Hopefully someone's memory gets jogged

I read this 1970ish, and it was likely already
old because I think... it used the older name
for one of the railroad systems [a].

Plot: people wake up to an force field dome that surrounds
Manhattan, NYC. Nothing solid can get through, and air
is just slowly diffusing across by "osmosis" - with the
lead character pointing out something like "NYC is too
large a 'cell' to survive with just that"

A related problem is ... the energy field is
causing the regular ozygen ("O2") to convert
to quasi poisonous ozone ("O3"), so the lead
folk actually set fires along the border to
"burn off" the ozone.

Getting people super pissed...

It turns out, iirc, one of the commuter trains,
which the story referred to as "The Tubes" [a],
given that it crossed under the Hudson, can still
get people in and out, but for some reason I
don't remember, they couldn't use it for that
purpose. However, they were accepting volunteers
who could ride the Staten Island Ferry to the
dome's border and... they could swim under it.

Anyway, does this sound at all familar?

Oh, the group working to solve the problem
is... the "Screen Team", which was working
on a similar dome - which, of course, they
could turn on and off.. - as a nuclear bomb
safety shield.

Thanks muchly

[a] the Hudson and Manhattan Tubes ("H&M") was
the earlier name for what's now called "Port
Authority Trans Hudson ("PATH"). It's similar
to the NYC subway system but is entirely separate
and runs, via two tunnels, from lower Manhattan
to a bunch of places, ending up in Newark, NJ

_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> writes:
>Hopefully someone's memory gets jogged

>[a] the Hudson and Manhattan Tubes ("H&M") was
>the earlier name for what's now called "Port
>Authority Trans Hudson ("PATH"). It's similar
>to the NYC subway system but is entirely separate

But they share a station (WTC) in lower manhatten, right?

On Thursday, June 1, 2023 at 3:15:15 PM UTC-4, Scott Lurndal wrote:
> danny burstein <dan...@panix.com> writes:
> >Hopefully someone's memory gets jogged
> >[a] the Hudson and Manhattan Tubes ("H&M") was
> >the earlier name for what's now called "Port
> >Authority Trans Hudson ("PATH"). It's similar
> >to the NYC subway system but is entirely separate
> But they share a station (WTC) in lower manhatten, right?

I can only speak for the pre-9/11 configuration, but not
really. You could leave the IND and IRT lines, walk tunnels
to the WTC mall, (the entire complex sat on a common base
which was basically a mall), then down the escalators to the
PATH station.

All without going outside or above ground, but it was probably
over a quarter mile. is that 'sharing a station'? I'd say not.

danny burstein wrote:
> Hopefully someone's memory gets jogged
>
> I read this 1970ish, and it was likely already
> old because I think... it used the older name
> for one of the railroad systems [a].
>
> Plot: people wake up to an force field dome that surrounds
> Manhattan, NYC. Nothing solid can get through, and air
> is just slowly diffusing across by "osmosis" - with the
> lead character pointing out something like "NYC is too
> large a 'cell' to survive with just that"
>
> A related problem is ... the energy field is
> causing the regular ozygen ("O2") to convert
> to quasi poisonous ozone ("O3"), so the lead
> folk actually set fires along the border to
> "burn off" the ozone.
>
> Anyway, does this sound at all familar?
>
> Oh, the group working to solve the problem
> is... the "Screen Team", which was working
> on a similar dome - which, of course, they
> could turn on and off.. - as a nuclear bomb
> safety shield.
>
> Thanks muchly

I'm thinking there is another similar story, but one matching you description is "The Box" by James Blish. If you read it around the '70s, it was probably in "The Best of ___" series volume on him.

--
-Jack

I saw Stephen King's "Under the Dome" (2009) as
suspiciously similar to James Follett's series containing
"The Temple of the Winds" (2000), "Wicca", and
"The Silent Vulcan", usually named as a set after the latter.
But, maybe not?

