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openAPP Book series about Fallen USA Literature
I saw this on this site about 3-4 years ago, but all that I can remember about the series was the fact that each book the protagonist(s) would go up against a different independent Warlord, be they a hacker, religious fundamentalist, corrupt politician or militant military commander (some of them were named on the Complete Monsters page). Despite a previously extensive search on this site as well as posting this very same question on here a few weeks ago, I (semi-)desperately would love to know what this series was called.
Surely someone on here can help a desperate Troper out and know what I’m talking about by giving a name to this series please…?
openShort Stories about aliens Literature
These were two short stories I read in an anthology magazine in school in sixth grade (1996-97).
1) An alien stranded on Earth (IIRC, his spaceship was actually Pluto, but it was on autopilot), and children encountered him in a canyon.
2) Extremely small aliens were encountered by a child in her backyard; she lived just outside Washington D.C.
openBook I read Literature
A teen book with a Mexican girl. Her parents did upholstery, and her dad was named Ernesto.
openOlder Golden Book about packing for the moon? Literature
I grew up with a lot of hand-me-down old-school Golden Books from my mom's generation (so it would have been from probably around the '60s), and I distinctly remember one that was about a boy packing his rocket ship for a trip to the moon. IIRC, the purpose of the book was to teach counting. I'm pretty sure it was one of the iconic G Bs with the fancy spine, and the art style was cartoony, but I cannot for the life of me find it on any list of Golden Books. Does anyone else remember this? Or am I going insane?
openAPP Series about fallen/divided USA Literature
About 2-3 years ago on the Literature page on the Complete Monster trope page, I discovered a book series about a fallen or divided USA where warlords tule with an iron fist. Bits and pieces of the series that I seem to recall include 1) A story which had a hacker as an antagonist and complete monster 2) A warlord and religious leader who was also a complete monster 3) Florida possibly being cut off from the rest of America 4) I think Boston was also mentioned, but to what extent, I have completely forgotten. Please can someone help me locate this book series please, as I’ve looked on most of the relevant pages (including the complete monster page) and have come up blank.
openBook with a Russian boxer Literature
A book (might have been French originally) that features a Russian former boxer who was barred from competitions for accidentally killing someone in the ring and has been ruminating ways to get back for decades.
openTrying to find a childhood book of mine that is a collection of various stories Literature
It's similar to another childhood book I used to own, which is A Soft Pillow for an Armadillo. What I can recall from it is:
- One of the stories featured is "All of Our Noses Are Here" by Alvin Schwartz.
- A poem where a man dunks a bucket of water onto his sleeping wife
- A page showing a few photos of Dalmatians.
It was a hardcover published sometime in the 80s or 90s.
Edited by aldrinejoseph25openCyberpunk work possibly named after drugged-up, near-omnipotent hackers Literature
Somewhere between one and two years ago I was browsing several of the cyberpunk tropes and media on this site, and I stumbled across a work that I can't seem to find again after looking through the possible tropes I can remember. At least, I'm pretty sure it was a singular work; it's possible I could be remembering details from different stories. I could also be misremembering the medium, though I'm fairly certain that it was a novel or other written work.
The main detail I can recall is that the story featured a group of hackers who used a combination of advanced setups (either some mixture of headsets and other peripherals or through implants/brain-computer interfaces) and a cocktail of stimulants to achieve a state of near-omnipotence or clairvoyance, used to aid in their work. I think the name of the hacker collective or the main drug they used was the title of the work, but I can't remember for sure. I also feel like this group wasn't the story's protagonists, that they were side characters or a background part of the setting, but I could be misremembering that.
I've looked through the literature sections of the pages for hacker collective, hacker cave, brain-computer interface, higher understanding through drugs, junkie prophet and mad oracle, and haven't found anything that seems like it could be what I'm thinking of. If anyone has any other tropes that might fit the description I gave, that would also be helpful.
Edit: I should clarify, I don't think it's Minority Report, as I don't remember the description mentioning actual precognitive abilities, just a group of people who had very, very fast reaction times, nor do I remember it mentioning them seeing future crimes.
Edited by The_Empty_ShadowopenA Japanese story/myth about shapeshifting sparrows that lure humans into an inn to kill them Literature
I'm looking for the title of a japanese story/myth about a mysterious "Sparrow's Inn," where shapeshifting birds lure humans in and kill them in their sleep, apparently to eat them.
Does anyone know the title of this story/myth?
openFred's Free Fresh Fish Literature
I remember reading this children's book a long time ago, sometime in the early 2000's or 2010's, where there were these three kids, a boy, a girl, and a tall boy whose main character trait is that "he liked to whittle a little". They went around town and did some funny things with the other townspeople.
One of the stories in this book was where they visited a guy named Fred, who worked at a fish store. Fred put up a sign with the name of the store, which was "Fred's Free Fresh Fish" and asked what the kids thought of it. The three kids laughed and laughed and blew their noses at just how ridiculous this sign was and broke down everything they found amusing about it.
The kids told him things like "You don't need to specify 'Fred's' because you're the only person who works here, so that's redundant." and then "If the fish are free, you don't need to say that because there's no price so you can remove 'Free'." and then "Fresh? Are they not rotten? All fish should be fresh so saying 'fresh' is not a brag." and then "You don't need to specify 'fish' because that's all you sell here."
