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"I can remember when the first pulsars were discovered. I was able to go and sit down and listen to graduate students talking about what their theories, to explain what pulsars really were."
- Vernor Vinge
 |
| Talking Pamphlet | ||
| An instructional pamphlet that instructs you through ordinary speech. |
Madge Rubichek had a problem; her husband. But, she was nothing if not methodical, so she acquired a do-it-yourself murder kit.
Did you ever have a problem trying to both read the instructions for something and perform the actions stated in the instructions - at the same time?
Marge was somewhat unprepared when the pamplet spoke to her.
| "Uh, where are you?" Madge asked nervously. "Where am I where? the pamphlet responded in confusion. "Yes, precisely," she responded. "Dear Purchaser, you are perplexing me," the pamphlet cried. "If you wish to carry forward smartly to the objective for which this Kit was designed, please do not strain my conversational and analytical faculties." |
| Technovelgy from Ellison Wonderland,
by Harlan Ellison. Published by Signet in 1974 Additional resources -
|
This marvelously dark story loses nothing in the years since its first publication. Harlan Ellison is not, strictly speaking, a hard science fiction writer. He says he writes more in the style of magical realism.
Whatever the genre, don't miss do-it-yourself from this fine book of short stories.
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news articles:
- Books of Hope Talk to Everyone
- Interactive Paper Four Sounds Off
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| Holobox? Who Doesn't Want A Home Hologram? |
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'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
'Oscar picked up a trowel. 'I'm the tool for the mortar,' the little trowel squeaked cheerfully.'
'... he waited for the robotrix attendant to finish fueling up his ship.'
The Roujin Z system provides care to fully bedridden patients - and then some!
'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
