History HilariousInHindsight / Literature

** Lovecraft described Azathoth as a monstrous indescribable thing which resides in the center of the universe, often described as "gnawing" and "chaotic". Scientists now believe that the center of our galaxy (and, by extension, other galaxies), is a supermassive black hole. Perhaps Lovecraft was on to something...

** Another Pratchett one in ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'': Having an AxCrazy vampire parody Creator/TomCruise's character in ''InterviewWithTheVampire'' - funny; Reading this parody against Tom Cruise's current reputation? ''Hilarious''.

* Creator/ScottMcCloud's nonfiction comic, ''[[ComicBook/UnderstandingComics Reinventing Comics]]'', talks largely about the future potential of computers as a medium for webcomics, as well the drawbacks of computer technology. Many of these drawbacks include slow loading, poor graphics, and low storage capacity. [[TechnologyMarchesOn The book was written in 2000.]]

* In ''Mallory and the Mystery Diary'', a relatively early BabySittersClub book published in 1989, Mallory complains that it feels like she's been 11 for a decade. Cut to 1999, when the books are still being published and poor Mal is still 11...

* Julie Kenner's 2000 novel ''The Cat's Fancy'' is about a [[FetishFuel cat who becomes human in order to marry her owner]]. She shows up in her owner's house seemingly with amnesia, and he and others try to find out who she is, in a plot already reminiscent of [[MulhollandDrive a movie that would come out a year later]]... but then we get this line:

* In 1963, Morris West's novel ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shoes_of_the_Fisherman The Shoes of the Fisherman]]'' described the election and first part of the reign of a the first [[UsefulNotes/ThePope Pope]] hailing from Eastern Europe (more exactly, Ukraine). 15 years later, the first non-Italian Pope was chosen... and he also hailed from Eastern Europe (Poland, in this case). Made even better because said RealLife Eastern European Pope, Karol Wojtyla aka John Paul II, wasn't ''that'' different from the fictional one, Kiril Pavlovich Lakota aka Kyril I... So JPII [[spoiler: helped to take down the Iron Curtain]]? Kyril I has [[spoiler: to be ''Literature/TheMediator'' between the governments of RedChina and [[SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn the URSS]] to avert World War III.]]

* In the original ''{{Shrek}}'' picture book, there's a scene where the title character has a nightmare about being beloved by children. Flash forward to the fourth installment of the film series, and...

* In the 1998 ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''/''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'' crossover novel ''Planet X'' (which is not a fanfic but rather an officially published, authorized, but noncanonical novel) Captain Picard meets a holodeck simulation of Professor Charles Xavier and is astounded by how similar he looks to him. Two years later the first ''Film/{{X-Men}}'' film came out, casting Picard actor Creator/PatrickStewart as Professor Xavier.
** At the time, this one may have been intended more as a nod to fan buzz than anything else: though the casting wasn't official yet, X-Men fans had already been clamoring for Creator/PatrickStewart to be cast as Professor Xavier ever since the live-action movie was first announced.

* In the novel ''Make Room! Make Room!'' (which the movie ''Film/SoylentGreen'' is based on), the overpopulated future of 1999 had a sweltering population of 7 billion people. In RealLife, the world population in 1999 was 6 billion, with the 7 billion mark passed somewhere around 2011, and as far as we know, we're not recycling human corpses into food yet (although that didn't happen in the book either).

** In the first book, the heroes are surprised by a [[AllTrollsAreDifferent troll]] that appeared suddenly in their path, having been whisked away from its home in the mountains some thousands of miles away, in order to appear as a random encounter in the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' game of the Gods. While it was in reference to random TabletopRPG encounters, the way it was described -- a sound, the world looking "strange" and a monster suddenly popping up -- mirror exactly the random battles in most console [=RPGs=]. This was in 1983, three years before ''DragonQuest'' or ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'', although ''VideoGame/UltimaIII'' was from 1983.

** Another Pratchett one in ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'': Having an AxCrazy vampire parody TomCruise's character in ''InterviewWithTheVampire'' - funny; Reading this parody against Tom Cruise's current reputation? ''Hilarious''.

* In ''AWrinkleInTime'', Meg Murry's father's mathematically-based nickname for her has a ''slightly'' different meaning to those who read the book after, say, 1984: "[[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Megatron]]". The term "[[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse tesseract]]" does too.
* In the SweetValleyHigh book ''Sweet Valley Saga'' Alice (the twins' mother) was engaged to Hank Patman (Bruce's father). When ''Sweet Valley Confidential'' comes out, guess who become a couple at the end of the book? [[spoiler: Bruce and Elizabeth, that's who.]]

* During the climax of ''Literature/AdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn'', an old woman rambles on about [[spoiler: Jim's escape from the Phelps' farm]], [[RozenMaiden ending every sentence with 'says I'.]]

* In Charles Stross' ''Literature/TheAtrocityArchives'', written in 1999, the author was looking for an obscure terrorist who was none the less likely to strike on American soil. In the book this terrorist gets his occult weapon mass destruction from Saddam, and is based in Afghanistan. Originally the terrorist in question was, you guessed right, OsamaBinLaden. The book was published in late 2001 and his publisher suggested he change this to some other terrorist who is still obscure, which Stross did.

