Yet *Another* Quote Game [First line game]

[voralfred]

The series in indeed "Honorverse".
The "fluffy ball" is indeed Nimitz, but the name only appears a little bit further down. In the quote itself, yyy stands twice for treecat.

I waited for James to come back and mention the book, but it is not really needed.

Normally, it would be marginally fair for someone else to find the exact book after JKCade attracted his/her attention to the right series. A similar situation happened when Ghost attracted the attention to plays by Shakespeare by proposing Macbeth when the correct answer was Hamlet. If I had not mentioned in my hints that the line was not just the first one of a book but of the entire series, that would have been a similar case.

But since I did mention it, then just finding the series is tantamount to finding the right book, namely the first one. Then it really would not be fair for anyone to mention the first book of the series now. I'll leave it for JKCade to post the name of the book, but already I grant him the sherlock, and he can post the new quote.

Your turn, James!

[JKCade]

Apologies to one and all, still a little new to this.

The name of the book is "On Basilisk Station".

As for a new quote, well, here goes:

"How many worlds does this make?" The dialogue took place before a wall-sized view screen. The image was not one to make for happy conversation.

The Aaa knew the question was rhetorical. As the Bbb aged he was becoming soft, without direction. Yet powerful still.

"Seventy-two."

"Not including Ccc or Ddd."

"They have not yet fallen."

The answer was silence. Then,

"We will use the Eee."

At last!

Ok, who / what is Aaa and Bbb?

Who / what is Ccc and Ddd?

Who / what is / are Eee?

What is the name of the book / series?

Apologies if I formatted this incorrectly.

James


Mod Note: Put new quote in quote tags. Laurie

[JKCade]

Hmmm, I must be the only one to read John Ringo, LOL!

It was from "Dancing with The Devil".

James

[tollbaby]

Did you want to post another one? Usually when no one finds the answer, we declare the quote cold and move on to another one without giving the answer (that way if someone comes along in a few weeks or months and gets it, we can give them a sherlock point), but in this case, you can just post a new one and we'll move on from there

[JKCade]

No thank you, I normally read only about half a dozen authors regularly, and that one was my best shot. Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay.

James

[voralfred]

Well, since James declined to post a new one, I'll restart the game.

These two sentences do not look not very informative, but they the first ones of a very well-known book, in the original language (maybe you can guess from which english-speakig country the author is just from the exact vocabulary and spelling?)

He lay flat on the brown, pine-needled floor of the forest, his chin on his folded arms, and high overhead the wind blew in the tops of the pine trees. The mountainside sloped gently where he lay; but below it was steep and he could see the dark of the oiled road winding through the pass.

[Zybahn]

This has to be For the Whom the Bell Tolls. We spent a large portion of a class discussing the exact significance of the "oily roads" so I'll never forget this.

[voralfred]

Congratulations!
I did not expect it to be found so fast.
OK, so you tell me all about the "oily road". I also read it for school, (much too) long ago, but we did not discuss every single line, just the general topic (and of course we read it in french translation). It was only when writing the quote that I noticed this weird phrase. Why "oily"? In Spain, I'd think "dusty" would be more appropriate?

Anyway one sherlock and the next quote for you!

[tollbaby]

Roads used to be oiled specifically to prevent the choking dust that would fly up around carriage wheels, etc.

[Zybahn]

Yes. Roads at the time were oiled to keep the dust down, but it was done fairly infrequently, especially at times when roads weren't safe. The fact that this road was well oiled (well enough for the oil to be seem at an distance) informs of the nature of the road: that it is not much travelled. The road has that ominous quality of import, enhanced by the fact that it is being so closely watched. The watcher has no doubt been there for many hours, blah blah blah... That's sort of where the discussion headed.

Let's try this much-read and much-lauded novel:

It seems increasingly likely that I really will undertake the expedition that has been preoccupying my imagination now for some days.

[laurie]

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

[Zybahn]

Precisely.

[laurie]

New quote:

I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story.

[laurie]

New quote:

I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story.

Hint: A classic novel beloved by American English teachers -- but not-so-beloved by their students.

[laurie]

New quote:

I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story.

Hint: A classic novel beloved by American English teachers -- but not-so-beloved by their students.

Hint # 2: Female author, early 20th century

[laurie]

New quote:

I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story.

Hint: A classic novel beloved by American English teachers -- but not-so-beloved by their students.

Hint # 2: Female author, early 20th century

Hint # 3: A sled plays a pivotal role in the plot.

[laurie]

New quote:

I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story.

Hint: A classic novel beloved by American English teachers -- but not-so-beloved by their students.

Hint # 2: Female author, early 20th century

Hint # 3: A sled plays a pivotal role in the plot.

Hint # 4: The author’s other novels and stories were mostly about upper-class Americans at home and abroad. This novel is different.

(Last hint -- if nobody gets it now, let it go cold and someone else start a new quote.)

[voralfred]

Well, yo uwere posting hints every two days. Six days since last hint. Should we call it cold, now?

[laurie]

Yeah -- though I'm really surprised no one got it.

Just proves our players don't cheat by Googling!!

[voralfred]

I think this one will be found easily, even though it is not a full line but just the first sentence, three words in all, and I hide one.

Call me XXX.

[Zybahn]

Moby Dick. Call me Ishmael.

Ever see that Far Side cartoon where Melville is at his desk & around him are scattered pieces of paper with "Call me John," "Call me Bob," written and crossed out? Hilarious.

[voralfred]

Correct of course.

Your turn.

[voralfred]

Moby Dick. Call me Ishmael.

Ever see that Far Side cartoon where Melville is at his desk & around him are scattered pieces of paper with "Call me John," "Call me Bob," written and crossed out? Hilarious.

BTW, that reminds me of a cartoon (I don't remember where Isaw it) where Einstein is at a blackboard and looks at several formulae, all crossed out "E=ma^2", "E=mb^2"...

[Zybahn]

Let's try this little treasure:

"She was so deeply imbedded in my consciousness that for the first year of school I seem to have believed that each of my teachers was my mother in disguise."

[voralfred]

I think I have the answer.

Do I have to wait 5 days?

I think not: Zybahn did just answer my quote, but I had not answered the previous one, I restarted the game after a cold one. So the rationale of the 5-days wait does not apply (restarting the game does not mean I am so good at guessing.. on the contrary! I did not guess laurie's quote even though I am interested in this game). I remember a precedent (by an administrator, no less) of an answer before 5 days in such a case.
I'll wait for the OK by courtesy, and because I can't find the precedent just now.

Edit: I found the precedent, in this very game. It was not by an administrator, but by felonius. After he jump-started the game, I guessed his quote (Idoru, by William Gibson) and I offered another one. And he made a proposal within a few hours. It turned out he was wrong and ravenwing found the correct book shortly afterwards. But it seemed the normal thing for felonius to do then. Had he given the correct answer, I would have granted him the next quote and a sherlock without hesitation, because he had not guessed recently, but jump-started the game, as I did two quotes ago.