Novels and short stories
Adams, Douglas
- Brontitall – The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series); planet of bird people who live in the ear of a statue after shoe shop disaster.
- Krikkit – Douglas Adams' Life, the Universe and Everything (The planet is inside a massive dark cloud)
- Magrathea – The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (planet of wealthy customised planet builders)
- Traal –home of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- Ursa Minor Beta –said to be nearly always Saturday afternoon in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy radio series written by Douglas Adams. It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC Radio 4 in 1978, and afterwards the BBC World Service, National Public Radio in the US and CBC Radio in Canada. The series was the first radio comedy programme to be produced in stereo, and was innovative in its use of music and sound effects, winning a number of awards.
Douglas Noel Adams was an English author, screenwriter, essayist, humorist, satirist and dramatist.
Life, the Universe and Everything is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy science fiction "trilogy" by British writer Douglas Adams. The title refers to the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Anthony, Piers
- Chthon – Piers Anthony's Cdossssn (prison planet)
- Nacre – Piers Anthony's Omnivore
- Waterloo – Piers Anthony's On The Uses of Torture
Chthon is a science fiction novel by American writer Piers Anthony, originally released in 1967. It was Anthony's first published novel, and was nominated for both the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1967 and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1968.
Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob is an English-American author in the science fiction and fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is most famous for his long-running novel series set in the fictional realm of Xanth.
Asimov, Isaac
- Helicon –Home of Psychohistory founder, Hari Seldon in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series
- Lagash – Isaac Asimov's Nightfall (planet where each day lasts two thousand years)
- Solaria – Isaac Asimov's Robot series. People grow up isolated, and eventually lead totally solitary lives, interacting only via telepresence.
- Synnax – Isaac Asimov's Galactic Empire series and Foundation series –The birthplace of Gaal Dornick, it was in a stellar system orbiting a region called the 'blue drift'.
- Terminus –Home of the Foundation in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series
- Trantor – Isaac Asimov's Galactic Empire series and Foundation series –A planet-wide city
Psychohistory is an amalgam of psychology, history, and related social sciences and the humanities. It examines the "why" of history, especially the difference between stated intention and actual behavior. Psychobiography, childhood, group dynamics, mechanisms of psychic defense, dreams, and creativity are primary areas of research. It works to combine the insights of psychology, especially psychoanalysis, with the research methodology of the social sciences and humanities to understand the emotional origin of the behavior of individuals, groups and nations, past and present. An incredible amount of work in the field has been done in the areas of childhood, creativity, dreams, family dynamics, overcoming adversity, personality, political and presidential psychobiography. There are major psychohistorical studies of studies of anthropology, art, ethnology, history, politics and political science, and much else.
Hari Seldon is a fictional character in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. In his capacity as mathematics professor at Streeling University on the planet Trantor, Seldon develops psychohistory, an algorithmic science that allows him to predict the future in probabilistic terms. On the basis of his psychohistory he is able to predict the eventual fall of the Galactic Empire and to develop a means to shorten the millennia of chaos to follow. The significance of his discoveries lies behind his nickname "Raven" Seldon.
Isaac Asimov was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. He was known for his works of science fiction and popular science. Asimov was a prolific writer who wrote or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. His books have been published in 9 of the 10 major categories of the Dewey Decimal Classification.
Banks, Iain
The Culture series
- Chel –Home planet of the Chelgrians in Look to Windward
- Eä –Capital of the Azad Empire in Player of Games
- Echronedal (the Fire Planet) –Planet where the game of Azad in Player of Games is played
- Schar's World –Setting for Consider Phlebas
Look to Windward is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 2000. It is Banks' sixth published novel to feature the Culture. The book's dedication reads: "For the Gulf War Veterans". The novel takes its title from a line in T. S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land. It is loosely a sequel to Consider Phlebas, Banks's first published Culture novel. Consider Phlebas took its name from the following line in the poem and dealt with the events of the Idiran-Culture War; Look to Windward deals with the results of the war on those who lived through it.
Consider Phlebas, first published in 1987, is a space opera novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks. Written after a 1984 draft, it is the first to feature the Culture.
