# Name for a Sci-Fi Sub-Genre About Weird Objects? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 4, 2021, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-a-sci-fi-sub-genre-about-weird-objects/937201 "2021-03-04T21:18:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [March 6, 2021, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-a-sci-fi-sub-genre-about-weird-objects/937201/41 "2021-03-06T23:35:36Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > The Tommyknockers? I’ve suspected for some time that Stephen King was inspired at least in part by Stanlet Meltzoff’s haunting cover of the 1953 Signet paperback release of Heinlein’s **The Puppet Masters** [![](https://isfdb.org/wiki/images/c/c2/THPPPTMSTB1953.jpg) ](https://isfdb.org/wiki/images/c/c2/THPPPTMSTB1953.jpg) [https://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-PUPPET-MASTERS-by-Robert-Heinlein-/264213880542](https://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-PUPPET-MASTERS-by-Robert-Heinlein-/264213880542) The ship is at just the right angle so that, if it were buried, one edge would show above the ground just as described in King’s novel. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-a-sci-fi-sub-genre-about-weird-objects/937201/42 "2021-03-06T23:44:48Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ve suspected for some time that Stephen King was inspired at least in part by Stanlet Meltzoff’s haunting cover of the 1953 Signet paperback release of Heinlein’s **The Puppet Masters** Just don’t ask King himself whether that’s true - he claims he has no memory of writing _Tommyknockers_. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-a-sci-fi-sub-genre-about-weird-objects/937201/43 "2021-03-07T06:41:38Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Just don’t ask King himself whether that’s true - he claims he has no memory of writing _Tommyknockers_ . > **[I Don't Even Remember Writing The Tommyknockers](https://www.theonion.com/i-dont-even-remember-writing-the-tommyknockers-1819583598)** > > So, I'm doing this book signing for The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon at the Barnes & Noble on Manhattan's Upper West Side last week, and this woman comes up to me, gushing about how The Tommyknockers is her "absolute, all-time favorite book." The... Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-a-sci-fi-sub-genre-about-weird-objects/937201/44 "2021-03-07T11:11:14Z")
Y’all know that is an _Onion_ article, right? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-a-sci-fi-sub-genre-about-weird-objects/937201/45 "2021-03-09T18:28:15Z")
Parts of _Onion_ are legit. > **[THE TOMMYKNOCKERS by Stephen King Read by Edward Herrmann | Audiobook Review...](https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/56117/the-tommyknockers-by-stephen-king-/)** > > AudioFile Audiobook Review: In his memoir, ON WRITING, King claims that he doesn’t remember where the idea for THE TOMMYKNOCKERS came from or even the process of writing the nove [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-a-sci-fi-sub-genre-about-weird-objects/937201.md?page=2)