# Stories You Don't Remember **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 4, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351 "2014-07-04T15:47:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/1 "2014-07-04T15:47:56Z")
Science Fiction and Fantasy short stories are my favorite reading material. It takes a gifted writer to tell an engaging story in just a few pages. I have read many over the years. Some I would like to read again as an adult. But I don’t remember them well enough to find again. Three come to mind at the moment. 1. The main character is some kind of alien (?) and is trying to get accustomed to his human host body. He is puzzled by hunger. He doesn’t know about the need to refuel, and hunger goes from discomfort to pain before he figures out what to do about it. He is terrified of sleep. He thinks he is dying as he loses consciousness. 2. The main character is freaked out by teeth. They are the only exposed part of the skeleton and it freaks him out. 3. A piece of gum that gains sentience and keeps coming back to it’s owners mouth. Anyone else have stories they can’t quite remember but would like to read again? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/2 "2014-07-04T17:04:32Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#): > > 1. The main character is some kind of alien (?) and is trying to get accustomed to his human host body. He is puzzled by hunger. He doesn’t know about the need to refuel, and hunger goes from discomfort to pain before he figures out what to do about it. He is terrified of sleep. He thinks he is dying as he loses consciousness. That might be _[World of Ptavvs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Ptavvs)_ by Larry Niven. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/3 "2014-07-04T17:10:10Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That might be _[World of Ptavvs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Ptavvs)_ by Larry Niven. Sounds like “Q”. ST:TNG must have [del]stolen[/del] borrowed that part. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/4 "2014-07-04T17:51:02Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#): > > 1. The main character is freaked out by teeth. They are the only exposed part of the skeleton and it freaks him out. I think this one is a Ray Bradbury story: [Skeleton, by Ray Bradbury, WEIRD TALES - The Unz Review](http://www.unz.org/Pub/WeirdTales-1945sep-00032) ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/5 "2014-07-04T17:58:40Z")
I had a couple of collections of sci-fi and fantasy short stories I picked up at used books stores while traveling and then lost or threw out later on. I sometimes think of these and wonder if I could get hold of them again. 1. A man is sent to some sort of prison planet where the prisoners grow extra body parts – ears on their backs, for example. Every once in awhile, someone comes around to give them all a dose of happy gas and cuts off the extra parts to be used for transplants. 2. On an extremely overpopulated Earth of the future, people are killed off in large numbers by using traffic tunnels, like the Lincoln Tunnel, as traps that close off at unpredictable intervals. A family is driving back from vacation when the tunnel door closes right after they go through – that is, they just missed being killed but the car full of people right behind them is doomed. I’ll see if I can remember any more. ---
**Author:** ![Kobalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/41988e/32.png) [@Kobalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobalt)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/6 "2014-07-04T18:21:47Z")
[QUOTE] 1. A man is sent to some sort of prison planet where the prisoners grow extra body parts – ears on their backs, for example. Every once in awhile, someone comes around to give them all a dose of happy gas and cuts off the extra parts to be used for transplants. [QUOTE] [A Planet Named Shayol](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Planet_Named_Shayol) ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/7 "2014-07-04T19:35:08Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > I think this one is a Ray Bradbury story: [Skeleton, by Ray Bradbury, WEIRD TALES - The Unz Review](http://www.unz.org/Pub/WeirdTales-1945sep-00032) That’s it! I suspected it was Bradbury. ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/8 "2014-07-04T19:36:46Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That might be _[World of Ptavvs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Ptavvs)_ by Larry Niven. Not quite what I am remembering. ---
**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:** [July 4, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/9 "2014-07-04T20:20:52Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > 1. On an extremely overpopulated Earth of the future, people are killed off in large numbers by using traffic tunnels, like the Lincoln Tunnel, as traps that close off at unpredictable intervals. A family is driving back from vacation when the tunnel door closes right after they go through – that is, they just missed being killed but the car full of people right behind them is doomed. > > I’ll see if I can remember any more. “A Day at the Lottery Fair,” perhaps. See excerpt here [Platinum Pohl: The Collected Best Stories - Frederik Pohl - Google Books](http://books.google.com/books?id=r2XtfQyb78EC&pg=PA216&lpg=PA216&dq=pohl+lottery+fair&source=bl&ots=cPtWmUlXp5&sig=pfktjN7LWkZtLpDGW1K7gsRg1gk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_wu3U9bDDIOYyASMw4GgAw&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=pohl%20lottery%20fair&f=false) ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/10 "2014-07-04T20:33:38Z")
One where people are stranded on a planet. They have replicators but anything replicated only lasts for 5 minutes. There is a whole lot of concern about having enough coffee. One by one they die and when the final one dies she wakes up on a spaceship. The group of people are drifting through space, having lost control of their ship. Their way of passing time is to hook themselves up so a kind of dream machine. They all have the same dream of living on whatever planet is nearest to them and as they live their lives and die they wake up on the spaceship. After the last one wakes up they do some maintenance on the ship and sit around a drink from their rapidly diminishing coffee supply. A lot of concern about what is going to happen when they run out of coffee. Them they hook themselves up again for the next group dream. