I read a short story I believe vaguely around 2003 in a print magazine. A group of astronomers sends a laser to bounce off a planet circling Alpha Centauri or some similarly close star. But it turns out the universe is a simulation, the planet is outside the bounds of the simulation, and the lase...

Some questions have a yellow background to them, what is the meaning of this?

I read this online, on a site for SFF short stories, at some point between mid-2016 and May 2017. I am confident it was published within the last 3-5 years or so. I don't know how many words it was. It seemed like a quick read, but obviously a lot happens in it. It seems like it should be easy ...

One of the Wizard superstitions that Ron mentions when discussing the Tale of the Three Brothers is that: May-born witches will marry Muggles. I'm a bit speculating here but the whole culture of the Wizards is anti-muggle or at least promotes minimal contact with muggles. This means that being...

There are lots of occasions in the books when Hogwarts grounds are hard or impossible to enter. And while they give lots of additional magical protection to it, the main thing that divide the inside and outside of Hogwarts' territory is the wall. But I was always wandering why noone ever though ...

The short story “How the World Was Saved”, from Stanislaw Lem’s The Cyberiad, opens as follows: “One day Trurl the constructor put together a machine that could create anything starting with n. When it was ready, he tried it out, ordering it to make needles, then nankeens and negligees, which it...

Looking for the name of a series of novels I read a few years ago. A brutal species of alien determined to be the quickest, strongest, most brutal... individuals possible, have takes a group of humans from their colony ship(?) and places them on the aliens "sacred" planet. "Sacred" because of t...

In many of the Horus Heresy books the Thousand Sons legions use the enumerations. These are numbered, I THINK there are eight (although I don't know where I got that from) and we know each are numbered. What exactly are the enumerations and what are the properties of each?

In Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers series, Peter, the main character, has a father (Lord Grant) who was repeatedly almost famous. There are enough hints and descriptions of the various events, that I’m curious if the character was based on any particular real life person. Perhaps as a nod and a wink to ...

I have been trying to remember a novel I read somewhere in the (late?) 1990s. It was about a boy living in an isolated village. He treks into the forest to receive a new name (true name?) from an old venerated hermit. It is a custom of the village for those coming of age to do so. The name is mea...

1) Going by the fact that humans have 46 chromosomes, for centaurs, half-giants, part-veelas, part-goblins and sphinxes to exist, horses, giants, lions, veelas and goblins should have 46 chromosomes too. Therefore, other combinations should be possible too: giant-horses, giant-goblins, etc. Are t...

Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee died at age 95 from causes unknown as of now. https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/11/12/stan-lee-dead-at-95

I read it long time ago. So, I remember only few things. I think it was a soulmate fic. Harmony goes back in time to their second year. When Harry was in chamber with Ginny. Harry tells Ginny that he failed to protect as a brother. Ginny doesn't like this. Later in Weasley house he apologize agai...

I am looking for the author and title of a story about a phase ship that departs the Earth against orders. They visit a few planets meeting alien races and empty planets and then return home to possible court martial.

I'm looking for a story that I heard on audiobook about 10 years ago. It was about a guy (young adult maybe?) who finds out that he can walk between planes. There are a whole arc of worlds, that range from pure science to pure magic. He is from one in the middle. He finds that there is a versio...

We do have questions on Whether Stan Lee was a Watcher in all his cameo roles (though this was answered almost 2-3 years ago) and a list of films he did not appear in. but i am looking for a definitive list of Marvel Films/Series and Stan Lee himself was in and what was his role was (ie. Talking ...