Centrespread (1981)

Plotzle Sci-Fi · Puzzle #1 · May 8, 2026 · Sci-Fi / Drama

Six plot descriptions for Centrespread (1981). One is the real plot. Five are convincing fakes. Read them and guess which is real.

1. A colony ship's cultural liaison curates entertainment for passengers in suspended animation but becomes romantically involved with the only other waking crew member as their fifteen-year journey nears completion.
2. Two separated pages of a banned manifesto are each carried by strangers who meet in a border zone and must decide whether assembling the complete text justifies the risk.
3. A man hired to digitize vintage magazines for a museum finds his own childhood photographs inexplicably appearing in publications printed decades before his birth and investigates the studio's origins.
4. An archivist cataloging pre-collapse print media discovers his late wife modeled for experimental propaganda magazines and tracks down the photographer to understand what she never disclosed about that period.
5. A holographic news anchor designed to broadcast optimistic content becomes self-aware and begins editing government reports to reflect actual conditions in the outer settlements while her handlers debate deactivation.
6. A photographer specializing in blending violence and sex in a rigidly stratified society where violence exists only in magazines must find a fresh new model to rejuvenate the publication's pages.