# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/81 "2008-09-10T00:50:36Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > This is not one I’ve read but one I’ve just heard about and wanted to read, even though I know the ending: > > There’s an idyllic community (don’t know if it’s a city or a country) where everybody has wonderful happy lives, except that some leave. At a certain age everyone is taken into a (temple? palace? storm shelter? guest house?) and shown a horribly tortured child who is in complete agony and made to know that the beauty of the town requires his suffering. Some remain and keep the secret, others choose to leave. (Occasionally somebody will say “Cool… hey, if I kick the kid in the nuts really hard, can I have an I-Phone?”) > > Does anybody recognize this outline? Yeah–it’s “Those Who Walk Away From Omelas”, by Ursula K. LeGuin. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2008, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/82 "2008-09-10T01:07:15Z")
> [@](#): > > A woman flies a spaceship around the universe. She is nude all the time. She discovers an alien on a planet that is a kind of amorphous furry blob. Story ends with the alien either psychically sensing her love or transmitting it’s love to her, can’t remember for sure, and with her wearing the alien as a sort of living, snuggly garment. There was a lot more to the story, but I can’t remember it. Sounds a little like Vonda McIntyre, though the blob isn’t furry and she wears it as a space-sailing aid. How about this one, probably a Heinlein juvenile and painfully easy: Boys are dropped into some sort of survival test/rite of passage, but their pick-up doesn’t arrive at the end of the exercise and they must survive as best they can? ---
**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:** [September 10, 2008, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/83 "2008-09-10T01:26:11Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Sounds a little like Vonda McIntyre, though the blob isn’t furry and she wears it as a space-sailing aid. > > How about this one, probably a Heinlein juvenile and painfully easy: > > Boys are dropped into some sort of survival test/rite of passage, but their pick-up doesn’t arrive at the end of the exercise and they must survive as best they can? That one is indeed Heinlein - it’s “Tunnel in the Sky” (beware of stobor!). ---
**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:** [September 10, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/84 "2008-09-10T01:35:12Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > That one is indeed Heinlein - it’s “Tunnel in the Sky” (beware of stobor!). Thanks. I had an urge to re-read it after reading a different rite of passage story and hadn’t quite reconciled myself to pulling all that Heinlein off the shelf to find it. As to my ID, I retract Vonda and suggest Varley, “Equinoctial” from _Picnic on Nearside._ ---
**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:** [September 10, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/85 "2008-09-10T01:44:58Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Thanks. I had an urge to re-read it after reading a different rite of passage story and hadn’t quite reconciled myself to pulling all that Heinlein off the shelf to find it. > > As to my ID, I retract Vonda and suggest Varley, “Equinoctial” from _Picnic on Nearside._ That could be - isn’t that one about the human-alien composite beings that live in space (in vacuum), near Saturn? I looked up some MacIntyre too - “Metaphase” [Metaphase: McIntyre, Vonda: 9780553292237: Amazon.com: Books](http://www.amazon.com/Metaphase-Vonda-Mcintyre/dp/0553292234/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221010745&sr=1-4) might fit the original description better. ---
**Author:** ![Ring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Ring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ring)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/86 "2008-09-10T01:46:57Z")
Somehow or other a primordial black hole is dropped about 100 feet above the ground and then orbits through the center of the Earth. As the globe turns it keeps popping up in different places. About the only other thing I remember is it regularly pokes through various people, buildings etc. And finally something real bad happens. It’s not Lucifer’s Hammer and I know it would be impossible. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2008, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/87 "2008-09-10T01:50:44Z")
> [@Ring](#): > > Somehow or other a primordial black hole is dropped about 100 feet above the ground and then orbits through the center of the Earth. As the globe turns it keeps popping up in different places. About the only other thing I remember is it regularly pokes through various people, buildings etc. And finally something real bad happens. > > It’s not Lucifer’s Hammer and I know it would be impossible. Sounds like “Thrice Upon a Time” by James Hogan - if you remember backwards communication through time and a highly infectious plague, it’s definitely this one. Or it could be David Brin’s “Earth” - if you remember global environmental problems, that’s probably the one. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/88 "2008-09-10T01:51:03Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Short story, if I recall correctly; gist of story is a time traveler who misconstrued the direction in which probabilities diverge, was trying to travel forward in time and went backwards instead, time machine only goes in one direction so he can’t come back. He is “Merlin” circa King Arthur and the “wand” is a Colt 45 or some such. Something happens to make it necessary for him to escape Arthurian times and he ends up in distant past and creates Stonehenge for the express purpose of finding out when the hell he ended up. Book: The Creatures of Man by Howard L. Myers Story in book: The Other Way Around You can get the book free in electronic format. > **[Free Library - Categories](https://www.baen.com/catalog/category/view/s/free-library/id/2012)** > > Baen Free Library Ebooks The book has a number of great stories in 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:** [September 10, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/89 "2008-09-10T01:54:44Z")
I’m very pleased at all the people joining in to identify the works that I’ve drawn a blank on. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/90 "2008-09-10T01:58:27Z")
