What is this book called?

ssurfer

Cadet
I don’t hold out much hope for this but worth a shot….

I read a Sci-Fi book in my youth (1980s) and always wanted to re-read it but I can’t remember the name of the book.

The story was about a planet (earth?) being attacked by a race who had superior ships. Before they were wiped out or destroyed the defenders developed a device to “x-ray” the ship to learn its secrets and build its own ships to defend themselves. Over the centuries that race developed evolved their technology and they became masters of the universe (I tried searching using that title but it always brings up the He-Man material). The race became so technologically advanced when the galaxy was contacting (Big Bang in reverse) they left the galaxy until it contracted and then started to expand again.

At one point they had to fight an equally powerful race in a battle and it was working until of of the ships broke formation.

The novel ended with that race disappearing; no one knew what happened to them and only a few empty ship(s) remained.

Like I said, very much doubt I will track it down….
 
I don’t hold out much hope for this but worth a shot….

I read a Sci-Fi book in my youth (1980s) and always wanted to re-read it but I can’t remember the name of the book.

The story was about a planet (earth?) being attacked by a race who had superior ships. Before they were wiped out or destroyed the defenders developed a device to “x-ray” the ship to learn its secrets and build its own ships to defend themselves. Over the centuries that race developed evolved their technology and they became masters of the universe (I tried searching using that title but it always brings up the He-Man material). The race became so technologically advanced when the galaxy was contacting (Big Bang in reverse) they left the galaxy until it contracted and then started to expand again.

At one point they had to fight an equally powerful race in a battle and it was working until of of the ships broke formation.

The novel ended with that race disappearing; no one knew what happened to them and only a few empty ship(s) remained.

Like I said, very much doubt I will track it down….
It could have been part of a different story, the 1980's film Hitch hikers guide had little mini stories as the film went along. Blake 7, space 1999, ufo, and other English series also had mini stories along with their sci-fi stories.....
 
Hmmm, Triton-Samuel Delany, Time Jumper-William Greenleaf, Galaxina, Star Rebel F.m. Busby, Starman Johnes-Robert A. Heinlein, Dangerous Frontiers-Steven Caldwell, the list goes one and on, go to bing images type in Sci-fi 80's book images, there you should narrow yer' search. Good luck bubba....
 
The story was about a planet (earth?) being attacked by a race who had superior ships.
This is too common of a premise to pre1980's science fiction to make it significant.
Was there anything significant you remember about the ships? Were they Drone ships? Did they have fighters?
Were there a lot or few? Were they huge, tiny?
Before they were wiped out or destroyed the defenders developed a device to “x-ray” the ship to learn its secrets and build its own ships to defend themselves.
This might have significance. Did the attack happen over a long period of time? Was it a series of battles with breaks between? Did the author go into detail describing the device and the process dedicated to it being developed or was it just mentioned. Did the victims build a fleet of ships or a few of them? Was the ship construction told in detail or just mentioned?
Over the centuries that race developed evolved their technology and they became masters of the universe
Which race? The attackers or the defenders?
In stead of searching 'masters of the universe' try 'lords of the universe', 'ancient masters', 'old ones' etc...
The race became so technologically advanced when the galaxy was contacting (Big Bang in reverse) they left the galaxy until it contracted and then started to expand again.
Just a tidbit of info...galaxies are contracting (spinning onto their black holes at the centers) because gravity prevents them from expanding.
Do you recall any significant info on how the author described the timeline? Was the collapse/expansion the end of the story or a reference within the story? There are a few books that describe a very ancient race that leaves and returns to their galaxy.

How to Find a Book Without Knowing the Title or Author
 
Hmmm, Triton-Samuel Delany, Time Jumper-William Greenleaf, Galaxina, Star Rebel F.m. Busby, Starman Johnes-Robert A. Heinlein, Dangerous Frontiers-Steven Caldwell, the list goes one and on, go to bing images type in Sci-fi 80's book images, there you should narrow yer' search. Good luck bubba....
I reckon its not too important to this dude, so as they say in the chat room biz, "The thread is dead." I'm audie 5000.....
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I read a Sci-Fi book
Sometimes clues can be had by noting the length of the piece.
Was it part of a science fiction collection of short stories?
Was it a paperback novel (thick or thin)?
Was it a hard cover book?
Did it take you a long time to read or were you done with it in a day?
Did you get the book at a book store, library, used books store, given by a parent/friend, a class reading assignment, a book you found, etc...

For years I belonged to the Science Fiction Book Club. Before that, I was stationed on a ship with others that belonged to book clubs. On a ship there is plenty of time to read. I have read a lot of works by a lot of authors over the years to the point I don't remember them all. When I am searching for the title of a book I want to read again, I know the more information I give others on the details I do remember, yields far greater results.