On 6/2/2023 6:59 AM, Robert Carnegie wrote:
> I saw Stephen King's "Under the Dome" (2009) as
> suspiciously similar to James Follett's series containing
> "The Temple of the Winds" (2000), "Wicca", and
> "The Silent Vulcan", usually named as a set after the latter.
> But, maybe not?

King's book came out after the Simpsons's Under the Dome episode.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/stephen-king-refuses-to-believe-the-simpsons-did-under-the-dome-first/articleshow/21004866.cms

Lynn

>>>>> On 2023-06-02, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>>>>> On 6/2/2023 6:59 AM, Robert Carnegie wrote:

>> I saw Stephen King's "Under the Dome" (2009) as suspiciously similar
>> to James Follett's series containing "The Temple of the Winds"
>> (2000), "Wicca", and "The Silent Vulcan", usually named as a set
>> after the latter.

>> But, maybe not?

> King's book came out after the Simpsons's Under the Dome episode.

> https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/stephen-king-refuses-to-believe-the-simpsons-did-under-the-dome-first/articleshow/21004866.cms

I'd suspect some influence from Simak's "All Flesh is Grass"
from 1965, too. (But then again, I'm somewhat of a Simak's fan.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Flesh_is_Grass_(novel)

--
FSF associate member #7257 http://am-1.org/~ivan/

On Friday, 2 June 2023 at 20:55:41 UTC+1, Ivan Shmakov wrote:
> >>>>> On 2023-06-02, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> >>>>> On 6/2/2023 6:59 AM, Robert Carnegie wrote:
>
> >> I saw Stephen King's "Under the Dome" (2009) as suspiciously similar
> >> to James Follett's series containing "The Temple of the Winds"
> >> (2000), "Wicca", and "The Silent Vulcan", usually named as a set
> >> after the latter.
>
> >> But, maybe not?
>
> > King's book came out after the Simpsons's Under the Dome episode.
>
> > https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/stephen-king-refuses-to-believe-the-simpsons-did-under-the-dome-first/articleshow/21004866.cms

He doesn't exactly "refuse to believe" it, as told.
He expresses surprise. And the story is confused
about whether it's a film or a "special episode".

> I'd suspect some influence from Simak's "All Flesh is Grass"
> from 1965, too. (But then again, I'm somewhat of a Simak's fan.)
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Flesh_is_Grass_(novel)

https://auxiliarymemory.com/2014/05/14/forgotten-science-fiction-all-flesh-is-grass-by-clifford-d-simak/
Is a review which contains a claim that Stephen King
started his story in 1972.

_The Midwich Cuckoos_ is from 1957. That has
a temporary dome of unconsciousness, but rescuers
can pass a canary, caged I suppose, into the field
and out again. The UFO and the dome leave before
further investigation can be done.

_Skylark Three_ (1930) has an opaque and impenetrable
"zone of force" invention, I think it's called. Being opaque
and impenetrable, it isn't very practical as protection.

In "The Machine Stops" (1909), exiting the Machine
is strongly discouraged, at least.

On Sat, 3 Jun 2023 05:36:10 -0700 (PDT), Robert Carnegie
<rja.carnegie@excite.com> wrote:

>On Friday, 2 June 2023 at 20:55:41 UTC+1, Ivan Shmakov wrote:
>> >>>>> On 2023-06-02, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> >>>>> On 6/2/2023 6:59 AM, Robert Carnegie wrote:
>>
>> >> I saw Stephen King's "Under the Dome" (2009) as suspiciously similar
>> >> to James Follett's series containing "The Temple of the Winds"
>> >> (2000), "Wicca", and "The Silent Vulcan", usually named as a set
>> >> after the latter.
>>
>> >> But, maybe not?
>>
>> > King's book came out after the Simpsons's Under the Dome episode.
>>
>> > https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/stephen-king-refuses-to-believe-the-simpsons-did-under-the-dome-first/articleshow/21004866.cms
>
>He doesn't exactly "refuse to believe" it, as told.
>He expresses surprise. And the story is confused
>about whether it's a film or a "special episode".
>
>> I'd suspect some influence from Simak's "All Flesh is Grass"
>> from 1965, too. (But then again, I'm somewhat of a Simak's fan.)
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Flesh_is_Grass_(novel)
>
>https://auxiliarymemory.com/2014/05/14/forgotten-science-fiction-all-flesh-is-grass-by-clifford-d-simak/
>Is a review which contains a claim that Stephen King
>started his story in 1972.
>
>_The Midwich Cuckoos_ is from 1957. That has
>a temporary dome of unconsciousness, but rescuers
>can pass a canary, caged I suppose, into the field
>and out again. The UFO and the dome leave before
>further investigation can be done.

