Yet *Another* Quote Game [First line game]

[MidasKnight]

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[voralfred]

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

No, sorry. Do try again...

OK, dormant for a whole year. Time to put some life, here :
New first line :

The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed sub-category.

Some hints

As the neologism Deliverator indicates, this is SF.
Not just SF, but a specific sub-genre that, when this book was published, was still rather recent. Not so recent that this book could be called a "pioneering work", the sub-genre was well beyond that stage (about 10 years since it began in earnest, let's say). Still it is one of the rather early masterpieces in this sub-genre.

More hints:

Longer quote :

The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed sub-category. He's got esprit up to here. Right now, he is preparing to carry out his third mission of the night.

The missions are... to deliver pizzas

Spoiler: show

within thirty minutes of the phone call, or else...

[clong]

sounds like Snow Crash. (which I didn't love as much as most seem to have.)

[voralfred]

sounds like Snow Crash. (which I didn't love as much as most seem to have.)

This is correct.
But as a punishment for not loving this book, you are denied the right to offer the next first line and instead of giving you one , I'll take two out of your score!

Spoiler: show

JK
And in fact I totally agree with you opinion as stated here : 3/4 of the book are just superb, and the end is lousy...

[clong]

Oops. I posted a quote, then discovered that it had already been done. So I need to come up with another...

[clong]

"It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills."

[Haverlock]

neuromancer Gibson ~laughs~ I want molly millions nail mods!

[clong]

Welcome and thanks for joining our game! The answer is not Neuromancer.

[voralfred]

Sounds pretty to me.
Anyone feels like posting a new quote?
If noone posts in a near future, I'll try to jump-start the game....

[clong]

Fine with me. In the meantime, here is an extension of the quote which we are declaring cold:

It was about eleven o'clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them.

[voralfred]

OK, here it goes.

In fact the book begins with an

Invocation

State your intentions, Muse. I know you're there.
(...)

But since this might be too obscure, here is the first line of the actual story.

Xxx rounds the corner just as the executioner raises the noose above the woman's head.

Xxx is a first name. It is not clear whether the character has a last name. This is not a main character, but important enough a supporting character that giving the first name would be too much of a hint.

[voralfred]

OK, here it goes.

In fact the book begins with an

Invocation

State your intentions, Muse. I know you're there.
(...)

But since this might be too obscure, here is the first line of the actual story.

A longer quote :

Xxx rounds the corner just as the executioner raises the noose above the woman's head. The crowd on the Common stop praying and sobbing for just as long as Jack Ketch stands there, elbows locked, for all the world like a carpenter heaving a ridge-beam into place.

Xxx is a first name. It is not clear whether the character has a last name. This is not a main character, but important enough a supporting character that giving the first name would be too much of a hint.

A smaller hint: the book is in a specific genre which is not Fantasy. But there are a few elements of Fantasy in it, and Xxx is precisely one of these elements (which is why he has no last name, as far as I remember...)

Another hint: Xxx is sometimes called (for instance, a few lines below, still very near the beginning) "Xxx the Yyy" where Yyy is a color. But Xxx is not Gandalf....


I am not sure this game allows bonuses, but I'd like to give an extra 1/2 point for answering the following question:
Who is really "Xxx the Yyy" (this explains why he doesn't have a real last name)

clong, OK to give a bonus?

[voralfred]

OK, here it goes.

In fact the book begins with an

Invocation

State your intentions, Muse. I know you're there.
(...)

But since this might be too obscure, here is the first line of the actual story.

A longer quote :

Xxx rounds the corner just as the executioner raises the noose above the woman's head. The crowd on the Common stop praying and sobbing for just as long as Jack Ketch stands there, elbows locked, for all the world like a carpenter heaving a ridge-beam into place.

Xxx is a first name. It is not clear whether the character has a last name. This is not a main character, but important enough a supporting character that giving the first name would be too much of a hint.

A smaller hint: the book is in a specific genre which is not Fantasy. But there are a few elements of Fantasy in it, and Xxx is precisely one of these elements (which is why he has no last name, as far as I remember...)

Another hint: Xxx is sometimes called (for instance, a few lines below, still very near the beginning) "Xxx the Yyy" where Yyy is a color. But Xxx is not Gandalf....