The book's format can help just as much as how you obtained the book.
If you suspect you have an idea of the author you can use websites with author searches to look at the cover art associated with their works.

Fantastic Fiction - Genre Page
 
I THINK I found it. I used some above suggestions (thanks Tom). I vaguely recall it being one of the double books series, ACE DOUBLE, with two novels in one book. I had seen the list of those books but could match it up with a title. Then I used google images to see the covers and fortunately some kind soul had posted a lengthy review (see below) including the phrase I remembered, "Masters of the Universe".

If you are curious, it's called Crown of Infinity, by John M. Faucette. Now if I can track down a copy!

The review I read...

A relatively obscure science fiction book written back in the '60's by a rather obscure author, the book probably would not receive much attention or praise by critics, but nevertheless I loved this book. I've read it about 3 times - which is a lot for me - back when I was a kid.

To me, this book shaped and formed my vision of the ultimate destiny of the human race. I see us spreading throughout the universe, advancing technologically until we become almost god-like. I see us as benevolent, battling other races who are oppressive, and helping other peaceful races to advance. That's essentially, in a nutshell, how Faucette portrays future humanity. His vision in this book is truly epic. It's amazing how he manages to fit such an epic story spanning thousands of years in such a short book.

In a nutshell, Humanity starts settling other star systems and runs into another race doing the same thing. Both races compete with each other which leads to a long war. The war is abruptly ended when a third race intervenes. They call themselves the "Masters of the Universe" and they are far, far more advanced than either the Humans or the other race they're fighting. The "Masters" are malevolent, a race that wants to occupy the galaxy alone and wipes out any intelligent races it finds. In short order the Masters attack all the human worlds and destroy them all, even the Earth. The Masters think that they have exterminated all the Humans, but a few human ships survive that happened to be in transit between worlds at the time of the attack. Realizing what happened, the ships disburse and go into hiding. Over the next few thousand years, occasionally the Masters will find a human ship here or there and destroy it, but they can never find them all, and the humans keep multiplying and spreading out. This experience forever changes the Human race. They become a nomadic race, always on the run, always ship-bound, never settling on a planet. This situation goes on for a long time, until one human invents a device called the "C.S. Headgear". It's a device that reads the wearer's mind, and essentially turns one's ideas into reality. HOW it does that isn't really fully explained. Anyway, with this device, great leaps in technology are made, and the Humans start developing really powerful warships that begin to challenge the superiority of the Master of the Universe. A very long nasty war ensues, but the Masters cannot be beaten until the Humans invent another device called the T.E.M.S., which is essentially a weapon that uses genetic engineering to create biological weapons on the fly. Finally the Masters' defenses are broken, and the Humans wipe them out.

The Humans are now undisputedly the most powerful race in the galaxy. They rename themselves the "Star Kings", and become a sort of intergalactic police force. With the Masters gone, other intelligent races start to rise up and colonize the galaxy. The Star Kings foster their development. A number of other threats to the galaxy are described in the remainder of the book, which the Star Kings combat.

My only complaint is that the book should have been longer. There is enough material here to form a SERIES of books, not just one short book. Still, I loved it. It blew me away. It helped shape how I view the future of the human race.
 
John Faucette

Crown of Infinity by John M. Faucette

Published
  • Crown of Infinity (1968)
  • Siege of Earth (1971)
  • The Warriors of Terra (Belmont Books, 1970)
  • The Age of Ruin (1968)
  • Disco Hustle (Holloway House, 1978)
  • The Secret - AIM Magazine (1999)
  • Messenger of God - AIM Magazine (2001)
  • Pets - Artemis Magazine (2001)
  • Black Science Fiction (2002) Publisher: Macro Publishing Group (May 15, 2002) ISBN 0-7414-1004-4, 437 pages.
Unpublished
  • Earth Will be Avenged
  • The Gypsy Dick
  • The Tan Argus III Interstellar Chess Tournament
  • Sex Death
  • Tell My People
  • Homo Cosmos
  • The Ghettoes of Hell
Notes

  • Internet Book List
  • The Novels of John Faucette
  • SF Site: In Memoriam January 2003
External links
Black Gate » Articles » Star Kings, Virtual Reality, and Genetic Monsters: Rich Horton on Crown of Infinity by John M. Faucette/ The Prism by Emil Petaja
 
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Tom... Thanks for the info. I found a similar ad on eBay and ordered it. Similar price (I know it can be fond on scribd but its not the same thing; the transcribing does not always work perfectly and it's nice to have the actual book. Have to get a wine that goes well with 1960s Sci-Fi to read it.
 
