# 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:** 53
**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 18, 2022, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1041 "2022-11-18T00:12:40Z")
“Scenes from the Country of the Blind” [https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?42847](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?42847) by John T Sladek. I finally wised up and googled “Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine” and “glazier” which got me a helpful excerpt. Here’s a description [Beneath the Stains of Time: Lost in Space-Time: "Scenes from the Country of the Blind" (1977) by John Sladek](https://moonlight-detective.blogspot.com/2021/05/lost-in-space-time-scenes-from-country.html) > Mr. Durkell wrote the scientists to tell how he glimpsed a village, through a small copse, on his daily commute, where he knew there shouldn’t be a village. There it was, complete with half-timbered houses and smoking chimneys, only to wink out of existence a few seconds later. Leaving behind nothing but empty fields! The village reappeared a week later, on the same day, which was seen by two witnesses and a road map showed the place, Mons, actually exists. But not for very long! The whole village disappeared a second time and another look at the road map showed nothing remotely close to a place named Mons! > > This puzzling phenomena of a village that doesn’t exist, except on Tuesdays, coincided with the disappearance of a farmer’s wife in the same vicinity. So what’s going on? ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1042 "2022-11-18T01:23:53Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > For whatever reason I have always believed that it was an early Alistair Reynolds novel but when I check any list of his works I find no evidence of it. I also seem to recall it having a title like _Pavilion_ or something like that. But you should probably ignore everything in this last paragraph. Hey Andy\_L, you sort of dropped out of sight for a bit. By any chance has this rung a bell? 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:** [November 18, 2022, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1043 "2022-11-18T01:25:23Z")
Thanks for the reminder - I’ll see what I can do to find the novel ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1044 "2022-11-18T01:26:20Z")
Thank you so much. I’m curious to see if you find something. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1045 "2022-11-18T02:27:32Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Short story: a ginormous alien ship hundreds of miles high lands (docks?) on Earth, crushing a couple of states in the process. In an effort to destroy the ship heavily stealthed crawlers slowly climb up the legs of the ship like fleas, carrying nukes. _ **Maybe** _ one of Harlan Ellison’s or Philip K. Dick’s? I just read this. **I just read this.** And I can’t remember where, or who. 🤬 ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1046 "2022-11-18T02:32:52Z")
Another short story I may be conflating because so many of them have this premise. A nurse in a hospital sees a man with weird clothing emerge from nothing, run into the maternity ward and throw a random baby out the 3rd story window before disappearing in thin air again. The nurse finds the baby on the floor now dead, and fearing she’s to be blamed since she was the only one on-duty goes to a local insane asylum and bribes a guard to get a similar looking baby from a severe alcoholic and crazy woman who had just given birth in there. So she wraps the baby up and goes back to the hospital and finds the baby’s parents wondering where their kid is, and the final line is the nurse handing the baby over and saying “Here you go Mr. And Mrs Hitler”. ---
**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 18, 2022, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1047 "2022-11-18T02:44:53Z")
This is very familiar- I’ll find it tomorrow if no one else beats me to 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 18, 2022, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1048 "2022-11-18T03:27:54Z")
“Cradle of Darkness” from the 2002 version of the Twilight Zone [Cradle of Darkness | The Twilight Zone Wiki | Fandom](https://twilightzone.fandom.com/wiki/Cradle_of_Darkness) > Collins finally manages to fulfill her plan by stealing the child and jumping into a river with it. However, Kristina, another housemaid, having followed Andrea and witnessed her jump, buys a homeless woman’s baby – the homeless woman ironically a Gypsy – and passes it off as Adolf, presumably the one known to history in the first place. Effectively Collins murdered an innocent child while creating Adolf Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1049 "2022-11-18T04:21:01Z")
Okay this is probably it since me half-seeing anthology shows on Sci-fi channel is half of my vague recollections. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2022, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1050 "2022-11-18T07:23:38Z")
This is vaguely similar to the story “Heresies of the Huge God” by Brian Aldiss, but there are enough differences to make me think it must be a completely different story. It’s interesting that two authors must have come up with the same general idea. Here’s the ISFDb entry for the Aldiss story: [https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?52433](https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?52433) ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1051 "2022-11-18T13:17:18Z")
It reminds me of the dreadful Rama sequels by Arthur C. Clarke and whathisname. ---
**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 18, 2022, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1052 "2022-11-18T13:17:59Z")
Gentry Lee ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1053 "2022-11-18T13:19:48Z")
Yes, HIM 😠 ---
**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:** [November 18, 2022, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1054 "2022-11-18T15:23:14Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > “Cradle of Darkness” from the 2002 version of the Twilight Zone [Cradle of Darkness | The Twilight Zone Wiki | Fandom](https://twilightzone.fandom.com/wiki/Cradle_of_Darkness) > > > Collins finally manages to fulfill her plan by stealing the child and jumping into a river with it. However, Kristina, another housemaid, having followed Andrea and witnessed her jump, buys a homeless woman’s baby – the homeless woman ironically a Gypsy – and passes it off as Adolf, presumably the one known to history in the first place. Effectively Collins murdered an innocent child while creating Adolf Hitler. I don’t suppose Deadpool showed up in that version. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1055 "2022-11-18T15:37:42Z")
How odd, I have been wondering for weeks about a SF story I read perhaps in the 1970s. I think it was by an important author. It was quite long. A dystopian world ruled by huge companies. The main character works for some sort of advertising agency. Among other things, they develop advertisements that can be projected onto the eyes of drivers on the highway. Advertising is everywhere. A fake coffee product, “Cafest” is mentioned. Things go wrong in corporate politics. The guy wakes up with super-long (and so super lower-caste) social security number tattooed on his arm. He ends up on an off-world colony. He works cutting hunks off of an endlessly-growing lump of chicken meat called “chicken little.” And then other stuff happens. Any idea what story this might be? ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1056 "2022-11-18T15:39:25Z")
“The Space Merchants”, Pohl and Kornbluth I think. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1057 "2022-11-18T15:48:39Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > “The Space Merchants” Yep. That’s 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 18, 2022, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1058 "2022-11-18T21:04:47Z")
Here’s a link to a description of the Aldiss story > ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2022, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1059 "2022-11-24T00:15:56Z")
There was a short story about a scientist who discovered an equation or something, and the mere knowledge of it gave him the ability to transport himself anywhere by merely thinking about the destination. Unfortunately the ability was rather uncontrollable, and most of the story had him popping around the globe to different places because of a stray thought. At one point he thought of the planet Mars and ended up there briefly, but was able to return to Earth before suffocating. He was working feverishly throughout the story to come up with another equation that would let him control his power, because he was afraid of having a particular thought that was never made clear through the story. Finally at the end, he achieves control of his power, and reveals that the thought he was unconsciously afraid of having, which was of the Sun. I have a vague idea that the author might be L. Ron Hubbard, but that may be wrong. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2022, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1060 "2022-11-24T00:37:08Z")
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