Found: Sf Novel, Possibly C. J. Cherryh, Protag. is rare normal human

At least I think it was by C. J. Cherryh. I only remember 2 things about the book.
Set in the future, probably a hundred years or more. There are several human based lifeforms in the society. The heroine/hero is the result of 2 or more of them interbreeding to produce a normal human. Sort of a genetic reversing. One of the lifeforms is somewhat feline. The heroine/hero is born a normal human which I think was rare for the time.
A minor story point, some members of the society use old style human toilets as religious/meditative objects because they don't know what they are.
I read the book back in the 80s. I've looked at Cherryh's books list, but nothing rings a bell, so it may not be one of hers.
I don't recall anything else clearly about the plot.

ETA: I think it was set on a space station or a large spaceship.

Updated list.

It's not:
Niven's Kzinti stories
Andre Norton book
Anne MacCaffrey
Chanur series
Cyteen
Cuckoo's Egg
Legacy of Luhr
Cat Karina
Norstrilia
Breed to Come
Allegiant
Hestia
The Snow Queen
Grass
The Ballad of Lost C'mell
Strata
The Cool War
Turning Point

While I can't think of what book this is, it does sorta brings new meaning to the phrase "worshipping at the foot of the porcelain God" which I remember hearing in my college days :-)

Not the book you're looking for since it's not a novel, but the misunderstanding of toilets reminds me of David Macaulay's mock-anthropological treatise Motel of the Mysteries.

Oh, swynn...I loved that book. Cracked me up.

I love Motel of the Mysteries - but what it reminded me of was a short story in Asimov's Foundation universe, in which they're excavating Earth and there's great puzzlement over a vast number of fired ceramic funnels or hearths or...??? There's a nicely subtle mention of the tech which has replaced toilets. I don't remember what the name of the story was, but the last line is "Waste, all waste." I think that it was not Asimov writing, it was someone else - Randall Garrett or H. Beam Piper spring to mind...

Anyway. Not helpful to the OP, I don't think. Unfortunately this minor plot point seems to be taking over the discussion!

Ah, yes, "Motel of the Mysteries". I read that one. Great fun.

Sorry for the delay in getting back to this.

The search goes on.

Just bumping this back up.

Perhaps one of Cordwainer Smith's books such as Nostrilia.

No, not Nostrilia.
Thanks for trying.
I forgot to add the books that have been suggested since I originally posted this. I've posted it on 3 different boards/sites.
A minor thing. I think the cover was primarily red in color.

Already eliminated:
Chanur series
Kzin series
Hainish Cycle
Cyteen
Cuckoo's Egg
The Legacy of Lehr
Cat Karina
The Spell Sword
Psion

Bumping this back up.

One last bump for today.

A bump.

Hope goes on bump.

I recently caught part of the film Allegiant, and it turns out (spoiler alert) that the heroine has perfect genes, which is what the powers that be are trying to reverse engineer, after the human genome was tampered with in the past. Any help?

ETA: I confess I haven't watched the whole film or read any of the books, sorry.

I recently read Allegiant myself and it isn't the book. Thanks for trying.

New Year's Eve bump.

A new bump.

Still looking.

maybe this list might be helpful?

http://anthrozine.com/site/lbry/cat.novels.html

That list was suggested on one of the other boards I've got this posted on. No luck with it. Thanks for trying. :-)

A bump up.

Yet another bump.

The Sholan Alliance series?

Here's another long list of feline fiction

and this one

Not the Sholan Alliance series. There was no telepathy in my book and I don't recall the main character having any siblings.

I'll have a look at the other 2 lists. Thanks for the suggestions.

No luck with the other 2 lists, so a bump back up.

Hope springs eternal bump.

Googled for 'toilets worshipped in the future' and Arthur C. Clarke came up. Any help?

Doesn't ring a bell. I've read many of his books, but I don't think this was one of his.

A bump.

A bumping I do go.

Again with the bump.

Hestia is one of Cherryh’s early novels that has some feline aliens in it - I haven’t read so not sure if the plot matches, but it’s not in your list yet so could be worth a look.

No, not Hestia. The felines were only minor characters in my book, not the main.
Thanks for trying.

I don't know the book. I'm sorry.

As a distraction during your wait, here's an amusing article about toilet worship.

"India: People mistook toilet for temple, pray in front of it" (Gulf News)

Thanks, Asprit. :-)

Why not another bump?

Nov. bump.

Have you tried a tagmash, maybe 'red' and other key words? (But don't ask me how to do it.)

I've tried assorted combinations of words and tags over the years, but nothing likely ever came up.

Any of these?

https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-essential-posthuman-science-fiction-reading-list-553...

No, but a very interesting list. Thanks for the suggestion. :-)

C. J. Cherryh bump.

I don't know this one, but have you tried searching WorldCat?

I put in "toilet religion" and chose "fiction" and these were the results:

https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=toilet+religion&dblist=638&fq=+%28x0%3...

I have a book that's been on Name That Book for years. I bump it now and then, hoping...

removing suggestion as it is too recent.

>43 fuzzi: I've tried, but I can't seem to find the right combination of search terms.

Hmm. Maybe put all the titles and lists that have been suggested and eliminated into your first post and ask admin to remove 'C.J. Cherryh' from your title if you think it's not one of hers after all? This thread is getting quite long :0)

>46 humouress: Along with the previous suggestion, remove the toilet reference since it is minor. It keeps distracting people. Isn't the genetic engineering primary to the plot? Are most of the characters engineered and the main character born?