I THINK I found it. I used some above suggestions (thanks Tom). I vaguely recall it being one of the double books series, ACE DOUBLE, with two novels in one book. I had seen the list of those books but could match it up with a title. Then I used google images to see the covers and fortunately some kind soul had posted a lengthy review (see below) including the phrase I remembered, "Masters of the Universe".

If you are curious, it's called Crown of Infinity, by John M. Faucette. Now if I can track down a copy!

The review I read...

A relatively obscure science fiction book written back in the '60's by a rather obscure author, the book probably would not receive much attention or praise by critics, but nevertheless I loved this book. I've read it about 3 times - which is a lot for me - back when I was a kid.

To me, this book shaped and formed my vision of the ultimate destiny of the human race. I see us spreading throughout the universe, advancing technologically until we become almost god-like. I see us as benevolent, battling other races who are oppressive, and helping other peaceful races to advance. That's essentially, in a nutshell, how Faucette portrays future humanity. His vision in this book is truly epic. It's amazing how he manages to fit such an epic story spanning thousands of years in such a short book.

In a nutshell, Humanity starts settling other star systems and runs into another race doing the same thing. Both races compete with each other which leads to a long war. The war is abruptly ended when a third race intervenes. They call themselves the "Masters of the Universe" and they are far, far more advanced than either the Humans or the other race they're fighting. The "Masters" are malevolent, a race that wants to occupy the galaxy alone and wipes out any intelligent races it finds. In short order the Masters attack all the human worlds and destroy them all, even the Earth. The Masters think that they have exterminated all the Humans, but a few human ships survive that happened to be in transit between worlds at the time of the attack. Realizing what happened, the ships disburse and go into hiding. Over the next few thousand years, occasionally the Masters will find a human ship here or there and destroy it, but they can never find them all, and the humans keep multiplying and spreading out. This experience forever changes the Human race. They become a nomadic race, always on the run, always ship-bound, never settling on a planet. This situation goes on for a long time, until one human invents a device called the "C.S. Headgear". It's a device that reads the wearer's mind, and essentially turns one's ideas into reality. HOW it does that isn't really fully explained. Anyway, with this device, great leaps in technology are made, and the Humans start developing really powerful warships that begin to challenge the superiority of the Master of the Universe. A very long nasty war ensues, but the Masters cannot be beaten until the Humans invent another device called the T.E.M.S., which is essentially a weapon that uses genetic engineering to create biological weapons on the fly. Finally the Masters' defenses are broken, and the Humans wipe them out.

The Humans are now undisputedly the most powerful race in the galaxy. They rename themselves the "Star Kings", and become a sort of intergalactic police force. With the Masters gone, other intelligent races start to rise up and colonize the galaxy. The Star Kings foster their development. A number of other threats to the galaxy are described in the remainder of the book, which the Star Kings combat.

My only complaint is that the book should have been longer. There is enough material here to form a SERIES of books, not just one short book. Still, I loved it. It blew me away. It helped shape how I view the future of the human race.
Not sure where you are located, but Barnes and Nobel or Half price books would be a great start, or e-bay, good luck....
 
I'm in Toronto, Canada. They have several copies available on eBay (a copy on Amazon was a lot more). It's the shipping that is the big hit but I found a seller in Canada so no exchange on the currency.
 
I'm in Toronto, Canada. They have several copies available on eBay (a copy on Amazon was a lot more). It's the shipping that is the big hit but I found a seller in Canada so no exchange on the currency.
Yeup, I noticed yall, spend quite a lot of cash on everything, I have cable, and I have seen the 2 gents, Drew and his brother flip homes, Great show btw, spend tons of money on homes and home supplies to restore a home. I'm not sure how your cash value stacks up to our cash value, but I reckon its quite expensive for shipping cost. Good luck on your chase, Sci-fi Dude....
 
Tom... Thanks for the info. I found a similar ad on eBay and ordered it. Similar price (I know it can be fond on scribd but its not the same thing; the transcribing does not always work perfectly and it's nice to have the actual book. Have to get a wine that goes well with 1960s Sci-Fi to read it.
Scribd has full books? Is that an 'official' release of the book or somebody's home effort?
 
Yes they do. I don't know much about the service, although they have millions of online documents. Some may be legal and some may not. I'm no lawyer but I believe copyright last for several decades (25 years??) and after that it reverts to the public domain. Then again I could be wrong :smiley:. They have been sued and take down notices but whether that is 99% of their offerings or .01% I don't know. I know someone with an account and she showed me a few pages of that book. It look like it was transcripts from the real text but I didn't want it. I much preferred the real book or a proper ebook. I recall reading JK Rowlings was shocked (appalled, etc.) to find Harry Potter material there. Personally if those downloads were anything like what I saw for this Sci-Fi book I can't imagine reading a 500 page book that way.
 
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