Science Fiction Trivia

[Malacandra]

Okay. Which fictional book series* is dismissed by one fierce critic as "rhodomontade and piffle"? Name and title of both the book series and the other book series in which it appears.

(*as in, the book series itself does not exist but is referenced repeatedly as part of the backdrop)

[Disembodied]

There's really only one SF author who could use a word like "rhodomontade" and get away with it … alas I'm currently away from my books and I don't want to have to resort to Google to check the details!

[Cody]

- my Amazon Recommends are going to be pretty peculiar for a while now.

Damn it, now I'm getting them!

[Malacandra]

There's really only one SF author who could use a word like "rhodomontade" and get away with it … alas I'm currently away from my books and I don't want to have to resort to Google to check the details!

The actual book series is five books long, and the imaginary book series has a one-word title (and is written by a nobleman).

[Disembodied]

Okay, back with the books: the fictional book series is Life, by Unspiek, Baron Bodissey. His great work is quoted several times in Jack Vance's five-volume series The Demon Princes; extracts also crop up in The Cadwal Chronicles and some other novels set in the Gaean Reach.

[Malacandra]

That's the one. "Reviewer's comments" include not only excoriating it as "rhodomontade and piffle", as quoted, but threats to horsewhip the Baron on the steps of his club. You're next! (To pose a question, that is. Not for a horsewhipping.)

[Disembodied]

OK, next question: identify five intelligent aquatic races, from five different SF universes. These can be anything from fully gill-breathing to amphibious to happy on either land or in the water, but they should spend much of their time in an aquatic environment and have at least some significant physiological adaptation to a water-dwelling lifestyle.

[ffutures]

I'll go with the obvious ones - Dolphins, from The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Clarke's Dolphin Island, David Brin's Uplift series, and many other works. Shame it probably isn't so, at least not without a lot of upgrades.

So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish

If virtual species count, the intelligent lobsters of Charles Stross's Accelerando are computer simulations that crew an early interstellar probe.

[Disembodied]

I'll accept the virtual lobsters from Accelerando and roll all the various dolphins up as one answer. So that's two down, three to go.

[Cody]

Solaris?

[montana05]

once again back to Perry Rhodan, the Aquas: https://www.perrypedia.proc.org/wiki/Aquas

[Disembodied]

The intelligent world-ocean from Solaris … can a thinking ocean be described as an aquatic species? What the hell, I admire the chutzpah! And Perry Rhodan's Aquas definitely fit the bill.

That's four: next one takes the prize …

[Cody]

... can a thinking ocean be described as an aquatic species?

Yes, an interesting question!


The alien invaders from The Kraken Wakes (I don't think they're ever named)?

[Disembodied]

The invaders from The Kraken Wakes are indeed never named - but they're definitely an underwater intelligence and fill the remaining blank slot. Cody's up!

[Cody]

Such a fine tale, The Kraken Wakes.


Name the tune, name the sci-fi animation short, which is based on a short story from the fifties, which in turn shares its title with a song lyric from the forties.