Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site topaz.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!cbdkc1!desoto!packard!topaz!@RUTGERS.ARPA:lionel%speedy.DEC@decwrl.ARPA From: @RUTGERS.ARPA:lionel%speedy.DEC@decwrl.ARPA Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Totally alien stories Message-ID: <1725@topaz.ARPA> Date: Tue, 23-Apr-85 00:47:31 EST Article-I.D.: topaz.1725 Posted: Tue Apr 23 00:47:31 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 24-Apr-85 02:20:17 EST Sender: daemon@topaz.ARPA Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 24 From: lionel%speedy.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (Steve Lionel) > From: Catherine Cunningham > Subject: Book Request > > I just finished Brunner's "The Crucible of Time" and really enjoyed > the idea of a book totally about an "alien" society. Can anyone > give me pointers to any other novels/short stories in which there is > no human presence? > A few years ago, someone in this very digest recommended L. Neil Smith's "Their Majesties' Bucketeers", and I am more than happy to repeat the favor. It may be that this doesn't totally satisfy your requirements, as the prologue is an observation by a human, but the rest of the book is devoid of humans. It is essentially a Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson story with Holmes and Watson as aliens, and the culture is not all that much different from ours, but what the heck - it's fun. Smith is a well-known Libertarian, and his writings reflect this bent. TMB is, in some aspects, a light satire of our society, but this doesn't get in the way. The paperback is published by Ballantine/Del Rey. Steve Lionel