Yet *Another* Quote Game [First line game]

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 6:54 pm

Sue, I have the feeling that even with all these hints, noone is going to guess. What about suggesting a new first line? The previous one can remain as a "cold" question to bring a sherlock (but not hte right t opost a new one indefinitelt)

mccormack44 · Post by **mccormack44** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 12:39 pm

It took me awhile to find a new first line that is not too easy but still from a well-known work.

Here is is

As I walked through the wilderness of this worldk I lighted on a certain place that was a Den, and I laid me down on that place to sleep: and as I slept I dreamed a dream.

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 7:41 am

"The Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan?

If this is correct, and I believe it is, thanks to our dear LMB for a memorable quote from that book (not this first line, just some lines some where in that book) that plays such a major role in one of her novella (novelette?) "The Borders of Infinity" and spurred me to learn a bit more about that book I had never heard of before.

Oops!

Already posted by clong in december 2007
In fact, I now remember that it was only at that occasion that, recognizing the name for laurie's answer, I went deeper into it. At that time, I did not recognize the first line.

Sue, would yo ucare for a different one?

mccormack44 · Post by **mccormack44** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 7:54 pm

Your identification is correct.

I would think that a gap of 15 to 16 months would entitle you to a Sherlock. With this game having reached 30 pages, there are sure to e repeats from time, so we need someone's ruling about this.

In the meantime I will search for a new first line, less obscure than the one I presented before this one. OR, sin Voralfred is correct isn't it his turn to post, with or without the Sherlock?

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:46 pm

OK, so I post a new quote and leave the powers-that-be decide on the sherlock

So shaken as we are, so wan with care,
Find we a time for frighted peace to pant,
And breathe short-winded accents of new broils
To be commenced in strands afar remote.

MidasKnight · Post by **MidasKnight** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:52 am

I have no idea, but it is FANTASTIC!! I want to read this book/poem. Someone hurry up and identify it please!

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:38 pm

HINT

I am writing this carefully so it is a hint not just for MidnasKnight but also for everyone else who can read what is plainly in black on blueish-grey under his/her nose

I have a distinct impression MidasKnight has found the quote and is making fun of me for asking too easy a first line.
I don't mind having my leg gently pulled, but what baffles me is that it gives him such a kick that he'd renounce a

just to make a joke.

Zybahn · Post by **Zybahn** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:39 pm

So shaken as we are, so wan with care,
Find we a time for frighted peace to pant,
And breathe short-winded accents of new broils
To be commenced in strands afar remote.

No more the thirsty entrance of this soil
Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood.

Shakespeare's 1 Henry IV.
A reference to the King's earlier promise to go on a Holy Crusade; of Cain killing Abel, when in Genesis Cain thinks of the earth opening its mouth to receive Abel's blood.

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:40 pm

Correct, of course. Your turn, and a sherlock.

MK: Still bardophobe?

Zybahn · Post by **Zybahn** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:42 pm

We posted simultaneously... You lost me on your hint. I guess I am blind since I can't plainly see the hint in black & white under my nose.

Edit: Oh... I get it.

Edit#2:

New Quote:

You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning.

MidasKnight · Post by **MidasKnight** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:23 pm

No jesting, I had no idea who it was.

I don't want to like any Shakespeare though. He is too overrated in what I've read so far.

Ho hum, maybe I'll have to have a paradigm shift.

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Sat May 23, 2009 4:57 pm

Zybahn, what about a new hint?

Or is noone interested in this game anymore?

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 4:07 am

I call that cold, and offer a new first line.

Hint about this first line:
Normally I consider a Prologue as integral part of a story. But in this case, this book is part of a series, and the author wrote a Prologue to recap the first books of the series, so a reader could start with this book without having read the first ones. So the Prologue in this special case is not really a part of that book, and in addition its first line is a dead giveaway of the series.
So I start with the first line of Chapter One, not of the Prologue.

'I don't believe it, of course', said XXX YYY, standing on the wide steps of ZZZ Hall and looking over the city as it sparkled in the sunlight.

XXX YYY are first and last name of a character in that book, that might be too helpful.
ZZZ is the last name of a character of the beginning of the series, and would be a dead giveaway, at least of the series (and then you'd just have to check the first line of all the books).

sorry for the missing "s" above

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 1:33 am

voralfred wrote:(...) Normally I consider a Prologue as integral part of a story. But in this case, this book is part of a series, and the author wrote a Prologue to recap the first books of the series, so a reader could start with this book without having read the first ones. So the Prologue in this special case is not really a part of that book, and in addition its first line is a dead giveaway of the series.
So I start with the first line of Chapter One, not of the Prologue.

'I don't believe it, of course', said XXX YYY, standing on the wide steps of ZZZ Hall and looking over the city as it sparkled in the sunlight.
XXX YYY are first and last name of a character in that book, that might be too helpful.
ZZZ is the last name of a character of the beginning of the series, and would be a dead giveaway, at least of the series (and then you'd just have to check the first line of all the books).

Another hint: the first few (I won't tell you just how many) books of this series had been published for decades before the author decided to write more books in this series. The one you have to guess is one of the sequels, but there were also some prequels, all written in a somewhat tighter schedule.

Post by **clong** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 5:02 am

Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov

When I saw the first post, I checked Foundation and Empire...

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 6:16 am

Right of course!
Sorry for misleading you in my first post by forgetting the "s"! Though in the next sentence I did mention the "first ones", plural.

Anyway, one sherlock and the next quote please, please, pretty please, keep the game going....

Post by **clong** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 7:56 am

howsabout this one:

One summer afternoon Mrs. firstnameA lastnameA came home from a Tupperware party whose hostess had put perhaps too much kirsch in the fondue to find that she, firstnameA, had been named executor, or she supposed executrix, of the estate of one firstnameB lastnameB, a California real estate mogul who had once lost two million dollars in his spare time but still had assets numerous and tangled enough to make the job of sorting it all out more than honorary.

Post by **clong** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 12:21 pm

ready for a hint? The book appears on this list:

http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/ ... _list.html

Post by **clong** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 8:25 am

How about another hint? Allusions to an entity that appears in this novel can be found in such disparate sources as The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, the Star Trek and Buffy universes, and Lost. Believe it or not.

MidasKnight · Post by **MidasKnight** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:25 am

Money

Post by **clong** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 11:41 am

Good guess, but it's not Money.

MidasKnight · Post by **MidasKnight** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 1:46 pm

Still just guessing, but I noticed you are currently reading a book on the list so I'll try it:

Gravity's Rainbow

Post by **clong** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:41 am

Closer, but no cigar...

I believe that, in theory, there is suppose to be a waiting period after an incorrect guess. Having said that, given this thread's moribund state, I'd say keep guessing until you get it.

MidasKnight · Post by **MidasKnight** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:44 pm

Since this is just sheer guessing and you said the last one was 'closer' ...AND since nobody else is guessing, how about ...

The Crying of Lot 49

Post by **clong** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 5:19 am

Yes, it is The Crying of Lot 49, and you're up!

The Internet Book Database of Fiction

Yet Another Quote Game [First line game]