A book I read in the early 70s, novella-length. A man bonds with an alien who lives inside him and keeps him alive for centuries. Basically immortal.
-
Possibly the same as the following: scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/181887/…– beichstCommented May 27, 2020 at 22:56
-
I read Healer a while back and the premise sounds like it matches. It was first published in 1976 so possibly a bit later than what you specified.– beichstCommented May 27, 2020 at 22:57
-
2@beichst Because of the way story-id questions work, you should post an answer.– SpencerCommented May 27, 2020 at 23:01
-
This question needs more details, please see How to ask a good story-ID question?.– MöozCommented May 27, 2020 at 23:59
-
1@spencer. No disagreement. I simply didn't have time at the moment I posted the suggested link to complete an appropriate full answer and didn't want to defer getting a suggestion to Kevin to help him. Ziggy, thank you for helping expand on my note to provide the answer below for Kevin.– beichstCommented May 28, 2020 at 11:48
|
Show 1 more comment
1 Answer
While it's hard to tell from the scant detail, per beichst's comment this sounds close to the premise of F. Paul Wilson's 1976 novel Healer. The description of the audiobook at Amazon.com includes the following.
Steven Dalt should have died in that cave on the planet Kwashi. After all, as the natives say, of 1,000 people attacked by the cave-dwelling alaret, 999 will die. Dalt survives, but not without personal cost: He has picked up a passenger - an alien intelligence transferred itself from the alaret to take up residence in his brain. Steven Dalt will never be alone again.
But Pard, as Dalt names the alien who shares his life, doesn’t believe in freeloading. He pays his rent by using cellular-level consciousness to maintain Dalt’s body in perfect health - no disease, no aging. And now Dalt appreciates the full meaning of the Kwashi natives’s saying: Of 1,000 struck down by an alaret, 999 will die. But the 1,000th will not die...ever.
Healer is not a novella, but it is a very short novel -- 183 pages in the first printing. It was also published in an omnibus edition in 1978 with Robert Silverberg's Master of Life and Death and Clifford D. Simak's Shakespeare's Planet, where you may have read it.
You can see the covers of all the various editions at the ISFDB.
-
That sounds exactly what I was looking for. Many thanks.for the answer.– KevinCommented May 28, 2020 at 7:35
-
2@Kevin since you're a new contributor, I'll point out that you can "accept" the answer by clicking on the gray checkmark to its left, which marks the answer as correct in the system, and rewards you and the answerer with some reputation. Commented May 28, 2020 at 17:30