History SingleBiomePlanet / Literature

* ''[[Literature/RodAllbrightAlienAdventures Aliens Ate My Homework]]'': Subverted. When the characters are walking through a swamp (on Earth), one of the aliens becomes nostalgic for his home. Rod asks if he comes from a swamp planet, and his companion retorts with "Do ''you'' come from a swamp planet?" It takes Rod a second to realize that, just like Earth, Grakker's planet probably has multiple environments.

** PlayedWith: the Hork-Bajir homeworld is mostly uninhabitable, but there are a series of foresty valleys around the equator. This is the result of an ancient asteroid impact in the planet's distant past. The Hork-Bajir live in the skyscraper-sized trees, while the floors of the valleys are covered by a mist ("the Deep") filled with monsters. [[spoiler:And the Arn, the planet's original native inhabitants]].

* ''Literature/APrincessOfMars'': The planet Mars (or "Barsoom", as they call it there) is presented as a borderline version of this, dominated by vast deserts with occasional canals and agricultural "green belts" along them. In the later books, we see other biomes, mostly at the north and south poles, but desert remains the default.
* "Beachworld", a short story by Creator/StephenKing, is a very creepy deconstruction of an all-desert planet.

* Creator/AlanDeanFoster:
** The ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'' series contains several of these: Desert Planet (Jast in ''Sliding Scales'', Pyrassis in ''Reunion''), Ice Planet ([=Tran-ky-ky=] in ''Literature/{{Icerigger}}'', Treetrunk in ''Dirge''), Ocean Planet (Cachalot in ''Cachalot'', Repler in ''Bloodhype''), Jungle Planet (''Midworld''), Jungle in a Swamp Planet (Fluva in ''Drowning World''), Even Soggier Than Vancouver Pine Forest Planet (Moth in ''For Love of Mother-Not''), etc. He's even got Cave Planet (Longtunnel), NoBiochemicalBarriers Planet (Quofum), and Vacation Paradise Planet (New Riviera) thrown into the mix. ''Literature/{{Icerigger}}'' notably offers one of the most detailed accounts of natives' physical and technological ''adaptations'' to an Ice Planet in fiction.
** ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': ''Literature/SplinterOfTheMindsEye'' is set on the Swamp Planet Mimban.

* ''Literature/MadnessSeason'': The protagonist at one point looks up archive footage of the Tyr's home planet. He's somewhat unnerved to find endless unbroken kilometers of lush blue plant growth from pole to pole, broken only by oceans teeming with life. [[spoiler:It turns out he's only viewing it during a very narrow portion of its solar orbit; nine years out of ten, the planet is either a frozen wasteland as its orbit carries it out to the far reaches of the solar system, or a boiling hellhole as it comes too near the sun. It looks as nice as it does during spring because all the planet's life has to put out as much growth as it can during the brief live periods.]]

* Creator/AndreNorton:
** The Forest Planet Janus in ''Judgment on Janus'' and ''Victory on Janus''.
** The Ice Planet in ''Secret of the Lost Race''.
** ''Literature/UnchartedStars'' includes an Ice Planet and a CityPlanet.
** ''Night of Masks'' takes place mostly on a world whose star radiates only in the infra-red.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/FoundationSeries'':

** ''Literature/TheWordForWorldIsForest'': While the name would lead one to expect Athshe to be a Forest Planet, it's mostly an Ocean Planet. The only land is an comparatively small archipelago covered in forest. While the native name "Athshe" means "Forest," its colonial name "New Tahiti" reflects its nature as an Ocean Planet dotted with a few islands.
* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' has a few of these, including Ursa Minor Beta, which has a truly improbable geography of warm oceans and thin sandy strips of land, meaning the entire world is basically luxurious beachfront property. Taken a bit further in that the time of day is always that time on a Saturday afternoon just before the bars close. The absurdity of this is noted, and its citizens tell each other to "have a nice diurnal anomaly." Of course, the series also establishes that in ages past the planet of Magrathea used to craft planets to order for the very rich, so it's entirely possible that these are all custom jobs.

** ''Literature/ManKzinWars'': The planet Beanstalk, seen in one story, is maintained as a pole-to-pole "gardened" Forest Planet by the ancient immortal Bandersnatchi because they just like it that way.
** "Literature/TheSoftWeapon": One of the planets in the Beta Lyrae star system is a "icy little blob of a world", AKA an Ice Planet.

