Questions tagged [story-identification]
Use for identifying a work of SF or Fantasy, including novels, movies, comic books, fanfic, TV series, video games, etc. Use with other tags to specify the type of media, eg. [short-stories]. Use [episode-identification] for identifying a single episode of a known series, whether TV, book, or comic. Use [actor-identification], [character-identification], [music-identification], or [object-identification] for those specific ID requests instead.
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Looking for sci-fi novel I read about humanity finding alien station on orbit of Earth
I am looking for a novel that I'd love to re-read it with my wife (my 13-year old self must be proud of me I guess).
Key Plot points
The plot was about humanity finding an alien station on an orbit of ...
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1
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Trying to remember a book about a human male travelling to alien planet
I listened to this on audiobook and it was great.
The premise was a human ends up travelling to an alien planet. The aliens have a perimeter to their 'base' that is under constant attack from the ...
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1
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series of young adult science fiction books from early 1980s about last of a race of martial experts that sees the destruction of his home planet
I remember that the main character is trying to find the group that destroyed his home planet while he was on a mission. His planet was very difficult to live on and the people became expert in ...
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1
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Anime with gems that can summon beasts to fight for the user, one is a purple turtle
What is the name of the anime TV show where a boy can summon beasts with crystals/gems. It was on SABC 2. There was also a boy that could summon a purple turtle . I think the gems were blue, green, ...
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1
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Book ID: Astronauts and Lab Students can create portals through space
Desperate to locate and re-read exceptional book/series, but cannot remember the title.
The high concept: The U.S. has just sent the first successful expedition to Mars, and it has just landed. As the ...
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34
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1
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What is this Disney scifi movie from the late 80s/early 90s?
When I was a kid we had a VHS tape of some Disney live action (not animated) sci-fi movie. It may have been a mini-series or a made-for-tv movie, but I'm not sure. I'm also not sure about the year but ...
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12
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1
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Children's book with "square triangles" in parallel universe?
In the 1960s I read book--an older children's book, I think--which I loved, and still remember, roughly. I have no idea what the title is or who the author is, and I'm wondering if anyone knows this ...
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10
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1
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Anime with a boy hiring a creature from a stone, meets a man named Dante and starts a journey to collect crystals
I am from India, this anime or animated series (I can't remember this was made by the Japan or other countries) was aired between 2009 and 2012 probably in Jetix/Disney XD (but I'm not sure).
This ...
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32
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1
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Short story, where FTL travel is very simple but humans never discovered it
I read a short story (I think, but it might have been a novel), where most races discover a very easy way to travel faster than light at a certain point in their technological development.
What I ...
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13
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1
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685
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YA series with a housekeeper or protector robot and set on a planet with a harsh sun
I read a series of books written in English (possibly a trilogy) in the early 1980s and was hoping to find them again for my children. The details I remember are:
It was set on a planet and spanned ...
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5
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1
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Cartoon about a group of teenagers whose souls travel to multiple worlds with monsters
I remember very little but enough... I know that there were 3 worlds, a real one, a mid-world kind of with a teleporter, and the world with all the creatures. The first episode was in the desert and ...
41
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1
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Short story that takes place off planet, involving sun and rain
I read this short story about 20 years ago, and I'd love to find the title and author. This is what I can recall about the story:
It takes place in a classroom full of kids (around 10 years old?)
The ...
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30
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1
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Short story where the Earth has been kept inside a force field for millennia
First we are told that the Galactic Empire/Federation/Powers-that-be have kept the Earth locked up for being too warlike, but now their help is needed against invaders from another galaxy.
When the ...
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28
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1
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Story about machines generating energy with parallel universes, endangering ours
I suppose I read this story in a book in the nineties but I have no memory of actually reading it or the cover, I just remember a lot of the plot.
Scientists find out they are being contacted by the ...
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6
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90s (or earlier) SciFi movie - glowing lights in chests to indicate attraction
I'm trying to figure out the name of a movie I saw on TV as a kid, in the mid-to-late 90s, in the US, in English, on daytime TV.
I remember it being kind of Starship Troopers-esque, but everyone had ...
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1
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90s (or early 2000s) scifi (mini)series where a boy and old man chase a black guy in metal suit
I'm looking for a 90s (or early 2000s) scifi (mini)series where a boy and old man chase a black guy in metal suit. I think they were going through different dimensions. I remember part of it, but I ...
