Where engines “caterwaul”!!!

[7 of 9]

the one thing that stands out about this novel is that it started cheesy, and that ship engines caterwauled.
Okay, that’s two things... sue me. Book’s at least 15 years old, mebbe more.

Thanks!

 

[WarriorMouse]

Welcome to the Chrons (Hi)
Anything else you remember would be helpful.

 

[PaulMmn]

"The Venus Equilateral series is a set of 13 science fiction short stories by American writer George O. Smith, concerning the Venus Equilateral Relay Station, an interplanetary communications hub located at the L4 Lagrangian point of the Sun-Venus system. Most of the stories were first published in Astounding Science Fiction between 1942 and 1945." -- Wikipedia

One of the stories involved the discovery of a way to transmit audio to spaceships in flight (either the radio of the time was insufficient, or something about the spaceship drive blocked radio transmission). The early version was discovered when one spaceship always heard wierd, screeching noises. Turns out the noise was actually receiving Chinese music being played through a PA system at a restaurant in China... or some such!

--Paul E Musselman

ps-- definitely at least 15 years old!

 

[ralphkern]

David Feintuch - Seafort Saga.

 

[Vince W]

I second the Seafort Saga. I seem to recall this in the first book Midshipman's Hope.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Not enough to go on but anything by Clifford Simak. He would use those sorts of Americanisms.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Danny McG]

My offering. .

One of David Brin's Uplift books - maybe book 4 or 5 (can't remember) had the engines caterwauling on the Streaker

 

[hitmouse]

Hi,

Not enough to go on but anything by Clifford Simak. He would use those sorts of Americanisms.

Cheers, Greg.

I dont think caterwaul is particularly an Americanism.

Can you elaborate on your comment about Simak?

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

He was a brilliant author, and in all his books the feel of the rural, simple country boy / hero comes through strongly. If anyone would use a term like that it would be him.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[monkeypooper]

I'd say caterwauling is an American Idiom not an English one I myself would never use nor have heard the word used at any point in my life yet I know it from many book I've read by got to say American authors English authors tend to use a more flowing simplistic style of writing well maybe just the books I've read

 

[The Judge]

Well, "caterwaul" has been an English word since the late C14th, so it certainly isn't exclusively American, and it's a word I've known most of my life -- I'm a Brit -- so I don't think on its own it's going to help much in determining the author.

I second WarriorMouse's plea to 7 of 9 to try and provide rather more info on this book -- eg what about the opening was "cheesy"? Romance, poor writing, hackneyed plot?

 

[PaulMmn]

"The Venus Equilateral series is a set of 13 science fiction short stories by American writer George O. Smith, concerning the Venus Equilateral Relay Station, an interplanetary communications hub located at the L4 Lagrangian point of the Sun-Venus system. Most of the stories were first published in Astounding Science Fiction between 1942 and 1945." -- Wikipedia

One of the stories involved the discovery of a way to transmit audio to spaceships in flight (either the radio of the time was insufficient, or something about the spaceship drive blocked radio transmission). The early version was discovered when one spaceship always heard wierd, screeching noises. Turns out the noise was actually receiving Chinese music being played through a PA system at a restaurant in China... or some such!

--Paul E Musselman

ps-- definitely at least 15 years old!

EUREKA! and I quote from "The Complete Venus Equilateral" by George O Smith; the story, 'Beam Pirate:'
"And there it came again. A wild, cacophonous wailing, like a whole orchestra of instruments playing at random, in random keys. It shook the very roots of the body, that terrible caterwauling, and not only did it shake the body, and the mind, but it actually caused loose plates to rattle in the bulkhead, and the cabinet doors followed in unison. The diapason stop was out for noon, and the racket filled the small control room and bounced back and forth, dinning at the ears of Kingman as it went by. It penetrated to the upper reaches of the ship, and the crew gritted their teeth and cursed the necessity of being able to hear orders, for cotton plugs would have been a godsend and a curse simultaneously. Anything that would blot that racket out would also deafen them to the vital orders necessary to the operation of the ship in this precarious poising maneuver."

The Venus Equilateral stories are firmly based in vacuum tube electronics, with plates, anodes, grids, cathodes, etc. etc. I remember my first electronics book mentioned, in an appendix, that the "vacuum tube triode was similar in function to the FET transistor," the transistor having been thoroughly investigated in the main text.

--Paul E Musselman

 

[monkeypooper]

Well, "caterwaul" has been an English word since the late C14th, so it certainly isn't exclusively American, and it's a word I've known most of my life -- I'm a Brit -- so I don't think on its own it's going to help much in determining the author.

I second WarriorMouse's plea to 7 of 9 to try and provide rather more info on this book -- eg what about the opening was "cheesy"? Romance, poor writing, hackneyed plot?

Afterwards I looked it up Middle English but been stuck at work all day my apologies but on googling I did find someone commenting on the English being weird for beans on toast and he was American is beans on toast strange if so call me strange i'm having it for my tea now.