* ''Literature/ThePlayerOfGames'' (by Creator/IainBanks) is set partly on the Fire Planet, which is mostly ocean with one continent ringing the equator. Life there is shaped by a permanent forest fire, which propagates around the world in about a year.
* ''Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy'': Perelandra (i.e., [[spoiler:Venus]]) is (mostly) covered by ocean. And floating islands, inhabited by enchantingly cute and invariably friendly wildlife (even the dragons). It's a lovely place for a holiday (in other words, the exact opposite of its real-life equivalent), and thoroughly worth risking your life beating up Satan with your bare hands in order to protect it. In fairness, Ransom does reflect, on leaving both Malacandra and Perelandra, that he had visited only a tiny area of each planet, so his account isn't meant to imply that either has a uniform terrain. (And even in ''Out Of The Silent Planet'', Malacandra is show to have forests, rivers, lakes (or even an ocean), tall mountains....)

** ''Literature/ACivilCampaign'': Referenced when two characters are discussing the planet Barrayar, and one points out that an entire planet being covered in one sort of natural or urban environment isn't exactly a likely prospect.
--->"It's not at all what I was expecting, from Barrayar."\\

"Economically unlikely for an entire planetary surface. Though uniforms, we do have."

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': Deeply averted in Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/{{Ravenor}}'' novels, where the villains speak with Ravenor after he comes through [[CoolGate a gate]]. He has to go back the same way, but he can identify the location: not just the planet, but the actual location, down to a small sector, by the plants he sees.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer4000'': Deeply averted in Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/{{Ravenor}}'' novels, where the villains speak with Ravenor after he comes through [[CoolGate a gate]]. He has to go back the same way, but he can identify the location: not just the planet, but the actual location, down to a small sector, by the plants he sees.

** ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'': Many novels are set on his different versions of the DeathWorld (Prism in ''Sentenced to Prism''), Desert Planet (Jast in ''Sliding Scales'', Pyrassis in ''Reunion''), Ice Planet (Tran-Ky-Ky in ''Literature/{{Icerigger}}'', Treetrunk on ''Dirge''), Ocean Planet (''Cachalot''), Jungle Planet (''Midworld''), Jungle in a Swamp Planet (Fluva in ''Drowning World''), Even Soggier Than Vancouver Pine Forest Planet (Moth in ''For Love of Mother-Not''), etc. He's even got Cave Planet (Longtunnel), NoBiochemicalBarriers Planet (Quofum), and Vacation Paradise Planet (New Riviera) thrown into the mix. ''Literature/{{Icerigger}}'' notably offers one of the most detailed accounts of natives' physical and technological ''adaptations'' to an Ice Planet in fiction.

** Leera is almost entirely water, with one small continent. The inhabitants are frog-like aliens who spend most of the time underwater; they use to lay their eggs on land, but modern technology makes that unnecessary, which is why they don't mind [[StuffBlowingUp blowing it the hell up]] in their war with the Yeerks.

* ''Literature/CaptainFrenchOrTheQuestForParadise'': While averted, for the most part, the planet Solaris is 97% water with several hundred islands making up the only dry land. The name comes from Creator/StanislawLem's [[Literature/{{Solaris}} eponymous novel]], and is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in-universe, although the first-person titular protagonist points out that ''this'' Solaris doesn't have a [[GeniusLoci sentient ocean]]. The colonists live on those islands and enjoy nice weather (something you ''wouldn't'' have on a world that's mostly water). Additionally, the flora and fauna appears to be stuck in the Sillurian Period, meaning there's nothing in the water to threaten humans. Instead, humans have introduced fish (the kind that can be fished, not the kind that can eat you whole) and sea mammals (e.g. dolphins, whales).

* The planet Mars (or "Barsoom", as they call it there) is presented as a borderline version of this in ''Literature/APrincessOfMars'', dominated by vast deserts with occasional canals and agricultural "green belts" along them. In the later books, we see other biomes, mostly at the north and south poles, but desert remains the default.

* The System in the ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' novel ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresSkyPirates Sky Pirates!]]'' comprises an ocean world, a forest world, a desert world and an ice world. However, this is far from [[WorldShapes the weirdest thing about them]], and it's made very clear that The System feels under no obligation to do anything that our universe would consider "making sense".

** Arrakis, the eponymous world, is a [[JustifiedTrope justified]] textbook example of a Desert Planet, with the nomadic Fremen and the black market on water. For example, the planet's polar regions are mentioned as a source for water traders. Herbert also explains why a ''desert world without any forests'' can maintain the [=CO2/O2=] balance required for humans to survive. (It has to do with the worms, which release oxygen into the atmosphere.) There's a massive amount of detail on the biochemistry, ecosystem and geography in the Appendices that really [[ShownTheirWork show he did the research.]] The reason it's all desert is mostly because the constant movement of the sandworms (which can grow to be hundreds or thousands of meters long and wide and are ''incredibly'' strong) means that the crust is being constantly churned into sand.