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3
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Story featuring smart people sent on a space mission to nowhere
The story in question featured, as the vague title suggests, a "space mission" that is really a cover for forcing a bunch of really smart people to be in close proximity to each other for long enough ...
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30
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1
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Process management and high technology weapon. Novel name and author?
I am looking for help to point me out at a very old novel (likely from the '60s) about two empires at interstellar war. When it comes to starships, one is technologically very advanced, and the other ...
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1
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4k
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SF Story about human adapting to alien environment
This is a story that was read on BBC radio about thirty years ago, and this is about as right as I can remember it: The human pilot of a spacecraft is doing some reconnaissance on an alien planet. He ...
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12
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1
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Sci-fi book, blue critters than only some people can see, kids fight the critters as they feed off energy and are a threat
I can't really remember how long ago it was, but I think the book was marketed towards children/teens. All I remember is the basic premise of the story.
Some story about these unusual little blue ...
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9
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2
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4k
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80's/90's movie: man and woman driving through a red desert planet
I am trying to identify a sci-fi movie from the 80's or 90's, with the following parameters:
Setting: Scenes of a red desert planet
Culture: Either people roam fairly solo and try to acquire ...
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6
votes
1
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Two spacecraft pilots travel at light speed, meet back on Earth in different era due to time dilation
I've been looking for the name of a sci-fi romance book about space travel but haven't been successful so far. I came across it a few years ago, read the plot on its back cover but didn't read the ...
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28
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2
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1k
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Identify a book with a social engineering theme
I originally read this book in the mid- to late '70s.
The premise was a bureaucracy whose job it was to manipulate events in human history by making the smallest possible change that would effect ...
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21
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1
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Children's fantasy series with a symbol consisting of a circle divided into quarters
I read this book series as a kid back in the late 1970s, so it's an old series - and my memories are similarly old, and vague.
I know it's a fantasy series. I think there are 4 books in the series. ...
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15
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2
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2k
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Novel about a dragon lord who has to wear gloves at all times
I read this novel when I was young. It is probably a children's or young adult novel. I think I read it in 1997 or earlier. I remember very much enjoying it, but the title and most of the details are ...
- 7,832
8
votes
1
answer
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Teens stranded in eco-system within alien ship, fighting for survival
Looking for the name of a book series I read in middle school, 2001-2004 roughly.
All I can remember about it was that there were a handful of teenagers who somehow ended up on an alien planet that ...
43
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2
answers
6k
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Animation movie (80's-90's) with brain-sucking insects
I'm looking for a movie I've seen as a kid, the details are foggy and sparse but I'll try my best following the guide:
What is it?: An animated movie.
Tell us what it isn't: It is not Nausicaä of the ...
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26
votes
1
answer
4k
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Short story: people rediscover how to do math and want to put people in bombs
Many years ago I remember reading a short story about an advanced civilization at war that rediscovers how to do math mentally. The reason I remember it is the guy tells it to government officials who ...
- 1,023
18
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1
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3k
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Late 80s - mid 90s Disney TV movie with mechs
I'm trying to identify a Disney TV movie from the late-80s to mid-90s. The plot points that I can remember are:
3 teenagers on a spacecraft, all in recently in trouble at their (military?) academy ...
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18
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1
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Looking for title of sci fi short story about attempts to colonise planet (Venus?). Scientist and his dog are main characters
They want to see if humans can survive in harsh planet conditions with a view to future colonisation. Scientist guy invents a machine which can transform humans into beings which are adapted to ...
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16
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1
answer
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Book About Survival Test on Another Planet
I remember picking up a book a while ago (4-5 years ago?), managed to read the first few chapters.
It seems similar to "Tunnel in the Sky" but the details don't match up. I remember the main ...
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13
votes
1
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1k
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People can transfer physical and/or mental abilities to another person through magic
I read a fantasy novel years back. I honestly don't remember much of the plot (it was SEVERAL years back) but I remember the magic system that was used.
It was possible for an individual to grant ...
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12
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1
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YA dystopia novel of battle school with unusual military control scheme
Some sort of battle school (no, not Ender's Game), where teens are being trained as military commanders.
The control system for their army hinges around some sort of system that requires extremely ...