> [@Ring](#): > > Somehow or other a primordial black hole is dropped about 100 feet above the ground and then orbits through the center of the Earth. As the globe turns it keeps popping up in different places. About the only other thing I remember is it regularly pokes through various people, buildings etc. And finally something real bad happens. > > It’s not Lucifer’s Hammer and I know it would be impossible. Possibly [The Doomsday Effect](http://www.thomastthomas.com/SFBooks.htm), by Thomas Wren. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2008, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/91 "2008-09-10T02:12:14Z")
> [@](#): > > I looked up some MacIntyre too - “Metaphase” [http://www.amazon.com/Metaphase-Vond...1010745&sr=1-4](http://www.amazon.com/Metaphase-Vond...1010745&sr=1-4) might fit the original description better. Agreed. Couldn’t find a copy to check. ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/92 "2008-09-10T02:28:46Z")
The one that has bugged me for years isn’t a single story, but an anthology. It looked like it was printed in the 70s. I remember it having: “[First Law](http://homepage.mac.com/jhjenkins/Asimov/Stories/Story079.html)”, by Isaac Asimov “[A Pail of Air](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Pail_of_Air)”, by Fritz Leiber “[Blood](http://books.google.com/books?id=N829firHmwwC&pg=PA314&lpg=PA314&dq=%22time+machine%22+%22frederic+brown%22+blood+vampires&source=web&ots=wPSg9oa6_J&sig=B7H4QRu29XelMuy02seztd0lRyM&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPA314,M1)”, by Fredric Brown. This one was accompanied by a black and white photo of a turnip, with facial features and a goatee. There was a fourth story, and the only thing I remember about that is that it’s British, uses the word “quid” (first time I ever heard of the word), and \*might \* have something to do with a school. I’ve compared lists of books that have these stories, and still haven’t found it. It is my ultimate (okay, current) book quest. ---
**Author:** ![Ring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Ring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ring)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/93 "2008-09-10T03:04:22Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Sounds like “Thrice Upon a Time” by James Hogan - if you remember backwards communication through time and a highly infectious plague, it’s definitely this one. > > Or it could be David Brin’s “Earth” - if you remember global environmental problems, that’s probably the one. I think it’s either “Earth” or “The Doomsday Effect”. **pinkfreud** , Amazon didn’t have any reviews on the TDE. Do you remember if it’s any good? If so I’ll probably buy them both. ---
**Author:** ![A\_shameful\_cracka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@A\_shameful\_cracka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_shameful_cracka)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/94 "2008-09-10T04:11:10Z")
> [@Ring](#): > > I think it’s either “Earth” or “The Doomsday Effect”. **pinkfreud** , Amazon didn’t have any reviews on the TDE. Do you remember if it’s any good? If so I’ll probably buy them both. I don’t remember the black hole in “Earth” actually coming out through the surface of the Earth, but I don’t think I ever finished that one. I think it mostly orbitted around under the surface and caused earthquakes and such. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/95 "2008-09-10T04:43:31Z")
> [@Ring](#): > > Somehow or other a primordial black hole is dropped about 100 feet above the ground and then orbits through the center of the Earth. As the globe turns it keeps popping up in different places. About the only other thing I remember is it regularly pokes through various people, buildings etc. And finally something real bad happens. > > It’s not Lucifer’s Hammer and I know it would be impossible. I think it’s a short story by Larry Niven, though I could be wrong. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2008, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/96 "2008-09-10T04:48:56Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > _The Forgotten Door_ was one of my favorite childhood books. It’s by Alexander Key, and readily available at Amazon. I came within a gnat’s eyelasy of posting _The Forgotten Door_ but I did not remember _anything_ about a golden dagger. But you are right, he did have a special knife. (not golden) Did not do anything spectacular and was not a major plot device, so I dismissed it as a possibility, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/97 "2008-09-10T04:54:19Z")
> [@Ring](#): > > I think it’s either “Earth” or “The Doomsday Effect”. **pinkfreud** , Amazon didn’t have any reviews on the TDE. Do you remember if it’s any good? If so I’ll probably buy them both. It’s not great, but it’s certainly readable and entertaining. _The Doomsday Effect_ was the first novel written by SF author Thomas T. Thomas. I’ve heard that he used the pseudonym “Thomas Wren” because the publisher thought that “Thomas T. Thomas” sounded a bit comical, even though it’s the guy’s real name. The middle initial does not stand for yet another “Thomas.” His middle name is “Thurston.” ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/98 "2008-09-10T12:44:17Z")
I thought of one that’s bugged me on and off for years. I think it was a novel. In it the Earth moves out of some sort of galactic field that depresses brain function, and everyone suddenly gains a hundred or so IQ points. Most people become super geniuses, of course, but now all of the mentally disabled people find themselves with what we’d consider normal intelligence. I think it was told from the perspective of one of those people. 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:** [September 10, 2008, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/99 "2008-09-10T12:58:34Z")
Risha, that’s _Brain Wave_ by Poul Anderson: > **[Brain Wave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Wave)** > > Brain Wave is a science fiction novel by American writer Poul Anderson, first published in serial form in Space Science Fiction in 1953, and then as a novel in 1954. Anderson had said that he could consider it one of his top five books. This is one of many science fiction works written at this time on the theme of heightened intelligence. > At the end of the Cretaceous period, Earth moved into an energy-damping field in space. As long as Earth was in this field, all conductors became more insulati... ---
**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:** [September 10, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/100 "2008-09-10T20:16:04Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I think it’s a short story by Larry Niven, though I could be wrong. Niven has a short story about a black hole released into Mars (The Hole Man), and in another story (Wrong Way Street) the main character accidentally (!) destroys the Moon, but I don’t think he’s every dropped a black hole on the Earth (Asteroids, yes; black holes, no) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=6)