125
votes
Accepted
Short story read ~25 year ago where changing person's name prevents a war
This is probably Isaac Asimov's "Spell My Name with an "S"".
The story concerns Marshall Zebatinsky, a Polish-American nuclear physicist. He is concerned that his career has ...
- 207k
61
votes
Sci-fi book I read years ago: sterile, lab-grown woman who smuggles things in a surgically-created “pouch” behind her navel
You are, in fact, thinking of Friday, by Robert A. Heinlein. Plot summary, from Wikipedia:
The book's narrator is Friday Jones (often going under cover name Marjorie Baldwin and using both surnames ...
- 7,450
44
votes
Accepted
80's sci fi book, players picked random game elements to compete
This definitely reminds me of "The Game" in the Apprentice Adept series by Piers Anthony.
Quoting the series Wikipedia page about The Game:
The main pastime of Proton inhabitants is The ...
- 104k
40
votes
Accepted
Story about reaction with water that must proceed, ending with hurricane
This is likely one of Isaac Asimov's Thiotimoline stories.
They describe a chemical that dissolves slightly before it is added to water, with the consequences you describe if it ends up not getting ...
- 47.6k
38
votes
Accepted
Animation movie (80's-90's) with brain-sucking insects
Using the web page What is my Movie? and using the keywords animation+movie+insect+brains I scrolled down and look at something that could resemble that movie.
This is Time Masters (1982) (French: Les ...
- 509
38
votes
Accepted
80s sci fi film with quest to replace lost female droid companion
This sounds like Cherry 2000 (1987), which in spite of the title takes place in 2017.
Per Wikipedia:
In the year 2017, the United States has fragmented into post-apocalyptic wastelands and limited ...
- 91.5k
38
votes
Book about a woman named Lessa
Look for Anne McCaffrey's "DragonRiders of Pern" Trilogy, "Dragon Drums Trilogy" and a few others (25 books are listed on Amazon).
Lessa, in particular, shows up in about half of ...
- 381
37
votes
Accepted
Man playing computer in chess. Uses a book-opening with known typo to win one, uses deep lookahead for #2
Might this be The 64-Square Madhouse by Fritz Leiber, first published in the May 1962 issue of If...?
Here're a couple of relevant excerpts from the story.
At the beginning of today's session Sandra ...
- 88.7k
36
votes
Accepted
Short story about future where living space is at a premium
"Billenium" by J. G. Ballard (ISFDB), published first in New Worlds Science Fiction (#112 November 1961):
The story is set in the future ... where the world is becoming increasingly ...
- 207k
30
votes
Accepted
Late 1980's era film about thick white paste controlling people
This is The Stuff (1985)
Several railroad workers discover a yogurt-like white substance bubbling out of the ground. These workers find it to be sweet and addictive. Later, the substance, marketed ...
- 652k
27
votes
Accepted
Novel or short story about glass so thick a widower can see his late wife walking around outside
That is part of Bob Shaw's "Other Days, other eyes" (e.g. mentioned in this review on tor.com).
For the most part, however, Other Days, Other Eyes is serious and even
sad. The most ...
- 15.7k
26
votes
Book about training for and surviving on a deadly planet
Harry Harrison’s Deathworld trilogy.
It features deadly plants and "forearm mounted automatic holsters".
The planet was called Pyrrus...a strange place where all the beasts, plants and natural ...
- 1,215
25
votes
Accepted
Story identification - Childrens' Sci-Fi circa 1980s
Douglas Hill - Huntsman, Warriors of the Wasteland, and Alien Citadel.
The Alien race is the slavers; they capture the protagonist (Finn) family, and in the course of trying to rescue them ends up ...
- 16.5k
24
votes
Book with male protagonist struggling against giant (possibly alien) bugs
With appropriate credit to @Merc Measley for suggesting Starship Troopers first...
Reading the OP's description of the cover (mostly yellow, man with laser gun, flying bugs), I immediately thought of ...
- 783
23
votes
Accepted
Scifi short story about a device that removes dust, is replicated for profit, and the original owners reverse the flow of dust removal?
