# Help me identify a SF story from my youth **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 9, 2001, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383 "2001-10-09T19:04:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![k.os](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@k.os](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k.os)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/1 "2001-10-09T19:04:11Z")
While I was in HS, I read a short book that was about a city controlled by some sort of supercomputer. My memory is fuzzy, but I remember one of the characters ‘befriending’ the computer and the computer wanting to keep the city ‘clean’. I remember also that at one point, the computer started having homeless and old people disappear. The rest is too fuzzy to remember. I read that story about 15 years ago. I’d like to read it again, but I can’t remember the title. Does it ring a bell with anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/2 "2001-10-09T19:43:35Z")
I remember that story! Boy, don’t you wish this was helpful? ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/3 "2001-10-09T21:00:53Z")
It sounds a little bit like _A Wrinkle In Time_ by Madeleine L’Engle. ---
**Author:** ![k.os](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@k.os](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k.os)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/4 "2001-10-09T21:18:03Z")
**Ruadh** I looked at the description of the story for _A Wrinkle in Time_ and I don’t think it’s it. There was no time-travelling in the story I read, or if there was it was a _really_ minor part. I read an excerpt from [amazon.com](http://amazon.com) and I don’t think that it’s the book I’m looking for. Seems fun, though. I might read it anyway. 😃 I remember that the ‘computer’ was making people disappear, mostly homeless and old, because they did not fit with the cleanliness of the city. **Anal Scurvy** Do you think you can fill in some blanks to help people find it, or is your memory of it as vague as mine? ---
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/5 "2001-10-09T22:03:29Z")
Sounds like an Issac Asimov short story. I’ll see if I can find the title. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/6 "2001-10-09T22:20:50Z")
Possibly “The Mad Metropolis” by Philip E. High? This was half of an Ace Double back in the 60s. ---
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/7 "2001-10-09T22:22:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by k.os \* > **Anal Scurvy** > Do you think you can fill in some blanks to help people find it, or is your memory of it as vague as mine? \*\* Let me put it this way: I would not have been able to recall the plot if you hadn’t told me it. It’s beginning to come back now. The girl befriended the computer, her father is somehow important to the city, homeless people start disappearing (does something happen to the girl’s dad?)… I think Corvus might be right with the Asimov suggestion. I read it way back in grade eight, it was in our class reader. I was thinking “Beverly Cleary”, but now I remember she did a scifi story we read about a girl whose classmates lock her in a closet just as the sun is about to appear for the first time in seven years. Being from Earth, she misses it dearly and the rest of her classmates tease her because she doesn’t fit in. But that’s a different story. Why couldn’t you be curious about this story? ---
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/8 "2001-10-09T22:34:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anal Scurvy \* > > I think Corvus might be right with the Asimov suggestion. I read it way back in grade eight, it was in our class reader. I was thinking “Beverly Cleary”, but now I remember she did a scifi story we read about a girl whose classmates lock her in a closet just as the sun is about to appear for the first time in seven years. Being from Earth, she misses it dearly and the rest of her classmates tease her because she doesn’t fit in. But that’s a different story. Why couldn’t you be curious about this story? \*\* That story I know. That was actually Ray Badbury. Very cool story (almost as good as “The Veldt”), though the name is escaping me for the moment. One question about the other story. Was the computer called UNIVAC? ---
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/9 "2001-10-09T22:37:35Z")
Here we go… [All Summer in a Day](http://www.intermed.it/bradbury/Allsummer.htm) ---
**Author:** ![k.os](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@k.os](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k.os)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/10 "2001-10-09T22:47:34Z")
**Anal Scurvy** Yeah, now that you mention it, I think something happens to her dad. **Corvus** It’s been awhile, but that name (UNIVAC) rings a very strong bell. I think you might be on the right track there. Cool Bradbury story, BTW. Thanks for that one. It’s not what I was looking for, but it’s very good. I tried to find more info on _Mad Metropolis_ or _Double Illusion_ (the other title, according to a couple of pages…) but I didn’t find anything. I looked at [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) and tried a google search but came up mostly empty. ---
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/11 "2001-10-09T23:37:43Z")
Well, my searches have failed to turn up anything concrete. The story that I was thinking of was Asimov’s “All the Troubles of the World” (FTR, the main computer was not UNIVAC, but rather MULTIVAC. Sorry.) I don’t think it is what you are thinking of though. > [@](#): > > Ben Manners’ father has been arrested. Multivac has been programmed to analyze every individual human’s psyche and prevent them from committing crimes before they actually do so; Ben’s father is accused of being on the verge of committing some horrible crime, but nobody says what it is. As Ben sets out to clear his father’s name, it turns out that Multivac is manipulating him, since it is contemplating the commission of a horrible crime itself. From Google (you will have to click on the cache link of the first hit in order to get the page. The original seems to be AWOL.) [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=+“All+the+troubles+of+the+world”+asimov&btnG=Google+Search](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=+%22All+the+troubles+of+the+world%22+asimov&btnG=Google+Search). It doesn’t want to format correctly for me, so you may have some trouble reading it. Unfortunately, it was all that I could find for this story. ---
