Oolite Bulletins

Piers Anthony titled one volume of his "Bio of a Space Tyrant" series (hexology?) as "Mercenary", but I've never come across a copy in a library or 2nd-hand bookshop, and the volume(s) of the series I have read didn't enthuse me enough to look for it on eBay or whatever. But to ...

spud42 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 22, 2024 2:34 pm

Janissaries by Jerry Pournelle

thinking of others but not sure that they quite fit the mercenaries/soldiers of fortune/guns for hire requirement

That would fit the bill - that makes three.

Torin Kerr the main character of the Valor and Peacekeeper series by Tanya Huff . Up to gunnery sergeant during the Valor series, and mostly mercenary/soldier of fortune in Peacekeeper . Not one I know myself, but I see Torin Kerr described as "an independent troubleshooter" with the emph...

The Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet - an organization invented more or less out of nothing by Miles Vorkosigan as part of rescuing his emperor. He acquired ships by taking over another mercenary group, and the fleet eventually became an important covert operation for the government of Barrayar. First...

Well, that'll teach me to show off …

OK: five examples, please, of mercenaries/soldiers of fortune/guns for hire in science fiction. With some sort of name or other identifier, either personal or organisational. Usual rules, only one per author/universe.

I don't know if it counts as a filk song if there isn't a tune, but you're welcome to sing this to whatever you can fit it to: The Voiders' Last Goodnight Your years turn fast, our days run slow now Your light is shifting into red Our ships are fleeting, we must go now When we return you'll long be ...

There's this space shanty, produced to accompany the Aquatics DLC for the 4x game Stellaris:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBL9dTwVi4I

Going for a Scotland-Australia mashup: the kids' TV series Jeopardy, featuring schoolkids from Falkirk (in Scotland) going to Australia to look for UFOs. I mean, Bonnybridge is right down the road from Falkirk, but sure: go to Australia …

ultra low fruit... DR WHO... drs 10 and 12 at least 4 set in scotland or a quick visit to scotland Also in an episode of Matt no11... the sontaran Strax has a holiday in a glasgow pub, in his own inimitable style...lol https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/film-and-tv/doctor-who-reboot-episodes...

No takers? There's at least one (relatively) recent blockbuster with a Scottish scene … and of course there's a long-running TV series that has had several Scottish leads, not to mention several episodes set in Scotland.

Under The Skin - a 2013 really weird and unsettling film starring an alien Scarlett Johannssen prowling around Glasgow in a van doing unspeakably horrible things to men she entices into her Transit van. That's definitely number 4 … it is a deeply odd film. Large parts of it were apparently filmed i...

spud42 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 31, 2024 1:10 pm

ok, i cant believe i am doing this.... but

Battelfield Earth

That's number 3. Here's an MBP for your trouble and we shall never speak of this again …

Redspear wrote: ↑Tue Jan 30, 2024 9:03 pm

'Prometheus' and the discovery of the star map (scene).

Yup - the scene is set around the Old Man of Storr on Skye, in 2089. That's one!

ffutures wrote: ↑Tue Jan 30, 2024 11:53 pm

Rule 34 (2011) by Charles Stross

That's two! And it rules out anything more from Stross, e.g. the Edinburgh scenes in Accelerando.

Right … since WorldCon is in Glasgow this year, let's have five science fiction stories / scenes which are set in Scotland. For the avoidance of doubt, these have to involve things which are genuinely science-fictional, and not merely supernatural - even if the supernatural effects are treading on s...

In the TTRPG Space: 1889 , the European colonial powers discover the antigravity properties of Martian liftwood. Liftwood allows for the construction of large Ether Flyers for interplanetary travel, and has spurred further colonial expeditions across the inner planets of the solar system. Germany's ...