iamnotaparakeet wrote:
Another topic: What type of science fiction do you like better? The kind that is basically a love story just using space as a background, or the type that is basically a war story using space instead of oceans? Or, for a third kind, Outer Limits variety which gets into philosophical issues primarily while using characters to display their philosophies?
Example answer: I prefer sci-fi novels about wars in space.
Don't know if mine fits those categories - it's a Brian Aldiss story about a guy who notices his whole family seems to be living through a weird, stereotyped existence, where everything they say and do seems somehow wooden and artificial. He eventually discovers the truth - he's an alien who (unknown to himself) has been planted in a family to absorb Earthling culture, for use in an intended invasion. But the Earthling authorities have a way of smoking the aliens out - they allow the aliens to infiltrate "dummy" families made up of actors, who deliberately make their behaviour as featureless as possible, which eventually drives the aliens to break out and get caught, because they can't function or remain sane without features to absorb.
My next best story is "The Cold Equations" which tells of a young girl stowing away on a freight ship in spite of notices that stowaways will be executed. To her, that's just a silly rule that there must be some way round, and the story is the conversation between her and the guard who discovers her......the problem is that there isn't enough fuel to carry her extra weight, and there's no way to avoid the whole ship crashing into the destination planet, unless she is removed, which means she'll die in space. They fail to solve the problem because there is no solution.
I don't think they quite fit into "war" or "love." It's mostly the human interest factor that grabs me, both stories are about somebody discovering some profound and devastating fact, both explore how it feels to be thinking and acting in ignorance of that fact. The science fiction aspect is just an attractive backdrop.
Does anybody know the title of that first story?
I don't know it, but you could do a search on Amazon with the author's name. You might be able to recognize the cover art or title of the book.