Oolite Bulletins

Good grief, that was pretty much a wild guess!

OK... another fairly simple one... name a 1980s novel in which the leading characters inadvertently earn NASA's astronaut medal - while aboard a steam-powered vehicle.

Hint - There's a clue to the title in the question.

Hint - the steam is generated by a nuclear reactor.

Hmm … is this maybe part of the slightly odd "submarines in space" SF subgenre - a sub-subgenre, if you will?

Unfortunately not - the reason they earn the award is a technicality about the precise wording of the criteria of awarding the medal.

Another clue - a major plot point is the difficulty of landing without a major nuclear accident.

And another - the story was published in 1984 in Analog (I think), and in book form with another story in 1988. I've called it a novel, but technically it's a long novelette, apologies if this mislead anyone. The other story in the book was a Hugo winner for its year.

Another clue - much of the story takes place aboard a unique atomic-powered bomber, most of the characters are members of the USAF.

OK, I think this one really isn't going to get answered. It was Steam Bird by Hilbert Schenck.

Let's try a REALLY easy one:

The hero is a police lieutenant thrown into a divergent parallel world created by a one-word addition to the US constitution. Name the book and author.

Seriously? OK, a clue - The novel won a Prometheus Award.

Clue - The new world has a Libertarian-ish government.

The Probability Broach, by L. Neil Smith.

Yay! Your turn!

What ghastly mode of (to all intents and purposes) execution can be extrapolated from a piece of cake?

Clue: it was not designed as a means of execution - it was just intended to settle a domestic argument.

Memory belatedly stirs. The Total Perspective Vertex, I think. (googles it) Yes. Extrapolates a model of the entire universe from a bit of fairy cake and puts you into it as a microscopic dot with a little sign reading "you are here"

http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Total ... ive_Vortex

Correct! The Total Perspective Vortex was invented by Trin Tragula as a way to annoy his wife, who was always telling him to get a "sense of proportion". It's said to be the only device which can annihilate a person's soul …

Back to you!