SOLVED. Science Fiction book about a guy who could slow-down time and had a lion friend with the intellect of a 5 year old child. [s]

[Jennyjoa]

Hi all,

My father who will turn 54 this summer keeps telling me about a book that he used to read as a teenager and I'd love to find it and give it to him as a birthday present.

Here's what he remembers about it:

1) It's a Science Fiction novel by an American author parts of which were printed in Russia in a Youth Magazine in the early 1980s. It was printed in serialized form and he read it sometime between 1980 and 1986

The protagonist is a guy who can slow-down time by touching/turning the crown of his tooth

He has a lion friend who is genetically engineered somehow so he has the intellect of a 5 year old child

Together they are traveling between the Earth and other planets to fulfill some kind of jobs.

Unfortunately, I don't know any more details. I was hoping there wouldn't be too many books about time-savvy guys with lion friends on an interstellar journey but apparently I'm wrong as my own research hasn't brought me anywhere:-)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks a lot!

Best,

Jenny

[Rainbowheart]

How old is the guy in the story?

Does your dad think the original book was intended for teens or adults?

[Jennyjoa]

Hi, he doesn’t remember the guy’s exact age but says he was a grown man. The book was intended for adults.

Best,
Jenny

[Michele]

What a fun plot! Did he read it as a novel, or in serial form, or both? Does he recall how long the book was, and/or what magazine it was serialized in? If he read it as a novel, does he recall anything about the cover? Can he recall how/why he knows it was an American author, whether the author was well-known, author male or female?

[Jennyjoa]

Michele wrote: "What a fun plot! Did he read it as a novel, or in serial form, or both? Does he recall how long the book was, and/or what magazine it was serialized in? If he read it as a novel, does he recall any..."

Hi Michele,

He read it in a Russian magazine for young adults in serial form Parts of the book were printed in each edition. And then they stopped to publish that magazine because it was classified as "Western propaganda" and he never got to read the ending of that book:-(

He believes it's by an American male author. I'm not sure whether he's well-known but I assume he must have been to some extent if someone went to the trouble of translating him into Russian.

Best,
Jenny

[Joseph]

Could be the Lions of Elodorado by Francis Carsac.
La Vermine Du Lion
Львы Элдорадо

I can only find it in French. There seems never to have been an English translation.

From Google Translate:

Eldorado is a planet fantastically rich in rare or precious metals, populated by indigenous humanoids, whose level of civilization ranges from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. The International Bureau of Mines, more powerful on Earth than the world government itself, and led by Henderson, a remarkable but unscrupulous man, wants, as it has already done for other worlds, to put Eldorado into exploitation, regardless of the consequences for the natives. Only the Earthly Empire matters. The only opposition comes from the Bureau of Xenology, which dreams of a confederation of equal humanities, but has few resources. On Eldorado, Téraï Laprade, a geologist in whom the bloods of four different land races are mixed, leaning on the powerful Ihambé tribes and on the Kéno empire, obstructs the projects of the Bureau of Mines. His paralion, an animal in which genetic experiments have developed an almost human intelligence, adds to the prestige that Terai gives to the warrior peoples of Eldorado by his colossal strength and bravery. But can a single man take it to an entire planet, especially if a woman is involved, Henderson's own daughter?

[Jennyjoa]

Amazing - that must be it! Thank you so much!!! I found it in Russian and just ordered it.

[Joseph]

Hoping we’re right!🤞

[Jennyjoa]

I'm confident we are - the Russian Wikipedia article about the book says:

Laprade has a lion, Leo, whose intelligence has been raised to the level of a seven-year-old child through genetic engineering.

That's more or less precisely the wording my dad uses when describing the book:-)

[Michele]

Yay! Nice to make someone's dad happy :)