# What Sci Fi story is this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306 "2008-04-29T02:16:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/1 "2008-04-29T02:16:30Z")
Described by a friend. She read it when she was a kid ( roughly 35 years ago ). A little girl lives on a planet. Might be Earth, might not be. The sun only shines once every, whatever, 100 years? 50 years? Anyway, she is the only one who knows this. Tries to convince her classmates, who tell her she’s crazy. Day comes when the sun should shine. They lock her into a closet to shut her up because they think she’s crazy, she has never seen sunlight ( like everyone else on the planet ). She sees a bit of light under the closet door. The kids are so awestruck by the sun that they forget about the girl. On the entire planet, she alone does not see the sun. What story is this, and who wrote it? Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/2 "2008-04-29T02:18:42Z")
_All Summer in a Day_ by Ray Bradbury. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/3 "2008-04-29T02:29:10Z")
That took two minutes. Two MINUTES??? What the hell is WITH you people? -Sniff- We used to have standards… 😃 Thanks much, **Bryan Ekers**. Now I gotta find it and read it ! Mods, feel free to close up. Then again, I do love me some good sci fi chat. What’s your favorite sci fi short story? Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/4 "2008-04-29T02:35:26Z")
[QUOTE=Cartooniverse] That took two minutes. Two MINUTES??? What the hell is WITH you people? -Sniff- We used to have standards… [/QUOTE] Would’ve taken five, but **Bryan** was faster than I. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/5 "2008-04-29T02:37:38Z")
Woulda taken six but… well, you know. I loved/hated that story as a kid. It broke my heart. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/6 "2008-04-29T02:39:41Z")
[QUOTE=Cartooniverse] What the hell is WITH you people? [/QUOTE] It was made into an oft-half-remembered [short film](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QWmahMdeGU), commonly requested. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/7 "2008-04-30T01:53:54Z")
I just watched it. Pretty lovely story. Still want to read it though. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/8 "2008-04-30T02:09:15Z")
[QUOTE=Cartooniverse] What’s your favorite sci fi short story? Cartooniverse [/QUOTE] My usual response to this one is “Night on Mispec Moor”, but I have stopped thinking of that one as Sci Fi, and now put it firmly in the “Zombie Story” camp. Dang, I just don’t know. I really liked one I read (I think it was Bester) when I was a kid, about a guy and a girl who ended up having an arguement in a New York City (I think?) that was abandoned due to the Earth having been taken over by aliens… neither of them knew it, they only discovered it when some well known statues had their heads replaced by giant mantis heads. ---
**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:** [April 30, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/9 "2008-04-30T02:41:01Z")
[QUOTE=Tristan] I really liked one I read (I think it was Bester) when I was a kid, about a guy and a girl who ended up having an arguement in a New York City (I think?) that was abandoned due to the Earth having been taken over by aliens… neither of them knew it, they only discovered it when some well known statues had their heads replaced by giant mantis heads. [/QUOTE] It was indeed Bester. [They Don’t Make life Like They Used To](http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/bester/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/10 "2008-04-30T02:54:10Z")
Thank you for the link, **pinkfreud**. I had it in a short story collection that was, I think, all his stuff. But I was like 11, and that book is LONG gone. Darn it. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/11 "2008-04-30T04:47:20Z")
[QUOTE=Cartooniverse] What’s your favorite sci fi short story? [/QUOTE] It’s always hard to pick, but Alan Dean Foster’s “With Friends Like These” ranks way up there. It’s not outstandingly well-written. It doesn’t have much in the way of deep meaning or subtext. It’s not particularly depressing (like so many of the SF stories people seem to cite as favorites). In fact, it’s downright silly in a lot of ways. Nevertheless, it appeals to me, and always has. “Bad mans!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/12 "2008-04-30T05:53:57Z")
Wow. The way the OP was describing it, I thought somebody had been in bed with a fever when somebody else read them “Nightfall”, and they got the story inside-out in their mind. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/13 "2008-04-30T09:38:10Z")
I don’t know if they are the\* best\*, but my two favorite short sci-fi stories(one if more fantasy, but Heinlein wrote it) are “True Minds” by Spider Robinson, and “The Man Who Traveled in Elephants” by Robert Heinlein. In the latter I can’t read the line about the veterans in the parade without tearing up. And my battered paperback that contains Robinson’s story I got signed by him, and he wrote “nobody ever told me this was their favorite before!” ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/14 "2008-04-30T11:39:58Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] Wow. The way the OP was describing it, I thought somebody had been in bed with a fever when somebody else read them “Nightfall”, and they got the story inside-out in their mind. [/QUOTE] Heh, me too. Favourite short story I suppose is “We can remember it for you wholesale.” ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/15 "2008-04-30T11:43:13Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] It was indeed Bester. [They Don’t Make life Like They Used To](http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/bester/index.html). [/QUOTE] Thanks for this link! A dull day at work has suddenly got a lot more interesting! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/16 "2008-04-30T15:33:37Z")
I try not to play favorites, but I’ll go with Asimov’s personal fav: The Last Question ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/17 "2008-04-30T20:11:25Z")
Ok, after reviewing in my head, favorite short story is “We Also Walk Dogs”. I love the idea behind it. and it’s by the Master. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/18 "2008-04-30T20:52:43Z")
okay, i give. i’ve googled and googled, but i can’t recall enough info for the search engine to help. now i appeal to doper science fiction story fans. i love this story. i read it years ago and it’s always stayed with me. i \*think \* it’s a short story and it could have been authored by bradbury or heinlein or any of who knows how many writers. something tells me it’s a bradbury, but since i can’t recall the name of the story, it’s kinda tough to research all of his anthologies. 😛 it’s about a ‘glass’ or clear maze on another planet (i think) and about what happens to an unwary explorer who decides to enter it, even though he sees that there is \*\*already \*\* another dead explorer lying inside it who never found a way out. it has a killer twist at the end that i won’t reveal here. that’s all i can recall of it. ::checks watch:: 4:50 pm EST. let’s see how long it takes the vast intelligence of the dope to come to my aid… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/19 "2008-04-30T21:27:40Z")
[QUOTE=Scubaqueen] okay, i give. i’ve googled and googled, but i can’t recall enough info for the search engine to help. now i appeal to doper science fiction story fans. i love this story. i read it years ago and it’s always stayed with me. i \*think \* it’s a short story and it could have been authored by bradbury or heinlein or any of who knows how many writers. something tells me it’s a bradbury, but since i can’t recall the name of the story, it’s kinda tough to research all of his anthologies. 😛 it’s about a ‘glass’ or clear maze on another planet (i think) and about what happens to an unwary explorer who decides to enter it, even though he sees that there is \*\*already \*\* another dead explorer lying inside it who never found a way out. it has a killer twist at the end that i won’t reveal here. that’s all i can recall of it. ::checks watch:: 4:50 pm EST. let’s see how long it takes the vast intelligence of the dope to come to my aid… 🙂 [/QUOTE] [In the Walls of Eryx](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Walls_of_Eryx) by H.P. Lovecraft and Kenneth J. Sterling. Great story. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306/20 "2008-04-30T21:38:35Z")
[QUOTE=Ghanima] [In the Walls of Eryx](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Walls_of_Eryx) by H.P. Lovecraft and Kenneth J. Sterling. Great story. [/QUOTE] Thank you! **Scubaqueen** ’s description sounds intriguing, and I was hoping someone would have the answer and a link to the story. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-story-is-this/447306.md?page=2)