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1lquilter
I may possibly be merging a couple of different stories in my head. These are the details I think I remember:
* A guy has some kind of disease, so he has himself cryogenically preserved until there's a cure;
* When awakened he lives at least for a time in a museum dedicated to his time period, or +/– a few decades;
* He encounters and is attracted to an attractive young woman who turns out to be his great grand-daughter, or something; he has some concern about this but I don't recall it as a central feature of the plot;
* All of the above is par for the course for no doubt many SF stories, but this is the killer detail: At one point he's visiting somebody's villa or party and he sees these furry snake-like things. People explain that these are genetically engineered cats, to have no limbs and virtually no bones and just be cuddly purring machines ....
I likely read this between 1978 to 1983 but have no idea if it was new at that point. There's a chance that it's YA & marketed via Scholastic, but it could certainly be adult SF -- I honestly don't remember reading level, and the incest theme seems a bit mature.
-- lquilter
* A guy has some kind of disease, so he has himself cryogenically preserved until there's a cure;
* When awakened he lives at least for a time in a museum dedicated to his time period, or +/– a few decades;
* He encounters and is attracted to an attractive young woman who turns out to be his great grand-daughter, or something; he has some concern about this but I don't recall it as a central feature of the plot;
* All of the above is par for the course for no doubt many SF stories, but this is the killer detail: At one point he's visiting somebody's villa or party and he sees these furry snake-like things. People explain that these are genetically engineered cats, to have no limbs and virtually no bones and just be cuddly purring machines ....
I likely read this between 1978 to 1983 but have no idea if it was new at that point. There's a chance that it's YA & marketed via Scholastic, but it could certainly be adult SF -- I honestly don't remember reading level, and the incest theme seems a bit mature.
-- lquilter
2mart1n
A world out of time features a guy who wakes up in the future after being terminally ill and cryogenically frozen; it also features the cat-tails. I don't remember the museum, or the incest (though that does ring a very faint bell, so I could be wrong - it's a long time since I read it).
3lquilter
You know, I definitely read this -- the museum bit is the part I'm shakiest on, and think most likely to be confused with another story. Thanks! I'm pretty sure this is it.
-- lquilter
-- lquilter
4Petroglyph
The idea to resurrect someone for some future museum sounds intriguing! I don't think I've ever read anything like it, though, but I can offer some suggestions from similar stories ...
I recall one of Alfred E. Van Vogt's stories called Resurrection (available here), in which aliens visit a future Earth where all human life has ended. They resurrect some people from dead bodies in a museum -- a pharaoh and a guy from the mid-20th century, IIRC. Maybe you were thinking of that one?
One of Jack Vance's stories, When Hesperus falls features a boy who, long ago, discovered the elixir of eternal life, and who is now mainly kept alive for historical interest by his contemporaries in the far future. He's tired of life and wants to commit suicide, but his guardians obstruct all his efforts.
I recall one of Alfred E. Van Vogt's stories called Resurrection (available here), in which aliens visit a future Earth where all human life has ended. They resurrect some people from dead bodies in a museum -- a pharaoh and a guy from the mid-20th century, IIRC. Maybe you were thinking of that one?
One of Jack Vance's stories, When Hesperus falls features a boy who, long ago, discovered the elixir of eternal life, and who is now mainly kept alive for historical interest by his contemporaries in the far future. He's tired of life and wants to commit suicide, but his guardians obstruct all his efforts.
5peanuts1966
Could it be Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein?