Bear, Greg
- Hegira – Greg Bear
- Lamarckia – Greg Bear's Legacy (Lamarckian evolution)
- Timbl –Home planet of the Frants in Greg Bear's Eon series
Gregory Dale "Greg" Bear is an American writer and illustrator best known for science fiction. His work has covered themes of galactic conflict, artificial universes, consciousness and cultural practices, and accelerated evolution. His most recent work is The Forerunner Saga, written in the Halo universe. Greg Bear has written 44 books in total. Greg Bear was also one of the five co-founders of the San Diego Comic-Con.
Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck, often known simply as Lamarck, was a French naturalist. He was a soldier, biologist, and academic, and an early proponent of the idea that biological evolution occurred and proceeded in accordance with natural laws.
Eon is a 1985 science fiction novel by Greg Bear. It is the first story written in The Way fictional universe.
Brin, David
- Calafia –Water world in David Brin's Uplift universe, inhabited by humans and neo-dolphins. Currently occupied by the Soro.
- Deemi –World in David Brin's Uplift Universe leased to humans on the condition that they run the Galactic prison. Bathed in UV radiation. Most of biosphere is aquatic.
- Garth – David Brin's Uplift War (weird biology)
- Jijo –In the Uplift series of David Brin, a planet in Galaxy #4 where Humans and other sophont refugees have illegally hidden, in the case of the G'kek and the Humans to avoid extermination, potential for humanity, certain for G'kek.
- Jophekka –In David Brin's Uplift Universe, the homeworld of the Jophur, sapient and ambitious sap ring stacks.
- Kithrup – David Brin's Startide Rising (waterworld rich in heavy metals, which form part of the biochemical structure of its life. Mildly toxic to non-native life. also the "retirement" home of a neurotic race with enormous psi power)
- Omnivarium –World in David Brin's Uplift Universe. Inhabited by birds that mimic any sound, a fact discovered when the birds started mimicking the sounds of explorers performing coitus.
- Tanith –In David Brin's Uplift trilogies Tanith is the location of the nearest full Galactic Library branch near Terra.
Bujold, Lois McMaster
- Athos – Lois McMaster Bujold's Ethan of Athos (male-only society)
- Barrayar – Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series (feudal military culture)
- Cetaganda –Bujold's Vorkosigan series (genetically engineered culture)
- Komarr – Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series (domed cities; colony of Barrayar)
Clement, Hal
- Abyormen – Hal Clement's Cycle of Fire (temperature extremes)
- Dhrawn – Hal Clement's Star Light (high gravity)
- Hekla – Hal Clement's Cold Front (ice age aliens)
- Mesklin – Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity (supergiant planet)
- Tenebra – Hal Clement's Close to Critical (high gravity and corrosive atmosphere)
David, Peter
- Thallon – Star Trek: New Frontier books 1-4 (geologically unstable, finally exploded as it was revealed to be the egg of a gigantic creature described as the Great Bird of the Galaxy)
- Xenex – Star Trek: New Frontier Home world of main protagonist M,a,k,nzy of Calhoon (Mackenzy Calhoon)
De Camp, L. Sprague
- Krishna – L. Sprague de Camp's Viagens Interplanetarias series (dry planet of pretechnological humanoids)
- Kukulkan – L. Sprague de Camp's The Stones of Nomuru and The Venom Trees of Sunga (human-colonized world of pretechnological dinosauroids)
- Ormazd – L. Sprague de Camp's Rogue Queen (humanoid hive-society world)
- Osiris – L. Sprague de Camp's Viagens Interplanetarias series (dry planet of capitalistic dinosauroids)
Farmer, Philip Jose
- Riverworld – Philip José Farmer's Riverworld series (all humans in history reincarnated along a spiral river)
- World of Tiers – Philip José Farmer's book series of the same name (world-sized stepped pyramid with a different environment on each step)
Feist, Raymond E.
Forward, Robert L.
- Dragon's Egg – Robert Forward (life on neutron star)
- Rocheworld – Robert Forward (double planet that almost touches)
Hamilton, Peter F.
- Atlantis – Peter F. Hamilton's The Night's Dawn Trilogy (waterworld)
- Far Away – Peter F. Hamilton's Pandora's Star (triangle of stratospheric mountains, sterilized by solar flare, Starflyer alien)
- Garissa –Planet in Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy that is anti-matter bombed and rendered uninhabitable.
