Hard sci-fi in obscurity

[Captain J]

One of my favorite things to do is to browse through used book stores for obscure authors with interesting sounding books and try them. I have many, but I wondered if anyone else had any good hits with obscure authors. I'll post some in a litttle bit as the thread (hopefully) picks up ideas.

To start, one of my favrites is The Architects of Hyperspace by Thomas R. McDonough.

Any others.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Could you tell us a bit more about this book?


This thread is a good idea. I do a lot of my shopping second hand, and often chance upon excellent sf works that have fallen into obscurity due to the vagaries of time, taste and commerce. One that pops into mind right now is: A Lion On Tharthee by Grant Callin. It's an exciting hard-sf first-contact romp propelled by a lot of cool concepts about interstellar travel and alien culture. A spceices of vaguely humanoid aliens who have superior technology to us in some ways leave clues in the rings of Saturn (I think) for humans to decipher, leading them to plans for a craft which will carry a team of explorers to the alien homeworld. There's a lot of interesingly depicted politicing between Earth and Spacer humans to get on the craft. The sojourn on the alien planet and the interaction with aliens is vividly depicted. Grant Callin was/is an enginner at NASA, apparently, and this explains the soundness and depth of engineering detail. What makes for a really good read though, is the complex, intriguing and very alien culture on Tharthee, especially their differing attitudes to humour, which holds a very central place in their culture. A very enjoyable tale, though provoking as well. A bit in the 'Mote in God's Eye' mode, but with enough new ideas of its own to be worthwhile.

 

[Captain J]

Sure, no prob. I too get much stuff from used book stores (we used to have one dedicated to only sci-fi about 10 minutes from my house, but alas it is no more )

Anyway, the book revolves around a woman who lost her father is space many years before. Suddenly, without warning she gets a lightspeed message sent by him many years earlier. To sum up, she, along with her hired pilot and his nav, find a huge base built around a neutron star. I do not want to spoil the book, but the rest involves exloration of this massive artifact (including one room with an invisible floor about 1 meter about the surface of the star) and solving the mystery of who built it, why, and where they are now.

BTW, this guy also worker for NASA at JPL, and now is a SETI coordinator.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Exploring a mysterious alien artifact eh...sounds very Rama, but it also sounds irresistable! I'll certainly look out for this one. I'll trawl through my collection this evening and pick out more lesser known stuff. There are a few at the edge of my memory just now, but either the author or the title elude me.

 

[Princess Ivy]

was a favorite hoby of mine, unfortunatly i had to leave many works behind when i emigrated, and with my memory i cannot remember many titles. the problem with obscure titles and authors is that it can be difficult to locate references to them.
for instance, one series of three books, lovely and beautifully written, was about an english girl who landed up in Atlantis of the past, in the last days of the empire. one of the wonderful things was that it was not a story of tring to save the world, but rather the immagined culture and trying to escape the dying world to come back to the present where an evil witch awaited her and the secrets she held. but i cannot remember the titles or author. damn frustrating.

 

[Captain J]

Exploring a mysterious alien artifact eh...sounds very Rama, but it also sounds irresistable! I'll certainly look out for this one. I'll trawl through my collection this evening and pick out more lesser known stuff. There are a few at the edge of my memory just now, but either the author or the title elude me.

Quite different from Rama (certainly the horrid sequels). I enjoyed this much more than even the original Rama.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Here's another:


Reunion by Marcus Chown and John Gribbin. Written by two well-known science popularisers, this book has rock solid hard sf credentials. It's also a good story, even though details are hazy due to the gulf of time. Essentially, post some major catastrophe, human settlers on the moon are cut off from earth, while earth itself reverts to a more backward stage and attempts to rebuild. A lunarian girl finds her way to earth and an exciting story ensues, with more cool 'big idea' moments in it than I can recall right now. Well worth a read.

 

[polymorphikos]

Ah, excellent, another oppurtunity to plug "Ventus", by Kurt Schroeder

This is an excellent piece of space-opera that takes the concepts of nanotechnology to the limit. An entire terraformed world wherein the inhabitants are at the mercy of nanobotic gods called the Winds, who violently block any efforts by the humans to advance beyond simplistic mechanisms. The Winds were originally the terraformers meant to do man's bidding, but something went wrong. Cue the arrival of several mysterious off-worlder government agents the very concept of which many of those on Ventus find difficult to cope with.

Has a few flaws, but Schroeder is one of those rare few authors who follow their ideas all the way to the end, like more logical versions of Doc Smith and Burroughs. The amount of imagination is impressive, the story tight, and the characters likeable. There is also a strong draw for anyone hankering for a decent female lead.

Sorry, I waffled.

EDIT: Um, this isn't particularly hard as sf goes, but quite hard nonetheless. Soft on a hard base, like cheesecake, if you will.

 

[Kraken]

for instance, one series of three books, lovely and beautifully written, was about an english girl who landed up in Atlantis of the past, in the last days of the empire. one of the wonderful things was that it was not a story of tring to save the world, but rather the immagined culture and trying to escape the dying world to come back to the present where an evil witch awaited her and the secrets she held. but i cannot remember the titles or author. damn frustrating.

Not Jan Seigel? That sounds very like the plot of Prospero's Children, though the rest of the trilogy moves onto other settings.

 

[Kraken]

I'm not sure how well known it is, but I'm suggesting Children of Morrow by H. M. Hoover.
It's set in a post-apocalyptic world, in a primative village. The two children at the heart of the story are accused of witchcraft and hunted when it becomes apparent they 'see' things, and they have to stay ahead of the hunters and reach the sea, where they hope to be rescued by strangers with whom they are in telepathic contact.

 

[polymorphikos]

I'm not sure how well known it is, but I'm suggesting Children of Morrow by H. M. Hoover.
It's set in a post-apocalyptic world, in a primative village. The two children at the heart of the story are accused of witchcraft and hunted when it becomes apparent they 'see' things, and they have to stay ahead of the hunters and reach the sea, where they hope to be rescued by strangers with whom they are in telepathic contact.

That sounds a lot like The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham.

 

[littlemissattitude]

Not Jan Seigel? That sounds very like the plot of Prospero's Children, though the rest of the trilogy moves onto other settings.

I've read "Prospero's Children". In fact, it's sitting over on the bookshelf. Liked it a lot. But I've never been able to find the other books, or much evidence that they even existed. I guess I'm going to have to track them down now that I've got confirmation that they actually exist.

 

[Kraken]

I've read "Prospero's Children". In fact, it's sitting over on the bookshelf. Liked it a lot. But I've never been able to find the other books, or much evidence that they even existed. I guess I'm going to have to track them down now that I've got confirmation that they actually exist.

They do!
The Dragon Charmer and Witch's Honour. I have all three - you're in for a treat when you find the other two.
And Jan Seigel seems to have gone back to writing under her other name, if you're interested. She's recently brought out the first of a new trilogy, called The Greenstone Grail, but as 'Amanda Hemingway'.

 

[Kraken]

I'm not sure how well known it is, but I'm suggesting Children of Morrow by H. M. Hoover.
It's set in a post-apocalyptic world, in a primative village. The two children at the heart of the story are accused of witchcraft and hunted when it becomes apparent they 'see' things, and they have to stay ahead of the hunters and reach the sea, where they hope to be rescued by strangers with whom they are in telepathic contact.

That sounds a lot like The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham.

There is some resemblance, you're right - I never noticed before.
Children of Morrow is aimed at a younger audience, I think; the writing style is quite simple. I first read it 14 years ago, and found it was on my recently and had to track a copy down to reread it.