Author Topic: Science Fiction/Fantasy Short Stories (Read 34726 times)

PatH · « **Reply #80 on:** May 01, 2017, 08:15:22 AM »

Science Fiction/Fantasy Short Stories

There are a lot of good short stories in this field. Let's share some of our favorites, just for a little fun, not too serious.

The Nine Billion Names of God Arthur C. Clarke

The Arm of the Law Henry Harrison

The Golem Avram Davidson

The Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees E. Lily Yu

The Fountains Ursula K. LeGuin

Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge Mike Resnick

Arena Frederick Brown

Kirinyaga Mike Resnick

Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another. Robert Silverberg

Someone to Watch Over Me Nancy Kress

The Women Men Don't See James Tiptree, Jr.

The MSG Golem Ken Liu

Time Shards Gregory Benford

The Weight of Memories Cixin Liu

Superiority Arthur C. Clarke

Discussion leader: PatH

PatH · « **Reply #81 on:** May 01, 2017, 08:59:49 AM »

Good morning. This site is taking on dignity as the May book discussion. That won't change the approach, just increase the frequency of the stories.I'll post links, and give a bit of description so you can tell if it's the kind of s-f or fantasy you might like. Feel free to post links to stories you like too. I've put links to the past stories in the heading.

Enjoy.

PatH · « **Reply #82 on:** May 01, 2017, 09:07:37 AM »

The MSG Golem

Ken Liu

First we had Avram Davidson's hilarious golem story. Here's another golem, this time with a Chinese take. Ken Liu is an American writer, respected both for his own stories and for his translations of Chinese sci-fi, especially that of Cixin Liu. This is a pretty light-hearted story, good for a chuckle.

The MSG Golem

ANNIE · « **Reply #83 on:** May 03, 2017, 12:50:28 PM »

So, I have read MSG GOLEM and enjoyed it!! And it seemed like another Aesop fable. So if it is, should I read it again to identify what it really means😄😀??

My BIL read a lot of SciFi so I tried it and told him it was just Fiction to me. Just another way tell a story. But he set me right by saying that it took more imagination to write SciFi because it was always set in non existing places. And the beat goes on! 😄😄

PatH · « **Reply #84 on:** May 03, 2017, 01:32:08 PM »

Actually, you're right, Annie. Just another way to tell a story. It does take some imagination, and you can look at human nature a different way by changing the world they're in, but it still stands or falls on its merits as a story.

If you do interpret the fable, you can tell me what it means.

Frybabe · « **Reply #85 on:** May 03, 2017, 03:07:53 PM »

That was cute, Pat.

Frybabe · « **Reply #86 on:** May 04, 2017, 07:55:49 AM »

I've been waiting for weeks for Lightspeed to release this short story online. Tobias Buckell wrote one of the original HALO series books. This is the first short story of his I've read. It's good. A bit gory. https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/ratcatcher/

PatH · « **Reply #87 on:** May 04, 2017, 09:45:22 AM »

Yes, quite good, but definitely not for the faint of stomach.

JoanK · « **Reply #88 on:** May 04, 2017, 02:22:23 PM »

I laughed and laughed at the MSG golem. f course, I've never known a little girl like that, have I Pat?

PatH · « **Reply #89 on:** May 04, 2017, 02:39:41 PM »

Why, no, of course not.

ANNIE · « **Reply #90 on:** May 10, 2017, 06:07:35 PM »

Pat, I need for you to call me about moving as I am in the same predicament. Do you still have my phone number?

PatH · « **Reply #91 on:** May 10, 2017, 07:54:29 PM »

Yes. I just called you, got no answer, so I sent you an email with my number. Call if you like.

Frybabe · « **Reply #92 on:** May 11, 2017, 04:47:08 PM »

I am just winding up a book called Archangel Down: Archangel Project, Book 1 (of course it has to be another series book). C. Gockel is primarily a fantasy writer (the I Bring the Fire series, and others), but this one is science fiction. It is much better than I expected.

http://www.cgockelwrites.com/book/archangel-down-archangel-project-book-one/

PatH · « **Reply #93 on:** May 14, 2017, 11:06:52 AM »

That looks interesting, Frybabe. I don't do kindle, so will have to look for it elsewhere.

PatH · « **Reply #94 on:** May 14, 2017, 11:20:54 AM »

Time Shards

Gregory Benford

Suppose you had a chance to put a message into a time capsule? What would you say?

Gregory Benford is one of the "hard" sci-fi writers, meaning there's a lot science in his stories. (He's a physicist in private life.) Timescape, dealing with messages from the future and ways of changing history, is supposed to be his best, but I like Artifact, which combines Greek archaeology, a physics-based explanation of the Minotaur, with an action-packed adventure, and even a love story.

This story is not so heavy on the science. You don't have to understand the physics to get the point.

Time Shards

Frybabe · « **Reply #95 on:** May 14, 2017, 12:09:09 PM »

Oh good, something to read while I listen to Radioman's classical music program. That is, if I have not convinced myself to mow the backyard today.