** Many Literature/HumanxCommonwealth novels were set on his own versions of DeathWorld (Prism in ''Sentenced to Prism''), Desert Planet (Jast in ''Sliding Scales'', Pyrassis in ''Reunion''), Ice Planet (Tran-Ky-Ky in ''Literature/{{Icerigger}}'', Treetrunk on ''Dirge''), Ocean Planet (''Cachalot''), [[UpToEleven Jungle Planet]] (''Midworld''), Jungle In A Swamp Planet (Fluva in ''Drowning World''), Even Soggier Than Vancouver Pine Forest Planet (Moth in ''For Love Of Mother-Not''), etc. He's even got Cave Planet (Longtunnel), NoBiochemicalBarriers Planet (Quofum), and Vacation Paradise Planet (New Riviera) thrown into the mix.
*** Notably, his ''Literature/{{Icerigger}}'' sub-series offers one of the most detailed accounts of natives' physical and technological ''adaptations'' to an Ice Planet in fiction.
** His ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' novel ''Literature/SplinterOfTheMindsEye'' is set on the Swamp Planet Mimban.

* In ''Literature/FracturedStars'', the aptly-named Frost Moon 3 consists almost entirely of sub-freezing wastelands. Free people live in domes, while prisoners work in underground power plants and mines. The people who run the prisons have engineered robotic predators that look like a cross between a bear and a panther to kill escaped prisoners. There's also some real wildlife, which is kept alive by airdrops of frozen vegetables and meat. The planet Frost Moon 3 orbits is mentioned to be covered in ice.
* The Literature/{{Hainish}} novels of Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin:
** In ''Literature/TheLeftHandOfDarkness,'' the planet of Winter (otherwise known as Gethen) is, predictably, an Ice Planet. However, what a few different characters observe is that Gethen is actually very similar to Earth, except that [[JustifiedTrope the story takes place in the middle of one of the Ice Ages.]] A native character remarks that the scientists have predicted a rise in temperatures across the planet and a mass melting of the ice. The character observes, "I'm glad I won't be around to see that."

* Averted, with a few exceptions, in ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'' series, although usually only a small part of the planet is described. Erigon is known as an ice world (Ice Planet), and the colonists had to dig in and build subglacial cities in order to survive. After 1000 years, most of the colonists have moved to other worlds. The only ones who are left run the tourism for anyone who still cares to see the ice world. Interestingly, after 1000 years of space exploration, most humans have emigrated from Earth. The oceans have somehow dried up, and are now replaced with lush jungles, effectively turning the planet into a jungle world.
* In ''Literature/HoshiAndTheRedCityCircuit'', Cassiopeia Prime is almost entirely covered in ocean. Red City is located on its one island.
* Dan Simmons' ''Literature/HyperionCantos'' novels include several of these: The ecumenopolises of Tau Ceti Center and Renaissance Vector, the ocean planet of Maui-Covenant, the Forest Planet of God's Grove, etc. Because all the planets are connected together in a single [=WorldWeb=] this doesn't appear to be a problem, though the ecological absurdity of this becomes a plot point when [[spoiler:the network of [[PortalNetwork Farcasters]] connecting the planets collapse, causing single-city planets to starve... except for Renaissance Vector, which conveniently got its food from Renaissance Minor, an agricultural world in the same system.]]
* Creator/LarryNiven's ''Literature/KnownSpace'':
** The planet Beanstalk, seen in one ''Literature/ManKzinWars'' story, is maintained as a pole-to-pole "gardened" Forest Planet by the ancient immortal Bandersnatchi because they just like it that way.
** In the short story "Literature/TheSoftWeapon", one of the planets in the Beta Lyrae star system is a "icy little blob of a world", AKA an Ice Planet.
* In C.S. Friedman's ''Literature/MadnessSeason'', the protagonist at one point looks up archive footage of the Tyr's home planet. He's somewhat unnerved to find endless unbroken kilometers of lush blue plant growth from pole to pole, broken only by oceans teeming with life. [[spoiler:It turns out he's only viewing it during a very narrow portion of its solar orbit; nine years out of ten, the planet is either a frozen wasteland as its orbit carries it out to the far reaches of the solar system, or a boiling hellhole as it comes too near the sun. It looks as nice as it does during spring because all the planet's life has to put out as much growth as it can during the brief live periods.]]
* In ''[[Literature/TheMagicians The Magician King]]'' Josh describes the worlds he visited in this way. When questioned about it he concedes that he never traveled more than a few miles from his starting location, and has no idea what the rest of the world was like.
* Parodied in Creator/RayBradbury's short story "The Earth Men" (incorporated into ''Literature/TheMartianChronicles''). Some Earth-astronauts go to Mars, and the local Martians think they're nutters just claiming to be aliens, so the astronauts find themselves locked up in the loony bin. While there, several other loonies claim to be from Earth, and each say that Earth is a "massive jungle planet", a world covered with just oceans, or just desert, etc.

