Category Archives: Science Fiction
333X: SciFi Plot Fragment – Tacretude, species on the run from galactic gene police
333L: Science Fiction dystopia with two AIs and renegades (Solved!)
It starts with a common man who just lived his life, but his life has started to fall into pieces. He has two children with his wife, but as requested the children are genetically enhanced and have extremely high IQs. They have left their parents willingly for a special school, and they were even before that not much child-like.
This drove his wife into insanity (or into alcoholism/drugs). On his way home, he finds a body near their apartment and he is afraid of getting convicted for the murder, because he was the first one who is seen by the body.
Later, his wife is executed for the murder, without a trial. She is put to death in a public arena with a laser. (But I think her husband didn’t know this. He isn’t informed. To him, she just has disappeared.)
With his life torn apart, he starts running and on some days he even runs outside the city.
— The whole population lives in cities and most are dependent on a social allowance of some kind of nutrition bars from a local food bank … that are sometimes – whoops – poisonous. Being outside of a city is counted as suspicious behavior. Everything is controlled by a big AI. —
He encounters kind of a resistance to the government outside the city and he joins them, eventually. In German the resistance is called “Renegaten” so maybe the original term is “renegades”.
The resistance owns a big AI, too and during the endgame their AI fights the government AI. I remember the scene in which the renegade AI bids farewell to the main protagonist.
I can’t remember how the book ended but I think the renegade AI ‘died’.
331X: Lonely 13th Android
I read this book around 1983 from my school’s Jr. High Library. The main character is an android who believes he is the last one built. His maker has died and, while quite brilliant, was a very superstitious man.
331D: Hostile Alien Wildlife Combined With Earth’s Failures Leads To Space Colony Catastrophes
Not sure if this is one book or a series. Earth’s first colony loses touch with Earth. Without supplies they’d counted on from Earth (food, building materials, vehicles, weapons), the colonists struggle, mostly because the planet’s wildlife (plants and dinosaur-ish animals) are all deadly 24/7. The main female character is the Sheriff, who, at the beginning, has to rescue a female friend in the badlands from a large dinosaur-ish thing. Half-way through the book, the female Sheriff crash lands in the middle of the deadly wilderness. The main male character, who she doesn’t like, goes to rescue her. After a week or so and lots of peril and at least one broken leg (hers), they end up getting back safely by making a canoe out of the shell of a huge animal (and in love).
The colony has major political and leadership issues, some gun-fueled, and then Earth shows up and wants to take over everything. There’s also a creepy guy who starts a brothel and a gambling establishment and schemes to be get elected the boss. Somebody starts a stampede of the dinosaur-ish wildlife down the town's main-street in the middle of the night, and also traps the main male character in his house with a big dinosuar-ish animal by blocking the door with a programmable excavating machine.
330I: Replacement Clones Melt After Children Get Sick From Excessive Freedom
As a child in the mid 80’s I read a book with a blue cover that only had the title (I am pretty sure it was the book cover as well), because I was trying not to judge a book by its cover. The book was science fiction about some children who were being replaced by clones of themselves so they could ditch school, and eat candy, and play- a little similar to a Pinocchio Treasure Island story. Until one day the children had stomach aches from eating too much, and not getting exercise, etc. and wanted to “go home”. I remember something about the rain melting the “aliens” or clones like cotton candy. I can’t remember much else and at first thought that maybe it was a Ray Bradbury book? At any rate I have been trying to find the title and would love if you could offer assistance.
330E: Late-90’s SciFi Book With Female Lead Pilot
330D: 70s (or earlier) science fiction short story featuring a gem in a velvet box used for time travel or teleportation
I am trying to track down a science fiction story that I read in the mid-1970s and vaguely remember. This was a short story that was in a compilation book in my school library. The details that I remember are at the beginning of the story. There is a small velvet box with a gem fixed inside of it (possibly an opal or pearl). I believe that there are two characters, a brother and a sister. There is some interaction where the characters are sitting on a park bench examining the velvet box. I believe that the box is used for either time travel or transportation. There may also be a mysterious stranger that guides the characters through the use of the box. I don’t have much more recollection of the story, but please feel free to ask any clarifying questions and I’ll try to assist. Much appreciated!
329Z: Humans and Beasts
I read a book about 20 years ago. It was a Christian fantasy/sci-fi. What I can remember is there were humans and there was an elite class that I think were beasts. They ate a delicacy that it turned out were human babies. There was a salvation story as part of the plot. I also believe there was a part where 2 prophets die, lie dead for 3 days, and then rise again, and it’s all broadcast on t.v. It’s possible I am mixing up two different books. The book I’m looking for was not part of the Left Behind series, or any other series like that. I believe it was a stand alone book. Another part I remember is one of the beasts standing over another character, possibly female, and the character on the ground looks up into the beast’s eyes and sees basically into her soul, or sees the truth. She kills the beast standing over her, which was a good thing. The beasts are human-like in their behavior, walk on 2 legs, etc. I would really appreciate your help in finding this book. I remember it being very good, though now I realize so many of my memories of it are vague.
329X: Young adult science fiction book featuring an alien boy hiding on Earth with an caretaker/teacher (Solved!)
I remember reading this book in the late 80's and I think it was the 2nd book in a series. The only details I really remember of it are: 1. The boy had to fake his death in the beginning (involving a bus) and move to another town. 2. He had special powers and could turn invisible 3. He kept having premonitions about upcoming events. 4. One of the premonitions involved lightning during a little league baseball game. I also think the planet he came from was something like Altair or another "A" name.