Here’s another “middle passage” idea for anyone who’s interested: Earth (well, the Solar System at that point) has tried sending out automated interstellar probes but they always mysteriously fail at about the two-light-year distance. Finally a group of would-be colonists decides to risk a manned voyage- they’ll make the trip, see just what the heck’s going wrong and hope they can fix it. So they set out for Alpha Centauri at 5% of lightspeed. About forty years into the trip, it turns out that once you get far enough from any strong sources of gravity, the laws of physics alter (presaged by the small but mysterious velocity anomalies that have actually been observed in the Voyager probes). The people on board have to struggle to survive conditions that no one could ever have anticipated.
That made me think of “Ship of Shadows” by Fritz Lieber. The main character is toothless and nearsighted, and gets dentures & spectacles from an old guy. But it’s a survival ship orbiting Earth called Windrush, not a starship. The story also includes talking dogs & cats and evil blooddrinkers. Great story, won a Hugo.
I saw Starlost.
Kier Dullea sooks so…70s…with a mustache. :rolleyes:
I get the impression that Harlan Ellison feels that way a lot.
Hmmm…David Gerrold did a Star Trek novel on the multi-generational theme, too.
Starlost was what I was thinking of. I know from the plot and picture, not the title.
I’m sure I read The StarCrossed.
I’ve been watching some Space 1999 lately. I liked it when a kid, and it’s still watchable. I love the retro flare slacks, and the bobbed hair sheik look. All of the uniform is white of coarse. They use every excuse to have women go crying to the men who seem to loose their shirts a lot. Very much a 70’s series. I found the actor that played Saruman in Lord Of The Rings played an alien commander in Space 1999 with his face all done up like a guy in drag, wearing a platinium blond wig. The instruments are almost all artists renderings, and the mission monitors all have the team member’s name spelled out above them, with glued on letters. I don’t know who’s job it is to change the letters before each mission. I don’t know what the purpose of four monitors in every free standing column in every hall is for. The monitor always shows the person walking toward the column.
I wrote:
> . . . cable TV in the U.K. . . .
Excuse me, it was satellite TV, I think.
Lumpy writes:
> . . . the small but mysterious velocity anomalies that have actually been
> observed in the Voyager probes . . .
It’s the Pioneer spacecraft:
There’s also some evidence from the Galileo and the Ulysses spacecraft.
Was that the novella Paradises Lost by Ursula K. LeGuin in her story collection The Birthday of the World? The people who want to stay on the spaceship found a “religion” named Bliss, and they try to convince other people that the voyage is the real goal.
Nope, a short story I read in Analog; lessee… ok, Analog December 2002, “Generation Gap” by John G. Henry.
Nice one.
I have to believe that others get the reference, but I thought someone should actually acknowledge it.
I so seldom think of my username anymore that it took me a day or so to realize what Chronos was talking about. Thanks for noticing, Chronos.
I do believe I’ll stop by the used bookstore to look for this title. To me, a scifi novel loses something if it’s not in the form of an aged, sweet-smelling paperback.
You are talking about having luck are you not?