What UFO?

>_Skylark Three_ (1930) has an opaque and impenetrable
>"zone of force" invention, I think it's called. Being opaque
>and impenetrable, it isn't very practical as protection.
>
>In "The Machine Stops" (1909), exiting the Machine
>is strongly discouraged, at least.
--
"In this connexion, unquestionably the most significant
development was the disintegration, under Christian
influence, of classical conceptions of the family and
of family right."

On Thu, 1 Jun 2023 13:47:52 -0700 (PDT), Jack Bohn wrote:

> danny burstein wrote:
>> Hopefully someone's memory gets jogged
>>
>> I read this 1970ish, and it was likely already
>> old because I think... it used the older name
>> for one of the railroad systems [a].
>>
>> Plot: people wake up to an force field dome that surrounds
>> Manhattan, NYC. Nothing solid can get through, and air
>> is just slowly diffusing across by "osmosis" - with the
>> lead character pointing out something like "NYC is too
>> large a 'cell' to survive with just that"
>>
>> A related problem is ... the energy field is
>> causing the regular ozygen ("O2") to convert
>> to quasi poisonous ozone ("O3"), so the lead
>> folk actually set fires along the border to
>> "burn off" the ozone.
>>
>> Anyway, does this sound at all familar?
>>
>> Oh, the group working to solve the problem
>> is... the "Screen Team", which was working
>> on a similar dome - which, of course, they
>> could turn on and off.. - as a nuclear bomb
>> safety shield.
>>
>> Thanks muchly
>
> I'm thinking there is another similar story, but one matching you
description is "The Box" by James Blish. If you read it around the '70s,
it was probably in "The Best of ___" series volume on him.

Thank you for posting this, it was driving me to (more) distraction
to try to find the story. I had read a later post in the thread,
and remembered it -- which read it in an anthology, remembered
that the author was _probably_ James Blish. It's a relief that the OP
was about that very story.

The problem of the story wasn't getting the screen to come up, but
the "screen team" had to get the screen down. They didn't cause
the dome to appear, someone else did. Part of the story
is determining how how it works, and where the source is.

It's revealed in the beginning of the story that the
Empire State Building main antenna was the center
of the dome. Will leave it at that, it's worth
reading. :)

--
-v
(Scott)

On Sat, 3 Jun 2023 05:36:10 -0700 (PDT), Robert Carnegie wrote:

> On Friday, 2 June 2023 at 20:55:41 UTC+1, Ivan Shmakov wrote:
>> >>>>> On 2023-06-02, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> >>>>> On 6/2/2023 6:59 AM, Robert Carnegie wrote:
>>
>> >> I saw Stephen King's "Under the Dome" (2009) as suspiciously similar
>> >> to James Follett's series containing "The Temple of the Winds"
>> >> (2000), "Wicca", and "The Silent Vulcan", usually named as a set
>> >> after the latter.
>>
>> >> But, maybe not?
>>
>> > King's book came out after the Simpsons's Under the Dome episode.
>>
>> > https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/
stephen-king-refuses-to-believe-the-simpsons-did-under-the-dome-first/
articleshow/21004866.cms
>
> He doesn't exactly "refuse to believe" it, as told.
> He expresses surprise. And the story is confused about whether it's a
> film or a "special episode".
>
>> I'd suspect some influence from Simak's "All Flesh is Grass" from 1965,
>> too. (But then again, I'm somewhat of a Simak's fan.)
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Flesh_is_Grass_(novel)
>
> https://auxiliarymemory.com/2014/05/14/forgotten-science-fiction-all-
flesh-is-grass-by-clifford-d-simak/
> Is a review which contains a claim that Stephen King started his story
> in 1972.
>
> _The Midwich Cuckoos_ is from 1957. That has a temporary dome of
> unconsciousness, but rescuers can pass a canary, caged I suppose, into
> the field and out again. The UFO and the dome leave before further
> investigation can be done.
>
> _Skylark Three_ (1930) has an opaque and impenetrable "zone of force"
> invention, I think it's called. Being opaque and impenetrable, it isn't
> very practical as protection.
>
> In "The Machine Stops" (1909), exiting the Machine is strongly
> discouraged, at least.

