AzureTyger
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2010
- Messages
- 1
the name of a book that I read as a teenager in the 1980s is eluding me. This may have been from the Young Adult section of the library rather than the Science Fiction shelves.
Things I am fairly certain about:
- It was a hardcover
- It was new enough c1985 to have a jacket with artwork (or at least that edition was)
- It was not onerous in length, probably less than 400 pages
- The title was something simple, I keep trying combinations like "Star Light" or "Super Nova"
Plot:
- The first chapter or so deals with a prison death sentence planet.
- The book starts with the protagonist being dropped there. It is not an exile, it is supposed to be a certain death from exposure
- We know he was convicted of murder, but it does not seem like he had all of the details - maybe from a head injury or memory wipe
- He is rescued fairly quickly by other people, perhaps a female who arrives on some sort of hovering bike or ship (I seem to recall him seeing dust kicked up in the distance).
- The book was not cheeky or satirical, I think it took its plot seriously
- I think it focused more or less on solving the crime, more like a crime novel set against SF backdrop
- At some point they break into a lab or research facility where he worked using synthetic skin gloves that let them bypass a security system that reads hand prints/biometrics in some way
Fuzzier Plot Details:
- He may have been framed for killing either his wife or his mentor
- The lab/research facility was working on some tech break through, some meta-SF plot like interstellar travel, time travel, or inter-dimensional portals.
If this rings a bell with anyone, I'd greatly appreciate some help as it is possible that I may go insane if I can't think of it.
Things I am fairly certain about:
- It was a hardcover
- It was new enough c1985 to have a jacket with artwork (or at least that edition was)
- It was not onerous in length, probably less than 400 pages
- The title was something simple, I keep trying combinations like "Star Light" or "Super Nova"
Plot:
- The first chapter or so deals with a prison death sentence planet.
- The book starts with the protagonist being dropped there. It is not an exile, it is supposed to be a certain death from exposure
- We know he was convicted of murder, but it does not seem like he had all of the details - maybe from a head injury or memory wipe
- He is rescued fairly quickly by other people, perhaps a female who arrives on some sort of hovering bike or ship (I seem to recall him seeing dust kicked up in the distance).
- The book was not cheeky or satirical, I think it took its plot seriously
- I think it focused more or less on solving the crime, more like a crime novel set against SF backdrop
- At some point they break into a lab or research facility where he worked using synthetic skin gloves that let them bypass a security system that reads hand prints/biometrics in some way
Fuzzier Plot Details:
- He may have been framed for killing either his wife or his mentor
- The lab/research facility was working on some tech break through, some meta-SF plot like interstellar travel, time travel, or inter-dimensional portals.
If this rings a bell with anyone, I'd greatly appreciate some help as it is possible that I may go insane if I can't think of it.
