SCI/FI mid-late ’70’s post alien catastrophe where humanity must rebuild itself based on combining all of the human subgroups that have evolved or mutated. One scene involves the mating of a regular male with a mutated and vicious female being.
I am looking for a young adult book that I read between 1983-1990. (It may be marginally sci-fi or dystopian, I don’t recall.)
The story is: A boy/teenager’s mother disappears. As he tries to find her, he comes into his own skill-set (maybe as a mathematician, scientist or problem solver — something.) In the end, he finds his mother, and she explains that she is part of a group who intend to start a new society or colonize off planet — something along those lines. She left her life behind and vanished in order to begin preparations with the group because the time to start this new colony or society was drawing near. (I believe her skill is agricultural or scientific, etc)
The big revelation is that she couldn’t tell him about what she was doing or bring him along because every member of the group must have a special skill or contribution to make to this new society that they intend to form. She could only hope that her son discovered his skill and could follow the clues to find her. (Essentially, now that he has become worthy, they are reunited and he can be part of this new colony.)
Thanks in advance,
Jana P.
I am trying to find a kid’s book published in the mid 80s. The story is about a brother and sister that find a pocket watch and use it to time travel to the 1700s to find/rescue their father that is lost in time.
I’m looking for a trilogy the second book hardcover has a skeleton metal android on it and has a yellow background its at least a trilogy. It is about a winged boy, named Del, living in what sounds like a castle or a temple. He dies at one point and becomes a room but escapes the room. In another part his body is possessed by some spirit, I think it was a god, the God in Del’s body tore off his wings. I also remember that his eyes could change color. Right after the possession he, Del with the god in him, was in a room being tortured by someone. The girl that Del had been traveling with commented on his eyes being white with rage. After the god in Del’s body and the girl escape the god rips off the now damaged wings. After he dies he was in a room that was his soul it was painful for him to become a room. After he rips himself free he grounds up and devours some pictures which represent the souls. He did that because someone with him told him to. They said that it wouldn’t be as effective but should still help. There’s people riding something that the android is carrying someone sets the android free.
Thank you for at least trying to help,
Jessee
This was a novella contained in a large edited volume of Sci Fi short works. Since I read it in the mid 1960’s to 1971 time period and it had a library binding, it probably dates from early 1960’s.
The plot is as follows:
Humans underwent a diaspora throughout the local galaxy; then at some point colonies lost contact with each other and with Earth and cultures evolved on their own pathways. At the point in time when the story takes place, an interplanetary Human government is trying to locate old Earth colonies to bring them back into the fold. This is apparently a very desirable event for the other cultures, as they get all sorts of economic benefits by being in the human club. Thus, many civilizations of near-human look-alikes also try to get into the human federation (Yes I know, what are the chances? Convergent evolution can only do so much. )
So inspectors investigate new applications to the federation to determine if the people really are descended from ancient earth colonists. The lead character in the story is an inspector/investigator. He is following up on the investigation and mysterious disappearance of an earlier investigator. He has a copy of the previous investigator’s rather cryptic journal, which mentions “Musci” in relation to the people of the planet. Musci? Is he talking about houseflies (Muscidae)?
Turns out, the people look much like humans, but clearly are not; they reproduce by alternation of generation, like mosses and all other land plants (though it’s only really obvious to the naked eye in mosses and ferns). “Aha! Not houseflies, but mosses!” the narrator of the story thinks. (“Muscinae” is an outdated name for the mosses, now called Bryophyta.) There is a diploid generation that gives birth to a batch of haploid babies (plants do it with spores). These babies are spirited away (out of sight of nosy humans), and grow up to be either pure haploid males (one set of chromosomes plus a Y-chromosome) or pure haploid females (one set of chromosomes, one X-Chromosome). The author describes them as very handsome/beautiful, the essence of the ideal male or female. These people have sexual reproduction, give birth to diploid babies, and die. The diploid adults raise the diploid babies (if I remember correctly) and the haploid people raise the haploid offspring of the diploids.
I really would like to locate this work, to use as a side note in teaching introductory biology lectures on plant reproduction and how strikingly different it is from animal reproduction.
A sci fi book or short story (read in the 80s): some people from our time/Earth ended up in the future (or another planet). The two main protagonists (guy and girl) recognize/identify each other by the marks of chickenpox vaccination on their forearms.
The female main character, Nan, lives in an apartment in a big city in what I recall as the late 1970s or 1980s, although it could certainly have been as late as 1990. In my memory, she finds a doorway to a mountain world at the end of an alley. I remember the vast majority of the book is spent with her alone, exploring the mountain.
I seem to recall that near the last 1/3 of the book, she encounters a village. I believe she also travels back and forth and at some point, decides to leave her boyfriend in the city life. However, I am fairly sure that the bulk of the book takes place on the mountain. I recall grassland vividly, so description of the environment must have been a big component of the book.
Near the end of the book, there is, of course, conflict. I can’t remember if something gets in to the mountain world and upsets the balance or if there is some sort of struggle on the mountain. I vaguely recall a fire.
I checked out this book from the library in 1993 or 1994, and because of the female protagonist, I believe it was written after 1970.
Thank you so much for your help!
This story is likely from a children’s anthology. Little boy lives in a spaceship (maybe space colony?). He has a pet (maybe turtle?). Pets are rare due to scarcity. A group of visitors come (maybe from another colony) and are amused by the pet. The boy is pressured to give the pet as a gift to the visitors.
Its a kids sci-fi picture book I loved as a child. I know it was popular in the late 80s or early 90s as that was when I was a kid. The book reminded me of “The Odyssey” but in space, and animal characters instead of humans. Each planet they traveled to, two of them would decide to stay. Sometimes their decision to stay would be a bad decision and sometimes it was okay. in the end, there was only one or two animals still on the ship, and on the last planet they visit, all their friends they lost throughout the journey, ended up being there.
I was in elementary school in the 90’s, and I remember a book or series of books in the school library that I believe were all by the same author but may not have contained the same characters. I think both books had yellow hard-back covers. One of the books cover had a woman on it with a third eye, the eye was possibly triangle shaped. I’m not sure I remember the plot line of that book if there was more than one book. The plot-line I do remember though went as follows: A girl (and possibly her family) moves to a farm/rural setting. While out walking one day she runs into an invisible wall. Somehow she, and possibly a boy (or her family) get through the wall, and there is a hidden city behind it, possibly made out of crystal. The people in the city are either alien in nature, or are people with powers, and those powers and possibly telekinesis and/or telepathy. I think she has to figure out how to escape from this city. I’m hoping someone knows what these books are.