findthatbook | Entries tagged with genre: sci-fi

I remember reading this book when I was at school (I pretty much lived in the library and the sci-fi section was my idea of heaven <3) so it would have been 1985-ish through to 2000-ish?
But literally the only thing I can remember is the book cover *facepalm*

I’m pretty sure it was a reddish or pinkish colour (but honestly, don’t take that as gospel, I could be mis-remembering it, I was only a teen at the time).

The cover had a huge galaxy like Andromeda or the Milky Way galaxy in the sky of a planet (the pov was from the planet looking at the galaxy in the sky) and it was never truly night because the galaxy was so bright all the time. I remember a character commenting on how it was never fully dark because the galaxy was so bright.

It was either a hardcover, or large library edition paperback. I feel like it was a well known sci-fi author of that time but can’t remember a name.

It looked sort like the style of this book cover…

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60641307-andromeda

…with a full galaxy in the sky of a planet, but it was more like daytime, and more of an 80’s-90’s art style, and the galaxy was larger in the planets sky, also the planet had atmosphere, no spacesuits needed.

If this book cover is familiar to anyone, please help me find it again?

Current Mood: frustrated

numeronone

Hullo All.

I woke up this morning puzzled by a notion I'd had of a comic I saw on the scans-daily community ages ago. Only thing is I can't recall the title or the characters' names. I was wondering if anyone might know of it and could help me out?

( Details Below )

pronker

... where it was grand to see What Was That Book continued on DW. Here goes:

I am thinking all around (except for the title and author) of a science fiction short story (it maybe was novella size? and in an anthology?) with various plot points about one spaceship crew member from a reptilian species who interacted with and lived with humans to the point of a human woman falling in love with him; he eventually became her Significant Other and really wasn't all that taken with her, but she was with him to the point of bragging about her relationship and in particular how the sex was out of this world. He thought he was sort of alone [I think it was a crash landing Gilligan's Island sitch?] and cut off from his own species, but when a female of his own kind turned up, he ditched the human quick and hard. The whole effect was pitiful ... and comedic.

I read this story 20-30 years ago, so I hope that helps. About then, I read some Larry Niven, so for some reason that's sticking in my mind, but I'm not at all certain he wrote this. Thanks for any help!

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: downstairs office
Current Music: purr of a/c unit working perfectly

kamas13

Read the book around 2010. I sort of remember the word ghost either being in the title or maybe in the name of the company that makes the simulation machines, not sure about that though. Main character is a male, sex is a big focus in the book.

I think the characters you can interact with in the simulation are modelled off of real life people, and I think the main character meets one of the people in real life that he interacted with in the simulation.

Definitely a book for adults, borrowed from a library but can't log into my library account anymore to look at my loan history.

Spoiler

Near the end of the book, the guy has sex with one of the main female characters, and he chokes her as she requests and she pretends to go limp which scares him into thinking shes dead momentarily.

honigfrosch

Okay, unfortunately I have VERY little information to give on this one, but who knows, maybe someone remembers the same scene from the book that I do?

It's science fiction and YA and I read it as a kid/young teen, so it must be from the early 90s or even earlier. I know the protagonist was a girl and I think she was on some space station or spaceship with her family. There was an alien threat(?) that either took over people's bodies or duplicated them, if I'm not mistaken they had red eyes when compromised and I remember that her father was one of the victims/duplicates and confronts her at some point, which I found super creepy. I don't remember anything else about the plot or cover image and I'm not sure where the book originates from but if I had to choose I'd say either UK or Germany.

I'm happy about any suggestions (if I read summaries on Goodreads or elsewhere it might bring back the memory...) Thank you ♥

jazzfish

I'm looking for a YA SF anthology that I read in (US) elementary school in the late-eighties, though it felt kind of dated even at the time. (Likely published late-seventies or early-eighties.) Of the stories I can remember:

- One was about a post-apocalyptic city, with the not-too-bright protagonist (a mutant) being chased by a group of normal people. The story ended with the protagonist trapped atop a tower with the chasers coming up after him, so he jumped out of a window, and the last lines were "I can fly! I can fly!"

- One was about a kid whose father had invented a sort of time machine: it shows you what your life will be like if you make certain choices. The kid snuck in to try out the machine to see what his life would be like as a football player, and then a couple of other career options. It ended with him getting a talking-to from his father, and then deciding that he wanted to be a scientist.

- This may have been the book that included a story about an alien who goes to an all-you-can-eat buffet and eats all the food they have, teleporting it back to his starving home planet, and in exchange gives the Earth all kinds of scientific knowledge, but leaving the buffet owner broke.

- The last story in the book was about a teenager whose parents had just died in a car crash, and a kid from the middle ages turns up claiming that they're his parents too... they're time-travellers, who go around having kids who will grow up to be world-changing.

