Science Fiction Trivia

[spud42]

thought alien might be pushing it... starship troopers was an immediate thought..lol
now to find the other half of the answer.....

[ffutures]

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card?

[Old Murgh]

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card?

Yes, that was the other I had in mind (though i thought a further list might pop up).
And a nice point for ffutures, taking us to the tie-break:
Give the names of these alien enemies. (4 available points)

[spud42]

not sure that i remember them being called anything but "BUGS" in troopers but just flicking through the book i find the home planet name of KLENDATHU so i assume that is the name of the bugs too?

i have read enders game and the 7 more after that but cant remember that species name either.....

[Old Murgh]

not sure that i remember them being called anything but "BUGS" in troopers but just flicking through the book i find the home planet name of KLENDATHU so i assume that is the name of the bugs too?

i have read enders game and the 7 more after that but cant remember that species name either.....

Hm, just 1 of 4 possible points but half a bonus point for resisting internet aid. (–Really? Enderverse has 2 terms on constant repeat..)
We shall see what your opponent has to offer..

[spud42]

forgive an old mans patchy memory..

ok for Enders game common term is Buggers and species is Formic.

still no idea of the troopers names i read too much last night , got to bed around 2 am..lol

[Old Murgh]

forgive an old mans patchy memory..

ok for Enders game common term is Buggers and species is Formic.

still no idea of the troopers names i read too much last night , got to bed around 2 am..lol

Yes, that’s much better. Nothing to forgive.
The correct answers were
Buggers and Formics, Bugs and Arachnids.

By quick reply and majority points, you have again earned the sacred chalice.

[spud42]

ok here is your clue...

The Starship Pleiades could travel instantaneously to literally anywhere in the universe – but that was just the trouble with it. For there was absolutely no way of predicting where in the infinities of space it would reappear.

Author and Title please.

[ffutures]

Is it Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers by Harry Harrison? He had a weird space drive powered by cheese in there if I recall correctly, and going somewhere randomly with it rings a vague bell.

[spud42]

Unfortunately no my friend.. nice try but it is not Harry Harrison.

[ffutures]

Feels like it's early-ish. Pulp SF, maybe 1950s-60s? Campbell, or someone else who wrote for Astounding?

[spud42]

getting warmer. its amazing how warm you are...lol

[ffutures]

OK, so the quintessential writer from that era and earlier is Doc Smith, so I looked through my Smith books and found that summary on the back cover of The Galaxy Primes from 1959. Which isn't a book I particularly want to re-read, so I'm not sure why I kept it.



Hopefully that's the right one...

[spud42]

spot on. in both your answer and your opinion...lol

not his best work, its what i think they call juvenile sci fi. Meant for early teens readers...

Massive BP's for the awesome cover art.

Le calice du poison est maintenant en votre possession

[ffutures]

My copy unfortunately has 20p written in large unfriendly felt tip over the middle of the illo, which is why I used an online source.

Let's try a riddle:

I can be as small as the pen in your pocket or as big as the statue of liberty. I can affect you, your friends, or an entire city. My Welsh cousin's a bit of a pill, but does the same job. My name is way too forgettable, and you probably don't want to remember me anyway. What am I?

later - changed the last line very slightly.