Any non-magical items in fantasy?
The Blue Rose
about all sorts of different things. While i was pondering upon the
Universe, I was thinking about fantasy stories, and how there is often
some form of magical item as part of the story.
Summary of items that I can remember:
Stones/Gems - sapphires, semi precious, rubies, plain old rock or
pebble etc
Jewellery - rings, necklaces, brooches, tiara/crown etc
Weapons - bows, arrows, swords, knives, daggers etc
Clothes - cloaks, footwear, dresses etc
Animals - all types of magical options inc cats, horses, dragons and
fantastical creatures
People - gods, fantastical peoples like fairies or elves, normal
people in interesting situations.
Plants/Landscape - trees, pools, rivers, lakes
OK, in my pondering, it occured to me that I had *never* come across a
magical fishing rod. Not to say one hasnt been written about of
course.
Are there any non-magical items used in fantasy?
Stacey - sleeeeeeeep I need sleeeeeeeeeeeep
-- Stacey Hill (note 2 spambusters in my address if replying by e-mail)
"A woman has the last word in any argument.
Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument"
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/9544/index.html
Elisabeth Carey
>
> Suffering from 2am insomnia and to try to put myself to sleep I think
> about all sorts of different things. While i was pondering upon the
> Universe, I was thinking about fantasy stories, and how there is often
> some form of magical item as part of the story.
>
> Summary of items that I can remember:
>
> Stones/Gems - sapphires, semi precious, rubies, plain old rock or
> pebble etc
>
> Jewellery - rings, necklaces, brooches, tiara/crown etc
>
> Weapons - bows, arrows, swords, knives, daggers etc
>
> Clothes - cloaks, footwear, dresses etc
>
> Animals - all types of magical options inc cats, horses, dragons and
> fantastical creatures
>
> People - gods, fantastical peoples like fairies or elves, normal
> people in interesting situations.
>
> Plants/Landscape - trees, pools, rivers, lakes
>
> OK, in my pondering, it occured to me that I had *never* come across a
> magical fishing rod. Not to say one hasnt been written about of
> course.
>
> Are there any non-magical items used in fantasy?
There are tons of non-magical items in fantasy. Most of the objects in
any given fantasy are non-magical.
If you'd like a fantasy with no magical objects at all, try
_Swordspoint_, by Ellen Kushner.
Lis Carey
eft...@attglobal.net
>In article <383d01c4...@news.xtra.co.nz>,
>The Blue Rose <sta...@xtra.spambuster.co.nz.remove this to reply> wrote:
>
>>Are there any non-magical items used in fantasy?
>
>By which I assume you mean, items that are *never* magical. That could
>be really difficult. Simon Hawke gave us a were-chamberpot, for example.
>There are enchanted tables, ever-full canteens, magic hair-combs...
>How about farming implements?
Lloyd Alexander's Prydain stories mention magical plows and such like.
They don't exist at the time of the story, but had in the past. Does that
count?
Robert Sneddon
ra.spambuster.co.nz.removethistoreply> writes
>
>Are there any non-magical items used in fantasy?
>
Manure. The medieval settings fantasy stories use must produce
astounding quantities of the stuff, but I've never seen anybody write
about the magical uses of an enchanted dungheap.
Oops, sorry, just remembered about the origins of the cockatrice...
--
To reply by email, send to nojay (at) antipope (dot) org
Robert Sneddon
Adam Benedict Canning
The Blue Rose wrote:
> OK, in my pondering, it occured to me that I had *never* come across a
> magical fishing rod. Not to say one hasnt been written about of
> course.
Subadim the Sorceror in MAR Barker's Flamesong has what is probably one.
I cant however remember an enchanted IUD from any source.
Adam
Adam Benedict Canning
Paul Ciszek wrote:
> There are enchanted tables, ever-full canteens, magic hair-combs...
> How about farming implements?
Death's Sycthe and Combine Harvesters and a potential runeplough , both
Terry Pratchitt.
Adam
Erik Trulsson
>>
>>OK, in my pondering, it occured to me that I had *never* come across a
>>magical fishing rod. Not to say one hasnt been written about of
>>course.