** For years, various well-meaning parents have demanded that the Harry Potter books be banned because of the books' [[SarcasmMode obvious Satanic undertones]]. ''MyImmortal'' makes all of this hilarious.
** From ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'': "... the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban." Remember how this book ended? [[spoiler: Fred and George were ''repeatedly hitting Voldemort in the goddamn face this entire time!'']]
** At the end of Prisoner of Azkaban, Snape flies into a rage and the Minister of Magic says to Dumbledore - "''Fellow seems quite unbalanced...I'd watch out for him if I were you, Dumbledore''" Possibly the only time Cornelius Fudge displayed sound judgment.

*** [[spoiler: In ''Discworld/MakingMoney' a man goes through a [[HeroicBSOD crisis of faith]] he follows his ancestors large footsteps, strangles a minor character is a rather loud manner, there's a trial, he honks, and stops being homicidal. This book was written about two years before Webcomic/{{Homestuck}} and about four before Gamzee's freak out.]]

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', there are three rings for the elven kings under the sky, seven for the dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, nine for mortal men doomed to die, and one for the dark lord on his dark throne. These four numbers in reverse order comprise the year that author J.R.R. Tolkein died.

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'':
** The {{prequel}} ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew'' reveals Jadis the White Witch to be the [[LastOfHisKind last surviving member]] of an ancient, decadent species of {{Sufficiently Advanced|Aliens}} HumanAliens, the rest of whom she wiped from existence to prevent a war from ending unfavorably. Fast-forward about half a century, and a similar revelation was made about [[Series/DoctorWho another iconic British children's character]]. This parallel makes the scene in London, where Jadis is unfamiliar with our world and ends up causing a commotion, all the funnier, since that kind of situation happens to the Doctor ''all the freaking time'' - and usually in London too! And in ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', the Witch's tactic of charming Edmund with sugary jelly candies becomes funny because it's essentially the Fourth Doctor's ''modus operandi'' for making new friends.
** In ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', when the ship is trapped in a fog of nightmares, Eustace says: "Do you hear a noise like...like a huge pair of scissors opening and shutting...over there?" Forty-six years later, giant scissors (representing the threat of a GroinAttack) appeared during ''another'' NightmareSequence in [[Film/TheBigLebowski a certain famous movie]].

** Also in that book is Tiffany rescuing someone from a dream [[spoiler:by killing him]], and being informed by said individual that they might still be trapped in a dream and be unable to tell the difference. The dream is populated by stuff from the dreamer's memories. Oh, and Tiffany was in said dream because she and the WFM [[{{Inception}} wanted to steal something]]. Date of publication: 2003.

* An encyclopedia of manga classics (I can't remember exactly which one) outlined the plot of FruitsBasket, and informed the reader that the series' OfficialCouple was [[spoiler:Tohru and Yuki. (Kyo Sohma- third protagonist, one corner of the focal LoveTriangle, and Tohru's eventual husband- is barely mentioned at all.)]] Unfortunately, the encyclopedia was written before certain [[TheReveal plot twists]] in the manga [[ShipSinking sunk that ship]], and Tohru and[[spoiler: Yuki]] remained JustFriends.

* In Charles Stross' ''[[TheLaundrySeries The Atrocity Archives]]'', written in 1999, the author was looking for an obscure terrorist who was none the less likely to strike on American soil. In the book this terrorist gets his occult weapon mass destruction from Saddam, and is based in Afghanistan. Originally the terrorist in question was, you guessed right, OsamaBinLaden. The book was published in late 2001 and his publisher suggested he change this to some other terrorist who is still obscure, which Stross did.
** ''Archive'' also stated that the reason volume four of Donald Knuth's ''The Art of Computer Programming''[[note]]kinda like the Bible of computer science[[/note]] hadn't been published yet was because the Laundry threatened Knuth with death if it ever came out. Volume four, part one finally launched in 2005 after spending almost four decades in DevelopmentHell.

* In Literature/TheBible, [[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25:8-9 Matthew 25:8-9]] has become [[BlackComedy "funnier and funnier"]] from WorldWarII to this day. Also doubles as HarsherInHindsight.

* [[Creator/IsaacAsimov]], as a prolific SF author, made many predictions. [[http://www.images-booknode.com/book_cover/86/full/cher-jupiter-85720.jpg This one]] is merely a translation "accident". (The original title is "Buy Jupiter.")

** In the fourth book, Cedric earns the nickname of "Useless Pretty-Boy Diggory". Considering who plays him in the movie (and said actor's [[Literature/{{Twilight}} further roles]])...

* In the 7th ''{{Everworld}}'' book, Senna Wales decides to stab a Coo-Hatch alien to death with a knife, for no apparent reason, and then acts coldly unmoved by what she did. When the others question her as to ''why'' she had suddenly gone AxCrazy, she ''laughs ruefully, shakes her head to herself'' and replies, "Had to be! There was no avoiding it ... Not over the long haul." In the eleventh book, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope Senna suddenly goes psychotic]] and becomes a evil maniac, presumably for plot purposes.

* In ''Literature/SpiritBound'', when Sydney gets in contact with Rose to query her about missing Alchemist records she tells Rose that Adrian is cute for an 'evil creature of the night'. [[spoiler:In ''Literature/{{Bloodlines}}'', she ends up falling in love with him]].