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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A girl who transcends time
I remember quite a bit, but can't seem to find the title or (female) author.
A girl accompanies her father as he captains a mission to travel at near-light speed in order to experience the effects of ...
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name and author of story about man who escapes by uncontrolled jump into hyperspace
I read a story once about a man who escapes from his pursuers by doing an uncontrolled jump into hyperspace. If I'm not mixing my stories up he was blind but could see through the eyes of other ...
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Which short story has a medical trial that goes better than expected
It was about a medical trial for a menopause treatment that ends up being essentially the fountain of youth (the reader can see this, the pharm company misses the forest for the trees), and then when ...
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Children's science fiction show with two robots on a planet of junk
I've been trying to remember the name of a British children's science fiction show from (I think) the 80's.
The show revolved around two robots who lived on a planet made up of junk. I think the ...
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Series featuring telepaths, raising children with aliens to learn each other's language
So, I'm trying to remember the name of a series of books that features telepaths who contact people with their minds across the galaxy, and send ships. I remember one of the key ones was on a moon in ...
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What film/TV program was set on a spaceship and...? (I can only remember the ending so have kept the title uninformative!) [duplicate]
Like the title says, I only remember the end of this. I think it was a film, but may have been an episode of something like The Outer Limits. I saw it on TV around 1999 (ish), and I think it was quite ...
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What 70s (60s?) TV show / TV movie had a generation ship whose inhabitants did not know they were on a spaceship?
I have the vaguest memory of a TV show (maybe a BBC import?) in which the protagonists were moving through the sections of a massive generation ship whose inhabitants had forgotten that they were on a ...
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Planet with hexagons with either magic or technology
I read a good book a while ago and can't remember the title.
It is the story of people stuck on a planet made of hexagons, where the level of technology is set depending on the type of hexagon. Some ...
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Looking for title of book, with hostile flora, tax laws
Long, long ago (probably early 80's), I read a book which actually contained three stories/books, may be by different authors, I don't recall. This particular (Dutch) edition had their pages colored ...
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What short story is about changing humanity into a hive mind?
An alien lands on Earth and is amazed that this species has come this far with all those separate minds. He decides to unite them and rule them. The hive mind that originates from this successfully ...
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1990s sci-fi series where humans in armed suits fight robots [duplicate]
I'm looking for the name of a sci-fi series, intended for children. Robots have control over the humans. There is a squad of humans who attack them. Every member in this squad has a badge on their ...
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"Einstein must have been wrong"
I have a memory of a brief throw-away passage in a book by a well-known sci-fi author which talks about a FTL drive invented by "O'Malley" (or an equally stereotypical Irish name). When asked how he ...
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Movie with a town where it is always night and the protagonist has amnesia
I can't remember the name of this fairly recent movie. The protagonist wakes up in a bath tub without memories. He breaks up with his wife, gets in touch with a "doctor" who claims to be able to help ...
user1320
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Name of fantasy book with Monster Under the Bed
I read a fantasy book long ago, about a kid who rode a monster under the bed as his steed. It was made out of dust, and was semi-sentient. I've been looking for several years for this book, with no ...
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Book about a man who's cut in half & placed in suspended animation
I remember reading a book fifteen to twenty years ago that had the following charactersitics:
The main character was a man who at some point lost the lower part of his body (legs & pelvis)
He was ...
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Name of a sci-fi story about time travel
There was a short novel I found in my library few years ago, whose title nor author I don't remember. It was in a hard sci-fi setting: there was a pair of characters (man and woman) which traveled ...
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What is the name of the movie where the president crash lands in a prison city?
There was a movie that I saw maybe 10 years ago about a city in the future that is used as a prison (walls around it). Airforce One (or another plane) crash lands in the city and the protagonist of ...
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Which is the movie where aliens are all around us and control our minds?
I remember a movie where aliens are living around us and look like us too, but then a man finds some glasses through which he can see how they really look. He also finds out that there are subliminal ...
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In what book are there advertisements in dreams?
I read a part of a book about a man in a dystopia. Everyone was constantly entertained, but books were forbidden (I think). The mother of the main character was constantly listening to the radio. That'...
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Story where the number 3 is the monster?
I remember as a child (in the nineties) reading a story where the narrator was a little boy and how he was scared only twice a day – when the clock read 3:33. The 3's would be powerful enough (there ...
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Story about dead people coming back for a limited time [duplicate]
I have a very vague memory of a novel/short story/film/perhaps even graphic novel, where dead people were able, for some time after their death, to return to their family and speak with them for a ...
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Looking for the name of a show about a saxophone player super hero
I remember a long time ago a tv series about a group of people that got super-powers from a meteorite that fell onto the earth and broke into fragments. The main character got the ability to see a ...
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Seeking title and/or author of dystopian science-fiction novel from late-70s/early-80s
In the novel, humans all lived underground and were decanted - not born, were undersized, short-lived, emotionally-empty, and prone to suicide and freak-outs. Above ground there were mechanized ...
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What is this book? Nanotechnology from the Moon destroying the world's technology
A friend of mine recently highly praised a Sci-Fi book he read, but could not recall the author/title since he read it a while back.
