Questions tagged [short-stories]
For about a fictional work too small to be called a [novel] or [novella] - usually less than 10-20 thousand words and no chapters. Use to either identify the media on a [story-identification] question or disambiguate works where the tag covers the short story and its form in other media.. If you are looking for a particular anthology of short stories, use the [anthology-book] tag instead.
4,378
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Short story where space travellers must move the planet they've crashed on, or die in a supernova
Trying to identify this short story I read in maybe 1960's. The space travellers crash land on an uninhabited planet and soon realise the star will explode in the very near future. Their ship cannot ...
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0
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47
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Short story about a musician who wants to use samples from underground dwellers in her work
Around 2007, I read a short story from a collection at my friend’s house. I do not remember the format, unfortunately, but it may not have been formally published. I think it may have been from one of ...
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5
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1
answer
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Story in which most people in town are reanimated dead people and don't know it
I have vague memories of a story. I am pretty sure it is a short story. I can't think how it would be fleshed out to be a novel, or movie. It is possible it might have been an episode of a TV show ...
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12
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2
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Trying to find a short story about criminals who are given implants so they can be controlled by aliens
I am trying to find a short story I must have read about 30 years ago. People who have committed very serious crimes are given the choice between permanent incarceration and having an implant where ...
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7
votes
1
answer
134
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Short story where humans colonizing an alien planet begin to get sick and then start turning into blob aliens
I read a short story in an English textbook about fifteen years ago (the textbook was not new) where humans are colonizing an alien planet and they begin to get sick and then they start turning into ...
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2
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1
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71
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Short story with little girl and artificial teacher [duplicate]
The short story had a little girl named Margie who lived in the future where there were no schools and there were only artificial teaching computer systems. The girl's "teacher" was due to ...
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1
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Trying to identify a military SF short story [duplicate]
I'm trying to identify a short story that was part of an anthology of military science fiction. Probably published 20 years ago or more.
Most of the stories were of the two-sides-mutually-annihilate-...
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25
votes
1
answer
3k
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Short fantasy about disappearing items - Asimov's early 1980s
This is a short story from the early 1980s in Asimovs (probably still while edited by Scithers). The main character, an adult (20-something) woman has had a problem with small items of hers ...
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12
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1
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Short story from 70s sci-fi anthology for high schoolers featuring neighborhood warfare and a deadly football game [duplicate]
In high school I took an English class focusing on science-fiction. The textbook was an anthology of short stories. While I took the class between 1980 and 1982, I presume that the book hailed from ...
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1
answer
107
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Short story about lucid dreaming and a gun that protects the protagonist in his sleep
I read this decades ago—probably in the 1960s—and am pretty sure it was from an anthology. It was English language. As a boy, our hero had nightmares, and his father taught him how to mentally bring ...
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10
votes
1
answer
118
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Science fiction noir-ish story with bird-people and mirror portals
Spoilers ahoy! I’m trying to find a science fiction short story about a man and his wife who I believe were detectives, hired by a man trying to figure out why he has amnesia or fugue states or ...
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16
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1
answer
1k
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Looking for the short story about two men stranded on an alien planet, discover stones are actually alive and use them to fight each other
Looking for the short story about two men stranded on an alien planet that they thought only had a lot of stones/rocks. Turns out the stones/rocks are life forms that move very very very slowly (I ...
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5
votes
0
answers
83
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Zombie story about everyone dying simultaneously & reanimating?
Looking for a short story that was published about 2017 in an anthology (English language, probably ebook only) of zombie stories.
Plot: main character is an adult man, father and husband, office ...
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2
answers
2k
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Science fiction short story about teleportation and a tiny civilization
The story features a man who is testing a prototype (I think) teleportation device the company he works for is creating to shorten his commute to work. When you step into the teleporter you walk ...
- 457
23
votes
1
answer
2k
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Photographs of people with their eyes closed leads to a faster-than-light device
This is a (mildly humorous) short "story" I probably read in the 1980s; I recall it being more of a report than an actual story with a plot.
Some scientist is intrigued by the fact that ...
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7
votes
1
answer
147
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Short story I read over a decade ago about animals stopping a disaster caused by scientists creating a rip to another dimension
I would like some help finding a story. I read this story in a library over a decade ago, so I don't think it's a new story.
I believe it was a science fiction short story. It might have been ...
