Excellent & Topical Hard S.F. Novel About TITAN.

[mattblack]

Seek out and read Stephen Baxter's amazing 1997 novel "TITAN." It is a very prescient book: He got the many current situations in the world, including the state of the U.S. space program, eerily correct. I think the book is marvellous, but it has an uneasy time being a work of optimism clothed in a heavy cloak of pessimism. The slightly "Technological Adam & Eve" ending would have been done differently if I'd had my way. But then I'm no Stephen Baxter!<br /><br />Review and product description on Amazon:<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0061057134/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/002-2933047-4226435?%5Fencoding=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=283155 <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p>One Percent of Federal Funding For Space: America <strong><em><u>CAN</u></em></strong> Afford it!!  LEO is a <strong><em>Prison</em></strong> -- It's time for a <em><strong>JAILBREAK</strong></em>!!</p> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

I wonder how many SciFi books have been written about Titan? I just read PKDick's "The Game-Players of Titan" and review it on the SciFi books read thread. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

I just remembered this great site, which has grouped many SciFi works into varying themes. It has a Saturn - Titan theme with 35 books listed.<br /><br />http://www.scifan.com/themes/themes.asp? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mattblack]

Alan E. Nourse's "TROUBLE ON TITAN" from the 1950's is a terrific novel. Seek it out, too! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p>One Percent of Federal Funding For Space: America <strong><em><u>CAN</u></em></strong> Afford it!!  LEO is a <strong><em>Prison</em></strong> -- It's time for a <em><strong>JAILBREAK</strong></em>!!</p> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

I liked Baxter's raft and Voyage. Titan was unrelievedly dark and bleak. No my sort of story at all. Plus a bunch of unsympathetic characters and an implausible ending (two characters a resurrected, presumably by aliens, a billion years or two in the future for no obvious reason or narrative point). <br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

I just read a book by James Blish and note from the bibliography that he wrote a novel in 1961 called "Titan's Daughter." This is not one of the books listed on the SciFan site. Anyone read it? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

Never heard of it!<br /><br />How many novels HAVE been written about Titan, or in which Titan plays a key part?<br /><br />AC Clarke "Imperial Earth"<br />S Baxter "Titan"<br />B Bova "Saturn"<br />H Clement "Half life"<br />K Vonnegut "Sirens of Titan"<br /><br />Any others?<br /><br />I confess to only having read the first two!<br /><br />Jon<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[tom_hobbes]

James P Hogan - <i>Code Of The Lifemaker</i> <br /><br />Alan E Nourse - <i>Trouble On Titan</i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#339966"> I wish I could remember<br /> But my selective memory<br /> Won't let me</font><font size="2" color="#99cc00"> </font><font size="3" color="#339966"><font size="2">- </font></font><font size="1" color="#339966">Mark Oliver Everett</font></p><p> </p> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

I looked through each of the book descriptions on SciFan. Apart from all the books listed in the various posts above, I found four more:<br /><br />1972 Ben Bova "As on a Darkling Plain"<br />1979 John Varley "Titan" (this may be part of a trilogy)<br />1995 James P. Hogan "The Immortality Option"<br />2000 R.J Cantwell "The Titan Colony"<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

Varley's Titan is a bit misleading. It is decades since I read it (when it first came out!) but although set in the rings of Saturn, Titan is a reference to the monstorous children of Saturn, not the moon.<br /><br />Cheers<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>