So I have several email addresses over the last 20 years based on the main character from a 3-4 part book series. I'd love to remember the title and re-read them so I can explain the meaning of my email address - it has become my persona.   I read the series in around 1996-97. It was set in space and centred around a lone-ranger type character called Darek Jarrod (I think spelled correctly). He had a telepathic owl-like alien sidekick who flew with him in his little fighter starship thing.   There was some sinister, somewhat ethereal council of overlords who needed to be defeated - I think there was a lead antagonist as well. Eventually, 4 books later, he manages to defeat them.   It's not much to go on - I think it was aimed at young adults/adolescents as I was a teen at the time.   Any help for this 20 year+ mystery would be appreciated.   Thanks,   Jarrod ( :S )
40852
I remember that the main character is trying to find the group that destroyed his home planet while he was on a mission. His planet was very difficult to live on and the people became expert in martial arts and were the best soldiers in the galaxy. They were mercenaries and often helped against tyrants. There was a very memorable section in at least one book about an initiation task that the main character had to do in that he had to survive in their wilderness for days. He was at some point surrounded in a old building by thousands of poisonous worm/snake creatures that he managed to survive until rescued by the leaders.
36096
I'm trying to remember the name of a graphic novel from the late 90's or early 00's. I've done a bunch of searching online but can't find anything. I don't have much to go off of. It was beautifully drawn series of comics or compiled into a graphic novel.   EDIT: Okay so after obsessing all night and reading the guide I might have a wee bit more to identify it.    It was mostly if not only B/W and a serial comic that were collected into several books.  Each book was some grand adventure in a new place (maybe) one of which was on a ship, or air ship, or balloon ship. The central character was this young girl who is looking for her parents or her parents died or something. She has tube like hair and giant eyes. She has been thrown into this fantasy world and is exploring/looking running from... haha. I think she has a crew of weird creature friends that are helping her. There's all these strange creatures, big and small and strange and beautiful landscapes. More on the girl: She looked a little like  and she acted young and would get angry a lot. The drawings were ornate and detailed, but who wouldn't be if you were thrown into a fantasy world.   The drawing style was almost like the style of Bone, or the Arrival.    It was so long ago, and I have this vivid memory of reading it, but I've even gone back to search through all the graphic novels at my old library where it was and it's not there... ha. I wonder if it was like a small publishing company or something.   Thanks Fuzzy for the edits!
28930
I read a series of books written in English (possibly a trilogy) in the early 1980s and was hoping to find them again for my children. The details I remember are:   It was set on a planet and spanned many, many years over the course of the books There was a sort of 'housekeeper/protector' robot that featured in all of them but was slightly the worse for wear by the end One of the books had a young dark-skinned boy who made the hike up to the house where the robot was, and someone made reference to the fact that his dark skin protected him from the incredibly fierce sun found in the higher regions of the planet.
15734
My dad read a book series that he recommended to me last year. Now that I am ready to start it, neither of us can recall the title. He said there were several in the series but he can't recall how many.   The book is about traveling to a new planet, presumably with the goal of colonizing it. The crew are clones who have no memory. I think the goal was for the older original versions of the clones to transfer their consciousness into the clone bodies to be able to live on the new planet but something goes wrong.   There is an indigenous species on the planet who are humanoid but have kangaroo like tails.   The clone crew has markings on them that they don't understand until late. Apparently they are markings to indicate status or role on the new world. The person who they voted as there leader, it turns out, is marked as a servant or slave class.
122802
I remember the cover of the first book in the 3 or 4 book series has a picture of a beautiful white/silver haired young girl in a blue dress.  The story is about children who are identified as gifted teleporters being trained to "shift" loads of whatever between planets....could be food and provisions, or personnel carriers etc.  They have to have someone to "throw" and someone to "catch" and set down at the other end.  Would love to read it again.