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5
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1
answer
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A Story/ Movie about a Robot Boy from ca. 2005-2009 [duplicate]
I just recently remembered that when I was still in elementary school (ca. 2005-2009), a teacher talked about a new Science Fiction story or movie they had recently read/ seen, and now I can't get it ...
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22
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1
answer
1k
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Short story taking place on a toroidal planet or moon involving flying
I'm looking for a short story that I remember reading, probably in Asimov's (but perhaps in Analog or F&SF), probably in the mid 1990s (unlikely to have been before 1985, or later than 2000).
The ...
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5
votes
1
answer
115
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Short story about device that tells user the best action to take in any given situation [duplicate]
In this story someone gets an ear piece that tells him exactly what the best thing to do would be to get a promotion at work or whatever. Over time he and this device develop their own language ...
14
votes
1
answer
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Short story: robot butler helps elderly man decide when to commit suicide
A paperback short story collection I read in the 1992-2002 era included a story in which a man was sinking into dementia. Appreciating that the progressive nature of the disease would make it hard ...
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1
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Story in collection: "To attack a culture destroy its roots". Humans became teachers of aliens to do so
For years and years I have been trying to locate a story I read in a collection... a very long time ago. Anywhere from late '70s to early '90s, with highest probability being at the earlier end of the ...
7
votes
1
answer
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70s? Two or three short stories involving the discovery of a time sensitive molecule/compound/substance [duplicate]
The first story was written almost as a scientific paper reporting the discovery of a time sensitive substance. It described the theory, and process that led to its discovery and include charts and ...
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19
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2
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3k
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Universe made of rock
Years ago - the 1980s - I read a short story in which a universe is made of rock or stone, within which are voids, some inhabited by intelligent races. I've always thought it was in The Monadic ...
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8
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1
answer
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Short story that reminds me of 65 movie premise [duplicate]
Read this one decades ago, and could have been written earlier. Could have been in an Asimov anthology as I was going through a pretty major sci fi/short story phase.
At any rate, it’s about the crew ...
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14
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2
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2k
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Post-apocalyptic published in Asimov's in the 1980s; main character named Georges - travels in time on highways (on foot)
I'm looking for a story published in the 1980s, in Asimov's magazine. The story featured a character named "Georges" (last name starting with "M" - possibly Mordreaux - though that ...
- 24.2k
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votes
1
answer
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I'm looking for a short story involving Time Tower minds
I'm looking for a short story, perhaps in a volume of Year's Best SF or The Year's Best Science Fiction that involves "Time Tower minds" which have a stretched consciousness across time, ...
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7
votes
0
answers
93
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Detective story with an alien that looked like celery
This is a short story from an anthology published before 2000.
It was told from the point of view of an alien who was a friend or side-kick to a human detective. The alien walked and talked but looked ...
15
votes
1
answer
461
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Short story in which shapeshifting woman scares man by shaping herself like a bustle [duplicate]
Probably aliens, or unusually advanced mutated humans, living normal lives among people in nineteenth or twentieth century America or Europe, could mold their body shapes to fit the prevailing ...
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2
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Short story featuring a detective and his alien sidekick
I'm looking for a short story featuring a bumbling human private investigator and his hyper-competent space-alien sidekick. In the story, it's noted that where most intelligent species have evolved ...
- 1,237
12
votes
1
answer
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Short story of a man missing his opportunity to escape his unhappy life on earth [duplicate]
Read this story in an anthology of not strictly science fiction many years ago. A man unhappy with his life is offered the opportunity after an interview to escape this world and live in basically a ...
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2
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0
answers
98
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Short story where a sideshow barker asks a child to debunk his paranormal exhibits, including ectoplasm [migrated]
The question has most of the elements that I remember, but not the author or title of the short story, which I’ve forgotten.
The barker is setting up the exhibit and invites a child to critique it. As ...
- 29
7
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0
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86
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Old sci-fi short story involving a small scorpion-like creature that can mind control people after stinging them
A few decades ago I came upon a collection of sci-fi short stories. One in particular stood out, but I can't find the name of it.
Basically, an exploration starship returns to Earth from, I believe, ...
10
votes
0
answers
146
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Short Science fiction story about a group of people trying to get to a portal that people believe leads to paradise
I'm looking for the name of a short science fiction story, that I read in the early 1980s. It had a heavy cold war vibe to it, so it's probably much older.
The story is about a group of people trying ...
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21
votes
1
answer
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Short story ID: Earth evacuates and one(?) person stays behind
I read this story in the last 15 years, but the story was probably much older (50's, 60's?) and I think is from one of the more well known authors, but maybe not one of the greats. I probably read it ...
