So any recommendations of good stories featuring a kid whose super smart and/or competent as the MC? Preferably not do-overs?
I already know of https://storiesonline.net/series/1434/omniscience and please don't recommend any AI written stories - trying to get the taste of that garbage out of my head is why I'm posting this request.
That's pretty much the basis of Oyster50's Smart Girls universe.
I used the same basis for Charley and Claire
Black Dog's Smarty Pants and follow up stories may not appeal, but, yeah, she is.
That's pretty much the basis of Oyster50's Smart Girls universe.
And their inspiration, Emergence by David Palmer.
Which is out of print dead tree press ($265 for a second-hand copy on Dread Pirate Bezos' site. I should have kept mine!) or $17 on Kindle. I never finished reading it, so I'm not going to recommend it.
Which is out of print dead tree press ($265 for a second-hand copy on Dread Pirate Bezos' site. I should have kept mine!) or $17 on Kindle. I never finished reading it, so I'm not going to recommend it.
Your mileage may vary of course. It is somewhat aged, but I liked it when it came out. For some reason Amazon shows $10 for the kindle version to me.
The two main characters in Harddaysknight's Lady in Red stories certainly fit, but you may not be able to suspend disbelief; it will require industrial-grade support.
If you have premier service (retired author) and if you can stomach underage stuff (grandfathered), the Trailer Park universe by Wizard fits your bill, but not today's posting rules. You can only see the stories if you deactivate default filters, but the MC is the original smartass.
Russell Hoisington wrote a number of stories in this Universe - https://storiesonline.net/universe/472/wynter-trailer-park (I don't know what "Uncle Randy and the Angry Niece" is doing there), the kids are one year older story for story. The first one - "Wynter" - appals me even now but the rest are a kind of Scooby Doo with sex and they work pretty well.
https://storiesonline.net/series/19/the-chronicles-of-mannsborough
Male MC is very competent.
https://storiesonline.net/s/13412/jaspers-science-project
Young teen genius.
https://storiesonline.net/s/70898/mr-e
Smart and competent but stupid about girls.
NDenyal, Emma Comes in from the Cold. I think that The Vodou Physicist also fits.
A few other NiS stories also have super-genius protagonists, but are not as well written as NDenyal's.
The characters in EzzyB's Chaos universe are also super-competent teens, but no super-genius types.
A few of Ernest Bywater's tales may fit.
Finding Home
Out of Reach, and the sequel Still Out of Reach
Star Performance
many of the Clan Amir stories featuring Gordie/Gerry Mannheim
A few more of Ernest Bywater's tales that may fit:
Interesting Times
Runaway!
Mack
'Tinker' Taylor: Spy & Soldier
Survivor
Kim: Power Play
HM.
https://storiesonline.net/a/Prof_Jack wrote a couple of stories along those lines 20 years ago, although the editing could have been a lot better. He said he was re-editing the stories back in 2014 but never posted the updated versions.
The MC in Prince von Vlox's https://storiesonline.net/n/53328/firestar and https://storiesonline.net/n/56739/setosha-the-beating-heart is not a kid but a young woman and a (space) navy officer in a war, and outrageously good at it. The second of those two stories is currently being posted and there are more to come.
The MC in Argon's https://storiesonline.net/s/22004/suddenly-rich-kid is something of a maths genius.
https://storiesonline.net/a/writer-406 has several stories which fit, basically all except "The Meet Cute" (a lovely story). His society outcasts are mostly highly intelligent - especially Nicholas (is borderline), Jason and Quinn.
BarBar has https://storiesonline.net/universe/380/bec-lost-in-the-maze - Bec is brilliant but her brain tends to overload and shut down for a while.
Kenn Ghannon has a couple of Swarm stories - https://storiesonline.net/s/12909/pretty-capable and https://storiesonline.net/s/22400/fairly-capable but I can't remember how old the MC is, maybe as ancient as 20.
