# I'm looking for sci-fi/fantasy stories set on non-spherical worlds. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963 "2012-11-05T15:58:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/62 "2012-11-06T17:27:25Z")
> [@Satchmo](#): > > Damn! Ninja’d by 6 and a half hours. I must be getting slow. > I did like how the humans used the ends for vacuum industries, plus that was where there were Bandersnatchii. If you mean “Jinx is where there are Bandersnatchi”, then yes; but they’re in the equatorial regions where atmospheric pressure is inconveniently high for humans (but survivable if you really want to hunt Bandersnatchi). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/63 "2012-11-06T18:34:23Z")
It’s only a satellite, not a world, but Charles Sheffield’s _The Web Between the Worlds_ features a ball of water encased in a covering that is home to aquatic life in orbit. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/64 "2012-11-06T18:36:39Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > If you mean “Jinx is where there are Bandersnatchi”, then yes; but they’re in the equatorial regions where atmospheric pressure is inconveniently high for humans (but survivable if you really want to hunt Bandersnatchi). Yes, thanks **Malacandra**. \ That’s what I meant. Not a lot of stories about Jinx, but mentioned in passing that the Bandersnatchi negotiate the equipment allowed to be used to hunt them, (high pressure capable tanks if I recall), so that the Bandersnatchi ‘win’ at least one out of every three encounters. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/65 "2012-11-06T19:06:25Z")
The last words of the (momentary) survivor of a pair of dueling magicians who gave the world of Orbix, in Esther Freisner’s [Majyk series](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Friesner#Majyk_series) of books, a case of morphological hiccoughs, where it changes shape at random intervals. At the time of the series the world had been flatish from what I recall. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/66 "2012-11-06T19:38:35Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I promise I’m not following you around :dubious: How _you_ doin’? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/67 "2012-11-06T19:40:51Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Hell, if we’re going with video games, in the early days the planet Sonic the Hedgehog inhabited was called Moebius and was, well, a Moebius Strip. Speaking of video games, a huge number of RPG’s have to take place on planets shaped like donuts. Not only do they loop from east to west, but north to south. Fly an airship or balloon or sail a ship or whatever off the top of the map and you pop up on the bottom. That doesn’t happen on a spherical world. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/68 "2012-11-06T19:57:58Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Also Arthur Clarke - “Wall of Darkness”… I second this. What about The Inverted World by Christopher Priest? There is a twist that might disqualify it, but it seems that it might fit the spirit of your question and does involve some interesting geometry. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/69 "2012-11-06T19:59:25Z")
> [@Satchmo](#): > > Yes, thanks **Malacandra**. \ That’s what I meant. Not a lot of stories about Jinx, but mentioned in passing that the Bandersnatchi … Are they frumious? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/70 "2012-11-06T20:07:15Z")
Another one might be Orphans of the Sky by Heinlein, but there’s nothing especially notable about the physics of the universe. What is notable is that there is a primitive civilization living inside of a cylindrical generational starship who think that the ship is all there is in the universe. They are descendants of the original crew and/or passengers and remember mythologized fragments of their history. The disaster that destroyed the societal order has been re imagined as a religious origin story with “Accursed Huff (apparently a sabateur or mutineer), the first to sin!” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/71 "2012-11-06T20:09:31Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Another one might be Orphans of the Sky by Heinlein, but there’s nothing especially notable about the physics of the universe. What is notable is that there is a primitive civilization living inside of a cylindrical generational starship who think that the ship is all there is in the universe. They are descendants of original the original crew/passengers and remember mythologized fragments of their history. The disaster that destroyed the societal order has been re imagined as a religious origin story with “Accursed Huff (apparently a sabateur or mutineer), the first to sin!” Heinlein was certainly not the only one to write about the Lost Generation Starship (although he might be the first – I don’t know any previous examples). In any event, I mentioned such cylindrical artificial habitats in my first post back at the beginning of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/72 "2012-11-06T20:10:27Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Are they frumious? Quite. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/73 "2012-11-06T20:41:31Z")
