Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion
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Please help finding a Sci-Fi Story!
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i dont recall the story, but it totaly sounds like something Fredrick Brown would write...he was the master of the short-short story with a O. Henrey twist
That does sound familiar, but I can't recall it either. If no one else can, try the group here on GR that specializes in that here:http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1...
Just read the submission guidelines. They're super good & helpful.
And please let us know if you do find out which story it is. I'd like to read it.
i have a two volume set of all of Brown's sf....ill look tonight and see if i can find it
Spooky, please do take a look and let us know if you can find it in Brown's collection. Thank you!Jim, thanks for the link. I will check that out as well. And I will definitely post it here should I find it.
Guys, I did find it!It's a short story titled "The Exile" by Edmond Hamilton, found in the following collection of his.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55...
i had that book as a kid...good one!!
I would greately appreciate any sort of help you can give me on finding a sci-fi short story I've read long ago and since forgotten the title or the author. I'm originally from Sri Lanka, and I read a Sinhala (my mother tongue) translation of this story when I was a kid, at least 15 years ago. I can give you a brief description of the story as I remember and a few additional clues, so it would be great if you can tell me the story or at least point me in the right direction. I've been trying to find this one on the web for quite a some time to no avail.
Here goes.
1. I read it at least 15 years ago, so the story has to be that much old at a minimum. (Stating the obvious, duh)
2. It was a short story and was printed on a one full page of a tabloid-size newspaper, though in Sinhala. Would be about the same size in English.
3. I have a vague feeling that the original was in English, but don't count on it.
Following is the story in brief.
The setting is a local pub or some such intimate joint friends gather for a drink. One evening few friends (four if I remember correctly) gather there for a drink, all of whom are sci-fi writers by profession. They talk about their profession, writing sci-fi, and their approch to it and all. The main character is the quietest person in the circle so the others ask him to chip in and tell them something interesting.
So he recounts something strange happened to him while he was writing his stories. He had tried to imagine a complete different world to this, as a base for his latest work. He had thought aboutt it very thoroughly, down to the tiniest details, the social and cultural aspects of it's people, it's history, so on and so forth. But then strangely, while writing, he felt like he was somehow able to go back and forth between these two world, the real and the imaginary. It happened involuntarily, out of his control. But it wasn't like he just appeared in his imaginary world out of thin air. By him imagining this world thoroughly, he had already created history of himself as well. As in, in the imaginary world too he has his own family, friends, a family history, all that. He's just part of it.
Now that he had started to spend a lot of his time in this imaginary world of his, he needed a way of living, and got to do what he does best; writing sci-fi. And as an easy way out, he started writing about his real world which was much more advanced; it helped that he had created his imaginary world much more primitive to this. But he later often came to rue it too, for the cruelty, unjustice and suffering in this imaginary world was much more compared to the real world, and had he knows that he'd spend such an awful lot of time there he would have made it a better place.
He doesn't have an explanation to how he's able to go back and forth between worlds, but the best guess is the new nuclear power plant close to his house. Perhaps somehow it elevated/accelerated his brain activity and made this imaginary world real in a sense. But then of late things had gotten worse and he had to really try hard to get back to the real world if not almost impossible. He was spending almost entire time of his in the imaginary world. Finally he was trapped in his own creation.
After he recounts this story, a silence falls, and then one guy asks, "so how did you get back?".
He replies: "I didn't, I'm still here."
I suppose you'll agree that this is a brilliant story which is why I think made such an impression on me. Unfortunately I've forgotten the name of the story or the author. It would be great if you could give me any clues.
Thanks in advance!