- Jobis –A Kiint world with three artificial moons from Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy.
- Norfolk –British-ethnic world in Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy. Known for Norfolk Tears, a highly prized spirit distilled from the secretions of a flower native to the world and dependent on the star systems binary nature.
- Nova Kong –Capital world of the Kingdom of Kulu in Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy. Ruled by the Saldana family.
- Nyvan –First planet colonized by humanity in Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy. Considered backwards and stunted due to its not being unified into one nation.
Heinlein, Robert A.
- Beulahland –Alternate timeline Earth considered civilized in Robert A. Heinlein novel Number of the Beast
- Klendathu –bugs home planet in Robert A. Heinlein Starship Troopers
- Sanctuary –Terran Colony world in the Robert A. Heinlein novel Starship Troopers
- Tellus Secundus, also called Secundus –Howard Families' private planet, run by the Chairman Pro Tem, in Robert A. Heinlein novel Time Enough for Love
- Tellus Tertius, also called Tertius –Colony planet for members of Howard Families outmigrating from Secundus in Robert A. Heinlein novel Time Enough for Love
Herbert, Frank
- Arrakis – Frank Herbert's Dune series (desert world, sole source of the spice melange)
- Caladan –Dune (planet of mostly water, homeworld of House Atreides before they are sent to occupy Arrakis)
- Dosadi –Setting for Frank Herbert's novel The Dosadi Experiment .
- Giedi Prime –Dune (industrial planet, surface covered in upwelling oil, homeworld of House Harkonnen)
- Ix –Frank Herbert's Dune (machine planet); Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's Prelude to Dune (subterranean civilization, the planet's surface is lush and untouched)
- Kaitain –Dune (lavish homeworld of the Padishah Emperors)
- Salusa Secundus –Dune (devastated "hell world" used as a prison planet and training environment for the Padishah Emperors' Sardaukar soldier-fanatics)
- Tleilax –Dune (home of the Bene Tleilax)
- Wallach IX –Dune (home of the Bene Gesserit)
Le Guin, Ursula K.
- Aka – Ursula K. Le Guin's The Telling (hyper scientific advancement)
- Anarres – Ursula K. Le Guin's Dispossessed (anarchist)
- Athshe – Ursula K. Le Guin's The Word for World is Forest
- Gethen/Winter – Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness (hermaphrodites)
- Hain –Central planet in Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish series.
Lem, Stanisław
- Regis III – Stanisław Lem's The Invincible (inorganic evolution)
- Solaris – Stanisław Lem's Solaris (Mostly covered by living ocean)
L'Engle, Madeleine
McCaffrey, Anne
- Botany –an Earth-like world portrayed in Anne McCaffrey's Freedom series.
- Ireta – Anne McCaffrey's Planet Pirate series. Inhabited by both people and dinosaurs.
- Pern – Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. Deadly spore capable of eating anything (except rock and metal) rains down on planet for fifty years every 200–400 years, people ride genetically-engineered dragons.
- Red Star –Pern's companion planet from which the spores originate.
- Petaybee –from the Petaybee Series (Powers series) by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Niven, Larry
- Home – Larry Niven's Known Space universe (wiped out by disease in Protector)
- Jinx – Larry Niven's Known Space universe (high gravity and extreme vertical scale)
- Plateau/Mt. Lookitthat – Larry Niven's Known Space universe (Venus-like with only a small high plateau habitable; colonized by mistake)
- The Smoke Ring – Larry Niven's Integral Trees & Smoke Ring (gas ring around a neutron star)
- We Made It –Planet in Larry Niven's Known Space universe marked by intense winds. Inhabitants called Crashlanders, such as Beowulf Schaeffer from Neutron Star.
Niven and Pournelle
- Mote Prime –The Mote in Murcheson's Eye, homeworld of the Motie race, mutant non-symmetric semi-vertebrates who have been locked in ten thousand year cycles of chaos due to being trapped in one star system and their reproductive drives. Appear in the Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
- New Chicago –World in revolt from the 2nd Empire of Man at the beginning of Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's The Mote in God's Eye
Pournelle, Jerry
- Covenant –Scottish-ethnic world in Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium Future History. Known for its mercenaries specializing in infantry.
