Andrew Said I Could

[woodwardiocom]

A Brief Precursor Bibliography

For all of its faults, the Library is where everything begins and ends.

- Uthacalthing, from David Brin's The Uplift War

Books

Brin, David. The Uplift War (Bantam, 1987) and its sequels. The Progenitors of this series were the first intelligent species, and used genetic engineering to uplift several "client" species into sapience. They in turn modified others, in an unbroken chain to the present day. See GURPS Uplift for further details.
Clarke, Arthur C. Rendezvous With Rama (Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch, 1973) and its sequels. A large and enigmatic spaceship enters the solar system, then leaves again, apparently without noticing humanity.
Clarke, Arthur C. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Polaris, 1968) and its sequels. This book and the associated film contain the best-known example of an ancient alien artifact, in the form of the black monoliths that shape human destiny.
DeChancie, John. Starrigger (Ace, 1983) and its sequels. The Roadbuilders of this series built (and apparently abandoned) an unusual FTL portal network, which can only be easily used by ground vehicles.
Heinlein, Robert A. Farmer in the Sky (Ballantine, 1950). One of Heinlein's best "juvenile" novels, this coming-of-age story includes an encounter with mysterious alien artifacts on Ganymede.
Hogan, James P. Inherit the Stars (Ballantine, 1977) and its sequels. A 50,000-year-old corpse is found on the moon, and the implications rock the foundations of human evolution.
Lovecraft, H. P. At the Mountains of Madness (Arkham, 1939). This novel revolves around an example of Precursor relics found on Earth, in the form of a ruined — and not quite abandoned — city in Antarctica.
Niven, Larry. Neutron Star (Ballantine, 1968). Two of the stories in this collection ("A Relic of the Empire" and "The Soft Weapon") are about artifacts of the extinct Slaver Empire. In both, the artifacts aren't exactly what they appear to be . . .
Niven, Larry. Ringworld (Ballantine, 1970) and its sequels. The definitive "Big Dumb Object" story, this novel is about the discovery of a solid, artificial ring around a star.
Pohl, Frederik. Gateway (Ballantine, 1977) and its sequels. A classic novel about humans trying to understand an alien FTL system.
Siegel, Jerry, Shuster, Joe, et al. Superman (DC Comics, 1938-present). Many Superman stories revolve around artifacts created by the extinct, advanced Kryptonians.
Simmons, Dan. Hyperion (Doubleday, 1989) and its sequels. A mammoth series about truly bizarre artifacts capable of miracles, and the dark war that created them.
Vinge, Joan D. The Snow Queen (Aspect, 1980) and its sequels. This series is about humans and societies that are dramatically warped by the Precursor technology that surrounds them.

GURPS Books

GURPS Alpha Centauri by Jon F. Zeigler. Based on the computer games, this setting includes Precursor artifacts, in this case relics of the "Progenitors."
GURPS Blue Planet by William H. Stoddard and Jon F. Zeigler. In this world, the mysterious Creators are responsible for the miracles of science that make the colonization of Poseidon possible and desirable.
GURPS Traveller, Second Edition by Loren Wiseman. This setting includes the Ancients, a civilization of clones, uplifted species, and robots all created by one super-intelligent individual in the distant past, and then destroyed by that same being in wars that shook the galaxy. See in particular GURPS Traveller: Alien Races 3 by David Pulver, David Nilsen, Andy Slack, and David Thomas.
GURPS Uplift, Second Edition by Stefan Jones. See The Uplift War under Books, above.

Movies, Television, and Games

Babylon 5 (1994-1998). This series included several Precursor artifacts, and one of the major plot threads was the "eviction" of two not-quite-extinct (and definitely meddlesome) Precursor races from the galaxy.
Forbidden Planet (Fred M. Wilcox, 1956). Despite its age, still one of the best Precursor movies ever made, particularly in its ability to instill a sense of wonder.
Godzilla vs. Mothra (Takao Okawara, 1992). One of several Godzilla movies to suggest that Mothra was created to defend Earth, by a now-extinct civilization. Gamera 3: The Awakening of Iris (Shusuke Kaneko, 1999) reveals a similar history for Gamera.
Martian Successor Nadesico (1996). In this odd anime series, a war within the Solar System erupts due to ancient time-bending ruins on Mars.
Planet of the Apes (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1968). To the apes, the Precursors are us.
Quatermass and the Pit (Roy Ward Baker, 1967). A dark and bizarre film in which an alien ship is discovered beneath London, with implications for the history of humanity.
Star Control. A series of three computer games (the second is the best). The plots of the second and third revolve around the mystery of the Precursors, and where they vanished to.
Star Trek (1966-present). This show in its many incarnations is rife with mysterious and powerful Precursor artifacts. See in particular "The City on the Edge of Forever" and "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" from the original series, and "Contagion" and "The Chase" from The Next Generation.
Stargate (Roland Emmerich, 1994) and Stargate SG-1 (1997-present). The FTL transit system embodied in the stargates is a canonical example of Precursor technology.

Comments

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

In Greg Egan's "Oceanic" also, the Precursors are *us*. (Or so I infer from the body of work that includes "Learning to Be Me" through "Border Guards".)

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

-Yah, well, I could have gone on for pages, but I only had 10 kilowords for the whole article.

[archangelbeth]

I'm wounded that you didn't include GURPS IOU and the Guaranteed Play-Balance Table. O:>

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

[raspberry] See previous comment. I was trying to keep the biblio short enough that they wouldn't cut anything!