posted
I'm trying to remember a book that I read when I was younger. I can recall the general plot pretty well, but the name and author totally escape me.
The story takes place at some point in the future, and centers around a group of school friends. After finishing their education, theyare unable to get jobs due to society's reliance on robots to do most of the labor. They end up in a slums set up for people who are unable to find work, and are eventually chosen to participate in what I think was called "the game" (or something like that).
Anyways, the game was basically a really high quality simulation of an uinhabited and undeveloped planet. During one of the game sessions, they discover that they have actually been deposited on the planet for real. The rest of the book consists of them coming to terms with their situation and beginning to form a new society.
posted
There's a Robert Heinlein book that's very much like that. It's a bunch of young people who are dropped on an uninhabited planet for like 3 days of wilderness training and then nobody shows up to take them back.
The kids come to terms with their situation and begin building a new society. Then at the end (some months later) they reestablish contact somehow, only they don't want to go back and be treated like kids again. They are grown now (in the new society, teenagers have full adult responsibilities and privileges), and married and stuff. It was a really good read, as almost all Heinlein books are. It was from his "pre-adolescent male wish fulfillment fantasy" period, which I greatly prefer to his "dirty old man wish fulfillment fantasy" period, although both are fun to read. Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
There sure are a lot of books about children being tricked by adults into playing a "game", which later turns out to be real.
I'm glad that never happened to me.
"Hey MightyCow (that's what my parents called me), do you want to play 'Drop you off at the store and don't pick you up'? It's awesome!"
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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My dad once left my sister at a filling station as a deposit on a gasoline can, since he didn't have the five bucks on him that the owner wanted. She screamed bloody murder, and the owner looked scared like he was gonna leave her there for good. I was just relieved it wasn't me. Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
I remember that Heinlein book. The reason they weren't picked up was an unexpexted nova cut off the transportation gate. The people on earth were franticaly trying to re-establish the gate connection that whole time.
Posts: 90 | Registered: Jul 1999
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Amilia, that's amazing. How did you find the book with the information you were given? What kind of search did you run?
Posts: 407 | Registered: Mar 2006
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There is a wonderful database called NoveList. Chances are your public library has a subscription. I ran a Boolean search for <game AND future>; Invitation to the Game was the first result.
It is not always that easy. Character names show up as keywords, which is why I asked about them. Sometimes you have to try several different searches, but I can usually find a book eventually through that database.
Posts: 364 | Registered: Dec 2005
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Tatiana, your story made me laugh out loud. I just hope your sister was old enough to understand that your Dad really was coming back? I can totally see my husband thinking of something like this if not doing it.
Posts: 697 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Unicorn: I remember that Heinlein book. The reason they weren't picked up was an unexpexted nova cut off the transportation gate. The people on earth were franticaly trying to re-establish the gate connection that whole time.
That's Tunnel in the Sky. Invitation to the Game sounds like a cross between that and William Sleator's The House of Stairs (one of the creepiest books I ever read).
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Risky, maybe, but not necessarily illegal, unless he didn't come back ... that would be abandonment. Otherwise it's just ... a not very well-thought choice of babysitters?
Posts: 1522 | Registered: Nov 2005
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*requests Invitation to the Game, Tunnel in the Sky, and The House of Stairs through interlibrary loan system*
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I once spent a month trying to figure out the answer to this question. I finally found it by going to the library where I checked it out and methodically searching all of the books that had "game" in the title.
I'm sort of disappointed Amilia answered first, it would have been nice to put all that work to good use.
Posts: 4655 | Registered: Jan 2002
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quote:Otherwise it's just ... a not very well-thought choice of babysitters?
As long as nothing happens to the kid, sure. However, if something does happen, it's child endangerment, I would think.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I guess that I didn't take the story too seriously. I just thought it was funny how in a moment of desperation a person can get really creative in their problem solving (that and my husband gets very creative sometimes but he would never endanger one of our children).
Posts: 697 | Registered: Nov 2005
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