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

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I can't tell if there's likely to be an escalator or not, but this is vaguely the right sort of dystopia. According to people on Goodreads, the blurbs don't bear much resemblance to the book.

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Oh, drat it, never mind, I forgot all about the garden shears and stuff. Gahhhhh.
 
Sorry, I thought this was another book by the same name. This could be right.
 
TheDustyZebra said:
I can't tell if there's likely to be an escalator or not, but this is vaguely the right sort of dystopia. According to people on Goodreads, the blurbs don't bear much resemblance to the book.

View attachment 59576

Oh, drat it, never mind, I forgot all about the garden shears and stuff. Gahhhhh.
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Nah, I've read this a lot of years ago, no plot similarity.
This old book makes A Handmaid's Tale look like a feminist utopia!
I think it became a trilogy.
 
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I'm going to go out on a limb here, Jo. City of Darkness by Ben Bova. It does seem to contain a lot of the elements you are looking for but clearly the author's gender is not 100% the same as you remember.
 
City of Darkness
I've got a download of it now, I'm speed reading through it but, tbh, it doesn't look too promising so far, I can't see any of the points mentioned by Jo
 
@Jo Zebedee, if you really want to find this, I think it will be necessary to try to shake loose a few more details. The key scene with the escalator is very distinctive, but it may not be what sticks out about this story in other people's minds.

Here are some questions that you can try to answer which might help:

  • You seem certain that it was a female author. Was this the only book of hers that you ever read? What's the first name that pops into your head when you try to think of hers? Can you remember the first letter of her first name or her last name? Was there a middle initial? Did the name have a recognizable ethnicity or nationality to it? Was the last name a meaningful word or "just a name"?

  • You have said that it may have had a four-word title. How many of those words were nouns or adjectives? Did it have a structure that you can suggest using articles and/or prepositions, such as "A ___ for ____" or "The _____ of _____"?

  • The main character has green hair and at least one genetically or technologically modified hand for gardening. Does the book describe how this came to be? Did he become a gardener, or had he always been a gardener? If he became a gardener, how was this decided? Was there a aptitude test, a ceremony, a random lottery, etc.? Was this sort of modification common for work? If so, can you remember any other characters in the story that had comparable modifications? Was the green hair solely decorative, or was it functional? Was it part of the same set of modifications as the shear hand(s)?

  • The escalator incident stands out as the prime example of the way that society is afflicted with rigid thinking. Surely there were other incidents used to demonstrate this same theme. Can you remember any of them?

  • You said that the constraints on thinking may have been due to "an implant." Was it located in the head? Was this a brain implant that directly affected thought? If so, was it fixed in what it did, or could it be updated/reprogrammed by the authorities which required the implant? Did it administer drugs? Was there any noticeable symptom or side effect when it was functioning? Would the person being affected know that they were being affected?

  • The main character is a rare free thinker. Why can he think freely? Did he never get this implant? Did his implant break? Is he just so strong-willed or of a different kind of mentality such that the implant does not work on him?

  • You say that other free thinkers existed. Did they have a name for themselves? Did the rest of society have a name for them? Were there any code words/phrases or signals communicated by way of clothes or actions that allowed free thinkers to recognize each other? How did the main character first encounter another free thinker? Is there anything that stands out about any other free-thinking character?

  • What were the authority figure(s) like? Was there a name for the government or some of its ruling bodies? Was any leader figure mentioned? Were there a slogan or motto associated with the current government?

  • Were there any sports or other mass entertainment of note?

  • Was the person with whom the main character falls in love a free thinker? Did that person love the main character back? How did they meet? How did they fall in love?

  • Did the main character live in an underground city? Was travel to outside the city allowed? If not, what was the reason? Were there other cities? Can you remember the name of the main city or any other city? Was there enough information to determine where on Earth the city was located, e.g. a link to the name of a major city?

  • The main character was a gardener. Was there a specific garden or gardens at which he worked? How extensively was plant life distributed in the city? Were trees and planters everywhere, or were they in certain areas only? Was the city environment clean, sterile and in good repair or dirty, failing and neglected?

  • Was the setting post-apocalyptic in nature? If so, what was the nature of the apocalypse? Environmental degradation? Nuclear war? Mass plague? Some combination? Was the flight from the surface slow and gradual or sudden? What did people in the society remember about the past?

  • How far into the story (e.g. one-quarter mark, middle third, last half) did the following events occur: escalator incident, met love interest, escape city.
Maybe others here can suggest additional questions. Even the smallest scrap or half-remembered detail might make the difference!
 
Danny McG said:
City of Darkness
I've got a download of it now, I'm speed reading through it but, tbh, it doesn't look too promising so far, I can't see any of the points mentioned by Jo
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It was the domes cities in the other thread that made me think of City of Darkness. It's been a very long time since I've read it, so it was really a guess on my part.
 
M. Robert Gibson said:
So it's not this then ;)
en.wikipedia.org

The Boy with Green Hair - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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Definitely not that im afraid. Not City of Darkness, either, Vince.
Otisdog heres what I know - your list should go in a pinned post!


  • You seem certain that it was a female author. Was this the only book of hers that you ever read? What's the first name that pops into your head when you try to think of hers? Can you remember the first letter of her first name or her last name? Was there a middle initial? Did the name have a recognizable ethnicity or nationality to it? Was the last name a meaningful word or "just a name"?