Thanks!

buttonsbeadslace

Google has failed me, so I'm turning to you guys :) I first read this story a few years ago, online. I thought it was in Strange Horizons but maybe not? It's about a research facility where some sort of experimentation with space and time causes a certain hallway in the facility to fill up with mud and gore at regular intervals. It's told from the point of view of the woman hired to clean the hallway. She has an advanced degree and could get a job doing something more glamorous, but they pay her a lot because she's the only person they trust to go in that hallway and not mess with any Things Humankind Was Not Meant To Understand that she might see there.

bratfarrar

Okay, I'm on the verge of concluding that I somehow made up this book, but here goes:

Star Wars novel, set after the original trilogy of movies
Luke Skywalker as a main character
A significant portion of the story took place on some sort of desert/desolate world
The identifying feature is that the world was home to these creepy sub-cutaneous parasites. The bigger they were, the more they could influence the host. I think there was a scene were Luke discovered that someone had basically been entirely taken over by the parasites and was pretty much just a puppet
Also, once you're on the planet and outside of a sealed room they're pretty much impossible to avoid picking up, so even Luke winds up with a whole bunch of them
I think eventually he managed to purge them out using the Force?

Anyhow, I have no details about the plot, or what other characters were in the story or anything. Pretty sure it was written prior to 2004, but looking through Wookiepedia's list of novels yields nothing that matches what I remember.

Help me, findthatbook, you're my only hope!

ETA: Ha, never mind--I post this and then five minutes later figured out that it's Planet of Twilight by Barbara Hambly. So nice to know it's not just some weird nightmare I dreamed up on my own.

azrael_nephilim

Hello all,

When I was in single digits as a child (which was a LONG time ago as I am 35), I read a book in my school library which was about a hero on another planet (I believe it may have been Mars but I can't be certain). I can not remember this hero's name. He was a martial artist and I believe he had some sort of an animal companion.

I believe he was human, but was hiding from (and often getting into fights with) alien soldiers. It was a central detail that the main thing this character had going for him was his super human abilities with martial arts (but a made up/alien variety). Somewhere amongst the early chapters of the book, there were a few fight scenes in underground tunnels.

On the old copy of the book I was reading there was an illustration of some sort of hollow Iron Suit; maybe some sort of armor. I believe the name of the book was even some sort of reference to an iron suit, iron man, red suit, martian suit, hollow man etc. Problem is that whenever I search anything similar I just find 100's of Marvel references, to which this book was unconnected.

I would love to find out what this book was called as I loved it as a child and would even quite like to pass it on to my kids, if only I could remember what is was called. Any help would be much appreciated!

In summary:
About 30 years ago.
Childrens SciFi,
Strong emphasis on Martial Arts (but made up),
Another planet,
Underground Tunnels
Possibly Aliens, an alien army or alien soldiers,
References to some sort of suit of armor, possibly made of Iron.

Many thanks!

coco331

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to find a particular book for my husband for a while now but having no actual title, author and a bit of a sketchy description I'm getting nowhere! I would be so grateful if someone could help out, it's become something of a mission for me.

The details I have are as follows; he thinks the title is voyager or voyager something (he isn't 100% sure though!) He read it in the 80's although it could have been written before this for all I know. The vague plot he remembers is that it started as a sort of mystery thriller, a man was missing so the main character travels to somewhere remote (possibly nepal) to find him. When he gets there it turns mystical with the man explaining to him that the earth is intelligent, self governing and adjusts itself accordingly to temperatures rising, changes in atmosphere etc. So humans are a bit like a virus and are controlled in numbers by climate change etc. Something like that anyway, he was very vague and this is the most I managed to get out of him. Anybody have any clue?

iodama

I think I read this short story before 1989 in Asimov's SF Magazine (which started publication in 1971 and I was reading back through old ones in a collection, so it could be any time in the 70s or 80s). It concerned a young adult male protagonist (on Earth, who thinks he's human) who meets an "uncle" who looks a lot like him, from whom he learns that he is not human, but an alien passing among humans, who goes through a maturational process whereby two genetically related individuals fuse into one, and his "uncle" who is looking younger by the day and he are fated to merge into one person.

( Key scene description )

Anybody recognize this story?

euphorikitty

There is this one book that I've been looking for for years, my intermediate school teacher would read us a new short story when we had enough time. I know it's an old sci-fi book, it could have been published any where between 1950's to 1990's. It's a book full of short stories, but I only remember one small scene of a story. It's set in a diner, a human man is looking at human-looking alien strangers that just walked in the diner. The strangers sat down, but the strange man didn't pull his pants at the knee to sit, and the human man watching that thought that was odd, because every male knows to do that, so their slacks don't bunch and tighten.

That's the only part of the whole book I can clearly remember, though I think there was another story about robots being used in homes. Sorry this is all super vague. I hope someone, somewhere can help me

Current Mood: contemplative

morivoveso

I remember one christmas in the mid to late 90s asking for Animorphs books and nothing else. I ended up getting books about kids who could turn into things instead of animals. I ended up throwing them out, but recently remembered this event, but not the name of the books. I never read them as I was so disappointed, so I don't havea lot to go on, and google has been no help.

jesuswasbatman

SF novel read in the 80s which was accidentally put in the kids' section of the local library because it had a spaceshippy cover and freaked me out.

