Recursive Science Fiction

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Tabakow, Lou joint author with Mike Resnick

Tallis, Robyn, Horrorvid

This is the eighth of the "Planet Builders" series. In 2520 the Anvil Holovid company has come to the colony world of Gauguin to record their latest horror production. The colony governor doesn't want them there but is forced to allow them to travel to an unexplored island under an obscure regulation. He can send along one of the locals Will Mornette to oversee their behavior. Will's friend and aspiring actress Daphne DeVries is hired as a replacement makeup artist. Things get tense when Daphne finds her mother is part of the troupe. The fictional horror story is interrupted by a very real horror on the island.

Ivy Books 0461-1, July 1989

Taylor, L. A., A Murder Waiting to Happen [Mystery]

This takes us through the Twin-Con committee's planning and running their convention in Minneapolis. However, what they did not plan for was a number of murders. Although there are no stfnal elements in the murder, the convention in all its aspects is limned very accurately by one who has had access to that side of it.

Walker & Co. 5725-1, 1989

Teler, Eyal, "Possibilities"

[This story was inspired by Ray Bradbury's "Quid Pro Quo."] Simon Cross, the successful fantasy writer, remembers meeting Ray Bradbury and his own later self. He remembers killing the older version in reaction to what he would become. Now he visits Sedef who is supposed to be able to tell people what their lives would have been like in an alternate history. She cannot do this for him at the time. Later, she finds out about Bradbury and the loop in time; she tells him what his life would have been like had Bradbury not interfered.

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 105:1 July 2003 (pp.98-110)

Tem, Steve Rasnic, "Re: Vision"

Magazine editor Wilson receives a powerful but flawed manuscript on weird paper. The contents of "The Dark, Following" concern a Chicago stockbroker stalked by a tentacled monster. He receives a neatly typed revision, now mimetic rather than fantasy, and so it must be rejected. Two weeks later another manuscript on weird paper arrives—"Eaten by the Dark."  Here a New York editor is tracked by a monster with only his pen to defend him.

Pulphouse 1:12/13 September/October 1992 (pp32-33)

Swashbuckling Editor Stories (edited by John Gregory Betancourt), The Wildside Press, October 1993; lettered hardcover 1-880448-21-1;

numbered hardcover 1-880448-20-3; trade paperback 1-880448-22-X (pp.105-108)

Thomas, Ted (as Leonard Lockhard), "The Lagging Profession"

Arthur C. Clarke finds that the law makes it impossible for him to have obtained a patent on the geosynchronous communications satellite - either when he first published the idea or when it became feasible. He plans on holding off on a new idea for a while...

Analog SF/SF, January 1961 (pp. 102-111)

The 6th Annual of the Year's Best S-F, (edited by Judith Merril), Simon & Schuster 1961

The Best of Science Fiction, (edited by Judith Merril), Mayflower, 1963

Thompson, W.R., "Lost in Translation"

Ray Bennet is hired to translate Kya science fiction from Wideplain into English. He travels to Kya to work with the author Gyez. The problem is that Roam to Infinity is a piece of hack work; the human character was originally an intelligent rodent changed at the last moment to profit from the contact with Earth. Bennet prevents a diplomatic contretemps, foils an unscrupulous publisher, gets another of Gyez's novels Nightscent published, and winds up with his 10%. Note: Kya SF writers seem little different from human ones.

Analog Science Fiction - Science Fact 110:14 Mid-December 1990

Thompson, W.R., "On Tour with Gyez"

Kya science fiction writer Gyez is on a tour of Earth to promote his translated SF novels. He attends a meeting of the Fantasy Writers Association and finds that the culture now views change negatively; the writers use the latest technology to write. However, they are limited by the software but do not notice this (nor would they care). While trying to protect his morph guide, Gyez is murdered and revived as the first Kya metamorphite.

Analog Science Fiction and Fact 113:12 October 1993 (pp.90-110)

Thomsen, Brian M., "Iguanacon, Too"

When Harlan Ellison withdraws as Guest of Honor from the 1978 Worldcon over the ERA, it looks as if the con will be going down the tubes. However, it is taken over and run by Star Trek with Gene Roddenberry as the Guest of Honor.

