Oolite Bulletins

I have been wondering, aside from the great work produced on here, does anybody know of any sci fi literature available in the shops which is anything like "the dark wheel"?



Cos

Apart from Status Quo, the main source of Elite and related fiction is on the Wiki here.

And let us not forget Roberto's fantastic Justice for Mrs Combs Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

Captain Hesperus

I think the Alan Dean Foster 'Humanx' novels (Nor Crystal Tears, etc) have a lot in common with Dark Wheel. I'm not aware of any better space opera than Iain Banks' Consider Phlebas - if you haven't read it then I envy the treat in store for you. Personally, although it's not likely to be to everyone's taste, I like to picture my Oolite universe as something akin to Jack Vance's 'Gaean Reach', particularly as in The Star King and more recently Ports of Call (which has space-trading and ship-purchasing as I recall).

I've heard some of the books by C J Cherryh are quite Elite-like, but I've not been able to find any of those ones locally so can't say what they're like.

See this Wikipedia entry.

bump. i was gonna Flame Consider Phelbas beacuse i just happen to have picked it up a long while ago, and promptly set it down faster than a muffin straight out of the oven..the book didnt really make sense, and referd to obscure things that werent even fully developed. but yes it is not for everyone's tastes

Those Cherryh covers are hilarious And I'd give *her* a rendezvous at Downbelow Station...

I find the Foundation series quite Elite-a-like - there's even a series of chapters/stories based on Traders flying from one part of the galaxy to another to, um, trade.

An excellent read and one which is very Elitish IMO.

I second that. it has a retro-Elite feel.

Thanks everybody, I'll have a look around and see if I can find them.



Cos

The "Foundation Series" are by Isaac Asimov. The books are: "Foundation", "Foundation and Empire", "Second Foundation", and "Foundation's Edge". The last book was written some 30 years after the first.

There's also a second Foundation trilogy written by various authors which is a pretty decent read (all better character writers than Asimov was).

I recently read Elizabeth Moon's "Engaging The Enemy" and I could not stop wondering whether this lady had been actually playing Elite/Oolite while writing the book. I mean, it's got everything: Space traders, orbit stations where trade takes place, hyperspace, pirates, lots of battles, you name it. Not bad, I just would not call it a masterpiece either. It would be interesting to check out other works of hers, though.

Also the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series as well - despite being sci-fi humour there's lots of nice little touches - and let's be far the original Elite did borrow a bit from HHGTG.

Additionally - the orignal Red Dwarf novel 'Infinity Welcomes Careful Driver' has an ace sci-fi theme to it (ok it's not exactly Elitish, but if you read it you'll know what I mean).

Perhaps someone should do 'Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers' for your ad here?

another_commander wrote:

I recently read Elizabeth Moon's "Engaging The Enemy" and I could not stop wondering whether this lady had been actually playing Elite/Oolite while writing the book. I mean, it's got everything: Space traders, orbit stations where trade takes place, hyperspace, pirates, lots of battles, you name it. Not bad, I just would not call it a masterpiece either. It would be interesting to check out other works of hers, though.

I spotted these recently and thought exactly the same thing! It's good (well better than my stuff) but not stella (if you'll excuse the pun).

Definitely worth a read if you're an Elite fan though.

Cheers,

Drew.