Playing Dungeons & Dragons today, someone said we needed magical WD-40 to open a door with wizard lock on it. I pointed out that there was indeed a standard magical item called oil of slipperiness. Moreover, thinking about such fictional lubricants reminded me of an ad I saw in a magazine or co...

Trailer released, Alien Earth TV series (2025)... identify the ship about to enter Earth's atmosphere. Ref: https://m.imdb.com/video/vi187681049/?ref_=ttvi_vi_imdb_1 My notes: I just saw Alien Romulus (2024), the mc is left in cyro-pod on Corbelan IV with excess supplies due to multiple deaths of...

I’m hoping you can help me identify a favorite childhood book I’ve been trying to remember. The story involves schoolchildren in space, psychics, a monkey and aliens on a distant planet. The book is set in the future and begins with two boys excited about leaving school for the holidays. They mak...

Was looking at anthologies and found out that Michael A. Stackpole had two stories whose titles start with "Field": Field Test and Field Trip. I wasn't sure if they're related, but looking for more info about the latter found me Field Trip (In Hero Years Book 3). Are both Field Trip-s the same st...

At the end of The Rhesus Chart, a few high-ranking members of The Laundry have been killed during a Code Red action. For most of them, this is a game over, as at best they can be brought as Residual Human Resources, but one of the killed is Since he is not a human, he can be given a new body. Bu...

In the Dune novel, the word "literjon" is used to describe single liter of water. (As far as I can tell.) Many words in Dune have origin in old languages, or just mix of languages, however just adding "jon" to existing common word in English look, well, too "simple". Can anyone tell the origin of...

fantasy novel in 70s ,80s or 90s. Of a world where people fought in duels inside designated areas. They would have tattoos/(brands?), on their forheads up to 7 sword symbols. These swords designated their rank. And with the 7th sword there could only be one. The protagonist loses one of his hands...

If I recall correctly the title of this short (approx. 200 page) novel was a woman was named Eve, or the title may have referenced Eve/Eden. Hundreds or thousands of ships were sent off in a blind hope of finding an inhabitable planet. Each ship had thousands of embryos and one adult. The beginni...

The alien eventually produces a creature that the human kills, only to discover at the end of the story that it was their baby

A then-teen-aged Charles Stross submitted a number of influential Advanced Dungeons & Dragons monsters to the "Fiend Factory" department of White Dwarf magazine, and these were later included in the Fiend Folio tome. These included the githyanki (which were the cover monster on the Fiend Folio),...