# 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:** 80
**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 14, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1581 "2024-11-14T21:17:48Z")
I have a vague memory of a story which I probably read in the 1970s. There was a scene reminiscent of _Sergeant York_, where a young man from the Appalachian backwoods is in boot camp in the US Army, and does astonishingly well shooting a rifle. Unlike _York_ though, this is not because of long experience with using a rifle, but because he has a paranormal ability to “think” the bullet into the target, as he puts it. I think the Army also discovers that he has other psychic abilities, which they put to use in combat. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2024, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1582 "2024-11-14T23:58:34Z")
I’d like to read that. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2024, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1583 "2024-11-15T00:14:46Z")
It’s probably called something like “The Puzzle” but a woman in her living room does a puzzle she finds was randomly sent to her in the mail, only to find the puzzle is literally her doing the puzzle in her living room and there’s this giant alien/monster standing behind her. ---
**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 15, 2024, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1584 "2024-11-15T00:22:06Z")
That rings a faint bell - there was a lot of “hillbilly with powers” SF in the 1950s ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1585 "2024-11-16T02:07:17Z")
The thread [Can gravity make gravity?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-gravity-make-gravity/1010220) has a mention of a kugelblitz. I can’t remember any details about a book except I’m pretty sure it’s part of series. NM. It’s the Heechee Saga from Pohl. ---
**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 16, 2024, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1586 "2024-11-16T02:18:05Z")
Yeah - that’s where I learned the term too ---
**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:** [November 16, 2024, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1587 "2024-11-16T12:16:20Z")
S3 of **The Umbrella Academy** also features a kugelblitz. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1588 "2024-11-16T17:48:21Z")
I had forgotten that until you just mentioned it. But like @Andy_L i first heard of it in one of the Pohl books. _Beyond the Blue Event Horizon_ just popped into my head, oddly in a musical form of maybe some similar song. From there it was easy to work out the rest. ---
**Author:** ![EnolaStraight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1589 "2024-11-17T02:34:48Z")
A Lunar Lander touches down on the moon. Astronaut opens hatch and climbs down to moon’s surface. For millennia, looking up at the pale orb hanging in the sky, Instead of saying something historically profound, the astronaut…_howls._ **NASA’s first werewolf astronaut walks on the moon.** ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1590 "2024-11-17T06:17:09Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Richard Matheson “Deadline”. Here’s some covers. The protagonist is a Doctor. Yes! I just found a copy and that’s the right one. Thank you! Been driving me crazy for thirty years. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1591 "2024-11-17T14:28:30Z")
Glad to help. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1592 "2024-11-17T14:38:40Z")
> [@EnolaStraight](#): > > A Lunar Lander touches down on the moon. > Astronaut opens hatch and climbs down to moon’s surface. > For millennia, looking up at the pale orb hanging in the sky, > Instead of saying something historically profound, > the astronaut…_howls._ > > **NASA’s first werewolf astronaut walks on the moon.** Don’t know where that comes from but this is what AI told me: > [@](#): > > According to NASA records, the first human to walk on the moon was Neil Armstrong, as part of the Apollo 11 mission, making him the “first werewolf astronaut” in this fictional scenario; however, werewolves are not real creatures, so this question is purely hypothetical. ---
**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, 2024, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1593 "2024-11-18T04:18:13Z")
Good thing we have NASA records to consult for an obscure, little-known factoid like who was the first human to walk on the Moon. 🤨 ---
**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:** [November 18, 2024, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1594 "2024-11-18T04:34:42Z")
I do think that centuries or millennia from now, the question “when did Terrans first journey to Luna?” will be a trivia question to trip people up. History will broadly remember the first wave of general space exploration and colonization, but a tiny ad hoc effort briefly made by a now extinct North American state will be largely forgotten by most other than professional historians. ---
**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, 2024, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1595 "2024-11-18T07:16:37Z")
There’s a Marvel Comics character names John Jameson who was apparently both an astronaut and a werewolf. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1596 "2024-11-18T07:17:03Z")
Over 500 years later we all remember what year Columbus didn’t discover America. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2024, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1597 "2024-11-18T10:04:19Z")
Alan Moore wrote a short story called “An American Werewolf In Space”. A werewolf reveals himself on a colony ship heading for Altair, anticipating having free rein amongst the 2000 other passengers. It does not go as planned. ---
**Author:** ![Scoobysnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Scoobysnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoobysnax)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1598 "2024-11-18T20:18:39Z")
Do you know who wrote that? Searching for “the puzzle” and novel or book is, as expected, bringing up a bunch of puzzle books. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1599 "2024-11-18T20:36:53Z")
> [@Scoobysnax](#): > > Do you know who wrote that? This thread is to ask for identification of half-remembered stories. If Asuka knew the author, there would be no point in asking. SF Short stories named “[The Puzzle](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=the+puzzle&type=Fiction+Titles)” have been written by : [Zoran Živković](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?18773)? , [Elizabeth Donald](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?80977) [Beth Ann Rowland](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?296914) [Keith R. A. DeCandido](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?442) [Robert I. Paulus](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?262456) [J. J. D. Monaghan](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?180113) Do any of these names sound at all familiar? ---
**Author:** ![Scoobysnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Scoobysnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoobysnax)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1600 "2024-11-18T22:08:46Z")
Thank you. I read Asuka’s post as a response to Baker’s comment. Didn’t think that it was a question for the group. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=79) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=81)