(Almost certainly found) Apocalyptic type scif book. Bizarre but extremely interesting read.

[icemansab]

AUTHOR AND TITLE: Unknown, would like to find out.

PLOT:
Modern day Earth, astronomers detect an asteroid or something big heading towards Earth. When it becomes public everyone panics. A random group of people are picked to go on a hastily modified space shuttle with experimental cryogenic cells (which put them to sleep). The plan is for the government to launch it in space in a random direction and hope it finds another planet and survives (not one of our planets in the solar system). One of the survivors is the son of one of the scientists or developers or something, and requires his family to go along with the survivors.

So the ship lifts off shortly before the impact of the meteor, I believe it is not stated what happens to Earth. Everyone goes to sleep I think. The main character (scientists? son) wakes up and so does everyone else. They have crash landed somewhere. They think it is some kind of planet, as it is huge and I believe looks like Earth?? It actually turns out to be a huge ship with a super computer type thing controlling it. The computer somehow tries to recreate Earth with a twist I believe, not sure whether it uses a person or the ships computer? When they crashland, they are attacked by something and head to a big black tower I believe?

Events after that are shady in my memory, then picks back up when they are living on the "land" building things back up trying to lives their lives. They are then attacked again by the things. I remember someone or a group of the survivors travelling "under" the created landscape, in search of the computer or bridge. Events after that are shady again.

They get back to Earth, how I do not remember, but they do. Earth has become a barren wasteland? They meet a "tribe" like group of humans, who have apparantly decended from the survivors of the impact, I'm not sure how much time has passed. I explicitly remember a tribes girl saying "jou" instead of "you" to the main character. Well I believe the tribe becomes hostile, and the main character's survivors must do something with some of the tribespeople. They have to cross the darkside of the land or something, and get past these little cannibal creatures, I remember them being cockroaches of sorts?

I don't remember how it ends.


Anybody got a guess?

 

[iansales]

Sounds a bit like John Varley's Titan, although I don't recall any an asteroid heading towards Earth int. But they do find an alien ship.

 

[Omphalos]

I read this earlier today and Varley was the first writer I though of too, but I cant reconcile all the elements with any one Varley book. Were there whales in it? It sounds to me like a mash-up of The Ophiuchi Hotline, When Worlds Collide and Damnation Alley. Sorry.

 

[CassFrank]

Alright, folks. This might be my most detailed answer yet. As I’ve scanned through these old book search questions over the past couple years, I’ve run across numerous books and book series that seem to pop up with some frequency - despite the sometimes outrageously varying descriptions of the same book; memory is such a fickle, fickle beast.

This is one of those.

While the OP incorrectly suggested this was a single book in the title, it is not. It is also not a book for adults, though it is one that borrows heavily from classic sci fi tropes from adult books and series.

This is the often looked for Remnants series by K.A. Applegate, published 2001-2003.

And it is not 1 but 14 (!) books.

Below, I will break down all the matches from the OP and the books in order. Deep breath and here we go:

OP writes: “Modern day Earth, astronomers detect an asteroid or something big heading towards Earth. When it becomes public everyone panics. A random group of people are picked to go on a hastily modified space shuttle with experimental cryogenic cells (which put them to sleep).”

This is book 1 - The Mayflower Project: per Wikipedia: “At the start of the first book, Jobs learns of a seventy-six mile long asteroid on a collision course with Earth. His parents then tell him of a project of eighty people being shipped off into a shuttle with solar sails and hibernation booths.” They take off moments before the asteroid hits and everyone falls asleep in cryogenic “cells.”

OP writes: “They have crash landed somewhere. They think it is some kind of planet, as it is huge and I believe looks like Earth?? It actually turns out to be a huge ship with a super computer type thing controlling it. The computer somehow tries to recreate Earth with a twist I believe, not sure whether it uses a person or the ships computer? When they crash land, they are attacked by something and head to a big black tower I believe?”

This is a mix of books 2, 3, 4 - Destination Unknown, Them, and Nowhere Land - from Wiki and paraphrased: The craft lands/everyone wakes up to find “…that there's no sign of reentry damage, their environment looks like two famous paintings and two of the "wakers" are killed.” They are attacked by Riders (aliens on hover boards) and “Jobs now realizes (they are on) a colossal ship.”

The OP’s description of a tower is from book 3, from Wiki: “he main group of Remnants have found a replica of the Tower of Babel and are attacked by a group of Riders.”

OP writes: “Events after that are shady in my memory, then picks back up when they are living on the "land" building things back up trying to lives their lives. They are then attacked again by the things. I remember someone or a group of the survivors traveling "under" the created landscape, in search of the computer or bridge. Events after that are shady again.”

This is vaguely (OP admits shady memories) stuff from the middle books - 5, 6, 7, 8 - Mutation, Breakdown, Isolation, and Mother, May I? - in which the wakers are traveling through various environments, most resulting from character’s minds and memories. In Isolation, they go back onto their ship heading to the bridge (this is likely the bridge mentioned by OP) to gain control of AI called Mother.

OP writes: “They get back to Earth, how I do not remember, but they do. Earth has become a barren wasteland? They meet a "tribe" like group of humans, who have apparently descended from the survivors of the impact, I'm not sure how much time has passed. I explicitly remember a tribes girl saying "jou" instead of "you" to the main character. Well I believe the tribe becomes hostile, and the main character's survivors must do something with some of the tribespeople. They have to cross the darkside of the land or something, and get past these little cannibal creatures, I remember them being cockroaches of sorts?”

This is a combo of the last 6 books - No Place Like Home, Lost and Found, Dream Storm, Aftermath, Survival, and Begin Again. They return to Earth via their ship, having programmed a course with Mother. From Wiki; “They arrive on Earth and find that it's nothing but a wasteland with no water and pillars of flames…” The tribes they meet are: “Alpha, part of a human colony who survived the Rock, who strongly believe in genetic perfection and decided to allow the Remnants to die. Another group, known as the Marauders, live out in the wild and their leader, Hawk…” The land they cross described as “dark side” is in Aftermath and is called the “Twilight Zone” and it contains the cockroach creatures. Per Wiki: “They soon arrive in the "Twilight Zone" of Earth and the Marauders warn the Remnants of the Slizzers, which turn out to be mutated cockroaches, one of which steals and devours the child Tackie.”

And if reading this far, I still haven’t convinced you, here is the coup de grace. The tribespeople in Aftermath don’t say ‘you’ but rather ‘j’ou’. Here is a line of dialogue from page 59: “J’our people keep j’ou?”

Remnants (novel series) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Pyan]

@CassFrank, I hereby award you the DBE - Distinction in Booksearch Excellence!

I'm going to mark this one Almost Certainly Found, pending any confirmation by the OP, but it seems that you've absolutely got the answer.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

@CassFrank, I hereby award you the DBE - Distinction in Booksearch Excellence!

I'm afraid I'm still going to have to mark it Probaby Found, pending the confirmation of the OP, but it seems that you've absolutely got the answer.

View attachment 100956​

Yes we need a Special Bookfinding Medal

 

[CassFrank]

Thank you, both.
It was a fun find.