Two YASID - A menace from Earth, and truth serum coffee
Marcus L. Rowland
stories for a third party - described as follows:
The first story concerns a space traveller from earth, being told a
story of an ancient menace that roamed the galaxy by aliens he/they have
met. the stories punchline is that earth was the ancient menace.
The second story concerns the united nations (or similar) drinking
contaminated coffee, as a result they become very honest and sort out
some sticky political problems before the drink effect wears off.
I know that there are probably multiple instances of the first one, it's
an obvious plot, but some suggestions for title / author might help. My
guess is that it _isn't_ one of the usual "Humans are still incredibly
dangerous" stories, since that aspect isn't mentioned.
Annoyingly, I've a feeling I've read both, but I can't remember any
details.
--
Marcus L. Rowland www.forgottenfutures.com
www.forgottenfutures.org
www.forgottenfutures.co.uk
Forgotten Futures - The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game
Diana: Warrior Princess & Elvis: The Legendary Tours
The Original Flatland Role Playing Game
Butch Malahide
<forgottenfutu...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> A friend who doesn't have usenet access is trying to identify two
> stories for a third party - described as follows:
>
> The first story concerns a space traveller from earth, being told a
> story of an ancient menace that roamed the galaxy by aliens he/they have
> met. the stories punchline is that earth was the ancient menace.
> I know that there are probably multiple instances of the first one, it's
> an obvious plot, but some suggestions for title / author might help. My
> guess is that it _isn't_ one of the usual "Humans are still incredibly
> dangerous" stories, since that aspect isn't mentioned.
My guess is "All the Way Back" by Michael Shaara
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?56001
although humans are still incredibly dangerous in this one.
Andrew Plotkin
>
> The second story concerns the united nations (or similar) drinking
> contaminated coffee, as a result they become very honest and sort out
> some sticky political problems before the drink effect wears off.
Might be "Satan's Children" by Spider Robinson. Although the drug in
that story didn't wear off.
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
Butch Malahide
> On Nov 20, 8:11 pm, "Marcus L. Rowland"
>
> <forgottenfutu...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> > A friend who doesn't have usenet access is trying to identify two
> > stories for a third party - described as follows:
>
> > The first story concerns a space traveller from earth, being told a
> > story of an ancient menace that roamed the galaxy by aliens he/they have
> > met. the stories punchline is that earth was the ancient menace.
> > [. . .]
> > I know that there are probably multiple instances of the first one, it's
> > an obvious plot, but some suggestions for title / author might help. My
> > guess is that it _isn't_ one of the usual "Humans are still incredibly
> > dangerous" stories, since that aspect isn't mentioned.
>
> although humans are still incredibly dangerous in this one.
By the way the story can be read here:
http://tinyurl.com/ygc8dpy
D.F. Manno
"Marcus L. Rowland" <forgotte...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> The first story concerns a space traveller from earth, being told a
> story of an ancient menace that roamed the galaxy by aliens he/they have
> met. the stories punchline is that earth was the ancient menace.
Was the storyteller telepathic, and did he kill the astronauts at the
end?
--
D.F. Manno | dfm...@mail.com
Religion ... the only winning move is not to play!
Robert A. Woodward
"Marcus L. Rowland" <forgotte...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> A friend who doesn't have usenet access is trying to identify two
> stories for a third party - described as follows:
>
>
> The first story concerns a space traveller from earth, being told a
> story of an ancient menace that roamed the galaxy by aliens he/they have
> met. the stories punchline is that earth was the ancient menace.
>
Butch Malahide beat me to this one (Again!).
> The second story concerns the united nations (or similar) drinking
> contaminated coffee, as a result they become very honest and sort out
> some sticky political problems before the drink effect wears off.
>
I think this is a Christopher Anvil story
--
Robert Woodward <robe...@drizzle.com>
<http://www.drizzle.com/~robertaw>
Jack Bohn
>A friend who doesn't have usenet access is trying to identify two
>stories for a third party - described as follows:
>
>
>The first story concerns a space traveller from earth, being told a
>story of an ancient menace that roamed the galaxy by aliens he/they have
>met. the stories punchline is that earth was the ancient menace.
I suppose "Danger--Human!" by Gordon R. Dickson would be the
standard answer to this... for different values of "traveler,"
"told," and "menace."
