I cannot remember much about this novel (series of novels?) but: The earth is overpopulated. Everyone has to go into suspended animation, and we all take turns living, I think one quarter of humanity for a day at a time. At the end of the 24 hours, that group goes back into the chambers, and the next group comes out. The groups' realities do not intersect and they experience completely separate lives in different societies.  As you can expect, some people decide to live continuously, in effect living two lives.  So, what's it called?
80438
This story is about a man that is able to live every day of the week, while everybody else has a single day of wakefulness assigned to them. Due to overpopulation, each human spends 6 out of 7 days of the week in stasis, and has jobs assigned to them in daily shifts. 1/7 of the population works on Monday. 1/7 works on Tuesday, &amp; so on. The main character has found away to circumvent the process and illegally live out his days consecutively by skipping the stasis program that is imposed on the general population and by working a different job everyday. Can somebody name this scifi story?
19180
I'm trying to track down the title/author of a novel I read some time back.  I read the novel sometime between 1998 and 2004; not sure when it was printed.  The novel itself I originally found in the YA section at my local library.  The setting of the novel is an interstellar generation ship outbound from earth, several generations into the journey.  The plot loosely runs something like this - Several students undergoing what should have been ordinary virtual reality training at school suddenly instead find themselves inside a completely unfamiliar scenario (one which resembles the stereotypical 'you all meet in a bar' RPG intro).  As time goes on, not only are the students drawn back into the 'game' simulation, but they actually begin to disappear from the ship itself - they discover that, in order for everything to go back to normal, they have to win the game.  The whole thing was revealed, in the end, to be the result of a set of embedded programs in the ship's master computer, if I recall correctly, with the programs having been placed there by a programmer who realized that the inhabitants of the ship were effectively breeding the spark of creativity and imagination out of themselves.  Said programmer had taken it on herself to leave them a legacy that would ensure that, by the time they got where they were going, that all-important spark wouldn't have died completely away.  Any suggestions?
82646
I'm sure it was a book, but it could have been a film, or even a video-game plot element. Apologize if I've mixed up any facts – I don't think I've come across this again in the last 20 years!  I read this "book" a long time ago, and a small part of the story refers to the Earth being visited by aliens, who (IIRC) told us that they were disappointed in how we had progressed as a species, and gave humanity the chance to repair their culture…  I believe, they left the Earth and came back after a time to be told that humanity had worked hard and had now declared a full and lasting world-peace and equality. However, the aliens wanted the opposite, they wanted us to be even more vicious to be used as soldiers or something along those lines.  I believe that they then promptly destroyed either the planet or the species!
11461
I'm looking for the name and author of a novel (or possibly novella). I first read this in the seventies, and might be older than that. It might have been written for teenagers.  The story takes place on a planet inhabited by a primitive humanoid race, roughly stone age if I remember rightly. Visiting this planet is a small team from a more advanced race, also humanoid and with spacefaring technology (obviously!). They are either there to help or observe, no nefarious purposes. I think they are avoiding contact with the primitives, at least initially. It's explicitly mentioned that the planet they are visiting is the third one of a medium sized star, just like their own homeworld. Also orbiting round the planet is an even more advanced race, using high tech to remain hidden from both the others. They are observing the whole situation, and again its mentioned that this is a 'third planet', like their own homeworld.  I'm a little bit hazy on the rest of the plot, but I think the super-advanced race end up revealing themselves, even though they are not supposed to.  The story is told from the viewpoints of both the second and third races (maybe also the first, I forget)  EDIT: For the record it turns out my recollection was faulty, and the second race are indeed coming to the planet for nefarious purposes. And the planet is at the medieval stage, not stone age.
57146
This is something I heard mentioned in passing several (around five?) years ago, so I haven't read the book, nor have I watched the movie.  I think I heard about the movie, but I believe it's based on a book.  It's really more horror than sci-fi/fantasy, but I guess it could qualify for some sci-fi/fantasy sub-genres...  In retrospect, I've thought that what I remember is a lot like "The Hunger Games" and that I may have heard early talks about the film adaptation, but I don't really think so...  Some (young?) teens have been abducted and placed on an island (or somewhere else remote and isolated). (I assume) Only one of them will be allowed to leave, so they'll have to fight and kill each other. To prevent them from co-operating - or hatching a plan to escape - they've all been collared with something akin to shock-collars that will shock them (and possibly kill them) if they spend too much time in proximity to each other.  I believe it's somewhat Saw-like.
95208
I read a novel where several enemy alien species were stranded together on an interdicted planet.  They had to recycle everything and keep hidden. By "keep hidden" I mean make sure there is no evidence of their presence visible from space. They recycled everything and lived in camouflaged dwellings.  The younger generation was building a mixed culture community until the older home species showed up.  One of the alien races had a body made of rings or donuts of gases that mixed to express itself. Members of this species could be taken over and controlled by rings transferred from another member of the species.  The book may be 20 years old or more.