> Zenna Henderson, "The Grunder".
>>Are there any non-magical items used in fantasy?
> By which I assume you mean, items that are *never* magical. That could
> be really difficult. Simon Hawke gave us a were-chamberpot, for example.
> There are enchanted tables, ever-full canteens, magic hair-combs...
> How about farming implements?
Technological items that are brought into fantasy worlds never seem to be
magical. For example I don't think I have ever read about a magical gun in
any story.
Basically the stuff that doesn't really 'belong' in a fantasy world seems to
be very non-magical in those stories where they do occur.
--
<Insert your favourite quote here.>
Erik Trulsson
ertr...@student.csd.uu.se
Robert Sneddon
<ertr...@student.csd.uu.se> writes
>
>Technological items that are brought into fantasy worlds never seem to be
>magical. For example I don't think I have ever read about a magical gun in
>any story.
Terry Pratchett's book "Feet Of Clay" has a magical Gonne, but it was
invented on the Discworld, not brought there magically. "Grunts", by
Mary Gentle, had OTL guns, with magical wards to prevent the paladins of
Light from *stopping* them working through the use of magic spells.
I've got about half-way through writing a fantasy novel about a man
with a pistol in a fantasy world. The pistol is original OTL, but only
appears when he really needs it. After use, he has to follow an arcane
set of rituals (clearing, proving safe, and picking up his brass)
otherwise the gun may not appear the next time...
Vlatko Juric-Kokic
<siu9...@rdg.ac.uk> wrote:
>Paul Ciszek wrote:
>> How about farming implements?
>Death's Sycthe and Combine Harvesters and a potential runeplough , both
>Terry Pratchitt.
A potential runeplough? Where did you find that?
vlatko
--
vlatko.ju...@zg.tel.hr
Ethan A Merritt
Erik Trulsson <ertr...@student.csd.uu.se> wrote:
>
>Technological items that are brought into fantasy worlds never seem to be
>magical. For example I don't think I have ever read about a magical gun in
>any story.
>
to cross-over fantasies in which Our Heroes enter from outside carrying
technology?
There's the lamp-post in Narnia, or the toffee-bush for that matter.
Then there's the abandoned spaceship (a.k.a. The Chained God) in
Jo Clayton's _Blue Magic_ series.
As to a magical gun, I think you're onto a possible plot there.
Our Heroes have been chasing across the fantasy landscape
looking for a magical talisman that has only been described
in mystical terms. They find it just as the Evil Overlord closes
his trap. They are doomed unless they can master the one true
talisman in 30 seconds flat....
Oh gee, look, it's a Smith&Wesson - bang.
(Just don't make me read it).
Ethan A Merritt
mer...@u.washington.edu
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Biological Structure, Box 357742 K428b Health Sciences
University of Washington (206)543-1421
Seattle, WA 98195-7742 mer...@u.washington.edu
Lawrence Watt-Evans
<lan...@pd.jaring.my> wrote:
>I recall a WONDERFUL Edgar Rice Bourroughs pastiche printed in a '50's paperback I
>have somewhere, falling apart. The gist of the whole line is the warrior princess and her
>hero attempting to steal the secret of the living vapor, said hero holding off the pursuing
>guards with his sword while she unlocks the vault -- only to have one of the
>overmatched (in swordplay) guards say the Martian equivalent of the hell with it, draw
>his proton pistol, and blast them both to atoms.
>
>Clearly a man after my own heart.
I believe that's "The Swordsmen of Varnis," and I want to say it was
written by Poul Anderson but I'm probably wrong.
--
The Misenchanted Page: http://www.sff.net/people/LWE/ Last update 10/1/99
DRAGON WEATHER is now available -- ISBN 0-312-86978-9
Clark E Myers
> Technological items that are brought into fantasy worlds never seem to be
> magical. For example I don't think I have ever read about a magical gun in
> any story.