In the end, Fred ended up painting over all of the words on the sign to the point where his new "sign" was now just a blank white board hanging over his door and the kids walked off, satisfied with the results, while Fred stood by and happily admired his beautiful new sign.
There was also this weird detail I noticed about this, where in every single drawing of the fish store, where you could see all the fish for sale, one of the fish in particular was drawn with its eyes open, implying that it was still alive and in every drawing, his eyes were looking in a different direction. Not sure if that helps but it's all I remember.
openShort story about a husband who killed his wife Literature
I read this story in an anthology and don't know if it's part of something longer or a short standalone. Original language is probably english (I read a translation and don't know if it's a British or an American story)
The story was told by the husband's friend, reminiscing about him. The narrator explains how he always used to be boisterous and a bit uncaring and probe to lose his temper. Then they lost sight of one another and when they met again the man was a shell of his former self. He seemed to have no energy anymore and he never lost his temper - except once when he saw a young boy taunting a girl and making fun of her for scaring easily. The narrator then proceeds to explain this change: he had gone away with his wife (can't remember if it was for a vacation or a job) in another country (probably India but can't remember). He loved his wife but was always making fun of her for scaring easily. At some point he got really annoyed because everything seemed to scare her so he decided to teach her a lesson. He made a model of a fake snake and left it in the living room. At some point he went away leaving his wife alone and closed the door behind him. He heard her screaming and knew she had seen the snake. He let her scream a bit and stopped the servants trying to get in because he wanted her to calm down. His intention was to go back in a while and show her she had been scared of nothing - maybe even laugh about it. His wife stopped screaming and he went in only to find out a real snake had crawled inside and attacked her. He killed the snake but it was too late to save his wife and he knew she could have been saved if he had gone in when she first screamed instead of wasting time being a jerk. Since then he had completely changed as the narrator had noted at the beginning.
openBook with Island and Bomb on the Cover Literature
Hello! When I was a kid in the 90s or very early 2000s, I saw a certain book in a bookstore. I believe it was a book for adults. The cover artwork depicted a “stereotypical” island with a semicircular hill of sand and a palm tree sticking out of it. Now, picture that semicircular island shape and imagine “finishing” the circle by drawing the other, lower half of it. In this case, the artist made the lower half of the circle look like an old-fashioned round black bomb with a fuse on it. Does anyone know the title of the book I saw? I would greatly appreciate any info you can provide!
openDads/Grandmas Memory Literature
Okay, this might be a longshot. In the late 60s/early 70s, my dad used to apparently read a book to my aunt about a rabbit with a backup plan in case anything went wrong. That's all we know, but my grandma would tell the story for years, quoting thebjoke about how "The Rabbit has an contingency plan".
Edited by flamyangelwingsopenBook help Literature
I'm looking for a book series, it's a magical story and has a female protagonist. One of the characters ends up in an averted Beauty is Never Tarnished situation, but I can't remember the name, can anybody tell it to me.
openLooking for a manga i read in high school Literature
it was about this guy whos sister is in some coma and he learns its because of the ring she has on which turns out to be one of many cursed rings that infect the wearer when put on or something like a parasite. it takes place in the modern day and i dont think it was post apocalyptic. there was a scene of the mc trying to fight off gangsters or something that he or his comatose sister owed money i think?
openPlay with specific line about God asleep Literature
I once found a play that had a line by a character than went like this:
"Once God fell asleep, and Gorm was born."
Gorm not being the right name of the character, since I cannot really remember; the actual name was just something in that direction.
The plot, as I can recall it, was something about this Gorm being a bad person (maybe some bandit or lord?). There are two other characters at least, who are "good", but don't know what they did besides commiserate. Gorm possibly repents at the end of the play, but I might just be making that up.
It was probably already in the public domain, since I could access it fairly easily. I thought it might be Chesterton, but it does not seem to be the case; there might be some Christian association with it though.
openAny idea what book/film The Amazing Digital Circus is referencing? Literature
So, in episode 5 of The Amazing Digital Circus, a character presents three scenarios for a story. Two of them are clearly Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and A Boy and His Dog. Books with well known film adaptations.
But one of them is "One where a sentient cardiovascular system goes to war with the United States military". Anyone have any idea what that could be referencing?
openAPP Witness Protection Book where the protector turns out to be a Mafioso? Literature
I read this book a few years ago, where a girl's parents were murdered by the Mafia or a group like them. The daughter goes into what she thinks is the Witness Protection Program, and the guy she lives with (her handler) moves her around the country. It turns out he's actually part of the Mafia, it was his job to kill her, but he couldn't do it and now he's hiding her from his family.
I think it was YA, but I'm not sure. It's not "The Girl She Used To Be".
openBook about fantasy world with a light based power system Literature
The book is about a tower in a dark world and the inhabitants use light magic and it is ranked according to the light spectrum (with red being the lowest). They also have shadows they can control.

When I was at primary school in England, sometime between 1995-2000, I read a book which was about 3 animals going on a trip / picnic. There was a running joke where they kept mentioning iced tea. I think in one part of the book, they rescue two other animals (maybe badgers?) from an island in the middle of a lake. I’ve tried to find this multiple times over the years but not been able to find it.