Keeping with the Swarm Cycle stories, also check out Allan Joyal's writings:
Building a CAP Based Future
Living a CAP Based Present
These follow a young man who was in eighth grade at the start of the story and how he envisioned his (and others') future and worked to make it happen.
Stupid Boy series by G. Younger
Discovering Alien Technology by GMet (although a lot of the MC's genius is alien-enhanced)
RLFJ's Grim Reaper is a long saga about a very average kid that grows into a very competent avatar of Death & Justice without ever knowing that's what he is. His self declared preteen girlfriend (Yuck! Cooties!) that grows into his very hot redheaded green eyed wife (Love! LUST!) is a maths genius. Highly enjoyable with a good story arc.
There's a series known as the El Donsaii series on the big river site. 18 books to this point. The MC is female, a genius and also has synapses that make her a great athlete. She's 15 at the start, but grows up over time. Has a son and then twin girls, who are also super geniuses. I think it's a good read (very si-fi'ish), but 18 books make it a long read as well, and given the site, it costs some.
The same author has other series involving genius types, some being older, but also a couple of series where kids and young adults develop special powers: telepathy, telekinesis, ability to stop time, etc. Also one "prehistoric" series involving a young teen who winds up inventing a lot of things we now take for granted.
There's a series known as the El Donsaii series on the big river site.
Yah, they're something of a guilty pleasure for me given how the author seems to have used a checklist of all my pet peeves to decide what to write but somehow wrote a very compelling and interesting story anyway. I have all the Donsaii books and have reread most of them (not the ones about her in the military - the stupidity there is too much for me to enjoy).
https://storiesonline.net/s/75804/17th-birthday
Teen finds his niche as a very successful salesman.
https://storiesonline.net/s/57238/the-outsider
From Jay Cantrell. Teen survives false imprisonment, death of his mother, corrupt officials, teen girlfriends, meddling neighbours, rapists, emancipation and moving on to higher education and a career in sports. Highly competent while still feeling the emotions of a teen.
That one has a sequel, both stories can be found via https://storiesonline.net/series/1278/brock-miller
Lazlo Zalezac has a couple in the John Carter Universe:
William Redman Carter
Betsy Carter
I read the whole universe in the order they were published so cannot remember whether these two makse sense without the back story from other titles.
Difficult, https://storiesonline.net/s/43111/ed-biggers has the back story for those two as small kids. In William's case I'm thinking of Part 4 Chapter 19 in particular. Betsy is born early in Ed Biggers book 5 (Chapter 7) and was the least spectacular mentally but way beyond hyperactive physically, one of their mothers was a martial arts expert and trained both William and Betsy up from about when they could walk.
Their older siblings were called Beth and John and they were also exceptional, I think Ed Biggers is partially about them as well but you can't really read Ed Biggers without reading John Carter so there's a hell of a lot of back story.
The other stories (Happy Harry, Oscar Meyers and possibly Oliver Brown) can be read afterwards.
You have to start Todd_d172's Needles & Delaney at the beginning so:
The Shack: an Angry Man
The Shack: an Unreasonable Man
The Shack: an Implacable Man
The Shack: An Unstoppable Man
The Shack: the Milk Run
https://storiesonline.net/series/1434/omniscience
Also called The John the Genius series.
By PT Brainium
Doh! And I had forgotten that this is the one you said that you already know of.
I mean your view on the quality of my drivel might vary, but the main character in Tapestry would qualify; genius level intellect, trauma induced hyper competency; though lacking in emotional intelligence, experience, and impulse control (among other things)
https://storiesonline.net/a/niagara-rainbow-63 Might have a few stories that match competent kids at least.
Totally forgot to mention him, but. https://storiesonline.net/a/Ka_Hmnd
All of his MCs are super competent, and a large number of them are kids or at least teenagers.
I should be annoyed most people seem to be posting recommendations I've read and bookmarked a decade ago, but since I forgot most of these, thanks for the reminder and an excuse to re-read them.