What is the title of this book about aliens deep down in a mine?

Question

I am looking for the title of a book that I read some years ago. I will use this description of the book's content, that I found here:

The main character is called in to investigate a disturbance in a mine in South Africa; it was probably a diamond mine - very deep at any rate. The miners report seeing ghostly figures that rise up out of the floor once a day and then sink back down again. The miners are a superstitious bunch and refuse to work. The main character arrives on site and is able to witness the ghostly figures - they turn out to be aliens, not ghosts. Their planet is slightly smaller than Earth and occupies a different dimension - so that the aliens appear transparent and ghostly. Their planet used to share the same location in space as Earth and was therefore completely concealed - but something has happened to disrupt the orbit of the alien planet, making it slightly eccentric to the Earth's core - so every night, due to the non-aligned centres, the surface of their planet rises relative to the floor of the mine. The main character is able eventually to make contact with the aliens. For some reason he decides that he wants to transfer over to the other dimension. This is difficult but eventually they work out how to do it - only his consciousness can transfer and he must inhabit an alien form. Once there, he meets another alien who also claims to be a human consciousness. The main character has to pass a test that involves identifying what sort of alcoholic drinks should be served in which type of glass - something only an original human would know.

I have been searching for this book for quite some time as well and have not been able to find it on Google. If I recall correctly, I read a German version.

Answer 1

The first part of the story is a perfect match for Bob Shaw's A Wreath of Stars, except that the main character has to flee a dictator's vengeance and is transmuted and sent to the parallel world with his Earth shape (which is alien to the inhabitants).

The only alcohol in the story is at the end when the Earth friends of the main character succeed in transmuting a bottle of whiskey and send it to him with a message.

From a review on the Amazon page:

A rogue planet, visible only with the aid of very high-tech light-enhancing glasses, is discovered heading towards the Sun. Scientists decide that it in fact resides in a parallel universe, and therefore should fly straight through the solar system without interaction. Instead, it swings around the sun and heads straight for Earth. If it weren't for the glasses, no one would have ever noticed it, but since the glasses are very common, its approach causes mass panic. The main character is a misanthropic aircraft mechanic working in the Middle East. Unaware of the planet's approach until the last second, he gets caught up in the panic, loses his passport, and winds up stuck in a small African country teaching English at a diamond mine. After three years, he is enlisted to help squelch reports of ghosts within the mine, but instead sees them and gives pictures to a reporter. A wealthy playboy astronomer deduces that the ghosts are inhabitants of a parallel (but smaller) Earth within ours, perturbed by the close passage of the rogue planet (which had swung around the sun in its universe, coincident with ours), and slowly being revealed. He arrives to investigate, and meets and impresses the obligatory fantastically beautiful female. The main character of course also meets her, and spends much of his time panting after her, consumed with jealousy. However, he also saves her from terrible danger, showing himself to be quite the James Bond type. In addition, he happens to have whatever it takes to communicate with the inhabitants of the parallel planet.

The fate worse than death from which the main character saves the girl is the lust of the African country's dictator's son. During the scuffle, however, the dictator's son is either humiliated or killed - I don't remember - and the main character's fate is sealed. I do remember the point where the dictator darkly looks at his head henchman and makes the gesture of lowering a cellophane bag on his head - their favourite means of execution consisting in tying up the victim and suffocating him.

The dictator controls all airports and transportation, but the amateur astronomer has built a transmuting device that can "rotate" ordinary matter into the parallel universe. As soon as the two planetary surfaces align, the main character is shifted and makes his escape.

only his consciousness can transfer and he must inhabit an alien form. Once there, he meets another alien who also claims to be a human consciousness. The main character has to pass a test that involves identifying what sort of alcoholic drinks should be served in which type of glass - something only an original human would know.

This does not match, but I'm sure I read about it somewhere. I'll check...