(Found) SciFi book about humans with shape changing and psionic abilities.

visionquestit

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SciFi book about humans with shape changing and psionic abilities.

The book starts out in space on a large ship heading back to earth. Humans have been gone from earth for a very long time and want to see what remains of the planet.

The reason humans left earth was because the earth was going to pass through the tail of a great comet and scientist thought that all life would end. Unfortunately, not everyone could go and so only the scientists, the rich, and politicians got off planet before the comet came.

Once in space, human technology advances considerably. Humans have spread throughout the galaxy and encountered many other species. Several of which they have had wars with and won. The one exception is a species reminiscent of huge earthworms which are the only aliens that defeated the humans.

Eventually, one of the human ships is going to pass by. The humans decide to send just one man to the surface to begin exploring and learning what had happened to the humans that were left behind. Upon arriving back at earth, the explorer finds that there are life forms on the planet.

The explorer learns that the humans left behind did not all die. The earth was devastated by the comet and it changed the face of the planet with volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and other disasters but it did not end life. In fact, it transformed those humans that survived.

After the earth passed through the comet’s tail and was transformed, humans on earth acquired the ability to shape change and acquired psionic powers with which they could create objects with their mind just by thinking them.

At first this new power seemed like a gift, however, overtime, the humans on earth realized that some were stronger than others and conflicts escalated until the strongest of all took control and rules were instituted. One such rule was that by the age of 18, all humans must take on one form of their choosing and never shape change again. If you were caught changing, you were exiled to a remote island with all the other shape changers.

Also, creating things with your mind was not without cost. There is only a finite amount of matter and energy on earth. Every time something is created with the mind, it drains a little bit of life and energy from the natural world. Therefore, creating things with the mind was also curtailed.

The explorer also learned that those left behind resented and hated those that left earth because they felt abandoned. This hatred has only grown over time. The humans on earth want to be left alone and the humans in space want to stay. This eventually leads to conflict and the earth humans and the space humans begin to fight, technology versus psionic power.

The explorer that came to visit earth sides with the earth humans to fight against the humans from space with technology. He creates a military force from the exiled shape shifters. He teaches them how to fight and encourages them to use their shape changing ability to overcome the advantages of technology.

We also learn a secret about the two most powerful earth humans. It seems that they obtained their great power by going to a forbidden place on earth that focuses the effects from the comet. The book describes the place as a bowl shaped place that sounds much like the Arecibo observatory and radio telescope.

The culmination of the book is when the wife of one of the main characters, who is hiding at the forbidden place, gives birth and the child is a mutated human that grows to adulthood in just a few days and has incredible psionic powers including telepathy. This new human takes over the planet and demands that all children be born at the forbidden place and the beginning of a new human race is spawned.

The super children then want to move into space and start to create space vehicles. When the leader asks the main character from the space humans where the best place to go in space is, the human tells him. However the super child reads the space human’s mind and thinks he is lying. The super child misreads the human’s mind and goes to the planet with the worm-like aliens by mistake. Hopefully that will be the end of the mutated humans.
 
How old is this book? When did you first read it? Were you still at school? Was it a paperback? Was it in library? People are much more likely to recognise it if they have some idea of the date it was published.

Any idea about the title or the author's name? Since you remember so much detail of the story, it's strange that they escape your memory.

Was there a picture on the cover? Can you describe that?
 
Three or four years ago that identically worded post appeared across a lot of sci fi forums online but didn't seem to get a reply.
Looks like Visionquestit is doing a bump.
 
How old is this book? When did you first read it? Were you still at school? Was it a paperback? Was it in library? People are much more likely to recognise it if they have some idea of the date it was published.

Any idea about the title or the author's name? Since you remember so much detail of the story, it's strange that they escape your memory.

Was there a picture on the cover? Can you describe that?

Good questions, need to include these in my descriptions.

I read the book in the mid 80's. Pretty sure it was written about the same time because I read about 2-3 books per month so I try to keep up with current publications. I was going through some... difficult times then so I am surprised I remember as much about the book as I do and not surprised I don't recall the title or author.

At that time I typically read the mainstream authors of the day like Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, David Brin, Orson Scott Card, Stephen King, Larry Niven, Frederik Pohl, Robert Asprin, Alan Dean Foster, Anne McCaffrey, Michael Crichton, Arthur C. Clarke, Terry Brooks, Robert A. Heinlein, Philip K. Dick, L. E. Modesitt, A. E. van Vogt, Kurt Vonnegut, Andre Norton, Larry Niven. I have gone through their bibliographies to no avail.

As for the cover, I think I remember it being a scene with a small dwarf/gnome-like creature sitting out front of a stone hut near a small pond cooking something over a camp fire. It is dusk and the sky behind is fading from black to dark blue and filled with stars.

I want to say the title was like Strangers from the Sky but I know that is not right.

I appreciate your questions and feedback.
 
Three or four years ago that identically worded post appeared across a lot of sci fi forums online but didn't seem to get a reply.
Looks like Visionquestit is doing a bump.

Yes, attempting to bump. Still looking after all these years. Losing hope. May need to write this book myself, get it published, and be sued for copyright infringement just to figure it out.
 
Just a try here but possibly published a bit later than your memory..

'Man after Man' by Dougal Dixon
 
dannymcg,

Thank you for the lead. But alas, 'tis not the novel. I vividly remember that in the book I am seeking the Earth passes through a comet's tail. The on-coming comet is the reason humans leave earth and go into space.