I am not sure this game allows bonuses, but I'd like to give an extra 1/2 point for answering the following question:
Who is really "Xxx the Yyy" (this explains why he doesn't have a real last name)

clong, OK to give a bonus?

More hints:

- The genre is alternate history (with a bit of Fantasy)
Not a heavy alternate history like assuming the Axis won WWII
Just fictional characters meeting historical characters in situations not expected in "our" history, and some geographical peculiarities like some islands (real or fictional) having status of sovereign states that never existed in "our" world.

- The book the quote is taken from is part of a single novel spread over several books. Just like LOTR is a single novel in three volumes. I'll accept either the name of the book itself (which is the first one of the novel so the quote is really the first line of the novel, if one forgets the "Invocation") or the name of the several-volume novel.
In addition the full several-volume novel forms a series with another novel (single volume). Just like LOTR forms a series with "The Hobbit", but here the shorter novel is the sequel rather than the prequel. Xxx is one of the common elements between these two novels, even though they are separated by more than three centuries. This is a Fantasy element in the shorter novel, but the only one. (In the book the quote is taken from, besides Xxx there are more Fantasy elements, but not that many, really).

To get the bonus you now need to name the other novel in the series, give the full name of Xxx in that novel (it is Xxx Zzz and sounds like a first name-last name combination, not a nickname, as Xxx the Yyy sounds in the main novel; but Zzz is just the translation of the color "yyy" in a different language, so it is clear that it is not really a last name) in addition to finding who is really Xxx.

[voralfred]

This thread has been dormant for more than a year

So here is the original quote with the (first) name of the character. There is a bonus associated to finding a different novel where the same character appears, and where he is called "Enoch ZZZ", but I think that ZZZ is not really his last name.

Enoch rounds the corner just as the executioner raises the noose above the woman's head. The crowd on the Common stop praying and sobbing for just as long as Jack Ketch stands there, elbows locked, for all the world like a carpenter heaving a ridge-beam into place.

I'm leaving all the other hints

OK, here it goes.

In fact the book begins with an

Invocation

State your intentions, Muse. I know you're there.
(...)

But since this might be too obscure, here is the first line of the actual story.

A longer quote :

Xxx rounds the corner just as the executioner raises the noose above the woman's head. The crowd on the Common stop praying and sobbing for just as long as Jack Ketch stands there, elbows locked, for all the world like a carpenter heaving a ridge-beam into place.

Xxx is a first name. It is not clear whether the character has a last name. This is not a main character, but important enough a supporting character that giving the first name would be too much of a hint.

A smaller hint: the book is in a specific genre which is not Fantasy. But there are a few elements of Fantasy in it, and Xxx is precisely one of these elements (which is why he has no last name, as far as I remember...)

Another hint: Xxx is sometimes called (for instance, a few lines below, still very near the beginning) "Xxx the Yyy" where Yyy is a color. But Xxx is not Gandalf....


I am not sure this game allows bonuses, but I'd like to give an extra 1/2 point for answering the following question:
Who is really "Xxx the Yyy" (this explains why he doesn't have a real last name)

clong, OK to give a bonus?

More hints:

- The genre is alternate history (with a bit of Fantasy)
Not a heavy alternate history like assuming the Axis won WWII
Just fictional characters meeting historical characters in situations not expected in "our" history, and some geographical peculiarities like some islands (real or fictional) having status of sovereign states that never existed in "our" world.

- The book the quote is taken from is part of a single novel spread over several books. Just like LOTR is a single novel in three volumes. I'll accept either the name of the book itself (which is the first one of the novel so the quote is really the first line of the novel, if one forgets the "Invocation") or the name of the several-volume novel.
In addition the full several-volume novel forms a series with another novel (single volume). Just like LOTR forms a series with "The Hobbit", but here the shorter novel is the sequel rather than the prequel. Xxx is one of the common elements between these two novels, even though they are separated by more than three centuries. This is a Fantasy element in the shorter novel, but the only one. (In the book the quote is taken from, besides Xxx there are more Fantasy elements, but not that many, really).

To get the bonus you now need to name the other novel in the series, give the full name of Xxx in that novel (it is Xxx Zzz and sounds like a first name-last name combination, not a nickname, as Xxx the Yyy sounds in the main novel; but Zzz is just the translation of the color "yyy" in a different language, so it is clear that it is not really a last name) in addition to finding who is really Xxx.

