Questions tagged [soft-sci-fi]
Soft science fiction is a term for works in the science fiction genre which do not apply a rigourous scientific model for the universe. It can also be used to describe work where the science fiction aspect is incidental to the story (the same story could be told without the science fiction elements).
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Children's book about a long neck blue alien wearing a turtle neck sweater
I read a book in the 1980s that I am looking for title and publish date. Is is a children's book about a long neck blue alien wearing a turtle neck sweater.
I don't remember much of the story other ...
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Looking for an old sci-fi book/series about kids crashed on a planet
Ok, so it might be a long-shot, as I was around 12 when I read this book (or books?) — which was 30 years ago.
I'm not sure if it was a series of books, or just one book which I never finished.
The ...
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A summary of Dejah Thoris and her skills?
Though I have not read the novels, a situation I intend to remedy eventually, can anyone summarize the skills, abilities and proficiencies Dejah Thoris possesses both mundane and fantastical both from ...
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looking for science fiction short story about boy and friends who jump through planet gates to watch star explosions
This story is relatively new. It's short probably from one of the most known sci/fi magazines (Asimov, Analog, The magazine of fantasy and science fiction, Clarkesworld) I just read it earlier this ...
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1answer
441 views
Short Story - Robert Silverberg. The Story is about a solitary Pilot or Engineer of a pilgrim or colonization ship and his spiritual stowaway
I recall reading this story in the early 2000's in an old (90's) Silverberg anthology. The spiritual stowaway, a young girl desperate to escape her boring life in this story has somehow stolen the ...
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247 views
Funny, Jewish sci-fi novel
I read it mid 80's and found it a few years ago, but with the publication of a new Jewish sci-fi novel, it's harder to find it again.
The story is about an investigator working for a government ...
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130 views
Old cartoon/movie with tiny character driving a toy red Chevy Bel air
I watched this Disney-style cartoon on tv between 1997-98 but it was probably much older than that since the car in question appears to be, if memory serves me right, a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air ...
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198 views
80s/90s Scifi movie where an alien family is stuck on Earth [duplicate]
When I was younger I remember watching a copied VHS that had a partial sci-fi movie on it. From what I remember a humanoid alien family somehow gets stuck on earth.
There were 2 sisters whose hair ...
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Alien doomsday movie where a good and bad alien fight whilst two kids look for a doomsday device
There are two kids and two aliens in this alien doomsday movie, one good and one bad. I believe the "good" alien is Dwayne Johnson or Vin Diesel. The "bad" alien is of size and shape of the ones in ...
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1answer
233 views
TV show / Film where a space ship breaks apart in a supernatural way near the end
I am having a super difficult time remembering this. I believe it was a TV show but it might have been a film (about 95% sure it was a TV show). I believe the premise was that some planet had an area ...
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1answer
136 views
90s-00s novel about a boy with a dimension hopping device
Trying to find a book that I read 10-15 years ago.
The novel is about a boy which one day gets visited by himself. His other self has a device with which someone can jump from one dimension to ...
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Late 90s movie about people disappearing (down drains, I believe)
I only remember the trailer and vaguely at that. It began with a statistic about how many people go missing every year and are not found. There was an "at first they thought people were being abducted ...
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Prince Rupert's Drops [duplicate]
Does anyone remember a short story involving "Prince Rupert's Drops"? Story character finds these beautiful iridescent golden glass-like objects on the beach at one of the Great Lakes, and thinks it's ...
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1answer
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Short story with an astronaut in space wearing a semi-sentient suit
Some astronaut is in space, and his spaceship is destroyed. For some reason, this dude is wearing a semi-sentient suit that keeps him alive indefinitely, and he's just floating through space for ...
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1answer
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Short story where the labour class lives in another timeline to the privileged class
A short story was mentioned to me and we are trying to figure out the name of it.
It was apparently written years ago and was hoping to find it.
It was apparently a short story based around divided ...
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1answer
129 views
Sci-fi/time traveller cartoon where a time traveler on a training mission saves a girl from being killed which makes Earth disappear [duplicate]
Sci-fi/time traveller cartoon from the early to mid 2000's.
The plot goes like this:
A time traveler was in some sort of training mission. Whilst he was on this mission he witnesses this girl that ...
