book search - alien abduction, other worlds

[ashewyntr]

I have been trying to remember the name and author of a book I read 20 or more years ago. I remember it starts with a number of humans abducted from contemporary earth in a large alien starship. They are taken to another world and deposited in a large enclosure surrounded by a forcefield, with a pristine wilderness inside for them to inhabit. They can make out other enclosures around theirs; apparently it's a habitat or zoo. The only other thing I recall is that somehow they escape the enclosure and are stranded on this world. The final scene is a rocket launched by their descendents to begin a search for Earth.

I hope this is familiar to someone, as I remember this was one of the most satisfying reads I'd ever had at the time.

 

[Somni]

I remember reading something very similar but the title/author escape me. Will try to remember.

 

[thepaladin]

I can't dredge up the title, but Poul (I think it was, not totally sure) wrote something like this, except the star travel was accomplished by transmission of the person's information by Tachyon beam, resulting not in travel but exact copies appearing at the destination. Don't recall one with star ship travel, sorry.

 

[ashewyntr]

No, that one I remember, if not the name ("I'm so bad at names..."); copies everywhere of the Dirk Pitt of the future. This one didn't really have a primary antagonist that I remember. It was more about the group dynamics.

 

[ashewyntr]

Is it permissible to poke here? This forum may be my last hope.

 

[Omphalos]

There is a Larry Niven story in one of the Man-Kzin War books (the franchise books, but Niven actually wrote it) where something very much like this happens. IIRC there is a cage right next to theirs where some Neanderthals are kept, and a few other races in other cages. I think it was in Man-Kzin Wars III.

 

[Somni]

Ahh, I was thinking of the same one as Omphalos.

 

[ashewyntr]

I don't think Man-Kzin wars is the answer. I read this book sometime before 1988, and it was a full-size novel. It may have been a Book Club selection (you know - retro art, book sleeve, thick, uneven paper).

 

[Taltos]

From the enclosure description 2 books come to mind -
Jack Chalker Well of Souls serie and Carroll M. Capps Recall not Earth books have people placed in enclosed inhabitants (IIRC) - but both are based on future settings not contemporary earth. Probably not so helpful answer - as I hoped.

 

[ashewyntr]

Not the Well of Souls. Still have those in the original paperbacks. And I remember those names! Nathan Brazil, Mavra Chang, etc. Powerful story. I don't recognize Recall not Earth. I'll have to look into that. Thanks for the thought!

 

[Highroller]

Recall Not Earth is about a fairly small group of men that are the last survivors of Earth. Everyone else was destroyed by invading aliens. Most of them have become mercenaries and they get together for 1 last possible chance to find some surviving women. Its a good read.

 

[ashewyntr]

I'm going to try and resurrect this thread. Recall Not Earth is not what I'm looking for, alas. Perhaps someone new/old may recognize it? This would have been written before the mid-80's, if not much earlier.

 

[PaulMmn]

IIRC, the ancient book, "Anton York, Immortal" had a sequence about an alien 'zoo' such as you described. I don't recall the alien starship abduction, however.

 

[monkeypooper]

anne mccaffrey the catteni sequence------- forcefield is in the 3rd book maybe

 

[ashewyntr]

Thank you, but neither of those. I recall the original Catteni short story, primarily because it was quite a change from the rest of Mccaffrey's work (turns out she was feeling out her market for soft-core porn). The other, Anton York is a bit too old, and omnipotent humans weren't the theme of the story.
I wish I could remember more (especially the name or author!).

 

[MartinJH]

I think I know this one; it sounds exactly like “Seahorse in the Sky” by Edmund Cooper.

I’ve been lurking for a while, reading lots of really interesting threads, but I’m now looking for a book I’m trying to identify. But before I post about that I’m pleased that my first contribution is actually going to be of some use.

The main characters were all on a commercial air flight when they passed out. They then woke on a deserted replica of a town’s main street in the middle of a grassy plain, complete with a hotel to stay in and a shop whose goods were mysteriously replenished every night. They’d been abducted and set down with what their abductors considered to be what they needed for day-to-day life. They then discovered other communities of abductees from different cultures; for instance I think they had a run in with a tribe of bronze age level horsemen.

Spoiler – giving away the ending…
After much exploring they discovered that they were not abductees at all, but actually copies of the people they thought they were, their originals having carried on with their lives on Earth unaware that anything had happened on that air flight. After that revelation they realised that they weren’t going to get home to Earth, and the only place that they could really call “home” was the planet that they’d found themselves on. The books ends with a jump forward in time to the launch of their descendants’ first manned space rocket.

I’ve not read it for years, but I remember really enjoying it, in fact I think I’ll see if I can track down my old copy.

Martin

 

[ashewyntr]

Wow! That sounds very familiar! I'll see if I can find it!
Thank you very much!

 

[ashewyntr]

I found it, I read it and that was the story I was looking for! Thank you, MartinJH, so much! I've been looking for this story for over 20 years.

 

[MartinJH]

I found it, I read it and that was the story I was looking for! Thank you, MartinJH, so much! I've been looking for this story for over 20 years.

You're welcome, glad I could help!

Martin