[MidasKnight]

I have no idea, but you are really making me want to read it!!

[MidasKnight]

I think I figured it out ... well actually, I did some google sleuthing, so I cheated. I won't spoil it, but now I can go read it!

[voralfred]

This thread has been dormant for more than a year

So here is the original quote with the (first) name of the character. There is a bonus associated to finding a different novel where the same character appears, and where he is called "Enoch ZZZ", but I think that ZZZ is not really his last name.

Enoch rounds the corner just as the executioner raises the noose above the woman's head. The crowd on the Common stop praying and sobbing for just as long as Jack Ketch stands there, elbows locked, for all the world like a carpenter heaving a ridge-beam into place.

I'm leaving all the other hints

OK, here it goes.

In fact the book begins with an

Invocation

State your intentions, Muse. I know you're there.
(...)

But since this might be too obscure, here is the first line of the actual story.

A longer quote :

Xxx rounds the corner just as the executioner raises the noose above the woman's head. The crowd on the Common stop praying and sobbing for just as long as Jack Ketch stands there, elbows locked, for all the world like a carpenter heaving a ridge-beam into place.

Xxx is a first name. It is not clear whether the character has a last name. This is not a main character, but important enough a supporting character that giving the first name would be too much of a hint.

A smaller hint: the book is in a specific genre which is not Fantasy. But there are a few elements of Fantasy in it, and Xxx is precisely one of these elements (which is why he has no last name, as far as I remember...)

Another hint: Xxx is sometimes called (for instance, a few lines below, still very near the beginning) "Xxx the Yyy" where Yyy is a color. But Xxx is not Gandalf....


I am not sure this game allows bonuses, but I'd like to give an extra 1/2 point for answering the following question:
Who is really "Xxx the Yyy" (this explains why he doesn't have a real last name)

clong, OK to give a bonus?

More hints:

- The genre is alternate history (with a bit of Fantasy)
Not a heavy alternate history like assuming the Axis won WWII
Just fictional characters meeting historical characters in situations not expected in "our" history, and some geographical peculiarities like some islands (real or fictional) having status of sovereign states that never existed in "our" world.

- The book the quote is taken from is part of a single novel spread over several books. Just like LOTR is a single novel in three volumes. I'll accept either the name of the book itself (which is the first one of the novel so the quote is really the first line of the novel, if one forgets the "Invocation") or the name of the several-volume novel.
In addition the full several-volume novel forms a series with another novel (single volume). Just like LOTR forms a series with "The Hobbit", but here the shorter novel is the sequel rather than the prequel. Xxx is one of the common elements between these two novels, even though they are separated by more than three centuries. This is a Fantasy element in the shorter novel, but the only one. (In the book the quote is taken from, besides Xxx there are more Fantasy elements, but not that many, really).

To get the bonus you now need to name the other novel in the series, give the full name of Xxx in that novel (it is Xxx Zzz and sounds like a first name-last name combination, not a nickname, as Xxx the Yyy sounds in the main novel; but Zzz is just the translation of the color "yyy" in a different language, so it is clear that it is not really a last name) in addition to finding who is really Xxx.

Apart from MidasKnight, any one has a guess?

Another hint : In the first novel (spread over 3 books) the character is called Enoch the Red.

So now to get the bonus all you need is the name of the one book sequel, and find what is "Zzz", that passes for Enoch's last name. It is a word that means "red" in a different western european language.

Further hint for the bonus (but maybe that can help finding the main novel too)
The foreign word "Zzz" for "red" happens to be identical to an english word with a completely different meaning, (and also a different pronunciation) and Enoch (in the sequel) once signing an email just as "Zzz" caused an (involuntary? maybe voluntary, in fact) double-entendre. Try translating "red" in various western european language, and see when it makes sense in english...

Sorry, this is wrong: there seems to be NO western european language where "Zzz" is precisely the word for "red" but in at least two, it does not miss by much. I thought that it was a pun intended by the author, that Enoch the Red in the three-book novel of the quote would become Enoch Zzz. In fact the combination of letters "Zzz", if the word existed, would sound exactly as the word for red in one of these two languages, but the spelling does not quite match. Again, this sound is not the same as the word in english that "Zzz" means, and that causes the double-entendre. In the other language, I think some feature in this combination of letters cannot occur in an "aboriginal" word, though it does appear in "borrowed" words.