>
thought was L. Sprague...) I think Fritz Leiber did an eponymous one about a
black gun as practitioner of black magic's familiar (startled to realize the
difficulties in maintaining political correctness while describing witch's
familiar warlock's familiar whatever without giving offense to some group)
in which the automatic is autonomous after the manner of many swords and one
(? Kenneth Bullmer) in which a young boy is introduced to the G.I. 45 as a
way to deal with threatening characters in bad dreams and later calls it to
him to deal with supernatural enemies in another semi-comic fantasy.
Seems to me the ?David Drake story in the collection about returning the
magic talisman to hiding after the evil is vanquished where the equipment is
100% Vietnam issue described in terms of magic - the radio man is emphasized
with his backpack and antenna PRC never called that may have included guns.
There certainly were spells associated with guns in many stories I think
some of the John with the silver strung guitar villains loaded with oddball
ingredients. And of course many media fantasies of the American west include
the never empty six shooter.
Clark
Jake Kesinger
: In <FLrG9...@world.std.com>, pci...@otherworld.std.com (Paul Ciszek) writes:
: >In article <383d01c4...@news.xtra.co.nz>,
: >The Blue Rose <sta...@xtra.spambuster.co.nz.remove this to reply> wrote:
: >By which I assume you mean, items that are *never* magical. That could
: >be really difficult. Simon Hawke gave us a were-chamberpot, for example.
: >There are enchanted tables, ever-full canteens, magic hair-combs...
: >How about farming implements?
: Lloyd Alexander's Prydain stories mention magical plows and such like.
: They don't exist at the time of the story, but had in the past. Does that
: count?
Heck, what about Alvin's golden plow in Card's books?
==Jake
Paula Lieberman
>In article <383d01c4...@news.xtra.co.nz>, The Blue Rose <stacey@xt
>ra.spambuster.co.nz.removethistoreply> writes
>>
>>Are there any non-magical items used in fantasy?
>>
>
>astounding quantities of the stuff, but I've never seen anybody write
>about the magical uses of an enchanted dungheap.
>
> Oops, sorry, just remembered about the origins of the cockatrice...
a). The Dungpits of Glyve in Zelazny's novel _Jack of Shadows_
about Dilvish the Damned.
b. "Shovel that shit!" in Zelazny's novel _Dilvish the Damned_ (I think
that was the title) wherein slaving characters were shoveling that subsance
in to a deep pit to feed an elder god or some other varety of repulsive
monstrosity
c. _Astra and Flondrix_ (I think that was the title....)
gnohm...@my-deja.com
And yet we speak of a Magic Bullet!
If you load your gun with silver bullets in order to deal with werewolves,
does it then become a magic gun?
====
I typed this on my enchanted keyboard.
====
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Martin Soederstroem
rec.arts.sf.written:
>Technological items that are brought into fantasy worlds never seem to be
>magical. For example I don't think I have ever read about a magical gun in
>any story.
There are lots of magical bullets though. All those silver ones who
take out werewolves, you know. Of course, that's not fantasy, but
horror. And I guess it might not be the bullets per se that are
magical, but rather the silver.
--
Martin
Remove NOSPAM to email me.
gnohm...@my-deja.com
sta...@xtra.spambuster.co.nz.remove this to reply wrote:
The Blessed Toothpick of Merlin, an intelligent artifact that cleans your
dental interstices.
The Never-Filled Diskette. A telephone named SpamBane (ooh, I want one!), the
tangle-free phone cord, an enchanted keyboard which never mipslels anything,
the Bottomless Wastebasket, all useful items.
The enchanted television that shows neither commercials nor
offensively-stupid shows (alas, it rarely has anything to display). The
Endless Bookshelf, that grants instant access to the book you want. The
Perpetual Paperback, as you finish LWE's latest, you turn the page and start
joatsimeon's next (even though they're not out in p'back, of course. It's
magic, after all.)
The Devil's Dispenser. Leave this unwarded and find your mouse cord taped to
the desk, telephone handset taped to the phone, and similar mischief.
Cursed -3 scissors which cut ragged and crooked, and perhaps cut you.
The Wizard's Remote, a normal-looking universal remote control -- but try the
mute button on that annoying person...
