80's Tech Uplift Novel

[Codesmith]

Trying to remember a novel from the 80s in which space travelling humans end up helping a group of low tech aliens get up to speed before they are invaded by a different set of aliens. I remember a bit of fuzzy bear feel to the aliens and a light tone to the writing.

Possible remembrances:

• a spaceship called the 'Beaver'
• having to invent dynamite to build something, but forgetting to tell the rest of the team that the aliens now have it
• aliens invent trucks after seeing steam engine
• ends with spelling message out of asteroids in space

Books I've considered but are not the correct one:

• Little Fuzzy series - H. Beam Piper et al
• Hoka series - Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson
• The Road Not Taken - Harry Turtledove

Thanks all!

 

[otistdog]

Maybe Poul Anderson and Gordon Dickson's "Hoka" series? I'm not familiar with them myself, but from what I've read, I would think that they qualify as writing with a light tone.

The first in the series is called Earthman's Burden.

 

[otistdog]

Oh, sorry -- I was reading too quickly and missed that you had specifically ruled those out in your original post.

Can you remember anything else that might serve as a hint? Any incidents, descriptions, character names or personalities, turns of phrase, cover design details, approximate page length, first letter of author's name, whether author was male or female, etc.? What was known about the aliens that were coming to invade? What were the words/meaning of the message spelled out with asteroids?

Even details that seem trivial can sometimes be the trigger for someone else's memory for book search posts. If you can dredge up a few more details, there is a good chance that someone here can do a better job of answering.

 

[Danny McG]

Yeah, what otistdog said, have a look at this to see if it'll jog your memory

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