nuanc
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Planet as Character
I find I keep wanting my characters to live on a planet that is in itself a character. Moody is the word that keeps coming to mind. Can anyone point me in the direction of examples of speculative fiction where the world itself has sentinent qualities?
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READING: Not Wanted on the Voyage, Timothy Findlay
WRITING: a love story (planning stage)
PROPPING UP: Being Practically Creative
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10/17/2005, 4:13 pm
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Firlefanz
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Re: Planet as Character
Yes. 
Anne McCaffrey has done a trilogy on that, mostly in a Sci Fi setting. I think the first part is called "Powers That Be". The books are an easy read (if not a bit simplistic).
Also, there is a novel by Stanislaw Lem - "Solaris", I believe - where the planet itself has a kind of sentience. I haven't read this one, though.
Hope that helps.
--- - Firlefanz
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10/17/2005, 4:35 pm
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nuanc
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Re: Planet as Character
Thanks Firlefanz. I know a lot of McCaffrey's books but not those...unless I read them years ago and forgot them which is entirely possible.
Solaris sounds familiar too but I know I never read that one.
An unreliable world would be fun to write and oh so demanding for my characters! I guess it would have to be consistently unreliable though or the reader might feel manipulated. There you go: consistently unreliable. I haven't even begun and I've already set myself up with a paradoxically undoable challenge. No wonder I don't finish most things. tra la~
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READING: Not Wanted on the Voyage, Timothy Findlay
WRITING: a love story (planning stage)
PROPPING UP: Being Practically Creative
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10/17/2005, 5:49 pm
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SFGirl
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Re: Planet as Character
On a related note, see also John Varley's trilogy consisting of "Titan" "Wizard" and "Demon" in which a sentient space habitat calling itself "Gaea" makes life...difficult. There's a bit about it here.
Oh, and don't bother seeing the movie version of "Solaris". Trust me, it wouldn't be a bit helpful, and would probably give you a headache. ;-)
Sherry
--- Reading: Celtika by Robert Holdstock
Rewriting: One's Aspect To The Sun (novel)
Writing: The Book of All Fictive Things http://fictivethings.blogspot.com |
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10/17/2005, 11:02 pm
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JessieLong
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Re: Planet as Character
Marvel has a character called Ego the Living Planet. Okay, it's a villain. Once he managed to convince Earth to wake up into sentience and see the people inhabiting it as parasites. So I wonder... why would a living entity tolerate people living on it? Might be a symbiotic relation? Or could it see them as its "children?"
---
Reading: Mostly comic books...
Writing : Electric Ladythief
Backburner: Scion and Ratface; The Rose and the Sword (books); Seekers (comic book series)
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4/4/2006, 6:24 am
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David Meadows
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Re: Planet as Character
quote:
JessieLong wrote:
why would a living entity tolerate people living on it?
Given matters of scale, would it even be aware of them? I am not consciously aware of any of the many parasites on my body... ugh, that's not true, now that I've started thinking about it I can't stop scratching 
--- "With magic stripped from the world what can a Supreme Sorceress do except rely on heroes?" -- Astra, Heroes #32 |
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4/5/2006, 6:01 am
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JessieLong
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Re: Planet as Character
Well, if the planet happens to be telepath, the inhabitants are so totally busted.
---
Reading: Mostly comic books...
Writing : Electric Ladythief
Backburner: Scion and Ratface; The Rose and the Sword (books); Seekers (comic book series)
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4/5/2006, 7:26 am
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SFGirl
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Re: Planet as Character
Wow, I love the idea of a sentient, telepathic planet.
Sherry
---
Reading: Seeker by Jack McDevitt
Writing: editing The Big Freeze
Drawing: Grapes still life
Listening: James Patrick Kelly's podcast of "Men Are Trouble"
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4/7/2006, 6:35 pm
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David Meadows
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Re: Planet as Character
Ok, now imagine that you are telepathic to the point that you are aware of the thoughts of every parasite living on you...
I think you would climb into a disinfectant bath and never get out again 
--- "With magic stripped from the world what can a Supreme Sorceress do except rely on heroes?" -- Astra, Heroes #32 |
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4/8/2006, 3:55 pm
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