Science Fiction Trivia

[Cody]

It is A Fire Upon the Deep - winner of the Hugo Award. <lobs Cismoficoche candle over>

[Smivs]

<Smivs screws up reams of paper covered in words and letters, bins them>
Ha, I was nowhere near close, and I actually haven't heard of it either. Still at least the old brain is wide awake now.

[DredgerMan]

Thanks for the puzzle, Cody. I quite enjoyed that one.

Anyone who wants to receive the weirdly shaped candle has only to come up with the year that (abbreviated) 'Memoirs.....Vicarage .... 1983' was published.

[Cody]

1883?

[DredgerMan]

Weeehazzzaaawinnuuur!!!

Well done Cody.

The full name of the Finnish Science Fiction serial is "Muistelmia matkaltani Ruskealan pappilaan uuden vuoden aikoina vuonna 1983" or "Memoirs of My Trip to the Vicarage of Ruskeala around New Year 1983", which was published indeed in 1883.
You are a worthy winner of this eccentric piece of waxy art!

[Cody]

Another novel, another anagram: flesh haunts oven - hell (5,2,3,4-5)

[cbr]

damn anagrams, if cryptic i am sure the answer was 'event horizon'

[Cody]

Cryptic? Paphos!

[Cody]

Had to happen eventually, I suppose, but after nigh-on seven years of this thread, this morning I realised that I've repeated a question.
At least I used a different anagram, but it leaves me short of clues that aren't duplicates. Nurse! Nurse! Where's my medication!

[DredgerMan]

Blast! Another novel I never heard of/read. Since I got the last one, I'll give the others (Smivs?) a bit more time to solve this one.

(Edit: The plot is eerily familiar, though.)

[Cody]

The plot is eerily familiar, though.

Indeed - almost as if DA was paying homage to the tale.

[DredgerMan]

Hmmm, is that a politically correct way of saying that he nicked it?

[Cody]

<grins> In the same way that he probably 'borrowed' the idea of the guide from Europe on $5 a Day (which was notoriously inaccurate at times).

[DredgerMan]

Hmmmm.

As I haven't read the 'original' it's hard to be certain, but I would wager that DA's version is likely to be immensely funnier.

[Cody]

Aye, DA could definitely do funny!

To recap: you have the anagram [flesh haunts oven - hell (5,2,3,4-5)], you have Paphos, and you have a 'similarity' to DA's plot.
The tale was originally an 'excerpt' from a story purportedly written by a character in another author's novel.