Sentient trains

[MJI]

Just started reading a book with some main characters being sentient trains.

 

Son had the books from Amazon and since we now have Kindles I have grabbed the Kindle versions. 

 

I keep thinking very TTTE meets the Culture.

 

It started because quite a few years ago I bought a series of 4 books for the children about cities mounted on tank style tracks hunting each other in the land where the North Sea was. Only the youngest read them.

 

Then he found new ones about a galaxy spanning civilisation connected by rail lines through portals. Same author.

 

They are pretty good.

[The Lurker]

Was this "Mortal Engines" by Philip Reeve? I remember reading the blurb when looking for a book for my elder son about 6 or 7 years ago and thinking it sounded fantastic ; he's never read it and I daren't go into the teenage pit these days!

[johnlambert]

Although not the target demographic I remembered hearing Mortal Engines being read on the radio some years ago and ended up buying the book.  I'd recommend it to anyone.

[MJI]

28 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

Was this "Mortal Engines" by Philip Reeve? I remember reading the blurb when looking for a book for my elder son about 6 or 7 years ago and thinking it sounded fantastic ; he's never read it and I daren't go into the teenage pit these days!

 

Yes a very enjoyable read for any SciFi fan, proper sort of young adult book, suitable for older adults as well.

 

Rail series starts with Railhead and it has a few in jokes.

[MJI]

Wormhole portals by rail though sounds a lot better than a sub light speed ship.

 

But even quicker than FTL ships

[Ben B]

"Railhead" by Philip Reeve is a good book, I tried it before passing it onto my eldest.  Interestingly he lays the groundwork for the concept in a "Mortal Engines" book, where he mentions a train controlled by a reprogrammed human brain inside it.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

I recall a somewhat similar concept - though possibly more sinister - in which those born physically disabled but with high quality brains were repurposed as spaceship computers. Neatly tinned and wired up so no one had to look at them, and installed on ships as required. Yes, that all sounds wonderfully ethical...

[petethemole]

6 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

I recall a somewhat similar concept - though possibly more sinister - in which those born physically disabled but with high quality brains were repurposed as spaceship computers. Neatly tinned and wired up so no one had to look at them, and installed on ships as required. Yes, that all sounds wonderfully ethical...

 

The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey.

[Ozexpatriate]

Lots of examples in children's stories.

 

"I think I can, I think I can", etc - The Little Engine that Could

 

Like Rev. Awdry they are usually morality tales. Also Tootle and "Stay on the rails, no matter what".

 

[The Johnster]

9 hours ago, MJI said:

Wormhole portals by rail

Isn't that TfL?

 

8 hours ago, petethemole said:

 

The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey.

An entire series of them actually.  The scenario wasn't so much that the human brains were wired as computers as that the human brain and the computerised ship were constituent parts of a sentient being of amazing power and versatility.  Thus the brain/ships have personalities, emotions, and foibles; they are, in effect, human, and they can go insane, or fall in love.  McCaffrey also wrote a series about dragons that had a psychic connection with human riders; she seems interested in these sort of interactions.  Worth reading.

Edited April 17, 2020 by The Johnster

[JeremyC]

The Anne McCaffrey dragon riders of Pern books were quite good, but I thought many of those written by her son, Todd, were milking the  concept.

[Hroth]

On 16/04/2020 at 17:25, petethemole said:

The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey.

 

All my McCaffery books are at the back of the attic so I can't look them up. but I recall that the "computer" in one of her spaceship stories was reprogrammed by wiring up plugboards, in a similar manner to tabulating machines and early relay computers.  It must have been a plot device to slow things down!