27662
I remember reading a book series around 2008 - 2009 — probably as an ebook but maybe a hard copy — which for the life of me I cannot recall. My google-fu skills have failed me too. So here are the details I remember   The name of series started with B... something like Bar@@@@ Set in fantasy time with medieval setting. There was a ancient wizard, who was sort of immortal, or maybe just very very old, disguised as a common man at the start Hero was a young boy, introduced as an orphan, working in some rich noble's kitchen or kitchen farm Magic was used ages ago, but common folk have mostly forgotten about it There are several kingdoms, one in snow, one is an island, one is open grassland, and then there is a huge, big bad evil kingdom in north Wizard helps forge / renew alliance between all kingdoms slowly, having to work through some politics Wizard keeps training the boy in various arts as the series progresses There is eventually a war, but the good kingdoms sort of manage to defeat the evil king (he may have been crazy / megalomaniac) After war, wizard and boy go to the location where evil god (something with T... Tarturs or something) is sleeping, but whose evil keeps seeping into the world The boy, now trained and grown up, fights the god and eventually wins There may have been a middle aged woman, fiery in temper, also a witch, probably daughter of ancient wizard, and mother of hero   I also remember not really liking the books then, sort of having too many deus ex machina, but for some reason have them stuck in my mind recently. Any help would be deeply appreciated!
26017
Way back in high school I read a series about colonization of other planets. In the books, contact was lost with the rest of the civilization and over time people with mathematical ability were able to control the computers that were doing the terraforming...and later came to be seen as wizards.  I cannot for the life of me remember the author or title...can anyone help?
21151
I'm trying to remember the name of a novel/series I read back in the mid-eighties.  I can't remember the author other than that it was a known older author.  I initially thought maybe Saberhagen or Harrison, but can't find it in their bibliographies.  It involved a collection of 4-5 people from different times/places.  The distinctive bit I can remember was that one of them (not the main character) was a cyberpunkish woman from the "future" of 1999 who spoke in futuristic dialect of English that the other characters, including the protagonist, from the "present" (from the eighties) could not understand.  Unfortunately, I don't remember much else of the plot other than that they were making their way through ruins.
5415
I remember reading this book years ago, but I'm unable to remember the title. I'm hoping someone else has read it and remembers the title. Here is a quick synopsis from what I remember:  Humans, while testing their first FTL drive, travel to the closest star and destroy it. However, there was an unknown, inhabited world around the star. The world was populated by telepaths; when the telepaths realized what was going on, they 'screamed' out into the universe with their last dying breath, asking all the other telepathic aliens to kill these other aliens (humans) in revenge. It tells the story through generational gaps, as humans attempt to survive the ensuing genocide committed against them.  If anyone could give me the title for this book, I would love to re-read it!
113883
I've been looking for this series for a long time, I remember the overall series being called "The Dunhau Chronicles" or something similar. Details I remember:  There were two protagonists, the main one being a human woman, who may have been some sort of former military officer or cop, possibly just a diplomat. I think she was ~250 years old, which was possible through modern medicines.  The other one was a blue, furry alien who may have been a prince, or a former prince whose people had recently switched to democracy, he was a weak diplomat as his race had, unusually, descended from prey animals, rather than predators. There was a romance I think between him and the woman. His race's name was the series name- whatever word my memory has morphed into "Dunhau".  For reasons I don't quite remember, the two of them had to flee across space, picking up various allies as they went. At one point, they attended the wedding of I think the prince's allies or supporters at one point, which involved one woman marrying five men, as was the custom. It was a marriage that occurred late in the lives of the men, because the five men were "best friends" who refused to marry unless they could find a woman willing to marry all five of them, which took a while.  At one point, they all get captured by the bad guys, and in order to psychologically break the alien prince, the bad guy orders the woman to be raped in front of him. She manages to dodge this by pretending to be kind of into the idea and possibly throwing the guy against the wall or something? She basically undermines the psychological advantage and the whole thing gets cancelled before anything happens.   This is all I can really remember, if this sounds familiar to anyone please let me know!
