Yet *Another* Quote Game [First line game]

Drop by, pull up a chair, kick back your feet, and mingle with your fellow literature addicts. This area is the main lounge for general discussions about books, authors, reading, and literature in general.

Moderator: clong

User avatar
Kvetch
Sweeper
Posts: 11844
Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2004 2:12 pm
Location: North of the Sun and East of Chaos
Contact:

Post by Kvetch »

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe


Although that is of course the opening to a poem, not I believe any particular book, so I could be barking up the wrong tree (again).
"I'm the family radical. The rest are terribly stuffy. Aside from Aunt - she's just odd."
User avatar
voralfred
Carpal Tunnel Victim
Posts: 5817
Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:53 am
Location: Paris

Post by voralfred »

Well, it is not the beginning of a book, but of a poem of course.
But one can often find it by itself, not with the remainder of the book it was originally published in.
You did bark up the correct tree (last time you also did, in fact, but up a single tree when I expected two).

Well, I suppose you earned the sherlock and the next quote without even naming the poem, it is so obvious now!
Human is as human does....Animals don't weep, Nine

[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
User avatar
Kvetch
Sweeper
Posts: 11844
Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2004 2:12 pm
Location: North of the Sun and East of Chaos
Contact:

Post by Kvetch »

Lewis Carrol's Jabberwocky for the record.


OK, here is another one where translation is a factor. I've chosen to use one of it's renderings in English.
Lo, we have heard of Spear-Danes in days of yore, of folk-kings' prowness, how the princes wrought deeds of valor
"I'm the family radical. The rest are terribly stuffy. Aside from Aunt - she's just odd."
KeE
Scholar
Posts: 688
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2005 12:31 pm
Location: Skien, Norway

Post by KeE »

A long shot: Could this by any chance be Beowulf?
It is written.
User avatar
Kvetch
Sweeper
Posts: 11844
Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2004 2:12 pm
Location: North of the Sun and East of Chaos
Contact:

Post by Kvetch »

Indeed.

Now, please remind me - is this played for Sherlocks?
"I'm the family radical. The rest are terribly stuffy. Aside from Aunt - she's just odd."
User avatar
voralfred
Carpal Tunnel Victim
Posts: 5817
Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:53 am
Location: Paris

Post by voralfred »

I have always assumed so. I gave you one for Jabberwocky, and in the case of the Resident Patient/Cardboard Box, I had explicitly stated that only the full answer (mentioning both stories in a single post) deserved a sherlock, not a partial one (either story) that would still confer the next quote.
See also Sue's post
viewtopic.php?p=1839152#1839152
Human is as human does....Animals don't weep, Nine

[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
KeE
Scholar
Posts: 688
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2005 12:31 pm
Location: Skien, Norway

Post by KeE »

Very well. Try to get your snouts aligned on this one:
Good evening London. It's nine o'clock and this is the Voice of Fate broadcasting on 275 and 285 in the medium wave... It is the fifth of the eleventh nineteen-ninety-seven...
It is written.
chrisrayn
Bookworm
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Mar 23, 2008 9:47 pm
Location: Commerce (Dallas), TX

Post by chrisrayn »

I'm not certain because I haven't read the book or graphic novel it's based on, but the "Voice of Fate" is making me think "V for Vendetta?"

and just in case i'm right:
The first real writer I ever knew was a man who did all of his work under the name of August Van Zorn. He lived at the McClelland Hotel, which my grandmother owned, in the uppermost room of its turret, and taught English literature at Coxley, a small college on the other side of the minor Pennsylvania river that split our town in two.
There should be enough here to get you started.
...There's only
that one person, not exactly brave,
but too unhappy to be reasonable,
who crosses the moat, scales the walls.
- from "History" by Stephen Dunn
KeE
Scholar
Posts: 688
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2005 12:31 pm
Location: Skien, Norway

Post by KeE »

