Fantasy and Science Fiction has resumed their competition series, and the latest challenge is to combine the title of a genre book or story with another name, and describing the plot of the combined work. I’ve never entered the competitions before, but I thought I could come up with a few reasonable entries for this one:
- The Fountains of Paradise Lost,
based on “The Fountains of Paradise” by Arthur C. Clarke, and
“Inferno” by Dante Alighieri:Â In the afterlife, an engineer devises a plan to escape hell by means of a hyperfilament elevator. - And He Built This Crooked Old House,
based on “And He Built a Crooked House” by Robert A. Heinlein, and
This Old House (television series):Â Series host Quintus Teal offers helpful advice to those living in tesseract housing, covering topics such as window installation and maintenance, and earthquake preparedness. - A Boy and His Reservoir Dogs,
based on “A Boy and His Dog” by Harlan Ellison, and
Reservoir Dogs (film):Â In a post-apocalyptic world, eight boys, referred to only by colors as pseudonyms, and a telepathic dog attempt to raid the underground city of Topeka. Only one boy and the dog escape, and capture the policewoman pursuing them. Desperately hungry, the boy considers eating the dog, but instead cuts off the policeman’s ear and shares it with the dog. - The Robots of Dawn of the Dead,
based on “The Robots of Dawn” by Isaac Asimov, and
Dawn of the Dead (film):Â A moral dilemma on a trimensional soap opera burns out the “Three Laws” positronic pathways of robots that observe it, allowing them to act on their long-repressed hunger for human flesh. - Return of the Lion King,
based on “Return of the King” by J.R.R. Tolkein, and
The Lion King (film):Â After years of separation from his tribe, Simba finally must face his destiny, taking up his late father’s quest to defeat Sauron by casting the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom. - From Here to the End of Eternity,
baseed on “The End of Eternity” by Isaac Asimov, and
From Here to Eternity (film):Â Eternals must make the Minimum Necessary Change to get Prewitt to resume boxing for his Army company before Pearl Harbor is bombed.