QUINT@RUTGERS.ARPA (05/22/85)
From: Anne Marie Quint {/amqueue} <quint@RUTGERS.ARPA>
hello, ye of eidetic memories. Im looking for a story, probably
a short story, of which I only remember the last scene (I think it is
the last scene...). What I remember is:
Our hero, after facing many problems and dangers, finally confronts
the Ultimate Being whom he feels is the source of all these problems. The
being is chortling about 'his toys', and at a distance we can see all the
people in the world dancing on puppet strings which this being controls.
Then, our hero notices something.... strings leading from this Ultimate
Beings limbs upward into darkness.
This irony, while perhaps obvious, has stayed with me a long time.
Since I have been reading almost exclusively sf for quite a long time
(no flames about my lack of culture, please), I am fairly sure it is an
sf story, although it is possible that I am wrong. Any takers?
have fun
/amqueue
-------wildbill@ucbvax.ARPA (William J. Laubenheimer) (05/23/85)
> Our hero, after facing many problems and dangers, finally confronts >the Ultimate Being whom he feels is the source of all these problems. The >being is chortling about 'his toys', and at a distance we can see all the >people in the world dancing on puppet strings which this being controls. >Then, our hero notices something.... strings leading from this Ultimate >Beings limbs upward into darkness. >/amqueue This sounds to me as though it might come from Alfred Bester's long novelette, "Hell Is Forever". The story comes in a number of segments, each of which concerns itself with one of the principals. One character seeks the Ultimate Truth, and is sent to Hell as being the place where he is most likely to find it. The segment's conclusion depicts a reasonable facsimile to the scene which you have described. My copy of this story is in the Bester collection, \\The Light Fantastic// (Berkley/Putnam, 1976). Bill Laubenheimer ----------------------------------------UC-Berkeley Computer Science ...Killjoy went that-a-way---> ucbvax!wildbill
SEB%CRNLNS.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA (06/26/85)
From: SEB%CRNLNS.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA >Date: Sat, 22 Jun 85 19:38:40 EDT >From: Nick Simicich <NJS.YKTVMX%ibm-sj.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa> >Subject: Story title request. > >A friend of mine is looking for a book title. Perhaps you can help: > >Thought I'd ask all you SciFi nuts about a book I've been trying to >(re)find for years. I could swear the word 'belt' or 'timebelt' was >used someplace in the title. The story is about a guy who got a belt >for his birthday from a relative. The belt is supposed to allow him >to travel in time.... Your friend needs a little education: the term is "skiffy". The book is _The_Man_Who_Folded_Himself_ by David Gerrold, originally published by Doubleday, and also distributed by the SFBC. I don't know who published it in paperback. Selden Ball BITNET: SEB@CRNLNS ARPA: SEB%CRNLNS.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA
keesan@bbncci (06/26/85)
From: "Morris M. Keesan" <keesan@bbncci.ARPA> The book about the guy with the time travel belt sounds a lot like THE MAN WHO FOLDED HIMSELF by David Gerrold.
Alfke.PASA@Xerox.ARPA (06/26/85)
From: Alfke.PASA@Xerox.ARPA Nick Simicich writes: > The story is about a guy who got a belt > for his birthday from a relative. The belt is supposed to allow him > to travel in time... he starts running into 'himself' all over the place - > as an old man, middle-aged... He must keep reaching farther and > farther back into time to 'undo' things he does on each trip... and > can never be sure whether another 'him' has been there already. Can > anyone recall such a story and the title and/or author? This is "The Man Who Folded Himself" by David Gerrold. It was published sometime in the early 70's, but I think it's out of print by now. (If it's not, someone please tell me! I'd love to own a copy.) --Peter Alfke alfke.pasa@xerox
mouse@uw-beaver.arpa (07/02/85)
From: utcsri!mcgill-vision!mcgill-vision!mouse@uw-beaver.arpa (der Mouse) > A friend of mine is looking for a book title. Perhaps you can help: > > Thought I'd ask all you SciFi [sic] nuts about a book I've been trying to > (re)find for years. I could swear the word 'belt' or 'timebelt' was > used someplace in the title. The story is about a guy who got a belt > for his birthday from a relative. The belt is supposed to allow him > to travel in time... While putting on the belt and doubtfully > looking it over, he gets a knock on his door. He opens the door to > find 'himself' - who tells him that he'll understand later, comes in > and grabs something and leaves. So the guy decides to set the belt > back a few hours and try it out... he ends up back in time by a few > hours. Somewhere along the line he must go back to his apartment. > He comes up to the door, hears someone inside, and it dawns on him. > etc.... This sounds an awful lot like "The Man who Folded Himself", by David Gerrold (I don't know whether this is the same David Gerrold who did "The Trouble with Tribbles" for Star Trek). My copy is a continent away (I didn't care much for it after the first couple of readings), so I can't tell much more about it. der Mouse {ihnp4,decvax,ubc-vision}!utcsri!mcgill-vision!mouse