Could it be Breed to Come, by Andre Norton?

Breed to Come by Andre Norton

Touchstone.

>48 pattonsauce: Nope, Not "Breed to Come". Thanks for trying.

C. J. Cherryh bump.

>47 SainaR: Apologies for the late reply. However, the toilet reference and the genetic engineering are the only things I remember clearly about the book. The genetic engineering isn't the main plot as best I remember. The plot, I think, was some sort of political, social upheaval and I'm not even sure about that. 2 people on other boards have remembered reading the bit about the toilets, though not where it's from, so that's what seems to have stuck with them which is why I feel it needs to stay.

Don't know how helpful this is going to be. I read a library book (hardcover) in the US back in the early 80's, probably 82-84. No memory of title, author, or cover. Honestly, I don't remember the plot either. But I do remember that the human race had split into a number of different sub-species and for some reason they needed specific representatives of each sub-species to breed so they could produce the final offspring who would be what we would consider a fairly normal human of our day. I never read much John Varley, but that is sort of the 70's SF vibe with a fair bit of sex I remember.

Bits I remember which are hopefully helpful. I think there were between 8 and 12 sub-species. About the only vivid memory I have of it is one branch has emphasized the mind. One of their women is described as hairless except for short hair on her head and she's described as small and slender. All her branch has done for generations is artificial breeding including artificial wombs. She is required to physically breed with a male from a branch which has emphasized brawn. He apparently looks more like a Neanderthal. Before going to see him she is studying a book on human reproduction to learn how it's done and actually reads something along the line of "then you insert tab A into slot B." I don't believe her branch even engaged in recreational intercourse.

Don't remember a feline branch though they could have been there or anything about toilets. Honestly, that made me think of Motel of the Mysteries also. Hope my vague memory is helpful. Good luck.

Thanks, PJ. None of what you mention rings a bell with me, but maybe someone else's memory will be nudged.

Something I haven't added here. The cover of The Witches of Karres is similar to what I remember. If you split the Karres cover down the center and stretched out the right side, that's sort of what my book looked like.

>55 Bargle5: Have you looked at other books by the same author/ other covers by the same illustrator?

I figured there was a decent chance we were thinking of the same book. Maybe we'll find out at some point.

>56 humouress: Yes, I have tried both those things now. No luck.

A new bump.

>55 Bargle5: Could you post the specific cover?

>60 humouress: OK, here's the specific cover. As I said above, if you split the cover down the center and stretch out the right side, without the female head, the cover looked kind of like that. I think I remember it being a bit blockier looking, but I may be wrong.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71iqFZA+nzL.jpg

Another C. J. Cherryh bump.

Cherryh bump dah dah bump.

The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge

>64 BrainFireBob: I don't think so, but I'll do some more checking. Thanks for the suggestion.

Definitely not The Snow Queen.

Well, it's not Grass by Sherri Tepper.

Is there any chance what you read was a novella and not a novel? The reason for asking is because some elements of your description match The Ballad of Lost C'mell by Smith.

Here's a link https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/smithcordwainer-balladoflostcmell/smithcordwainer-ba...

>68 alco261: No, I have read that and it wasn't the story. I do remember checking it out as a book from the library. Thanks for trying.

C. J. Cherryh bump again.

This thread https://www.librarything.com/topic/359634#8485914 came up, which mentioned feline aliens and I thought of your quest. I had to search the 'Name that Book' group for 'feline' to find this thread and quite a few requests came up mentioning feline aliens. Have you looked through them, in case yours is in there ... somewhere? (Even if it wasn't the book asked for, it might crop up in the suggestions.)

>71 humouress: Yes, I have seen that thread. That's not it, but thanks for thinking of mine. Turns out feline derived characters are very popular in SF and Fantasy. I'll take a look at the other feline threads. The search goes on.

ETA: no luck with the feline thread search. Still, thanks for the suggestion.

C. J. Cherryh bump.

Another bump.

Yet another bump.

I haven't read the entire thread this time, but if you're not sure about CJ Cherryh maybe request a title change to take out her name and include the genetically reversed human (or whatever seems most relevant)? And maybe edit your first post list of what books/ authors you've eliminated so it's easy for someone else to see without having to scroll down all the way?

Title altered and list updated. Thanks for the nudge.

Something I left out of the first post. I think it was set on a space station or large spaceship.

C. J. Cherryh bump.

Another bump.

One more bump.

It's been decades since I read this, so I don't really remember details, but I'm pretty certain that it does not perfectly match your description. Still, the one thing that I do recall is that the protagonist is the only human among aliens, so I'll throw it out: Becoming Alien by Rebecca Ore.

>82 clivers: Nope, not it. No aliens crashing on Earth in mine. Thanks for trying.

Yet another bump.

Not a lot of points of similarity, but at this point maybe worth a try:
Earthblood by Keith Laumer and Rosel George Brown.

Has the rare-pure-human feature, anyway. Here’s a summary.

Ok link doesn’t work:

https://mporcius.blogspot.com/2025/05/earthblood-by-keith-laumer-and-rosel.html

>85 dukedom_enough: Not it, but thanks for the suggestion.

I've had a promising suggestion over at SF Stack Exchange. I,Weapon by Charles W. Runyon. I'm in the process of checking that out.

Answered. It was I, Weapon. I apparently conflated it somewhat with another book, but that's definitely the one with the multiple human derived races and the toilet reference. It also includes the bit pjfarm remembered about how sex was done. Hooray!

Woo hoo!

It's nice to see something solved after a long time!