** Another example that both does and doesn't fit the planet archetypes is Ket, homeworld of The Ellimist. At first glance it looked just like a standard volcanic planet. But it was in fact a low-gravity world with a very dense atmosphere, which allowed for giant crystals to float freely in the atmosphere. The planet's civilisation of winged aliens lived entirely on (and off) those crystals. One character calls it "the rarest of all environments".
** The Hork-Bajir homeworld is a valley planet (sort of. It's [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by a catastrophic impact in the past which left a ring of steep valley around the equator as the only habitable part of the planet. Come to think of it, between the valleys, the Outside, and the Deep, it's got quite a bit of diversity over quite a small habitable area). The Hork-Bajir world apparently was once closer to Earth's atmosphere, just with less oxygen and more nitrogen. After the impact the 'real' race of the planet realized that the small equator, while liveable, was highly unstable. Unable to terraform but masters of genetics they created the Hork-Bajir (who feed on bark) and gave them a diet that would make THEM take care of the trees and the environment. The Deep, an area with numerous monsters, was created by the original race to keep the Hork-Bajir from bothering them (they live on the other side).

* ''[[Literature/RodAllbrightAlienAdventures Aliens Ate My Homework]]'': Subverted. When the characters are walking through a swamp on Earth, one of the aliens becomes nostalgic for his home. Rod asks if he comes from a swamp planet, and his companion retorts with "Do ''you'' come from a swamp planet?" When Rod doesn't answer, Grakker admits that while he doesn't come from a swamp planet, he used to ''live'' in a swamp on his home planet.

** His ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' novel ''Literature/SplinterOfTheMindsEye'' was set on the Swamp Planet Mimban.

* The second ''Literature/{{Bounders}}'' novel is set mostly on the tundra planet Gulaga, whose surface is almost entirely covered in frozen mud and rocks.

* ''Literature/TheWordForWorldIsForest'': Despite the title, the planet of Athshe is mostly covered in water, though all the land masses are covered in forest.

* ''Literature/AliensAteMyHomework'': Subverted. When the characters are walking through a swamp on Earth, one of the aliens becomes nostalgic for his home. Rod asks if he comes from a swamp planet, and his companion retorts with "Do ''you'' come from a swamp planet?"

* ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'': In ''Fire and Dust'', the protagonist points out that most people who claim to come from, say, an "ice planet" just came from a polar region of a totally normal world, and never realized it because travel between planes is generally easier than travel between continents in ''D&D''.

* Subverted in Creator/BruceCoville's novel ''Literature/AliensAteMyHomework''. When the characters are walking through a swamp on Earth, one of the aliens becomes nostalgic for his home. Rod asks if he comes from a swamp planet, and his companion retorts, "Do ''you'' come from a swamp planet?"

* While averted, for the most part, in Creator/MikhailAkhmanov and Christopher Nicholas Gilmore's ''Literature/CaptainFrenchOrTheQuestForParadise'', the planet Solaris is 97% water with several hundred islands making up the only dry land. The name, of course, comes from Creator/StanislawLem's [[Literature/{{Solaris}} eponymous novel]], and is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in-universe, although the first-person titular protagonist points out that ''this'' Solaris doesn't have a [[GeniusLoci sentient ocean]]. The colonists live on those islands and enjoy nice weather (something you ''wouldn't'' have on a world that's mostly water). Additionally, the flora and fauna appears to be stuck in the Sillurian Period, meaning there's nothing in the water to threaten humans. Instead, humans have introduced fish (the kind that can be fished, not the kind that can eat you whole) and sea mammals (e.g. dolphins, whales).

