"Another "help me remember a book title" thread" Topic

Ok, this one is another "youth lit" book I read back in the early 80's, though I don't know its publication date.

The protagonists are trapped in a space ship or some such that they don't know is a space ship. The kicker is that at the end of the novel, we discover that these "people" are in fact uplifted "house pet" class creatures. I seem to recall them being discovered by an actual Human.

Aside from that, I don't really remember much about the story.

Any ideas?

(Memory is a funny thing – I can recall titles of books like "The Shy Stegasaurus of Cricket Creek", but I can't remember the name of another "dinos in modern times" kid's story about a pterodactyl egg that hatches, and the kid who ultimately kills the critter rather than handing it over to scientists for "cruel experimentation".)

I remember a similar one were the people trapped on the ship had inbred to a smaller faster living version of humanity, does that ring any bells?

Robert

link

Nope, it's not Brin's Uplift Saga. IIRC it was a "youth" targeted book and (SPOILERS) didn't have humans in it until the very end.

Plus, Brin had uplifted primates and cetaceans; this book had uplifted cats and dogs.

Also – I read it in the 80's (or maybe very late 70's) but I have no idea when it was written.

I remember a similar one were the people trapped on the ship had inbred to a smaller faster living version of humanity, does that ring any bells?

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"Star Ship" (US title – in England it was called "Non-Stop") by Brian Aldiss 1958 – His first Novel.

"a ship filled with strangely disfigured men, oppressive hallways choked by layers of hydroponic plants, slowly moving primitive tribes who kill their mutated children, regimented rats with their caged partially telepathic animals, disturbing religions spawned from the tenants of various psychiatrists (Freud and the like), giants scurrying undetected along various hallways and passages stealing children… A nightmare."

The RPG Metamorphisis Alpha owes a lot to this book.

I don't remember my story being at all that dark….

But after reading an online summary, I think this might have been the story. If not, it's certainly a VERY similar story. Though I distinctly remember the inhabitants being evolved dogs and cats, which isn't mentioned in the summary. Perhaps because it's too spoiler-y?

There was also a generation ship book written by a Russian, where the passangers no longer realized they were on a space ship they had lost all their knowledge. Turns out at the end, that the lost ship had been found by Earth and it was being used as an experiment of what happens to humans in limited space and resources. I read this in the 70s so it must be from the 60s.

Hi wasnt there an evolved cat on the Red Dwarf series?

Sounds a bit like the "Albedo" comics, but those are graphic novels not youth stories….

-Will