Caro.PA@XEROX.ARPA (09/04/84)
I personally have not read this book, but my aunt did, so this description is second hand: The story takes place in the future, where resources are scarce. My aunt recalls a description of taking a shower, with a five minute hot water allotment. On an asteroid, some <thing> (machine, device, computer) directs adventurous individuals on a random expedition. These expeditions are exploratory. If a valuable astronomical body is found (like a double star), then the adventurers can claim overwhelming rewards. More often that not, however, the adventurers never return alive. The story has a humorous tone. The hero is a bumbler. It turns out that the crew that he gets shipped out with does indeed find a double star, but they have trouble escaping from it's gravitational pull. To get away, they decide to jettison one of the pods of their two pod ship. They put all the heavy unnecessary stuff in one pod, and they climbed into the other ... all but the hero that is. By his clumsiness, he and his girlfriend were stuck in the pod about to be jettisoned. Somehow, by deciding to sacrifice himself and stay in the bad pod, he manages to get his girlfriend over into the good pod. But something happens and the HERO gets saved, and the other pod, with the rest of his crew, gets shot into the middle of the double star. In the end, he feels regret, for he knows that although years have passed for him (he's wealthy now for the discovery), because of the near light acceleration of the other pod, his crewmates are still suffering and have not yet died! Doubtless this description is HIGHLY distorted, having come second hand, ACROSS A LANGUAGE BARRIER (my aunt is German and she can't remember if she read the story in German or English). But if anyone recognizes it, the author and title would be greatly appreciated by Perry
goun%whoaru.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (09/07/84)
The book your aunt read is either GATEWAY or BEYOND THE BLUE EVENT HORIZON
(the sequel to GATEWAY), by Fred Pohl. I don't remember which one contained
the specific plot elements you related.
-- Roger Goun
ARPA: goun%cadlac.DEC@decwrl.ARPA
UUCP: {allegra, decvax, ucbvax}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-cadlac!goun
USPS: Digital Equipment Corp., APO-1/B4
100 Minuteman Road; Andover, MA 01810-1098
Tel: (617) 289-1675Newman.pasa@XEROX.ARPA (09/07/84)
The book you describe sounds an awful lot like "Beyond the Blue Event
Horizon" by Pohl. It is the second book about the HEECHEE - more
precisely about what happens when humans find HEECHEE artifacts which
include interstellar starships and which the humans don't really
understand. The part about the "hero" being a bumbler and the part about
the hot water limitation are not (as I remember) part of this story,
but the rest of your description sounds too close to be anything else
that I am familiar with.
Here is my question : Are there any other books by Robert Lynn Aspirin
in the same Milleux as "Another Fine Myth"? This milleux is NOT the
Thieve's world stuff (Of which another book is scheduled to come out in
the next couple of months) but I have heard that there are some other
books about this milleux. I enjoyed AFM but can't find any others. Can
someone give me a hand ?? ((I KNOW this is more Fantasy than SF but
....))
>>Dave LS.SRB%MIT-EECS@MIT-MC.ARPA (09/07/84)
From: "Stephen R. Balzac" <LS.SRB%MIT-EECS@MIT-MC.ARPA> Sounds awfully like Gateway by Fred Pohl.
roy@gitpyr.UUCP (Roy J. Mongiovi) (09/08/84)
That sounds like "Gateway" by Frederic Pohl, the one we've
all been talking about the sequel to....
--
Roy J. Mongiovi. Office of Computing Services.