The Carnivorous Couch. Saltimbocca (for those who don't know Italian, the
name means "jumps in your mouth"). Babe Ruth's Bat (and other enchanted
sporting equipment) (for the Piers Anthony fans, "Sosa's Stick").
A kitchen sink, a scroll of mail, and a credit card artifact all appear in
nethack but not in any stories I know of.
Come to think of it, I have had keyboards in real life on which particular
keys were cursed.
Jerry Friedman
"Clark E Myers" <Clark...@email.msn.com> wrote:
>
> > Technological items that are brought into fantasy worlds never seem
to be
> > magical. For example I don't think I have ever read about a magical
gun in
> > any story.
Aren't there magic bullets in Weber's opera _Der Frieschütz_?
> 2 at least come to mind (in addition to the pastiche mentioned infra
which I
> thought was L. Sprague...) I think Fritz Leiber did an eponymous one
about a
> black gun as practitioner of black magic's familiar (startled to
realize the
> difficulties in maintaining political correctness while describing
witch's
> familiar warlock's familiar whatever without giving offense to some
group)
> in which the automatic is autonomous after the manner of many swords
and one
> (? Kenneth Bullmer) in which a young boy is introduced to the G.I. 45
as a
> way to deal with threatening characters in bad dreams and later calls
it to
> him to deal with supernatural enemies in another semi-comic fantasy.
I think this may need a SPOILER WARNING:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
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.
.
Very similar to "Dreams are Sacred", by Peter Phillips if memory serves.
The protagonist is intervening in someone's dream somehow for some
psychotherapeutic reason. He saves himself from the Ultimate Horror
with the gun his grandfather gave him to sleep with when he (the hero)
was a boy suffering from nightmares. Not quite magic.
The dream intervention was the idea Zelazny stole (admittedly, I think)
for the brilliant "He who Shapes".
...
--
Jerry Friedman
jfrE...@nnm.cc.nm.us
i before e
and all the disclaimers
Adam Benedict Canning
Erik Trulsson wrote:
> Technological items that are brought into fantasy worlds never seem to be
> magical. For example I don't think I have ever read about a magical gun in
> any story.
Preacher has a gun made from the sword of the Angel of Death.
There are enchanted firearms in Hambly's silicon mage books [admitedly
they are enchanted to be magic proof but still.]
Adam
Adam Benedict Canning
Vlatko Juric-Kokic wrote:
>
> On Thu, 25 Nov 1999 16:53:25 +0000, Adam Benedict Canning
> <siu9...@rdg.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> >Paul Ciszek wrote:
> >> How about farming implements?
> >Death's Sycthe and Combine Harvesters and a potential runeplough , both
> >Terry Pratchitt.
>
> A potential runeplough? Where did you find that?
The rune sword Rincwind uses in the first book.
Adam
Justin Fang
[List of magic mundane items that haven't appeared in fiction]
>The Carnivorous Couch.
Shows up briefly in _The Dark of the Moon_ by PC Hodgell.
gnohm...@my-deja.com
The carnivorous toilet, then. Oh, all right, all furniture is disqualified.
Although a carnivorous carpet....
The vacuum cleaner possessed by a demon -- no, I think that they are all
possessed by a demon that only the cat can sense.
A wizard would have quite a nice coffeepot, and an unspillable mug.
A small suburban driveway, magically curved through another dimension, so it
has room for 20 cars?
Nigel Arnot
Martin Soederstroem wrote:
> They say that Erik Trulsson wrote the following on
> rec.arts.sf.written:
>
> >Technological items that are brought into fantasy worlds never seem to be
> >magical. For example I don't think I have ever read about a magical gun in
> >any story.
>
> There are lots of magical bullets though. All those silver ones who
> take out werewolves, you know. Of course, that's not fantasy, but
> horror. And I guess it might not be the bullets per se that are
> magical, but rather the silver.
The problem may be Clarke's law "any sufficiently advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic" ... and therefore, (say) a magic PC might
be read as an attack on the reader's intelligence.
