Help me place this SciFi!

RWJ · 10-21-2008, 02:04 PM

I have no idea if this is the right sub-forum - it's not about something I'm actually reading, so I thought here was most apt.

A couple of years ago I was staying at a friend's and read an anthology of SF short stories, all by the same author. They were pretty bleak, and Ellison-like; one of them was about a world in which all the humans lived underground in bunkers to avoid the radioactive pollution from nuclear war, but sent robots up top to keep fighting, and the robots decided never to tell the humans it was safe, so they could live in peace up top. In another, a primitive society worships a computer that they think is a god, and every year, a challenger has to ask it an unanswerable question, but if the computer can answer, they are "eaten" by the computer (dissolved in acid.) The friend has no idea what book it was (wasn't hers) and I am thinking it's either Philip K Dick or Ellison, but can't find anything to confirm this.

So, I promise vast (well, according to what I can give) karma points to anybody who can tell me who wrote this, in what book, or just confirm that they've read it too and I'm not going crazy(er).

desertgrandma · 10-21-2008, 02:07 PM

Well, if anyone can answer this, I want a copy too!

Gibbo · 10-21-2008, 02:11 PM

I remember reading something like what you describe a few days ago but can't remember were, maybe it was at FantasticFiction.co.uk or was it Amazon......I'm looking....

DixieGal · 10-21-2008, 02:21 PM

This is a classic. So why can't we remember who wrote it?

Googling....

Eliminate Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein...

Googling Silverberg...

EDIT: Silverberg writes too much. I kept seeing stories I want to re-read, like "Sailing to Byzantium" and getting distracted, because then I went to the Yeats poem that originated the title, read that and fell back in love with Yeats, etc.

desertgrandma · 10-21-2008, 04:24 PM

I think I got this one........

http://www.amazon.com/Penultimate-Tr...pr_product_top

Still looking for the other.......is this the one you are looking for, RWJ?

Gibbo · 10-21-2008, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

I think I got this one........

http://www.amazon.com/Penultimate-Tr...pr_product_top

Still looking for the other.......is this the one you are looking for, RWJ?

That's the one I mentioned I remember the cover.

desertgrandma · 10-21-2008, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gibbo

That's the one I mentioned I remember the cover.

Now, the poster did say they read this in a 'collection' of sci fi stories. Seems like a long story to include in a collection......

Gibbo · 10-21-2008, 04:58 PM

This is from Amazon.co.uk:

Product Description
World War III is raging - or so the millions of people crammed in their underground tanks believe. For fifteen years, subterranean humanity has been fed on daily broadcasts of a never-ending nuclear destruction, sustained by a belief in the all powerful Protector. Now someone has gone to the surface and found no destruction, no war. The authorities have been telling a massive lie. Now the search begins to find out why.

Does it sounds like the one he mentioned?

desertgrandma · 10-21-2008, 05:01 PM

Yes, thats why I posted it.......couldn't be two books with that same plot?

gwynevans · 10-21-2008, 07:24 PM

Not sure - it sounds a bit familiar, but not completely so... Was there a StarTrek-type of plot along those lines?

RWJ · 10-21-2008, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gibbo

This is from Amazon.co.uk:

Product Description
World War III is raging - or so the millions of people crammed in their underground tanks believe. For fifteen years, subterranean humanity has been fed on daily broadcasts of a never-ending nuclear destruction, sustained by a belief in the all powerful Protector. Now someone has gone to the surface and found no destruction, no war. The authorities have been telling a massive lie. Now the search begins to find out why.

Does it sounds like the one he mentioned?

That sounds like maybe a novel-length expansion of the short story. It was brief; in the story in the anthology, no humans ever find out the truth, but the reader "learns" it from a robot's eye view. This makes me think it was an anthology of Dick, though.

On a slight tangent, I read The Man in the High Castle over the summer and it kind of blew my mind. I have no patience for postmodern political theory or history, but postmodern art can be just fantastic and provocative and challenging and enlightening - what art is supposed to be, in other words.

Thank you all for helping me to unearth this.

jerryleejr · 10-21-2008, 11:16 PM

L.Ron Hubbard does the writers of the future program that is a collection of short Sci-Fi stories I think they are on Vol 20 or so. It may have been one of them.

JJ

ThR · 10-22-2008, 03:58 AM

That sounds like one of Isaac Asimovs robot short stories around the three laws of robotics. But which one of them - i don't know.

