Conference noted::sf

I read the book `Neverness' about a year and a half ago. This was the
note I put in the Noter's Review topic:

            <<< NOTED::DISK$NOTES2:[NOTES$LIBRARY_2OF3]SF.NOTE;1 >>>
                             -< Arcana Caelestia >-
================================================================================
Note 46.20                  SF Noters' Novel Reviews                    20 of 27
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neverness - David Zindell
	This one definitely goes in the `to read again' section. A first novel,
and one which I expect to win a Hugo or Nebula (I forget which is which)
	Orson Scott card says: Not just a brilliant novel but a strong and
serious view of human potential....as I read it I heard Zindell say things I
had tried to say in many of my own works, but never did, not this clearly, not
this fully....I have read Zindell's book, and I want to `know' what he knew
that allowed him to tell this tale.
And later...:Excellent hard science fiction...ideas splash out of Zindell's
mind and across the pages of this book.
	Also rave reviews by Gene Wolfe, Michael Bishop, and many other
sources.

	Cover synopsis = The world of Neverness is one of stunning complexity
filled with extraordinary beings: the Alaloi, whose genes have back mutated to
give them the appearance of Neanderthals: the Order of Pilots, which reworks
the laws of time and physics to slingshot its members through dense regions of
`thickspace': the Solid State Entity, a nebula sized brain composed of
moon-sized biocomputers: and the Ieldra, a mythical race of aliens that eons
ago seeded the galaxy with its DNA and initiated the evolutionary cycle.
	Against this backdrop is told the story of Mallory (a guy) Ringness, a
headstrong novitiate of the Order of Pilots. Against all odds he has navigated
a maze of interspatial passageways to penetrate the Solid State Entity. Now he
returns to his native Neverness with a stunning discovery: a discovery that
unlocks the secret of immortality hidden among the Alaloi. But first Mallory
will lead a perilous quest through uncharted regions of Thickspace, where he
will be asked to undergo the final challenge - to discard the last vestiges of
humanity in return for mankind's salvation.

Mike JN

    James Blish offered a novella called "Surface Tension", and another
    related story whose title I've forgotten. Theme:
    
    In a distant future, as man propagates across space, he encounters many
    planets and satellites which are in the biosphere (capable of
    supporting life) but not life defined by human needs. The atmosphere
    is wrong, or the gravity is too great, or some such defect or other.
    Now, rather than terraform these worlds at great pain, expense, and
    delay, humanity elects to genetically reengineer itself to live in
    these habitats.  "Surface Tension" explores a race of men (but no
    longer recognizable as such) living in a mud puddle, and reaching the
    stage of their evolution where they decide to explore outer space -
    only in this case, outer space is reachable by breaking the surface
    tension of the top layer of the mud puddle. In a related story, and
    old man has designed a race of human "lopers" to live on the surface
    of a gas giant. He and his aging dog are the first subjects for
    transformation.
    
    I believe these stories were in a volume called "Starswarm". I read
    them long ago, but their brilliant imagery has left an impression on
    this old dog. If you can find them, read them.
    

    Re .2
    
    "Surface Tension" is in a collection of related stories call "The
    Seedling Stars," by Blish.  We also meet monkey-people, seal-people,
    and a man designed to live on Ganymede.  Blish has these
    transformations done to the embryo or zygote; full-grown organisms are
    not mutable.
    
    I believe "Starswarm" was by Brian Aldiss and concerned the
    diversification of the human race as it colonized the Magellanic
    Clouds, though it's been far too long since I read it.
    
    The story about the old man and his dog transforming into creatures to
    live on a gas-giant sounds strangely familiar, but it isn't part of the
    Blish collection.  Might it be by Poul Anderson?  He wrote a novelette
    called "Call Me Joe" in which a dying man operates a designed Jupiter
    colonist (named Joe) by artificial telepathy.  When the man dies, his
    mind survives in Joe.
    
    No, wait!  I think the man and his dog appear in the collection "City"
    by Clifford Simak.  Is Jerry B. out there?
    
    Earl Wajenberg

    There *is* a story by Blish about humans transformed into beings better
    suited for working on the surface of Jupiter, where they work on some
    enormous engineering project building a thing called the Bridge.  It's
    the first of a series of 4 stories (collected as "Cities in Flight"?)
    that feature the "spindizzy" as propulsive means and New York and
    other cities as space arks.
    
    Of course, there's "Blood Music" by Greg Bear.
    
    Arbitrary surgical and genetic manipulation are common themes in the
    cyberpunk genre.
    
    len.
    
       

If I remember correctly, the 'Old man and his dog on Jupiter' story goes 
something like this:

	The old man is head of a scientific survey mission.  Members of the
	survey team are transformed into specially designed bodies, in order to 
	explore the surface.  Problem is, none of the teams ever come 
	back.  As a last resort, the man and his old faithful companion
	undergo the process, and discover that their new bodies are so 
	delightful that they, too, refuse to return, because they can't stand 
	the though of being transformed back into their old feeble selves...

I *think* this is a Poul Anderson story.


Hope this helps,


Ian S.

    As mention in the last reply, the Jupiter transformation story is..
    
    Desertion by Clifford Simak, Copyright 1944 by Street and Smith
    Publications, Inc.  Copyright renewed 1972 by CLifford D. Simak
    
    I found it in the Ace collection "Changes" 	ISBN: 0-441-10260-3
    Published in 1983.
    
    					Chris

    Thank you! The grey cells are just dying by the trillions...
    
     - Max
    

    
                 What about "Man Plus" by Frederick Pohl?
    
    David