# 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:** 82
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1621 "2024-12-17T03:20:56Z")
This might’ve been a novelette or short novel. Some Earthling astronauts of the far future visit a planet that was settled by Earth colonists several generations ago and are welcomed by their descendants–who are just like regular Earth people in appearance and demeanor, with a few minor quirks. There’s a yearly festival the locals celebrate, _that none of them can remember afterward_, which the “guests” are there to witness, and so discover the new planet’s weird secret. The story has a tragic, violent ending and a lot of Celtic mythology references, and that’s about all I can recall and redact without going into spoiler territory. I’d kind of like to read it again if I could remember the title and author to help me find it. Thanks a zillion for doing this thread! ---
**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:** [December 17, 2024, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1622 "2024-12-17T14:35:43Z")
That sounds like a really good story - I don’t recall anything like it off the top of my head. Do you remember where you readit? ---
**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:** [December 17, 2024, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1623 "2024-12-17T15:19:58Z")
> [@Myrrajh](#): > > Okay, this is pretty cool! Hope you can find this one for me. I read it probably around 1979. There was an underground city and the people would stand in cubicles and be gassed to sleep for the night. They had no sunlight to know when it was day or night, so they relied on the gas. > > Story was that the world had gone through a nuclear war and this city retreated far under a mountain to escape radiation; and it was a very long time they’d been there, perhaps for generations. Whenever someone in their society rebelled, they were exiled to “outside”, presumably to die from radiation sickness. No one ever came back. There was some old tunnel they’d use to get the bad guys outside. > > Well, of course this wouldn’t be youth fiction if it didn’t have a curious youth in it. This boy decides to venture outside to see how bad it is. He finds out that the earth and all life had recovered and the world was clear, pristine, and teeming with plants and all kinds of animals. Rather Eden-ish, if I’m remembering it correctly. Just looking back to the beginning of this thread and although this one’s been answered, the story also bears a strong resemblance to **City of Ember** , but then “post-apocalyptic culture refuses to consider returning to outside/Earth but misfits rebel and discover everything is fine again” is a common trope (see the Silo books and _Wall-E_ and quite a lot of 1970’s sci-fi movies). There’s probably a category on TV Tropes about this but if I go search for it my whole afternoon will be gone. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1624 "2024-12-17T16:33:35Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > There’s probably a category on TV Tropes about this but if I go search for it my whole afternoon will be gone. Here you go. Now you don6have to search. > **[The Outside World - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheOutsideWorld)** > > The outside world is the world beyond the constraints of a secluded or isolated place. It makes up the essence of nearly every adventure or dystopian story. When a character crosses the threshold of their home, they are stepping into the Outside … The question is: will you be able no _not_ search? ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1625 "2024-12-17T16:45:18Z")
I was on the road somewhere, on my way to another Rainbow Gathering I think, and the story was in a coverless paperback I’d traded another beat-up book for from another road rat. I know that’s no real help, sorry; it was a pretty good read. Thx for trying. ---
**Author:** ![gre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d78d45/32.png) [@gre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gre)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2025, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1626 "2025-01-19T19:16:44Z")
> [@gre](#): > > Read in 80s or 90s, guy with a time belt, back to medieval era, fight with guys in tavern or maybe outside, loses belt, and lying there or maybe buried as time speeds up due to separation from belt. Years passing quickly, I think, and his visual perception is shifting through the electromagnetic spectrum. Eventually has belt again, and it’s rather rotted/verdigris/rusted. _The Wall of Years_, Andrew M. Stephenson Finally! I put a lot of hours into this one over the years. ---
**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:** [January 20, 2025, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1627 "2025-01-20T00:59:16Z")
Glad you found it ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1628 "2025-01-20T18:10:22Z")
Sounds like one of the Dedalus Missions books by Brian Stableford. He wrote 6 of them, published by DAW in the mid/late 70s. A re-contact ship is sent out to help various Earth colonies that have been on their own for generations and help solve any problems that might have arisen since. Of course indigenous aliens, weird addictive plants and so on are involved, as well as new customs, rites, beliefs, etc among the colonists, who usually resent the interference, however well intentioned. It’s too long since I read them to say which book is most likely; I’m afraid. Maybe someone else remembers them better. ---
**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:** [January 31, 2025, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1629 "2025-01-31T20:17:33Z")
Not looking for a specific story, but wondering if there is a story along these lines. Someone invents a TV tuner that can pick up broadcasts from parallel worlds. Imagine being able to watch sit-coms, dramas, or, most importantly, news broadcasts telling you what might be happening on worlds similar to ours but where events unfolded differently. How might people react to that? ---