10-21-2008, 02:04 PM	#1
RWJ Zealot Posts: 120 Karma: 170 Join Date: Jul 2008 Device: PRS-505	Help me place this SciFi! I have no idea if this is the right sub-forum - it's not about something I'm actually reading, so I thought here was most apt. A couple of years ago I was staying at a friend's and read an anthology of SF short stories, all by the same author. They were pretty bleak, and Ellison-like; one of them was about a world in which all the humans lived underground in bunkers to avoid the radioactive pollution from nuclear war, but sent robots up top to keep fighting, and the robots decided never to tell the humans it was safe, so they could live in peace up top. In another, a primitive society worships a computer that they think is a god, and every year, a challenger has to ask it an unanswerable question, but if the computer can answer, they are "eaten" by the computer (dissolved in acid.) The friend has no idea what book it was (wasn't hers) and I am thinking it's either Philip K Dick or Ellison, but can't find anything to confirm this. So, I promise vast (well, according to what I can give) karma points to anybody who can tell me who wrote this, in what book, or just confirm that they've read it too and I'm not going crazy(er).

10-21-2008, 02:21 PM	#4
DixieGal Hi There! Posts: 7,473 Karma: 2930523 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Ft Lauderdale Device: iPad	This is a classic. So why can't we remember who wrote it? Googling.... Eliminate Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein... Googling Silverberg... EDIT: Silverberg writes too much. I kept seeing stories I want to re-read, like "Sailing to Byzantium" and getting distracted, because then I went to the Yeats poem that originated the title, read that and fell back in love with Yeats, etc. Last edited by DixieGal; 10-21-2008 at 02:39 PM.

10-21-2008, 04:24 PM	#5
desertgrandma Enjoying the show.... Posts: 14,270 Karma: 10462841 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Arizona Device: A K1, Kindle Paperwhite, an Ipod, IPad2, Iphone, an Ipad Mini & macAir	HA! I think I got this one........ http://www.amazon.com/Penultimate-Tr...pr_product_top Still looking for the other.......is this the one you are looking for, RWJ?

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10-21-2008, 02:07 PM	#2
desertgrandma Enjoying the show.... Posts: 14,270 Karma: 10462841 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Arizona Device: A K1, Kindle Paperwhite, an Ipod, IPad2, Iphone, an Ipad Mini & macAir	Well, if anyone can answer this, I want a copy too!

10-21-2008, 02:11 PM	#3
Gibbo Guru Posts: 776 Karma: 2475053 Join Date: May 2007 Device: Galaxy Tab A (2019) - iPhone 11 - KA1 - Onyx Boox Nova Pro	I remember reading something like what you describe a few days ago but can't remember were, maybe it was at FantasticFiction.co.uk or was it Amazon......I'm looking....

10-21-2008, 04:58 PM	#8
Gibbo Guru Posts: 776 Karma: 2475053 Join Date: May 2007 Device: Galaxy Tab A (2019) - iPhone 11 - KA1 - Onyx Boox Nova Pro	This is from Amazon.co.uk: Product Description World War III is raging - or so the millions of people crammed in their underground tanks believe. For fifteen years, subterranean humanity has been fed on daily broadcasts of a never-ending nuclear destruction, sustained by a belief in the all powerful Protector. Now someone has gone to the surface and found no destruction, no war. The authorities have been telling a massive lie. Now the search begins to find out why. Does it sounds like the one he mentioned?

10-21-2008, 05:01 PM	#9
desertgrandma Enjoying the show.... Posts: 14,270 Karma: 10462841 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Arizona Device: A K1, Kindle Paperwhite, an Ipod, IPad2, Iphone, an Ipad Mini & macAir	Yes, thats why I posted it.......couldn't be two books with that same plot?

10-21-2008, 07:24 PM	#10
gwynevans Wizzard Posts: 1,402 Karma: 2000000 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: UK Device: iPad 2, iPhone 6s, Kindle Voyage & Kindle PaperWhite	Not sure - it sounds a bit familiar, but not completely so... Was there a StarTrek-type of plot along those lines?

10-21-2008, 11:16 PM	#12
jerryleejr Koby-rific! Posts: 941 Karma: 191112 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: 2' From My MacBook Pro Device: Kobo Sage,Kobo Aura One, Glo HD,PRS-T1,PRS-950, PRS 300, PRS 350	L.Ron Hubbard does the writers of the future program that is a collection of short Sci-Fi stories I think they are on Vol 20 or so. It may have been one of them. JJ

10-22-2008, 03:58 AM	#13
ThR Tatütatuter Posts: 390 Karma: 3148 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Germany, Baden, Karlsruhe Device: Aura H2O, Glo HD, Paperwhite, PRS-950	That sounds like one of Isaac Asimovs robot short stories around the three laws of robotics. But which one of them - i don't know.

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