What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
► UNSOLVED: One specific book
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SciFi Anthology. Short Story about an Alien sending a Human on a Quest for the Holy Grail? Read in 1980s. Spoiler ahead.
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Bump for the post-Thanksgiving crowd?
Monthly bump. I'm holding out hope that someone will know what it is.
Definitely keep bumping monthly!! We get new members all the time and members who come in infrequently. Good luck!
Oops, I forgot to bump in March. But hey, it's a new month. Anybody? :)It's an anthology, probably one from the 80's (or maybe earlier), with a story about a grail. It's probably something like a "Best Sci Fi of" type thing.
Cheers.
Throwing this out for you, but I can't seem to get details on the content: Tom Purdom wrote a story called "The Holy Grail" that was anthologized in star science fiction #6. Also, in Writers of the Future Volume 12, there's a story called "Grail's end" by Callan Primer.Maybe someone could give more information on these.
Thanks, I'll see if I can get more info on either of those.
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A little late for the monthly bump. Maybe does anybody have an idea of how best to search for anthologies and summaries of items in anthologies?
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I missed my June bump but am here for the July bump. I must confess, I've had very little time to look over the last month/month and a half, thanks to work insanity. Thanks again. :)
Quarterly bump! Anybody have any resources to look through science fiction anthologies? Or to find lists of anthologies?Or better yet, does anybody know what the book is or the story is? :)
There is the The Internet Speculative Fiction Database:http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi
You might get some help at
http://greatsfandf.com/
or
http://classics.jameswallaceharris.co...
Here is the GR page with all the "Year's Best SF" collections edited by Gardner R. Dozois. The first one was published in 1984.
http://www.goodreads.com/series/49258...
Terry Carr edited a lot of 'Best of' anthologies. Here's a link to one set that starts in 1972, but there are others.
http://www.goodreads.com/series/76039...
Most of these have their stories & authors listed.
I don't think I've read this story & I've read hundreds, but there are millions out there. Good luck & please let us know if you find it. I'm interested.
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I am though I've all but given up hope of finding it.The suggestions here have been good ideas that added to my reading list but haven't found it. :(
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I know. It's been a very bad year with my health. I'll be more diligent.
Semi-regular bump! Anybody new recognize this? :D
Seems like every scifi/fant author does a damn grail story. So tired of them.Did see one (I'd really have to go digging to find it), but I think it's human ruler (from early medieval who got yanked at that time to alien civilization) who is told grail exists on a faraway planet, and sends knights to go get it (view spoiler) - not a freezer full of corpsicles.
Quarterly bump. :)I like the sound of the book that Justanotherbiblophile has mentioned, but it doesn't sound quite like the one I'm looking for. ;)
Was that a request for me to figure out the title of the book I was talking about?
Not specifically, but if you happen to figure it out, please let me know! :)
Sounds like Zelazny, maybe. I know he did The Last Defender of Camelot, and I don't think that's the one you're looking for, but he might have written another grail story.Back when I was gorging on Zelazny, I was doing the same with Fred Saberhagen and Harlan Ellison too, so they may be worth checking out.
Quarterly bump!! Any new faces recognize this story?
Mod
Yes but I'm convinced we won't find it. And I lost the link to bump it. It's ok to move this elsewhere.
Don't give up. I think our current record is about 7 years, so it's still possible.
terpkristin wrote: "Yes but I'm convinced we won't find it. And I lost the link to bump it."How did you answer?
For it to show up here, how do you not need the link? This is an honest question, I am confused.
Just to be sure, for me the link to this discussion is:
maybe save this link?.
You click it and write a comment, then this is a bump. If this is not the case, please advise or explain, as I used this group that way.
Ingo wrote: "terpkristin wrote: "Yes but I'm convinced we won't find it. And I lost the link to bump it."How did you answer?
For it to show up here, how do you not need the link? This is an honest question, ..."
I had to refresh my computer and forgot to backup the bookmarks I had where I linked to this one directly. I found it again because GR sent me an email when the thread got replied to.
terpkristin wrote: I found it again because GR sent me an email when the thread got replied to. Ok, but you do not have to give up, now that you found it again.
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Yep though I forgot to bump the thread. I’ve lost hope hahahaha
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Worldcat.org - Table of contents:
"The question of the Grail / Jane Yolen
The cup and the cauldron / Mercedes Lackey
The which overfloweth / Andre Norton
Chalice of tears, or I didn't want that damm Grail anyway / Marion Zimmer Bradley
The feast and the Fisher King / Diana L. Paxon
The gift of Gilthaliad / Brad Strickland
Curse of the Romany / Ilona Ouspenskaya
Dagda / James S. Dorr
The sailor who sailed after the sun / Gene Wolfe
Water / Lee Hoffman
What you see ... / Alan Dean Foster
Storyville, Tennessee / Richard Gilliam
Somewhere in her dying heart / Lisa Lepovetsky
Hell-bent for leather / Jeremiah E. Phipps
Atlantis / Orson Scott Card
Invisible bars / Dean Wesley Smith
That way lies Camelot / Janny Wurts
Hitchiking across an ancient sea / Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Visions / Lawrence Watt-Evans
The awful truth in Arthur's barrow / Lionel Fenn
Reunion / Brian M. Thomsen
Quest now / Margo Skinner
Chivalry / Neil Gaiman
Falling to the edge of the end of the world / Bruce D. Arthurs
Greggie's cup / Rick Wilber
The Grail legend: an afterword / Fritz Leiber"
https://www.worldcat.org/title/607561758
Source: Wikipedia reference - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Gr...
Hmm let me check that out, thanks for the tip! Stay tuned!
My friend looked and this wasn’t it (it’s too late) but he now has an interesting OTHER book to read! :)He also said, “ I recall the soft back cover art being an image of a large dark spacecraft. could be wrong though. I did a search of the cover art a few months ago on a whim, but came up empty.“
What's the Name of That Book???
Books mentioned in this topic
Grails: Quests of the Dawn (other topics)The Last Defender of Camelot (other topics)
Future Quest (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Richard Gilliam (other topics)Gardner Dozois (other topics)
Terry Carr (other topics)
The story that stuck out for him, that he remembered most, was a story that may have actually been called "The Grail." A man is sent to find the Holy Grail by an alien ruler. The alien is intrigued by the Holy Grail and its power to grant immortality. In this far future setting, there are few humans. The few who still exist are scattered about and under the domination of other aliens. After a long journey, the man finds Earth (its location had been lost) and the Holy Grail, but it is not what he expects.
The Holy Grail turns out to be a huge facility containing some tens of thousands of humans in cryogenic stasis. The man finds an activation panel with instructions stating that these people were not to be revived until 50,000 years had passed. Humanity had prepared for some great defeat in the past and these sleeping humans were to be the seeds of a future human resurgence.
I've also posted this in the Sword and Laser thread, and it's also been posted on Reddit. So far, no luck. Actually, one of the Reddit users found another person looking for the same book and since their description was better than my original description, I used that one.
Also, the Reddit poster suggested Future Quest, though that book appears to be out of print and hard to find. I've asked my friend if that was it, though. Any help is greatly appreciated.