What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

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► UNSOLVED: One specific book > Short Story Colonization ship crashes on planet where tides are very strong

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message 1: by Shanna_redwind (last edited Sep 17, 2014 05:44AM) (new)

Shanna_redwind | 852 comments This was a short story or a novella. It was in a collection, and I read it sometime probably between 1998 and 2008 but I have no idea whether it was in an old book or a new. I can't remember the book at all or the other stories. Just this one sticks in my head.

There was a colonization space ship heading to a perfect planet for settling when it began having trouble and had to crash. (view spoiler)

The equator of the planet seemed to be a perfect spot to land and that's where they set up, but then they figure out that there's a huge ocean moving around the planet because the tide is so strong that it just draws the ocean around the planet. You'd think they would have figured that out before landing. Not sure why they didn't.

They end up having to set up a migratory lifestyle where the first people plant and then the next care for the plants and the last harvests it. I guess the food is then run up to the other people, I don't remember.


message 2: by Grey (new)

Grey Wolf | 49 comments There's a book that sounds similar by Poul Anderson with a character called Duncan/Deucalion but the booksellers bought my copy when I went bankrupt


message 3: by Shanna_redwind (new)

Shanna_redwind | 852 comments If it was a novel I don't think that's it, but thanks for the try. It was definitely a short story in a collection, perhaps a collection of colonization stories, but I'm not positive about that.


message 4: by Shanna_redwind (new)

Shanna_redwind | 852 comments bump


message 5: by Shanna_redwind (new)

Shanna_redwind | 852 comments bump


message 6: by Evan (new)

Evan | 11 comments It sounds like, Stations of the Tide, by Michael Swanwick


message 7: by Shanna_redwind (new)

Shanna_redwind | 852 comments Thanks for the try, but there was no smuggling or manhunt. I appreciate the effort.


message 8: by Shanna_redwind (new)

Shanna_redwind | 852 comments bump


message 9: by [deleted user] (new)

This rings a bell... I'll investigate my collections, but I'll almost bet that I borrowed it from a library... I read my books often enough to know... I'll get back to you. I wanna say it's a short and not a novella... keep your fingers crossed.


message 10: by Shanna_redwind (new)

Shanna_redwind | 852 comments bump


message 11: by Shanna_redwind (new)

Shanna_redwind | 852 comments bump


message 12: by Shanna_redwind (new)

Shanna_redwind | 852 comments bump


message 13: by Aileen (new)

Aileen Krupa | 16 comments Check Ursula LeGuins short story collections. Your story line reminds me of something I've read and I also associate it with the image of a book cover from a collection of hers


message 14: by Shanna_redwind (new)

Shanna_redwind | 852 comments I'll look over Ursula LeGuin's stories, but I'm pretty sure it was in a book with mixed authors, though of course she could have had a story in a book with other authors.

I do think it may have been in a collection of short stories about colonization.

Thanks for the suggestion.


message 15: by Shanna_redwind (new)

Shanna_redwind | 852 comments Bump


message 16: by Ayshe (new)

Ayshe | 4721 comments It seems someone is searching for the same story here: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/quest...


message 17: by Shanna_redwind (last edited Jul 03, 2018 08:03PM) (new)

Shanna_redwind | 852 comments Yes, that is definitely the same story. Thanks for locating it, I'll keep an eye on the site whenever I'm flipping through my unsolved mysteries, though it's got even less activity than this thread.


message 18: by Shanna_redwind (new)

Shanna_redwind | 852 comments I'll add the points that are in the other search which I had forgotten.

They had cold weather gear for the poles of this planet. Maybe they moved there instead of the staying on the equator? I think that the migratory lifestyle was meant for later in the establishment of the planet.


message 19: by Lobstergirl, au gratin (new)

Lobstergirl | 44923 comments Mod
Shanna_redwind, are you still looking for this or did you find it?


message 20: by Genesistrine (new)

Genesistrine | 575 comments Maybe Summer's Lease by Joe Haldeman? (In his collection Infinite Dreams)

One of the stars the planet orbits flares up and scorches the planet every 80 years ("The Burning" ); everyone has to trek to a frozen crater near the North Pole that shelters them enough for survival. The first colonists lost pretty much everything when the bottom of the crater flooded with boiling water in the first Burning.

The main part of the story involves Lars, who's trying to put together this mostly-forgotten history, and finally meets a man called Brian who says he's part of a rescue mission from Earth and Lars needs to shut up because they don't have the facilities to evacuate everyone before the next Burning and they need everyone to focus on survival for now.

(view spoiler)


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