Foggy book from memory, relevant to world events today

[The_Crippler]

Greetings, all. My first post here, and I'm really hoping that someone can help me. There is a book that I read when I was a kid that I remember featuring one of the first descriptions of radiation sickness I ever read, and that part stuck with me since. Problem is, I've been wracking my brain for quite some time to remember what it is called. Every time I remember something new, I Google it with no success.

Here is what I remember, fragmented and vague, though it may be:

• Sci-fi (obviously)
• I think it had "Lion" in the title
• Main character had a very rough birth, and the nurse named him "Job" because of it (Not Job: a Comedy of Justice)
• Front cover featured one or two large, quadruped mecha/mining bots
• The robots were for either mining or just movie nuclear material.
• The latest I would have read it was the early 90s when I signed it out of the library, which means it was probably published in the late 70s, early 80s.

That's about all I remember of it, and it's been bugging me for a few years. With what happened a month ago in Japan, it's been even more annoying that I can't remember. If anyone remembers this one, I'd be very, very grateful.

Thanks!

 

[clovis-man]

Brother To Dragons by Charles Sheffield. A very good novel. It won the John W. Campbell award.

 

[The_Crippler]

Jumpin Jehosaphat - you're right! That's it!

You have no idea what a load off this is to finally know. Thanks a bunch.


Hopefully, I can return the favor at some point.