I'm looking for the author and title of a science fiction series I
read over ten years ago...

It initially read somewhat like a fantasy series. I seem to remember
that the first book centered around a character who started as a
slave(?), but somehow was rescued or plucked out of his plight and
transported to a great city (I seem to remember it was surrounded by a
wall that was lavishly described).

Parts of the book were very descriptive about the dwellings of the
people, I seem to recall their houses being described as "stacked
cubes". I found some references to the "Gor" series when searching for
this, but I read that series too and am certain that's not the one I'm
looking for.

The series consisted of five books (I think), and later in the
sequence, the sf elements began to emerge. In particular, it
transpired that the planet the books were set on had been populated by
humans from Earth in the past. One of the books involved the discovery
of this, and some of the history behind the mode of transport and (I
think) communication between the various planets that humanity had
visited.

I remember a scene in the final book which involved a field of mud, on
which I *think* there was a battle, or some kind of uprising. Pretty
bizarre that it should stick in my mind, I'm not sure what its
significance is.

I *think* the books were written in the late 70s or early 80s, and
probably by a male British or American author. I'm reasonably sure
they were in print and I read them at some point between 1988 and
1993.

I want to know the author and the name of the series. I know this is
pretty darned vague description (it was a long time ago) is not much
to go on and could apply to any number of scifi or fantasy novels. I'm
confident that I'll recognize the series from a plot synopsis. The few
memories I have of this sequence have been bugging me literally for
years now :)

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Request for Question Clarification by umiat-ga on 16 Dec 2005 11:32 PST

Hello, brianduff-ga!

 I am not a science fiction reader, but I bought my son the Ender's
Game one year and he raved about it. From his description, I am
wondering if you are describing the Ender Wiggin Saga by Orson Scott
Card.

Take a look and let me know if this sounds familiar!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/series/-/71/mass%5Fmarket/102-5716978-1836953

umiat

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Request for Question Clarification by umiat-ga on 16 Dec 2005 11:35 PST

Sorry - I just realized these were published much later!

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Request for Question Clarification by umiat-ga on 16 Dec 2005 11:41 PST

Actually, the first title of the series was published in 1984. Read
about the book and the main character on Wikipedia;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender%27s_Game

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Clarification of Question by brianduff-ga on 17 Dec 2005 00:00 PST

Nope, definitely not the Ender sequence. I remember that in a lot more detail :)

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Request for Question Clarification by techtor-ga on 05 Jan 2006 09:25 PST

These are far guesses but I'll try them anyhow.

First is Bio of a Space Tyrant series by Piers Anthony:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0380841940/qid=1136481489/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-2053915-8727136?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Another is a series by M.A. Foster whose lost book is Day of the
Klesh, which I have:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0886770165/qid=1136481797/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-2053915-8727136?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

There were a lot of series spawned by DAW and Laser books. Perhaps
what you're looking for is from one of those publishers.

Don't you mean bugging you literarily for years now?

hehe :)

Based on the information given, I would suggest that you consider
Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Darkover" series. Originally begun in 1958
with the publishing of "The Planet Savers", these novels drew readers
in with the suggestion of a fantasy storyline, i.e. - telepathy,
mysterious creatures with god-like abilities, medieval culture relying
on fealty, etc. However, later novels reveal that they are humans from
Earth that crash landed a long time ago, and have been in severe
isolation from other colonized planets (in the book "Rediscovery").

The reason you may recall it as a series of 5 books is that these
novels have been republished several times in short story, omnibus or
"sequence" form.

To see a complete list of the novels, and to select a summary of each
to see if they match your memory, go to www.wikipedia.org and search
for "list of darkover novels".

Let me know if that works. There are a couple other series that might
be appropriate, but this one most closely matched your description. If
you can provide any other details, I can check my SF collection and
get back to you.

Otherwise, good luck.

Andre (actually Alice Mary) Norton has a series that has similar
elements to your description.
In Judgement on Janus (from a review on Amazon.com), "Niall Renfro is
the son of Free Traders who have lost their ship in a war and have
been relocated to the Dipple, the displaced persons zone on Korwar.
His father died with their ship and his mother is dying, probably of
heartache from the loss of her husband and ship. Niall sells himself
to the labor recruiters for enough money to let his mother die in a
pleasant dream of lost times. After he gets his mother to drink the
drug, he reports to the processing station to be placed in frozen
sleep until he reaches Janus."
You might also enjoy the Time Traders series, with Ross Murdock as the
main character.
This site has Andre Norton's complete bibliography, and links the
books into their various series:
http://www.andre-norton.org/books/

Just to throw in my own two cents:

It kind of sounds to me like Ursula K. LeGuin's Hainish Series.  She
published a number of books based in different worlds with vastly
different cultures (one of which ends up on Earth I think).  If I
remember correctly (its been awhile) all the worlds were populated a
long time ago as part of a diaspora. You might want to check out the
synopsis for Worlds of Exile and Illusion (contains three books in
one: Rocannon's World, Planet of Exile, City of Illusions) to see if
this is what you're thinking of or not.  Good luck!