The closest you can get without hitting that problem is putting the
narrator in a (relatively) primitive society, for example Iain Bank's
"Inversions". The lazy gun in his "Against a Dark Background" might
as well be magical, since it's so far beyond both the characters' and
the reader's technological understanding.
There's also what I once heard refered to as Pratchett's law "any
sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology".
Outside of the diskworld, something very similar underpins Greg
Bear's "Songs of Earth and Power". (to say any more would need
spoilers, other than to recommend it highly).
Vlatko Juric-Kokic
<no...@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <81kah3$pmi$1...@Zeke.Update.UU.SE>, Erik Trulsson
><ertr...@student.csd.uu.se> writes
>>
>>Technological items that are brought into fantasy worlds never seem to be
>>magical. For example I don't think I have ever read about a magical gun in
>>any story.
> Terry Pratchett's book "Feet Of Clay" has a magical Gonne, but it was
>invented on the Discworld, not brought there magically.
Er, _Men at Arms_ certainly. _Feet of Clay_ is the one about golems.
BTW, there's Carrot's sword that's as non-magical as can be.
vlatko
--
vlatko.ju...@zg.tel.hr
Joe Mason
>
>The problem may be Clarke's law "any sufficiently advanced technology
>is indistinguishable from magic" ... and therefore, (say) a magic PC might
>be read as an attack on the reader's intelligence.
_Castle Perilous_ has a magic PC, and it fit quite well.
What about _The Guns of Avalon_? Weren't they magical, in a roundabout kind
of way? (It's been a while...)
And if we're allowed to talk about comic books, I'm sure magic guns and
stuff have been done. One that comes to mind is Blaze (the guy who used to
be Ghost Rider) and his shotgun that shoots hellfire. Come to think of it,
Ghost Rider's bike.
Joe
Joe Mason
>
>> OK, in my pondering, it occured to me that I had *never* come across a
>> magical fishing rod. Not to say one hasnt been written about of
>> course.
>
>
>I cant however remember an enchanted IUD from any source.
In the first Ultima Underworld (computer game), there's a place with a guy
who gives you a fishing rod and tells you to go fish at a pool - but I can't
remember now if it's the rod or the pool that's magic.
Joe
Joe Mason
>
>The enchanted television that shows neither commercials nor
>offensively-stupid shows (alas, it rarely has anything to display). The
See "Certain Distant Suns", by Joanne Greenburg. (Anthologized in Alberto
Manguel's _Black Water_.)
>The Wizard's Remote, a normal-looking universal remote control -- but try the
>mute button on that annoying person...
"Barter", by Lois McMaster Bujold (available in _Dreamweaver's Dilemma_).
Although it's not actually magic, but hi-tech indistinguishable from.
I think Calvin has one of these at one point, too.
>The Carnivorous Couch. Saltimbocca (for those who don't know Italian, the
I have a carnivorous couch. Actually, it's my roommate's. No joke: it is
known around our house as The Couch That Devours. It's the most comfortable
thing I've ever felt, but make SURE you put your wallet on the coffee table.
Joe
Joe Mason
>
>The carnivorous toilet, then. Oh, all right, all furniture is disqualified.
>Although a carnivorous carpet....
>
>The vacuum cleaner possessed by a demon -- no, I think that they are all
>possessed by a demon that only the cat can sense.
>
>A wizard would have quite a nice coffeepot, and an unspillable mug.
>
>A small suburban driveway, magically curved through another dimension, so it
>has room for 20 cars?
You know, every single one of these is on the tip of my tongue, but I can't
remember where I've seen them in print...
Joe
Mark D. McKean
<jcm...@uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
> What about _The Guns of Avalon_? Weren't they magical, in a roundabout kind
> of way? (It's been a while...)
The guns were ordinary...it was the ammo that was unusual. I'm not sure
"magical" is the right term for it, though; it's just that the
necessary chemistry for explosives is different in Amber from that in
Shadow.
--
Mark D. McKean - The Quantum Panda - qpa...@iwaynet.net
Joe Mason
Didn't Michael Scott Rohan's _Winter of the World_ series have something
like this, too?
