Book about an immortal man traveling in space with skin like sandpaper

Question

I read this book a 5-7 years ago. The parts I remember are:

He got his immortality from something his father did. And it was something so bad that he was banned from his home/galaxy.
He meets a woman along the way, and she describes his skin as being like sandpaper due to all the little scars he accumulated over his long lifespan.
When he travels for long periods of time in his spaceship, he covers all the clocks so he can't see the time.

That's all I can remember.

Hi, welcome to the site. In roughly which year did you read this and when do you think it might've been published? Also, do you recall anything about the cover? — LogicDictates, Commented Jul 5, 2023 at 12:40
For some people "a long time ago" is last year. For some people it's 50 years ago. Please narrow it down. — DavidW, Commented Jul 5, 2023 at 12:45
Sounds similar to this question: scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/265415/… — Clara Díaz Sanchez, Commented Jul 5, 2023 at 13:00
Hi Klausmaus :-) Your question is obviously the same as Looking for book: scifi, space with immortals though that was never answered. It might be worth looking through that question in case any of the other details there can help you remember the story. — John Rennie, Commented Jul 5, 2023 at 14:55
Seriously, you want to question the logic on a story about immortals? — Paulie_D, Commented Jul 5, 2023 at 15:18

ZehaDee · Accepted Answer · 2023-07-06 19:45:11Z

9

I think this is Quest (2001) by Andreas Eschbach. Originally published in german and translated to french. It's kind of prequel of Die Haarteppichknüpfer (1995).

Plot overview:

The Sternenkaiser (Star Emperor) is about to conquer the galaxy Gheera.
Gheera captain Eftalan Quest of starship Megatao is on the search for the planet of the origin of all life.
Quest has terminal illness but keeps this secret from his crew.

Regarding the remembered plot points:

The immortal is found in a space ship floating for centuries with disabled (FTL) drive.
The immortal and his siblings were turned into immortals by their father. The father was a scientist and changed some fundamental physical constants archieve this.
The skin of the immortal is described like sandpaper due to skars.

answered Jul 6, 2023 at 4:37

ZehaDee

914 bronze badges

A summary of the book is usually useful for the Questioner to see if those details match their recall. Even just copying the summary from Wikipedia or Goodreads is helpful for permanence and easy reading. In this case the original language publication would probably be a good addition too.
– Jontia
Commented Jul 6, 2023 at 12:25
The father changed the physical constants of the universe? Are we sure he was a scientist and not a god?
– Adamant
Commented Jul 6, 2023 at 20:41

Add a comment |

1 Answer 1