My reading recently has been a bit all over the place. When we were in Pagham, I took the opportunity to pop into Heygates Bookshop in the Railway Station, a very nice 2nd hand Bookshop that is always a pleasure to have a browse.
The last time I was there is quite memorable – it was the week in 2022, when The Queen was laying in state. I chatted to the owner about it and said that we had debated going to London to pay our respects, but decided not to. He had gone and had been lucky enough to be fairly early in the queue.
I had a browse, and reminded him of a conversation we’d had that week, when I told him about a book that I had been looking for since my early years. It’s a science fiction, I can’t remember the title, author or publisher, and only basic details of the plot;
A young lad who is training to be a chemist, is on board a spaceship that is approaching the speed of light (quoted in the book as 186,282.42 miles per second – I don’t know why that particular detail stays with me, other than I was / am an SF enthusiast). These ships have been disappearing, but nobody knows why. I think that (this is where memories of the plot become a very thin mist) he has a theory, and gets on board one of the ships. He works out what’s happening; as the ships approach the speed of light, people start aging rapidly. Ships are vanishing, because crews are dying. He eventually works out a chemical solution and saves a crew (the solution has a number, something like 4732) – and that’s it, as much as I can remember. If my lovely reader out there has any idea which book I’m talking about – I’d be delighted to hear from you.
I asked the bookshop owner if his search techniques had improved since my last visit what with AI and the like. Whilst I continued browsing, he did a litttle digging and came up with three titles;
- Tau 0 – Poul Anderson – First published in 1970, which I think is a bit late. I’m sure I read the book before then. The science in the book is still valid, but I could never get into Poul Anderson as an author.
- Time for the stars Robert A Heinlein – I’ve read a few of his books, Space Cadet sticks in my mind. Looking at the plot line, I really don’t think this is it – but I’ll see if I can find a copy.
- To The Stars L. Ron Hubbard – I’ve read a few of his as well. Again from the plot, I don’t think this is the one, but I will have a read if I can find a copy.
OK, it’s way past my bed time, so I’ll say goodnight.
Bills Posts 