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1answer
190 views
Movie Identification: Police chase in a SF movie
Based in the future. The only scene I remember is that the guy is running away from the police. As the police are chasing him (in a tunnel-like environment), the cost of the chase (i.e. the fuel cost ...
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1answer
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Science Fiction book where an experimental ship with a 2 navigator hyperspace system leaves the crew dead
Trying to find the title of a book I believe I read in the '70s. The plot involves around a hyperspace navigator that interfaces directly with the ship from a jump chair. Normal navigation was done ...
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What was it that “powered” Auto-Man and Cursor to allow them to exist in the real world?
In the early 80s sci-fi show Auto-Man , the titular hero is essentially a humanoid form program made by a police-computer genius, and given physical shape in our reality. It was described as thus:
...
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1answer
124 views
Space colony novel where space pirates attack a planet and take a boy hostage who fights his way back eventually
I think it was a 1970s novel and might have been simply titled "Colony". These days it would likely be classed as young-adult, but I don't think such a category existed back then. I probably read it ...
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Old scifi book featuring krakens attacking humans
My memory of it is vague because I read it 30+ years ago. I believe it was published by Penguin. It's at least forty years old.
The basic plot:
Krakens from the deepest ocean come ashore and attack ...
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1answer
443 views
80’s kids film about two kids who rent a film and get sucked into the TV
This has been bugging me for such a long time. It’s a film about two kids who go to a video store, and this particular video stands out as it has a silver cover.
When they play it, they are sucked ...
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1answer
374 views
Old book about a young man marooned in space who is drawn to an alien shipwreck by a ring he is wearing
It was a school library book I read in the 70s, about a young man marooned in space who is drawn to an alien shipwreck by a ring he is wearing. Can't seem to remember more, but the image has stayed ...
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1answer
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Stunning CGI short film about war and love where the leader of one world invades the other after being rejected
The story is about two people - both leaders of their respective species. On one side, the tall, powerful looking male character, and a young, beautiful queen, who he is in love with. After being ...
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Sci-fi novel where a mother and son are captured by another tribe
This was a sci-fi novel I read decades ago.
Most of the story takes place after a mother and her son have been captured by another tribe and are being transported back to their encampment. I believe ...
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Science Fiction Story About Two Kids That Build A Spaceship Pre-1994 [duplicate]
Most likely, pre-1990.
This is a story (book for kids) about two kids that build a spaceship. I remember the spaceship being constructed of shiny metal or tin on the exterior of the ship. I also ...
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Sci fi book about virtual reality where a race disappeared due to playing too much
I am trying to find the title of a book I read about all humans playing virtual reality games. My memory is a bit hazy on this one and I don't remember author or title. It was hard cover and more than ...
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1answer
189 views
2000s(?) anime: a girl uncovers a government secret and can control a phoenix-like monster
All I remember about this anime is a girl and her brother go to a boarding school (I believe) and the girl ends up uncovering a secret. The government is secretly trying to either destroy or control ...
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Sc-Fi book with psychic game
I'm looking for a book from 90's (I think). The French version had a cover in the style of Philippe Caza and the story is about a universe where people can play a sort of "psychic game".
In the game, ...
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Book - society of humanoid people that practise open relationships until they reach a certain age then have a monogamous partner
I think they lived kind of adjacent to a human race that had technology. They were the protagonists of the story. I read it around 20 years ago and it was probably about 15-30 years old then. They ...
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1answer
112 views
Sci-fi book about future of earth where the land has been submerged, and aliens use it to breed [duplicate]
1970's or 80's book about the future earth.
Aliens invaded, and sunk the land, now there are floating islands, and the aliens come back every so many years to plant eggs in the sea to hatch.
There ...
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A sci-fi-ish movie about toys coming to life I saw on TV when I was a kid
I've been looking for this movie for probably two decades - not because it's brilliant or anything, but just because I can't leave a mystery unsolved.
It was a movie about a kid who loved toys and ...
7
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1answer
249 views
90s (or earlier) sci fi book about demons being an ancient alien race
I'm trying to remember this book I read back in the 90's but I suspect may be older.
Humanity gets discovered by three alien superpowers and they split humanity into three groups and take over/...