V for Vendetta it is indeed, and a Sherlock for you will be coming up. And
Kvetch, have you bumped me up one of those? I do believe I am entitled to it.
It is written.
User avatar
voralfred
Carpal Tunnel Victim
Posts: 5817
Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:53 am
Location: Paris

Post by voralfred »

chrisrayn wrote:
The first real writer I ever knew was a man who did all of his work under the name of August Van Zorn. He lived at the McClelland Hotel, which my grandmother owned, in the uppermost room of its turret, and taught English literature at Coxley, a small college on the other side of the minor Pennsylvania river that split our town in two.
There should be enough here to get you started.
More than ten days since it was proposed, no suggestion by any player, no hints from chrisrayn, who did not post anything anywhere else on this forum either.

I call that :cold: and offer a new first line. No trick here, a book, not a poem, written in english, not a translation, but I had to replace the name of a character by XXX lest it was a dead giveaway.
The fluffy ball of fur in XXX's lap stirred and put forth a round, prick-eared head as the steady pulse of the shuttle's thruster died.
Human is as human does....Animals don't weep, Nine

[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
User avatar
voralfred
Carpal Tunnel Victim
Posts: 5817
Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:53 am
Location: Paris

Post by voralfred »

A longer one?
The fluffy ball of fur in XXX's lap stirred and put forth a round, prick-eared head as the steady pulse of the shuttle's thruster died. A delicate mouth of needle-sharp fangs yawned, and the yyy turned its head to regard xxx with wide, grass-green eyes.

xxx is just the gender-appropriate pronoun for XXX, and yyy is the species of the "fluffy ball" with the prick-eared head and the needle-sharp fangs.
Last edited by voralfred on Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
Human is as human does....Animals don't weep, Nine

[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
User avatar
voralfred
Carpal Tunnel Victim
Posts: 5817
Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:53 am
Location: Paris

Post by voralfred »

One week since I first posted it and no answer?
When I showed it to a friend of mine who, I knew it, had read it (in fact, he introduced me to this author) he did not recognize it, but with just one extra word, he found it:
The fluffy ball of fur in XXX's lap stirred and put forth a round, prick-eared head as the steady pulse of the shuttle's thruster died. A delicate mouth of needle-sharp fangs yawned, and the yyy turned its head to regard xxx with wide, grass-green eyes.
"Bleek?"

xxx is just the gender-appropriate pronoun for XXX, and yyy is the species of the "fluffy ball" with the prick-eared head and the needle-sharp fangs, who utters "Bleek".

One more hint: this is not just the first line of a book, but the first line of an entire series of books centered on XXX, and where the "fluffy ball" is a supporting character, but quite an important one.
Human is as human does....Animals don't weep, Nine

[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
User avatar
tollbaby
anything but this ...
Posts: 6827
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2003 11:03 am
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Contact:

Post by tollbaby »

I would have guessed one of the Pip and Flinx books, but Pip isn't exactly furry...
And what manner of jackassery must we put up with today? ~ Danae, Non Sequitur
User avatar
voralfred
Carpal Tunnel Victim
Posts: 5817
Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:53 am
Location: Paris

Post by voralfred »

No, sorry, the yyy character is not Pip, and is really furry.
Human is as human does....Animals don't weep, Nine

[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
User avatar
Reede Kullervo
Scribe Adept
Posts: 290
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2005 12:16 pm
Location: Zagreb, Croatia

Post by Reede Kullervo »

Robert Asprin :?
Second book of Myths :?
Audaces fortuna iuvat.
User avatar
tollbaby
anything but this ...
Posts: 6827
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2003 11:03 am
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Contact:

Post by tollbaby »

was there a fluff-ball in the M.Y.T.H. series? I don't remember one (granted, I haven't read them in a long time).
And what manner of jackassery must we put up with today? ~ Danae, Non Sequitur
User avatar
voralfred
Carpal Tunnel Victim
Posts: 5817
Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:53 am
Location: Paris

Post by voralfred »

I don't know the MYTH series, there might be a fluffball, but not this one.
And no, RK, none of your propositions either (or was that just one? anyway, that is not hte answer).
Human is as human does....Animals don't weep, Nine

