Science Fiction Trivia

[Cody]

A collaborative novel, consisting of shorts by various authors strung together by interludes written by the editor - would that count?

[RockDoctor]

A collaborative novel, consisting of shorts by various authors strung together by interludes written by the editor - would that count?

Are you trying to drive me berserk, Fred?
I thought about that one, and I'm quite uncomfortable about it becuase there's no need for the whole team of writers to sit down in a room and beat each other into compliance about a plot point. Literally or metaphorically. The Man-Kzin Wars ensemble are a bit further down that route, and the next station is the squad of Star Trek writers whose collaboration is a "bible" giving the characteristics of each character. So, I think not.

(Actually on second thoughts, MKW is a long way down that road, as Larry specified the information in an RPG as providing the background guidance for authors in the universe. So that in effect became the "bible".)

[Cody]

Are you trying to drive me berserk, Fred?

<chortles> Would've made a good seven though!

[RockDoctor]

Are you trying to drive me berserk, Fred?

<chortles> Would've made a good seven though!

Yep, that's why I thought about it, quite hard.

[ffutures]

Not sure this one counts

The Wizard of Karres (2004) by Eric Flint, Dave Freer and Mercedes Lackey, a sequel to The Witches of Karres by James H. Schmitz which uses a lot of the elements of Schmitz's characterization etc., but Schmitz himself wasn't involved in writing it, being somewhat dead at the time...

[RockDoctor]

Schmitz himself wasn't involved in writing it, being somewhat dead at the time...

Hmmmm, posthumous collaboration. I hadn't thought of that.
I'll let it stand as a foursome, unless someone else comes up with a foursome that doesn't involve arguments conducted by ouija board.

Anyone got a set of quintuplets?

[spud42]

would a series of books with the main author on each book but a different collaborator on each count?

[RockDoctor]

would a series of books with the main author on each book but a different collaborator on each count?

If they were written at (more or less) the same time, leading to the "herding cats" problem, I think yes. If they were a consecutive sequence ... no cats were herded, and so the herd was of size 2 or 3, and has already been trumped.

[Cody]

Herding cats? Obligatory vid...

[RockDoctor]

Anyone got a set of quintuplets?

Anyone? I'd be surprised if there wasn't one.

[spud42]

any one home?? knock knock

[Cody]

Hello
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me
Is there anyone at home?

[Disembodied]

The Listeners
Walter de la Mare

‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
Of the forest’s ferny floor:
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller’s head:
And he smote upon the door again a second time;
‘Is there anybody there?’ he said.
But no one descended to the Traveller;
No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
To that voice from the world of men:
Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,
That goes down to the empty hall,
Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken
By the lonely Traveller’s call.
And he felt in his heart their strangeness,
Their stillness answering his cry,
While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,
’Neath the starred and leafy sky;
For he suddenly smote on the door, even
Louder, and lifted his head:—
‘Tell them I came, and no one answered,
That I kept my word,’ he said.
Never the least stir made the listeners,
Though every word he spake
Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house
From the one man left awake:
Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,
And the sound of iron on stone,
And how the silence surged softly backward,
When the plunging hoofs were gone.

[Commander_X]

Hello
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me
Is there anyone at home?

... you're correct, but even earlier:

Is there anybody out there?
<several times repeat>
IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE?
<simple acoustic guitar instrumental>

[spud42]

checking the thread for a pulse......