Old sci-fi stories

[DreadPirateMurphy]

I have several stories that I can remember reading as a younger reader, but I can't for the life of me recall what they were. Maybe the good forum folks here can help:

1) Series of books. Aliens rule the earth. The primitive humans have a contest every year to pick a group of men and women to go serve the aliens. The men are made servants with control collars, while the women are put on display. Eventually, the humans overthrow the aliens. The aliens breath a different atmosphere and live in domed cities.

2) Another series of books. Whiz kid adventurer and inventor saves the day repeatedly. He invents a new fusion drive, and makes contact with a race of insects who are fighting another race that looks very much like humans. It was very much a series of pulp space opera.

3) Book: Explorers explore a huge planet that appears to have been created by an alien race. The interior of the planet is hollow. The catch-phrase at the beginning of the story is, "Life is cheap on two-bit."

4) Book: Medicine has been outlawed. Underground physicians perform surgeries and prescribe medicines illegally. The best legal care available is basically hospice care while you're dying. The book focuses on a young man who becomes a black-market doctor.

 

[Rackhir]

2) Another series of books. Whiz kid adventurer and inventor saves the day repeatedly. He invents a new fusion drive, and makes contact with a race of insects who are fighting another race that looks very much like humans. It was very much a series of pulp space opera.

Sounds like it might be the Skylark of Space books by Doc EE. Smith?

4) Book: Medicine has been outlawed. Underground physicians perform surgeries and prescribe medicines illegally. The best legal care available is basically hospice care while you're dying. The book focuses on a young man who becomes a black-market doctor.

Perhaps "Blade Runner" by Alan E Nourse or Andre Norton (The name was optioned for the Film version of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep).

 

[jcfiala]

I have several stories that I can remember reading as a younger reader, but I can't for the life of me recall what they were. Maybe the good forum folks here can help:

1) Series of books. Aliens rule the earth. The primitive humans have a contest every year to pick a group of men and women to go serve the aliens. The men are made servants with control collars, while the women are put on display. Eventually, the humans overthrow the aliens. The aliens breath a different atmosphere and live in domed cities.

I remember this one too, and wait a moment while I go google for it.

Are you thinking of the Tripod series by John Christopher? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0020425716/002-7264964-8068048?v=glance&n=283155&v=glance

 

[Kambei]

1) Series of books. Aliens rule the earth. The primitive humans have a contest every year to pick a group of men and women to go serve the aliens. The men are made servants with control collars, while the women are put on display. Eventually, the humans overthrow the aliens. The aliens breath a different atmosphere and live in domed cities.

Tripods by John Christopher?

 

[EricNoah]

Tripods by John Christopher?

That was my first thought as well, but I don't remember the contest part...

 

[Desdichado]

Perhaps "Blade Runner" by Alan E Nourse or Andre Norton (The name was optioned for the Film version of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep).

Except that it was written by Phillip K. Dick.

 

[Rackhir]

Except that it was written by Phillip K. Dick.

Philip K Dick did not write "Blade Runner". Try Re-parsing the sentence. Blade Runner the novel was written by one of the two authors mentioned and might be the book he's looking for.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Philip K Dick did not write "Blade Runner". Try Re-parsing the sentence. Blade Runner the novel was written by one of the two authors mentioned and might be the book he's looking for.

But the novel Blade Runner was based on was wrote by Philip K Dick:http://www.umich.edu/~engb415/literature/cyberzach/Dick/elecsheep.html

 

[Rackhir]

The title comes from Alan E. Nourse, who wrote a story called "The
Bladerunner". William S. Burroughs took the book and wrote "Bladerunner (A
Movie)" in 1979. Rights to the title only ("in perpetuity") were sold to
Ridley Scott. Similarities between Nourse's "The Bladerunner" and Scott's BR
are in name only. Nourse's title refers to people who deliver medical
instruments to outlaw doctors who can't obtain them legally. [Source: Locus,
September 1992: p. 76.] Scott thought the title made a good codename for
Deckard.

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/movies/bladerunner-faq/

 

[Desdichado]

Philip K Dick did not write "Blade Runner". Try Re-parsing the sentence. Blade Runner the novel was written by one of the two authors mentioned and might be the book he's looking for.

My copy was titled "Blade Runner" and featured poster art from the movie as the cover art. Subtitled "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep." It was written by Philip K. Dick. I don't know of any other novel that has those two titles, was optioned for a movie, and was written by someone else, although I admit that there's an extremely unlikely possibility that there is one.

Of course, I don't think it fits the description of the story he's looking for very well either. I wonder if I still have that old paperback floating around, or if I sold it back to HalfPrice Books years ago?

EDIT: Ah, I see, you're talking about a different book with the same name. Well, that explains it. Your original post was difficult to parse correctly and I totally blew by Parse Post check on that one.