Monday, January 19, 2009

Tagged

It has been almost a month since my friend Arvind Mishra, an sf writer, tagged me in this post.

The meme is to choose ten sf books of your choice and just scribble down the fifth sentence on page 56 of all of them and then invite your friends in turn to guess the books where these extracts are selected from. And then declare the answers. (You can choose non-sf books also, but I have chosen only sf - these are among my most well-liked sf works of all time).

Warning : Answers are just below the list.

Here goes (some of the sentences are really vague!)

1. With a little skill and care there were few items that could not be tackled safely; the only things banned were hot soups and excessively crumbly pastries.

2. "If this is true, then the Straumers may have a chance."

3. The nervousness that Stormgren had first felt had long since passed away.

4. "I do not quite follow you."

5. "What?", Lvov tried to focus."

6. Their clothes were not particularly revealing, he noted regretfully, and not one had any sign of décolleté, although some dresses seemed to designed to emphasize the buttocks.

7. A quick punch was all it took.

8. "I helped to do it, even."

9. "This way is much better," Leroux said, touching her skin delicately, poking under her cheeks and chin, pulling back her hair to feel her temples.

10. "But that's the point: it's not right, Captain," Renner protested.

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Answers:

1. 2001 A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke
2. A Fire upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge
3. Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
4. Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
5. Vacuum Diagrams - Stephen Baxter (Short story - Gossamer)
6. Prelude to Foundation - Isaac Asimov
7. Grass - Sherri S. Tepper
8. Distraction - Bruce Sterling
9. The Collected Stories of Greg Bear - Greg Bear (Short story - Sisters)
10. The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle


6 comments:

lartronics said...

I’ve recently published a new 900-page biography about the life and times of Hugo Gernsback. It is available on Amazon. Just follow this link:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=steckler+hugo+gernsback

The manuscript was found while I was in the process of closing down Gernsback Publications Inc. in 2003. It was apparently written some time in the 1950’s. It covers all the areas that Hugo found interesting: wireless communications, science fiction, publishing, patents, foretelling the future, and much more.

Want more info? Contact me at PoptronixInc@aol.com

A said...

@lartronics: The blogosphere seems to be full of the same comment by you.

Just follow this link:

http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=d4b&q=%22I%E2%80%99ve+recently+published+a+new+900-page+biography+about+the+life%22&btnG=Search&meta=

Dialect Of Heart said...

you are quite a science fiction reader, aren't you? that's a genre I intend to explore this year along with travel literature. will check out your blog once I start my reading challenge for the year in march. Got exams in feb. nice blog you've got here. and a fellow Assamese blogger...i already like you :)

A said...

@quirky: Thanks, for dropping by. And all the best for your exams :)

Arvind Mishra said...

Hey Hrishi ! So you responded to it ! I could guess the one from space odysee ! Thanks !

A said...

@Arvind: Yes, took me some time to post as I was otherwise occupied :)