Trying to find title of older (I think) sci fi book.

[K0rN b4LL]

The other year I read some random book and can't remember the title, author, or even the names of the characters. I do remember most of the plot though.

Sorry if this is long winded. It was about some kind of ranger/explorer for a galactic democratic government trying to find human colonized worlds that had lost contact with the rest of humanity. In this world there are individuals born with some kind of psychic ability that is really rare (only a handful in the galaxy at any time) and they are used to help with communication and directing interstellar traffic. Suffice to say they are extremely valuable and seen as indispensable assets. His ship has this old AI that has been in his family for 1000 years that they keep around due to unique features despite some odd personality glitch or something. He ends up finding this unknown world with humans on it and finds that the people there are living in a medieval type world with kings, lords, serfs, peasants, the whole lot. Turns out a long time ago some rich yahoos came up with the idea of founding a colonization effort that would live in a medieval lifestyle with no modern tech and somehow got people to sign up for it. He is shocked that there are a large number of people on the planet with the psychic ability (dozens on one world compared to a handful in the rest of the galaxy) and realized that it is due to this strange plant/fungus stuff that causes these people to develop the abilities. Since the people of the world are living as primitives they refer to these people as witches. He tries to infiltrate the world quietly and soon learns that there is some kind of conspiracy trying to take control of the world. Turns out some kind of communist group from the future has been sending people back through a time portal to try and manipulate the world so they can use the psychics themselves to defeat the democratic government. (This point combined with the old artwork is why I think its an old cold war era story, not completely sure) So the main guy befriends a few locals (who think that he is a witch himself due to his technology performing wonders) and helps them take down the commies and destroy the time portal machine. However he is worried about how they got the machine there from the future in the first place so he contacts his mother, who is some kind of government bigwig, from his ship and informs her about the planet. I can't remember what they decided at that point but the book ended right after that. Also the main guy falls in love with a local witch, I think he might have taken her with him but I can't remember if he actually left the planet at the end or not.

Anyways sorry for the long description, I've been thinking about that story a lot lately for some reason and its been driving me crazy trying to remember what it was. I'm really interested if there are more books in this series.

 

[chrispenycate]

Sounds like Stassheff's 'Warlock' series, Rod Gallowglass as central character, assisted by Fess (robot horse, and Gwendylon (witch, who he marries at the end of book one), and Queen Catherine. 'Cept that he doesn't ring home to his mother, but SCENT (Society for Conversion of Extraterrestrial Nascent Totalitarianisms) , active agency of the DDT (decentralised democratic tribunal, I think). After 'The Warlock in spite of himself', there are several more books, some in direct sequence with the first, others children of the warlock. The first book was written during the Vietnam war, and brought out in 1969. Magic spells are rhyming verses.

Ring any bells?

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

I also like the Warlock book as an answer - and it's also a good read. But I've also got another book floating through my head - can't remember the name and think it might be by Alan Dean Foster or someone similar. Simak maybe?

So was your hero / space explorer a telepath by chance, with no ability to hear thoughts but the most powerful psionic shout in the galaxy, sent back and forth to a world (initially he sort of crash landed on the world because there was no landing system, and woke up in a bed in a castle) where his organization was trying to bring the somewhat feudal planet into the galactic federation or whatever, but he kept failing? (and getting shouted at by his boss!) They had a vote and the offer was rejected. They didn't want what the Federation was offering. No one among the various noble kingdoms wanted to join, until one of the noble leaders of one region / family made a back door offer to one lord's estate / barony or whatever, and then they tried to join behind their backs while all the other baronies etc, still refused, thus beginning a civil war of sorts. Meanwhile the woman who seemed to be in charge of everything, had no actual power, but when she was taken down, all the wizards on the planet lost their psychic / magic powers? They also had a rival alien race trying to infiltrate the planet in that book, but as long as the woman was not unconscious, they were completely helpless against the world.

In the end the Federation or whatever also gave up on trying to enlist them and the mission was a failure, plus the planet was put on a quarantine list.

Wish I could think of the book's title, but it'll probably come to me.

Cheers, Greg.