Alternate Worldcons (edited by Mike Resnick), Pulphouse Publishing 1-56146-448-1, September 1994 (pp.65-70)

Alternate Worldcons and Again, Alternate Worldcons (edited by Mike Resnick), WC Books, September 1996 (pp.65-70)

Thomsen, Brian M., "Oscar Night at Swifty's"

Julius Schwartz left New York for Hollywood in 1943. He made a number of superhero movies, leading to new contracts culminating in the great horror film At the Mountains of Madness.  As an agent, he arranged for the George Pal version of A Martian Odyssey, as well as those classics Fahrenheit 451, The Demolished Man, and The Stars My Destination.  Now Schwartz is going to attempt to translate the stories from the Skywalker comic book series to the screen.

Alternate Skiffy (edited by Mike Resnick and Patrick Nielsen Hayden), The Wildside Press 1-880448-54-8, December 1997 [dated 1996] (pp. 32-35)

Thurston, Robert, "The Haunted Writing Manual"

When Gaskitt falls asleep in the library with How to Write for Big Money, he later awakes and writes stories. Unfortunately, these are recreations of great fiction of the past—he is not aware of this. Finally he writes "A Strange Quiet Terror," a story that exists only manuscript written by the librarian's late mad father, Richard Harwood Flinch.

Fantastic Sword & Sorcery and Fantasy 24:6 October 1975 (pp.94-101, 120)

Tidhar, Lavie, "Daydreams"

 In a world where dreams are real and dangerous, the editor of what may be the last science fiction magazine is being targeted by something from her dreams and calls in help. The current issue of the magazine, Grotesqa, is described at some length, including its BEM and Babe in Brass Bra cover and a table of contents listing (it combines short stories with "real-world" nonfiction on such topics as how to bring the dead back to life).

Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest 1:10 2007 (pp.23-35)

Tiptree, Jr., James, "Beam Us Home"

[This is a pseudonym for Alice Sheldon.]  Hobie was a bright and personable boy and young man who seemed to be unmotivated. We are shown his interest in Star Trek™ when, in the hospital for a corneal scratch, he calls out for Doctor McCoy in a fever and spends time talking to an intern of that name. He is accepted by the Air Force Academy and intends to go into the Space Program. This is interrupted by a U. S. intervention in Venezuela for which he is volunteered. There he comes down with a tailored disease being used by the insurgents. In his talk with a paramedic he reveals that at some level he believes that he spoke to Dr. McCoy of the Enterprise, that he is a civilized person left on Earth as an observer. Now he believes he will be left to die on Earth. In his final delirium he takes an AX92 jet and flies it up. At the end he awakes on an alien starship.

Galaxy 28:3 April 1969 (pp.56-68)

Ten Thousand Light-Years from Home, Ace 80810, July 1973; 80181-1, April 1978

Eyre Methuen 33420-1, May 1975

Gregg Press 2322-3, June 1976

Pan 24895-2, February 1977

Another World, (edited by Gardner Dozois), Follett, 1977

Byte Beautiful: Eight Science Fiction Stories, Doubleday 19653-9, November 1985 (pp.54-65)

Tiptree, Jr., James, "Please Don't Play With the Time Machine"

A science fiction editor reads and rejects a story of a hopeful writer. It is too bizarre—intelligent mammals. This is Alice Sheldon's first story, written in 1968; it was not published until 1998.

Amazing Stories 70:2 Summer 1998 (pp.20-21

Toman, Nikolai V., "The Unknown Country"

Aleksei Rusin's novelette has been published in World of Adventures magazine.. In this story, Phæton—the planet between Mars and Jupiter—was destroyed when the stockpiles of thermonuclear weapons accidentally exploded. A number of Russian SF authors debate the role of SF in society. The extremes are, as in U. S. SF, adherence to strict scientific knowledge versus free-soaring imagination. Rusin changes the rationale for the explosion in the book version. Here, the powers on Phæton are experimenting with the planet's core.

The Unknown Country, 1966 [Russian]

Excerpt, "A Debate on SF—Moscow 1965"—chapters 2 and 3 of 37—translated by James J. Karambelas, printed in

Other Worlds, Other Seas (edited by Darko Suvin), Random House, 1970

Berkley Medallion 02278, December 1972 (pp.174-183)

Troise, Pat, "Natasha's Lot"

Natasha Prince (who works for a sheet manufacturer) believes her life is being stolen by her best-selling fantasy/horror writing brother Nicholas Prince (probably a parody of Stephen King). He is taking incidents from here life and fashioning them into his stories. After she takes some magical steps, her life is improved, but he can no longer writer. The final solution satisfies them both.

