# 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:** 75
**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:** [April 12, 2024, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1481 "2024-04-12T03:15:22Z")
:: bows :: Your Imperial Majesty! ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1482 "2024-04-12T03:20:45Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > Well, by that logic, and based on some paperwork I just scribbled, I am now emperor of the world. That’s the part that’s tripping you up, not the fact that he’s being put on trial by unborn ghosts and penguins? (It’s not really a science fiction book per se, more like a grimly humorous satire on the insanity of the nuclear arms race.) ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1483 "2024-04-12T04:07:54Z")
I’ll accept anything, including penguin jurors, if it makes sense in-universe. I was just intrigued by that thought and wondered if there was some logic to it, some philosophical syllogism. BTW, I’m not giving up my emperorship. What’s done is done. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1484 "2024-04-12T04:08:32Z")
That’s more like it! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1485 "2024-04-12T13:20:24Z")
I refuse to acknowledge your imperial power unless you assume the regnal name of “Norton II”. ---
**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:** [April 12, 2024, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1486 "2024-04-12T15:19:46Z")
How _dare_ you set conditions on the Emperor, varlet! ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1487 "2024-04-12T15:25:43Z")
I have vague memories of one, which I could no doubt identify by Googling, but I thought I’d try here first. I don’t remember much, but some alien race had captured humans long ago and bred them to be service animals. The human breeds were as unalike from each other as different dog breeds, and they were used as pack animals, riding animals, etc. And some form of alien religion featured as well, as complex and dogma-ridden as some Earth religions. That’s all I got. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1488 "2024-04-12T15:31:17Z")
Another story I would like to read. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1489 "2024-04-12T15:38:28Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > Well, by that logic, and based on some paperwork I just scribbled, I am now emperor of the world. So, a little respect, if you please. Sorry, it wasn’t notarized. ---
**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:** [April 12, 2024, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1490 "2024-04-12T15:52:20Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > I don’t remember much, but some alien race had captured humans long ago and bred them to be service animals. The human breeds were as unalike from each other as different dog breeds, and they were used as pack animals, riding animals, etc. That sounds like Vance’s “The Dragon Masters” However this > [@teelabrown](#): > > And some form of alien religion featured as well, as complex and dogma-ridden as some Earth religions. Does not. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1491 "2024-04-12T15:52:28Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > How _dare_ you set conditions on the Emperor, varlet! He’s lucky I agreed to any conditions at all. [My loyalty still lies with King @iiandyiiii I](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-your-king-you-must-come-and-pay-homage/831739). ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1492 "2024-04-12T15:58:30Z")
Your loyalty will be rewarded! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1493 "2024-04-12T16:04:03Z")
Thank you, but please - no more goats. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1494 "2024-04-12T16:15:18Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Sorry, it wasn’t notarized. Lucy, is that you? And when is **Stratocaster** going to start printing money, as is within his perview? ---
**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:** [April 12, 2024, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1495 "2024-04-12T16:50:14Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > I don’t remember much, but some alien race had captured humans long ago and bred them to be service animals. The human breeds were as unalike from each other as different dog breeds, and they were used as pack animals, riding animals, etc. Oh, that’s familiar. But I can’t place it. – had they maybe come across some human children who had survived a disaster, but were feral due to lack of adults to raise them, and therefore took them to be non-sapient? ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1496 "2024-04-12T16:50:42Z")
First things first. @iiandyiiii? It’s pistols at dawn. You can meet my second in the field behind the middle school. Oh! And please bring some pistols. ---
**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:** [April 12, 2024, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1497 "2024-04-12T16:52:04Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > some alien race had captured humans long ago and bred them to be service animals That’s vaguely like _The Mount_ by Carol Emshwiller. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1498 "2024-04-12T19:06:00Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > However this > > > [@teelabrown](#): > > > > And some form of alien religion featured as well, as complex and dogma-ridden as some Earth religions. > > Does not. Could the Sacerdotes fit this part of the story? ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1499 "2024-04-13T01:26:22Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > Sacerdotes Yes! I remember that word being used in the story that I’m dimly recalling. Googling Jack Vance’s _The Dragon Masters_ seems to bear it out. Wow, that was a long time ago I read that. I think it was a bit complex for teenaged me to keep it all straight. ---
**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:** [April 13, 2024, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1500 "2024-04-13T01:37:59Z")
May be, I don’t remember them at all. I think I’ll have to reread Dragon Masters [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=74) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=76)