# 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:** 36
**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:** [October 28, 2020, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/701 "2020-10-28T15:08:53Z")
I post here too - possibly Connie Willis’ “And Come From Miles Around” [Book Review - Fire Watch by Connie Willis](http://www.jason.bleckly.com/reviews/uz/fire_watch_by_connie_willis.htm#7) ---
**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 28, 2020, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/702 "2020-10-28T15:29:56Z")
Yep. > **[Galileo #14 (1979 09) (Gorgon776) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming :...](https://archive.org/details/Galileo_14_1979-09_Gorgon776/page/n33/mode/2up)** > > Galileo #14 (1979 09) (Gorgon776) ---
**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 28, 2020, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/703 "2020-10-28T15:57:11Z")
Actually, (re)reading the Willis story, maybe not. I’m pretty sure seeing (or speculating about) a car/limo with tinted windows was in there. Possibly a different Sawyer book? ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/704 "2020-10-31T22:03:18Z")
A story from around the 1950s or 60s I think, definitely before the modern theories about artificial life forms e.g. Star Trek’s Data. This involves an inventor who creates an artificial body for a very wealthy woman, who had been a beautiful actress and was now ageing and losing her looks. She wanted him to create a body for her that was beautiful and ageless. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/705 "2020-10-31T23:05:41Z")
Do you remember any other details? ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/706 "2020-11-01T09:12:40Z")
Only that the artificial body was not an exact replica of a human female but somewhat stylized, and very elegant in its way. And I think the story ended badly but can’t remember how. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/707 "2020-11-01T09:21:31Z")
It does not end _badly_—the inventor freaks out for some reason and attempts to dive out the window, but the woman is able to save him thanks to her enhanced speed, strength, and agility. I do not have the book where I read it handy, so cannot look up the title. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/708 "2020-11-01T12:34:18Z")
In the 70s or 80s, a short story, I think in an SF magazine (one of the perfect bound types, and I don’t recall which, though I don’t think Asimov’s). In it, a male protagonist was being trained/forced to work by aliens. He mastered the task, and asked about the next level of task he would learn. The conclusion of the story was that no, this was it, having mastered the task he would now do it for the rest of his life. ---
**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 1, 2020, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/709 "2020-11-01T12:48:07Z")
“No Woman Born” by C. L. Moore, I think > **[“No Woman Born” by C. L. Moore](https://classicsofsciencefiction.com/2018/09/06/no-woman-born-by-c-l-moore/)** > > “No Woman Born” (pdf) first appeared in the December 1944 issue of Astounding Science-Fiction, a time when few women were writing science fiction. Catherine Lucille Moore did not use her initials t… ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/710 "2020-11-01T13:09:07Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > Thanks again. I’ve got just one more. This might be a YA novel rather than a short story. It’s 1990 at the latest. > > A group of astronauts visits a planet with two continents inhabited by humans (or humanoid aliens, I’m not sure). On one continent the people are calm and rational, one the other violent and crazy. They learn that the two groups of people take turns during the year being rational and crazy, and it may have something to do with birds migrating. _Bibblings_ by Barbara Paul. Not really YA; it feels more like a _Star Trek_ novelization, except that it isn’t actually _Star Trek_. Here’s a [Goodreads link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2505143.Bibblings) with a picture of the cover of the edition I’m familiar with; if that’s the one you read, too, it might help jog your memory. ---
**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 1, 2020, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/711 "2020-11-01T14:00:59Z")
Yeah, really seems like a Star Trek story with the serial numbers filed off ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/712 "2020-11-01T14:13:19Z")
> No one in the **Federation of United Worlds** knew what the Lodonites and Kamarians were fighting about, nor, in the normal course of events, would anyone have cared. But this was a world rich in **alphidium** … Not so much filed off as slightly rearranged… ---
**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:** [November 1, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/713 "2020-11-01T14:15:03Z")
> [@susan](#): > > He mastered the task, and asked about the next level of task he would learn. The conclusion of the story was that no, this was it, having mastered the task he would now do it for the rest of his life. While we are waiting for the answer to this query, please enjoy the related Rick and Morty clip: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3ht-ZyJOV2k/maxresdefault.jpg "Rick & Morty - Pass the Butter") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ht-ZyJOV2k) ---
**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 1, 2020, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/714 "2020-11-01T22:54:17Z")
Do you have any memory of what kind of a task it was? Was the story humorous, grim or something else? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/715 "2020-11-01T23:58:25Z")
Something repetitive and perhaps mechanical. Not remembering if it was on a ship. There was a reference to an alien pulling the protagonist’s penis (to distract him?) that even as a teen I recognized as gratuitous. ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/716 "2020-11-02T11:14:49Z")
That’s it! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/717 "2020-11-02T13:52:27Z")
@MEBuckner, Yes that’s it! Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/718 "2020-11-02T16:06:53Z")
OK, let me add two stories I was thinking about this weekend. One I suspect will be easy, the other probably more difficult. **Easy one (classic era stuff, I think).** A guy lives in great solitude in a remote outpost on the edge of the solar system, on lookout for alien armadas. The timing and protocol of the alert communications that he might have to send are so complicated that he has to by hypnotized to learn the techniques. Then one day, here come the aliens. Our guy sits in his special seat, battles nerves to get into the proper trance-like state, then pounds away at a number pad. Don’t remember if he saved the day or not. **Harder one (prob from the mid-80s).** A guy, an Everyman, or maybe a nerd, or possibly even sickly, is out and about living life in the very near future. Think of an 80s era setting plus a handful of technological advances. I very weakly recall that this guy is making a hash of his life, either that, or he’s one of those drones that just never seems to have luck break his way. Through some combination of events I disremember, he’s given the opportunity to (temporarily?) have his brain and spinal cord installed in some bad-ass engineered body. Not just a consciousness transfer, a physical install. I remember a line about the feeling of the spinal cord slithering into place. This body is not just healthy, strong and good looking, but has special features, like it can ‘over-clock’ and provide the impression that the rest of the world is in slow motion. Maybe? And when I said it was strong, I recall it being devastatingly so. Might have been designed for military purposes. One way or the other, there are problems. Maybe it was illegal to perform the operation? Maybe he’s only got temporary use of the body and is supposed to give it back? I do not know. I’ve had my memory of this story, along with the fact that I don’t remember the ending, pop into my head at the strangest times at least annually over the last 30 years. If I could figure this out, plus a YA camping story that I won’t post here, about 60% of the shit I worry about in daily life would disappear. ---
**Author:** ![jamesdavisnicoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@jamesdavisnicoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jamesdavisnicoll)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/719 "2020-11-07T04:19:27Z")
Does anyone remember an SF novel from the early 1980s about interstellar entities who noticed that occasionally star systems would start emitting annoying radio noise that would go away if the entities just turned the stars off for a bit? ---
**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:** [November 7, 2020, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/720 "2020-11-07T04:22:09Z")
Welcome to the board, James. (I say this because I invited him to try here for an answer, and @Andy_L and @Peter_Morris , I’m counting on you two in particular!) I hope you take a look around in this thread; maybe you’ll have answers for someone else while you wait for someone to solve your issue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=35) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=37)