Comments on: It's on the tip of my tongue!

Question: It's on the tip of my tongue!

sonic meat machine — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 18:51:10 -0800

What (probably 70s or 80s-era) science fiction novel involved colonizing an alien world which was inherently hostile to the human protagonists but which had a native population of vampire-like creatures who were similar enough to humans to "pass?" (Possibly shapeshifters.) I thought it was C.J. Cherryh's Faded Sun books, but it isn't – although I think I read it around the same time that I read those books in omnibus.

By: sonic meat machine

sonic meat machine — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 18:59:50 -0800

Note: I am not referring to the inhumi from Gene Wolfe's Short Sun. This was a more conventional science fiction story. It seems as if there was "Dark" or "Night" or "Black" or something similar in the title of the thing... all of which are impossible to search for...

By: brianogilvie

brianogilvie — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 19:01:56 -0800

Hmm...could it have been the Majipoor series by Robert Silverberg? It's set on a planet that's larger than Earth but with fewer dense metals, so surface gravity is about the same, and though the planet isn't inherently hostile, its native inhabitants grudgingly cooperate with humans, except for the shapeshifters, who are confined to reservations. They get involved in human politics, which drives much of the action. Lord Valentine's Castle was the first novel in the series, followed by the short story collection Majipoor Chronicles, and then the second novel, Valentine Pontifex.

By: sonic meat machine

sonic meat machine — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 19:11:38 -0800

I don't think it's Majipoor because that had wizards and other fantasy elements. This was pretty straight science fiction, if I remember correctly.

By: cheesegrater

cheesegrater — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 19:18:23 -0800

It's not the Coldfire trilogy by C.S. Friedman, is it? It's sort of right on the border between fantasy and science fiction though.

By: sonic meat machine

sonic meat machine — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 19:20:12 -0800

It is! I found it almost simultaneously with your posting. I guess I got them confused because of the similarity of the naming (C.S. Friedman vs. C.J. Cherryh). It does seem more fantasy-oriented than I remembered, though... occluded by the mists of time.

By: L'Estrange Fruit

L'Estrange Fruit — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 06:03:03 -0800

Kind of reminds me of one of the wonderfully awful Necroscope books by Brian Lumley. It would be the third one, The Source.