looking for name of great sci-fi novel - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: tyblu
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2011, 10:50:47 pm
content: I figure this would be a pretty good place to find those into sci-fi books. I can't remember the name or author of a [hard?] science-fiction paperback I read a year or so ago; maybe I can spark someone's memory:- written by a female author, after 1980- about a small crew traveling on a spaceship over the space of hundreds, maybe thousands of years- crew's consciousness can be duplicated, edited, and moved between the ship or bodies- ship can make anything, given enough time, raw material and proper instruction, using nanobots of some kind- ancient, unmanned alien warships attack- very heavy on genetics, nanotechnology, and deep-space/out-of-body/duplicated-consciousness/alien-contact psychology- avoid destruction from alien by growing similar 'skin' on own ship, releasing fake communication spores, etc.Has anyone come across this?

author: DJPhil
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2011, 03:49:54 pm
content: I wish I could say so, it sounds great!Most of what I've read is just a bit older. To me it sounds like something Larry Niven or Arthur C. Clarke would do. I thought the genre of hard scifi sort of died out in the 80s, so it's good to hear that this sort of writing still lives.Sorry I couldn't help, but always glad to trade hard scifi book recommendations if you'd like.

author: PeterG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 01, 2011, 02:01:23 am
content: OK, you now have my undivided attention, waiting for title as well.Regards

author: kaptain_zero
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 01, 2011, 02:38:49 am
content: I know it's not the answer you're looking for (I should know, there's two books I read a long time ago that I would dearly love to read again, but alas..... they are not easy to find) but have you considered scrolling through the names athttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_science_fiction_authors? Perhaps you might see the name of the author and can take if from there?!?!RegardsChristian

author: Chasm
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 01, 2011, 03:21:07 am
content: I've reposted the question elsewhere. There should be an authoritative answer in a couple of hours.

author: ElektroQuark
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 01, 2011, 04:24:26 pm
content: Waiting for it, too.

author: IanJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 01, 2011, 07:35:16 pm
content: Sounds a wee bit like Dust by Elizabeth Bear.Ian.

author: Chasm
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 01, 2011, 08:27:39 pm
content: I have a reply.Quote

author: orbiter
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 01, 2011, 08:35:32 pm
content: Is that right tyblu.. Is it, is it? I just gotta know myself now too *anxiety attack*

author: tyblu
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 01, 2011, 11:29:52 pm
content: Hmm, no, that doesn't seem to be it. Thanks for the help so far! Here are some more details:- ship and crew come in contact with group of people (humans, if I remember correctly) who are having trouble with a local life form that appears to be some type of worm (book description reminded me of sea cucumbers, or, at least the bigger ones, the 'worm' thing that eats Link in all of the Zelda games) that, after coming in contact with a person, connects them and makes them part of a singular consciousness. Those that are 'transformed' exclaim that it's the most wonderful thing that has happened to them, but there is resistance to total acceptance.- the crew boards one of the alien warships, and one of a member's copied consciousness binds with it (as they would their own ship), and leaves.- they and their ship are saturated in some nanobots engineered to defend against harmful agents, and they're really fucking good at it. They were designed ages ago on some human colony, and are the only thing that keeps the alien 'skin' they grow to camouflage themselves from devouring the whole ship- the 'skin' is a living colony of alien cells; one member spends hundreds of years with dozens of copies of himself developing a communication bridge and protocol with them, later used to send the communication/infiltration spores to other alien ships...

author: FreeThinker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 02, 2011, 06:53:57 pm
content: Quote from: tyblu on March 01, 2011, 11:29:52 pmHmmm!Just a thought but you weren't on the whacky backy at the time? Seems like a bad trip to me

author: Chasm
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 02, 2011, 08:33:23 pm
content: Next try:Quote

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 03, 2011, 09:08:31 am
content: A friend said some of it sounds like the deepwater black books by ken catran.

author: LEECH666
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 03, 2011, 03:06:50 pm
content: - written by a female author, after 1980Ken and Donald don't sound too feminine, but I might be mistaken.Sorry I don't really have anything to contribute, but i would considder reading a book like that.Maybe something from the Warhammer 40k universe? Tho I never read a WH40K romane the ship mentioned reminded me of space hulks. *shruggs*Cheers from Germany,Florian

author: tyblu
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2011, 08:58:46 am
content: Found it!Vastby Linda Nagata, the sequal toDeception Well.Saviour is here:http://scifi.stackexchange.com/q/2273/473

author: DJPhil
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2011, 04:03:15 pm
content: Excellent, I've added it to my random which-book-next hat. I really need to read some stuff that's newer than 1985.I guess amazon is about to see a small sales spike. Thanks for getting back and letting us know the answer.