Amazing Stories 69:2 Fall 1994 (pp43-62)

Trout, Kilgore pseudonym of Philip José Farmer

Tucker, Wilson, "Able to Zebra"

Horace Reid lives in Chicago and appears to be an average person. Actually, he is an agent (code name Zebra) on Earth (code name Love) whose job it is to track down and explain away anachronisms caused by errant schoolchildren. Together with his superior, Dog, he visits the science fiction book store of Bea Mahaffey where he gets the idea to push time travel through SF magazines to "explain" the latest anomaly. The travel back to encourage H. G. Wells to write The Time Traveler. Upon returning to the present, they find a suitable emphasis upon time-, rather than space-travel.

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 4:3 March 1953 (pp55-68)

The Science Fiction Sub-Treasury, Rinehart & Co., September 1954

Time: X, Bantam 1400, December 1955 (pp118-135)

Tucker, Wilson, The Chinese Doll [Mystery]

A member of the Fantasy Amateur Press Association (FAPA—the oldest SF APA; it is still extant) is murdered in the Midwest. The crime is investigated by Charles Horne, an insurance investigator. The story is written in the form of letters to Louise for reasons that become clear later in the story.

Rinehart Murray Hill Mystery, 1946

Dell Mapback 343, 1947

Tucker, Wilson, "MCMLV"

Henry Mason, under the pseudonym of Cary Carew, writes the SF adventures of Dan Devlin of the Counter Intelligence Corps. He carefully researches his background in his encyclopedia. Unfortunately, the encyclopedia was published two years in the future and reveals much classified information. This becomes clear when agents of the FBI and CIC visit him and, upon finding the source of the information, forcibly buy it from him and leave. Soon afterwards the encyclopedia seller arrives with an even newer edition.

Universe Science Fiction 8 November 1954 (pp87-99)

The Science Fiction Sub-Treasury, Rinehart & Co., September 1954

Time: X, Bantam 1400, December 1955 (pp13-27)

Turtledove, Harry, Earthgrip

A collection of the three Jennifer Logan stories (slightly edited)—"6+", "Nothing in the Night-Time", and "The Great Unknown."

Del Rey 37239-5, December 1991

Turtledove, Harry, The Great Unknown

Jennifer Logan, once a journeyman trader, now teaches English at Saugus Central University. One of her courses is Middle English (i.e., 20th century) science fiction. Three aliens—Foitani—enroll. They seem to be especially interested in SF works dealing with human holocausts; this is not unreasonable since their own race almost wiped itself out 28,000 years ago in the Suicide Wars. They kidnap Jennifer and take her to their homeworld of Orden where he meets a fellow internee and former trading acquaintance, Bernard Greenberg. They must solve the secret of a Foitani artifact—the Great Unknown. one of its properties is driving Foitani near it insane. She begins a solution using the very basis of SF—the ability to extrapolate.

Analog Science Fiction - Science Fact 111:5 April 1991 (pp. 10-64); 111:6 May 1991 (pp.134-177); 111:7 June 1991(pp.12-67)

Earthgrip, Del Rey 37239-5, December 1991 [pp. 89-264]

Turtledove, Harry (as Eric G. Iverson), "Hindsight"

A science fiction writer goes back in time to the early 1950s. There she sells stories by other writers from her own time in order to alter the course of history. Such events as the abandonment of phonics, the Vietnam War, and the ending of the space program must be changed. John W. Campbell appears under the name of James McGregor.

Analog SF/SF, 104:13 Mid-December 1984 (pp.42-76)

Kaleidoscope, Del Rey 36477-5, April 1990 (pp.95-127)

Turtledove, Harry, "Nothing in the Night-Time"

Jennifer Logan, Journeyman Trader and middle English Science Fiction expert, solves a problem in alien ecology using the methods of the Master—Sherlock Holmes.

Analog Science Fiction-Science Fact 109:3 March 1989 (pp.10-32)

Earthgrip Del Rey 37239-5, December 1991 [pp.65-86]

Turtledove, Harry, "6+"

The first Jennifer Logan story. Logan, looking for a faculty position teaching Middle English Science Fiction is working as an apprentice trader. The alien society they are trading with looks to be wiped out by a barbarian invasion. Jennifer finds a solution in Robert Heinlein's The Man Who Sold the Moon.

Analog Science Fiction-Science Fact 107:9 September 1987 (pp.16-67)

Earthgrip Del Rey 37239-5, December 1991 [pp. 3-62]

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