( Warning for extreme, imaginative, sexual violence )

thornsilver

It was a fairly thick paperback about 15 years ago. The title had something to do with oceans, maybe? The conceit was that something in the oceans had enough of human mistreatment and was taking revenge.

One of the things I remember, was a couple riding away on a motorcycle from a way of crabs on the beach. They escape, but then it turns out that they died because the crabs were somehow poisoned/allergy causing? There was a little bit where the book listed all the people who died from eating/coming in contact with these crabs.

One of the characters was as woman who was very obsessed with exercising, because it made her feel less depressed. There is a scene where she is running on the deck of the carrier, because there doesn't seem to be a place to excercise in the middle of the ocean.

Found: "The Swarm" by Frank Schatzing.

jackbryant

Hey guys, I'm trying to find a book for my girlfriend to get her as a present she's been looking for it for ages from what she's said:

It's about a girl who lives with her Dad, mum is dead, (later finds out dad is a scientist) she gets abducted and placed in this tank... turns out she's one of a bunch of clones that are being tested on they then escape but need water to survive??

she swore she thought it was called "water" but can't remember

would make a great present if anyone can help <3

isabellivy

I read this book in the late 80s. A spaceship lands on planet to explore and a finds a town. There are also small children that are feral that sneak in to get food. One child gets on spaceship when it takes off and they spend time teaching him to trust them and live in their culture. Turns out he is really smart, smart, fast, and string compared to the humans on spaceship. He ends up going to learn to be a pilot and an officer in their military. The child, now grown, goes back to his home planet to capture more feral children and to teach them to be a part of this culture and become pilots. They end up building a settlement on this planet and creating a community made up of these feral children that are now grown and having children of their own.

indefinite_forest97

I have been looking for this short story for years and still haven't had much luck. It was part of an anthology of other horror stories that I think came out in the 80's, but I am by no means sure of that.

It stars off with the main character (don't remember if it was a man or woman) being rudely awakened by a call in the early hours of the morning. They are asked to investigate a crime scene in the woods where a woman had been brutally attacked by what they assume was a pack of wolves. The main character goes to the scene and pokes around the woods for a bit before somehow stumbling across a cabin and a man who seems not quite right mentally but clearly knows more about the woman's death than he's letting on. The main character follows him into the cabin and begins to ask questions. This is where my memory goes fuzzy on me. At some point, the man ends up showing the main character several magical (or maybe alien?) artifacts. Main character, very weirded out by this point, tries to leave but the man won't let them. I think a fight/ chase scene occurs as main character tries to force their way out of this mess, although ultimately they are killed by the man, and it is heavily implies that he was the one that killed the woman. The story ends with the main character waking up in their bed, phone ringing, and being asked to investigate a possible murder scene in the woods.

It was an amazing story but I was too young when I read it to fully appreciate it, and I would love to read it again to pick up on things I probably missed! Please, PLEASE help if you can.

leas_odyssey

It was about kids with super powers. And one of them could regenerate herself. Such as a starfish regrowing and one of the kids was able to talk in any language even a machines language such as a fax machine. It is a series, so i know one the books had a silver alien face on the cover. And I believe in this book I’m not sure if it’s aliens who attacked them at their “base” but they were being attacked and the girl sacrificed herself but after the explosion of the building she had a piece of her left and she regrew.

rhimineecat71

Can't remember much of this book, just that the woman was given (?) by the gov to aliens as a volunteer (not sure though if she was just abducted) as part of the peace treaty. She caught the eye of the alien king because of her violet eyes. She also kinda belly dances later in the story while pregnant. Her husband the alien king's anatomy saved him from an assasination attempt where his heart is actually on the right side instead of left. I think this was part of a series, and despite my description, the book is actually more of a romance than an erotic book. Can someone help me find the title? Pls and thanks.

Profile

Find That Book

Find That Book

Entries tagged with genre: sci-fi

Lost Book! Pre-2000 sci-fi book, the cover has a galaxy like Andromeda in the sky of a planet

Sci-Fi Comic About A Courier Who Travels Between Worlds?

Hi, here from LJ ...

Science fiction, simulation machines which everyone uses to experience their fantasies, especially (

Science fiction YA (90s or earlier) with girl protagonist

YA SF anthology

Scifi short story about janitorial work and interdimensional travel

star wars novel. desert planet with creepy parasites

Childrens SciFi, Mars, Martial Arts, Tunnels, Aliens and an Iron Suit.

Voyager something?? 1980's mystical novel - updated post

Short story: aliens that merge into one

Looking for a Sci-Fi short story book

Sci-fi, YA, Animorphs knock-off, 90s

I've asked about this in a few venues before with no luck.

SF/Horror novel.

Find a lost book for my girlfriend

80s Sci Fi Book

Can't Remeber Author or Title

Book with silver alien face on cover

Can't remember the title or author

Profile

Tags