94674
I'm looking for the name of a series of space opera novels I read some time ago, probably between 2003 and 2010.    It may have been published quite a few years before I read it, I don't think it was new at the time. I borrowed the novels from the local library, but I can't find them in its catalogue. I think the covers were fairly dark and plain, though there may have been some artwork on them. There was a totalitarian empire that controlled most planets, possibly ruled by a queen. There was no mention of Earth, the solar system or other real planets, the setting was completely fictional. There were people with psychic/psionic powers, referred to as something like "psi". These people were second-class citizens or slaves. Spaceships were used to travel between worlds. I'm not sure what kind of FTL technology they had, if any. Beyond the edge of the empire was some kind of "dark space", where there was no light. There were some horror themes: When travelling in dark space in one of the novels, a ships crew experienced strange thoughts and hallucinations. I remember finding this quite scary at the time.   Does anyone know which series this could be?  This isn't a duplicate of , since the two questions are about different parts of the same series (the first and second episodes).
33217
It was written in English and likely a young adult series. I believe it was a hardcover book and possibly from an Australian author, though I could easily be wrong. I have a feeling it was a series, but I'm not sure if I'm confusing it with other books from the author (see below). I believe it has been out for at least 10 years, probably longer, because I read it in middle school.  The book begins with a school boy seemingly hallucinating seeing a futuristic, armed girl. I think she might have been on the cover of the book, but again I could easily be wrong. The boy is later pulled into the space ship she is on (the school scenes were not real, I believe).  As I remember there was no real adults on the ship, although it might have been because they had all been killed off previously. I realise this seem similar to . Later in the book, or perhaps it was a later book in the series, other children joined the crew.  At the end of the book/series, it is revealed that Earth had been ecologically devastated (possibly by industrial pollution). The cloned (I think) children were on a return trip in space, so that by the time they get back to Earth, the planet is ready for human habitation again.  I recall reading in the afterwords that the author was writing some books set in the same universe, but about early space colonisation of the solar system.  I think it was set before the above scheme to recolonise Earth was enacted. The author said we'll see "familiar names", presumably because the characters were later cloned for the recolonisation mission.   I read a couple of these "prequels" (or at least other books from the same author) but don't recall seeing such names. One of the books mentioned the Earth's oceans had turned toxic, though.
111010
I read this in the late 90's if I recall correctly. Can't remember title or author.  American astronaut is doing a survey of back side of the Moon. He is shot down and captured by the AI that controls an immense spaceship hidden inside the Moon. In fact: the Moon is the spaceship, the outer layer (100 KM or so) of rock is just camouflage.    He becomes the new captain of the ship that was left empty after the crew was forced to leave the vessel in the aftermath of a mutiny. That mutiny was 10.000 years ago. The original crew (mutineers and loyalists) took refuge on Earth and have been fighting ever since. Both factions have hooks into Earth governments and their ongoing battles are mostly of the black-ops/espionage type. The new captain makes contact with the loyalists and eventually defeats the mutineers.    Some other details: Cyborg tech that enhances the crew: Stronger, faster, better reflexes, better health, longer live and direct mind-machine communication-interfaces.    The ship was originally stationed in Earth-orbit as a hidden outpost of a big space-empire. There is an alien race that sends a destruction-fleet every xxx thousand years through this arm of the Milky Way to wipe out any intelligent life. The ship is on guard-duty against that threat. The ship AI is getting very nervous as he has no crew and the alien invasion is about due.   I'm pretty certain it was the first novel in a multi-part series, but I never read the others and I would like to.
52072
I don't know a lot about the plot of this book as it has been quite a while since I last read it. But I do now that it was set in the space age, where everybody could travel between planets. It also had something to do with searching an mysterious, indescribable color (the 8th?).    There were aliens that were not able to perceive color who maintained the spaceships. A characteristic I can quite clearly remember is that these aliens (called lhari/laari?) would often get burned when they picked up a glowing tool, as the couldn't see it glowing.    At some point the protagonist undergoes a surgery to look like these aliens to do something they wouldn't allow humans to do. Maybe travel somewhere or spy on them?    I read it maybe 4 years ago, but it was an old book I picked up at a garage sale. I cannot name a specific time when it was written, but my best guess would be 1970-1980.   If I happen to remember more things, I will make sure to edit this question.