"Writing of the Rat" by James Blish also springs to mind. There
is one race of aliens here, but every planet they occupy has
different culture(s) and written language(s), although the whole
race shares a single spoken language. The fact that it seems to
have only been reprinted in two Blish collections should make it
easy to see if it'd been read.
--
-Jack
Butch Malahide
> Marcus L. Rowland wrote:
> >A friend who doesn't have usenet access is trying to identify two
> >stories for a third party - described as follows:
>
> >The first story concerns a space traveller from earth, being told a
> >story of an ancient menace that roamed the galaxy by aliens he/they have
> >met. the stories punchline is that earth was the ancient menace.
>
> I suppose "Danger--Human!" by Gordon R. Dickson would be the
> standard answer to this... for different values of "traveler,"
> "told," and "menace."
And "punchline": it's less than halfway through the story that we hear
the alien commander tell the human captive that the purpose of the
experiment is to test an ancient legend of unspeakably dangerous
humans.
Richard Harter
<forgotte...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>A friend who doesn't have usenet access is trying to identify two
>stories for a third party - described as follows:
>
>
>The first story concerns a space traveller from earth, being told a
>story of an ancient menace that roamed the galaxy by aliens he/they have
>met. the stories punchline is that earth was the ancient menace.
>
>The second story concerns the united nations (or similar) drinking
>contaminated coffee, as a result they become very honest and sort out
>some sticky political problems before the drink effect wears off.
>
>
>I know that there are probably multiple instances of the first one, it's
>an obvious plot, but some suggestions for title / author might help. My
>guess is that it _isn't_ one of the usual "Humans are still incredibly
>dangerous" stories, since that aspect isn't mentioned.
>
>Annoyingly, I've a feeling I've read both, but I can't remember any
>details.
There is also a story of human explorers exploring the galaxy who
discover everywhere the remains of an ancient civilization of
creatures that were very large. They became extinct because
their artifacts became contaminated by dangerous vermin. It
turns out that the vermin were humans.
Richard Harter, c...@tiac.net
http://home.tiac.net/~cri, http://www.varinoma.com
Infinity is one of those things that keep philosophers busy when they
could be more profitably spending their time weeding their garden.
Butch Malahide
>
> There is also a story of human explorers exploring the galaxy who
> discover everywhere the remains of an ancient civilization of
> creatures that were very large. They became extinct because
> their artifacts became contaminated by dangerous vermin. It
> turns out that the vermin were humans.
Is that "Big Ancestor" by Floyd L. Wallace?
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?45810
Stewart Robert Hinsley
<c...@tiac.net> writes
>On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:11:55 +0000, "Marcus L. Rowland"
><forgotte...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
>>A friend who doesn't have usenet access is trying to identify two
>>stories for a third party - described as follows:
>>
>>
>>The first story concerns a space traveller from earth, being told a
>>story of an ancient menace that roamed the galaxy by aliens he/they have
>>met. the stories punchline is that earth was the ancient menace.
>>
>>The second story concerns the united nations (or similar) drinking
>>contaminated coffee, as a result they become very honest and sort out
>>some sticky political problems before the drink effect wears off.
>>
>>
>>I know that there are probably multiple instances of the first one, it's
>>an obvious plot, but some suggestions for title / author might help. My
>>guess is that it _isn't_ one of the usual "Humans are still incredibly
>>dangerous" stories, since that aspect isn't mentioned.
>>
>>Annoyingly, I've a feeling I've read both, but I can't remember any
>>details.
>
>There is also a story of human explorers exploring the galaxy who
>discover everywhere the remains of an ancient civilization of
>creatures that were very large. They became extinct because
>their artifacts became contaminated by dangerous vermin. It
>turns out that the vermin were humans.
Big Ancestor, by F.L. Wallace
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley
William December Starr
Butch Malahide <fred....@gmail.com> said:
> Jack Bohn <jackb...@bright.net> wrote:
>
>> I suppose "Danger--Human!" by Gordon R. Dickson �would be the
>> standard answer to this... for different values of "traveler,"
>> "told," and "menace."
>
> And "punchline": it's less than halfway through the story that we
> hear the alien commander tell the human captive that the purpose
> of the experiment is to test an ancient legend of unspeakably
> dangerous humans.
"Are you sure you've thought this idea completely through?"
-- wds
Marcus L. Rowland
<wds...@panix.com> writes