"The Box" (from Thrilling Wonder Stories, Apr. 1949)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_of_James_Blish

--
-v

In article <79271895-5caa-4395-922e-d117a98c1e48n@googlegroups.com>,
Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> wrote:
>On Friday, 2 June 2023 at 20:55:41 UTC+1, Ivan Shmakov wrote:
>> >>>>> On 2023-06-02, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> >>>>> On 6/2/2023 6:59 AM, Robert Carnegie wrote:
>>
>> >> I saw Stephen King's "Under the Dome" (2009) as suspiciously similar
>> >> to James Follett's series containing "The Temple of the Winds"
>> >> (2000), "Wicca", and "The Silent Vulcan", usually named as a set
>> >> after the latter.
>>
>> >> But, maybe not?
>>
>> > King's book came out after the Simpsons's Under the Dome episode.
>>
>> >
>https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/stephen-king-refuses-to-believe-the-simpsons-did-under-the-dome-first/articleshow/21004866.cms
>
>He doesn't exactly "refuse to believe" it, as told.
>He expresses surprise. And the story is confused
>about whether it's a film or a "special episode".
>
>> I'd suspect some influence from Simak's "All Flesh is Grass"
>> from 1965, too. (But then again, I'm somewhat of a Simak's fan.)
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Flesh_is_Grass_(novel)
>
>https://auxiliarymemory.com/2014/05/14/forgotten-science-fiction-all-flesh-is-grass-by-clifford-d-simak/
>Is a review which contains a claim that Stephen King
>started his story in 1972.
>
>_The Midwich Cuckoos_ is from 1957. That has
>a temporary dome of unconsciousness, but rescuers
>can pass a canary, caged I suppose, into the field
>and out again. The UFO and the dome leave before
>further investigation can be done.
>
>_Skylark Three_ (1930) has an opaque and impenetrable
>"zone of force" invention, I think it's called. Being opaque
>and impenetrable, it isn't very practical as protection.
>
>In "The Machine Stops" (1909), exiting the Machine
>is strongly discouraged, at least.

Doesn't Heinlein's "Coventry" have something similar?
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) writes:
>In article <79271895-5caa-4395-922e-d117a98c1e48n@googlegroups.com>,
>Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> wrote:
>>On Friday, 2 June 2023 at 20:55:41 UTC+1, Ivan Shmakov wrote:
>>> >>>>> On 2023-06-02, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>>> >>>>> On 6/2/2023 6:59 AM, Robert Carnegie wrote:
>>>
>>> >> I saw Stephen King's "Under the Dome" (2009) as suspiciously similar
>>> >> to James Follett's series containing "The Temple of the Winds"
>>> >> (2000), "Wicca", and "The Silent Vulcan", usually named as a set
>>> >> after the latter.
>>>
>>> >> But, maybe not?
>>>
>>> > King's book came out after the Simpsons's Under the Dome episode.
>>>
>>> >
>>https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/stephen-king-refuses-to-believe-the-simpsons-did-under-the-dome-first/articleshow/21004866.cms
>>
>>He doesn't exactly "refuse to believe" it, as told.
>>He expresses surprise. And the story is confused
>>about whether it's a film or a "special episode".
>>
>>> I'd suspect some influence from Simak's "All Flesh is Grass"
>>> from 1965, too. (But then again, I'm somewhat of a Simak's fan.)
>>>
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Flesh_is_Grass_(novel)
>>
>>https://auxiliarymemory.com/2014/05/14/forgotten-science-fiction-all-flesh-is-grass-by-clifford-d-simak/
>>Is a review which contains a claim that Stephen King
>>started his story in 1972.
>>
>>_The Midwich Cuckoos_ is from 1957. That has
>>a temporary dome of unconsciousness, but rescuers
>>can pass a canary, caged I suppose, into the field
>>and out again. The UFO and the dome leave before
>>further investigation can be done.
>>
>>_Skylark Three_ (1930) has an opaque and impenetrable
>>"zone of force" invention, I think it's called. Being opaque
>>and impenetrable, it isn't very practical as protection.
>>
>>In "The Machine Stops" (1909), exiting the Machine
>>is strongly discouraged, at least.
>
>Doesn't Heinlein's "Coventry" have something similar?

