The Traveller Reader

[FreeTrav]

Let's have some mini-reviews! If this thread develops well, I'd like to be able to edit it into an article for Freelance Traveller, so please keep that in mind.

The Question: What books - or series of books - would you recommend to someone to read, if they were looking for stories that would give them a "feel" for what Traveller is like? Why - what makes them "right" for Traveller?

I'd appreciate a little bit of care in threading this topic; if you're adding a book/series to the list, please reply directly to this message; if you're discussing a book/series that someone else added, reply in that subthread - if you do it this way, it'll be easier to sort things out and put the responses together for the eventual magazine article.

Have at, folks!

 

[Sylvre Phire]

First and foremost, anything by H. Beam Piper
• Federation
• Space Viking
• Little Fuzzy (and related books)

Additionally, Asimov's Foundation trilogy.

Pax et bonum,

Dale

 

[aramis]

The ones that for me feel most "Travelleresque" boil down to 3 authors: HBP's Fuzzy series, James Doohan's Flight Engineer series, and Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan series.

Ironicly, neither the Voroigan nor Flight Engineer series uses a traveller-like jump drive, but otherwise capture the feel better than the classic SF I've read, excepting Little Fuzzy.

Strong characters, military dominant, realistic accelerations, and person-centered stories.

 

[Whipsnade]

Jeff,

Piper and Asimov have already been suggested, so:

Pournelle's and Niven's Mote in God's Eye - Obviously a huge influence on Traveller, especially on the "gearhead" side of things. Jump drive is the Alderson Drive without tramlines(1), nobility and empire, communications limited to the speed of transport, very limited personal energy weapons, mixed technologies, and so many other touches.

Pournelle's various CoDominium stories and novels - See above.

Tubb's Dumerest series - Another huge influence, especially concerning the personal aspects of star travel. Personally I find the stories rather repetitive, fairly boring, and almost on the level of "juvenile" or "young adult" fiction. I'd tried, and failed, to read a few in the early 70s and only tried again after they were mentioned in various Traveller materials.

Poul Anderson's van Rijn, Falkayn, Flandry stories and novels - Again, a huge influence, especially on the sociological aspects of the Traveller setting.


Regards,
Bill

1 - Alderson Drive is so iconic that is was explicitly mentioned as the FTL drive in the first version of Imperium. Imperium in turn influenced Traveller and the wargame was later kit-bashed to fit the RPG.

 

[Spinward Scout]

I'm not very good at reviews.

That being said...

I've always heard that Andre Norton's Solar Queen, Galactic Free Trader series was a big influence on Mr. Miller's ideas of Traveller's Merchants. I've never read them - only Star Rangers (which could be an excellent book about Scouts).

StarFist series (First In Strike Team)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarFist_series
It's about a military unit, but all I could think of while I was reading the first book was the CT Supplement Broadsword.

I'd appreciate a little bit of care in threading this topic; if you're adding a book/series to the list, please reply directly to this message; if you're discussing a book/series that someone else added, reply in that subthread - if you do it this way, it'll be easier to sort things out and put the responses together for the eventual magazine article.

Honestly, I don't think you can do that on this board. It works like that on other boards (like RPG.net) but I've never seen that on this board. Just the ability to reply to the entire thread and quote a previous post.

 

[Spinward Scout]

I also forgot:

Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert Heinlein
Reminded me of Traveller with Free Traders and the interstellar "Family Business" much like a MegaCorporation. Some parts of the story also reminds me of some movie about something that happened "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away"

 

[beowulf2044]

A. Bertram Chandler's Grimes novels, to add to the classics listed above.

 

[aramis]

Honestly, I don't think you can do that on this board. It works like that on other boards (like RPG.net) but I've never seen that on this board. Just the ability to reply to the entire thread and quote a previous post.

You're wrong. the BBS does track what you replied to; the upper right corner has a popup menu, named "display modes" which allows one to see the structure using hybrid or threaded modes. Almost no one seems to use it, however. I occasionally use it to sort out snarkiness.

 

[Spinward Scout]

You're wrong. the BBS does track what you replied to; the upper right corner has a popup menu, named "display modes" which allows one to see the structure using hybrid or threaded modes. Almost no one seems to use it, however. I occasionally use it to sort out snarkiness.

Ok, I looked at it and now I'm confused. I don't see a Reply button in Threaded View. So how do we respond to his first post then and not everyone elses'? I saw a Quick Reply on each post in Hybrid mode, tho.

 

[Hemdian]

Well my first choices (the works of Bujold and Chandler) have already been named ... but I'll add Dune.

 

[Peter Schutze]

Well my first choices (the works of Bujold and Chandler) have already been named ... but I'll add Dune.

my feeling has always been that the original dune trilogy werent very travelleresque but that the post frank herbert's death ones, being set back in time would be OK

 

[Peter Schutze]

Hammers Slammers !

think about it .... the entire series is basically boils down to a TL15 merc outfit slapping TL10-13 backwater planets around. Each story even has an explanation built in for why the UPP code is the way it is.

It even sounds like you're a couple of jumps out past the civilised / imperial borders whenever the wider human civilisation mentioned except for the end of the chronology when Hammer becomes president of Friesland

 

[aramis]

The Quick Reply in threaded view is automatically active and, since threaded shows only one post at a time, links it to the post viewed.

 

[BlackBat242]

Well, then you'll be confused, because I (and I imagine lots of others) almost never use the "quick reply to this message" button (unless I know ahead of time that I want to change text color).

I almost always use the "post reply" button... and then edit the post to change text color if I thought of it while typing.

Que sera.

 

[Putraack]

I don't think anyone's mentioned Elizabeth Moon, any one of her three in-space series. Caveat: she has a weakness for using the same base character type over and over, so don't read them one after the other. Light reading, not too heavy.
I liked the first books of the Heris Serrano and Vatta's war series the most.

 

[Marchand]

I read Andre Norton's "Sargasso of Space" as a teenager and loved it. Hooked me on the tramp-freighter idea.

Another of the "Solar Queen" books, "Plague Ship", is available at Project Gutenberg:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16921/16921-h/16921-h.htm

Enjoy

 

[beowulf2044]

Just finished with Children of Earth, the final (33rd?) Dumarest novel by E. C. Tubb. A lot of Traveller concepts have been stolen (er, lifted, er, homage?) from this series, not the least of which is the actual term 'Traveller', British spelling and all. I love Tubb's visuals and descriptive prose, but the stories are far more science fantasy than science fiction in the 'Hero's Quest' vein. The last novel relates a lot of information on Earl Dumarest's trajic upbringing and background.

 

[zonk]

Just finished with Children of Earth, the final (33rd?) Dumarest novel by E. C. Tubb. A lot of Traveller concepts have been stolen (er, lifted, er, homage?) from this series, not the least of which is the actual term 'Traveller', British spelling and all. I love Tubb's visuals and descriptive prose, but the stories are far more science fantasy than science fiction in the 'Hero's Quest' vein. The last novel relates a lot of information on Earl Dumarest's trajic upbringing and background.

So tell me the plot to the last one. I haven't read a Tubb Dumarest story in many many years

 

[beowulf2044]

Dumarest found Earth in the second-to-last story, but it's a bleak, barren landscape. His ship has been shot down and he is captured by a man who can read a person's memories like a book, taking the subject through a re-living of past events. It won't say more to avoid spoiling the plot, but the book explores Dumarest's past life and fills in gaps left open by the previous 32 novels.

 

[Madarin Dude]

Poul Anderson gives a good idea and the Humanix league books by Alan Dean Foster. A number of books by Gordon R. Dickenson are well within the Traveller realm.