# Sci-Fi novel identification help **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-novel-identification-help/819928 "2018-08-20T18:33:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-novel-identification-help/819928/1 "2018-08-20T18:33:48Z")
I suddenly had a flashback to a sci-fi novel I read back when I was a sprout. The first part has various secret-agent shenanigans, conspiracies and whatnot, and then the protagonist is killed. And reborn as an incorporeal moth-like super-being, to whom the concerns of earth are nothing. Maybe by Eric Frank Russell? ---
**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:** [August 20, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-novel-identification-help/819928/2 "2018-08-20T18:59:03Z")
> [@Rocketeer](#): > > I suddenly had a flashback to a sci-fi novel I read back when I was a sprout. The first part has various secret-agent shenanigans, conspiracies and whatnot, and then the protagonist is killed. And reborn as an incorporeal moth-like super-being, to whom the concerns of earth are nothing. Maybe by Eric Frank Russell? Doesn’t sound like Eric FRank Russell. I’m pretty sure I’ve read all his novels, and this rings no bells. Besides, I could see him doing the first part, but not the second. That said, I have no idea which novel this could be. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-novel-identification-help/819928/3 "2018-08-20T19:29:34Z")
Is the moth-like super being an angel? ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-novel-identification-help/819928/4 "2018-08-20T19:36:43Z")
Are there people with a variety of mental powers? If so… > **[Sentinels From Space](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinels_From_Space)** > > Sentinels From Space is a science fiction novel by English writer Eric Frank Russell, first published in 1952 by American company Bouregy & Curl, Inc.. It was adapted from a story that appeared in the November 1951 issue of Startling Stories. > At the end of Chapter One the head of the Terran Security Bureau gives David Raven a list of twelve known types of mutants based on the super-normal ability each possesses. He also lists their relative danger, I for innocuous, D for dangerous, and D+ for... ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-novel-identification-help/819928/5 "2018-08-20T20:09:58Z")
Are you sure that you aren’t thinking about the Asimov short story _Does a Bee Care?_ (once comicized in issue 4 of the short-lived _Starstream_ magazine in 1976.) ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-novel-identification-help/819928/6 "2018-08-20T20:25:22Z")
[Wasp](https://www.amazon.com/WASP-Eric-Frank-Russell-ebook/dp/B003TFESY2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534796663&sr=8-1&keywords=eric+frank+russell+wasp) ? ---
**Author:** ![ChrisM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@ChrisM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisM)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-novel-identification-help/819928/7 "2018-08-20T21:24:47Z")
It could be _The Palace of Eternity_ by Bob Shaw. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-novel-identification-help/819928/8 "2018-08-21T00:52:48Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Are there people with a variety of mental powers? If so… > > [Sentinels From Space - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinels_From_Space) Yes, _ **Sentinels from Space** _! Thanks! I had forgotten all the varied mental powers, but it’s all come flooding back now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-novel-identification-help/819928/9 "2018-08-21T01:15:57Z")
Anything to help a fellow modeler:D. Funny thing is, I remembered the mental powers thing but had forgotten the ending so it took me a while. Someone else upthread suggested “Wasp” as a possibility but I’d recommend that one too,