I thought that was a wall, rather than a dome.

Blish's Cities in flight are domed.

In article <79271895-5caa-4395-922e-d117a98c1e48n@googlegroups.com>,
Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> wrote:
>_Skylark Three_ (1930) has an opaque and impenetrable
>"zone of force" invention, I think it's called. Being opaque
>and impenetrable, it isn't very practical as protection.

(Hal Heydt)
Actually, it works just fine as a defense, but you have to drop
it--however briefly--to see if the attack has ended. Then Seaton
gets clever and figures out a way to turn it into a very
effective weapon.

On Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 9:47:05 AM UTC-6, vallor wrote:

> "The Box" (from Thrilling Wonder Stories, Apr. 1949)

Ah, that would be _this_ issue:

https://archive.org/details/Thrilling_Wonder_Stories_v34n01_1949-04/page/n3/mode/2up

John Savard

On Sat, 3 Jun 2023 12:52:17 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc wrote:

> On Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 9:47:05 AM UTC-6, vallor wrote:
>
>> "The Box" (from Thrilling Wonder Stories, Apr. 1949)
>
> Ah, that would be _this_ issue:
>
> https://archive.org/details/Thrilling_Wonder_Stories_v34n01_1949-04/
page/n3/mode/2up
>
> John Savard

And there it is. I just re-read it.

Thank you for the link :)

--
-v
(Scott)

On Saturday, 3 June 2023 at 16:37:57 UTC+1, Paul S Person wrote:
> On Sat, 3 Jun 2023 05:36:10 -0700 (PDT), Robert Carnegie
> <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote:
> >_The Midwich Cuckoos_ is from 1957. That has
> >a temporary dome of unconsciousness, but rescuers
> >can pass a canary, caged I suppose, into the field
> >and out again. The UFO and the dome leave before
> >further investigation can be done.
>
> What UFO?

Well - trusting <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Midwich_Cuckoos>

"Aerial photography shows an unidentifiable silvery object
on the ground in the centre of the affected zone. After one
day, the effect vanishes, along with the unidentified object
and the villagers wake with no apparent ill effects.
Some months later they realise that every woman of
child-bearing age is pregnant."

I'm assuming that's a UFO. But it would be leaving
with a lot of scrutiny. It's unusual for it to "vanish".
But maybe aliens turned up their "go to sleep" ray
so anyone who should be watching, wouldn't be.
And they might not notice.

In <u5g9ml$3iufu$3@dont-email.me> vallor <vallor@cultnix.org> writes:

>On Sat, 3 Jun 2023 12:52:17 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc wrote:

>> On Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 9:47:05 AM UTC-6, vallor wrote:
>>
>>> "The Box" (from Thrilling Wonder Stories, Apr. 1949)
>>
>> Ah, that would be _this_ issue:
>>
>> https://archive.org/details/Thrilling_Wonder_Stories_v34n01_1949-04/
>page/n3/mode/2up
>>
>> John Savard

>And there it is. I just re-read it.