115567
The protagonist is the youngest person on Earth -- the only one to be born in many centuries. Terrestrial society is small but every individual is unique and multitalented, as they are all immortal and have lived for centuries. They live in flying habitats.  No one knows how to raise children anymore; the protagonist wears diapers into adulthood because he was never potty-trained, and his education was haphazard. Consequently, he is quite lost in this advanced society, and only tolerated by the sophisticates around him.   When the Earth is invaded, the immortals put up only a show of a fight, arriving at the scene of battle in a colorful flotilla of unarmed flying habitats. To the horror of the protagonist, they are wiped out by the invaders. He realizes that the immortals were weary of life and welcomed this end.   This is probably a novel, though it might be a novella. It was written in English and I read it probably in the 1970s or 1980s.
63542
This was a 'young-adult' SF novel I read in the late 1970's, about the same time I was reading Voorloper by Andre Norton, Madeleine L'engle's Wrinkle In Time books and the Dragonfall 5 young adult novels. so I am not sure if it is actually one of the Dragonfall 5 stories, but I can't confirm it is or isn't by reading available synposes online.   As I recall, the story went something like this...    * SOME SPOILERS BELOW *  A young person and sibling - I think female protag and younger brother, but not sure - is scheduled to visit their aunt and uncle on another planet but to make the voyage in a timely fashion, must utilize this new consciousness transference technology to transmit their consciousness across the cosmos to a host replica body at the destination. After arriving at the destination the protagonist is impressed by their new body and is aware of the only way to tell they are in a replicant body is a small seam, scar or patch on their back, I think near the top of their spine, just below the collar of whatever clothing they wore.  The mystery begins when the protagonist realizes their hosts also sport the same scar when they should legitimately be in their real bodies.  The plot thickens when the protag or sibling finds a room of people in stasis when their replicant counterparts are roaming the same planet, and is subsequently caught in the act.  Sadly, I do not remember anything else, including the reasoning behind the deception.  I was quite young when I read this novel, so I probably got some of the details mixed up, but would love to know the name and author of the novel if anyone remembers.
72248
I remember very little but enough... I know that there were 3 worlds, a real one, a mid-world kind of with a teleporter, and the world with all the creatures. The first episode was in the desert and there was a good monster that saved the main guys from a bad one. Before he saved them he said every end is a beginning and every beginning is an end.   Please help me; I've tried everything. I saw it on , I think it was not Japanese. I live in Croatia, so I saw it there. It was aimed at kids, but not younger kids. The main characters were human, around 15 years old. The teleporter was in the middle of a big structure. It was a 6 piece tp, so every circle was one, and it was shaped like a star. There were robots working there; they carried food and other things.  I remember that all the creatures thought that the humans are evil, all but the one, the "lord" of all of them. And yes, the main character got to the world by some sort of a device that he found and it belonged to another kid who lost it and they were able to transform in the creatures from the world by it. When they are in the "other world", their body stays in the real world and acts normally but their soul gets transported to the mid-world
3874
I read this about 30/40 years ago. I don't remember if it was a short story or book.  What I remember of it :   Some aliens arrive at earth; they don't find any living humans, just empty cities. They go to one museum and revive an Egyptian mummy. When it's alive, it keeps asking where his servants are. They don't get any information from the mummy so they kill him again. Later on they revive another human, who turns out to be more intelligent than the aliens.   I don't remember much of what happened from this point on, except:   In the end the human starts to revive other humans.   Some one can tell me what story, name of book.
37010
Can someone remind me of the name of the author, the name of the hero and the name of the series if any? Adventure Sci-Fi books, short by today's epic standards ( = about same length as Heinlein's shorter youth books), probably published late 50s?, early 60s? by Bantam? or Del Rey? I think at least 30, possibly more than 40 books in the series. Not comic books. The author is not a well-known writer. At least, I don't remember seeing the name on any other books, ever.   Subject: a man who can move and respond to threats extremely fast learns about a secret potion that allows a person to change bodies with someone else and thus control them. A powerful organization does not want the secret to be known, because they use the potion to control politicians on many planets. The organization's goons are people who had surgeries to remove their emotions, and function like organic computers. They can communicate over interstellar distances and follow and murder anyone who learns the secret. I remember the following detail about the potion: there are two nearly identical molecules that have to be assembled in a certain sequence. Two of the components had to be switched around and that determined who would be dominant and who would be controlled during the mind switch / body swap.   Every book finds the hero on another planet with new adventures, and usually taking another deep-sleep-passage to another world, fleeing his pursuers. The background story about the secret potion is dished out little by little in each book.  One book in the series starts like this: hero is on very hot planet, diving for valuable marine life, catches a deadly fungus disease and is rescued last moment in exchange for his catch...  One of the themes that returns often is that the hero is an excellent knife fighter.  Of course he's a womanizer. In the second (or close to 2nd) book in the series, he's involved with a woman who rules a planet.  To travel to another world, he usually takes the cheapest dead-sleep passage, and there's always a 10-25% risk you won't wake up from that.
