Science Fiction Trivia

Website · Post by **Cody** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 12:32 pm

Is it 'The Six Directions of Space' by Alastair Reynolds?

Zieman · Post by **Zieman** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 12:36 pm

El Viejo wrote:
Is it 'The Six Directions of Space' by Alastair Reynolds?

That wasn't the question

.

Zieman wrote:
If you've read this story, you know the answer. Otherwise, it may be (I hope) somewhat hard to figure out.

The riddle:
Who are the smiling ones?

Website · Post by **Cody** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 12:57 pm

Sorry, not thinking clearly today.

'The Smiling Ones' are million-year-old xenophobic aliens from an alternate reality.

Zieman · Post by **Zieman** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 2:00 pm

Close but no cigar.

The smiling ones are not really aliens (as in extraterrestials), they just happen to be the spacefaring descendants of Earth's dominant species in a timeline where dinosaurs didn't go extinct. And the xenophobia may be limited to (at least is most strong towards) mammals, who used to eat their eggs...

Oh well, so what - your turn El Viejo.

You got the story right, and superficial description of the creatures right from the story, I quess that's enough

.

EDIT: I really should stop being so predictable, think of something else than Alastair Reynolds )

Website · Post by **Cody** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 6:17 pm

When I saw ‘The Smiling Ones’ in your question, I knew that it was Alastair Reynolds. I could even remember the basic plot (a Mongol ruled alternate universe, of some sort), but I couldn’t remember which story. It took a bit of searching to find the title, and the description of ‘The Smiling Ones’ themselves was the best I could find (my memory failed me, again).

Next question:

Flying saucers are not extraterrestrial. The USA has them, the USSR has them… but the most advanced and powerful flying saucers come from Antarctica.

Which series by which author?

Selezen · Post by **Selezen** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 9:29 pm

Is it Miguel Serrano's Golden Band trilogy?

Hitler and UFOs. Cool idea.

Website · Post by **Cody** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 9:40 pm

Post by **Disembodied** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 10:25 pm

The Projekt Saucer series by W.A. Harbinson?

Website · Post by **Cody** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 10:27 pm

Disembodied scores again... your turn, sir.

Post by **Disembodied** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 11:04 pm

Woohoo! OK, this may well prove to be a stinker: we shall see. From the cover image below, name the book:

It's been cropped top and bottom to remove the title and the author's name. I can tell you it was published in 1974 (despite what Wikipedia thinks), and the edition I read had a much more cartooney cover ...

Website · Post by **Cody** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:24 am

Dragonfall 5 and the Hijackers.

Post by **Disembodied** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:34 am

Score another for El Viejo! Maybe I should have painted out the name on the side of the ship ...

Never mind! I think it's in principle an interesting twist on the subject, to see if people can recognise covers (or at least guess the book from the action being depicted – which for SF books in particular is often tricky).

JazHaz · Post by **JazHaz** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:37 am

El Viejo wrote:
Dragonfall 5 and the Hijackers.

Yeah I think he's right. Googled the title as I'd never heard of it. And found this: http://circulatinglibrary.net/archives/ ... -weirdness

EDIT: ninja'd!

Website · Post by **Cody** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 12:17 pm

Disembodied wrote:
Maybe I should have painted out the name on the side of the ship

It wasn't the ship name, it was the otter wearing the crown that gave me the clue.
I like the idea of cover art questions, Disembodied (especially as a lot of sci-fi novels have had many different covers over the years), so I'll continue with that theme.

Book title and author please:

Post by **Disembodied** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 12:31 pm

El Viejo wrote:
It wasn't the ship name, it was the otter wearing the crown that gave me the clue.

Even more kudos, then! I was just surprised at how quick you got it.

As for your question, I don't know this one! The cover design looks decidedly 1970s (although of course the book could be older than that) ... shattered robot, hmm ... if it wasn't so disturbing I'd guess Ted Hughes' The Iron Man, but I can't really see this being used as the cover for a children's book! Something disturbing, with robots ... are we in Philip K Dick territory, here?