Quote:
Originally Posted by slayda
Unfortunately I already have most of the books of authors that I really like. The most likely author whose works I only have "many" of that I really like is Andre Norton(aka Alice Mary Norton, Andrew North, Allen Weston, Alan E. Nourse)
Edit, Alan E. Nourse was not a nom de plume but was sometimes mistaken as one. Sorry
|
Yep. Alan E. Nourse, MD, was the real name of a doctor who wrote SF. (And also, IIRC, ran a travel agency with his brother at one point.) He might be best known for the fact the the producers of the film "Bladerunner", based on Philip K. Dick's _Do android's Dream of Electric Sheep?_ licensed the title from Alan, who had written an unconnected SF novel involving medicine with that title.
An assortment of short pieces and his Juvenile/YA effort, _Star Surgeon_ are available as ebooks. _Star Surgeon_ concerns the efforts of Dal Timgar to become a Star Surgeon. It won't be easy.
Earth has developed faster than light travel and ventured out into the galaxy. It discovers a galactic federation. Membership in the federation has two requirements: that your species has independantly developed FTL travel, and that you have something of value to contribute. Earth has FTL, but lags behind the rest of the galaxy in all but one area: medicine. Humanity has developed medical science and practice beyond that of any other species. So Earth becomes Hospital Earth, in the business of providing medicine to the stars.
Dal is a humanoid alien from Government Garv, capital of the federation, who against custom and precedent has decided he wishes to become a surgeon. He has the assistance of an odd little protoplasmic symbiote who can help him sense the emotions of others, but must contend with suspiscion and distrust from humans who fear a break in their monopoly on medicine and loss of position in the galaxy, and patients who can't believe anyone not a human could possibly be a qualified doctor.
Available in Mobi format at MobileRead
here, at Project Gutenberg in HTML and plain text
here, and in a variety of formats at Munseys
here and Manybooks
here
Andre Norton should also not be confused with Mary Norton, author of a delightful children's book series about the Borrowers. (Which I don't think are available as ebooks, alas.)
______
Dennis