"Dusty Zebra" by Clifford D. Simak. First published in Galaxy Science Fiction, September 1954, which is available at the Internet Archive; reprinted a number of times. Any of these covers ...
- 153k
23
votes
Accepted
Short story about a man getting the wrong phone number (with old-style exchange) and being 'disappeared'
Mugwump 4 by Robert Silverberg.
The story starts:
Al Miller was only trying to phone the Friendly Finance Corporation to ask about an extension on his loan. It was a Murray Hill number, and he had ...
- 87.4k
23
votes
Accepted
Early 2000s movie about robot that invades the world
Possibly Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
It's got giant robots with a diesel punk look to them, and the end has a rocket full of animals.
- 2,974
22
votes
Accepted
Story about a world of magic where science has been forbidden
It might be Forging the Darksword, the first book of the Darksword Trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
In that world, magic is called "Life." The main character, Joram, is a baby ...
- 226
22
votes
Accepted
Story with a 3-layered world
This looks like Triplet by Timothy Zahn.
As described, there are three worlds (versions of the planet), ours, another level centered around hexes (the theory, towards the end, was that 6 was important ...
- 1,533
22
votes
Name of late 70’s or 80s B grade sci fi - aliens disguised as police
There are few details given on IMDB, but I think this could well be "Everything happens to me" (also known by the alternative title "Why did you pick on me"), a 1980 comedy film ...
- 55.5k
22
votes
Accepted
Sci-fi Show with Tech Magic/Psychic Powers
Possibly Crusade, a Babylon 5 spin-off? One of the characters is a techno-mage named Galen, large ship, adventures, 1999.
- 11.9k
22
votes
Accepted
TV sci-fi show with strong female lead who looks after artifacts and also had Nikola Tesla in it
Sanctuary
Features Nikola Tesla in seasons 2-4 and
the talkative geek and lycanthrope Henry Foss (Ryan Robbins)
This page shows a poster for the program showing Amanda Tapping looking like Lucy ...
- 24.7k
21
votes
Help me remember the name of an old animated sci-fi (apocalyptic) movie
This sounds like Wizards.
On a post-apocalyptic Earth, a wizard and his faire folk comrades fight an evil wizard who's using technology in his bid for conquest.
It has some pretty funny moments.
...
- 114k
21
votes
Accepted
Scholastic sci-fi anthology book containing a short story about a planet with crystal monsters
The first story you mentioned might be The Music of Minox by Howard Goldsmith. It was published within the More Science Fiction Tales: Crystal Creatures, Bird-Things & Other Weirdies anthology in ...
- 88.7k
20
votes
Accepted
Series of books/novellas, involving a depopulated Earth, mass infertility, a religious cult, time travel, and Amazon warriors
The Douglas Convolution series by Edward Llewellyn...?
The series is comprised of three books, The Douglas Convolution (1979), The Bright Companion (1980), and Prelude to Chaos (1983).
The Goodreads ...
- 88.7k
19
votes
Accepted
ID Story: A robotic storyteller that is sentient
You are right, it is an Asimov story called "Someday".
The computer is called the Bard and the kids dislike it because it's not as fancy as the sweet new Visual Bard.
It ends with the Bard ...
- 47.6k
19
votes
Accepted
A TV series where the characters travel through portals to alternative dimensions
Maybe Parallax, which aired in Australia in 2004.
It involves characters going through a portal to jump to various parallel universes. Wikipedia mentions a "hippie world", a "techno world", a "forest ...
- 134k
19
votes
Accepted
Story identification - Desert planet with "Makers"
The book is Hammerfall by C. J. Cherryh. The book was published in 2002 so it does match your time frame.
I recall very little of the book, but luckily as straycat points out in a comment there is a ...
- 87.4k
18
votes
Accepted
Story ID: Corporate brands as massive invisible creatures attaching to human minds with creepy tendrils?
Sounds like you're thinking of Branded (2012).
From Wikipedia:
Branded (also known as The Mad Cow and Moscow 2017 (Москва 2017 in Russian)) is a 2012 Russian–American dark fantasy science fiction ...
- 88.7k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible