Sung this hymn to the horse yet?

[scarfman]

So I've mentioned I keep The Mote in God's Eye and its sequel The Gripping Hand on my desk at work so I can't be caught without something good to read. So today I was reading the passage in Mote when the ship returns to human space by hyperspace Jump and all our characters learn that Moties suffer much greater Jump shock than humans. And it reminded me of my observation of Hand that those human characters who identify more with Moties (most obviously Glenda Ruth, a human raised by Moties) are much more susceptible to Jump shock than other humans. This suggests that susceptibility to Jump shock is a psychological thing instead of a physiological thing, dunnit? Surely I'm not the only person who's ever noticed. No doubt there are lengthy threads on newsgroups and message boards I've never read, but has anyone ever asked Larry or Jerry about it? Prolly Jerry'd know better, since they worked in one of his universes, according to the 70s Galaxy article they wrote which I still have somewhere.

Comments

[larksilver.livejournal.com]

Wait.. what. I never realized The Mote had a sequel. Now.. well, heck, I would rush out to a bookstore NOW, but I think I'll hold out til after the insanity - er, the holiday shoppers have all finished. How could I have missed this? oy. I know I've been busy, but not that busy. hehe


I read a novel once called Starmother, wherein a young human woman was hired to come and spend a year with a crop of .. well, mutant babies, I guess. Seems the kids of this species came to physically resemble whoever they spent the most time with, rather than being pre-determined. So if their primary caregiver was a beautiful young human... well, needless to say, the inhabitants of this planet really wanted to be more accepted into mainstream society, and having four breasts and 3 hands didn't really work for that. I really enjoy the worlds that Sydney Van Scyoc creates, but always feel like they just sort of.. stop. But that's another story. It was an interesting read, anyway.

[scarfman]

Wait.. what. I never realized The Mote had a sequel.

Glad to enlighten you.

When I was in high school I read The Mote in God's Eye and The Once and Future King each annually.