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta GA 30332
Phone: (404) 894-6163, (404) 894-4660 [messages]
...!{akgua,allegra,amd,hplabs,ihnp4,masscomp,ut-ngp}!gatech!gitpyr!roy
...!{rlgvax,sb1,uf-cgrl,unmvax,ut-sally}!gatech!gitpyr!royCCS.TMRC.MAP%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA (09/08/84)
This sounds similar to the opening of "Beyond the Blue Event Horizon" by Fredrik Pohl. However there are some MAJOR discrepancies which may be either due to your aunt's memory, the transfer of information to you, or the fact that it is the wrong story. BtBEH is actually about events considerably after the loss of the girl and describe the hero involved in other episodes, but being haunted by the memory of the girl friend. The lost half of ship wasn't lost to a star system of any kind but to a black hole, thus the reference to the "Event Horizon". This is one of the Heechee series being discussed elsewhere on the mailing list for different reasons. The "asteroid machine" is an artifact of the Heechee, a long gone super-civilization. The humans do not know how to control it, but it often has VERY useful artifacts at the far end of the transport beam and sometimes it brings back the bold adventurers. If you have any questions or desire further info, feel free to contact me (if you can't get me here, I'm also MAP@MIT-MC). Mike P.S. For your further information here is the entries from my personal bibliography for the two books in this series I own: -------------------------------- Book (SFBC) Title: Gateway Author: Fredrik Pohl Publisher: St. Martin's Press, Inc. 175 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10010 -------------------------------- Book (SFBC) Title: Beyond the Blue Event Horizon Author: Fredrik Pohl Publisher: Ballantine Books New York, New York Synopsis: Sequel to Gateway --------------------------------
bsa@ncoast.UUCP (The WITNESS) (09/08/84)
[gollum :-)] > From: Caro.PA@XEROX.ARPA > They put all the heavy unnecessary stuff in one pod, and they climbed > into the other ... all but the hero that is. By his clumsiness, he and > his girlfriend were stuck in the pod about to be jettisoned. Somehow, > by deciding to sacrifice himself and stay in the bad pod, he manages to > get his girlfriend over into the good pod. > > But something happens and the HERO gets saved, and the other pod, with > the rest of his crew, gets shot into the middle of the double star. > > In the end, he feels regret, for he knows that although years have > passed for him (he's wealthy now for the discovery), because of the near > light acceleration of the other pod, his crewmates are still suffering > and have not yet died! > > Doubtless this description is HIGHLY distorted, having come second hand, > ACROSS A LANGUAGE BARRIER (my aunt is German and she can't remember if > she read the story in German or English). But if anyone recognizes it, > the author and title would be greatly appreciated by > > Perry Could have been either language; that story got a few (:-) awards. GATEWAY, by Frederik Pohl. --bsa
rcb@rti-sel.UUCP (09/10/84)
There are 4 books in the Myth series. They are: Another FIne Myth Myth Conceptions Myth Directions Hit or Myth They are the greatest thing since d-hoppers. Randy Buckland Research Triangle Institute mcnc!rti!rcb
Woods.pa@XEROX.ARPA (09/11/84)
From: Don Woods <Woods.pa@XEROX.ARPA> Re: Plot involving exploratory expeditions where adventurers can claim overwhelming rewards if a valuable astronomical body is found, but more often than not never return... Geez, Peter, your "second hand description" was so accurate that it ought to've carried a spoiler warning! It even included what might be considered the climactic scene! (I will not reproduce it here, natch.) I'm surprised you didn't recognise it yourself. Your aunt is obviously thinking of GATEWAY, by Pohl. And, incidentally, though it may have its lighter moments, I don't consider it "humorous"; in fact, I found it extremely depressing (though still one of the best books I've read). The sequel, BEYOND THE BLUE EVENT HORIZON, is also excellent (unusual for a sequel) and somewhat less depressing, though possibly more mind-boggling. -- Don.
RG.JMTURN%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA (09/14/84)
Date: Tuesday, 4 September 1984 14:39-EDT
From: Caro.PA at XEROX.ARPA
To: SF-LOVERS at MIT-MC
Re: Here's The Plot, What's The Title # 23
The story in question is "Gateway", by Fredrick Pohl, with the following
comments:
The story takes place in the future, where resources are scarce. My
aunt recalls a description of taking a shower, with a five minute
hot water allotment.
On the asteroid, this is certainly true. Back on Earth, food is pretty
short, but water isn't a problem.
On an asteroid, some <thing> (machine, device, computer) directs
adventurous individuals on a random expedition.
The "thing" is a governing council from the United Nations. The missions aren't
so much random as that the scientists have no idea how the ships work.
These expeditions
are exploratory. If a valuable astronomical body is found (like a
double star), then the adventurers can claim overwhelming rewards.
More often that not, however, the adventurers never return alive.
Pretty accurate, except the board is much more interested in Heechee
junk than neat stars.
The story has a humorous tone. The hero is a bumbler.
The story is very tragic in tone, and Robin is portrayed sympathetically.
It turns out
that the crew that he gets shipped out with does indeed find a
double star, but they have trouble escaping from it's gravitational
pull. To get away, they decide to jettison one of the pods of their
two pod ship. They put all the heavy unnecessary stuff in one pod,
and they climbed into the other ... all but the hero that is. By
his clumsiness, he and his girlfriend were stuck in the pod about to
be jettisoned. Somehow, by deciding to sacrifice himself and stay
in the bad pod, he manages to get his girlfriend over into the good
pod.
For double star read black hole, and he isn't clumsy.
In the end, he feels regret, for he knows that although years have
passed for him (he's wealthy now for the discovery), because of the
near light acceleration of the other pod, his crewmates are still
suffering and have not yet died!
Fairly accurate again, except that the time dilation is due to the
event horizon of the black hole.
It should also be noted that there are two sequels (mentioned recently):
Beyond the Blue Event Horizon
Heechee Rendezvous
James