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/11 "2014-07-04T22:28:32Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > “A Day at the Lottery Fair,” perhaps. See excerpt here [Platinum Pohl: The Collected Best Stories - Frederik Pohl - Google Books](http://books.google.com/books?id=r2XtfQyb78EC&pg=PA216&lpg=PA216&dq=pohl+lottery+fair&source=bl&ots=cPtWmUlXp5&sig=pfktjN7LWkZtLpDGW1K7gsRg1gk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_wu3U9bDDIOYyASMw4GgAw&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=pohl%20lottery%20fair&f=false) No, that’s not it. The family is on the highway, stuck in traffic, at the beginning of the story and they talk about whether or not it’s an ordinary traffic jam or the tunnel ahead being shut down; their conversation provides the exposition about how the tunnels work as a gruesome means of population control. Then traffic starts up again and they drive through… Another one, from a different anthology. A wizard has murdered and cut up his rival into pieces. But he hasn’t read his Necronomicon (or similar text) carefully enough and learns too late that his rival can still have revenge. Bits of the body are crawling around the house. I also recall seeing a version of this on TV years ago–Night Gallery or Tales of the Unexpected. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/12 "2014-07-04T22:30:39Z")
[quote=“Kobalt, post:6, topic:692351”] [QUOTE] 1. A man is sent to some sort of prison planet where the prisoners grow extra body parts – ears on their backs, for example. Every once in awhile, someone comes around to give them all a dose of happy gas and cuts off the extra parts to be used for transplants. > [@](#): > > [A Planet Named Shayol](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Planet_Named_Shayol) Yes. that looks like the one. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/13 "2014-07-04T22:38:20Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Sounds like “Q”. > ST:TNG must have [del]stolen[/del] borrowed that part. “Deja Q” S3/Ep13 How did I know? Because it’s on BBC America right now, I’m actually watching it as I type 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/14 "2014-07-04T22:49:01Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#): > > . . . 3) A piece of gum that gains sentience and keeps coming back to it’s owners mouth. . . . I wish I could help! I remember that one, but not the title or author. I think it may have been in Analog magazine. Anyway…ew! What a really nasty story! Put me off gum for life! ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/15 "2014-07-04T22:57:07Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I wish I could help! I remember that one, but not the title or author. I think it may have been in Analog magazine. Anyway…ew! What a really nasty story! Put me off gum for life! I totally remember that too. Gah, this is gonna make me nuts… ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/16 "2014-07-05T00:26:07Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > Another one, from a different anthology. A wizard has murdered and cut up his rival into pieces. But he hasn’t read his Necronomicon (or similar text) carefully enough and learns too late that his rival can still have revenge. Bits of the body are crawling around the house. I also recall seeing a version of this on TV years ago–Night Gallery or Tales of the Unexpected. This might be [The Return of the Sorcerer](http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/183/the-return-of-the-sorcerer) by Clark Ashton Smith. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/17 "2014-07-05T00:34:12Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > Another one, from a different anthology. A wizard has murdered and cut up his rival into pieces. But he hasn’t read his Necronomicon (or similar text) carefully enough and learns too late that his rival can still have revenge. Bits of the body are crawling around the house. I also recall seeing a version of this on TV years ago–Night Gallery or Tales of the Unexpected. Possibly \*Frozen Fear \*by Robert Bloch. I’ve not read the original story, but it’s been filmed and I’ve seen the film. I don’t know how close it is to the original. The film is \*Asylum \*(1972). It’s one of those anthology movies with a framing story that were popular in the seventies. Film : [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcDYtxbPyF4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcDYtxbPyF4) Story starts : [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcDYtxbPyF4&t=11m18s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcDYtxbPyF4&t=11m18s) Dismembered parts attack : [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcDYtxbPyF4&t=25m45s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcDYtxbPyF4&t=25m45s) ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/18 "2014-07-05T07:33:29Z")
I thought I remembered the gum story as being by Thurber, but it turned out to be [Steinbeck](http://pracownik.kul.pl/files/26723/public/untitled_folder/Steinbeck_Affair.pdf). ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/19 "2014-07-05T10:58:39Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > I thought I remembered the gum story as being by Thurber, but it turned out to be [Steinbeck](http://pracownik.kul.pl/files/26723/public/untitled_folder/Steinbeck_Affair.pdf). You found it! Well done! ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/20 "2014-07-05T14:20:48Z")
I’m not sure how famous this one is. I remember reading it in a sf anthology from the school library in the mid 80s. The earth has been peacefully invaded by aliens with no physical form. They take people over for a few days a month and go crazy using the persons body. Everyone accepts this and people are given special leave from work and not prosecuted for anything they do while possessed. Normally people don’t remember what they did, but the novels hero remembers having sex with a possessed woman and he’s fallen in love. He tracks her down and she has no recall of him. He becomes insistent and is eventually taken away as still being possessed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351.md?page=2)