced the tumor encysting a demon, the demon whosshed out and dy Gironal and the demon were taken by The Bastard[a god] leaving Caz more or less healed of the demon infested tumor - he still had to heal from the knife wound, but compared to having a demon infested tumor growing in him, easy peasy =) Close enough to possibly be Chronos’ book, still. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/612 "2020-04-26T17:25:43Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > That sounds rather like “Curse of Chalion” by Lois McMaster Bujold - it was published in 2001 though. There’s a demon inhabiting the hero’s body in the form of a tumor - and a knife attack destroys the demon (and the guy attacking the hero) but leaves the hero safe and healed. IMO that was the high water mark of an outstanding body of work. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/613 "2020-04-26T18:22:40Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > BEYOND THE SEALED WORLD, by Rena Vale. Bingo, and I scored a copy for a buck on Amazon =) ---
**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:** [April 26, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/614 "2020-04-26T18:26:56Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > IMO that was the high water mark of an outstanding body of work. Of the 5 Gods universe, Curse is my favorite, though Paladin of Souls is also good - though I am not overly fond of Hallowed Hunt. I enjoy Bujold, she has several series and a stand alone - It is somewhat odd to shift between future SF and fantasy, but she manages. Her [Wide Green World](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sharing_Knife) series is on my comfort food reading list. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/615 "2020-04-26T19:51:00Z")
OK, here’s one: Late 1950’s or early to mid 1960’s; may have been published in a general magazine of some sort, probably not in a specific f/sf publication. Story about a man who’s eating, as contraband, in a place like a speakeasy, food that was actually grown in fields and as part of animals (pretty sure both vegetables and meat were involved), as opposed to synthetically-produced food. This has become illegal; I think he gets arrested. ---
**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 26, 2020, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/616 "2020-04-26T20:48:02Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > OK, here’s one: > > Late 1950’s or early to mid 1960’s; may have been published in a general magazine of some sort, probably not in a specific f/sf publication. > > Story about a man who’s eating, as contraband, in a place like a speakeasy, food that was actually grown in fields and as part of animals (pretty sure both vegetables and meat were involved), as opposed to synthetically-produced food. This has become illegal; I think he gets arrested. Possibly “Lipid-Legging” [Lipidleggin' - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipidleggin%27) (from 1978) ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/617 "2020-04-26T23:22:18Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Crucifixion Variations by Lawrence Person - in Asimovs in May 1998, and in The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction in 2006 ([Title: Crucifixion Variations](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?81880)) > > Reviewed here [The SF Site: 1998 Short Fiction by David A. Truesdale](https://www.sfsite.com/vault/dave35.htm) > > "Lawrence Person’s well-written speculations – again using a variation on time travel of a sort – on the true account of the Crucifixion ends up (wisely) not supporting the truth or falsity of Christ’s divinity, but concluding that without some sort of Truth (regardless of its nature), “we’re all alone in the dark.” “Crucifixion Variations,” replete with collapsing wave functions and a hard sf rationale, is a thoughtful and successful novelette. Kudos to this relatively new author. " > > This excerpt [The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction - Mike Ashley - Google Books](https://books.google.com/books?id=_mHBBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT45&lpg=PT45&dq=%22Crucifixion+Variations%22+person&source=bl&ots=sjIuc8rAHx&sig=ACfU3U3n7teMJUCxA-tFYf8kpjYZT4R6Qw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjV7ITV54TpAhVRlnIEHcZdAQgQ6AEwAnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Crucifixion%20Variations%22%20person&f=false) should confirm the identification. That’s absolutely it, and almost definitely the right collection. Thanks! It’s been bugging me for about a decade. ---
**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 26, 2020, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/618 "2020-04-26T23:26:30Z")
> [@Darth\_Sensitive](#): > > That’s absolutely it, and almost definitely the right collection. > > Thanks! It’s been bugging me for about a decade. Glad to help. It was bugging me for 30 minutes last night until I found it. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/619 "2020-04-26T23:30:44Z")
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**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/620 "2020-04-26T23:34:55Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Possibly “Lipid-Legging” [Lipidleggin' - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipidleggin%27) (from 1978) No; can’t be. This is something I read as a child or young teenager; I hadn’t really run into science fiction yet, and I remember being puzzled by it. It must have been published by the mid-60’s at the latest. It occurred to me years later that it might have been meant as a satire on drug laws; but it might have been meant to criticize the beginnings of ultra processed foods. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=30) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=32)