>Thank you for the link :)

Gotta say I _love_ the adverts...!

thanks again

--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

On Thursday, June 1, 2023 at 1:52:39 PM UTC-5, danny burstein wrote:
> Hopefully someone's memory gets jogged
>
> I read this 1970ish, and it was likely already
> old because I think... it used the older name
> for one of the railroad systems [a].
>
> Plot: people wake up to an force field dome that surrounds
> Manhattan, NYC. Nothing solid can get through, and air
> is just slowly diffusing across by "osmosis" - with the
> lead character pointing out something like "NYC is too
> large a 'cell' to survive with just that"
>
> A related problem is ... the energy field is
> causing the regular ozygen ("O2") to convert
> to quasi poisonous ozone ("O3"), so the lead
> folk actually set fires along the border to
> "burn off" the ozone.
>
> Getting people super pissed...
>
> It turns out, iirc, one of the commuter trains,
> which the story referred to as "The Tubes" [a],
> given that it crossed under the Hudson, can still
> get people in and out, but for some reason I
> don't remember, they couldn't use it for that
> purpose. However, they were accepting volunteers
> who could ride the Staten Island Ferry to the
> dome's border and... they could swim under it.
>
> Anyway, does this sound at all familar?
>
> Oh, the group working to solve the problem
> is... the "Screen Team", which was working
> on a similar dome - which, of course, they
> could turn on and off.. - as a nuclear bomb
> safety shield.
>
> Thanks muchly
>
> [a] the Hudson and Manhattan Tubes ("H&M") was
> the earlier name for what's now called "Port
> Authority Trans Hudson ("PATH"). It's similar
> to the NYC subway system but is entirely separate
> and runs, via two tunnels, from lower Manhattan
> to a bunch of places, ending up in Newark, NJ
>
> _____________________________________________________
> Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key

The classic NYC-trapped-under-force-field-dome story (not the one
you described) is "The Lanson Screen" by Arthur Leo Zagat.
https://archive.org/details/Thrilling_Wonder_Stories_v08n03_1936-12/page/n41/mode/2up

On Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 8:24:20 PM UTC-4, Butch Malahide wrote:
> On Thursday, June 1, 2023 at 1:52:39 PM UTC-5, danny burstein wrote:
> > Hopefully someone's memory gets jogged
> >
> > I read this 1970ish, and it was likely already
> > old because I think... it used the older name
> > for one of the railroad systems [a].
> >
> > Plot: people wake up to an force field dome that surrounds
> > Manhattan, NYC. Nothing solid can get through, and air
> > is just slowly diffusing across by "osmosis" - with the
> > lead character pointing out something like "NYC is too
> > large a 'cell' to survive with just that"
> >
> > A related problem is ... the energy field is
> > causing the regular ozygen ("O2") to convert
> > to quasi poisonous ozone ("O3"), so the lead
> > folk actually set fires along the border to
> > "burn off" the ozone.
> >
> > Getting people super pissed...
> >
> > It turns out, iirc, one of the commuter trains,
> > which the story referred to as "The Tubes" [a],
> > given that it crossed under the Hudson, can still
> > get people in and out, but for some reason I
> > don't remember, they couldn't use it for that
> > purpose. However, they were accepting volunteers
> > who could ride the Staten Island Ferry to the
> > dome's border and... they could swim under it.
> >
> > Anyway, does this sound at all familar?
> >
> > Oh, the group working to solve the problem
> > is... the "Screen Team", which was working
> > on a similar dome - which, of course, they
> > could turn on and off.. - as a nuclear bomb
> > safety shield.
> >

One can put the entire planet behind a polymer shield....

https://comicsarcheology.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image021-LSH288.jpg

https://www.comics.org/issue/892648/ LSH #288 | June 1982

LLL!
--
Kevin R

On Sat, 3 Jun 2023 14:03:39 -0700 (PDT), Robert Carnegie
<rja.carnegie@excite.com> wrote:

