The Andromeda Strain to the upper atmosphere, where the oxygen content is lower, better suiting its growth. The novel's epilogue reveals that a manned spacecraft, "Andros V", was incinerated during atmospheric re-entry, presumably because Andromeda had eaten its tungsten/plastic laminate heat shield and caused it to burn up. Crichton was inspired to write the novel after reading "The IPCRESS File" by Len Deighton while studying in England. Crichton says he was "terrifically impressed" by the book - "a lot of "Andromeda" is traceable to "Ipcress" in terms of trying to create an imaginary world using recogniseable techniques and real people." He wrote the
Terry Pratchett First Novel Award Terry Pratchett First Novel Award The Terry Pratchett First Novel Award is a biennial award for the best unpublished science fiction novel in the Commonwealth of Nations. It is named after British author Terry Pratchett. The book is chosen by a panel of judges previously including Pratchett. The competition is open to anyone who is a resident of the Britain, the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland, who has not previously had a novel published with a valid ISBN number and the prize is a £20,000 publishing contract with Pratchett's publishers, Transworld Publishers. In 2011, the nominees were: The award