Friday, December 23, 2005

A Guessing Game...

(Borrowed from repton_infinity over on LiveJournal.)

I'm thinking of a book. You can ask Yes/No questions that relate to the content of the book, but not the externals. So it's OK to ask if there is a quest to save the world, but not if it was written before 1980.

It's a science fiction novel. I think it's reasonable that you guys have read it or heard of it. I even own a copy.

First Question:
Do the main characters ever travel from one solar system to another?
-Yes, although to be fair, not during the course of the book.

(Please ask new questions as Blogspot comments and not the RSS feed available on LiveJournal.)

Cheers,

Stephanie

22 comments:

theamazingcatherine said...

Does it have aliens in it?

Steph answers: Yes.

Are the aliens elf-like?

Steph: No.

Are the aliens cute and fuzzy?

Steph: ... I'll go with no.

Do the aliens have an elaborate society, or are they crude and bestial?

Steph: Cultured.

Anonymous said...

"Are the aliens cute and fuzzy?
Steph: ... I'll go with no."
- On second thoughts, that's technically a yes.

Stephanie said...

From Mashugenah:
Is the entire cast of named characters human?
-No
Are there sentient computer programs?
-No
Is it Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling?
-No

Anonymous said...

Are the aliens at war with the humans?

Is there more than one alien species?

Stephanie said...

Is the inter-system travel via wormholes, FTL, Sleeper or hand-waving (a la Dune)?
- FTL

Do we go to the aliens? (Like Triple Detente) Do they come to us? (Close Encounters et al) Do we mutually meet in neutral space? (Summertide)
- They come to us.

Are the aliens at war with the humans?
- Yes

Is there more than one alien species?
- Yes. (A very good question by the way, which explains the ambiguity over "Are they cute and fuzzy?")

From Cat: Is it set on Earth?
- No.

Anonymous said...

Ok, to recap:

Humans are at war with at least one species of aliens. Humans have travelled between the stars, using some kind of warp drive / hyperspace thingumy, but the action all takes place on this one planet. The planet is not Earth, but it's not the aliens' homeworld either (because they come to us). One of the alien species is cute and fuzzy. We get to know one or more of the aliens over the course of the story.

Are we at war with all the aliens?

If so, are the aliens allied against us? (or are we just being typical humans and attacking everything in sight? :-) )

Are the humans part of a galactic empire?

theamazingcatherine said...

Is it a comedy? A tragedy? An adventure? Mostly dealing with sociological aspects (ie. Left Hand of Darkness), or worshipping technological fixes to problems? Is it... Space Opera?

Anonymous said...

Does it take place over a relatively short period of time, or a long one, ie several years or more?

uwrtmr - an alien species that like to feast on human livers.

Anonymous said...

Who wins?

rrzlb - homeworld of the uwrtmr.

Anonymous said...

The Chanur Series of novels (C. J. Cherryh)

How are the humans off tech wise compared to the aliens: behind all, behind some - equiv rest, behind some - equiv some - ahead some, behind some - ahead rest, equiv all, equiv some - ahead rest, ahead all?

Stephanie said...

Humans are at war with at least one species of aliens. ... We get to know one or more of the aliens over the course of the story.
-Yes

Are we at war with all the aliens?
-No.

If so, are the aliens allied against us? (or are we just being typical humans and attacking everything in sight? :-) )
-No.

Are the humans part of a galactic empire?
-No.

Is it a comedy? A tragedy? An adventure? Mostly dealing with sociological aspects (ie. Left Hand of Darkness), or worshipping technological fixes to problems?
- There are some funny bits, some sad bits, and some sociology. Mostly it's an adventure. They don't worship technological fixes to problems.

Is it... Space Opera?
-No.

Does it take place over a relatively short period of time, or a long one, ie several years or more?
- Less than a year.

uwrtmr - an alien species that like to feast on human livers.
- No.

Who wins?
- The humans.

The Chanur Series of novels (C. J. Cherryh)
-No.

How are the humans off tech wise compared to the aliens: behind all, behind some - equiv rest, behind some - equiv some - ahead some, behind some - ahead rest, equiv all, equiv some - ahead rest, ahead all?
- The humans are behind.

Merry Christmas all.

Anonymous said...

Just pointing out that "uwrtmr" wasn't a question, rather my answer to the word verification required for commenting. It's a fun game.

fgxospa - high priest of the uwrtmr.

For my next question, are their any highly evolved earth animal species involved, apart from humans?

Stephanie said...

For my next question, are their any highly evolved earth animal species involved, apart from humans?
- Yes.

"My answer to the word verification required for commenting."
Ah, OK, that suddenly makes a lot more sense.

Anonymous said...

What does "highly evolved" mean anyway? I mean, flies have been evolving just as long as humans have.. For instance, is a cat highly evolved? Or a hamster? Or are talking dolphins and orang-utans here?

Does it feature men who are real men and carry guns and are polite to women and are well versed in mathematics and like to have lots of sex [which the women, or sometimes other men, happily go along with]?

Anonymous said...

Are the main characters part of a starship crew?

ndecdj - a type of condiment favoured by the uwrtmr.

theamazingcatherine said...

I win! I win!

It came to me as a possible, then I went through the criteria, all of which fitted, and then a new criterion that I hadn't seen fitted in _really_ well and I woke Steph up (serves her right) and asked her and I win!

I'll give the rest of you a day's grace before I post the answer.

*This is me, grinning smugly.*

Stephanie said...

What does "highly evolved" mean anyway? I mean, flies have been evolving just as long as humans have.. For instance, is a cat highly evolved? Or a hamster? Or are talking dolphins and orang-utans here?
- I decline to answer the question on the grounds that it requires making a value judgement. Take 'highly evolved' any way that you like.

Does it feature men who are real men and carry guns and are polite to women and are well versed in mathematics and like to have lots of sex?
- Actually, yes, it does.

Are the main characters part of a starship crew?
- No.

Cat did in fact guess right, but if she wants to give you guys extra time, that's fine with me. Catherine, it's your turn next. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Then I guess it's a Robert Heinlein book but one that I haven't read :-/

Edward Sargisson said...

One of the David Brin books?
Although, this comment "Are the humans part of a galactic empire?
-No." makes me think I'm wrong.

Stephanie said...

Then I guess it's a Robert Heinlein book but one that I haven't read :-/
- No.

One of the David Brin books?
- Yes. But which one? :-)

The next round is up on Cat's blog here: http://lagataencantada.blogspot.com/2005/12/guessing-game-part-iii.html

Anonymous said...

I'm going to say The Uplift War then, although I haven't read it. I'd been thinking it was Startide Rising but you said it doesn't involve the crew of a ship.

yoiyed - a popular folk music singer of the uwrtmr.

Stephanie said...

Yes, it's The Uplift War.
John, while there is a character who is a Real Man, who carries guns (as well as a bow) and is polite to women and is well versed in mathematics (at least by implication) and likes to have lots of sex (with both the friendly female alien and also a Marine sergeant), the character who most fits the Heinlein stereotype is a chimpanzee called Fiben. And he's a nice guy, too.