10

I'm trying to help my mother identify a sci-fi novel she read. We don't know the publication date, probably at least a few decades ago with 15-20 years ago as the lowest bound.

We're not sure which author either. She thinks it might be related to Isaac Asimov; one of those type of book not written by him, but with his name on the branding.

What she remembers of the plot is very Avatar-like in its summary. Disabled character (female, possibly a lost leg?) is put into an alien body to study/spy on their society. Eventually defects and joins them. What she recalls of the aliens was that they were sort of whale-like.

Might be a bit of a longshot, but thought I'd try here.

4

2 Answers 2

4

The first thing I thought of was Timothy Zahn's Manta's Gift (2003) about a crippled man who is recruited by an alien race to be an ambassador of sorts. The aliens are manta-like flyers in the atmosphere of Jupiter, and got there by something other than technology as we know it. They need a human perspective, and the human needs theirs.

1
  • Coming back to this a few years later after it came up again, it looks like this was indeed the book we were looking for after all.
    – Farengeto
    Sep 16 at 0:54
10

Call Me Joe (1957) by Poul Anderson?

From Wikipedia:

Anglesey uses a wheelchair. He is bad-tempered, dislikes all his colleagues, and is disliked in return. He is allowed to stay on the station only because of his ability to establish a telepathic connection with and thereby control Joe, a creature designed to survive the hostile conditions on the Jovian surface. Cornelius conjectures that something in Anglesey's mind rejects or fears Jupiter, and the resulting feedback keeps destroying the delicate equipment.

Eventually Cornelius is allowed to share a session with Anglesey during an important part of the mission. A set of autonomous female Jovians, similar to Joe but lacking a human controller such as Anglesey, has been launched from the satellite and will soon land on Jupiter. Joe, still controlled by Anglesey, is to be the leader, and father, of a new race that will live on the planet. During this session, Cornelius becomes aware of a third mind – that of Joe himself. Anglesey's mind has been steadily transforming itself into Joe and shrinking in the process. Cornelius was looking at the problem from the wrong end – it was not Anglesey's fear of going to Jupiter and becoming sublimated into Joe's stronger character which was causing the blowouts, but his fear of leaving Jupiter and the freedom Joe's whole and healthy, though non-human, body allows him. Anglesey's existence is poor and constricted compared to Joe's, and the environment has shaped a personality that no longer wants to be human.

Seeing himself from Cornelius's perspective, Joe becomes fully self-aware. He ejects Cornelius from the loop and shuts down what is left of Anglesey.


Found with the Google query science fiction novel avatar ripoff which brought up, among others, this GeekTyrant article asking whether or not James Cameron's movie is a ripoff of the above.

3

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.