# What’s the name of this SCI/FI book/series?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-name-of-this-sci-fi-book-series/200000>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 6, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-name-of-this-sci-fi-book-series/200000 "2003-09-06T22:42:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Mac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-name-of-this-sci-fi-book-series/200000/1 "2003-09-06T22:42:58Z")

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It’s an older SCI/FI series about a composer who took his sailboat to Belize to compose a new symphony and encounters extraterrestrials. The aliens are looking for a race that can stand the concept of fighting and killing to help them fight a war.

Does anyone know the name of the series and author?

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**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-name-of-this-sci-fi-book-series/200000/2 "2003-09-06T22:55:59Z")

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Could it be the series “The Damned” by Alan Dean Foster? First book is called “A call to arms”.

Been a while since I read them, hadda dig thru my CFRPB (closet fulla randomly piled books) to find one, and it’s not the first.

I distinctly remember the prot. having a boat, sailing off somewhere, and meeting aliens who needed a warlike race to fight for them.

Hope this helps.

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**Author:** ![Xgemina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/b5e925/32.png) [@Xgemina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xgemina)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-name-of-this-sci-fi-book-series/200000/3 "2003-09-06T23:38:45Z")

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I think **Phnord Prephect** is right. “The Damned” series by Alan Dean Foster had three books: “A Call to Arms,” “The False Mirror,” and “The Spoils of War.”

Its been almost 10 years since they were published and I read them but you can still get them on Amazon…pretty cheap in the z-shops.