>On Saturday, 3 June 2023 at 16:37:57 UTC+1, Paul S Person wrote:
>> On Sat, 3 Jun 2023 05:36:10 -0700 (PDT), Robert Carnegie
>> <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote:
>> >_The Midwich Cuckoos_ is from 1957. That has
>> >a temporary dome of unconsciousness, but rescuers
>> >can pass a canary, caged I suppose, into the field
>> >and out again. The UFO and the dome leave before
>> >further investigation can be done.
>>
>> What UFO?
>
>Well - trusting <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Midwich_Cuckoos>
>
>"Aerial photography shows an unidentifiable silvery object
>on the ground in the centre of the affected zone. After one
>day, the effect vanishes, along with the unidentified object
>and the villagers wake with no apparent ill effects.
>Some months later they realise that every woman of
>child-bearing age is pregnant."
>
>I'm assuming that's a UFO. But it would be leaving
>with a lot of scrutiny. It's unusual for it to "vanish".
>But maybe aliens turned up their "go to sleep" ray
>so anyone who should be watching, wouldn't be.
>And they might not notice.

Ah. You are discussing the book. I was thinking of the movie (/Village
of the Damned/).
--
"In this connexion, unquestionably the most significant
development was the disintegration, under Christian
influence, of classical conceptions of the family and
of family right."

>>>>> On 2023-06-03, Robert Carnegie wrote:
>>>>> On Friday, 2 June 2023 at 20:55:41 UTC+1, Ivan Shmakov wrote:

>> I'd suspect some influence from Simak's "All Flesh is Grass"
>> from 1965, too. (But then again, I'm somewhat of a Simak's fan.)

>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Flesh_is_Grass_(novel)

> https://auxiliarymemory.com/2014/05/14/forgotten-science-fiction-all-flesh-is-grass-by-clifford-d-simak/

> Is a review which contains a claim that Stephen King started his
> story in 1972.

Wonder if there's any evidence to back this claim.

> _The Midwich Cuckoos_ is from 1957. That has a temporary dome of
> unconsciousness, but rescuers can pass a canary, caged I suppose,
> into the field and out again. The UFO and the dome leave before
> further investigation can be done.

Haven't read the book, but from what I recall from the movie,
there's a plot point similarity with Simak's "Kindergarten"
from 1953. (Only in the latter it's vending machine-like
apparatuses that are sent as the first wave of alien invasion.)

> _Skylark Three_ (1930) has an opaque and impenetrable
> "zone of force" invention, I think it's called. Being opaque
> and impenetrable, it isn't very practical as protection.

> In "The Machine Stops" (1909), exiting the Machine is strongly
> discouraged, at least.

Just read it on http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops .
Can't say I see it as 'discouraged,' rather something that no
'sane' person apparently has much desire doing. Later in the
story it gets effectively prohibited, though.

(There's also some contrast with H. G. Wells' Eloi and Morlocks
to think about, I suppose.)

TMS> Do not learn anything about this subject of mine - the French
TMS> Revolution. Learn instead what I think that Enicharmon thought
TMS> Urizen thought Gutch thought Ho-Yung thought Chi-Bo-Sing thought
TMS> Lafcadio Hearn thought Carlyle thought Mirabeau said about the
TMS> French Revolution.

Now I'm curious as well. I quite liked Lafcadio Hearn's
"Kwaidan" (both as I've read it first as a kid, and as I've
reread it as an adult some years back); perhaps should look
for more from the author.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Kwaidan:_Stories_and_Studies_of_Strange_Things

Frankly, I find it quite amazing that stories from a century
ago remain so relatable. (Or is it just me?) Sure, I can
enjoy Le Fanu's "The Room in the Dragon Volant" as well
(and then idly wonder how Gyrotank's "Offensive Care" ended up
'borrowing' its plot point of a skilled actress drugging the
protagonist), and yet there's something of a hassle of having
to get through the changed culture (and perhaps language too.)

