Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 5:31 pm
James Blish didn`t publish anything but the short stories until `53, and most of `50 stories makes part 3 of "Cities in Flight".
I give up.
I give up.
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Science Fiction Trivia
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Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 8:31 pm
Huh, this time it is obviously much more difficult than before. OK, another hint: The exact year Blish published the book for the first time was 1957.
Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 9:28 pm
Must be "The Frozen Year" then, later re-published as "Fallen Star".
And the inversion seems to be that it is Earth which appears to have been colonised.
And the inversion seems to be that it is Earth which appears to have been colonised.
Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 2:41 am
Unless it's They Shall Have Stars ... although that's down as being published in 1956. Interesting – I didn't know that was where Ken MacLeod got the "spindizzies" referred to in The Execution Channel!
..
Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 6:59 pm
Oh wow. I seem to have generated a question no one seems to be able to solve - despite all the hints including the full name of the author and the year of first publication!
I say, any restraints for googling or wikipediing are lifted now - search-engine away before I have to spill the beans myself
I say, any restraints for googling or wikipediing are lifted now - search-engine away before I have to spill the beans myself
Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 7:15 pm
Well, the only thing I can think of is the collection, published as one novel in 1957... 'The Seedling Stars'.
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:40 am
If You check http://authors.wizards.pro/authors/writers/james-blish or http://www.fact-index.com/j/ja/james_blish.html , You`ll see that all possible answers are already on the table.
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 9:25 am
Well, that first link backs up Commander McLane... 1957 lists only Fallen Star / Frozen Year as novels.
The only other notable publication was "Get Out Of My Sky", a novella. No idea what the inversion would be though.
The only other notable publication was "Get Out Of My Sky", a novella. No idea what the inversion would be though.
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 10:16 am
Lestradae wrote:OK, next question: It is a book too, it's theme is the colonisation of interstellar space in a very unusual way - one could even say, inverted to the usually imagined way
Yes it must be The Seedling Stars. I actually have this on my bookshelf. What could be confusing is that although it was written in 1957, it wasn't actually first published until 1967.El Viejo wrote:Well, the only thing I can think of is the collection, published as one novel in 1957... 'The Seedling Stars'.
The inversion is that it is about colonisation of alien worlds not by terraforming, but rather by genetic engineering of the human colonists to enable them to survive in poisonous (to us) atmospheres.
From the blurb on the back:
I really like this book. Have had it for many years.Pantropy - total biological engineering - Adapted Man, adapted ante-natally to life on other planets. For instance Sweeney, Ganymede dweller. Selective mitotic poisoning, pinpoint X-irradiation, tectogenetic micro-surgery, competitive metabolic inhibition, together with perhaps fifty other processes produce a man no longer Man.
And on Hydrot: colonists engineered as minute under water organisms that yet retain something of the personalities of their Earth originals. The potential of Homo Sapiens tranlated into other terms. Man survives by becoming non-Man, a dim, racial memory of true Man transmuted into a God myth.
The galaxies seeded with adapted man-organisms.
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:10 am
And the winner is ... El Viejo!JazHaz wrote:Lestradae wrote:OK, next question: It is a book too, it's theme is the colonisation of interstellar space in a very unusual way - one could even say, inverted to the usually imagined wayYes it must be The Seedling Stars. I actually have this on my bookshelf. What could be confusing is that although it was written in 1957, it wasn't actually first published until 1967.El Viejo wrote:Well, the only thing I can think of is the collection, published as one novel in 1957... 'The Seedling Stars'.
The inversion is that it is about colonisation of alien worlds not by terraforming, but rather by genetic engineering of the human colonists to enable them to survive in poisonous (to us) atmospheres.
JazHaz' explanation how the colonisation of interstellar space is "inverted" in this book is spot-on what I meant.
This is one of my favourite SciFi books - a fascinating idea, and well-written.
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 1:12 pm
This should be less obscure:
He came from Trinidad, and was a stowaway on mankind’s first mission to colonise another planet.
The character’s names, book title and author, please.
He came from Trinidad, and was a stowaway on mankind’s first mission to colonise another planet.
The character’s names, book title and author, please.
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 1:29 pm
That should be Desmond Hawkins (? I think it's Hawkins, same as Jim in Treasure Island, unless I'm imagining it), AKA Coyote, who first appears in Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson!
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 1:31 pm
I thought that might be easy. Your turn again, sir.
(And it is Hawkins.)
(And it is Hawkins.)
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 1:40 pm
OK. Another comic-book one here. Name the character:
He's a cyborg. A cyborg with issues, frankly. And a (perfectly understandable, in retrospect) phobia about plants ...
He's a cyborg. A cyborg with issues, frankly. And a (perfectly understandable, in retrospect) phobia about plants ...
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:13 pm
First clue: his left arm terminates in an implement. A big, sharp, titanium-steel implement.