**Author:** ![k.os](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@k.os](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k.os)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/12 "2001-10-10T00:03:23Z")
**Corvus** Sorry, I don’t think it’s the right story. The main character was a little girl. The computer was having people removed when they became old, sick, homeless, etc… Whatever wasn’t a part of the image of a ‘perfect city’ was taken away. I did a search on UNIVAC and found out it was an actual computer. That’s probably why it rang a bell. I seem to remember that the computer was taking everything the little girl was saying _extremely_ litteraly and applying cold, inhuman logic to find the easiest/most effective solutions. It’s very fuzzy, but this discussion is helping me remember more details. It was either a longish short story or a shortish book. I’ll check out _All the Troubles of the World_ since I really enjoy Aasimov’s writing, but I don’t think it’s the story from HS. Thanks a lot for your suggestions. On an aside, have you read [_The End of Eternity_](http://www.sfsite.com/10b/ee91.htm) by Aasimov? Amazing story! ---
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/13 "2001-10-10T00:39:21Z")
Well, sorry I couldn’t be of more help. I am interested in seeing whta this story is called though. I think that I would like to read it. Thanks for the link too, I’ll have to see if I can dig that book up. I must admit, I’ve never read much of Asimov, I was always more of a Brabury fan. I haven’t read much Sci-Fi recently though, so I think that I’ll try to catch up on what I’ve missed. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/14 "2001-10-10T00:47:27Z")
While we are helping, can anyone help me remember the title to a book that came out about 2 years ago. It involved Time Travel. The story was about a Space Ship Captain that destroyed a Wormhole to prevent people from using it for profit (in that story, time travel wormholes were the answer to interstellar travel). ---
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/15 "2001-10-10T02:19:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by k.os \* > \*\*It was either a longish short story or a shortish book. \*\* I’ll settle this. If it was a book I never would’ve read it, long scifi tends to bore me silly. I’m confident it was a short story. ---
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/16 "2001-10-10T02:22:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Corvus \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Anal Scurvy \* > > > > I think Corvus might be right with the Asimov suggestion. I read it way back in grade eight, it was in our class reader. I was thinking “Beverly Cleary”, but now I remember she did a scifi story we read about a girl whose classmates lock her in a closet just as the sun is about to appear for the first time in seven years. Being from Earth, she misses it dearly and the rest of her classmates tease her because she doesn’t fit in. But that’s a different story. Why couldn’t you be curious about this story? \*\* > > That story I know. That was actually Ray Badbury. Very cool story (almost as good as “The Veldt”), though the name is escaping me for the moment. > > One question about the other story. Was the computer called UNIVAC? \*\* Okay, we might be on to something here. If that wasn’t written by Beverly Cleary, then the scifi in question might’ve been. And if Beverly Cleary turns out to be a fictional character, you’ll find she was written by Judy Blume (whom I would then suspect of writing the scifi in question. My memory gets really associative when I have a headcold). ---
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/17 "2001-10-10T05:25:08Z")
I don’t think it was either of those two. I checked out their bibliographies and nothing seemed like it would match up with what was described in the OP. If you want you can check these sites out to see if anything rings a bell [Judy Blume](http://www.judyblume.com/booklist.html) [Beverly Cleary](http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/clearybib.htm) I’ll continue to look into this though. I really don’t want to do my homework, so this is providing an amazing distraction. And fun to boot! ---
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/18 "2001-10-10T06:11:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Corvus \* > \*\*I’ll continue to look into this though. I really don’t want to do my homework, so this is providing an amazing distraction. And fun to boot! \*\* I know, I’m supposed to be salvaging a relationship right now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/19 "2001-10-10T06:17:15Z")
I’m on a 28k modem 😮 for the next week, so I can’t really investigate, but I’d investigate Judy Blume further. I remember when we were reading these stories that there was one written by someone whom I absolutely did not expect to be writing scifi. It wasn’t the Veldt, it wasn’t All Summer in a Day, so it might be this one. And for some reason, I think it might be Judy Blume who wrote the story. If it’s not her, I’m certain it’s someone else who writes children’s books instead of scifi. Gotta go, girl thinks I can’t prioritize. ---
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/20 "2001-10-10T06:31:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by watsonwil \* > \*\*While we are helping, can anyone help me remember the title to a book that came out about 2 years ago. It involved Time Travel. The story was about a Space Ship Captain that destroyed a Wormhole to prevent people from using it for profit (in that story, time travel wormholes were the answer to interstellar travel). \*\* Anything else that yoiu can remember about this book? I haven’t been able to dig anything up. Maybe another doper will be along with the answer. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383.md?page=2)