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Room_in_the_Dragon_Volant

--
FSF associate member #7257 http://am-1.org/~ivan/

On Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 8:24:20 PM UTC-4, Butch Malahide wrote:
> On Thursday, June 1, 2023 at 1:52:39 PM UTC-5, danny burstein wrote:
> > Hopefully someone's memory gets jogged
> >
> > I read this 1970ish, and it was likely already
> > old because I think... it used the older name
> > for one of the railroad systems [a].
> >
> > Plot: people wake up to an force field dome that surrounds
> > Manhattan, NYC. Nothing solid can get through, and air
> > is just slowly diffusing across by "osmosis" - with the
> > lead character pointing out something like "NYC is too
> > large a 'cell' to survive with just that"
> >
> > A related problem is ... the energy field is
> > causing the regular ozygen ("O2") to convert
> > to quasi poisonous ozone ("O3"), so the lead
> > folk actually set fires along the border to
> > "burn off" the ozone.
> >
> > Getting people super pissed...
> >
> > It turns out, iirc, one of the commuter trains,
> > which the story referred to as "The Tubes" [a],
> > given that it crossed under the Hudson, can still
> > get people in and out, but for some reason I
> > don't remember, they couldn't use it for that
> > purpose. However, they were accepting volunteers
> > who could ride the Staten Island Ferry to the
> > dome's border and... they could swim under it.
> >
> > Anyway, does this sound at all familar?
> >
> > Oh, the group working to solve the problem
> > is... the "Screen Team", which was working
> > on a similar dome - which, of course, they
> > could turn on and off.. - as a nuclear bomb
> > safety shield.
> >
> > Thanks muchly
> >
> > [a] the Hudson and Manhattan Tubes ("H&M") was
> > the earlier name for what's now called "Port
> > Authority Trans Hudson ("PATH"). It's similar
> > to the NYC subway system but is entirely separate
> > and runs, via two tunnels, from lower Manhattan
> > to a bunch of places, ending up in Newark, NJ
> >
> > _____________________________________________________
> > Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
> The classic NYC-trapped-under-force-field-dome story (not the one
> you described) is "The Lanson Screen" by Arthur Leo Zagat.
> https://archive.org/details/Thrilling_Wonder_Stories_v08n03_1936-12/page/n41/mode/2up

I recall reading a story, back in the 80s? in a 'future of America' anthology which included a tour of post
collapse NYC, which was still under a vast dome that hovered over the city, held up by hot air(?).
Inside, the atmosphere was unbreathable, except in the subways, where a decrepit tribe of the last
remaining New Yorkers had clung on for centuries, using subway tokens as currency.

Pt

In article <rvoz5D.FMz@kithrup.com>,
Dorothy J Heydt <djheydt@kithrup.com> wrote:
>In article <79271895-5caa-4395-922e-d117a98c1e48n@googlegroups.com>,
>Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> wrote:
>>_Skylark Three_ (1930) has an opaque and impenetrable
>>"zone of force" invention, I think it's called. Being opaque
>>and impenetrable, it isn't very practical as protection.
>
>(Hal Heydt)
>Actually, it works just fine as a defense, but you have to drop
>it--however briefly--to see if the attack has ended. Then Seaton
>gets clever and figures out a way to turn it into a very
>effective weapon.

If it can be flickered, it could be a decent slicer.

--
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My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

In article <u5j3bb$q49$1@reader1.panix.com>,
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
>In article <rvoz5D.FMz@kithrup.com>,
>Dorothy J Heydt <djheydt@kithrup.com> wrote:
>>In article <79271895-5caa-4395-922e-d117a98c1e48n@googlegroups.com>,
>>Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> wrote:
>>>_Skylark Three_ (1930) has an opaque and impenetrable
>>>"zone of force" invention, I think it's called. Being opaque
>>>and impenetrable, it isn't very practical as protection.
>>
>>(Hal Heydt)
>>Actually, it works just fine as a defense, but you have to drop
>>it--however briefly--to see if the attack has ended. Then Seaton
>>gets clever and figures out a way to turn it into a very
>>effective weapon.
>
>If it can be flickered, it could be a decent slicer.

(Hal Heydt)
Exactly.