* Creator/FrankHerbert's ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'':

* In the ''Literature/ParadoxTrilogy'', Fishermarch is an ocean planet where the only land is man-made floating islands. Caldswell takes his crew there for vacation. ''Heaven's Queen'' also has Atlas 35, a planet which Devi states has been "terraformed to within an inch of its life" in order to be a farm planet where every inch of land is suitable for crop cultivation.
* Several Territories in ''Literature/ThePendragonAdventure'' qualify. Cloral is an Ocean Planet, Zadaa is a Desert Planet, and Eelong is a Jungle Planet.

* Lampshaded in the ''Planescape'' novel ''Fire and Dust'', where the protagonist points out that most people who claim to come from, say, an 'ice planet' just came from a polar region of a totally normal world, and never realized it because travel between planes is generally easier than travel between continents in D&D.
* C.S. Lewis' "Perelandra" in ''Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy''. The titular planet (which is [[spoiler:Venus]]) is (mostly) covered by ocean. And floating islands, inhabited by enchantingly cute and invariably friendly wildlife (even the dragons). It's a lovely place for a holiday (in other words, the exact opposite of its real-life equivalent), and thoroughly worth risking your life beating up Satan with your bare hands in order to protect it. In fairness, Ransom does reflect, on leaving both Malacandra and Perelandra, that he had visited only a tiny area of each planet, so his account isn't meant to imply that either has a uniform terrain. (And even in ''Out Of The Silent Planet'', Malacandra is show to have forests, rivers, lakes (or even an ocean), tall mountains....)
* Lusitania in Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Literature/SpeakerForTheDead'' series is a Forest Planet with a bare handful of species to its name. This is totally justified, though -- {{Precursors}} terraformed it using a virus to suit their needs.
* The trope is justified with planet Droplet in ''Literature/StarTrekTitan''. It's an ocean world based upon genuine (and cutting-edge) scientific theories. While most such worlds wouldn't have higher order life, due to a lack of landmass to provide mineral runoff, the novel provides a reasonable explanation for the existence of a complex ecosystem on Droplet. Essentially, the life-cycle of a native plankton aids in bringing heavier elements from the hypersaline depths to the surface.

* Justified in the ''Literature/ToTheStars'' trilogy by Creator/HarryHarrison. An imperialistic Earth has terraformed a number of planets (with a [[PlanetOfHats custom-made culture]] as well), each one dedicated to farming, production or mining of one particular resource. The idea being that none of them have the diverse resources [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression needed to launch a revolt]].

** Referenced in ''Literature/ACivilCampaign'':

* Generally averted in ''Literature/WeAreLegionWeAreBob'' and the sequels. All habitable planets have a wide variety of climates, just like Earth. The exception is Poseidon, which is entirely covered in water. However, the ocean surface is pockmarked with organic "mats" - clumps of plant life. The "mats" serve as platforms for the initial colony, although [[spoiler:Marcus eventually builds much more comfortable aerial cities]]. Oh, and the oceans are home to some nasty (and hungry) lifeforms, such as [[KrakenAndLeviathan krakens]].
* The first ''Literature/XandriCorelel'' novel is set on Psittaca, which appears to be covered entirely in jungle.
* Despite the title of ''Literature/TheWordForWorldIsForest'' the planet of Athshe is mostly covered in water, though all the land masses are covered in forest.

* Frank Herbert's ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'':

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'' series.

* The System in the ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' novel ''Sky Pirates'' comprises an ocean world, a forest world, a desert world and an ice world. However, this is far from [[WorldShapes the weirdest thing about them]], and it's made very clear that The System feels under no obligation to do anything that our universe would consider "making sense".

* C.S. Lewis' "Perelandra" in ''Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy''. The titular planet (which is [[spoiler:Venus]]) is (mostly) covered by ocean. And floating islands, inhabited by enchantingly cute and invariably friendly wildlife (even the dragons). It's a lovely place for a holiday (in other words, the exact opposite of its real-life equivalent), and and thoroughly worth risking your life beating up Satan with your bare hands in order to protect it. In fairness, Ransom does reflect, on leaving both Malacandra and Perelandra, that he had visited only a tiny area of each planet, so his account isn't meant to imply that either has a uniform terrain.

* Dan Simmons' ''Literature/HyperionCantos'' novels include several of these : The ecumenopolises of Tau Ceti Center and Renaissance Vector, the ocean planet of Maui-Covenant, the Forest Planet of God's Grove, etc. Because all the planets are connected together in a single [=WorldWeb=] this doesn't appear to be a problem, though the ecological absurdity of this becomes a plot point when [[spoiler: the network of [[PortalNetwork Farcasters ]]connecting the planets collapse, causing single-city planets to starve...except for Renaissance Vector, which conveniently got its food from Renaissance Minor, an agricultural world in the same system.]]