To go back to Anthony’s Phaze/Proton, wasn’t it actually something like a hemispherical shell around a black hole, and the curtain and magic/fantasy duality were due to some handwaving with the black hole’s gravity? I think that came into the picture with _Phaze Doubt_, the last book (that I know of). ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/74 "2012-11-06T21:12:24Z")
KW Jeter’s _Farewell Horizontal_ is set in/on a vast cylindrical tower, with people living (mostly) on the floors inside but also on the outside of the tower. The people outside stick to the tower face with special equipment and basically live at 90º to the force of gravity. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/75 "2012-11-06T22:23:35Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > To go back to Anthony’s Phaze/Proton, wasn’t it actually something like a hemispherical shell around a black hole, I only read the original trilogy. I believe that story line ended (as I recall) with the two worlds being separated. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/76 "2012-11-07T13:01:58Z")
> [@SiXSwordS](#): > > I only read the original trilogy. I believe that story line ended (as I recall) with the two worlds being separated. For Athena’s sake, DO NOT READ THE REST OF THAT SERIES! At least, not unless you are being paid to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/77 "2012-11-07T18:29:01Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > In _John the Balladeer_, a collection of the Silver John stories by Manley Wade Wellman, there is a story, “Further Down the Trail”, IIRC, in which the Earth is definitely not spherical, presumably flat. (To clarify, “Further Down the Trail” is really a collection of ultra-short fantasy stories.) Found it, it’s actually in the section “Wonder as I Wander”, and this particular short-short is called “The Stars Down There.” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/78 "2012-11-07T18:47:28Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > How _you_ doin’? 😉 \*gro… … _check Gallery_ pe **Ethilrist** \* ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/79 "2012-11-10T20:21:50Z")
Bob Shaw’s _Orbitsville_ is set inside a Dyson Sphere. > **[Orbitsville](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbitsville)** > > Orbitsville is a science fiction novel by British writer Bob Shaw, published in book form in 1975. It is about the discovery of a Dyson sphere-like artefact surrounding a star. > The novel had previously appeared in three installments in Galaxy Science Fiction, in June, July and August 1974. After its publication as a book it won the British Science Fiction Award for the best novel in 1976. > Shaw wrote two sequels, Orbitsville Departure (.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-w... I’ve just read _Pushing Ice_ by Alastair Reynolds, part of which is set in a large structure called The Structure, which is definitely not spherical. [Pushing Ice - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushing_Ice) And there’s _Eon_ and _Eternity_ by Greg Bear, set in a rotating asteroid and something much larger attached to it… > **[Eon (novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eon_%28novel%29)** > > Eon is a science fiction novel by American author Greg Bear published by Bluejay Books in 1985. Eon was nominated for an Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987. It is the first novel in The Way series; followed by Eternity. > In the early 21st century, NATO and the Soviet Union are on the verge of a second nuclear war. Incidentally, a 290 km prolate spheroid has been detected following an anomalous energy burst just outside the solar system. It is an asteroid: Juno. It moves into an eccentric near-Earth ... I must admit to a certain predilection for non-spherical worlds myself… ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/80 "2012-11-10T22:59:42Z")
Nehwon, the setting of the [Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fafhrd_and_the_Gray_Mouser) stories by Fritz Leiber, is described as being on the one side of the interior of a bubble rushing upward through the waters of infinity. The stars visible in the night sky (and the sun in the daytime) are supposedly visible through the openings at the center of giant waterspouts on the other side of the bubble; in the story “Trapped in the Sea of Stars,” F. and the G.M travel to that area by boat and see the waterspouts. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963/81 "2012-11-10T23:58:24Z")
The manga [BLAME!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blame!) is set inside The City, an ever-expanding megastructure that extends from at least Earth’s orbit to beyond the orbit of Jupiter. I understand at one point the main character treks across a vast room that apparently used to hold Jupiter, before it was disassembled (good thing he’s immortal). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-sci-fi-fantasy-stories-set-on-non-spherical-worlds/639963.md?page=3)