(Found) Sci Fi story about diving into the sun to collect energy.

J

James Horton

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Hi peoples.
I've been trying to find a book about a young man who is one of a handfull of pilots who fly ships into the sun and collect energy through special collection cells mounted in the outside skin of the craft. He eventually becomes the best at this and the only one to never not fulfill a contract.
The setting takes place either on Mercury or on a base orbiting Mercury, I can't remember which.
Eventually his girlfriend goes missing in the sun and he finds her ship there sometime later as well as a special energy called "orgone" that he tries to collect. I have a distinct memory of the word "Sundiver" on the cover but that's a David Brin book and I'm pretty sure his Sundiver is not the book I'm looking for.
I first read this book about 30 years ago (1990) and it looked old then so i have no idea how old the story is.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as this has been bugging me for months now.
 
Hugh said:
I’ve read this one, but will my brain synapses deliver.....?
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I'm almost certain it's called "Sundiver" but as stated above there's already a very famous scifi book with that name which makes mine impossible to find. What I really need is an authors name. It's frustrating, no amount of google searches has yielded anything other than this forum.
Help me Obi wans, you're my only hope.
 
The orgone accumulator in the Hawkwind song is a paeudoscie tific device which had a vogue in the mid 20th century. William Reich, a psychoanalyst, promoted these as concentrating orgone energy, a sort of cosmic lifegorce, which ( naturally) enhanced sexual function amongst other benefits. What actually happened was that you sat in a wooden cabinet for a bit and concinced yourself that you felt great.
 
hitmouse said:
The orgone accumulator in the Hawkwind song is a paeudoscie tific device which had a vogue in the mid 20th century. William Reich, a psychoanalyst, promoted these as concentrating orgone energy, a sort of cosmic lifegorce, which ( naturally) enhanced sexual function amongst other benefits. What actually happened was that you sat in a wooden cabinet for a bit and concinced yourself that you felt great.
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I still do that ... Dammit! ...forty years wasted
 
M. Robert Gibson said:
Hawkwind have song called 'Orgone Accumulator'.

Not very helpful I know, but my search found these entries at ISFDB

ISFDB Fiction Title search

www.isfdb.org www.isfdb.org
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I found that link a while back, it's a short story and the story i'm after was a book, a small book though so maybe that's it unfortunately i can find nothing about it anywhere. I need a copy of "beyond science fiction and fantasy no21 to confirm and i feel that's probably not gong to happen.
 
I can't find it in my notes. It's annoying as I know I've read it in the last ten years. However, it may not be the story that you're looking for James, as you're definite it was a book, even if a small one, while the one I'm thinking of was definitely in an an anthology, so it would have to have been either a novella or expanded subsequently.
The thing I remember specifically was that the piloting of the spaceship near the sun and the gathering of solar energy was described in a way reminiscent of manoeuvring a boat.
 
Hugh said:
I can't find it in my notes. It's annoying as I know I've read it in the last ten years. However, it may not be the story that you're looking for James, as you're definite it was a book, even if a small one, while the one I'm thinking of was definitely in an an anthology, so it would have to have been either a novella or expanded subsequently.
The thing I remember specifically was that the piloting of the spaceship near the sun and the gathering of solar energy was described in a way reminiscent of manoeuvring a boat.
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It was a thin book and could quite possible have been in an anthology but was definitely a book, I vaguely remember the cover with a picture of the sun and a disk like craft about to start it's dive.
I also remember it takes place on a base orbiting Mercury and our hero won enough money to buy his ship playing poker against the insanely rich sundivers on the base. As for maneuvering like a boat they often had to dodge spicules and other hazards the sun would throw at them but I can't remember if it was boat like.
Keep up the good work guys all this effort is very much appreciated.
Thank you.
 
Hmm...sounds like Sundiver, and this cover looks like it, but it's not thin one.

1579523576568.png


Could be you're confusing this Sundiver with the book you're looking for - there's nothing else in the isfdb.
 
Matteo said:
Hmm...sounds like Sundiver, and this cover looks like it, but it's not thin one.

View attachment 59743

Could be you're confusing this Sundiver with the book you're looking for - there's nothing else in the isfdb.
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That book was the very first thing i found when i started my search. The Sundiver I read didn't have any aliens and the plot is totally different, this bloody book is the reason I'm having a hard time. It was so successful it's totally obliterated any trace of the one I'm after. Damn you David Brin. :)
I've seen that cover so often now I think I'm going to have to read it.
 
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I remember a Ray Bradbury story 'The Golden Apples of the Sun' in an anthology of the same title, about a space ship diving into the sun and taking some of the sun back home, but it's so long ago I don't recall more of the plot and it doesn't sound like the one you want ...
 
Bad search is not David Brin's fault--is fault of search engines that send you to places that pay the best.

This plot sounds very familiar; however the only book I have at hand is David Brin's Sundiver.
 
tinkerdan said:
Bad search is not David Brin's fault--is fault of search engines that send you to places that pay the best.

This plot sounds very familiar; however the only book I have at hand is David Brin's Sundiver.
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You're right, Sorry David Brin. I'll buy a copy of his Sundiver to make it up to him. That was just me getting a tad frustrated.
 
RJM Corbet said:
I remember a Ray Bradbury story 'The Golden Apples of the Sun' in an anthology of the same title, about a space ship diving into the sun and taking some of the sun back home, but it's so long ago I don't recall more of the plot and it doesn't sound like the one you want ...
Click to expand...
I'll have a hunt for that one although being a Bradbury story I'd probably remember if it was one of his, I love Bradbury.
 
I'm starting to think this isn't going to happen despite everyone's awesome help. The book is just too old and obscured by other books of the same name and wasn't popular enough to survive history.
A huge thanks to all who tried to help, perhaps sometime in the future someone will stumble across a copy and my quest will end.
Thank you everyone, this forum is awesome and I think I'll stay for a while.:giggle:
 
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