# 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:** 60
**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 30, 2023, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1181 "2023-04-30T17:29:10Z")
P.S. I’ve been trying to suggest books published in this century, and which are easily available. Hope that helps. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1182 "2023-05-01T11:46:21Z")
I think I read this one in one of the digest-sized magazines like F&SF or Asimov’s. The protagonist was a priest or minister. The world they lived in featured very high tech that allowed people to casually change their clothes and even their forms just by thinking about it. Apparently the clothing and forms were some kind of tactile holographic projections or something like that, but extremely realistic. The protagonist mentioned having gone to school where the kids would embrace fads that involved using this body morphing tech and kids would attempt to discover what their peers were actually like under these illusions. The plot itself was about this cleric attempting to counsel someone who had gotten lost in a fake identity enabled by this tech, some kind of very radical nonhuman form? I’m fuzzy about that part. I think I never finished reading the story. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2023, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1183 "2023-05-01T22:59:12Z")
Charles Sheffield had a series of books about a world with easy body-modding (Sight of Proteus, Proteus Unbound and Proteus in the Underworld), and the first novel was repackaged short stories that you might have seen. Check out [Proteus Series by Charles Sheffield](https://www.goodreads.com/series/44252-proteus) ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1184 "2023-05-02T01:43:44Z")
Pretty sure it wasn’t a Sheffield story, but if it was, it wasn’t set in the same series as Sight of Proteus et al. The tech as depicted in this story is very different than the “purposeful form changing” shown in the Sheffield series, Users in that ‘verse had to use biofeedback booths and the tech actually changed their bodies. The tech in this story I’m thinking about worked as a very good illusion and the users’ original bodies remained the same, just hidden away. The users of this illusion tech could do it anywhere, probably using something they wore on their person. I’m not entirely certain, but I think I read this in a current or very recent magazine at some point well after Sheffield died. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2023, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1185 "2023-05-02T01:48:14Z")
Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1186 "2023-05-02T02:31:45Z")
Can I try this one again? A guy with telekinetic powers is in the (I guess) Oval Office with the president. He makes or else demands. As he leaves the office the (I think) VP bashes his head in with a hammer. It’s pretty old I think, I read it in a book of short stories back in the 60s. Smells like Welles, but I don’t think it is. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1187 "2023-05-02T02:42:04Z")
Yup. That story depresses the hell out of me. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2023, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1188 "2023-05-02T02:43:57Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Can I try this one again? A guy with telekinetic powers is in the (I guess) Oval Office with the president. He makes or else demands. As he leaves the office the (I think) VP bashes his head in with a hammer. The Most Powerful Tailor In The World? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1189 "2023-05-02T03:15:08Z")
I’ll have to find a copy to find out. I was thinking the story I was looking for was older than that. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1190 "2023-05-02T09:11:46Z")
This was a short story on the internet but it was professionally written. I read it in the early 2000s and it had its own dedicated website written like it actually happened and the website was basically some government scientist putting it online before the internet went down. I don’t know if it was in an actual book. Note it is not the Zombie Survival Guide or World War Z this story predates them but also I feel ZSG took inspiration from this short story. It was a zombie story, basically a weird disease gets discovered in Africa, its said to be like ebola meets rabies. UN, WHO, and CDC officials and scientists fly to the disease location and take samples. They fly the samples back to New York City for a UN meeting but the plane explodes in the middle of the Atlantic for unknown reasons. Within a month seafood eaten in the coastal cities of the United States and Europe starts causing that same disease to spread. Initially the disease is seen as just civil unrest, police respond in riot gear but are all then slaughtered by the now proclaimed zombies. Civil order completely breaks down when refugees from the South and East Coast try to cross the Mississippi river. National Guard units form and blockade the bridges across the river. The Illinois National Guard attempts to assist refugees to cross into Missouri but the Missouri National Guard opens fire into the crowds trying to cross the bridge. Illinois Air National Guard aircraft respond by bombing Missouri armed units at the bridge. Mini-civil wars similar to the above happen all over. The story ends with the scientist who wrote that saying he currently lives in a research outpost somewhere in Alaska. The outpost is surrounded by tall fences and military sharpshooters with shoot to kill orders against anyone who approaches the gates. Scientist muses they’re trying to keep the internet alive for as long as possible just in case a cure is ever found so they can still communicate it to the rest of the world. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2023, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1191 "2023-05-02T10:40:59Z")
Makes me think of Cory Doctorow’s "When Sysadmins Ruled the World " but the details don’t quite fit ---
**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:** [May 2, 2023, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1192 "2023-05-02T22:45:19Z")
Link [When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth](https://craphound.com/overclocked/Cory_Doctorow_-_Overclocked_-_When_Sysadmins_Ruled_the_Earth.html) ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1193 "2023-05-02T22:56:24Z")
Here’s a vague memory for you. The story (Longish short story? Novella maybe?) started out with a bunch of monks climbing around on these extremely high scaffold structures. It was a sort of boyish hierarchical challenge, and guys did fall to their deaths. I took it for a metaphor, until later in the story when the skills gained there helped the protagonist navigate some pneumatic-type transport tubes (which he didn’t quite trust) in a multi-story city - so he did a lot of climbing there too. I always meant to go back and re-read the beginning, with a less metaphorical perspective. But I didn’t get around to it, and now I can’t remember what book it was. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2023, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1194 "2023-05-03T13:28:02Z")
Soinds a bit like The Hoodmaker (1955) y Philip K. Dick, although iirc, that was telepathy not telekinesis. ---
**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:** [May 3, 2023, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1195 "2023-05-03T13:50:16Z")
Here’s the Wikipedia entry for it: > **[The Hood Maker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hood_Maker)** > > "The Hood Maker" is a short story by Philip K. Dick, originally published in the June 1955 issue of the magazine Imagination. It was adapted by Matthew Graham into an episode for the 2017 TV series, Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams. > The Free Union, a repressive regime, uses people with telepathic powers called "teeps" to root out and eliminate its political opponents. Walter Franklin, a government appointee, is caught up in a struggle between the teeps and ordinary humans when he receives a hoo... ---
**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:** [May 3, 2023, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1196 "2023-05-03T14:14:12Z")
I was just looking [here,](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/359) is all. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1197 "2023-05-06T00:32:13Z")
I was thinking of a short story I read a long time ago, in one of those really thick anthologies that came out every couple of years in the 70s. Plot is that there are three races: Terrans, and two other races. There’s been an interstellar war, and the Terrans are in the best place afterwards. They try to broker a peace. The delegate from one of the other races comes to the conference with the avowed purpose of being as difficult as possible, in order to prevent the terrans from offering their aid. HIs plan works, and the other race gets the support from the Terrans. After a few decades, the story picks up again, and the race that accepted the Terrans’ aid is stagnating, because the Terran aid has, whether intentionally or not, dominated their economy and weakened their culture. The other race, denied Terran aid, has developed along different lines and is still clearly independent and autonomous, much to the satisfaction of their aged delegate. It’s an interesting take on imperialism and colonialism. I’d be interested in reading it again. Any thoughts? ---
**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:** [May 6, 2023, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1198 "2023-05-06T00:36:20Z")
Helping Hand by Poul Anderson ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1199 "2023-05-06T00:39:29Z")
Thanks! that’s it. I should have known it would Poul. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2023, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1200 "2023-05-06T00:41:00Z")
Thanks for the easy question- this was an off-the-top-of-my-head answer [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=59) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=61)