Science Fiction Trivia

[Cmdr. Maegil]

I asked for the name of the alien species...
It's indeed from the "Flight of the Dragonfly", by Robert L. Forward, and they were the Flowen - after meeting them, calling someone an amoeba has never been the same...

Back to you, Selezen!

[Selezen]

Oops! I fail, but I win!

OK. Erich Von Daniken's theories on extraterrestrial influence on Earth prompted one particular author to pen a series of novels expanding on the concept. The first of these was published in 1974.

I would like the name of the novel and the author's pen name please!

[Selezen]

No takers?

Clue 1: The author's first work under his pen name was published in 1972.
Clue 2: His first work under his real name was published in 1960 and much of it is horror or erotic fiction.

[DaddyHoggy]

You know, I thought I'd get this - having laughed like a drain at Von Daniken when I was a kid (I still have a copy of "Chariot of the Gods" floating around somewhere for sentimental reasons) - but having trawled my own memory and come up blank - it turns out I don't even have enough of a thought to Google it with sufficient clarity...

[Selezen]

OK. Nother clue.

The writer's pen surname is the same as my real surname. Not sure how much easier that will make it.

[Spooky]

Is it Zack Hughes / Hugh Zachary with Seed of the Gods?

[Selezen]

Ding! Spooky gets it!

Hughes/Zachary seems to be a bit of a "dirty old man" when it comes to writing. Lots of bonking going on.

Anyway, over to you.

[Spooky]

I remember reading Seed of the Gods at school and being completely unimpressed. Ancient astronauts... pah. Anyway, on to my question...

I'm looking for the name of the book within a book, and the fictitious author.

The novel itself is ultimately a story centered around Hexagram 61
It asks the question what makes an antique real? Can you "feel the historicity"?

That should be enough to get you started.

[Spooky]

No one?

Ok, another clue.

The Novel in question was written in 1962 and won a Hugo Award the following year.

[Selezen]

I didn't even know another question had been asked!

The novel within a novel is "The Grasshopper Lies Heavy" by Hawthorne "The Man In The High Castle" Abendsen.

I'll be honest, this is a book I'm actually familiar with as I did a lot of searching for "alternate WW2 history" novels a while back, eventually buying "Fatherland" by Robert Harris. I did, however, have to Google up the details of the novel within a novel...

[Spooky]

Ding ding! Selezen wins.

I remember having my mind total blown by the complete lack of an ending to that book... in recent years I found out that Dick actually used the i Ching to write the book itself. Whacko or genius? I've never really managed to work out which he is.

[Selezen]

OK. This 1990 novel features a man tasked with protecting the empire he serves from corruption and evil. He must prevent a powerful alien from destroying humanity. Helping him are an insane assassin, a psychic and a dwarf.

It is the first part of a trilogy and is widely regarded as the only decent read of the three.

I would like the title of the book and the author's name please!

[snork]

That does sound quite Terry-Pratchett-like to me, but I now see all of his series were stretched way beyond trilogy. (he really churned out way too many.)

[SandJ]

That does sound quite Terry-Pratchett-like to me, but I now see all of his series were stretched way beyond trilogy. (he really churned out way too many.)

He's not past tense yet!

(I got Snuff for Xmas; I'm only about 30 pages in.)

[Selezen]

It's not Pratchett. This is a science fiction novel, although its setting could be said to be inspired by a "high fantasy" setting...

That's your first clue.

I disagree with the notion that Pratchett has churned out "too many" novels. His writing direction has changed in the 20 years he's been writing, and he has kept the books fresh by allowing his universe to evolve along with his writing. I think I would be more disappointed if he had churned out the same novel 26 times.