- Churchill –English-ethnic world in Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium Future History.
- Dayan or Dyan –Israeli-ethnic world in Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium Future History.
- Friedland –German-ethnic world in Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium Future History. Known for its mercenaries specializing in armored warfare.
- Frystaat –Afrikaner-ethnic world in Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium Future History.
- Meiji –Japanese-ethnic world in Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium Future History.
- Nuliajuk –Inuit/Eskimo-ethnic world of Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium Future History.
- Sauron –Homeworld of the Sauron Supermen in Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium Future History. Known for high metal content and its denizens belief that war was the ultimate expression of humankind. Started the Secession Wars that ended the First Empire of Man.
- Sparta –Capital world of the First and Second Empires of Man in Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium Future History, originally called Botany Bay. Generally North American in population.
- St. Ekaterina –Russian-ethnic world in Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium Future History. First planet attacked by the Sauron Supermen in the Secession Wars.
- Tanith –A jungle planet known for the drug borloi in Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium Future History.
Reynolds, Alastair
- Resurgam – Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space universe (desert with buried alien artefacts)
- Yellowstone – Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space universe, the site of Chasm City and Glitter Band habitats
- Sky's Edge – Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space universe (Earth-like planet in a perpetual state of war between settler families)[ citation needed ]
Silverberg, Robert
- Belzagor – Robert Silverberg's Downward to the Earth
- Hydros – Robert Silverberg's Face of the Waters (waterworld)
- Majipoor – Robert Silverberg (large planet)
Simmons, Dan
- Armaghast – Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (prison planet)
- Pacem – Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (base of Catholic church)
- Parvati – Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (reformed Hindus)
- God's Grove – Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (forest world, Worldtree)
- Hebron – Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (Jewish ethnic)
- Hyperion – Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (one of 9 labyrinth planets, Time Tombs)
- Mare Infinitus – Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (waterworld)
- Maui-Covenant – Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (motile isles)
- Qom-Riyadh – Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (Moslem)
- Sol Draconi Septem – Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (glacier covered)
- T'ien Shan – Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (mountain world, toxic surface clouds)
Smith, E. E.
- Arisia – E. E. Smith's Lensmen series. Source of the Lens.
- Boskone –Smith's Lensmen series
- Palain IX – E. E. Smith's Lensmen series. Frigid home of Nadreck, hydrogen breather and Second-Stage Lensman.
- Rigel – E. E. Smith's Lensmen series. Noisy home of Tregonsee, Second-Stage Lensman, whose people's only sense is their "sense of perception".
- Trenco – E. E. Smith's Lensman Series. A major fraction of the planet's atmosphere condenses each night and evaporates each day giving rise to exceptionally violent weather. The planet's plant life yields the illicit narcotic thionite.
- Velantia – E. E. Smith's Lensmen series. Home of Worsel, master hypnotist and Second-Stage Lensman.
Strugatsky, Boris and Arkady
- Ark – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Noon Universe
- The Blue Sands Planet – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky
- Garrota – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Noon Universe
- Giganda – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Noon Universe
- Gorgona – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky
- Hope – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Noon Universe
- Leonida – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Noon Universe
- Pandora – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Noon Universe
- Pant – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Noon Universe
- Rainbow – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Noon Universe
- Ruzhena – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Noon Universe
- Saraksh – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Noon Universe
- Saula – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Noon Universe
- Tagora – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Noon Universe
- Tissa – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Noon Universe
- Vladislava – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Noon Universe (extremely turbulent atmosphere)
- Yaila – Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Noon Universe
Tolkien, J. R. R.
- Arda, "region", Ilu, Ambar, Imbar – the Earth
- Alcarinquë, "the glorious", Alkarinquë – Jupiter
- Carnil, "red star" – Mars
- Elemmírë, "star jewel" – Mercury
- Luinil, "blue star" – Neptune or Uranus
- Lumbar – Saturn
- Nenar, "water outside" – Neptune or Uranus
- Star of Ëarendil, "evenstar (Undòmiel)" – actually a Silmaril, mistaken for Venus
Vance, Jack
- The Dying Earth –fictionalized Earth of the 20 millionth century.
- Dar Sai –home of the supercriminal Lens Larque from the novel The Face (Vance).
