Where the Lost Things Are

by Rudy Rucker, Terry Bisson

Thanks to "bluegene", life is long. But out Route 42 near Goshen, it's also kind of dull. Just the thing to encourage an expedition into the only actual other universe, the place where…but that would be telling.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fantasy

32 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 5, 2014

About the author

Rudolf von Bitter Rucker is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and one of the founders of the cyberpunk genre. He is best known for his Ware Tetralogy, the first two of which won Philip K. Dick awards. Presently, Rudy Rucker edits the science fiction webzine Flurb.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The crows are in charge?” asked Jack.

“Maybe,” said Chandler. “Sometimes a crow will swoop down and snack on a slacking stacker or on a loitering sorter. That’s why it’s risky to be idle.”

this is one of those low threes.

review to come.

read it for yourself here:

http://www.tor.com/2014/11/05/where-t...

[Jess ❈Harbinger of Blood-Soaked Rainbows❈ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.
I didn’t hate it the way some friends did, but I can’t say I liked it either. The idea of the story is intriguing....the idea of an alsoverse: another dimension in our space/time continuum that serves as an oversized junkyard full of lost things. It was a little boring and really not all that funny, but I give kudos to the concept. I feel like the authors could have been a bit more creative and not so sciencey (which seems to be a consistent criticism) especially when describing an alternate reality. It read as a bad Peewee Herman story, to be honest. Very unengaging, and I will most likely forget everything about it in an hour, but strangely I didn’t hate it. It is also quite short, which helped, and just quirky enough that I wanted to keep reading. But when I got to the end, I realized how much it lacked substance. I’m not sure these authors are for me.

[Karlyflower *The Vampire Ninja, Luminescent Monster & Wendigo Nerd Goddess of Canada (according to The Hulk)* · Rating 1 out of 5]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!! Review to come....

Author name recognition isn't always a good thing!! Sometimes names stand out to you because you have cursed them, creatively, for.days.on.end!! When reading THIS PILE OF SHIT , earlier this year.



This was terrible! I HATE Rucker's writing style!! It's too scientific and just plain BORING!! There is a DIFFERENCE between science fiction and fictional science, Rucker, LEARN IT!

[Jyanx · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mechanically written, un-engaging, and painfully un-funny.

I think it was trying way to hard to be clever, and fun, and it totally missed the mark for me. One of the most dull stories I've read in a long time.

[Brian Palmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick read, intended-to-be-humorous tall tale, but it just didn't work for me.

[Ron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, but not engaging.

[Gabriela · Rating 1 out of 5]

Silly in the worst way possible, boring and almost painfull in its failure.

[Maki ⌒☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the idea of the alsoverse - that things we misplace actually cross over into the alternate dimension.

(So that's where all of Ellie's pacifiers keep disappearing to!)

This is another case where I liked the concept of a story more than I liked the story itself. Something just fell flat in the execution for me. The writing wasn't terrible - just...kind of bland.

[Vanellope · Rating 2 out of 5]

It just. Made no sense. And it wasn't even interesting. Not the characters, not the plot, maybe some of the concepts, but that's it. It never really felt like they were in any sort of trouble, they just had to sit for 5 minutes until one of them got a brilliant, nonsensical idea that would fix everything. I forgot all the characters already.

Just. At least it was short?

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and fun! Typical Rucker story.

[KillDeer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really hate to call this a book. It is a short story. Took less than an hour to read. It was interesting and the premise was good.

[Ginni · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun and silly little romp! It reminded me in parts of Philip K. Dick and Douglas Adams stories, with just a touch of Fantastic Planet.

[Zaz · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea behind the story was interesting, because we all ask ourselves where are these missing things and who ate one of the socks. A bunch of old people are discussing the topic and make the hypothesis that there is an alternate universe where all the lost things are. And bla bla bla. I didn't find the short story interesting neither really imaginative, and I didn't care about the characters.

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where the Lost Things Are is like a children's novel, but written about seniors and geared towards adults. It was weird, but weird in that unexplained, we don't have to worry much about world building way that children's stories are like, and thus, it didn't work for me. Felt too fantasy for a sci-fi.

[Jeraviz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Otra historia corta interesante publicada por Tor.com. Plantea temas curiosos como, según dice el título, un universo paralelo donde terminan las cosas que se pierden en este.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very neat short story!

[Kimikimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Tor.com short story

Well the premise is interesting, but I don't think I like the narrative voice or tone. Not sure which, but it was neat about the crows.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing but not really my thing. I loved the "Adjunct Emeritus" bit, though.

[Michael X · Rating 2 out of 5]

An enjoyable 5 minute read.

[Peter Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read my Amazon review -

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1TQA4LO...

[Tim Rohr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the alsoverse concept but not a lot of content. Just a fun little story.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely not one of my favorite Tor shorts. I didn't really see the point of the story and it was obviously trying to be funny, but never really succeeded.