“Lost his faith in humanity in the trenches of Verdun” — last line of an SF storyThe last human and a last-of-his-kind alien escape the destruction of EarthShort story: super computers save humanityLast line: “I've finally gotten down to The Basics!”Short utopic story where robots “save” humanityShort story with last line about wearing a knurled capStory whose final line is “Let there be light!”Short story about a slower-than-light interstellar ship carrying the last seeds of humanityStory of lost tech but magic manifestsStory with dome-cities and the last horse being lost in transport accident60s, or earlier, story featuring the last living tree on Earth
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“Lost his faith in humanity in the trenches of Verdun” — last line of an SF story
The last human and a last-of-his-kind alien escape the destruction of EarthShort story: super computers save humanityLast line: “I've finally gotten down to The Basics!”Short utopic story where robots “save” humanityShort story with last line about wearing a knurled capStory whose final line is “Let there be light!”Short story about a slower-than-light interstellar ship carrying the last seeds of humanityStory of lost tech but magic manifestsStory with dome-cities and the last horse being lost in transport accident60s, or earlier, story featuring the last living tree on Earth
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I read this long story (novella?) a couple of decades ago, I believe, and probably in one of the SF magazines. There's a good chance this was in F&SF of the time.
It involves a priest who was an ex-soldier of WWI. He resides in a abbey that conceals a room that gives accurate visions of the future to one person in a generation who sits in it and dreams. He was that person for his time.
The next person in the line of oracles, so to speak, is a young woman who is drawn to that abbey. Stuff happens, the priest resists telling her about the room, but in the end she finds out -- by going into the room and seeing the world ending in nuclear war.
She accosts the priest and asks him why he didn't do anything, why didn't he use the room to guide humanity away from that terrible ending he also knew about.
His response was, "I lost my faith in humanity in the trenches of Verdun." (Obviously I am misremembering the exact quote as googlemind knows nothing about that.)
Does that ring a bell with anyone?
44 years, not a couple of decades. A powerful story, for me to remember it after reading it just once.
story-identification novella
asked Apr 18 at 23:46
Walt DonovanWalt Donovan
1787
add a comment |
I read this long story (novella?) a couple of decades ago, I believe, and probably in one of the SF magazines. There's a good chance this was in F&SF of the time.
It involves a priest who was an ex-soldier of WWI. He resides in a abbey that conceals a room that gives accurate visions of the future to one person in a generation who sits in it and dreams. He was that person for his time.
The next person in the line of oracles, so to speak, is a young woman who is drawn to that abbey. Stuff happens, the priest resists telling her about the room, but in the end she finds out -- by going into the room and seeing the world ending in nuclear war.
She accosts the priest and asks him why he didn't do anything, why didn't he use the room to guide humanity away from that terrible ending he also knew about.
His response was, "I lost my faith in humanity in the trenches of Verdun." (Obviously I am misremembering the exact quote as googlemind knows nothing about that.)
Does that ring a bell with anyone?
44 years, not a couple of decades. A powerful story, for me to remember it after reading it just once.
story-identification novella
asked Apr 18 at 23:46
Walt DonovanWalt Donovan
1787
add a comment |
I read this long story (novella?) a couple of decades ago, I believe, and probably in one of the SF magazines. There's a good chance this was in F&SF of the time.
It involves a priest who was an ex-soldier of WWI. He resides in a abbey that conceals a room that gives accurate visions of the future to one person in a generation who sits in it and dreams. He was that person for his time.
The next person in the line of oracles, so to speak, is a young woman who is drawn to that abbey. Stuff happens, the priest resists telling her about the room, but in the end she finds out -- by going into the room and seeing the world ending in nuclear war.
She accosts the priest and asks him why he didn't do anything, why didn't he use the room to guide humanity away from that terrible ending he also knew about.
His response was, "I lost my faith in humanity in the trenches of Verdun." (Obviously I am misremembering the exact quote as googlemind knows nothing about that.)
Does that ring a bell with anyone?
44 years, not a couple of decades. A powerful story, for me to remember it after reading it just once.
story-identification novella
asked Apr 18 at 23:46
Walt DonovanWalt Donovan
1787
I read this long story (novella?) a couple of decades ago, I believe, and probably in one of the SF magazines. There's a good chance this was in F&SF of the time.
It involves a priest who was an ex-soldier of WWI. He resides in a abbey that conceals a room that gives accurate visions of the future to one person in a generation who sits in it and dreams. He was that person for his time.
The next person in the line of oracles, so to speak, is a young woman who is drawn to that abbey. Stuff happens, the priest resists telling her about the room, but in the end she finds out -- by going into the room and seeing the world ending in nuclear war.
