AboutSue Kayton Expertise Engineer who has read thousands of science fiction books and short stories. Can recommend stories on specific subjects and comment on technical feasibility. Especially good at older out-of-print books and authors.
Expert: Sue Kayton Date: 2/13/2008 Subject: Question about a short story from the early 1970's
Question Hi,
From your replies to other people on this forum, you seem pretty knowledgeable about lots of SciFi.
I'm looking for the name/author of a short SciFi story I read in the early 70's, while I was in junior high. It would be great if I could find it and read it again! I believe it was in a widely distributed school magazine like "Scholastic", maybe. It wasn't just our school that got this magazine, but lots of grade schools in the Chicago area got it at that time.
The plot, from what I remember, is that there's a contest, maybe a reality show, where the contestants do all sorts of dangerous tasks. The people in charge of the contest purposely sabotage things so the contestants are in danger, so it makes for a more thrilling event. For example, if the contestant needs to fly a plane, there's not much fuel, or one of the engines doesn't work right. Needless to say, not many people survive, but I think someone does, and they win fabulous prizes, including psychological counseling for going through the contest.
It's not much to go on, but I've been searching for this, on and off, for years, and have not found it. It was a really good story, and it has always stayed with me. I'd appreciate any help at all.
Thanks, and keep up the good work.
Jim G.
Answer sorry - never read this one. there are lots of stories about dangerous contests, but I can't remember one that was aimed at school-age kids. Did you try the SF story index? It usually only indexes "real" stories. You could also try emailing Scholastic or the MITSFS library.
