Science Fiction Trivia

[Disembodied]

Got it, I think! It's Jay Lake's "A Long Walk Home", and the character's name is Aeschylus Sforza.

[Zieman]

Correct!

[Selezen]

YAAAAAAAAY! Almost three months!

That must be the longest question in Trivia Thread history. Well done, Jarhead!

[Cody]

Almost three months! ... That must be the longest question in Trivia Thread history.

Hmm... actually, the record stands at about eight months between last clue and correct answer.

[Disembodied]

YAAAAAAAAY! Almost three months!

That must be the longest question in Trivia Thread history. Well done, Jarhead!

'Twas nothing ... I merely Googled scifi and "named Ask".

OK, here's one: it's a Cold War spy thriller/occult-with-a-science-twist mashup. Title and author, please!

[Disembodied]

No guesses yet? The novel is written very much in the style of John le Carré, and features a notorious (real) British spy. Despite the fantastical elements, the book sticks surprisingly close to known facts about this spy's life.

[Disembodied]

The author is probably better known for a novel involving time travel, gypsies and Romantic poets ...

[aegidian]

I "Declare" it's Tim Powers!

[Disembodied]

I "Declare" it's Tim Powers!

Giles rises majestically above the throng and nods the ball into the back of the net! It is indeed Declare, by Tim Powers. One of the weirdest things about the book is that the events of Kim Philby's life, and many of the bizarre adventures of Kim Philby's father, which are woven into the plot, are actually true.

Over to you, M&C.

[aegidian]

Okay then.

What's David Gordon's epic space opera, that's not.

[aegidian]

This novelette could be first perused in a 1959 issue of Astounding.

[Cody]

Is my google-foo working: Despoilers of the Golden Empire?

[aegidian]

Yes, but can you explain why?

[Cody]

Ooh, he wants explanations too. The tale isn't actually a space opera at all, it's pure allegory (although I'm not sure allegory is the right word).

[aegidian]

Ooh, he wants explanations too. The tale isn't actually a space opera at all, it's pure allegory (although I'm not sure allegory is the right word).

Yup, it's a fairly accurate dramatisation of the conquest of Peru recounted as if it were space opera.

So, not strictly science fiction and not strictly by 'David Gordon' really either as it was another of Randall Garrett's nom-de-plume's.