He did provide many details but apparently not enough for my ...
user1476
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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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Fantasy novel where the forces of good have prevailed and the "heroes" are assassins, thieves, etc
I'm looking for the name of a fantasy novel I read once where the forces of good have prevailed and now everything is out of balance. I remember that the band of "heroes" consist of and assassin and ...
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What's the first instance of fictional profanity in sci-fi?
There's a tradition of sorts in sci-fi where aliens or future humans use profanity that doesn't exist in the real world. I'm curious when this started. Which story or novel is the first time the ...
user1027
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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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What was the name/author of a Sci-Fi book where the sun goes Nova and Earth and Venus must fly away?
What was the name/author of a Sci-Fi book where the Sun goes Nova and Earth and Venus must fly away? It was written like a memoir from a scientist from the future who accidentally was thrown into the ...
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Short story with an old programmer about to lose his job who triggers a Trojan Horse that only he can fix
I remember reading a short story many years ago (1980s) about an old computer programmer who was about to be forced into mandatory retirement. After receiving the news from his boss he returns to his ...
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What is the name of the story where a guy goes to an alien planet to test a disintegration gun?
When I was in the 6th grade we read a book which was a collection of smaller books (or stories), which was perhaps a text book compilation. This book included The Jungle Book, but also had a few ...
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What trilogy of Star Trek crossover novels had a monster that fed on fear?
I used to have a trilogy of Star Trek novels, and I'm hoping that somebody here can remember these.
Here are some of the details that I can remember
Each novel was in a different universe (first ...
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IChing and space travel identification question [duplicate]
There was a short that I read in an anthology, when I was on my anthology kick about 8-15 years ago. I am fairly positive that the story was from pre-1995, if that helps anyone. I know it wasn't a ...
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"Your stupid friend is dead. We thought you were dead too" from Bridge To Terabithia? [closed]
I remember reading a book where a boy comes home to find his family
crying. His sister (also crying) says "Your stupid friend is dead. We
thought you were dead too." or something very similar.
I'm ...
user1197
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What young adult SF book is about a boy saved by aliens and domed colonies?
When I was younger (lets go with probably about 20 years ago), I read a f/sf book that I've been looking for ever since, but I can't for the life of me rediscover it. It centers around a boy who is ...
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What book features a boy who finds out he's the emperor of China?
I read this somewhere around 2006-2008.
The book was about a kid (let's call him "Bob") who finds out he's the emperor of China. He lives with some poor old guy who is secretly some kind of master of ...
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What Sci-Fi novel is about aliens who consider it simply convenient to exterminate the human race?
I don't remember the title/author of a Sci-Fi novel, where the author demonstrated that in case of an encounter with a more advanced alien life form, they would consider most convenient for them to ...
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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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What novel is about a main character who removes smoking and alcohol scenes from existing films?
Many years ago I have read a novel in Polish SF&F magazine "Fantastyka" (or "Nowa Fantastyka"), where main character job at a moment was to modify existing movies removing smoking and/or drinking ...
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What far future novel features nano-biotech and ancient alien warships?
I read a great novel last year and would like to read it again and recommend it to others but I can't remember much about it's details, including title or author. Here is what I remember:
written by ...
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Identify an SF novel with references to trillium, telekinesis
I read a book, probably in the late 80s or early 90s, that had several elements. I remember enjoying the book then (it wasn't great art, but it was entertaining), but can't identify it now. The ...
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What movie was based on ‘Inverted World’ by Christopher Priest?
I've started reading Christopher Priest's Inverted World, and from the first page I realized that I have seen a movie which had the same plot. But I cannot remember the title of the movie.
Here’s a ...
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Which short story involved people betting on turtle races with one man always winning?
Please help me identify this story. It was about a holiday resort where the residents bet on turtle races. One man won every race he bet on. As the story progressed, it appeared that he could see the ...
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What work had the humans reinventing the space flight during war (having the wormholes all the time)? [duplicate]
I heard recommendation (on some of TWiT shows before Christmas) of a story in which humans were at war (I don't remember whether it was as home war or war with aliens) and they resurrected/woken up ...
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What short movie was about humans having a 7-day lifespan? [duplicate]
I've seen this short movie when I was a kid, but I don't remember the title. The story is that humans live underground, and have a lifespan of seven days.
They train a newborn on his first day and ...
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What short film features a space station that projects movies onto the moon?
I'm looking for a short indie film where a space station orbiting the moon has a giant lens that projects movies onto the moon. I may have seen it on io9, but I'm not sure.
It begins with a guy ...
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What medieval fantasy novel features a firey red head female protagonist with medical skills?
I read this book about 7 years ago, and all I can remember of the title is that it had "Fire" in it, or something similar.
It featured a young woman with bright red hair who was a commoner and was ...
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Allegorical book about a Spanish knight who talks into his helmet [closed]
This was a book I read in the early to mid 90's. I believe it was older than that, though.
It was an allegorical (specifically a "Christian" allegory) story about a knight who was on a ...
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What book features dragons, song-driven magic, and talking otters?
Read these books when I was a youth and loved them. I haven't been able to remember what they were at all for years.
The details I do remember are this:
They had talking Otters who raised the main ...
- 449
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What fantasy book features a feline race and a female lead character in a world with ghost-powered magic?
I am trying to remember the name and/or author of a fantasy book I read back in the mid 1980s. I have tried searching, but the Googles have not been helpful.
This is what I remember of the book:
...
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