- Interchange (Vance) –planet providing facilities for the exchange of kidnap victims, from the novel The Killing Machine
- Big Planet –site of the novel of the same name, as well as Showboat World
- Wyst, Marune and Trullion –three very different planets each given its own novel in the Alastor series by Jack Vance.
- Durdane –a world divided into scores of culturally distinct regions; locale of three novels by Jack Vance, The Anome, The Brave Free Men and The Asutra
- Tschai –home to enslaved humans, three warring alien races and one native sentient species, each given its own novel: City of the Chasch, Servants of the Wankh, The Dirdir, and The Pnume.
- Cadwal –home of the Nature Conservancy, locked in struggle with the indigenous Yips
- Maske –site of the novel Maske:Thaery
- Nopalgarth –mother planet of supposedly malignant mental parasites infecting humans, and others, from the novel of the same name.
- Smade's Planet –Visited by Kirth Gersen in the Demon Princes novels by Jack Vance; known for Smade's Tavern.
Weber, David
- Beowulf – David Weber's Honorverse. Very liberal sexual mores.
- Grayson – David Weber's Honorverse. Toxic, heavy metal environment.
- Hades – David Weber's Honorverse. Prison planet where none of the native wildlife can be metabolized by humans.
Westerfeld, Scott
- Homeworld – Scott Westerfeld's Succession Series (Risen Imperial capital)
- Legis XV –location of Scott Westerfeld's Succession Series
Other authors
- Barsoom – Edgar Rice Burroughs, heroic fantasy version of Mars
- Bas-Lag – China Miéville A world where both magic (referred to as 'thaumaturgy') and steampunk technology exist.
- Cyteen – C. J. Cherryh's Cyteen series
- Darkover – Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series (medieval culture and psi powers)
- The Discworld –not quite a planet, as it is flat and supported by giant elephants
- Dorsai – Gordon R. Dickson's Dorsai series (soldier culture)
- Erna – C. S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy (psychically malleable quasi-sentient natural forces)
- Gor – John Norman's Gor series (men are warriors; women are often sex-slaves; all are generally happy in their appointed roles)
- Halvmörk – Harry Harrison's agricultural planet in Wheelworld –where only the polar regions are habitable for a few months in turn.
- Helliconia – Brian Aldiss (seasons last millennia)
- Land/Overland – Bob Shaw's The Ragged Astronauts (and) The Wooden Spaceships (and) The Fugitive Worlds Trilogy (Twin Planets orbiting each other as well as a star, with no metals, sharing an atmosphere allowing travel between them by hot air balloon)
- Lusitania – Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead
- New Amazonia – Elizabeth Bear's Carnival (warlike matriarchy)
- Nihil –Latin word for 'nothing', additional planet of Earth's solar system in the novel Beyond the Spectrum by Martin Thomas. Due to a flaw in space, the planet is invisible except at close range, although it can see most of the other planets. The inhabitants attempt to conquer Earth during the 30th century.
- Orthe – Mary Gentle's Golden Witchbreed (post-holocaust/medieval aliens)
- Pyrrus – Harry Harrison's Deathworld (high gravity and psychic animals)
- Reverie – Bruce Sterling's Artificial Kid
- Sangre – Norman Spinrad's The Men in the Jungle (cannibalism)
- Shaggai –From Ramsey Campbell's "Insects from Shaggai". Now-destroyed planet of fanatical sadists.
- Shikasta – Doris Lessing's Shikasta (cosmic consciousness)
- Tiamat – Joan D. Vinge’s The Snow Queen (matriarchy/monarchy)
- Shora – Joan Slonczewski's A Door into Ocean (waterbound culture)
- Soror in the Planet of the Apes –originally a book by Pierre Boulle
- Spherus Magna –In Bionicle, the homeworld of the Agori, the Great Beings, and Mata Nui. Split apart in the Shattering event, it was eventually reformed by Mata Nui and Makuta Teridax.
- Thalassa – Arthur C. Clarke's Songs of Distant Earth (waterworld)
- Tralfamadore –in the books by Kurt Vonnegut, home to the phlegmatic Tralfamadorians.
- Well World – Jack L. Chalker's Well of Souls series (surface divided in thousands of different ecosystems, each one with a different sentient race)