I see I posted the Archangel Down comment to the wrong scifi discussion. Oh, well.

ANNIE · « **Reply #96 on:** May 19, 2017, 11:09:42 AM »

Pat, I started Time Shards but got distracted by aching feet plus my life in general. Sorry about that! Since the AC is being worked on, for the next 5 hours, I will try to return to the story today.🤓😱🙏🙏🙏!

Frybabe, do you have a link to Radioman? Or do I have to get to him after I get S&Fs up?

Frybabe · « **Reply #97 on:** May 19, 2017, 05:31:45 PM »

Annie, Radioman's show is on Sundays at 1pm on https://beta.tunein.com/radio/1069-The-X-s12279/ I bookmarked it so I don't have to bring up Seniors and Friends and go hunt his program listing, which he posts on Saturday mornings. Don has it set up so he can chat with us in Classical Corner on Senior and Friends when he has a record spinning.

This coming Sunday is a holiday for Canada, so there won't be any program.

Frybabe · « **Reply #98 on:** May 19, 2017, 05:41:48 PM »

Pat, I vaguely recall something about pottery in the making picking up sound vibrations and embedding them into the pot. It was years ago (well before the publication date of this story, I am sure) so I don't remember if it was speculation or an experiment someone did. I would think it would have had to have been embedded before the clay dried and was put into the kiln. Going to go see if I can find anything about it.

Frybabe · « **Reply #99 on:** May 19, 2017, 06:45:40 PM »

Okay, here is an interesting article about pottery recordings. http://tenser.typepad.com/tenser_said_the_tensor/2006/02/pottery_recordi.html Be sure to read the comments below the article. One of the posters mentions "Time Shards" and where Benfield got the idea for the story.

Another find, there is in fact a minor discipline called Archaeoacoustics and some experimentation. The Proceedings of the IEEE is a peer reviewed journal, but the article quoted a letter to the journal, so I don't think it got the same peer review that a regular article would have gotten.

Here is the University of Pennsylvania's take on the Woodbridge letter which essentially busts it as an April Fools hoax. It shows some interesting investigation into how they came to that conclusion. http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002875.html

What little I can find on Woodbridge so far is that he did indeed graduate from Princeton and did some work on underwater ultraviolet lighting for divers. But this reference is more up our alley. http://ssi.org/ssi-supermodels-part-2-make-your-own-ssi-mass-driver/ Imagine that. Woodbridge also wrote about Edgar Alan Poe and article titled “J.N. Reynolds: Father of American Exploration,” Princeton University Library, among others. I am guessing that he followed in his father's footsteps with an engineering degree, but that is only a guess. His dad appears to have been an engineer and his grandfather did research on Perrywinkles. His sister Margaretta, passed on in 2004. The obit mentioned that Woodbridge III predeceased her.

Okay, I just about ran that little research project dry.

ANNIE · « **Reply #100 on:** May 19, 2017, 09:55:19 PM »

Interesting stuff, Frybabe! I couldn't hear or find any place with sound. Looked clear to the end but nothing was there. I did like Time Shards especially the last remark of Brooks. WithThe story, being so short, that remark that Brooks made was like the catch phrase of any well told joke. Tickled me! I thought "nothing ever changes!" We just keep trying with little success. Generation after generation. We keep trudging along, putting one foot in front of the other.

I just read the article about making your own SSI model and immediately sent it to my grandson in law. Thought he would enjoy helping his sons make one. He is always doing
this kind of stuff with them. Then my granddaughter Facebooks it for us all to see.

Frybabe · « **Reply #101 on:** May 22, 2017, 07:15:14 AM »

Here is another very short story from a site of little known writers. Simple, good ending.

https://short-story.me/science-fiction-stories/934-the-ultimate-weapon.html

PatH · « **Reply #102 on:** May 22, 2017, 10:13:47 AM »

You haven't heard from me lately because I've been in LA for the wedding of my nephew, and since I'm staying with the mother of the groom (JoanK) I've been surrounded by a circus. It's over, everything was beautiful, no disasters, and nobody got mad at someone. Now I'm packing for Portland, but have comments on your posts I hope to have time for later today.

PatH · « **Reply #103 on:** May 23, 2017, 04:01:57 PM »

Frybabe, thanks for tracking down the inspiration for Benford's story, that complex and convincing hoax.

And thanks for pointing us to the Space Studies Institute website. I'm going to look further at that site. The mass driver is really cool--takes me back to my Heathkit days. I'm really tempted to try it. The main obstacle is the battery.

That short story has a nifty gimmick to it. It would have been nice if the author had been a better writer, or had a better understanding of how scientists work.

Annie, I love seeing how your family interacts, and what tinkerers they all are.

ANNIE · « **Reply #104 on:** May 24, 2017, 10:28:03 PM »

Oh, my grandson in law is more than a tinkerer! He has a PHD in fluid dynamics! He is always teaching the kids things like the SSI! I am waiting to see what he will do with this little project!🤓🤓🙏🙏🙏

PatH · « **Reply #105 on:** May 26, 2017, 02:51:33 PM »

I'm guessing that to a fluid dynamics physicist, making that mass driver is pretty light-hearted play. I bet he has fun.