Joe
Mark A. Brown
happens to be a cyborg).
Although it may be off-topic, I would mention Disney's Gargoyles, where
magic and technoogy coexist. (I never realized soul-transferences could be
done to androids!)
Also, in real life, I can think of several web sites that appear to have
been cursed.
Mark
"I don't suffer from insanity; I revel in it!"
Ross TenEyck
>OK, in my pondering, it occured to me that I had *never* come across a
>magical fishing rod. Not to say one hasnt been written about of
>course.
In the "Ranma 1/2" manga, there's an arc based on a magical fishing
rod -- the "koi" rod. This is a pun in Japanese, because "koi" can
mean either a kind of fish, or "love." The rod has a small suction
cup on the end of the line; if you stick it to someone's chest, they
develop a hickey-like mark that looks like a koi (the fish) and fall
in love with whoever held the rod.
--
================== http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~teneyck ==================
Ross TenEyck Seattle, WA \ Light, kindled in the furnace of hydrogen;
ten...@alumni.caltech.edu \ like smoke, sunlight carries the hot-metal
Are wa yume? Soretomo maboroshi? \ tang of Creation's forge.
Paul Clarke
>In article <81mg50$p...@gap.cco.caltech.edu>,
> jus...@ugcs.caltech.edu (Justin Fang) wrote:
>> In article <81m6kj$e1n$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, <gnohm...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>> [List of magic mundane items that haven't appeared in fiction]
>> >The Carnivorous Couch.
>>
>> Shows up briefly in _The Dark of the Moon_ by PC Hodgell.
>
>The carnivorous toilet, then. Oh, all right, all furniture is disqualified.
>Although a carnivorous carpet....
Not fantasy, but SF: "Colony" by P.K. Dick, giving rise to the
immortal line "I trusted that rug completely." The story also features
homicidal microscopes, filing cabinets, buggies and towels. And I
don't even want to think about the underpants....
Paul Vader
>magical. For example I don't think I have ever read about a magical gun in
>any story.
>
example of that! Paging Joel Rosenberg...
IIRC, in one of the "Guardians of the flame" books, the slaver wizard
badguys reinvent the gun by magical means. It was really slick; any old
grunt could fire one, and operationally it worked much like a flintlock,
but the "powder" was magically time-frozen steam. *
--
* PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something
like corkscrews.
Leanne Phillips
Erik Trulsson <ertr...@student.csd.uu.se> wrote:
>Technological items that are brought into fantasy worlds never seem to be
>any story.
In C.S. Friedman's Coldfire trilogy, the main character is startled to
find that someone has _not_ spelled (Worked, in that world's terminology)
his gun. Almost everyone who used one did, to make sure it worked correctly
when they tried to use it.
I'm not sure that counts, however. :)
-Felan
Nancy Lebovitz
Nigel Arnot <nigel...@kcl.ac.uk> wrote:
>Martin Soederstroem wrote:
>> They say that Erik Trulsson wrote the following on
>> rec.arts.sf.written:
>>
>> >magical. For example I don't think I have ever read about a magical gun in
>> >any story.
>>
>> take out werewolves, you know. Of course, that's not fantasy, but
>> horror. And I guess it might not be the bullets per se that are
>> magical, but rather the silver.
>
>is indistinguishable from magic" ... and therefore, (say) a magic PC might
>be read as an attack on the reader's intelligence.
>
--
Nancy Lebovitz na...@netaxs.com
October '99 calligraphic button catalogue available by email!
Robert Shaw
Nancy Lebovitz <na...@unix3.netaxs.com> wrote in message
news:820faf$5...@netaxs.com...
> Nigel Arnot <nigel...@kcl.ac.uk> wrote> >
> >The problem may be Clarke's law "any sufficiently advanced technology
> >is indistinguishable from magic" ... and therefore, (say) a magic PC
might
> >be read as an attack on the reader's intelligence.
> >
> IIRC, there was a very satisfactory magic PC in Duane's _High Wizardry_.
