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openNo Title Literature
Ok, I'm looking for an old Scifi proposal. As it was never built I'm hoping it will be ok to post here.
It was a serious proposal by a steam boiler company to get into the space race with a steam 'powered' space cannon. The concept was to bore a barrel into a mountain, and 'fire' materials into space at a much lower cost and higher frequency than conventional rockets. Things like bulk fuel, and high G tolerant equipment.
The projectile was fired by a simple Hydrogen/Oxygen explosion. The Steam was used to rapidly compress the fuel to its spontaneous combustion point (just like a diesel engine, compress fuel and air for high efficiency and no spark pugs)
The accumulation and compression cambers were huge caverns cutout below the 'mile-ish' bore-hole barrel.
The proposal is from the 50's 60's I think, but the Magazine article I read about it was from 2000-ish, which the small Mineralogical/Mining I read it at, no longer has.
openNo Title Literature
I'm looking for a children's picture book, which I loved when I was younger but can no longer find. I believe it may have been published any time between the late 70s and mid to late 90s but I can't be sure. I remember that all the characters were animals, and a group of friends, of whom I only remember two (a Scottish bear who wore a kilt and loved his bagpipes, and a little yellow chick who was particularly outspoken), who were on vacation at a seaside town and kept encountering a group of bullies. I distinctly remember two scenes: first, a scene where the bullies damage the bear's bagpipes so badly he can't play them anymore, and second, a scene where the group decides to dress up as a dragon (the kind you see in Chinese New Year parades and such) to scare the bullies, and at first it works, but they are found out when the bullies see the chick's feet through the costume. Thanks in advance.
openNo Title Literature
This is an English language book that I read in the 1990s, set in a near-future America, kind of a dystopia. I believe that it came out in the 90's as well.The only thing I remember is that a semi-official holiday had developed called "Lawyer Day", where people in the legal profession were targeted for attack each year. I can't remember the book, but I can't get it out of my head. It wasn't young-adult.
openNo Title Literature
This is a book that I read in the mid 1990's, and I believe that it came out sometime in the 1980's. It's a political thriller, where the US president is the victim of an assassination attempt. The protagonist is an agent trying to figure out what happened, and the chief of staff appears to be villain who maintains the illusion that the President is still alive so he can keep power. Turns out, the President IS alive, but badly injured by the attempt,and he doesn't want to step down because he doesn't trust his VP? The President is depicted as a former military man,and there's mention made that the US has been involved in a war in Central America (though I'm pretty sure that the book came out after Grenada and before Panama). Little help? Thanks.
openNo Title Literature
A book of cut-out, fold and glue model spaceships. Not the kind that fly like paper airplanes. There were, I think, about five of them, and they included a black and green deep space cruiser, a space station, a passenger/hotel type ship (which was very wide and weird-looking), and several space shuttle-like "explorer modules" or "exploration modules" all of the same design with variations on the color scheme. I remember this book from the early nineties.
openNo Title Literature
There was a book that used the King Arthur legends as a backdrop...following the exploits of a girl who lived in a tower who was actually a witch, and I think she became Sir Gawain or Sir...Owen, or something? I'm pretty sure she wasn't Guinevere.
Also, Sir Lancelot became a lumberjack.
openNo Title Literature
I'm looking for a children's book about a sentient, friendly, computer program. There was a lonely kid in it, I believe, with an unusual name and a senile grandfather, who made friends with a computer who's name started with a C (Carter or Connor, probably). The computer would set up real-world simulations for him to enter, things he either couldn't do or was too shy to do in real life. I recall two of the simulations being playing baseball with Babe Ruth and going out on a date with his crush, who's name started with a J (Janet, maybe). The word "personal" was almost definitely in the title. I read this book a long time ago and it'd be awesome if someone was able to find it. Thanks!
Edit- I think the kid's name was Pollard.
Edited by cabr321openNo Title Literature
When I was in, maybe 4th or 6th grade, we read this memoir by some American woman who had spent a portion of her childhood in China, where her parents were, I think, missionaries, but might have been involved in business or something. The family had Chinese servants, and the clearest memory I have is how one of the servants was a communist, but the author would notice how he stuck his pinky out when drinking tea.
