tuf voyaging is a 1986 science fiction fix-up novel by george r. r. martin, first published in hardcover by baen books. it is a darkly comic meditation on environmentalism and absolute power. martin cited fantasy fiction and science fiction grand master jack vance as having a large influence on his haviland tuf stories, martin going so far as trying to emulate vance's writing style in most of them.http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/intgrrm.htm this novel is a collection of related short fiction works, originally published over several years, beginning with 1976's "a beast for norn." the book includes a prologue and martin's s'uthlam story line (published in analog), adding them as bridging material, and gathering them with other tuf stories into one episodic novel.isfdb grr martin the novel concerns the (mis)adventures of haviland tuf, an exceptionally tall, bald, very pale, overweight, phlegmatic, vegetarian, cat-loving but otherwise solitary space trader. due to the venality and cutthroat tactics of the party chartering his one-man trading vessel, tuf inadvertently becomes master of ark, an ancient, 30-kilometer-long "seedship", a very powerful warship with advanced ecological engineering capabilities. tuf travels the galaxy, offering his services to worlds with environmental problems, and sometimes imposing solutions of his own. tuf voyaging is set in the same fictional universe as several of martin's other works, including "with morning comes mistfall", a song for lya, and dying of the light. ==contents== # "the plague star" (1985) # "loaves and fishes" (1985) # "guardians" (1981) # "second helpings" (1985) # "a beast for norn" (1976) # "call him moses" (1978) # "manna from heaven" (1985) ==the plague star== the story begins with four people requiring transport: celise waan, a scholar of anthropology; jefri lion, a scholar and retired soldier; annitas, a half-robotic cybertech; and kaj nevis, the leader of the expedition. they hire rica dawnstar, a mercenary bodyguard, and acquire the services of haviland tuf, a not very successful trader. their destination is a so-called "plague star", known to inflict disease and pestilence on every third generation of a small, remote world. it turns out to be a nearly-derelict seedship of the long-defunct federal empire's ecological engineering corps, created to have the ability to rewrite genetic coding. tuf's ship, the cornucopia of excellent goods at low prices, is damaged by the seedship's automated defenses, and three of the occupants, nevis, anittas, and dawnstar, board the seedship by means of
1987_short_story_collections Short_story_collections_by_George_R._R._Martin