# 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:** 64
**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:** [August 6, 2023, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1261 "2023-08-06T12:33:59Z")
1. “A Death In Vesunna” 2. the story waa also called “In the Presence of Mine Enemies” - the novel is an expansion 3. The Last Favor" ---
**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:** [August 6, 2023, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1262 "2023-08-06T12:34:52Z")
“Good Provider” by Marion Gross ---
**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:** [August 6, 2023, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1263 "2023-08-06T12:35:22Z")
“Islands in the Stream” ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2023, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1264 "2023-08-06T14:08:52Z")
Oh, I’ve read Turtledove and I also recall a couple of those stories mentioned. I’ll bet if I search his name I’ll find the book. Was there a story about a Byzantine guard who as a child had been captured and now worked for the Empire? His birth name was Temujin, huh, and he was inspired to go conquering for Christianity. ---
**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:** [August 6, 2023, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1265 "2023-08-06T14:10:57Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > I find myself very much in want of a portal to a cheaper time, possibly also a time when fruit tasted good. I remember that story fondly (though I had forgotten title and author.) As to the fruit – do you have a farmers’ market in your area with local producers? If so try there. (And try Local Harvest, to find the market.) Some places called farmers’ markets have only shipping quality fruit brought in from elsewhere; and some vendors who grow their own may be also shipping wholesale and bringing the same to market. But your chances are a lot better. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1266 "2023-08-06T17:54:18Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > “Good Provider” by Marion Gross Thank you! You’re a scholar and a gentleperson! 😉 And yeah, we have good local produce but I think it’s just an artifact of too much CO2, lots of vegetative growth going on but fruiting, not so much. I didn’t get any cherries from any of my three varieties this year or last, including the pie cherry tree that was fully grown when I bought the place over twenty years ago and has been pretty reliable, especially as a pollinator. Even the Rainier cherries from local orchards were flat tasting and pretty sour. Flowers aren’t blooming much either, usually heliotropes go nuts in this one sunny planter but this year they’re barely hanging on, sweet peas haven’t bloomed at all, gladiolas don’t appear to have any flower spikes starting although the plants are quite lush and even the salvia is anemic. Sigh. Nothing seems right this year, and with the mild summer we’ve been having I’d have expected riotous garden action but not so much. Fewer bees too, in spite of all I do to encourage them. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2023, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1267 "2023-08-18T19:31:59Z")
Another one, a bit vague. Story in a universe where there is faster than light travel (some kind of hyperdrive or so), but where normal humans can’t pilot the ships, it messes with their minds or so. The pilots are modified humans (I think some genetic predisposition combined with a sort of modification). The main character is a pilot, and I believe he finds out about a plot between the other pilots against normal humans. I also vaguely recall some kind of relationship with a normal woman before he became a pilot? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2023, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1268 "2023-08-18T19:38:17Z")
Sounds like the famous classic SF story “Scanners Live in Vain” by Cordwainer Smith > **[Scanners Live in Vain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanners_Live_in_Vain)** > > "Scanners Live in Vain" is a science fiction short story by American writer Cordwainer Smith (pen name of American writer Paul Linebarger). It was the first story in Smith's Instrumentality of Mankind future history to be published and the first story to appear under the Smith pseudonym. It first appeared in the semi-professional magazine Fantasy Book. > "Scanners Live in Vain" was judged by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the finest science fiction short stories prior to 1965 an... ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2023, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1269 "2023-08-18T19:42:09Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > [Scanners Live in Vain - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanners_Live_in_Vain) Yes, that’s it! The author doesn’t sound familiar, but the title does and the plot matches what I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2023, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1270 "2023-08-18T19:43:07Z")
Cool! My memory’s not good enough for the more obscure ones, but that’s one of the all time greats and included in a lot of story collections. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2023, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1271 "2023-08-18T21:49:29Z")
Beat me to it! ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2023, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1272 "2023-08-18T21:59:08Z")
You realize we all attempt to beat you, right? I got one before you a few years ago, and I’m still bragging about it at cocktail parties. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2023, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1273 "2023-08-18T21:59:36Z")
Aw… Thanks ---
**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:** [August 18, 2023, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1274 "2023-08-18T23:32:34Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > I got one before you a few years ago, and I’m still bragging about it at cocktail parties. I think I’ve gotten some before him, and if I could just get invited to a cocktail party I’d have something to brag about. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2023, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1275 "2023-08-18T23:54:42Z")
It probably is “Scanners Live in Vain” (and why that’s a classic, I have no clue, because it was just terrible), but the description is also consistent, or close to it, with “Aztecs”. “Aztecs” doesn’t have a plot against the normals, just a doomed love affair, but on the other hand, “Scanners” doesn’t have FTL (supposedly, normal humans aren’t even able to survive going into space at all). ---
**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:** [August 19, 2023, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1276 "2023-08-19T00:02:47Z")
Something to work on in 2024 - a very specialized kind of cocktail party ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2023, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1277 "2023-08-19T02:32:31Z")
I just read it. Normal humans can’t survive in space _conscious_ because it’ll drive them so crazy they’ll die, sorta like Stephen King’s jaunt but with a spaceship rather than instant teleportation. But normal humans are living on various planets. Ships must be crewed by people stripped of all senses except sight. Until the end of the story, that is, when someone figures out using oysters (IIRC) on the inside hull of spaceships shields the passengers. 🤪 The voluntarily de-sensed pilots have their senses restored _ **and** _ are kept on as the guild of spaceship pilots, which I felt to be a bit over-convenient. ---
**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:** [August 19, 2023, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1278 "2023-08-19T02:45:00Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Normal humans can’t survive in space _conscious_ because it’ll drive them so crazy they’ll die, sorta like Stephen King’s jaunt but with a spaceship rather than instant teleportation. But normal humans are living on various planets. Ships must be crewed by people stripped of all senses except sight. This sounds a lot like the premise of _Superluminal_ by Vonda N. McIntyre, except in that novel, it’s the pilots’ hearts which must be replaced by artificial hearts so that they may remain awake during superluminal transit without going insane and/or dying. (I can’t remember the exact consequences that were supposed to happen to unmodified humans) ---
**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:** [August 19, 2023, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1279 "2023-08-19T13:20:12Z")
That’s the same author as “Aztecs”, the story I mentioned. I hadn’t realized there were other works in that series. The problem was that hyperspace or whatever they called it was a weird sort of timelessness, and so any ability to perceive the passage of time resulted in insanity. A person’s heartbeat provides enough of a rhythm to be a problem, so they have to be replaced by continual-run pumps. Pilots jokingly refer to themselves as “Aztecs”, because they get their hearts cut out. In the short story, a young woman has gone through pilot training, and is just about to have the surgery, when she falls in love with a man (who’s involved in some other way I don’t remember with spaceflight, but he would be one of the ones who’d be unconscious for the journey). He’s so smitten with her that he tries to sign up to be a pilot, too, but he’s rejected, because his innate sense of time is just too strong (it’s mentioned several times prior that he knows what time it is, without consulting his watch). And the lifestyles of a pilot and a non-pilot are just too alien to each other for a romance between them to work. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2023, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1280 "2023-08-20T00:46:15Z")
Passengers needing to be asleep during the FTL jumps also features in Timothy Zahn’s “Cascade Point” and at least one sequel that I’m forgetting the title of. In that 'verse, being awake didn’t cause death nor total insanity, but was just very unsettling. The pilots who stayed awake just had to learn to deal with the psychological effects of seeing into alternate realities in which they had died, or simply had a much better life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=63) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=65)