# More help locating old SF stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 19, 2015, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127 "2015-10-19T11:57:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127/1 "2015-10-19T11:57:21Z")
This is another in my continuing series of attempts to locate old SF stories that I read as a kid. OK, so all I remember about this one is that it concerned a planet that had I think an unusual orbit or something, (maybe a double sun) and when it entered a certain part of the orbit, everyone started hallucinating. No, I am not thinking of “Nightfall”. All I really remember is that the story was absolutely hysterically funny, at least to a teenage boy, because of the description of people wigging out. I know that isn’t much to go on. Anyone? You have performed miracles before… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127/2 "2015-10-19T12:29:44Z")
Sounds somewhat like Fredric Brown’s 1944 short story _Nothing Sirius_. (They find a planet orbiting the star Sirius that’s closer than what has been designated _Sirius 1_, so they call it “Nothing Sirius”. Hah. The beginning of it, at least, is inexplicably available – in Englishj – on this Russian site: [http://booksss.org/n/book/192479-278444.html#.ViThRstdGUk](http://booksss.org/n/book/192479-278444.html#.ViThRstdGUk) Otherwise, you can find it in the NESFA Press collection of Fredric Brown stories _From These Ashes; The Complete Short Stories of Fredric Brown_. If you can find them, it’s in the paperback collections _Space on my Hands_ and _The Best of Fredric Brown_. And it’s in the recent Wildside Press collection _The Fredric Brown Megapack_ [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?57252](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?57252) ---
**Author:** ![MrQwertyasd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@MrQwertyasd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrQwertyasd)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127/3 "2015-10-19T12:33:00Z")
I know what that is, that’s\* Planet of the Hallucinatory Orbit\*, by Jimmy Schnacklesteinburger ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127/4 "2015-10-19T12:41:57Z")
Sounds somewhat like Fredric Brown’s 1944 short story _Nothing Sirius_. (They find a planet orbiting the star Sirius that’s closer than what has been designated _Sirius 1_, so they call it “Nothing Sirius”. Hah. The beginning of it, at least, is inexplicably available – in Englishj – on this Russian site: [http://booksss.org/n/book/192479-278444.html#.ViThRstdGUk](http://booksss.org/n/book/192479-278444.html#.ViThRstdGUk) Otherwise, you can find it in the NESFA Press collection of Fredric Brown stories _From These Ashes; The Complete Short Stories of Fredric Brown_. If you can find them, it’s in the paperback collections _Space on my Hands_ and _The Best of Fredric Brown_. And it’s in the recent Wildside Press collection _The Fredric Brown Megapack_ [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?57252](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?57252) ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127/5 "2015-10-19T14:18:23Z")
**Stanisław Lem** ’s _Solaris_ takes place around a planet that causes hallucinations. I’m pretty sure there’s also a double sun but the hallucinations are more tragic than funny although that depends on your sense of humour. [Solaris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_%28novel%29) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127/6 "2015-10-19T14:39:36Z")
Sorry about the double post. Didn’t mean to do that. > [@MrQwertyasd](#): > > I know what that is, that’s\* Planet of the Hallucinatory Orbit\*, by Jimmy Schnacklesteinburger Did you hallucinate that name? isfdb turns up zero hits for the author or title. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ecks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ecks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ecks)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127/7 "2015-10-19T14:58:30Z")
Try “Placet is a crazy place” By Fredric Brown. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127/8 "2015-10-19T21:10:05Z")
That’s the one I think Johnny. Thanks all. You never let me down. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127/9 "2015-10-19T21:38:45Z")
Yes , it had those superdense birds that flew through the foundations of the buildings , collapsing them, until someone had the bright idea of filling the basements with empty boxes , which was effectively vacuum for them. The birds, i mean “Placet is a crazy place . I like it.” ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127/10 "2015-10-19T23:17:56Z")
Oh yes now it’s all coming back to me. That is definitely the one. Thanks guys. ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127/11 "2015-10-20T16:22:20Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ecks](#): > > Try “Placet is a crazy place” By Fredric Brown. Bingo! Just ask Ike Witt. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127/12 "2015-10-20T16:40:33Z")
Fredric Brown freaking RULES. I have a story I’d like to place, so I can re-read it…it was the first story in an anthology I took out of the library as a kid because it had Frank Stockton’s “The Lady and the Tiger” in it. First-person story with a protagonist who was a bit of a teenage nerd, Holden Caulfield-type snotty. He worked in a drugstore, so the cool kids called him “Bottles” to tease him. He goes out for the track team, and astonishes everyone by being the fastest runner anyone’s ever seen. The last line of the story was something like “I can fly, too. But if I flew, they won’t think my running is so impressive. I’ll fly later.” ---
**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:** [October 21, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127/13 "2015-10-21T00:42:10Z")
Here are some anthologies with “The Lady or the Tiger” in them: [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?875610](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?875610) ---
**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:** [October 21, 2015, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127/14 "2015-10-21T00:52:18Z")
I remember reading Placet in one of the magazines, Analog maybe. Obviously a reprint. Very clever story. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127/15 "2015-10-21T00:56:29Z")
I re-read it last night. It’s pretty silly and is really just a shaggy dog story all designed to set up a single pun. I didn’t find it nearly as funny as I did when I was an early teen (unsurprisingly, sigh). The whole idea of ultra dense birds that fly through ordinary matter but can be stopped by air because it’s like vacuum to them is fun though. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-help-locating-old-sf-stories/735127/16 "2015-10-21T23:51:45Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Here are some anthologies with “The Lady or the Tiger” in them: Nah, not there. But I am very much obliged.