Generation starships

Jojo999

Jojo999

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I came across this story today:

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Visionaries gather to ponder 100-year starship project
NASA, DARPA sponsor meeting to explore challenges; no space trips planned yet

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44732657/ns/technology_and_science-space/
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Which causes me to submit a query for names/authors of SF books that involve a generation ship to the stars?

I don't recall reading too many of these and the only two that came immediately to my mind was Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun and Brian Aldiss's Starship.

Are there any other good ones worth reading?
 
Yes, there are. But first, here's what wiki has on the topic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_ship#In_fiction

(The Heinlein pieces were gathered together into Orphans of the Sky; it is an entertaining and short read.)

You may find this of interest, too:

http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue94/generation_ships.html

A. E. van Vogt's "Far Centaurus" also addresses the issue of advancements in technology -- ships launched later, with more up-to-date drives, would likely arrive sooner -- a theme which has a variant known as the "Cross-Generational Ship" theme, generally involving each of the later expeditions meeting up with and upgrading their predecessors....
 
Reading through various wiki entries, there doesn't seem like there have been a lot of authors talking this subject.

I did come up with one book that looks interesting:

First Ark to Alpha Centauri by A. Ahad

Can anyone comment on this book?
 
Do have access to THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION by John Clute and Peter Nicholls? They have an article over a page long (double column, small print) on Generation Starships crammed with examples.
 
Harry Harrison's "Captive Universe" featured a generational starship.
 
Alastair Reynolds second novel Chasm City, as well as being a fantastic Space Opera it also has the generational ship story of Sky Haussmann, really entertaining and worth a look.

I also enjoyed Unto Leviathon by Richard Paul Russo, some/most of the time called Ship of fools. a really good generation ship story that also focuses on first contact. I think this novel, even though it won the Dick award has been sort of forgotten already, and that's a shame.
 
Found a couple of other generation type books that look interesting:

Generation Ship
Eugene Woolcott

The Dark Beyond the Stars
Frank M. Robinson
 
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