wildbill@ucbvax.ARPA (William J. Laubenheimer) (01/17/85)
> From: Alvin Wong <RAOUL@JPL-VLSI.ARPA> > A friend of mine here is looking for a short story that was > published in Analog some time ago. He doesn't know the title or author > but has described the main gist of the plot to me which follows : > The main character repeatly gets drunk and suffers from blackouts. > During his blackout periods he manages to invent machines. When he > recovers from these blackouts he doesn't remember inventing the machines > and spends his sober periods trying to find out what they do. All the > machines serve some useful purpose and sometimes the inventor almost > kills himself while trying to discover it. He also makes acquaintances > during his blackouts and doesn't remember them either when sober. > There is some comic relief as the main character pretends he remembers > everything. > Any suggestions and/or pointers would be welcomed. Your friend may be thinking of "The Proud Robot" by Henry Kuttner. I guess you could say that it was published in \\Analog//, in much the same manner that my copy of \\What Mad Universe// (a story written in a 1954 time frame) has the protagonist suggesting that his girlfriend meet him at "Kennedy Airport" instead of Idlewild. Anyway, back to "The Proud Robot". Original publication was in 1943 in \\Astounding Science Fiction//. My reference is \\The Best of Henry Kuttner// (Ballantine, 1975), and I believe I have seen it in a couple of other places as well. The protagonist, Gallegher, is an inventor who can only work while he's bombed out of his skull. During his latest binge he invented a robot who is not only proud, but unswervingly egotistical and disobedient. Gallegher is threatened with financial ruin unless he can get the robot, who may have the solution to his problems, back on track... Another offbeat story by a man who wrote lots of them. Bill Laubenheimer ----------------------------------------UC-Berkeley Computer Science ...Killjoy went that-a-way---> ucbvax!wildbill
rcb@rti-sel.UUCP (Randy Buckland) (01/17/85)
> > The main character repeatly gets drunk and suffers from blackouts. > > During his blackout periods he manages to invent machines. > > Your friend may be thinking of "The Proud Robot" by Henry Kuttner. I don't think that is it. I remember the story as being about an inventor who during his last blackout made a machine that eats dirt through a hose and produces an almost invisible clear cable. He had three contract: excavate a lot without disturbing the surrounding area and not trucking off a lot of dirt. make a manual control system wire that would not wear and break with a lot of usage and bending. make a 3-d television system. the machine does all 3. it eats the dirt and produces the cable that is much lower in volume and weight than the dirt for problem 1. the cable is monomolecular and so will not break from repeated twisting. (#2 taken care of) And the optical properties of the cable will make for a perfect 3-d system. (#3 taken care of) Unfortunately, I don't remember the author or title either. Randy Buckland Research Triangle Institute ...!mcnc!rti-sel!rcb
ted@usceast.UUCP (Ted Nolan) (01/18/85)
<Ghalleger invented Usenet - now he's trying to figure out what it's for>
Regarding the drunk inventor query - yes it was Henry Kuttner's (and possibly
C L Moore's) Ghalleger (sp?). However, it would be hard to pin down the
story as some people have tried, because there were several Ghalleger
stories, enough for a book in fact. At least some of the stories did appear
in Astounding (before it became Analog). The book was called
_Robots_Have_No_Tails and might be credited to Lewis Padgett (one of Kuttner
and Moore's many pseudonyms); I haven't seen in in print lately, but it
makes for nice light reading if you can find it. If you can't, then I
two of the Ghalleger stories ("The Proud Robot" and "Time Locker" (where
Kuttner renders the name wrong ) )are in the classic _Adventures_in_Time_and_
Space_ anthology (McComas & Healy eds) which should be available at any
decent library (you should really get a copy yourself for that matter ,
imagine being able to put together an anthology before the field was picked
clean).
Ted Nolan ..usceast!ted
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ted Nolan ...decvax!mcnc!ncsu!ncrcae!usceast!ted
6536 Brookside Circle ...akgua!usceast!ted
Columbia, SC 29206
("Deep space is my dwelling place, the stars my destination")
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------red@ukma.UUCP (Red Varth) (01/23/85)
Ummmm, I think it was at least written by Lewis Padgett. He wrote a number of stories about an inventor that made some wacky things when he got drunk. Among other things he invented was a "time locker". Very strange tale. Hope this helps, Red
bsa@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon Allbery (the tame hacker on the North Coast)) (01/24/85)
> Article <70@rti-sel.UUCP>, from rcb@rti-sel.UUCP (Randy Buckland) +---------------- | > > The main character repeatly gets drunk and suffers from blackouts. | > > During his blackout periods he manages to invent machines. | > | > Your friend may be thinking of "The Proud Robot" by Henry Kuttner. | | I don't think that is it. I remember the story as being about an inventor | who during his last blackout made a machine that eats dirt through a hose | and produces an almost invisible clear cable. He had three contract: Sounds like another of Kuttner's "Gallegher Plus" stories. The only one I've been able to find so far (not big on SF around here...) had him invent an elixir that could either slow things down a lot, or speed them up a lot. And he had a contract (make something that would be ab- solutely safe for Great White Hunter types to hunt). --bsa -- Brandon Allbery @ decvax!cwruecmp!ncoast!bsa (..ncoast!tdi1!bsa business) 6504 Chestnut Road, Independence, Ohio 44131 +1 216 524 1416 (or what have you) Who said you had to be (a) a poor programmer or (b) a security hazard to be a hacker?