Hi Sars —

Perhaps someone
could help me find this book?

I read it in high-school, grade 10 or so, and
I can’t recall the title or author but have thought about it often enough
that some 20 years later I’d like to read it again.

It was a sci-fi novel,
or rather three novellas collected in one book. It was set in England, and
featured a family in which the father was employed in some kind of military
or intelligence work.

The first novella ends with a nuclear war: the father and son manage to get
to the secret underground military bunker in time to be protected, while the
mother and daughter are trapped on the surface.

In the second novella, the daughter has survived and grown up, lives with a
small group of people trying to eke out a post-nuclear existence, and has
given birth to an albino daughter with some interesting abilities.

In the third novella, a culture of sorts has emerged on the surface, made up
mostly of people who have the same adaptations as the albino daughter in the
second novella, and who are able to function just fine in the post-nuclear
condition of the earth. As I recall, they live a kind of idealised communal
life and possibly have ESP (though my memory may have wishfully inserted the
ESP thing). Enough time has gone by, though, that the descendents of the
people who got to the bunker in time decide it’s safe for them to emerge and
re-take the surface; they have evolved into a culture that is fairly
authoritarian, perhaps brutalised by generations of confinement below the
earth, and definitely free of ESP. It ends with an uneasy standoff of sorts;
adapted peaceful ESP-mutants facing weapon-possessing slightly crazy
old-style humans and an “is this the beginning of civilisation, or the end
of it?” kind of feel.

I think it was written by a woman, but am not totally sure of that (and it
was definitely not The Time Machine despite the possible Morlock/Eloi
echoes). I was very struck at the time by the “xeriscaping,”
mutant-friendly approach to thinking about what might happen to humans after
the bomb, which I think had a lot of appeal for a geeky teen misfit, and no
one else I’ve talked to remembers reading it. Any help would be appreciated!

Signed,
If I was a better geek I would have written the name and title down
somewhere…

Dear Geek,

(Heh.You did that to yourself.)

This doesn’t sound like anything I’ve read, or remember reading.Readers: one or two suggestions/guesses per email, please.Email subject line: “sci-fi book.”

Hi Sars,

My husband and I are looking for a place to stay for a few nights in NYC
that won’t break the bank — we’d like to stay in Manhattan, just to avoid
the general hassle of getting into the city to do our touristy things each
day.We’re open to B&Bs, small hotels, chain hotels, whatever — just not
hostels — it is (ahem) our anniversary trip!

Thanks,
Aren’t there any two-star hotels with two-star prices in this city?

Dear Two-Star,

The hidden gem of Manhattan hotelry, from what I’ve heard, is in the twenties thirties on the east side, where you can find the Thirty Thirty (pretty fancy; stars stay there), the Hotel Chandler (Bstewart’s glowing review is here), and the Gershwin (part hostel, part hotel, all clean and affordable).

A clean, conveniently located hotel room in NYC is going to cost you, I think, minimum $100 a night; that’s just the nature of the beast.With that said, obviously I don’t do a lot of hotel-room shopping in the city, so readers might know of sweet deals that I wouldn’t.

Readers, show off that bargain know-how.Email subject line: “NYC hotels.”

Dear Sars,

Here’s a shorty:I’m a bridesmaid in a very laid-back kind of wedding. No matchy-matchy dresses. The bride just wants us all to look nice together. No one in hot pink spangled anything. The bride’s dress is sort of retro, so I’d like to get something cute and vintage-looking.

But after 45 hours of shopping, I’d settle for “doesn’t make me look like a bag.” It seems that the color of the year is white. And the otheroption is classic black. The two colors that are a no-no for weddings. Plus everything is in knit, which even makes the mannequins look fat. And now the other maids have both bought brown dresses, so I need something in a brown or a dark green or a burgundy, maybe even a deep purple.

Do you or any of your readers have some suggestions for an online store or a brand that makes flattering retro-style dresses? Oh, and here’s the last catch, I have rather a large waist for my size, so those cinched-in fifties style dresses kinda make me look the side of a barn. I’d like to spend under $200, if possible.

Thanks!

Don’t wanna look fat

Dear Wanna,

I should get a commission for how often I send people over there, but: J. Crew’s wedding shop might have something.It’s not the cheapest stuff you’ve ever seen, but dresses go on sale all the time; they have a bunch of different cuts (the ‘maids at Mr. S’s wedding wore Emmas, Graces, and Sadies), and I’m pretty sure the deep brown “espresso” is a standard color offering for most of them.

Another option is an actual vintage dress.Spend an hour or two on rustyzipper.com; I’ve gotten several dresses from them, in great condition at fair prices, and you can search by style and era (I’m pretty straight-waisted myself, so their A-line category is a godsend for me).People wore a lot of crazy prints back in the day, evidently, but I’ve gotten simple one-color shifts from there.

Readers: one suggestion per email, please.Email subject line: “bridesmaid’s dress.”

[9/1/06]

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