kwc@cvl.UUCP (Kenneth W. Crist Jr.) (07/21/85)
Would anyone on the net who has read some good novels about ships going
on journeys between the stars at sub-light speeds please send me E-mail
with the titles and authors. I have just finished reading Harlan Ellison
and Edward Bryant's "Phoenix Without Ashes" and would like to read some other
similar stories.
So far I have only read two, but both have been very good. The other one
is called "Marathon" by D. Alexander Smith. It is about Earth sending out
a sub-light ship on a journey to the first meeting with another race which
also has sub-light ships. The journey takes seven years for the two ships
to meet halfway between their perspective homeworlds.
"Marathon" starts after the crew, mostly scientists and diplomats, have
been in space for three and a half of those seven years. It is very
interesting how the author handles the effects of such along trip in close
quarters has on the various crewmembers.
If anyone can take the time to send me some titles and authors I would
really appreciate it.
Kenneth Crist
seismo!cvl!kwc
Computer Vision Lab
University of Marylandsommers@topaz.ARPA (Mamaliz @ The Soup Kitchen) (07/23/85)
Two good stories about generation ships are
The Ballad of Beta-2 Samuel Delaney (and not at all like Dhalgren, for
those of you who are scared of Delaney)
Orphan in the Sky ??? RAH (I think this is the title)
--
liz sommers
uucp: ...{harvard, seismo, ut-sally, sri-iu, ihnp4!packard}!topaz!sommers
arpa: sommers@rutgersbrown@utflis.UUCP (Susan Brown) (07/24/85)
In article <655@cvl.UUCP> kwc@cvl.UUCP (Kenneth W. Crist Jr.) writes: > Would anyone on the net who has read some good novels about ships going >on journeys between the stars at sub-light speeds please send me E-mail >with the titles and authors. I have just finished reading Harlan Ellison > If anyone can take the time to send me some titles and authors I would >really appreciate it. > Kenneth Crist At the risk of being regarded as a Drek-peddler, David Gerrold's "The Galactic Whirlpool" is a star trek story in which a long-adrift colony is located by the Enterprise. It has in effect become a generation ship with drastic results on the inhabitants. I will doubtless get the better of this trade by reading your recommendations. P.S. Sorry- no e-mail.
slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (07/26/85)
On generation ships:
I think that a granddaddy of the genre is "Starship" by Brian Aldiss.
Unfortunately, it has been years since I read it--and I can't remember
my impressions. I see it lots in used book sections--it should be
easy to pick up.
Also, the "Cities in Flight" set of novels by James Blish probably fit
in this category. They are collected in one volume by that name. I think
there are 4 of them. They concern cities which have drives on them, called
spindizzies. The cities are sort of the migrant workers of the galaxy.
They do not quite fit--since they do travel faster than light. But
they ARE ships designed for generations of travelers. I like these.
Hope this helps.
--
Sue Brezden
Real World: Room 1B17 Net World: ihnp4!drutx!slb
AT&T Information Systems
11900 North Pecos
Westminster, Co. 80234
(303)538-3829
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your god may be dead, but mine aren't.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SBALZAC%YKTVMX.BITNET@Berkeley (07/28/85)
From: Stephen Balzac <SBALZAC%YKTVMX.BITNET@Berkeley> Some titles are: Captive Universe by Harry Harrison Exiles Trilogy by Ben Bova (Exiled from Earth, Flight of Exiles, End of Exile) Starburst by Jack Williamson
marotta%lezah.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (07/31/85)
From: marotta%lezah.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (MARY MAROTTA) So far, the response to the request for SF references about "Generation Ships" has not been extensive. I imagine there must be several novels dealing with space ships that take so long to reach their destinations, but the first that springs to mind is STARBURST, by Fred Pohl. This is the best example of his writing that I've seen, and is an interesting way to deal with the topic, as well. In STARBURST, we put a shipload of colonists (only 8 members!?) onto a ship destined for a planet revolving around Alpha Centauri. This planet is the figment of the imagination of Dr. Knefhausen, and the mission to colonize this planet is doomed to fail. The good Doctor is much more interested in the effects of deep-space travel on the Unlucky Eight (my own appellation), and on their descendants. The four couples chosen for this mission are certainly above average intelligence, and seem to have unlimited resources and libraries on board. I can't tell you more than that -- it's worth reading, at least once. In fact, I'll read it again as soon as I've finished FOUR THOUSAND IN GEHENNA, by C. J. Cherryh. I'm halfway through this novel, the first I've read by Cherryh, and I can hardly put it down...keep bumping into walls, and calibans.... :-) MJM, Soft. Pub's, DEC
kwc@cvl.UUCP (Kenneth W. Crist Jr.) (08/04/85)
Here is are some additions to the list of Generation Ship stories. Proxima Centauri Murray Leinster Aniara Harry Martinson The Space-Born E. C. Tubb The Voyage That Lasted 600 Years Don Wilcox Kenneth Crist Computer Vision Lab University of Maryland
simon@warwick.UUCP (Simon Forth) (08/05/85)
I dont know whether this is relevant to the current discussion but I believe
I have read some where that if a species is going to populate the galaxy
using slower that light travel STL, that you get into severe difficulties
due to population growth.
Example. Take a species that has STL travel and that it has decided
to colonize Space. Then if you assume that the species
tries to get a uniform population density and that the species is growing
with an exponential growth rate (I Think that thats the right growth rate?).
If you say that the population is evenly distributed throughout a sphere in
space then due to the growth rate of population the sphere will have to
expand at a growing rate to keep population density constant. At some point
the sphere will have to expand at a speed faster than that of light.
You would probably find this a problem eventually if you had FTL travel that
took a finite time, at some time in the future your population density would
start growing as you could not expand your frontiers fast enough.
This is not counting the problem of moving excess population from the centre
of your space to the edge, when the edge is receding .
if you want to read a book that deals with the population explosion problem
then read the _cageworld_ books by Colin Kapp.
Thats enough from me.
Simon.
--
Simon Forth. Dept of Computing. University of Warwick. Coventry CV4 7AL. UK
{various backbone sites in US}!mcvax!ukc!warwick!simonix241@sdcc6.UUCP (ix241) (08/05/85)
RAH's _Orphans of the Sky_ was one the first I know about. The surviors are mentioned in _Time Enough for Love_. David Bischoff(sp.?) and a co-author did a whole novel on a society that could have started from Heinlein's ending to OotS. (The title of the Bischoff book takes its name from the bridal ceremony that forms the basis for the story. And like and idiot I can't remember it!) John Testa UCSD Chemistry sdcsvax!sdcc6!ix241
srt@ucla-cs.UUCP (08/13/85)
Don't know if this has been mentioned yet or not, but _Rendevous_With_Rama_
fits into the generation ship category. Sort of...
-- Scott
The Ramans do everything in threes... Can we expect a trilogy, then?