Mission of gravity
Mission of gravityHal Clement
Buy on Amazon

Mission of gravity (1954)

Hal Clement

Others: Mixed

From back cover Del Rey paperback January 1978: CAPTAIN COURAGEOUS For a profit -- and adventure -- Barlennan would sail the Bree thousands of miles across uncharted waters, into regions where gravity itself played strange tricks. He would dare the perils of strange tribes and strange creatures -- even dicker with those strange aliens from beyond the skies, though the concept of another world was unknown to the inhabitants of Mesklin. But in spite of the incredible technology of the strangers and without regard for their enourmous size, Barlennan had the notion of turning the deal to an unsuspected advantage for himself... all in all a considerable enterprise for a being very much resembling a fifteen-inch caterpillar!

ISBN:
9780575040229
Length:
224 pages

Genres: science fiction

Lists: …

Similar books

1 of 6
  • The inverted world

    Christopher Priest

    1974 · 272 pages · 10 reviews

    Others: Mostly positive

    The city is winched along tracks through a devastated land full of hostile tribes. Rails must be freshly laid ahead of the city and carefully removed in its wake. Rivers and mountains present nearly insurmountable challenges to the ingenuity of the city's engineers. But if the city does not move, it will fall farther and farther behind the "optimum" into the crushing gravitational field that has transformed life on Earth. The only alternative to progress is death. The secret directorate that governs the city makes sure that its inhabitants know nothing of this. Raised in common in creches, nurtured on synthetic food, prevented above all from venturing outside the closed circuit of the city, they are carefully sheltered from the dire necessities that have come to define human existence. And yet the city is in crisis. The people are growing restive, the population is dwindling, and the rulers know that, for all their efforts, slowly but surely the city is slipping ever farther behind the optimum. Helward Mann is a member of the city's elite. Better than anyone, he knows how tenuous is the city's continued existence. But the world--he is about to discover--is infinitely stranger than the strange world he believes he knows so well.

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    Also science fiction
    79%
    A creator reacted alike
    13%
    Similar descriptions
    8%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • A Fire upon the Deep

    Vernor Vinge

    1992 · 613 pages · 19 reviews

    Others: Mostly positive

    Thousands of years in the future, humanity is no longer alone in a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures, and technology, can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these "regions of thought," but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence. Fleeing this galactic threat, Ravna crash lands on a strange world with a ship-hold full of cryogenically frozen children, the only survivors from a destroyed space-lab. They are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle.

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    Also science fiction
    79%
    Similar descriptions
    21%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • Ring

    Stephen Baxter

    1994 · 507 pages · 3 reviews

    Others: Mixed

    From back cover Harper paperback June 1996: Michael Poole's wormholes constructed in the orbit of Jupiter had opened the galaxy to humankind. Then Poole tried looping a wormhole back on itself, tying a knot in space and ripping a hole in time. It worked. Too well. Poole was never seen again. Then from far in the future, from a time so distant that the stars themselves were dying embers, came an urgent SOS -- and a promise. The universe was doomed, but humankind was not. Poole had stumbled upon an immense artifact, light-years across, fabricated from the very string of the cosmos. The Universe had a door. And it was open....

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    Also science fiction
    82%
    A creator reacted alike
    13%
    Similar descriptions
    5%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • Martian Time-Slip

    Philip K. Dick

    1964 · 240 pages · 5 reviews

    Others: Mostly positive

    Martian Time-Slip is a 1964 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. The novel uses the common science fiction concept of a human colony on Mars. However, it also includes the themes of mental illness, the physics of time and the dangers of centralized authority. The novel was first published under the title All We Marsmen, serialized in the August, October and December 1963 issues of Worlds of Tomorrow magazine. The subsequent 1964 publication as Martian Time-Slip is virtually identical, with different chapter breaks.

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    Also science fiction
    82%
    A creator reacted alike
    14%
    Similar descriptions
    4%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • Chapterhouse Dune

    Frank Herbert

    1985 · 464 pages · 2 reviews

    Others: Leaning positive

    The desert planet Arrakis, called Dune, has been destroyed. Now the Bene Gesserit, heirs to Dune's powers, have colonized a green world and are turning it into a desert, mile by scorched mile.

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    Also science fiction
    82%
    A creator reacted alike
    14%
    Similar descriptions
    4%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • A Case of Conscience

    James Blish

    1958 · 192 pages · 7 reviews

    Others: Mixed

    The citizens of the planet Lithia are some of the most ethical sentient beings Father Ramon Ruiz-Sanchez has ever encountered. True, they have no literature, no fine arts, and don't understand the concept of recreation, but neither do they understand the concepts of greed, envy, lust, or any of the sins and vices that plague humankind. Their world seems darned near perfect. And that is just what disturbs the good Father. First published in 1959, James Blish's Hugo Award-winning A Case of Conscience is science fiction at its very best: a fast-paced, intelligent story that offers plenty of action while at the same time explores complex questions of values and ethics. In this case, Blish has taken on the age-old battle of good vs. evil. Lithia poses a theological question that lies at the heart of this book: is God necessary for a moral society? The Lithians are nothing if not moral. Not only do they lack the seven deadly sins, they also lack original sin. And without any sort of religious framework, they have created the Christian ideal world, one that humans would be eager to study and emulate. But is it too perfect? Is it in fact, as Father Ruiz-Sanchez suspects, the work of The Adversary? And what role does Egtverchi, the young Lithian raised on Earth, play? Is he an innocent victim of circumstance, or will he bring about the Dies Irae, the day of the wrath of God, upon the earth? The fate of two worlds hinges on the answers to these questions, and will lead to an ancient earth heresy that shakes the Jesuit priest's beliefs to their very core. A Case of Conscience is a brilliant piece of storytelling, and it packs a lot into a scant 242 pages. Most readers will probably finish the book in one sitting, unable to stop until the spectacular denouement. But the questions posed by this little-known gem will stay with you for days afterward. --P.M. Atterberry

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    Also science fiction
    83%
    A creator reacted alike
    14%
    Similar descriptions
    3%
    Personalize your recommendations

Reviews1