But first: No it is not Prison Planet (1989) A novel by William C Dietz

I am looking for someone to help me ID an old book I read a very long time ago.

The copyright date I believe is before 1980.

Takes place during a galactic war period.

Basic weapons allowed were -  air based; things that require constant maintenance and wear out.

Planet's orbit around the sun is not standard orbit.  This makes it hard for 'outsiders' to figure out where the prison planet is located.

Prisoner discover that the the planetary star-base was abandon.   A question comes up, why are the children of the prisoners are also prisoners.
It looks like both sides in the galactic war got pounded into rubble and were no longer in space.

One of the group figures away to break into the abandon base and build a space ship for local in system use.  The prison guards new that things were going real bad in the war, and left supplies necessary to help the inmates get back to the stars.

I am just wondering how many of the details I got wrong, but dang it has been a real long time.

A handful of people read the post - but no luck so far.

I am thinking I will have to sweeten the deal and toss in a team membership for the first good hookup to the book.

A wonderful 24.00 value

Have you tried reddit? There are some subs for the different eras of scifi, that are populated by autistic savants.

Yep, no luck there - however; I did get a few book recommendations.

Started to give info, but appears it is your inquiry on reddit at 22 days old. Did find a ‘how-to’ for ‘Finding a Book When You’ve Forgotten It’s Title’ by Gwen Glazer at https://www.nypl.org

Chthon? Piers Anthony ?

I know I hit many of the items on that list; I will need to go back and research more.

Hmm, no

I thought I had read that book, but looking at the summary of the story I don't think I have read that story.

I lost count of my old book collection after it hit over 4k in books.  Way back in the day I could finish 2 books a day.
Now, not so much.

The people of the planet did live on the surface and were for the most part self ruled.

Hmm no telling! I get a lot of my books from the library sells over the years.50c paper backs1 or 2. $ hardbacks. I hope to read enough that it erases my marriage memories! Lol  good luck finding your book.

The book your are looking for is "Prison Planet" by Victor D Heywood.  There is a used copy on Amazon for a stupid amount of money.  The other title by the same author "Alpha Star" is the same book just retitled.

I left an e-mail - but my best guess based on the cover of the book it is the one I was looking for.

let me know when you want your year to start.  Dang, so few posts over the years.

@yetanothermike

The new book was over 800 dollars - yea, not going that route - ordered the used paperback for less than 6.

I'm up to 8 or 9 posts per decade but ya can't say anything stupid if you don't say anything at all

Hmmmm, email address listed is my current one.   Not sure why your message didn't go through.

You can start it whenever you like.

With luck the order went thru and you can enjoy the lower ad count.


Yep; clicked on your user ID and you are good to go.

The book from my memory is not that good; but I did have a yen to find it and read it.
I was hoping for soft copy - but that for under 6 dollars, a used copy works for me.

No.  The old Anthony stuff was sort of weird.  Orn, Omnivore, Ox, Chaining the Lady, Chthon...just sort of...out there, with his consistent brand of immature sexuality.