Science Fiction Trivia

[ffutures]

That was a bit of a trick question. To quote QI, the correct answer is "Nobody Knows!" I think I'm going to have to say that Malacandra is closest, because there were definitely two seen to be destroyed, the third is possible but not proven. The final battle took place in a cloud of steam and black smoke, and at the end of it nobody is sure if a third tripod was destroyed. I hurl a slipper in your general direction.

[Malacandra]

Hmm... Okay, this one should be doable given some of the earlier answers in this thread, but I'll make it harder to Google.

Your journey begins close to α Canis Majoris and you are setting your compass a point to the north of α Eridani. Where are you trying to find... with a piece of doggerel your only clue?

(if you substitute the familiar names for the Bayer designations, the only hit I'm seeing on Google is, coincidentally, a post by me somewhere else ten years ago.)

[Disembodied]

That would be the lost world of Thamber - once you've discovered the lines missing from the children's rhyme:

Set a course from the old Dog Star
A point to the north of Achernar;
Sleight your ship to the verge extreme
And dead ahead shines Thamber's gleam.

From The Killing Machine, by Jack Vance.

[Malacandra]

That would be the lost world of Thamber - once you've discovered the lines missing from the children's rhyme:

Set a course from the old Dog Star
A point to the north of Achernar;
Sleight your ship to the verge extreme
And dead ahead shines Thamber's gleam.

From The Killing Machine, by Jack Vance.

lol. I wandered by Wikipedia and fixed that quote just after you posted. It was something to do

Well, you are now officially a slippery customer - off you go!

[Disembodied]

OK, book and author too please: which clan of interstellar ne'er-do-wells have their headquarters - nominally, at least - in a castle on the river Clyde?

[Disembodied]

The river Clyde, in the book, now runs through a series of crater lochs …

[Cody]

Sounds like a good tale - was Helensburgh cratered? I got bombed there a few times.

[Disembodied]

History does not relate … but if there's a bombardment on the Clyde, you have to think that Helensburgh will be pretty much at Ground Zero, since it's only 5 miles away from Faslane.

This particular group controls a web of wormholes, linking planets across the galaxy.

[spud42]

this sounds familiar but damned if i can think of it right now...... gonna sleep on it..

[ffutures]

Something from Peter F. Hamilton? No idea which one.

[Disembodied]

Nope, not Peter F. Hamilton … the story also includes two resurrected folk musicians, who may or may not have real memories.

[spud42]

Something from Peter F. Hamilton? No idea which one.

i think that was under Edinburgh Castle.... cant quite remember the title.COMPLETELY WRONG...lol i think the Edinburgh castle thing was from Battlefield earth by that Scientologist nut...

[Disembodied]

A one-word clue, to get people googling:

Begbie.

[Disembodied]

Still no takers? The clan specialise in combat archaeology (which in their case is less about digging up battlefields and more about extraction of relics under combat conditions).

[Cody]

Ahh... Newton's Wake, by Ken MacLeod? Damn it, I'm sure I've read that... should've known.