**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:** [January 31, 2025, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1630 "2025-01-31T20:22:23Z")
RICK & MORTY, a couple of times. ---
**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:** [January 31, 2025, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1631 "2025-01-31T20:22:32Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > How might people react to that? At best they’ll either think the guys an imaginative storyteller. At worst he’s convicted of some kind of fraud, or at least spend the rest of his life defending such charges. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1632 "2025-01-31T20:30:46Z")
Stephen King dis something similar, but fir a Kindle. > **[Ur (novella)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur_(novella))** > > Ur is a science fantasy novella by Stephen King. It is one of King's few short stories that isn't horror. It was written exclusively for the Amazon Kindle platform, and became available for download on February 12, 2009. An audiobook edition was released on February 16, 2010 by Simon & Schuster Audio, read by Holter Graham. Ur was collected in King's 2015 collection The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, heavily revised. > King said, speaking about Ur: > The delivery mechanism to my mind is secondary for me a... ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1633 "2025-01-31T21:01:21Z")
I seem to recall at least one story in which a young boy stumbles across a TV advertisement for some weird item while watching late one night. It is made obvious that the broadcast comes from another dimension or planet, but he sends off his order to some odd address and gets the item as advertised. Hilarity ensues. I’m sure somebody on this thread will be able to identify the story. In fact, I think there may be more than one story with this plot device. ---
**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:** [January 31, 2025, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1634 "2025-01-31T21:29:49Z")
Defamation, too, the first time the news reports that such and such a person has been arrested for murder ---
**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:** [January 31, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1635 "2025-01-31T21:31:36Z")
Deliveries from another world (or the future) drive the plot of “The Twonky” and “Child’s Play” ---
**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:** [January 31, 2025, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1636 "2025-01-31T21:32:21Z")
And broadcasts from another universe in “On the Dream Panel Channel” ---
**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:** [January 31, 2025, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1637 "2025-01-31T21:38:20Z")
Right. That’s what happens in the real world. Plenty of plot devices can make the story better. Though the story of the persecution of the protagonist could be done well itself. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1638 "2025-01-31T22:16:33Z")
I could have sworn that I’ve asked about this story in the past, but I don’t see it in this thread. It’s a short story set in a near future after some kind of devastating war or disaster. This event causes a lot of people to be born mutated, and the government tracks them down and studies them. The story is about one mutant boy who is mute and, at the beginning of the story, appears unintelligent. It turns out that he doesn’t have the same conscious experience of the present that most humans (or sentient beings in general) do. Instead of experiencing the present, he is experiencing every possible future, and then choosing the best outcomes and acting in whatever way would lead to the best outcome. As a child he can only see a few seconds ahead, so as he doesn’t actually understand or remember anything, he appears dumb. He gets taken away by the government while still in this state. But as he ages, his power grows, and he can see further ahead. He can dodge bullets by putting himself wherever they won’t be in a few seconds; he can manipulate people by acting in ways that lead to them reacting in desired ways, _without actually needing to understand himself or others_; etc. At the end of the book he escapes, and by this point he can see days or weeks ahead, taking actions that ensure he isn’t recaptured and manipulating people successfully. It is implied that he is the first of a new species that will easily outcompete and replace humanity, all without any spark of sentience. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1639 "2025-01-31T22:19:50Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > RICK & MORTY, a couple of times. > [@E-DUB](#): > > How might people react to that? In Rick and Morty, the first time Rick sets up Interdimensional Cable, Jerry and Beth (Rick’s daughter and son in law, and Morty’s parents) watch alternate versions of themselves, who never met each other and are more materially successful, and their relationship nearly falls apart. Summer, their daughter, is also very shaken, because obviously in that universe she doesn’t exist (and her parents are apparently super boring in every reality where she _does_ exist). So if people had access to Interdimensional Cable, it might lead to some existential crises. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1640 "2025-01-31T22:26:31Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Imagine being able to watch sit-coms, dramas, or, most importantly, news broadcasts telling you what might be happening on worlds similar to ours but where events unfolded differently Imagine watching Showtime Extreme from a world where man evolved from corn! 🌽 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=81) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=83)