PatH · « **Reply #106 on:** May 26, 2017, 03:09:21 PM »

The Weight of Memories

Cixin Liu

We read a hilarious story by Ken Liu, The MSG Golem. Here's a story by the other Liu. Cixin Liu is Chinese, most known for a trilogy starting with The Three Body Problem. Ken Liu is often his translator, as is the case here.

This story isn't light-hearted; it's poignant and somewhat disturbing.

The Weight of Memories

Frybabe · « **Reply #107 on:** May 26, 2017, 05:55:00 PM »

I picked up on the genetic memory right away. You are right, the ending is a bit disturbing.

PatH · « **Reply #108 on:** May 26, 2017, 06:26:38 PM »

It's also touching and hopeful though. I don't want to comment in detail until others have a chance to read it.

PatH · « **Reply #109 on:** May 27, 2017, 11:11:44 AM »

Superiority

Arthur C. Clarke

Here's some comic relief in an oldie by Arthur C. Clarke, with no serious point, except maybe the limitations of a theoretical approach to scientific problems. It's mostly scientific description, but you don't have to know any science; it's just the overall effect that's the point, and that's made quite clear.

Superiority

Frybabe · « **Reply #110 on:** May 29, 2017, 06:43:14 AM »

Here is a short story from Paul Park that I found amusing. "The Tourist" is time travel tourism mayhem. http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/tourist.htm

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #111 on:** May 29, 2017, 06:14:33 PM »

https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6253/ursula-k-le-guin-the-art-of-fiction-no-221-ursula-k-le-guin

Frybabe · « **Reply #112 on:** May 29, 2017, 08:25:02 PM »

HI Barb! I hope that means your eye problem has resolved itself or at least greatly improved. Thanks for posting the interview. I've been trying to post on Poetry now and again in your absence, but they are just poems I've run across now and again.

Frybabe · « **Reply #113 on:** August 09, 2017, 07:23:14 AM »

It finally dawned on my while reading Alastair Reynolds' Galactic North (short stories and novellas) that the Conjoiners sound a lot like Star Trek's Borg except that the Conjoiners don't seem as keen on conquering space as they are preserving their lifestyle and communities from persecution.

Most of the stories in Galactic North were interesting, but I didn't care much for the title novella. I didn't finish that one. I was hoping to find more stories about Prefect Dreyfus of Panoply but there weren't any. However, Reynolds is working on a sequel to The Prefect. It is due out in 2018. Big gap between the two, the first was originally published in 2007.

Here is Alastair Reynolds' website list of his books and comments on them. http://www.alastairreynolds.com/novels/ I may just have to read Century Rain considering my BIL is a jazz pianist.

PatH · « **Reply #114 on:** August 09, 2017, 11:55:36 AM »

I knew I'd read one of Reynolds' books, but couldn't figure out which from his descriptions. It was Revelation Space, which I found sort of confusing, but gripping.

Now I'm reading Charles Stross' The Delirium Brief, the latest in his series of the fight of the computational demonologists (good guys) to keep the world from being overwhelmed by horrible things from other universes. The series is getting less good, complicated in an uninteresting way, and he's having to work pretty hard to stretch out the action without actually getting to the approaching Armageddon.

Frybabe · « **Reply #115 on:** August 09, 2017, 12:03:45 PM »

My girlfriend in CO just sent me this article commenting "So that is how Dr. McCoy did it." More cutting edge medical tech. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4768492/Nanochip-regrow-organs-injecting-DNA-skin.html?ITO=applenews

Frybabe · « **Reply #116 on:** September 03, 2017, 10:45:04 AM »

I read this cute little story by Roger D. Aycock this morning. http://manybooks.net/titles/aycockr3159931599.html Project Gutenberg has it, but I think ManyBooks has more formats.

PatH · « **Reply #117 on:** September 12, 2017, 10:00:44 PM »

Frybabe, when I tried to access your story, I got weird results, and no story. If you can suggest another route, I'll try again. It may be my ancient browser.

PatH · « **Reply #118 on:** September 12, 2017, 10:34:09 PM »

Anthony Boucher was perhaps better known as a mystery writer, but he also wrote fantastic horror stories and some sci-fi, mostly short stories. Looking for some of his fantasy stories to post, I only came across this sci-fi story. I read it when it came out in 1950; it was my first introduction to a concept that you and I, Frybabe, recently discussed in the sci-fi discussion here. I'd forgotten who wrote it, was delighted to find it again.

Transfer Point

To avoid spoilers for anyone else reading it, we should comment in the sci-fi discussion.

Frybabe · « **Reply #119 on:** September 13, 2017, 06:43:02 AM »

Try this link, PatH. This is the Gutenberg link from which ManyBooks originally got it, I believe. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31599 You can choose which format you want to read it in.

I've saved "Transfer Point" to read on my Kindle a little later.

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Author Topic: Science Fiction/Fantasy Short Stories (Read 34726 times)