[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
User avatar
tollbaby
anything but this ...
Posts: 6827
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2003 11:03 am
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Contact:

Post by tollbaby »

I was actually commenting on RK's guess, not postulating one myself LOL
And what manner of jackassery must we put up with today? ~ Danae, Non Sequitur
User avatar
Reede Kullervo
Scribe Adept
Posts: 290
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2005 12:16 pm
Location: Zagreb, Croatia

Post by Reede Kullervo »

tollbaby wrote:was there a fluff-ball in the M.Y.T.H. series? I don't remember one (granted, I haven't read them in a long time).
It wasn't, of course :oops: :lol:
Audaces fortuna iuvat.
User avatar
voralfred
Carpal Tunnel Victim
Posts: 5817
Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:53 am
Location: Paris

Post by voralfred »

Even longer, and now if you ever read it, you're bound to recognize it.
The fluffy ball of fur in XXXfirst XXXlast's lap stirred and put forth a round, prick-eared head as the steady pulse of the shuttle's thruster died. A delicate mouth of needle-sharp fangs yawned, and the yyy turned its head to regard her with wide, grass-green eyes.
"Bleek?" it asked, and XXXfirst chuckled softly.
" 'Bleek' yourself," she said, rubbing the ridge of its muzzle. The green eyes blinked, and four of the yyy's six limbs reached out...

XXXfirst and XXlast are just XXX's first and last name, and yyy is the species of the six-limbed "fluffy ball" with the prick-eared head and the needle-sharp fangs, who utters "Bleek".

First line (first lines, rather) of an entire series of books centered on XXX, and where the "fluffy ball" is a supporting character, but quite an important one.
Human is as human does....Animals don't weep, Nine

[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
User avatar
tollbaby
anything but this ...
Posts: 6827
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2003 11:03 am
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Contact:

Post by tollbaby »

I think it's niggling at several people's minds, but I don't think anyone's going to get this either.
And what manner of jackassery must we put up with today? ~ Danae, Non Sequitur
User avatar
voralfred
Carpal Tunnel Victim
Posts: 5817
Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:53 am
Location: Paris

Post by voralfred »

From discussions I have had, there is at least one member who would recognize it at first sight.... but he is not such a regular. Strangely enough he did post somewhere else since I posted this, apparently he did not visit this page. A research on older posts showed several other members are familiar with this author.. but they also do not visit so oftne anymore.

Oh, well... give it 24 more hours and call it cold?
Human is as human does....Animals don't weep, Nine

[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
User avatar
Ghost
Judge Roy Bean
Posts: 3911
Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2004 8:53 pm
Location: Arizona

Post by Ghost »

Vorafred, when you make it cold please do not give out the answer - it is always great when weeks from now someone gets it right.

So just freeze :cold: . . to be quick thawed later. :wink:
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
S Adams
User avatar
tollbaby
anything but this ...
Posts: 6827
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2003 11:03 am
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Contact:

Post by tollbaby »

I know it's driving *me* crazy.... I know I've read this book, if not the series LOL It'll probably come to me in a month or two, around 3am.
And what manner of jackassery must we put up with today? ~ Danae, Non Sequitur
JKCade
Literature Addict
Posts: 435
Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:32 pm
Location: Choctaw, OK

Post by JKCade »

XXXfirst and XXlast are just XXX's first and last name,

Honor Harrington

and yyy is the species of the six-limbed "fluffy ball" with the prick-eared head and the needle-sharp fangs, who utters "Bleek".

Nimitz the tree cat.

The series is the "Honorverse" by David Weber.

As to WHICH book in the series it is, off the top of my head I can't really say, let me get back to the house to do a quick scan of the books and if I see it, I'll post back. (I am on lunch break at the moment, having just cleaned several thousand dead bugs off the wings and belly of a LearJet. I can't believe I get PAID to do this!!

James
Post Reply

Return to “The Reading Room”