80013
So, I began reading this series years ago and put it down, and now I've been thinking about it and want to see how it ended.   It was a basic Epic. Group needed to destroy evil somewhere off in the world. Must have read it in the early 2000s. The most I remember is based off of the characters.   There was a species of elven hybrids; they were winged, the product of a forced union by an evil magical entity. The elves hated them. Another species (I think they were terromancers), created a mountain kingdom/realm to protect them.  One of the main characters was a wizard prodigy; he'd been babied his entire life and while magically advanced, had a lot of growing up to do.   There was a general who, in order to gain advantage on the battlefield, bonded to (I think) an earth god through a shamanistic pain ceremony.   Another was an unlanded (I think) elf (his kingdom had been destroyed) he was a mercenary.  They were all fighting to get the wizard/child to the north to kill/defeat this great evil who lived in a stronghold on the other side of the world.  Thanks all! And sorry it's so vague. I've been searching the internet for most of the day. Nothing's turned up.
70151
A friend and I are trying to find an old book series, probably by a Christian author, that we read in the late 90s or early 2000s. It takes place after the "Water Wars," and fresh water is super scarce.  Manhattan has been turned into a giant prison/slum, all the metal has been stripped from crumbling buildings and they get a very small ration of water from the main land.  A guy convinces a board of trustees on the mainland to take a guy from the island to determine if they should continue to get water by testing his virtue and bravery.  He gets stuck in this cyber-world where he relives events in history from Egypt, Rome, the Crusades, etc. and eventually encounters Jesus or God (in the machine, literally).  We have no idea what the name of these books are except that we're pretty sure that the name "Cyber-" is in the title.  Also, if I remember rightly, each individual book is pretty thin (just a couple hundred pages) but the anthology is a pretty decent-sized novel.  Anyone have any thoughts?  EDIT: I am 28 (was 15 in 2000), but tend to read genre fic from above and below my reading level.  I feel like this series was about at my intended level (even though I was reading above it).
56852
I remember this book from my early teen years, although what I remember makes it seem incredibly bizarre, but from what I remember, it was really enjoyable. I'm sure I read it before I read the "Mister Monday" series, by Garth Nix. I don't believe all of the series was available, if that helps narrow down a time frame.  I have a feeling this book was part of a series too. And it is based around a young male protagonist and, soon, a girl and another boy, whom he befriends.  I believe the first chapter of the first book starts with the protagonist answering a phone call. One of the questions he is asked is; How did the dinosaurs die? He initially believes this to be one of those radio shows, so he tries to be funny in his answer, which is; they died laughing. I'm sure they ask him about his sleeping habits, and he admits to falling asleep very easily, almost on command. This leads the boy to being recruited by an organisation which uses sleep as a way of entering and exiting some sort of world, or other time. There is something dangerous about it too, as I remember something about: trying to go deeper, or further, caused the person's heart to race to the point of an attack.  When he first travels to this place, it's like the beginning of time. The place is beautiful, and untouched. The protagonists male friend befriends a black panther cub, which I'm sure follows him around when they return.   This is when I lose track of the story and just remember snip bits;  The male friend is a skilled drummer and is able to tap into the 'beat' of the world, and stop time from travelling backwards - I believe this is in the second book.  The female friend is a skilled debater with unmatched logic, and during an argument with (some sort of boss bad guy), she uses the argument of a never ending cycle, a snake biting its tail. I'm sure she also had a bracelet of a snake biting its tail too, with green eyes?  There is a point where they are traveling through a cave of jewels. The protagonist collects some. They then come to a seemingly dead end, however, by giving up everything they  covet, such as the jewels, the characters are able to ascend to the village above.   Sorry for the long post, but I thought adding as much as I know might spark an answer from someone. :).   Thank you for your time.