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1answer
112 views
Asian movie from alternate reality with Tesla coil in Tokyo
A friend of mine saw a movie some time ago on the TV, but he can't recall the name. Here is the description he gives:
Japanese or Chinese movie, in the end, there was a Tesla coil (or some device ...
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2answers
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70's (or earlier) sci-fi book: character enters a world where the sun reflects the climate upon epileptic fits
I read this book in the 1970s.
The central character comes in and out of a world where the color of the sun reflects the climate/chaos. The character enters the world when he experiences an epileptic ...
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2answers
155 views
Book: troubleshooter born into a desolate future world
I think the book or series is from the late 70s early 80s. It's based in the future; the character was born in a desolate world and grew up with an almost animalistic survivability. It was not by L.E....
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Web comic about an adventurous dog and his human sidekick
Back around the mid-late 2000s I discovered a web comic (it could have been a scan of a physical comic) about a dog and his boy who go on adventures, either in space or underwater - perhaps both. I ...
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1answer
117 views
Scifi short story where everyone's lives are recorded, and based on this everyone is ranked at every different skill there could conceivably be [duplicate]
I read this story in the last 10 years. It is a scifi short story, probably published in Giganotosaurus or some other sci fi short story collective. Definitely published online.
The story is kind of ...
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1answer
210 views
Novel, Lo Tech SF/Fantasy, Powerful Woman, Male Assistant, Quest, Trilogy [duplicate]
Looking for the name of a SF or fantasy novel.
I probably read this in the 70's or 80's. Believe was first published post 1960. Could be part of a larger series. My faulty memory keeps trying to ...
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1answer
204 views
Children's book about a boy who travels to the future, using Coca-Cola syrup for negative friction
I remember reading this (old) book when I was about ten years old, in 2012. It was already old then, I think it's from around the 1980s. I can only remember a few things from it:
They used Coca-Cola ...
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1answer
197 views
Novel about a guy who travels through portals to bring back alien technology (jaunt?) [duplicate]
A while back I had read a Goodreads description of a novel that I have forgotten the name of. It was about a guy having discussions with his therapist about his profession which is to jump through a ...
9
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1answer
219 views
Sci-fi book: two college kids witness man's first landing on Mars with a wormhole/travel machine they invented; they're ultra rich and nigh-immortal [duplicate]
I can't recall how long ago I read this book, but it starts with 2 college kids using some form of wormhole or instant travel mechanism they invented to personally witness man's first landing on Mars. ...
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166 views
Book about a man becoming a saint for humanity
A child is sent to a prison mining colony on the belt. There is a general at the prison and promotes the child to admiral. The child and general escape and travel the Sol system as a traveling ...
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1answer
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90s sci-fi book about humans on a alien reserve; one man escapes and returns to liberate his people
There is a sci-fi book I read in the 90's. It was old back then, so it's possibly been published earlier. It was in English and I suspect the author was either American or British.
From what I can ...
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52 views
Book about portal/other worlds and a tribe digging for gold
There was this book I read years ago (2000-2009, possibly even older) about a boy who finds some sort of portal door.
It takes him to this world where a tribe is fighting to survive by digging for ...
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2answers
186 views
Short Story or Novella About Observing the Future [duplicate]
Trying to identify a story:
I read it in an anthology during the 80's. The anthology may have been older than that.
Narrator is sent by an organization to view the future. He does this on multiple ...
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0answers
105 views
Science fiction horror novella about yellow smoke that can control people's minds
It was a sci-fi and horror novella (the book contained 3 stories in total). The protagonist was a young kid with asthma. His parents were scientists and had to move to a new town in the middle of ...
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1answer
246 views
Book about teleportation, female main character, can't teleport off Earth
It is a series about a group of kids who cannot be off-world due to health issues, but they discover that the types of planets that are being searched for are wrong. If they try to teleport to another ...
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1answer
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Sci-Fi book revolving about a male character who traveled between dimensions and recorded his travels in logs he sent to his friends
I've been searching for this series for a while, the story revolved about a group of guardians of sort that travelled between parallel dimensions, through specifically hidden gateways in each ...
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1answer
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Sci fi show about a boy with powers with rays coming out of a prism [duplicate]
I watched this show when I sass a kid (80-90s) about a boy that has some kind of powers. It’s set in the UK I think, in a cabin/lodge. It has a spooky theme where you see a prism slowly making taking ...
