I asked for the name of the alien species...
It's indeed from the "Flight of the Dragonfly", by Robert L. Forward, and they were the Flowen - after meeting them, calling someone an amoeba has never been the same...
Back to you, Selezen!
You know those who, having been mugged and stabbed, fired, dog run over, house burned down, wife eloped with best friend, daughters becoming prostitutes and their countries invaded - still say that "all is well"?
I'm obviously not one of them.
OK. Erich Von Daniken's theories on extraterrestrial influence on Earth prompted one particular author to pen a series of novels expanding on the concept. The first of these was published in 1974.
I would like the name of the novel and the author's pen name please!
Clue 1: The author's first work under his pen name was published in 1972.
Clue 2: His first work under his real name was published in 1960 and much of it is horror or erotic fiction.
You know, I thought I'd get this - having laughed like a drain at Von Daniken when I was a kid (I still have a copy of "Chariot of the Gods" floating around somewhere for sentimental reasons) - but having trawled my own memory and come up blank - it turns out I don't even have enough of a thought to Google it with sufficient clarity...
I didn't even know another question had been asked!
The novel within a novel is "The Grasshopper Lies Heavy" by Hawthorne "The Man In The High Castle" Abendsen.
I'll be honest, this is a book I'm actually familiar with as I did a lot of searching for "alternate WW2 history" novels a while back, eventually buying "Fatherland" by Robert Harris. I did, however, have to Google up the details of the novel within a novel...
I remember having my mind total blown by the complete lack of an ending to that book... in recent years I found out that Dick actually used the i Ching to write the book itself. Whacko or genius? I've never really managed to work out which he is.
OK. This 1990 novel features a man tasked with protecting the empire he serves from corruption and evil. He must prevent a powerful alien from destroying humanity. Helping him are an insane assassin, a psychic and a dwarf.
It is the first part of a trilogy and is widely regarded as the only decent read of the three.
I would like the title of the book and the author's name please!
That does sound quite Terry-Pratchett-like to me, but I now see all of his series were stretched way beyond trilogy. (he really churned out way too many.)
That does sound quite Terry-Pratchett-like to me, but I now see all of his series were stretched way beyond trilogy. (he really churned out way too many.)
He's not past tense yet!
(I got Snuff for Xmas; I'm only about 30 pages in.)
Flying a Cobra Mk I Cobbie 3 with nothing but Explorers Club.OXP and a beam laser 4 proper lasers for company Dropbox referral link 2GB of free space online + 500 Mb for the referral: good for securing work-in-progress.
It's not Pratchett. This is a science fiction novel, although its setting could be said to be inspired by a "high fantasy" setting...
That's your first clue.
I disagree with the notion that Pratchett has churned out "too many" novels. His writing direction has changed in the 20 years he's been writing, and he has kept the books fresh by allowing his universe to evolve along with his writing. I think I would be more disappointed if he had churned out the same novel 26 times.