She accosts the priest and asks him why he didn't do anything, why didn't he use the room to guide humanity away from that terrible ending he also knew about.
His response was, "I lost my faith in humanity in the trenches of Verdun." (Obviously I am misremembering the exact quote as googlemind knows nothing about that.)
Does that ring a bell with anyone?
44 years, not a couple of decades. A powerful story, for me to remember it after reading it just once.
story-identification novella
story-identification novella
asked Apr 18 at 23:46
Walt DonovanWalt Donovan
1787
asked Apr 18 at 23:46
Walt DonovanWalt Donovan
1787
edited Apr 19 at 7:29
Walt Donovan
asked Apr 18 at 23:46
Walt DonovanWalt Donovan
1787
asked Apr 18 at 23:46
Walt DonovanWalt Donovan
1787
asked Apr 18 at 23:46
Walt DonovanWalt Donovan
1787
1787
add a comment |
add a comment |
1 Answer
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This is "The Custodians" (1975) by Richard Cowper.
You've remembered the gist of it quite well - the abbey, the prophetic room, the young woman, the fact that it appeared in F&SF.
The quote isn't quite as you recall, nor is it the last line, though it's near the end. It's not a spoken line but ruminations in the mind of the priest, Spindrift. It actually reads
...Spindrift's God had died in the mud of Ypres.
or maybe it's the line
...some vital spark of humanity had been extinguished far back in the
blood-stained ruins of 1917.
But the point is as you remembered, this prevents him from taking any action to ward off Armageddon.
answered Apr 19 at 4:33
Organic MarbleOrganic Marble
26.8k494137
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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This is "The Custodians" (1975) by Richard Cowper.
You've remembered the gist of it quite well - the abbey, the prophetic room, the young woman, the fact that it appeared in F&SF.
The quote isn't quite as you recall, nor is it the last line, though it's near the end. It's not a spoken line but ruminations in the mind of the priest, Spindrift. It actually reads
...Spindrift's God had died in the mud of Ypres.
or maybe it's the line
...some vital spark of humanity had been extinguished far back in the
blood-stained ruins of 1917.
But the point is as you remembered, this prevents him from taking any action to ward off Armageddon.
answered Apr 19 at 4:33
Organic MarbleOrganic Marble
26.8k494137
add a comment |
This is "The Custodians" (1975) by Richard Cowper.
You've remembered the gist of it quite well - the abbey, the prophetic room, the young woman, the fact that it appeared in F&SF.
The quote isn't quite as you recall, nor is it the last line, though it's near the end. It's not a spoken line but ruminations in the mind of the priest, Spindrift. It actually reads
...Spindrift's God had died in the mud of Ypres.
or maybe it's the line
...some vital spark of humanity had been extinguished far back in the
blood-stained ruins of 1917.
But the point is as you remembered, this prevents him from taking any action to ward off Armageddon.
answered Apr 19 at 4:33
Organic MarbleOrganic Marble
26.8k494137
add a comment |
This is "The Custodians" (1975) by Richard Cowper.
You've remembered the gist of it quite well - the abbey, the prophetic room, the young woman, the fact that it appeared in F&SF.
The quote isn't quite as you recall, nor is it the last line, though it's near the end. It's not a spoken line but ruminations in the mind of the priest, Spindrift. It actually reads
...Spindrift's God had died in the mud of Ypres.
or maybe it's the line
...some vital spark of humanity had been extinguished far back in the
blood-stained ruins of 1917.
But the point is as you remembered, this prevents him from taking any action to ward off Armageddon.
answered Apr 19 at 4:33
Organic MarbleOrganic Marble
26.8k494137
This is "The Custodians" (1975) by Richard Cowper.
You've remembered the gist of it quite well - the abbey, the prophetic room, the young woman, the fact that it appeared in F&SF.
The quote isn't quite as you recall, nor is it the last line, though it's near the end. It's not a spoken line but ruminations in the mind of the priest, Spindrift. It actually reads
...Spindrift's God had died in the mud of Ypres.
or maybe it's the line
...some vital spark of humanity had been extinguished far back in the
blood-stained ruins of 1917.
But the point is as you remembered, this prevents him from taking any action to ward off Armageddon.
answered Apr 19 at 4:33
Organic MarbleOrganic Marble
26.8k494137
edited Apr 19 at 13:00
answered Apr 19 at 4:33
Organic MarbleOrganic Marble
26.8k494137
answered Apr 19 at 4:33
Organic MarbleOrganic Marble
26.8k494137
answered Apr 19 at 4:33
Organic MarbleOrganic Marble
26.8k494137
26.8k494137
add a comment |
add a comment |
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