Searching for a book/story

[Rob]

I am looking for a book, with very little information. I realise that this may be like looking for a needle in a haystack but I want to try anyway


It's actually a single story that I'm looking for, which may be a children's/teens story and (could be) part of a collection of stories.


The story is set on a farm, possibly in the north east of the UK

A girl is living with a family member after some kind of troublesome period. She is sat on the fence talking and notices a lame horse in the field. She goes to the horse and notices an odd looking pebble in the horse's hoof. She manages to get it out, and keeps it because it's pretty. She notices after a while that the pebble has grown, and eventually it ends up falling off the windowsill. It grows faster and is changing colour, and she manages to get it out of the house into a wheelbarrow (I think the friend she was talking to is helping her), and the wheelbarrow tips over at the riverbank because of the weight of the "pebble". It bursts and loads of pebbles come out of it.


The only character name that believe I know is that the farmer / someone working on the farm is called Joe.

Thanks to anyone that can help / tries to help. Much appreciated, Rob

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Don't know it, but the feel I get from your description is of Simak. He wrote a hell of a lot of novels in these sorts of settings. Is there any more you can add? Where did the plot go from there?

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Danny McG]

North East UK?
So like Geordie areas?

 

[Hugh]

Hi,

Don't know it, but the feel I get from your description is of Simak. He wrote a hell of a lot of novels in these sorts of settings. Is there any more you can add? Where did the plot go from there?

Cheers, Greg.

It's definitely not Simak, but it sounds an interesting story.

 

[Hugh]

It seems possible that the author may be UK based.

Do you have any idea of the date of the story? how long ago did you read it?

 

[monkeypooper]

Or like me sand dancer(south Shields born but not bred) area big area doesnt ring any bells though sorry

 

[Rob]

Thanks for all of the responses guys. I'm not entirely sure of the age, but at least early 90s or before - was read approx. 20 years ago.

North East England comment was regarding the dialect, so yes, for anyone that isn't Northeastern, "Geordie land" probably fits. However, being originally from County Durham myself, I can confirm that it could be a fairly wide range of areas.

Afraid this is about all that I have, though...

 

[monkeypooper]

Well it was all county durham once anyway ive been googling to no avail but still trying tbh I quite enjoy the challenge as I dont use wastebook or chirpchirp social rubbish

 

[Hugh]

Well I’m flummoxed, as must be others on this forum. I know a fair number of people will have looked at these posts, and clearly it has not rung any bells with them.

My interest has been SF from the 50s, 60s and early 70s, and I'm certain I have not come across it, but that does not mean much.

My only suggestion is one that you’ve probably already tried:

William G. Contento’s excellent index, which lists short stories up to 1983:

Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections

(The Table of Contents is at the very bottom of the page).

Apologies for being pedantic here, but when I first started looking for stuff all these sites were new to me and I just stumbled on them over time. You may already be well grounded in them, and know more than me on the resources available.

This site lists by title and publication as well as author.

Here is the specific link to the listings of “New Worlds” and “New Writings in SF

Index: Books, Listed by Title

I’ve included this because they are both UK based and your story is set in the north east. It’s just possible one of the titles might ring a bell. I’ve only read very few of these specific anthologies (I’m not keen on them) but I doubt your story will be in them because its style seems different to that preferred by their editors.

You can also check the title listings in case anything rings a bell, for instance by checking stone or pebble in case they are the first significant word.

 

[Rob]

Thanks for all of the replies. I did have a look through the links and nothing jumped out at me.
I think I probably have just a bit too little information on this one, I'm not even sure it rightly fits into the genres here, which may be why I'm struggling also - I'm simply not sure on the whole story as it's been so long...

Cheers anyway, I think I may have to give up on this one, as I'm not sure I have enough info to get it through paid searches.

 

[monkeypooper]

Anyslight thing may help on a search publisher / description of the cover ( images,colour,any words at all on the cover ) any other slight details you may remember may not seem important but may help in a search or click a memory

 

[monkeypooper]

Searching cant find synopsis but Penelope Farmer's The Magic Stone maybe

 

[Matteo]

Searching cant find synopsis but Penelope Farmer's The Magic Stone maybe

Hmm...doesn't sound like it:
A group of children discover a small stone with a piece of blue metal mysteriously, and apparently permanently, wedged into it. In a tug-of-war dispute over the stone, two girls manage to slide the metal out and in the process are overwhelmed by an indefinable sense of magic. The stone becomes a mystic bond between the two very different girls--13-years-old Caroline, the lonely sheltered daughter of an author who stays aloof from the family which he has isolated in the country, and Alice, whose large family has moved from London to a low-income housing development, and who has already become hardened by the city life. In searching for the secret of the stone they develop a very special, if necessarily transitory, friendship. The unusual relationship between the two somewhat forlorn girls and their mutual feeling of wonder are handled with sympathy; however the sense of magic, stated only in relation to the stone, is never satisfactorily shared with the reader, and the result is too gadgety to be truly effective. (Kirkus Reviews)

I did some searching for this story yesterday but my Google Fu failed me - need more details. I thought it could be a 1950's "light" sci fi story but since most of those are on the Net somewhere (or have been read by someone) it probably would have been found. So, I'm guessing it's a straightforward children's story (and so more difficult to find).

Thing is...the bit about the pebble growing and falling off the windowsill is ringing a (very faint) bell...

 

[pambaddeley]

I did think 'The Apple Stone' by Nicholas Stuart Gray (1965) but the children find that (sentient) stone inside an apple. The Apple Stone