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Scifi and Fantasy Forum: Sci-Fi and Fantasy General Discussions: Wanted:- help finding books from their plots.
Wanted:- help finding books from their plots.
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I would like some help finding the titles of sci-fi books I read many years ago. All I have is the plot of each, see if you know these.
Book One
Set on a planet which is completly covered by big trees. The story is about one of the natives and how he deals with a group of "prospectors" who come to the planet looking for a longevity drug that can be derived from the trees. The natives live in the trees, about half way up, and there is a different eco-system at each height from the ground. There is a tree for everything, including one that can fix metals from the soil, and serves as a lightning conductor for the forest!
Book Two.
A collection of people from various times throughout human history are abducted and kept "somewhere" as an experiment to study humans. There are cavemen, Mongols, and modern man and perhaps others. They are kept in their reserve by a band of freezing fog, so cold that its capable of freezing the tears in their eyes when they try to get through it.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Posted By:  Nautilus Dec 11, 2003 - 04:57 pm |       | The second one sounds a lot like Philip Jose Farmer's To Your Scattered Bodies Go. I think this is the first book for I hadn't gotten around to reading the second.
No clue about the first one. The Intergral Trees(?) by Larry Niven (sp?) keeps coming to my mind but that might not be it.
Hope this helps.
| Posted By: sioux Feb 13, 2004 - 06:49 am | | Hi
Also have the same problem: read a book years ago and for the life of me cannot remember the book title or author:
Plot: The main character has a wolf companion and can walk in the land of dreams. People hire him for this ability to help them interpret their own dreams. The final showdown between the protagonist and the villain happens in the dream world. Can't remember much more.
| Posted By: Aldan Feb 13, 2004 - 09:51 am | | Oh, Naughty, the book title you were unsure of the spelling of was "The Integral Trees" by David Niven (you spelled his name correctly)
they dream thing sounds simmaliar to a movie i whatched called dream scape
| Posted By: Nautilus May 18, 2004 - 06:44 pm | | Bump.
Sorry for the long delay, e.m., but if you're still scratching your head, the plot sounds like a book I recently skimmed called The Runelords by David Farland.
| Posted By: Sleel May 24, 2004 - 06:19 pm | | The trees one sounds like "Midworld" by Alan Dean Foster. The other resembles a scene at the end of "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel" by Robert A. Heinlein, but I don't think that's exactly what you're looking for.
I've got a couple I'd like to find. First book sought is a Transference Fantasy from the mid- to late-80's. The premise for the magic system is that words and phrases have power that is gradually worn off by use. Powerful spells use odd words or words from different languages in interesting ways.
The protagonist is an Advertising Executive, so he is able to create powerful magic by using ad-copy. The first scene I can remember features a young woman using a fire spell to summon a fire-salamander. The ad-exec has a telepathic conversation with the salamander. He has trouble believing in this world at first. At one point, he transforms a butter knife into a useable weapon by saying something like, "Your knife is now NEW and IMPROVED!" Features elves, trolls, swamps, and falling in love with the witch(?) he met in one of the first scenes.
Second book sought is probably one of the first VR/Fantasy Game stories that came out. This also was in the 80's to early 90's. The main character was one of the guys who first programmed the game system and also was one of the highest ranked guys there. He is older, has some kind of medical problem, and is recruited by a beautiful, younger, Russian woman to solve some huge problem with the system.
The system has trapped an important Russian official and several other people in the game. Guy goes in, is revolted by some of the more commercial elements of the new versions of the game (non-functional but sexy chain-mail bikinis on women warriors, when he and his friends originally had realistic armor for the NPC's). Has to retrieve his old swords Crystal Claiborne(?) and a short sword of some kind. He cross-trained in Western fencing and Japanese Kendo to make his own fighting style.
If anyone has read these books and could give me the information, I would really appreciate it.
| Posted By: Hoyden Jul 13, 2004 - 06:51 am | | I am also looking for a book that I read years ago, maybe the mid 70s - what I remember of the plot was that it centered around genetically engineered "workers" who were adapted to do work that normal humans didn't want to do - the workers could not manufacture a particular amino acid and needed supplements to survive - and they were adapted to swim underwater without equipment - the main story was about one who escaped and managed to survive on his own - that sound familiar to anyone?
I too read a book years ago and it was about dreams... main characters were uni students involved in dream tests and they end up in each others dreams and there are bad things that happen to them and they disband the tests and go seperate ways till they need to come together as something has gone wrong....
One part in it sticks to mind as one person talks about reliving a dream... ie. alarm goes off hits it and gets up into a shower etc and suddenly his alarm goes off... repeating over what he thought he had just done...
I thought it was called something like dream scapes it was about the dreams blending into one... as 4 or 5 characters dreams involve each other and they all dream the same dream with their own involvement as in the dream
It was freaky and haunting too - very good read... thought it may have been English? As one charater was Scottish or Irish..
Can anyone help... with the name and author of the book??
thanks in advance
| Posted By: Tech Sep 27, 2004 - 12:28 pm | | I read a fine book many years ago about a war with aliens that colonised earth. The twist is that at the end it was the humans that were the invaders. I always think it was called something like - Light a last Candle. A comment on the nuclear bomb in the book. A fine read I would like to revisit.
| Posted By: Bmat Sep 27, 2004 - 12:45 pm | | http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0853911525/qid=1096317725/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-8904715-2170310?v=glance&s=books
Vincent King: Light a Last Candle
From the descriptions given this could be the book you are looking for. It looks like a good one.
| Posted By: Bmat Sep 27, 2004 - 12:48 pm | | I see that Sleel, Hoyden, and Celticfae are looking for books and have had no responses. Can anyone here help out?
| Posted By: vecours Feb 24, 2005 - 01:09 pm | | looking for three stories
1 time travel,a man goes back in time to hunt dinosaurs but steps off the metal path ,when he comes back every thing is changed , and when the company rep looks down at the hunter's shoe he sees a butterfly
2spacefarer is captured by an alien race and held captive, he makes a wire loop and keeps saying "are you there" he finally escapes
this might have been "four for the future"
from the 60s
3 the man is walking late at night the PTB stop him maybe a dog with him,he also has books, and the PTB arrest him - possible short story
vecours, the first one is "A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury. Awesome story that everyone should read. Unfortunately, the movie looks like something less.
| Posted By: vecours Feb 27, 2005 - 12:51 pm | | thanks gnollslayer
| Posted By: Magus Feb 27, 2005 - 01:26 pm | | I'll have to take a look at that one then...
| Posted By: Pannion Mar 25, 2005 - 12:17 pm | | need to find a book (series)
It was by a famous fantasy sci-fi author, cant remember which one and the plot is set in magical realm where wizards use magic words for their power. the more people that know the words the less powerfull they are. If two people share too many words, I think it is 5 they become a god, anyone know?
| Posted By: Pannion Mar 25, 2005 - 12:23 pm | | Sleel
I can not remember the name of the book but here is some more info on it, maybe jog some memories.
It was funny, very and it used a lot of play on words such as Whodoo that Voodoo the witch, and it is a huge book about 1000 pages. The title was kind of like a Xanth novel a play on words something like a Knight life sorry cant give you specific title
| Posted By: Bmat Mar 25, 2005 - 03:23 pm | | Your description reminds me of Piers Anthony, but I don't remember any of his books being that long or having that type of magic.
| Posted By: vecours Mar 30, 2005 - 07:44 pm | | still waiting on the second two but now a new one
where the planets a stars all had their own contionness
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