[meteorite-list] Meteorite novels -gifts II

Thu Nov 23 23:53:59 EST 2006

Hello Listees, again,

...today, I imagine several cheering their Cheshire grins and feeding their 
fattened guts...sitting on the sofa and still smacking the lips like the cat 
that swallowed little Tweety...

Right or wrong, it's said there's something fulfilling for the man that can 
do three things before he dies: Have a Son, Write a book, and Plant a 
tree...(wheew - lot of work left to do)  I'm sure I've missed more books 
than I've listed  which are fictional novels relating somehow to meteorites, 
but here are two more (the second one is an online ditty) written by list 
member which have special reasons not to be left out,

ADVENTURES OF DIANA: THE UNDERWORLD by Jim Balister
Popular Action book off the presses recently which follows a plain-Jane girl 
named Diana loses her job, and while looking for a new one meets the love of 
her life, David, who happens to be a meteorite collector, among other 
things.  At one point they spot a fireball and try to recover it.  One day, 
in this sweet midwestern American boredom, the Earth takes a turn 
unexpectedly and quake hits, followed by every extraterrestrial, 
governmental plague and monsterous vermin that can be thrown at its 
inhabitants, including Diana.  With the help of a geologist, Diana goes down 
a pit where they find a flying saucer that kidnaps them, one mishap and 
incredible recovery takes place after another, the upper and lower worlds, 
with almost all their monsters and creatures facing destruction.  But then 
Diana meets someone important and she yearns to reestablish her life and 
settle down with David...

STAR MONEY by the Bros. Altmann (jeje)
A short fable summarized by our very favorite Germans, based on the original 
which was probably much older than the 1803 L'Aigle fall itself.  Gives 
great insight to cultural fantasies of the significance of meteorites in the 
deep recesses of human thought.  Interestingly, in an odd twist, it 
personifies what we all yearn in meteorite hunting in one form or 
another...READ THE ENGLISH translation free here, no need to buy the book, 
compiled by the namsake of Chladni's heirs:  Story featured in Nation 
Geographic:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/star_money2.html

Best wishes, Doug

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "MexicoDoug" <MexicoDoug at aim.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 23, 2006 4:30 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] List of Meteorite novels for gifts

> Hola Listees,
>
> Thanks very kindly for the meteorite fictional book ideas many of you 
> kindly
> sent in response to my post the other day.
>
> I thought I would post a summary in case anyone else was looking for gift
> ideas for friends family or loved ones.
>
> First, I'll tell you the book I decided to get for a special person (just
> received today!!!), followed by a list of other books (for which I owe
> thanks to everyone who helped me out on and off list):
>
> Winner:  STARDUST, (Spanish Title: Lluvia de Estrellas = Meteor Shower-) 
> by
> Neil Gaiman
> This is a romantic fantasy about the faeries and struck ones in the nicest
> sense.  While it seems like it is written for children, the naughty author
> has the meteorite curse after her painful atmospheric entry, and there is 
> a
> bit of steamy sex to whet some folks appetites... Two cultures somewhere 
> in
> the English countryside are divided by a wall every day except one in 9
> years.  An adventurous young man with an interesting birthright is with 
> the
> prettiest girl in the nondescript human village inside the stone wall.
> Victoria owns his heart, but, she doesn't care much for Tristran.  They 
> gaze
> into the sky when witnessing the ground shaking and thunder accompanying a
> shooting star.  It begins as a small light, but quickly outshines the Moon
> and brilliantly falls somewhere on the other side of the wall, where there
> are enchanted meadows, trees and their inhabitants.  The young man 
> Tristran
> is so blinded by love that he somehow becomes obsessed with the labor to
> recover the fallen star and bring it to her to win her heart and live
> happily ever after.
>
> Only, he has lots of competition hunting on the other side of the wall ...
> where meteorites have more voluptuous properties than a few quartzy
> chondrules. Tristran learns that recovering a shooting star is very 
> arduous
> task which forces one to meet and deal with all sorts of challenging
> characters during the quest.  Finally he learns that the fallen star is
> nothing his imagination contemplated, but that the knowledge he has
> accumulated in his quest for it has changed his life and taught him more
> about himself than he dreamed were possible to know.
>
> The tale is fairly short in medium print, and I've skimmed it enough to
> highly recommend it to the Romantics, hopeless, and hopeful.
>
> Runner ups,
>
> THE ICE LIMIT (Mas Alla del Hielo) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
> Popular novel, A rich meteorite collector decides to pillage Chile by 
> hiring
> a crew to recover the world's biggest meteorite discovered in difficult
> conditions off Chile and deals with logistics, politics and suspense.
> Darren doesn't recommend the author's based on a newer book of theirs,
> Tyrannosaurus Canyon, and there are some factual problems though somewhat
> entertaining according to Chris, but the book manages some decent 
> suspense.
>
> DECEPTION POINT (La Conspiracion) Dan Brown
> Popular novel, A huge meteorite is discovered under the Arctic and NASA is
> in chaos due to overall failure and beaurocracy which have characterized 
> its
> devolution.  This meteorite is thought to be a strategic asset to the 
> nation
> (USA), and apparently holds secrets to develop and unlock great power. 
> The
> race is on to recover it and the government is secretive, greedy, and
> falling all over itself.!
>
> LA PIEL DEL CIELO (The Skin of the Sky) by Elena Poniatowska
> Mexican literary work, a talented Mexican man is fascinated by astronomy 
> and
> would have a promising future if he could only learn how to overcome the
> inequality, corruption and beaurocracy in his country.  "A novel, which 
> like
> the telescope, brings us closer to the challenges furthest from our reach:
> the stars and love.
>
> METEORITE SPOON (La Cuchara de Meteorito)
> Childrens book available mainly from England.  The kids' parents are
> fighting all the time and the kids get a magic spoon coated with 
> mneteorite
> to dig a hole each time they can't bear it and bury their problems in the
> hole.  Then they escape a disaster by going into the hole and emerging to
> the other side into a fantasy world.
>
> THE HAMMER OF GOD (El Martillo de Dios) by Arthur C. Clarke
> An amateur astronomer in the year 2110 chances upon an asteroid on a
> collision course with earth.  The asteroid, named Kali, gives little time 
> to
> avoid complete annihilation of humans on Earth and the technically ok 
> novel
> in the hands of master sci-fi writer Clarke is better than most, but now a
> less novel theme.  Space Guard is discussed in parts of this book when it
> was still the domain of science fiction writers.
>
> LUCIFER'S HAMMER  (El Martillo de Lucifer) by Larry Niven and Jerry
> Pournelle
> An early chaotic and interesting book about a comet's impending impact 
> with
> Earth discovered by a wealthy amateur astronomer.  First NASA scientists
> discount the possibility of a collision, but then, the crazies get hold of
> the idea that it is the end.  The irony is that the NASA estimates provd
> wrong and then the comet does fragment and demolish most of the coastal
> cities on Earth.  The spoiled astronomer who discovered it gets part of 
> the
> storyline contrasting his sheltered prior existance with the tenacity he 
> has
> for survival among the tsunamis and ensuing chaos.
>
> If anyone can give me a hand with the Spanish edition of "The Ice Limit",
> Spanish language edition, i.e., "MASS ALLA DEL HIELO", I'd appreciate 
> that.
>
> Thanks for the other fine book recommendations, if they weren't listed it 
> is
> because they are out of print, difficult to find and I am hoping to get a
> reasonably priced used copy.  I hope this is helpful with Christmas at our
> footstep...
>
> Happy Thanksgiving,
> Doug
>
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