The Integral Trees (Larry Niven, 1984) is about a society living in a ring of gas around a neutron star. Not quite the same, but a similar interesting astrophysical idea.
Space 1999 was a little like that. The premise was that the moon was blasted out of the Solar system into interstellar space. Somehow, the doughty denizens of Moonbase Alpha managed to encounter a new planet with intelligent life in nearly every episode. That would have required the stars to be pretty close.
Thanks for the reminder. I was completely OBSESSED with that show as a kid.
I seem to remember an episode in Stephen Baxter's "Evolution" where two dinosaurs discuss the idea of technical progress but were stymied by a catastrophic event.
Truly. But a story which inevitably must end with expansion, cooling, and a new need to huddle around stars.
Our story inevitably ends with the Earth roasting and then freezing as the Sun ages. There’s still lots of good stuff to tell in the meantime.
Tau Zero by Poul Anderson is an interesting little novel that touches on some of this stuff.