- 1,293
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1
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723
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80s-90s anime (movie or series) in which an armored girl exchanges age with a dying man on a beach
What is the name of an anime from 80s-90s movie/series in which there is a scene, maybe the end, where a girl (who has an armor) exchanges age with a dying man in a beach, so the man transforms into ...
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1
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SciFi book where scientists learn to peek through time (possibly controlled miniature wormhole?). Computer screens were carried like a handkerchief
Read it in the 90's. I remember one specific part where the inventor of the peeking mechanic has his Eureka moment, and has the presence of mind to give a thumbs-up/wave to the future, when they look ...
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23
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1
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Looking for the title of a futuristic book about enforced equality
I read this book in Middle School and I can't for the life of me remember the title, but I can remember what it was about for the most part:
Takes place in the future, the government imposes laws ...
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18
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1
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What novel was set in a dystopian future and featured a boy searching for his missing father?
I'm hoping someone can identify this young-adult/children's sci-fi book. I read it in 1996-1997, but I remember thinking it was written in the 1980s.
The main character was a boy (maybe in his early ...
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1
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Short story where time is accelerated and characters have to get back to ship?
Looking for a short story where time is accelerated on a planet. The characters are actually born at the beginning of the story and then grow up quickly and inadvertently learn that their forebears ...
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1
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4k
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80's Animated movie: An old man joins mission to save a boy stranded on a hostile world [duplicate]
A guy on a space ship picks up a distress call, a boy is stranded on a planet with a hostile environment. He & his crew go to the rescue, stopping on the way to pick up an old man who comes with ...
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12
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1
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609
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Tiny lifeforms on planetoid that live at accelerated time rate
A book I once owned and read back in late-80's or early-90's that I have not been able to identify title & author for: It was a SF story concerning tiny native lifeforms, living on either a ...
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10
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2
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Fantasy book series with non-human races and labyrinth
I'm trying to identify fantasy book series I encountered some time ago. Here are things I remember:
it was a fantasy setting but with some s-f elements; with many worlds and possibility to travel ...
- 1,490
8
votes
1
answer
2k
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Animated movie that had black robots that turned people into stone late 1960s to 1970s
It was a weird sci-fi animated movie I saw only a little bit of it. This is what I recall:
It was old but had color, so I assume it was late 1960s to early 1970s.
The animation and style reminded me ...
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6
votes
1
answer
523
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CG series about a beast planet
I remember seeing this series back when I was in the early grades of primary school (prep to 3) so this would be between 1996 and 1999
from what I remember it was set in space and the cast was made ...
- 9,978
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2
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2k
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Short story about a virtual world. Protagonist is a female who specializes in torture experiences
I think I read this online in the last ten years, so after 2005 or so. In the story, everyone is online, I think 24/7. People are jaded and always looking for new experiences. The protagonist (or at ...
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30
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1
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Short story; war where speed of time changes with distance from front line
Trying to remember a short story (most likely from the sixties). It starts with a soldier at the front line fighting an unknown enemy on the other side of the front line.
He then gets withdrawn and ...
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24
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1
answer
3k
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Story about a space war, and a human prisoner of war captured by alien enemy
This story starts off with an alien fleet attacking a human spacecraft or fleet - the alien fleet overwhelms their human counterparts, and destroy all the ships. A few survivors escape in individual ...
- 5,775
23
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1
answer
4k
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Sci-fi book about a male entering a competition that he wins and gets recruited by millitary
Sci-fi book in the future about a city that had 2 levels.
The top level was for the rich people. A game center with a space flight game is added. The main character (male) plays with friends and ...
user70441
17
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1
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And now, for something completely different: The mushrooms are among us
I'm talking about at least two juvenile sci-fi novels, read between second and fourth
public grades (U.S.A.) which for me places them around 1956-9.
The protagonists are a brother and sister, ...
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16
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1
answer
1k
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Story where the protagonist is turned off from an automated system of professional attribution and instant learning
In the story I'm trying to recall, everybody on their thirteenth birthday (?) is assigned by some kind of brain analysis method a profession and given some kind of pill (?) that instantly (?) grants ...
- 540
16
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1
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Looking for book: contact with aliens, five different races, mismatched claws, biological imperative to breed
I read this book when I was a teenager, or in my early twenties, so that puts it no later than 1979. My favorite authors at the time were (of course) Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, Heinlein, and a few ...
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