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11
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0
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113
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1960s or 1970s short story; Earth is being evacuated because of an expanding Sun
In the 1970s, I read a short story about a young man who missed the last evacuation ship off Earth. The Sun was expanding and Earth was heating up too much to sustain life. Humans were being moved to ...
- 111
2
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0
answers
76
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Sci fi - 60s/70s [closed]
Trying to find the name of a book or series from the 60s/70s about the future when mankind had spread to multiple planets outside of this solar system - and the government (a little totalitarian) was ...
- 29
19
votes
1
answer
2k
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Short story about misfit diplomats in a crucial, last minute negotiation
I remember this story from years back, it was when I was reading lots of early sci-fi (e.g. Asimov). It was probably in a collection of sci-fi works. I would appreciate help finding it again:
Key ...
- 373
5
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0
answers
96
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A truce between the ground and sky
I'm looking for this short story of the ground and sky arguing and then reaching a truce. It features a star who acts as arbiter. I wanted to know if anyone else has found or read it?
- 91
4
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0
answers
72
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Short story about an orc who escapes in a tunnel to warn his kingdom but then gets an arrow through the throat
Short fantasy story I read about 22 years ago of an orc, elf or goblin good guy who has news of an impending invasion but gets captured by the enemy and forced to labour underground. He manages to ...
- 91
19
votes
0
answers
325
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Short story about a pilot who crash lands on an alien planet and is nursed back to health by an octopus-like creature with strong maternal instincts
Does anyone know what this story is? Here are the details I know:
A pilot crashes on some form of embattled planet.
On the planet there is an octopus mom-type creature. She is very large and her ...
- 222
16
votes
0
answers
109
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Sci-fi short story about neural prosthetics used to simulate a person's brain in an art performance
I'm looking for a science fiction short story I read years ago that takes place in the near future where neural prosthetics for people with Alzheimer's, memory loss, and other types of brain damage ...
- 261
18
votes
1
answer
1k
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A short story about a man going through insect-like metamorphosis and gaining superhuman powers from it
The story is definitely pre-00's, possibly quite older.
The general gist is:
The protagonist goes into a hibernation state after some procedure he undergoes or accident that happens to him.
His wife(?)...
4
votes
1
answer
132
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Short story about interrogation and mind transfer
There is a story I recall reading where a person is being tortured for information and just before he would die, they transfer his consciousness to a new body retaining all the memory of the torture ...
14
votes
1
answer
2k
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A SF humor short story about the Navy finding a plug at the bottom of the sea, then a giant bar of soap
Very likely to be an early Galaxy story, 1950s. Very short. The navy finds a giant iceberg that turns out to be a bar of soap, then a submarine finds a plug at the bottom of the ocean. No plot. Story ...
- 987
8
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0
answers
150
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Story where mind control device from the future appears in the 1940s (present)
I'm trying to find a story from the 40s or 50s, where a futuristic device was delivered to the protagonist's apartment (by a tech from the future).
The protagonist tries to figure out the device, and ...
- 181
15
votes
1
answer
666
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1960s Analog Story - Christopher Anvil?
The story - a typical Analog problem-solving story - involves a humanoid alien race that has developed an advanced technology without benefit of electricity. The opening scene: an engineer working ...
- 6,257
18
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1
answer
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Short-story search set after nuclear war
Looking for a short-story or maybe a novella set after a nuclear war. The war is over and scientists realize that the human race will never breed true because of fallout causing mutations. It ends ...
- 1,349
6
votes
1
answer
136
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Sci-FI story about capital punishment (I think)
A few years ago I read a sci-fi story (probably a novelette) in a known magazine of the genre. Unfortunately I am not sure about the magazine, although I have the impression it was the Asimov's.
The ...
- 69
3
votes
0
answers
58
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Alien plant from another planet moves around a spaceship during the night and finds a sleeping human body to take root in
A man takes an alien plant from another planet into his spaceship. But what this man doesn't know is that the plant has its own mind, and it moves around during the night looking for somewhere warm. ...
- 31
5
votes
1
answer
111
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Short story with anthropomorphic rats, deadly addictive drug, noir crime setting: Spoiler alert
Seeking a pre-1980 (I believe) fantasy short story about crime and redemption. It’s written in the style of a gritty police procedural with the moral overtones of a classic detective story. The drug ...
- 641