Oolite Bulletins

A man and a dog escort seven virgins to Moscow, where they (the man and the dog) present themselves as, respectively, a searcher after Lenin's tomb, and the Ambassador of the Caliph of Byzantium. Needless to say, they have ulterior motives. Name the book and author.

The man is English, but the dog is an American. The virgins are intended as brides for the Duke of Muscovy. The man and the dog have previously been involved in a scheme to sell the location of the long-lost remains of the Eiffel Tower, and have been accused of burning London to the ground - although in their defence, as the man says, "We were there when it burned, granted. But it was hardly our fault. Not entirely. Anyway, I understand that large swaths of it survived."

A further clue: on the journey to Moscow, they help to rescue a man from a cyborg wolf.

"Dancing with Bears ", Michael Swanwick.

I did use google-fu to get this one.

aegidian wrote:

"Dancing with Bears ", Michael Swanwick.

I did use google-fu to get this one.

It is indeed! It's the first Darger and Surplus novel (Darger is the man, and Surplus - short for Sir Blackthorpe Ravenscairn de Plus Precieux - is the genetically augmented dog) and it's a total hoot. They've previously appeared in a couple of short stories, the shortest of which is available online here if anyone wants to read it: http://io9.com/5802446/the-little-cat-l ... such-sport

Over to you!

In tribute to a favourite author who passed just recently, riddle me this: what is the title, who is the author, and whence came the inspiration of this book I just pulled from the bureau?

Second of thirteen begins, "When he first awoke, he was hairless and in a cage."

aegidian wrote:

The prologue's protagonist, #1, later becomes Cadet Ken Sanders and dies (from spikes, a lightning bolt, a laser beam, a disrupter ray, a death spell, and petrification) a hero.

I have no idea at all, but this comes to mind.

Commander McLane wrote:

I have no idea at all, but this comes to mind.

The author gets name-checked a few times at TV Tropes. Often for his collaborative work with illegal aliens.


I think I have supplied enough cryptic google fodder in these clues for someone to get this now...

Hmm... something about this rings a distant bell, but it eludes me. Is the bold text itself a clue of some sort?

aegidian wrote:

In tribute to a favourite author who passed just recently, riddle me this: what is the title, who is the author, and whence came the inspiration of this book I just pulled from the bureau?

Second of thirteen begins, "When he first awoke, he was hairless and in a cage."

After some google-fu:

Nick Pollotta, Doomsday Exam, Bureau 13?

Disembodied wrote:

After some google-fu:

Nick Pollotta, Doomsday Exam, Bureau 13?

Well done.

I was sorry when I learned Nick had passed, but I still have plenty of his books to catch up on. Over to you!

Philip K. Dick's alternate-timeline novel The Man in the High Castle contains a fictional alternate-timeline book called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. Name the (real-world) alternate-timeline novel which refers to a fictional alternate-timeline book called The Man in the High Castle ...

This novel (the real one) uses a broadly similar counterfactual assumption as another alternate history novel, which is named after a type of Renaissance dance.

Although the author (who is now dead) is well-known, he's not thought of as a science-fiction writer. Mind you, this novel managed to win one of the big annual SF prizes (hint: not the Hugo or the Nebula. Or the Philip K. Dick award, either - but the award is named after a famous SF author and editor).

The award which this novel won was first established in 1973, and is associated with an American university.