Oolite Bulletins

Have another one - in The Witches of Karres (1966, expanding a 1949 novelette) by James H. Schmitz the titular witches - who it turns out can be male as well as female, but in this case are women - have reality-distorting "Klaatha powers" that (considering the stories first appeared in Ast...

dont worry about the planets are not rotating Ohhh, that would change the geometry of the diced planet. More like thin-sliced planet. Cosmic-scale bacon slicer. If you think that one's silly, there's another story from around the same period where someone wants a photo of Superboy doing something i...

Not sure which colour this is - green? VERY silly anyway...

https://imgur.com/a/kP1pz

the "Great Evil," which appears to be a small planet- or planetoid-sized being that threatens earth every 5000 years Ummm, if it reappears on a 5000 year cycle, then it's in orbit around the Sun, not "rogue". Off the top of my "Solar system notes" sheet, at 5000yr, it'...

Another one - the "Great Evil," which appears to be a small planet- or planetoid-sized being that threatens earth every 5000 years and turns up in our solar system on a collision course with Earth in The Fifth Element (1997). While the Wiki and video linked below seems to think it's planet...

OK - more low-flying fruit if you'll accept weaponized planets - the dirigible planets used by E.E. "Doc" Smith's Galactic Patrol in their war against Boskone in Gray Lensman (1939) Take an uninhabited planet. Neutralize its inertia with sufficiently large Bergholm drives and fly it to whe...

Apologies if this isn't 100% accurate, it's a LONG time since I read the book and I can't find my copy to check the details: In Run to the Stars by Michael Scott Rohan (1982) humanity has reached the nearer stars and learns that there is an expanding alien civilization out there. The paranoid gover...

OK, we seem to have come to a halt here Any chance of seeing you at the dreaded do? Unfortunately not - I sell old photographic gear and other collectables, and Sunday is always a very busy day for me - I generally go to multiple car boot sales, and pack a lot of stuff I've sold on line in the even...

OK, we seem to have come to a halt here {...} the best thing I can do is give it a couple of days, That's a "couple of days" taken. When are the contenders to be dragged to the "Chalice Throne" - the one with the wrist straps and head restraint? Sunday at drum-roll o'clock? {SEL...

OK, we seem to have come to a halt here - since there was so much confusion about the two time travel ideas I think that the best thing I can do is give it a couple of days, if nobody comes in with another answer I will time travel to one of the four we have so far (e.g. roll a dice and choose one r...

I think you're right that this comes up against the "no bigger than a bread box" rule - or at least that it's impossible to prove that it doesn't from the information we're given. I really liked Iron Sunrise and its predecessor Singularity Sky , SS especially was a lot of fun. But Charlie ...

The thing actually going back in time that makes the difference is the villain, I think, not the gun itself. Hmmm, clarification needed on this one? Is all time travel off the table? My 10¢ contribution (and I've lost count too) was from Niven's "Svetz" series of short stories, where Svet...

spud42 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 2:47 pm

fair enough... so that pretty much rules out any time travel by a person or persons then.

A time travelling toddler or baby might be OK, I suppose.

The thing actually going back in time that makes the difference is the villain, I think, not the gun itself. Yes, he takes the gun with him, but presumably he has to act to get it to people who will take an interest, and convince them that it is worth sinking a lot of resources into developing it. S...

Well, he's 10% longer than my hypothetical breadbox but I'm willing to stretch a point... Three to go, and have an MBP for silliness. No more Buck Godot or Phil Foglio.