Thank you for your comment.

Allan
 
Hi,

Sorry, don't know the book. But it occurred to me that if you're having no joy - this book must have been published. So it's got good odds that the author would have been a member of the Science Fiction Fantasy Writers Association of America - SFWA. A query there might help.

Cheers, Greg.
 
Hi,

Sorry, don't know the book. But it occurred to me that if you're having no joy - this book must have been published. So it's got good odds that the author would have been a member of the Science Fiction Fantasy Writers Association of America - SFWA. A query there might help.

Cheers, Greg.

Thank you for the suggestion. I have sent an email to their Public Relations office. Fingers crossed.

Allan
 
Thank you for the suggestion. I have sent an email to their Public Relations office. Fingers crossed.

Allan

If you get an answer please let us know in here.
Currently your query is added to my 'insomnia ceiling staring list'
 
If you get an answer please let us know in here.
Currently your query is added to my 'insomnia ceiling staring list'

I have not heard back yet. I will certainly post any answer I receive. I will send a new query in a couple of days if I don't hear back from them.
 
It seems to me that if dannymcg cant help you, this must be an obscure book indeed, he seems to show up in most all of the 'looking for book' posts, very often with the answer!
 
The only one I'm aware of where Earth passes through the tail of a comet is THE YEAR WHEN STARDUST FELL by Raymond F. Jones but that's about how machines seize up as a result; doesn't sound like the query here.
 
The only one I'm aware of where Earth passes through the tail of a comet is THE YEAR WHEN STARDUST FELL by Raymond F. Jones but that's about how machines seize up as a result; doesn't sound like the query here.

It is not the book, but I just read the synopsis and snagged it on Audible:

upload_2017-3-22_8-20-36.png
 
In my experience over the years with this forum (which I also like to refer to as "Book Recommendations") it is frequented by people who knowledge of SF stories that is encyclopaedian. If no-one has come up with am answer to you query by now, it's likely you're combining the plots of two, possibly more, books.

I don't know the book but like a challenge and spent some time looking for "Earth passes through comet tail" books. There are a few but nothing that hit all your points. In fact the only results I had that did so was your post here and elsewhere.

You seem very certain about the comet tail but there are actually relatively few books with that as a plot. Are you sure about this bit?

Sorry I can't help. Good luck.
 
In my experience over the years with this forum (which I also like to refer to as "Book Recommendations") it is frequented by people who knowledge of SF stories that is encyclopaedian. If no-one has come up with am answer to you query by now, it's likely you're combining the plots of two, possibly more, books.

I don't know the book but like a challenge and spent some time looking for "Earth passes through comet tail" books. There are a few but nothing that hit all your points. In fact the only results I had that did so was your post here and elsewhere.

You seem very certain about the comet tail but there are actually relatively few books with that as a plot. Are you sure about this bit?

Sorry I can't help. Good luck.

I am as certain as I am that Yoda is a Jedi.

I remember very clearly that the reason humans left Earth was because the Earth was going to pass through the tail of a comet and scientists and politicians feared it would be the end of the earth. It was this fear that caused them to build spaceships so that the elite of Earth could be evacuated and thus lead to why the humans that remained on Earth despised those that left.

One scene I clearly remember is a group of Earthers being trained to fight against the humans in space.

One of the rules of the Earthers is that by age 18 they must select a final form that they will live as for the rest of their life. Once the shape is chosen they must never shape shift again. Those that do so are banished to a small Island where they can never return from. It is on this island that the protagonist from the spacefaring humans selects a team that he will lead up to the ship in orbit and attempt to take the ship.

While the Earthers do not have advanced weapons, they have their telekinetic and shape shifting abilities. During the training, he urges one of the Earthers to try and take away his stun gun. At first the Earther cannot get within a few feet of the protagonist who keeps stunning the Earther. However, the Earther figures out that he can shift from a human form, to a small bird, fly towards the protagonist evading the stun gun shots and shift back to human form as he hits the protagonist thus rendering advanced weapons rather useless.

I don't know why I really remember the details and not the title. I wish I did.

Allan
 
I am as certain as I am that Yoda is a Jedi.

I remember very clearly that the reason humans left Earth was because the Earth was going to pass through the tail of a comet and scientists and politicians feared it would be the end of the earth. It was this fear that caused them to build spaceships so that the elite of Earth could be evacuated and thus lead to why the humans that remained on Earth despised those that left.

One scene I clearly remember is a group of Earthers being trained to fight against the humans in space.

One of the rules of the Earthers is that by age 18 they must select a final form that they will live as for the rest of their life. Once the shape is chosen they must never shape shift again. Those that do so are banished to a small Island where they can never return from. It is on this island that the protagonist from the spacefaring humans selects a team that he will lead up to the ship in orbit and attempt to take the ship.

While the Earthers do not have advanced weapons, they have their telekinetic and shape shifting abilities. During the training, he urges one of the Earthers to try and take away his stun gun. At first the Earther cannot get within a few feet of the protagonist who keeps stunning the Earther. However, the Earther figures out that he can shift from a human form, to a small bird, fly towards the protagonist evading the stun gun shots and shift back to human form as he hits the protagonist thus rendering advanced weapons rather useless.

I don't know why I really remember the details and not the title. I wish I did.

Allan

Also, it is due to the Earth passing through the comet's tail that creates the circumstance and provides the effect that transforms the Earth humans and gives them their shape shifting and telekinetic ability.
 

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