Search: alien hand rock planet cage "cricket magazine"

[tealin]

My parents very kindly gave me a subscription to Cricket magazine when I was young ... it filled my mind with wonderful stories and illustrations, taught me vocabulary, exposed me to ideas and characters and poetry that I never would have found on my own, and also set me up for maddening frustration as an adult. Every so often I'll get a brainwave or be reminded of something and think 'There was a story about this! It had a cat and there was a pastel illustration of the moon and in the end it turned out they were twins!' but thanks to a lack of specific keywords and no memory for titles or authors' names it's impossible to find that story again.

The most recent of these involved one of my favourite stories from the whole time I was getting the magazine. A man goes to another planet and, though clearly told not to touch anything, touches a rock with interesting colours on it. He loses the use (or at least conscious control) of his hand and comes to realize that an alien life form has posessed it in some way. Late one night he wakes up to find his hand sort of having an argument with the thing, and it draws a cage which traps the thing in it. Years later he discovers the drawing of the cage but IT IS EMPTY ... it was really good. The title might have had a number in it (the number of the planet? might have included a 4?) but was not something clear like 'The Hand Parasite from Outer Space' because I always had a hard time finding the story by title when looking through my old magazines. The author may have been Japanese. Anyone have any ideas?

Comments

[raddishh.livejournal.com]

The less priveledged among us were left to thumb through the dog-eared back issues of Cricket in the doctor's waiting room once a year. Alas, I don't know the title of the story.

[raddishh.livejournal.com]

And the puzzles were already finished! Now that really peeved me.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

You could have had mine ... I never did the puzzles. But then I wouldn't have had a five-inch-high stack of well-worn back issues to return to for years to come when I was sick, or looking for a story or illustration, or ask 'what happened to my Crickets?' when I visited home from college. We never had many luxuries but those magazines were a really cunning investment. I wonder if the library would have an archive ... then I could also find out who illustrated Cricket's reprint of 'Weslandia' ...

Google, sheesh

[noodledaddy.livejournal.com]

Weslandia by Paul Fleischman, ill. by Kevin Hawkes

Re: Google, sheesh

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

No, that's the stand-alone picture book. When it was reprinted in Cricket it had some charming pencil illustrations that were definitely not by the same guy.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

That said, I have just discovered the original illustrations were done by Jean Gralley (http://www.jeangralley.com/), on a website that must have been below Google's radar when I searched for it a few years ago ...

(You can find the first page illos in the portfolio of the paper section of the site)

[chocolatepot.livejournal.com]

I once picked one up that had a chapter of a rocking story about cats with wings. Of course, none of the others there were from the same year, even, and as you can see I'm still wondering what happened to them.

[(Anonymous)]

Hm... That does sound very interesting. Alas the internet is a vast place. How about trying Yahoo Questions? It worked for me before when I was looking for a vague movie/episode, but could only remember that involved a monstrous talking gargoyle, an artist, and a pretty blonde woman in his studio. Haha, so you might find some luck.

[moondog.livejournal.com]

Oh, I loved that magazine! Good memories. Sorry to say I never read that story, though. Good luck!

[beckychan.livejournal.com]

Why not look for a Cricket archive website?

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Tried. Failed.

[ardys-the-ghoul.livejournal.com]

I've never read Cricket, and so I have no idea what that story could be. Which is a pity, because it sounds really interesting.

[anathelen.livejournal.com]

Ooh, children's magazine envy. My parents shelled out for Highlights for me, but by the time I was getting too old for it my brother was the perfect age for Highlights, and there was no way they were they going to get TWO magazines. I had to read the most recent issues of Cricket as quickly as possible during my weekly trips to the public library.

[kyprincess.livejournal.com]

Try www.rob.com/harriet and click on nostalgia. They have a section called "stump the booksellers" and they find those illusive childhood memories that gnaw at edges of your brain

[aspectabund.livejournal.com]

I'm of no use, I'm afraid - I was given OWL Magazines to read, for which I have no complaint. XD Plus, it made it even more of a kicker when my life drawing teacher (http://www.canscaip.org/bios/thurmanm.html) one day brought in illustrations and comics he'd done for OWL magazine, and I RECOGNIZED some of them. My roommate owned one of his children's books when he was a kid. Geeked out a bit at that.

[bilodeau.livejournal.com]

You're in your mid-twenties, yes? So the story would have been published some time in the 1990s?

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Early 90s. Do you have a back catalogue of old Crickets? :D I think it might have been an edition where the two-tone colour of choice was red, if that helps...

[bilodeau.livejournal.com]

I have access to some extensive collections. No promises, but I'll see what I can find. :)

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

No luck so far

[bilodeau.livejournal.com]

Wow, you picked a tough one. I found full-text electronic copies of 420 short stories published in Cricket between May, 1990 and Dec, 1995, but none had the right keywords, and even a manual search didn't turn up the one you were looking for. I did, however, learn more about rebellious princesses, misfit dragons, Chinese folk tales, beloved old pets, medieval trickster figures, taming horses and kids who almost get swept out to sea than I thought possible in a single day. ;)

I looked outside of Cricket, in case you were cross-remembering, and I did find a story called I am the Doorway about an astronaut who winds up with a hand posessed by an alien intelligence, but it was a Stephen King story from 1971, and has a much grislier ending. Still, that story might have been the inspiration for the story you read.

I also ran a search for Japanese contributors to Cricket during that time frame. I found out that the October, 1990 issue had a Japanese theme, but alas, no such story.

There are a few other places I could check when I have time. I'll get back to you in a few days.

[themarinator.livejournal.com]

Aha, I was reading Ladybug around the time you were reading Cricket...I eventually graduated to Cricket but we probably don't own many of the same issues. I run into that problem too though... "There was a cat and it was captured by aliens and they had green blood and..." etc etc.

[gg-83.livejournal.com]

I can't help personally, but have you tried What was that one (http://community.livejournal.com/whatwasthatone/) or What was that book (http://community.livejournal.com/whatwasthatbook/)? They can do amazing things sometimes.