  • cant remember any others by Her - i got it from the Library in hardback so they Must have been popular. Nothing else I recall

  • You have said that it may have had a four-word title. How many of those words were nouns or adjectives? Did it have a structure that you can suggest using articles and/or prepositions, such as "A ___ for ____" or "The _____ of _____"?

  • no idea. I have a photographic memory and when i think of the cover i think it had four words. The cover had a bloke overlooking a bay.

  • The main character has green hair and at least one genetically or technologically modified hand for gardening. Does the book describe how this came to be? Did he become a gardener, or had he always been a gardener? If he became a gardener, how was this decided? Was there a aptitude test, a ceremony, a random lottery, etc.? Was this sort of modification common for work? If so, can you remember any other characters in the story that had comparable modifications? Was the green hair solely decorative, or was it functional? Was it part of the same set of modifications as the shear hand(s)?

  • im fairly sure they were genetically modified to do certain jobs so I assume he was allocated to be a gardener. The Green hair was decorative.

  • The escalator incident stands out as the prime example of the way that society is afflicted with rigid thinking. Surely there were other incidents used to demonstrate this same theme. Can you remember any of them?

  • nope. But the main character moaned lots about people not thinking for themselves.

  • You said that the constraints on thinking may have been due to "an implant." Was it located in the head? Was this a brain implant that directly affected thought? If so, was it fixed in what it did, or could it be updated/reprogrammed by the authorities which required the implant? Did it administer drugs? Was there any noticeable symptom or side effect when it was functioning? Would the person being affected know that they were being affected?
  • can’t remember

  • The main character is a rare free thinker. Why can he think freely? Did he never get this implant? Did his implant break? Is he just so strong-willed or of a different kind of mentality such that the implant does not work on him?
  • i think they were either born a free thinker or not. I can’t remember why but I know he had to hide it.

  • You say that other free thinkers existed. Did they have a name for themselves? Did the rest of society have a name for them? Were there any code words/phrases or signals communicated by way of clothes or actions that allowed free thinkers to recognize each other? How did the main character first encounter another free thinker? Is there anything that stands out about any other free-thinking character?
  • she was part of a family of free thinkers whereas he was a loner.

  • What were the authority figure(s) like? Was there a name for the government or some of its ruling bodies? Was any leader figure mentioned? Were there a slogan or motto associated with the current government?

  • i don’t remember anything specific but there was a big brother feel to it.

  • Were there any sports or other mass entertainment of note?
  • nope.

  • Was the person with whom the main character falls in love a free thinker? Did that person love the main character back? How did they meet? How did they fall in love?

  • yes both free thinkers and in love. Don’t remember how they met (she might have been helping him) but she took him home to her family before they fled i think

  • Did the main character live in an underground city? Was travel to outside the city allowed? If not, what was the reason? Were there other cities? Can you remember the name of the main city or any other city? Was there enough information to determine where on Earth the city was located, e.g. a link to the name of a major city?

  • they lived somewhere enclosed with outside travel not allowed. Nothing else known - I don’t even know if it was an Earth but I don’t think it was.

  • The main character was a gardener. Was there a specific garden or gardens at which he worked? How extensively was plant life distributed in the city? Were trees and planters everywhere, or were they in certain areas only? Was the city environment clean, sterile and in good repair or dirty, failing and neglected?

  • in good repair. I think he worked outdoors.

  • Was the setting post-apocalyptic in nature? If so, what was the nature of the apocalypse? Environmental degradation? Nuclear war? Mass plague? Some combination? Was the flight from the surface slow and gradual or sudden? What did people in the society remember about the past?

  • not sure re the setting. Or any of this. sorry.

  • How far into the story (e.g. one-quarter mark, middle third, last half) did the following events occur: escalator incident, met love interest, escape city
about a third — shortly after — near the end.
i just keep hoping i Dream about it sometime and sit up with the answer in mind!
 
Hey Jo -

Hope you’re still checking in on this because after nearly 10 years, four pages of suggestions, and countless hours spent searching, I think I found your book.

YA novel, future setting (dystopian), free-thinker, published in the mid to late 80s, and most importantly has a guy with green hair. He’s on the cover as you describe.

Drum roll please…

This is The Others by Alison Prince (1986). Plot: “The Others is a novel in which people are physically and mentally programmed for their jobs, in a post-holocaust setting” (Wiki)

And most importantly, the famous cover:

1674009349070.jpeg
 
CassFrank said:
Hey Jo -

Hope you’re still checking in on this because after nearly 10 years, four pages of suggestions, and countless hours spent searching, I think I found your book.

YA novel, future setting (dystopian), free-thinker, published in the mid to late 80s, and most importantly has a guy with green hair. He’s on the cover as you describe.

Drum roll please…

This is The Others by Alison Prince (1986). Plot: “The Others is a novel in which people are physically and mentally programmed for their jobs, in a post-holocaust setting” (Wiki)

And most importantly, the famous cover:

View attachment 98659
Click to expand...
Holy ****, Batman! I think that’s it. It makes sense that she was a U.K. writer as I think I’ve checked all the international ones big enough to have a hardback out in the U.K. and the date range is right too

The description:

Ergo, with his secateur fingers and his green twine hair, can see no way out of the Underhill syste, designed for the privileged Others of Air City. But by a freak of facte he meets Wenti, a girl who comes from the Others, but is troubled by the injustice of the system they have created.

I have it on order and then we’ll see what it’s like (probably escapist sf of questionable quality given my reading tastes!) - can’t believe you found it! Thank you.
 
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