The most plausible person to have been the author, if I were to guess, would be Pearl S Buck, who was living in China at about the right age and time frame (early 1900s) but I can't easily find either of her autobiographies to see if they jive with my memories of the book, and from descriptions of her autobiographies on the internet, either she's someone else, or I read a heavily abridged version of one of them.
openNo Title Literature
All I remember about this YA book is the phrase "quiescently frozen." The protagonist, and I think her best friend, would always look for it on frozen food packaging because they loved the word "quiescent."
openNo Title Literature
Two things:
The first is poem which was posted near the end of the Real Life High Octane Nightmare Fuel page, when that existed. Basically, the poem is about the various ways one can kill themselves (stabbing, drowning, poison, etc) and how those methods will inevitably fail. The narrator of the poem concludes with the idea that people thus have no choice but to get on with life. This troper specifically remembers the final verses to be something like "Ropes are going to give/ Because of all this, all we can do is live" (the "going to give" and "live" rhyme stood out best), but Googling that brings up nothing.
The second is a puzzle book that this troper had in the 90s (though it might have come from earlier). It told about an adventure three people set off on. They live in a fantasy world, where everyone has lots of beautiful hair. A spiteful wizard cast a spell to make everyone bald, and the adventurers are trying to destroy something called the "Well of Spells", which will end his power. Each page details a part of their journey, and each page gives the reader specific items to find. The items range from important things (keys, dynamite, magic mirrors, etc) to things like how many cats are in the picture. Each page also has the reader find some sort of food item as well.
Either of those sound familiar? ^^;
openNo Title Literature
Two stories I remember reading but can't find:
1.!FOUND!I asked this before. A story I read with my grandma so it's 1999 or older. There's a boy and a girl sitting by a river and the girl starts singing the word Arroyo. The boy gets annoyed with her singing and calls her a wetback, triggering her Berserk Button. A lizard was also involved, can't remember if it was the boys pet or a wild lizard. May have been part of a story compilation.!FOUND! It's "Just Call Me Stupid" by Tom Birdseye!
2.!FOUND!A scifi furry/anthro story I read in 2002 so its 2002 or older. No yiff, as I was a religious Safesearch user back then. There was a ferret who at one point was described as "boring" and he was crying his eyes out over his friends dying in a building of some sort and saying "My liege, I could have been them!" At one point he and this anthro dog got in a car and the dog consoled the ferret. Sometime later in the story, I remember a fight scene in an office with an Action Girl. Flamethrowers and Ridiculously Cute Critter may have been involved. At one point, I think the ferret guy complimented how cute the critters were. I remember the URL said something like "Neoterrestrials" or "Neoteddestrials" somewhere but that's all I have to work with. Anyone?!FOUND! It IS Neoterrestrials by mogwai toejam AKA Akktri.
Edited by CanzetTheCoyoteopenNo Title Literature
A Semitic folktale, possibly Talmudic, in which a wicked tyrant imprisons a pious wise man and promises the granting of his freedom only when the prisoner has filled a given box with his own fingernail trimmings.
openNo Title Literature
For some time I've been trying to recall a book I saw in a store. It may be a Cosmic Horror Story, and the only description at the back of the book is about the afterlife; the description tells the reader about the common Judeo-Christian notion of the afterlife, and then mocks the reader by saying it's all a lie and that the afterlife is in fact a scenery full of blood and agony (particularly physical agony; chains and hooks may have been mentioned) and all that Clive Barker stuff. What makes it horrifying is that it does not give the impression of eternal punishment, but of... that's the way it is (thus the Cosmic Horror Story element). I don't recall the back cover description mention any characters, or any plot or of it being a part of some saga, thus giving it a chilling vibe. Anyone who has encountered such a book feel free to let me know.
