# Fictional works of fiction. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2005, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337 "2005-10-28T17:29:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2005, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/61 "2005-10-29T03:43:29Z")
How can we forget [Galaxy Quest](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177789/), about Tim Allen and the other stars of a TV series with the same title? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/62 "2005-10-29T03:54:55Z")
And “Wormhole X-Treme”, in “Stargate SG-1”. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/63 "2005-10-29T04:16:10Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > _Watchmen_ has a number of these, including the first Nite Owl’s autobiography, interviews with Ozymandius and the original Silk Spectre and the pirate comic book (_Tales of the Black Watch_, I think?) _Tales of the Black Freighter_. It also mentions a few other pirate comics (in the fictional reference Treasure Island Treasury of Comics) put out by EC - Piracy, and Buccaneers - and the novel (later movie (twice)) Fogdancing, written by the writer who did most of the Black Freighter stories. (The only fictional writer mentioned in that section.) Sandman also has Ultraman (I think…something like that), the Superman analogue that Wanda read when she was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2005, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/64 "2005-10-29T12:08:24Z")
The works of that Romance Era poet William Ashbless are known to exist only in the mind of Tim Powers. **Podkayne** , FWIW, _The Stone Pillow_ is listed in some of Heinlein’s own charts of his Future History stories. He never seemed to find the story that interesting to write, but was supposed to be a telling of how the US became Nehemiah Scudder’s personal ballywack. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2005, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/65 "2005-10-29T22:28:40Z")
A bit late to this thread, but thought that people might be interested in [The Invisible Library](http://www.invisiblelibrary.com/). > [@](#): > > The Invisible Library is a collection of books that only appear in other books. Within the library’s catalog you will find imaginary books, pseudobiblia, artifictions, fabled tomes, libris phantastica, and all manner of books unwritten, unread, unpublished, and unfound. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/66 "2005-10-29T23:31:53Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > Well, there’s the _Necronomicon_, of course, although technically it’s not fiction. > > There’s _The Grasshopper Lies Heavy_, which is a fictional alterative history within the fictional alterative history of Philip K. Dick’s _The Man In The High Castle_. Not only is it ficitonal fiction, it’s also self-referential and somewhat recursive (_Grasshopper_ mostly parallels actual history and the characters in _High Castle_ start to realize that they’re living within a novel.) > > Now I have this niggling irritation that I know a lot of books that fulfill this criterion but I can’t recall them. _grrrr_ > > Stranger A slight nitpick but the plot of _Grasshopper_ doesn’t parallel our world except for the Axis losing WW2. At the end of the book The U.S. and Britain are at each others throats, Russia is divided into U.S. and British protectorates, Italy fights for the allies, Hitler is captured and tried, and race relations in the U.S. are resolved by the 1950’s. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/67 "2005-10-30T01:42:51Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > Perhaps **Qadgop the Mercotan** knows of one? Can’t think of any. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Skott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skott)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/68 "2005-10-30T06:33:22Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Tobin’s Spirit Guide. But… but… but… isn’t that a work of _non_-fiction in a work of fiction? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/69 "2005-10-30T09:55:14Z")
[QUOTE=betenoir] Of course there’s the book (what was it called? I’ve only read 1984 500 times!) that O’brien gave Winston./QUOTE] _The Theory and Practice of Collective Oligarchy_ Or some such. In what work of fiction does the fictional non-fiction book _(Somebody’) Guide to Refreshing Sleep, Volume 7_ appear? ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/70 "2005-10-30T11:00:21Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > Well, there’s the _Necronomicon_, of course, although technically it’s not fiction. > > …snipped… > > Stranger And there is of course the _King in Yellow_, mentioned in the _Yellow Sign_ series of short stories. And the whole lot of “Bunny-Wunnies” books which Snoopy adores _Peanuts_. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/71 "2005-10-30T11:01:29Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > A bit late to this thread, but thought that people might be interested in [The Invisible Library](http://www.invisiblelibrary.com/). Just a very brief hijack - what will be the copyright implications if someone tries to write a book, using one of those forementioned titles? ---
**Author:** ![Foldup\_Rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Foldup\_Rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foldup_Rabbit)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/72 "2005-10-30T11:38:14Z")
There were several paintings and plays in _Memoirs of a Geisha_, that don’t actually exist. What I thought of immediately was the play put on by the actors in _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_. Pyramus and Thisbe? Something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/73 "2005-10-30T12:17:08Z")
A.S Byatt’s _Possession_ is all about the works of a fictional poet. _The Great Gatsby_ is prefaced with some verses attributed to a fictional character, Thomas Parke D’Invilliers, from an earlier book by Fitzgerald. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/74 "2005-10-30T12:30:23Z")
In one of Spider Robinson’s books, he references a lost Heinlein book called _On Golden Wings_, or something like that. It’s the tale of Lazarus’ grandfather. ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/75 "2005-10-30T16:55:27Z")
Sophie’s World is the book that Hilde read in the book Sophie’s World. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/76 "2005-10-30T17:18:17Z")
> [@Foldup Rabbit](#): > > What I thought of immediately was the play put on by the actors in _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_. Pyramus and Thisbe? Something like that. Pyramus and Thisbe is a real work of literature, though I don’t know whether it was ever put into play format. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/77 "2005-10-30T17:36:45Z")
**"Multitudes Multitudes"** A war novel the treacherous Keefer is witting in Herman Wouk’s The Cain Mutiny. BTW “A Fall of Moondust” is may favorite Clarke novel. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/78 "2005-10-30T18:16:13Z")
And there’s the [William Ashbless](http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~jberlyne/powers/ashbless2.htm), probably the most prolific poet never to have existed. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/79 "2005-10-30T19:25:59Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Sandman also has Ultraman (I think…something like that), the Superman analogue that Wanda read when she was a kid. Yup! _Hyperman_ (I recently re-read _A Game of You_). I can’t remember many titles from the Library of Dreams, but IIRC, one was _The Man Who Was October_ by G. K. Chesterton - similar to _The Man Who Was Thursday_? And another was _That Spy Novel I Was Always Going to Write That Would Make Me a Million Dollars_ written by, well, you. (BTW, you need to put in some work on the title 😉 ) The Library also had a works of non-fiction about fictional places inside the _Sandman_ work of fiction - hmmm, hard to say whether those count. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337/80 "2005-10-30T19:28:34Z")
> [@wevets](#): > > The Library also had a works of non-fiction about fictional places inside the _Sandman_ work of fiction - hmmm, hard to say whether those count. 😕 Just to clarify: those fictional places were not just fictional because they were in the fictional _Sandman_, they were fictional as opposed to the fictional non-fictional… aah, I give up! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-of-fiction/328337.md?page=5)