The plot of Hal Clement‘s story “The Mechanic” (1966) is awkward and dated, but it’s still noteworthy as an early exposition of biotechnology quite similar to current concepts.
the possibilities of time-travel
Jane Austen and the Terminator (cited by Chris Martin in a comment at Crooked Timber)
I read long ago (probably more than once) a short story that goes like this.
A man of a certain age (let’s call him Bob) mysteriously receives, unwanted, a subscription to Hereafter magazine – all about death: funerals, estate planning, that sort of thing. He angrily contacts the publisher, who explains that a crack team of actuaries has predicted that Bob will die within the next two years and is thus a prime prospect for Hereafter‘s advertisers.
Bob gets the wind up, resolving to prove the actuaries wrong, and triumphantly outlives the Hereafter subscription. But what’s this? It’s a subscription to Senility.
I was reminded of that story by a couple of spams for diabetes products.
Saturday at a gun shop, my eye was caught by the archaic stocks of a couple of Ruger “Vaquero” revolvers (modern versions of obsolete guns, made for rodeo sports). Looking closer, I saw that their calibers were .45 and .32. That puts me in my place.
2004 Sep 04: Oops! This post formerly linked to one (from 2002 Oct 05) that has now vanished. It said:
Rex Stout, author of the ‘Nero Wolfe’ mysteries, made a point never to use real-life brand names. But in “Death of a Demon” (1961) he went one step further: the murder weapon is a .32 revolver, and I at least have never (otherwise) heard of such a thing.
The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century: Questions and answers with Neal Stephenson. I am amused to learn this —
Stephenson said that he generally knows the ending to the story from the first day, from the “very first time he puts pen to paper”. “It’s just a matter of getting there.”
— because in Snow Crash and The Diamond Age he seems to have reached a given page-count and said to himself “Time to wrap it up.”