>
which told a wizard how he could make a magical flying ship, previously
thought
to be a magical impossibility. Since it was designed as a cark park
attendant
it wasn't quite clear why it was equipped with tentacles that could rip
people
to pieces, but it was effectively a magic-capable artificial intelligence.
--
'It is a wise crow that knows which way the camel points' - Pratchett
Robert Shaw.
Joe Mason
>Not fantasy, but SF: "Colony" by P.K. Dick, giving rise to the
>immortal line "I trusted that rug completely." The story also features
>homicidal microscopes, filing cabinets, buggies and towels. And I
>don't even want to think about the underpants....
The Underoos That Ate New York!
Joe
gnohm...@my-deja.com
"Robert Shaw" <Rob...@shavian.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
> ... Since it was designed as a car[] park attendant
> it wasn't quite clear why it was equipped with tentacles that
To deal with people who try to avoid payment?
Or perhaps it would lift cars up and bring them to you?
Too easy.
Doctor Witch
Clarke) wrote:
> Not fantasy, but SF: "Colony" by P.K. Dick, giving rise to the
> immortal line "I trusted that rug completely." The story also
> features
> homicidal microscopes, filing cabinets, buggies and towels. And I
> don't even want to think about the underpants....
And "I see a man on a chair, and the chair is biting his leg", by
?Lafferty?
Which also has a really great line in it, but it would be a spoiler...
(hint: the phrase "screwin' goo")
Doc W.
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Robert Shaw
<gnohm...@my-deja.com> wrote
> In article <8219rd$47m$1...@newsg3.svr.pol.co.uk>,
> "Robert Shaw" <Rob...@shavian.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
> > it wasn't quite clear why it was equipped with tentacles that
> > could rip people to pieces ...
>
> To deal with people who try to avoid payment?
>
> Or perhaps it would lift cars up and bring them to you?
>
> Too easy.
The computer was housed in a monolith and not mobile.
Stay a few dozen yards away and it couldn't hurt you,
nor would it be able to move cars.
Since the culture that designed it also designed therapy
machines that tried to cure people via torture it's not
too surprising. Still such widespread possesion of
lethal capacities (shared also by another AI sold as a child's
toy) by artificial intelligences quite capable of plotting
world domination seemed slightly foolish for even the
most violent society. It just struck me as mildly odd.
Richard Horton
On Wed, 01 Dec 1999 09:46:25 -0800, Doctor Witch
<doctorwit...@hotmail.com.invalid> wrote:
>And "I see a man on a chair, and the chair is biting his leg", by
>?Lafferty?
>Which also has a really great line in it, but it would be a spoiler...
>(hint: the phrase "screwin' goo")
Sheckley and Ellison
--
Rich Horton | Stable Email: mailto://richard...@sff.net
Home Page: http://www.sff.net/people/richard.horton
Also visit SF Site (http://www.sfsite.com) and Tangent Online (http://www.sfsite.com/tangent)
Robert Carnegie
pau...@ctxuk.citrix.com wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Nov 1999 20:31:25 GMT, gnohm...@my-deja.com wrote:
>
> >In article <81mg50$p...@gap.cco.caltech.edu>,
> > jus...@ugcs.caltech.edu (Justin Fang) wrote:
> >> In article <81m6kj$e1n$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, <gnohm...@my-deja.com> wrote:
> >> [List of magic mundane items that haven't appeared in fiction]
> >> >The Carnivorous Couch.
> >>
> >> Shows up briefly in _The Dark of the Moon_ by PC Hodgell.
> >
> >The carnivorous toilet, then. Oh, all right, all furniture is disqualified.
> >Although a carnivorous carpet....
>
> immortal line "I trusted that rug completely." The story also features
> homicidal microscopes, filing cabinets, buggies and towels. And I
> don't even want to think about the underpants....
Underpants? There's this episode of _Red Dwarf_ where...
Robert Carnegie
Michael Caldwell
Well, if we're letting Red Dwarf in (and there are books after all), then
we have to add Chicken Vindeloo and Lager to the list.
Oh, and if you want fridges which loom at you there's always Dirk gentley.
--