48717
Read a story once about earth being abandoned for long periods of time. Upon the return of man to earth all life forms, flora and fauna, have evolved into intricate electronic forms of themselves.   Would like to find that story and it's name.
81091
About twenty years ago, I read a sci-fi novel where, if I recall correctly:   The protagonist is a guy, and probably a teenager or a young adult. Like most of humanity, he lives on land; but he's visiting an undersea colony (one of many?), and that's where most of the action takes place. He gets to know a girl there about the same age; maybe he's staying with her family for some reason? (Maybe they're relatives of his?) The girl had an older brother ("Ian", maybe?), but he died. He goes out of the city (i.e., goes for a dive) at some point, and gets in trouble, but is mysteriously rescued. He learns about an underground separatist movement of some sort. (I don't remember the details.) He eventually discovers that:       Ian is actually alive, and his family (or at least his sister) is still in touch with him; but they're covering up the fact that he's joined this separatist movement, and (like some other separatists) has modified his body to have gills so he can live out in the ocean.      Ian is actually who rescued him mysteriously.     I would guess, in retrospect, that the novel is from the 70s or so; but I don't really know.  I read the novel in English, and I don't think it was a translation.
118423
There will be heavy spoilers in my question. The plot is that a band of humans have been genetically engineered to be telepathic. Unfortunately, the engineered humans made the rest of humanity nervous, and were banished to an alien colony.  The colony does okay, despite hostile but low-tech aliens. However, things in the city begin to slowly deteriorate. Aliens suddenly appear 'out of nowhere', with the citizens discovering holes in the city walls that were clearly not new, but which the aliens are now using to infiltrate the city.  The protagonist also notes that while the telepathy trait would be expected to show up in 75% of offspring (25% having dual non-dominant genes), the actual births show almost no non-telepaths.  The story concludes by discovering that the non-telepaths notice things which the telepaths can't, because they're not being telepathically urged to ignore things (broken walls, aliens walking in their midst) which don't fit the narrative of the rest of city. In short, the normal humans see the world how it is because they're not burdened by the expectations of the whole city drowning out what their own eyes are telling them.  Any ideas what this is?
90952
I read a book once where an agent of a futuristic multi-planet government was sent on a mission, and in doing so, used a machine to impress copies of his mind on other people to send them. I remember no names, of people or locations, but I can describe what I do remember. The place the copies of this man were sent was a planetary system that was used as a prison. The planets were used as a prison because of a unique type of bacteria or virus that lived there. Whenever that bacteria would go too far from the planet, it'd die, and take any organism that it was inside with it. There were 4 planets in the system, and copies of this man were sent to each one. Each planet granted the copy one &quot;power&quot;, unique to the planet, through the bacterium.  In one world the bacteria would break down everything man-made remarkably quick, but some people could control them enough to stop, and even create things for you. Another gave people the ability to swap minds during sleep, waaking up into a different body altogether. A third gave the man &quot;adaptive DNA&quot;, so to speak. He subconsciously would change his DNA to match the environment, which could've meant a sex change, if he lived in an all-male environment. And sadly, I dont remember the 4th well at all. I just know someone became a dragon at some point, and that someone was blind.  Anyway, I read this book at my high school library. That copy was a plain brown cover, no title or anything, and although the name was inside, I have forgotten it. I have forgotten it and the author and  all the unique names to search for, and all my searching for the things in this description have yielded nothing. If anyone knows this book, please tell me its name, or anything that could lead to me finding this book again.
22220
I read this book at least ten years ago.  Any help identifying it would be appreciated.  Characters are teleported to an artificial world where each take over the mind of a different species.  I remember a moving sentient plant, a faun-like character, and a wasp-like character.  The planet is subdivided into different zones designed for each species.  One of the characters had long sharp fingernails with poison in them.  Thanks for any help, steve
68722
This novel is about a character who jumps back in time to relive his life.  It's called “replayer” or something like that but Google didn’t help with the variations I tried.  He’s in his office talking on his phone to his wife, and she is saying “We have to…” and he feels like he has a heart attack, and wakes up in a “very messy room” which he quickly discovers is his young self.  Each time his life ends at the exact same date and time, but each jump is not as far back.  He meets another replayer and they have a love spanning many lifetimes. He (as a rich hermit) first notices her because of a movie she made.  to try and find others, they posted a newpaper ad with the “remember when” theme, listing slogans from the future.  A few replied with wrong ideas about what the ad was concerning.  One replied with proof of his own, adding Tylonol Scare and Princess Di to the list.  They knew which stocks to but for long-term investment, simply from remembering brand names in the future.  Investment consultants were the cover they used when visiting the other guy they had found (who was in an institution for the criminally insane, BTW).  What novel is this?