Sci Fi colonize planet constant flow toilet & animals taste like gasoline

[Christy]

This is an older sci fi novel that I read most likely between 1985-1995. A group of humans colonize an uninhabited planet. I can't recall how they got there, but I don't think it was by choice. Maybe intended to go somewhere else but crashed or ended up by mistake? Maybe forced by aliens? The colony ends up being pretty primitive, man against nature sort of thing. I remember that they used a stream running through a cave or something similar to make constant flow toilets. Also, at one point these previously docile jackrabbit like creatures start attacking and the colonists end up hunting them just to protect themselves, but the animals taste like gasoline. The characters make reference to famous sci fi author Robert Heinlein in the context of the story, particularly in regards to the constant flow toilets. One of the characters got the idea for constant flow toilets from an old Heinlein book. For some reason the phrase "good eating" comes to mind, but I'm not certain if that's definitely from this book.

Thanks for your help!

[Bargle]

I suspect this is the same book I'm looking for here. You have a much better description.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Christy]

It might be the same. However I distinctly recall one of the characters talking about having read Heinlein's books, referring to the author Robert Heinlein by name. It was clear in this novel that Heinlein's planet, while some similarities to their situation, was fictional, and the characters were simply drawing inspiration from the book on how to adapt to their current situation. Their planet was clearly not the same one from Heinlein's book.

But thank you very much for linking this thread to yours. They're similar enough that they may generate a result for one, if not both, of us.

[Bargle]

You're welcome. I may have mis-remembered Heinlein not being mentioned. Fingers crossed for both of us.

[Bargle]

Christy wrote: "It might be the same. However I distinctly recall one of the characters talking about having read Heinlein's books, referring to the author Robert Heinlein by name. It was clear in this novel that ..."

Any luck finding this, Christy?

[Bargle]

Christy, did this ever turn up for you?

[Kris]

Please note you can only bump your own thread 30+ days after the last comment in the thread - because this group is so large.

Christy (OP, original poster) was last active on the site in January 2023.