(Found, with ribbons and bells) Genetically modified bloke with green hair, escalator scene

[Jo Zebedee]

Just came across someone on another forum looking for what sounds like the same book (or, at least, my tired brain woke up and got excited)

This person - who didn't get an answer - reckons the main character (the green haired bloke and free thinker) may well have been a gardener with a genetically modified hand that was now a garden shear. That feels very familiar.

If so, he reckoned it was a Canadian author, possibly with the first name Amy.

Any bells ringing, @dannymcg ?

 

[Danny McG]

The @ thing doesn't inbox any more

The sound of search engines whirring is increasing world wide!

 

[J Riff]

dunno.... maybe someone like Vonda MacIntyre?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

dunno.... maybe someone like Vonda MacIntyre?

I looked at her yesterday - right era but I didn't recognise the story

 

[Danny McG]

The only thing I know her for is Dreamsnake. Didn't really look into her other books

 

[Jo Zebedee]

This is the other query I found :

Trying to remember the name of a female, Canadian, children's sci-fi author from the 80s

I think my story is the one about the gardener

 

[Lucien21]

Not sure about the story but the canadian author may be Monica Hughes.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Not sure about the story but the canadian author may be Monica Hughes.

She looks like the obvious but it seems not. (The one thing I'm sure is i will know the cover so i've been checking images too)

I think this one is destined to remain a mystery. Darn it

 

[pambaddeley]

Not sure about the story but the canadian author may be Monica Hughes.

Hmm ... Monica Hughes was Danny's first guess and my only one. But apparently not her.

 

[J Riff]

How old was it, Jo? Could it have been an Ace double or like that?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

How old was it, Jo? Could it have been an Ace double or like that?

I think it was probably the eighties at some point -but it is possible it was a late seventies book still knocking around. It was a standalone novel for sure and the writer was high enough profile to have a hardback release

 

[Parson]

Jo, She must have been wearing clam shell armor at one point to have a hardback release.

 

[Danny McG]

Once more he tries

The City Under Ground by Suzanne Martel?
Suzanne Martel - Wikipedia

Here is one book cover but I'm sure there are other designs

Edit:- a couple more covers

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Sadly not Helen M Hoover has been the closest I think.

This one will remain a history I fear!

 

[Danny McG]

Sadly not Helen M Hoover has been the closest I think.

This one will remain a history I fear!

I can't leave it.
The compulsion is overwhelming - those voices won't stop!

 

[nixie]

This has been driving me crazy. I've searched and all I can find is an old film The Boy With Green Hair based on a short story by Betty Beaton, the synopsis is parents die in war, runs away to the forest when he wakes up one morning with green hair. Not what you are looking for.

 

[Parson]

The City Under Ground by Suzanne Martel?
Suzanne Martel - Wikipedia

Thanks for this. I remember that story fondly. It's a post-apocalyptic story filled with hope. (yes!)

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Just to drive Danny mad I’ll nudge this one:

Probably 1980 author
Definitely female
Well enough known to have a hardback turn up in a library in a small town in Northern Ireland
The front cover had a lot of sky and - I think - a green haired man in it
Ya

A few other bits

Freethinkers are not encouraged and hide that they can do it - green haired man is one
There is definitely a pile up of non-free thinking humans at the end of a moving walkway - the green haired man bypasses it
People are modified for their jobs (I think the green haired guy did have secutars for hands)

 

[BAYLOR]

Echoes of Silence by Gareth Lewis ?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Echoes of Silence by Gareth Lewis ?

Not that one pretty sure it’s a female author