Edited by ianpatphopenNo Title Literature
Two things I remember reading at my cousin's house when I was a kid (so 80s, maybe early 90s):
A short story about a girl who, on her 13th birthday (I think) inherited a loom which could weave her own hair. I don't remember if it was actually called a hair-loom, or if that was a Stealth Pun. Everyone in her family had mild magic powers of one sort or another, and there was enough weirdness around the edges to make me think it was part of a series, but I don't think I ever read any others. It was in a collection of kids' fantasy stories, but for some reason it's the only one I remember.
One of those big picture books with the story on the left hand pages and detailed paintings on the right hand pages (like Kit Williams' Masquerade, but without the treasure) about a girl who entered the rainbow. Each picture was the "world" of a different colour, and there was an Or Was It a Dream? ending.
Edited by DaibhidCopenNo Title Literature
I found a YA book at Sam's Club one day and skimmed through the first few chapters. All I remember was that it was likely published between 2008 and 2011 and I think the protagonist was suicidal and supposedly she went to this creepy website. Oh, and she tells about a time when she was ten and her mom left her into the car and went into WALMART and she had some sort of panic and pissed her pants. Anyone know the title of the book? Because I have no idea, and it's been bugging me for weeks.
openNo Title Literature
Ok, so this is about a few children's books. I mean picture books, with very simple stories. I read them when I was maybe kindergarten or first grade, so the early 90's, but they may be older than that. The story I remember best was about a school of little red fish, and their brother who was a black fish despite being born from (I assume) the same parents. The ocean is very dangerous and so the little fish always have to hide, but then he teaches his brothers and sisters to swim like a big fish and he's the eye, and scares the other big fish away. The books were illustrated with what looked like either oil paints or watercolors, or something like that. There was a lot of blue, green, purple and silver used to illustrate the book. The author (who I think was also the illustrator) had other books, but I don't remember their names. I think one was about a bull, but I can't be sure.
openNo Title Literature
1) A YA novel - all I remember is that either the main character or someone he lived with had a pet bat - he asked someone why it slept all day, and they responded that bats are nocturnal, but didn't say what the word meant. Later on he visits someone who's playing piano - said person says the song he's playing is called a nocturne and is meant to be played at night. The main character then figures out what "nocturnal" means from that context. I feel like this might have been something in the Kid Detective vein, but I may be wrong.
2) I think this one was aimed at a slightly younger audience than the above, and it was about the main character finding out he was dyslexic. Early on, he plays a "treasure hunt" game with his friend, where you hide an object, give your opponent a map, and see who finds the other person's object first. He decides his map is too messily drawn, and writes "TOP" on the top of it so his friend will know which way to hold it. His friend immediately goes to the kitchen to look through the pots and pans, because what the main character actually wrote was "POT".
Edited by MikeKopenNo Title Literature
I read this children's book in the mid-late-nineties.
I don't remember much about it but the heroine was a girl (who may have had red hair? This might just be how I pictured her) who moved house to go and stay with a relatives. Everyone in their family was a moon person or a sun person... I know this is weird but I don't remember the meaning of this distinction: I think it just referred to personality but I'm not sure. She stayed with a relative in a big luxurious house, there was this really lavish description of her room which was in a turret of his castle or something. It included a sink and a jug to fill it with.
Probably the most important bit: I don't rememeber the actual plot, only that it had something to do with white horses. There was a bit towards the end where she saw white horses on the crest of the waves when she went to the beach, but I don't think it was figurative white horses but ACTUAL white horses. I also think the book was called something about white horses.
The tone of the book, to the best of my memory was kind of about the girl exploring the town and learning about her family. It was definitely aimed at girls. I feel like it was somehow fantasy but not necessarily with oodles of powers and stuff.
openNo Title Literature
Children's book. I really wish I was making this up but the characters looked like anthropomorphic butts with ugly faces that had creepy grins and they wore chef hats and they were baking something. In a way, they were similar to Krumm from Aah Real Monsters. Basically, they were Cephalothorax that looked like butts with faces.
Edited by CanzetTheCoyote

Three bears story where they flush Goldilocks down the toilet. No, I'm not crazy.