FL knows all

[rivkat]

Quick query on behalf of my dad, before I post the last bit of Eight Crazy Nights. He writes:

I once (within the past decade) read a "science fiction" novel -- I guess that's the genre -- in which an important plot theme was this:  A person needing money sold a small body part, and prospered, but also found the sale altruistically satisfying.  So, part by part, he sold off major body parts, to the point where he was reduced to a torso and head carried around by his close friend.  In the end, a recipient of one of the body parts invents a technique for perfectly replacing lost body parts, so the donor is at the book's end restored to a full complement of body parts, mostly "artificial."  Now, here's the question:  Have you a clue about how to identify the novel?  I googled "science fiction plots donation body parts" and didn't get anything useful in the first four or five screens.  Is there a listserv/blog to which I might submit an inquiry?  Any other thoughts?

Can anyone help?

Comments

[pocketmouse]

That... actually sounds vaguely familiar. If I ever read it, it was probably in an anthology of some sort.

There are a couple LJ comms that do the literary equivalent of ficfinders, though I've never used them myself: whatwasthatone or whatwasthatbook or find_a_book.

[raveninthewind.livejournal.com]

I'll ask my buddy who's great at remembering SFF authors. (That is pinping as faintly familiar to me, maybe as a novella in an SF anthology.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

My guess would be Michael Blumlein, J.G. Ballard, or (one of these is not like the others) Larry Niven.

[herewiss13.livejournal.com]

There's "The Giving Plague" by David Brin where a virus promotes blood donation in its hosts and blood donation spurs further philanthropy until the whole world is infected and doing good works (except the protagonist)...

...but you're talking about something _much_ more extreme. :-P

[notreallyjordan.livejournal.com]

Stuff I got off the internet, probably after you were there, since the google search brougth me back to your lj post

Neuromancer
by William Gibson
Robert Silverberg's short story "Caught in the Organ Draft", the organleggers in Larry Niven's Known Space universe*, and the sale of organs by those desperate for money in Frederick Pohl's Gateway

Those are all classics; if your dad got the book from an anthology, you could add dates to your search query. Like, it would be 1960--1980. A wide range, yes, but still limiting the search to workable numbers.

[notreallyjordan.livejournal.com]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GrandTheftMe

Lots and lots of "body parts plot"
But what you're looking for, probably not,
still, an idea of how to search for tropes

[shiba-inu.livejournal.com]

I don't remember the story you're talking about, but it does have a similarity to part of CREATURES OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS by Roger Zelazny.

[franzeska]

Ask the people at The Other Change of Hobbit bookstore. They have a web form where you can plead for help figuring out what a given book is. They're really good too! Also, they'll try to find a copy for you, even if it's old and out of print.

[meteordust.livejournal.com]

I've seen a lot of successful requests for story identifications on the rec.arts.sf.written newsgroup on Usenet - you could maybe try posting there.

your dad's book request

[(Anonymous)]

Don't remember the title but it's by Carl Hiassen. Good book!!!